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Thursday, November 12, 2009

This, that and the other

I've got various ideas simmering away at the moment, looking for the hooks that'll make them into stories. Meanwhile, it's time for another pot pourri...

So it goes...
I warned you yesterday dear readers, of my intention to follow through on the story of the controversy generated by the RPGpundit's 6th November blogpost about FFG and its GW RPG licences. El pundito posted his 4th installment today. To keep this brief, I will just make a few points:
  • This post is a succint example of the hate-filled bile (here aimed at two of his favourite targets- RPG.net and the so-called "Storygames Swine") and overweening sense of self-importance which have defined the pundit's hyperbole from day one.
  • The pundit's excuse for "not post[ing] this link" (to a Storygames thread)- his "policy of not providing assistance to the Swine in promulgating their filth", is lame almost beyond words:
  1. Embedding links is so easy that I cannot help but imagine the man with the red flag from the early days of the motor car.
  2. The pundit's persistent unwillingness to enable this technologically trivial cross-checking cannot but cast further doubt on the credibility of his commentary.
  • The pundit's celebration of the publicity the whole affair has garnered cannot be said to have proved my speculations of yesterday, but I believe they remain valid and open.
There will be more I imagine. :-\

Now for the good news
Since reporting last June the cancellation of DiceConWest 2009 I have been waiting with bated breath for news of DiceConEast 2009. That news has now arrived, although it's not quite DiceConEast 2009. The details are:


DiceCon East - Jan 24th 2010
Over-Seas House, 100 Princess st, Edinburgh
Entry £6 from 10am ‘til late

I had entertained ideas of running another Combat Commander tournament after the success at last June's UK Games Expo, but discussions with Badger persuaded me that the day's timeframe doesn't really permit the 4 games which I believe are the minimum for a credible challenge.

So, what I'd like to do at DiceConEast is to play as many WW2 games as possible. Badger and I have already agreed to play some Memoir'44 Overlord. I'm looking forward to this because I've never played an Overlord game of M44 before, believe it or not(?!). Other than that? Well beyond the already familiar Combat Commander, Conflict of Heroes and Up Front, I have several other WW2 games as yet unplayed which I'm keen to see hit the table. So, if there are any of my readers out there who are interested, why not go and take a look at my games collection over @BGG and let me know if there's something there you're keen on trying?

And finally...
I joked last December about the dangers the internet poses to the unwary geek with a PayPal account, a warning it turns out I should've taken more... seriously? One of the more immediate and lasting consequences of my determination to get back into the miniatures hobby is that I've signed up for GW's monthly newsletter. So it was that I happened upon a picture of the Skaven Warp-Lightning Cannon- above left.

One look and the miniatures buffs' magpie attraction had me in its thrall. It's not that I collect Skaven, as much as I like them in WFRP; heck, I don't even play Warhammer Fantasy Battle! It's just that I saw that ornate bronze cannon and realised that it was just the piece I needed for an unfinished conversion project dating back to the days of the late FASA Corporation's short-lived VOR: the Maelstrom ttg. An overdue Space Hulk project barely started and I'm already shelling out for parts for an even older unfinished project? That's miniatures buffs for you!
Nifty, but WTF?

BTW1. The Warp-Lightning Cannon wasn't in the local GW, so I had it delivered. Among the extras in the box was the ID-tag thingy above. I have no idea what the purpose of this might be. I'm going to take it into my local store and find out if any of the staff can enlighten me.

BTW2. Interestingly, that VOR wiki page mentions VOR 2.0. All I know is that there is a website, and that the forums show recent traffic. I expect I'll investigate further. ;)

Related@RD/KA!
- Stuff and... nonsense?
- Something rotten? But where?

2 comments:

Andrew Paul said...

I believe the tag thingy is a luggage label for your miniatures case.

As for Vor, I'll belive that when I see it - that forum has been up about a year now, and after it's initial appearance, I've heard nothing more about it.

"A bit political on yer ass!" said...

Another icon for the miniatures case? Neat!

As for VOR, well the game was OK, but I've got the books and my Growlers; ie. most all of what I'm interested in out of the line. Good luck to them all, naturally enough. ;)