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.