The Good, the Bad and the Ugly! (Please note, some profanity)

So, things move on and so here I am again.  It's been an up and down few weeks.

First up the good. 

Congo, it's a cracking game and gives a good evenings entertainment.  So far we have played 3 games, with no one force dominating and plenty of mad moments.  We have had white explorers defeating African natives, Forest tribes ambushing white explorers and Zanzibari slavers picking up all the pieces.  Highlights included monkeys throwing coconuts at British soldiers, Lions eating some Zanzibari slavers in a thicket and a mass of giant ants upsetting everyones day.  I thoroughly recommend it and plan to play it again soon. 

Then there was Llardiff, a Too Fat Lardies day held at Firestorm Games on Saturday.  A gathering of like minded folk saw several games put on to introduce new players to the games.  Sharp Practice, Chain of Command, I 'Aint Been Shot Mum and Dux Britanniarum were all put on and several purchases were made after games were played.    The venue is cracking, with about 50 tables, a bar, cafe, lounge area and shop all in one place.  On the day itself there was also a bring and buy event, where I picked up a bargain of some 15mm Cold War era Russians for a bargain £50.  12 assorted tanks, 13 BMPs and 3 BTR-80s plus some infantry made it a deal I couldn't turn down.

Now the bad. 

On Friday I received a letter from my consultant, who informed me that my operation had been refused and the only remaining option is a PEG tube through my stomach, replacing the nasal tube I have currently.  So instead of a device that has a 75% chance of curing my constant nausea and stomach pain, frequent bouts of vomiting and diarrhea, being unable to sleep for more than 3 hours and generally feeling so shit that I have also been diagnosed with chronic depression, I will now have a tube that does the same thing as the one I have already.

Well fuck you very much to the medical panel that made this decision.  Despite the fact that I am basically now a burden to my family and the state, the operation can't go ahead as my condition "Is not severe enough".  Despite the leading gastroparesis consultant in the country saying that I am a prime candidate for the operation with a very good chance of it improving my quality of life, the operation can't go ahead. So that's it now, I am stuck like this.  FML as they say and I hope the esteemed members of the panel are stricken with piles and get infested with the fleas from a thousand camels.. 

And finally the ugly.  

I have managed a bit of painting, so here they are in their "glory".

 First up are some carts for my Dux Brit games.  One of the scenarios requires 3 carts as objectives for the Saxons and I bought the carts from Warbases a long time ago.  More recently I got the loads to go in them and the animals to pull them from Colonel Bill and Warbases, plus a few civilians to lead them from the lead mountain.  Here they are, two one horse carts and a two oxen cart loaded with sacks and supplies.  I'm pretty happy with how they came out and they did the job on Saturday in Cardiff.

Also for the Dux games are these command stands.  The basic forces for each side a led by 3 nobles, a level 3 Lord and two level 2 subordinates.  To make it simple to keep track of the nobles level I decided to make them small bases of 2 or 3 figures.  If they are wounded and lose a level of command then one figure can be removed.

The Romano-British ones first, with a standard bearer and champion on the Lords base while a horn blower and a bishop make up the extras on the nobles.  The idea worked well on Saturday, so I'm sticking with it.  The standard is a Little Big Men banner and looks rather splendid.

Then the Saxons, the Lord again gets a champion and standard bearer, while the nobles get an extra warrior and a mastiff respectively. 





So, there you go.  That's the lot for now.  Its 1am and I really should go to bed.  It's been an eventful weekend.  Catch you all next time.

New rules, changed plans and other random mutterings.

It seems to me that we are living in a golden age of wargaming, with rules and figures of quality all coming out with startling rapidity.  I have recently purchased 25mm Colonial British infantry, 25mm Dark Ages warriors, 15mm Cold War British and 25mm Crusader figures.  Not much has been painted, but it doesn't stop me buying them..........

Then the rules, Lion Rampant, Dragon Rampant, Kings of War, Men who would be Kings and Congo have all joined the collection recently.  Will I play them all?  Probably not as much as they deserve, but I still have them.  I really enjoy the Dragon/Lion Rampant rules, but they are not suitable for a large battle and some times it's fun to load the table with lead and have at it.  Hence Kings of War, which seems to be everything Warhammer could have been.  And now Congo has reared its head and has been the game of choice for the last 2 weeks.  I have not played it yet, but have run a couple of games for the Monday night lads, with the White Men winning one and the African tribes snatching victory in the other.  I keep getting drawn to North Star and Wargames Foundry to look at the bundles of figures they do but have managed to restrain myself......so far.

So, what do I plan to play next?  Dux Britanniarum is currently the plan as Nathan and I are running a game at Firestorm Games on Saturday 15th.  Also the painting list has been scrapped and replaced with suitable extras, such as carts and the like, for the game.  I have also been painting Romano-British figures for Andy and Nathan.  So far Andys 36 figures have been finshed and returned, while Nathans 19 are awaiting the imminent delivery of shields.  Then it's onto 70 odd other assorted Saxon and Briton figures for Nathans ever expanding warbands. 
 

Bad photo!

Here are Andys British, a mix of metal and plastic figures with LBMS shield decals to finish them off.  Sorry about the crap photo, it was a rush job as I was getting ready to go out.

So thats it for today.  It's just gone midnight and I have to be up early tomorrow for a pointless doctors appointment.  A GPs review of the tablets prescribed by the consultant, so they can't change them without his say so and he won't say so, but they have too see me to review the medication every 6 months.  So on that happy note, good night and I'll catch you all next time.

PS  By all I do mean the 2 people who look at this load of tripe every now and again. ;)