Where have I been...

No posts since the beginning of the month...have I been off somewhere exciting??  Nope.

Sadly work and life has been eating into my spare time so blogging kind of fell by the wayside for a few weeks.  This quarter is always a really busy period at work and by the time it gets to the evening (if I'm not working) then tapping away on the keyboard isn't a priority.

Unless it's killing things online of course...I've also been a bit distracted by the online game Conan Exiles which I must post about at some point.

Anyway, all of this hasn't stopped me playing a few games.

I played my first game of  Battle of Britain, the PSC Kickstarter launched game.  Despite all the hassles with bendy aircraft etc (which PSC to their credit have taken on the chin and resolved), there is a very good game in the box.  I played a game of this down at Eric the Shed's where my Luftwaffe were comprehensively driven off by the RAF.  Having played one game I now understand how to approach it so I like to think I'd do better in subsequent games, but I suspect that's just wishful thinking.

I also managed a game of Conan down at Guildford with a couple of players who hadn't tried it before.  I played out the 'In the Clutches of the Picts' scenario in which our heroes have to kill the evil sorcerer (and remove his head) and locate and rescue the helpless princess while fending off hyenas, Picts and a giant snake.  This always seems like a good introductory scenario to play through.  We had a fun game which the players seemed to really enjoy and nearly won...they managed to get the princess off the board and almost killed the evil leader but sadly ran out of time...at least they all died heroically.

This week I was back at Eric the Shed's for a game of Dead of Winter.  I hadn't heard of this before and it's a zombie game which usually would leave me a bit cold but this was really excellent fun.  It's a cooperative game with the players taking a group of survivors of the Zombie Apocalypse and attempting to scavenge supplies, fend off the zombies and stop infection spreading while keeping the colony of dependent survivors happy and alive.  As well as the team victory condition each player also has a secret objective so there are options for some, none or all players to win...of course one of the secret missions is to betray the colony and be a saboteur which thankfully I didn't get as I have a rubbish poker face.  Really, really good fun and very quick to pick up...we managed 2 games in the evening and the 2nd one flew by.

I treated myself to a Light Box for taking photos this week, splashing out the huge sum of £12.99!  Most of the photos on my blog are snapped on my phone and I struggle with lighting figures so I thought I'd give this a try after reading a couple of articles.  It comes folded up and is the size of a large envelope when folded (and comes in a handy bag).

When unfolded it's big enough to accommodate most figures...you'd struggle with large units but it would easily accommodate several figures or a building etc.  It comes with an adjustable LED lamp and several different colour backdrops.  Here are a few examples using a 15mm motorcyclist from my Belgian WW2 army.

Much easier than juggling a torch and my camera, and the coloured backgrounds make a real difference.  I definitely need to do some more experimenting with them.


Yesterday was my birthday and my wife treated me to a copy of the PSC/Worthington Games game, Hold the Line...

How did she know I wanted this???  Obviously she loves me dearly and knows what I like...or it could have been the email I sent her with a link and the discount voucher I got from the Battle of Britain debacle!  More on this game when I get a chance to play it.

Finally my son tipped me off that the book 'The Templars' by historian Dan Jones is currently on offer at £0.99 in the Kindle store (at least it is in the UK).  I'm a big fan of his books on the Wars of the Roses and the Tudors so I've snapped this up