Everything

Realising the remit in my blog intro/description, here's some stuff in general:

5-a-side - we've had a lot of trouble of late; regulars have been dropping out, numbers dwindled...it took an impassioned plea to get everything back on track and all seems to be well again. I'm hoping we're good for another block booking as we've been playing for about 8yrs in different guises.

Rugby - RWC 2015 looms large. Wales are in the same group as England, Australia and Fiji, a stinking arrangement caused by the WRU's greed in insisting on the annual 4th and unsanctioned Autumn International game allied to some poor results, albeit against top teams, in the period prior to the RWC 2015 draw, despite a 4th place world cup finish and 2012 championship win if i remember correctly (lots of commas there - not too many I hope). Anyway, the first warm up game at home versus Ireland went badly for the pack, but we had a developmental team out against them (they did too but were far more canny in the pack selection). We play them again next weekend in Dublin and this time we need to look tidy with a decent team expected to be running out.

Beer - to be fair, as a near 2-month vegan, real ale is off-limits to a degree. I need to check which i can drink as they are often made with finings made from fish. Other drink like wine (sparkling or otherwise) is often clarified with animal products. It's a steep learning curve but scotch is a-ok!

Cooking - I'm loving this vegan lark. Been making ratatouille, falafel, Thai broths, aubergine curries, mexican jazz, all sorts. I miss cheese though. And proper gravy 😐.

Minis - i have been somewhat active of late in the trade business. By which I mean i have traded x3 pieces. But i also got a freebie from a comrade in the north of Wales. In total, for the loss of x1 chaos warrior, x1 Marauder greatsword type fellow and an orc with a spear and a goblin skin hat, I have received the classic Space Wolf captain with the wolf helmet, a skeleton champion with 2 swords and a spike helmet, an Yyrkoon model (Eternal Champion), as well as that freebie I just mentioned: Moonglum, another Eternal Champion piece. I'm one piece up! Can't fault it. Still looking for Elric, Dorian, Erekose and some other bits, as well as moon face Tzeentch feller and Nurgle fly head dude. Feel free to contact me for trade 👍.

Religion/atheism - weirdly, a Polish couple and their kid knocked the door earlier asking if there were any other Polish families locally. They were JW's looking to spread the insidious word. It struck me that the kid had no chance of a normal life and would no doubt have to carry the mental baggage of his parents' belief system all his days, whether happily within the narrow confines of that organisation or else perhaps awkwardly if he is ever able to break out from the belief system his parents have forced upon him. Other than the fact the doorstep evangelisers thought us unworthy of the good news they had for their Polish compatriots, that got me a bit riled this morning. Religion is a choice, so don't force it on your kids. I can only hope the poor feller has a chance to break away later in life, but judging by the rallies we have in Cardiff every year, it's unlikely: there are teenagers and young adults by the thousands lapping this stuff up. As a willing victim of Christianity in my young adult life (I successfully pulled away when I employed logic and free thought, but it was one hell of a wrench - more of that another time) I know the pitfalls and the difficulty of stepping away from a very loving, caring group. It's not easy, and that's an understatement. Good luck to them all.

Piffle - see above.

Nos da...

Loose Command Groups and Sundries

Having had a look at what figures I've got I've put them into loose command groups. There are some big size differences, particularly in the undead lot. Here they are, including a few loose ones for the sake of cataloguing...

There's a whole load of collecting and painting to be doing right there. Problem is I'm lazy and tend to prefer cooking over painting most days. But hey, it's not a race. Got falafel to cook right now so they'll keep.

Combat Card Joy

Picked up another bit of eBay joy this week in the shape of 8 sets of Combat Cards. I was already flush with Goblinoids, Spacewar and Chaos, but to pick up the rest (including some duplicates of what I already have) plus the newer Space Marines and  double set of Epic Battles (not my bag but gift horses, etc) for £6 is a massive win. There are up to 2-3 cards missing in some cases but I'm no perfectionist. I treat these cards as eye-candy, and for me they are the best way of appreciating the painting of the golden era. My set is the bottom row in this shot. Quite a bargain for the rest:

Autumn

Autumn is probably my favourite time of year.  Or at least early autumn (or the time summer moves into autumn), with its subtle changes: cooler, nippier mornings and clearer evenings.  It makes me think of conkers, early morning coffee in town, shared restaurant meals and stepping out into the night after a few beers, my breath misting up in front of my face.  Different parts of my (very limited) wardrobe get to make an occasional showing, with bobble-hats and fingerless gloves to the fore.  That'll be a little later on, as at the moment it's still pretty warm for September, and I'm knocking about in shorts and flip-flops.  I even got a little bit of sunburn down at the caravan last week, which was a huge surprise.  We sometimes go away this time of year as well, so I tend to get a bit twitchy for the The Balearics, but even a trip to warmer climes to prolong summer can't take the sparkle off of a good September in Wales.  

I think the word 'wistful' is the best way to sum up my feelings at this time of year.  There's something about it that makes me indulge in nostalgia and reminiscences.  

Something happened yesterday: we moved my wife's son (my stepson) down to Exeter where he'll be studying Mechanical Engineering for 4yrs.  It's been one hell of a wrench, surreal really, but it's done now.  The day was spent doing all the practical stuff, so the goodbye was a bit 'blink and you'll miss it,' but the drive home was exactly the sort of 'wistful' that I associate with this time of year.  Exeter to Cardiff ain't a bad drive, and the sun was setting over on our left for most of the trip.  The way we were feeling and the stuff we talked about just made it a day I'll never forget.  Interesting times ahead...

It's our anniversary next weekend as well.  2yrs married.  That's another reason for my love of autumn: we met on Mar 21st, spring equinox, and married on 21st Sept, autumn equinox.  There's a nice balance about that.  We'll be heading out west for the weekend, down at our getaway.  If the weather holds it's going to be magical.  

Anyway, chicken dinner time now.  I want this feeling to run and run.  In the meantime, here's another shot of my ongoing battle with a RT-era space marine.  Progress has been sluggish to say the least.  Still, Rome wasn't built in a day.

BBC Article on Fighting Fantasy Books

A lovely little treat reared its head on the BBC website this morning: an article about Fighting Fantasy. The link:

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28865399

I particularly enjoyed reading about the wacky religionists's responses to the dangers of Fighting Fantasy. There is also a link in the article to the furore that Dungeons & Dragons caused in it's heyday, a subject the Beeb covered back in April. 

It's superb stuff.

Edit: I just remembered a vicar coming into GW when I was a yoof. He laid it on thick. I wish I was as switched on then as I am now, as he was ripe for a put-down, probably something about us yoofs at least being aware of the fantasy (i.e., made up) element of the games we were playing, an irony a vicar might or might not have understood given his reliance on an ancient rulebook and unconfirmed sky gods.

And a marginally progressed shot of my Space Marine just because I feel guilty about my lack of painting: