Friday 20 July 2012

A moment of History.


Torch bearer.
30 mins to go!
Torch bearer coach

As a change of pace here is a moment of history. At 7:50am the Olympic Torch arrived at Gillingham. I arrived about 35 minutes before the torch, It's a good job I did as it was already fairly packed. It became more packed as time went on. But being over 6 foot I was confident I could get some kind of pictures. I gradually moved back from the edge conceding ground to the kids and eventually their mums. But I would not yield to prams, I have my limits.
 The Kids opposite were loud with cheering. They Cheered every police car, every police bike and even passing motorists that waved at them. All in all they really added to the atmosphere. Some of the local schools had a late start and the children did not have to be in class till 10am or so one of the mothers told me. I guess the teachers wanted to see the torch as well.  The crowd held an atmosphere of excitement, anticipation and pride. Every person united to support the country. It really was a good feeling to be part of it. So If you still get the chance to see it go. The first official vehicle, was carrying all the days runners, dressed in track suits and huge grins. The level of pride was fantastic.


Sponsor float
 Then came the sponsors waggons. It did add to the parade, but in my mind cheapened it with rank commercialism. The Samsung coach was the best not just because of the pretty girls, but also the enthusiasm they had.


3rd Sponsor Float
Sponsor float with pretty girls!

























The motto on the support vehicle was very apt. The torch carrier would not be long now. Every camera was ready. I was convinced that my batteries would fail. You know the feeling I'm sure.

The crowd silent but with whispers of "Here he comes!" And some puzzled looks on children's faces. You could hear the noise from further along the road so you knew it was coming. 
Support Vehicle


The crowd before the torch.


Torch Bearer.
And Finally your reward. A moment of history.

Tuesday 17 July 2012

Vampire Leader/Undertaker.

I feel as if I have been resting on my laurels. I have only finished 1 figure since Saturday morning and it's Wednesday already. At this rate I'll have nothing to show on Friday. This is a FOUNDRY 28mm wild west Undertaker. An old figure that I have repainted to represent a Vampire in Empire of the Dead. The skin tone is a very pale blue as a base colour and pale flesh on the highlights. Red eyes complete the Evil look. Dressed all in Black (Hi lighted with different dark greys of course) with a dark purple sash on his hat, which you should just be able to make out.
As stated previously I have mixed feelings about EotD. While I am sure the mechanics will work fine, they are as I keep saying Necromunda with d10s. I do wonder if it is sufficiently different from Necromunda and therefore "Legends of the Old West" the Warhammer historical variant, which we have played at the club. Maybe I am spoilt by having too many game options but I do wonder if we will play this to any extent. Or if the players will say we have done something similar as they remember Legends of the old West. For convenience the Wild west would be the obvious choice as we already have the scenery but I fear it might be too similar. I could build new scenery of course, but that takes time money and motivation. So for now I'll just move forward slowly until motivation grabs me.
Although I have not finished much I have done some preparation and undercoating of figures. Nothing I wish to share just yet. I am sure I will soon though. But for now that is today's post. More again on Friday. All the best Clint

Monday 16 July 2012

7TV "You only Live Dice" Game at club.


Burly Gatecrashers
As a club we were luck enough to have Karl from "Crooked Dice" run a game for us. This is his show game, "You only live Dice!" The situation is that... it was a quiet day at the office, the office being a dormant volcano somewhere in the home counties. And my security chief caught some Eco terrorists breaking in so we locked them in a cupboard and carried on with our work. The next thing we know all these butch burly men arrived in a helicopter and started attacking us. It's just not cricket! The rocket countdown had started and we were struggling to install the crop fertiliser before it lifted off.


Office layout!
 As you can see not a typical office, but when you rent a building you sometimes have to make do! As you can see the fertiliser delivery system (AKA the rocket) can be reached along 2 aerial walkways.

"Fertiliser"Barrel
 Not sure why the Eco Terrorist referred to the Barrel as Nerve Gas it's a genetically modified crop fertiliser destined for the third world to boost Rice Harvests. And That's the story I am sticking too! Me produce "Nerve Gas" that must be some kind of joke. It's a weed killer and a very good one. It would have changed the world if it was not for those darned Eco terrorists!

Barrel at end of first move.
I could not believe it these Eco terrorists burst in and opened fire on my security guards we had no choice but to defend our selves and our property! Even one of the ones locked in the cupboard escaped before the Police could arrive and sort the problem out and that one viciously assaulted a technician who was doing no more than twiddle some dials in line with health and safety protocols and his job description.

The Burly Eco terrorists cower behind cover.
Staying at long range the Eco terrorists took advantage of the office facilities knowing the site security guards were reluctant to damage company property. As a result the poor chaps suffered terribly by being shot at. Many of them being hard working family men were appalled by the actions of the Eco terrorists!
Stalwart technical staff carry out Moving and Handling protocols while being shot at.
 Security did try to intervene but with the terrorists all in cover they needed to roll 6 on d6 in order to hit them. The unfortunate chaps did their best but on most occasions a trip to Spec savers might have served them better, So of these boys are getting on you know and can't compete with the hooligan element existent in the youth of today. So after killing several of these valiant defenders the Eco terrorists targeted the junction boxes responsible for powering up the rocket... erhm I mean delivery system.
Rampaging Eco terrorists destroy private property!
 Then the terrorists killed Bert, one of the technicians carrying the payload. Harry carried on moving a mere 3 inches a turn with bullets whistling about his head as he tried to man handle the "fertiliser" onto the delivery system so that the hard work of his colleagues would not be wasted. Dr Mao a visiting Expert from China was horrified at the behaviour of the Eco-hooligans and he and his female companion (who doesn't talk much, she's very shy) Gave two of the terrorists one of their own medicine.
Dr Mao intervenes.
  The corporate forces of good from Dadelaes Enterprises where just managing to get the upper hand. Thanks to the good Dr Mao, and Mr Plesances's personal assistant who waving a fan had managed to thwart the efforts of a kilt wearing mad man. When disaster struck.
Disaster srtiking!
 The terrorist who had been locked in the cupboard had crawled through the ventilation ducts and suddenly carried out a lightning strike sabotage mission on the office Plant room. They managed to beat up some harmless technicians and cut the power supply. These sort of acts should not be tolerated in civilised society. These interlopers had no right of entry, nor did they present any form of search warrant not offer a "cease and desist" notice with annoy of our legal team Therefore officer we were merely defending our selves and our property and in no way using disproportionate force in any way. I humbly suggest all our property be returned to us along with both an apology and suitable re numeration for both the work disruption and the endangerment of our loyal personnel.
Ok I was the baddies and we lost, because I roll Naff dice. I Failed my Morale test, used a luck point
To re-roll it and then rolled a 1. Meaning 4 of my staff had to leave the board. At this stage I only had 4 left so for me it was game over. I was supposedly playing a bady, but I think they were just misunderstood. All in all a very enjoyable game. But Next time the forces of "Good" need to follow the letter of the law and I will need to see a search warrant.
There was just time for a second game so I stepped out and all new players were brought in. Karl is the guy behind the screen. It is not a ref's screen from role playing, but it could have functioned as one should the need have arisen.
Kev and Stew were the evil forces this time and Tim and Frasier the goodies. The game flowed faster on the second run through as these guys tended not to worry too much about cover, but did try to move about in the open.I won't give a detailed description of all the actions, but there are the hi lights.

  •  The barrel of Nerve Gas first tried the right most gantry, then the middle and finally started to come down the slope.
  • The Fembots in the control room held up Pandora King and Dr Soloman for a lot of the game.
  • Dr Mao used his jet pack to move into the middle of Captain Gordons men and then used a sonic stunner to make most of them unconscious.
  • The game was a lot more bloodthirsty from the start with movement being preferred over cover.
  • Kevin made exactly the same morale roll as me including the re-roll, but having one extra figure meant that he could keep his star on the table while all my fled.
  • Dr Mao managed to reach the escape helicopter.
  • Tan (Tim's co star) managed to shoot both technicians carrying the gas with a long range SMG shot without hitting the gas canister.
Overall I think everyone enjoyed the day. I know I did. Karl has offered to come back and put another game on for us in the future. He wants a run through of my Zombie car park game as well so that's a possibility. He lives about a 20minute drive away so all things are possible.