Traveller - The Kickstarter, And More Blood Bowl

The original Traveller is getting a fiftieth anniversary reprint. My first and overwhelming thought is OMG, how old am I. Whilst I am not quite old enough to have purchased it when it came out I am old enough to get hold of a copy in the early eighties.

Traveller is arguably the most important game in my gaming life. Not by first and not even the second. Even being in third place, it dominated the next decade and a half. I mourned the passing of the original edition. Possibly I raged against the next two GDW editions. Then I mourned some more when GDW went out of business.

For a good chunk of the early noughties I went through buying up the original games books. I am missing two. One was a scenario so bad nobody brought it (I have just placed a bid on a copy). The other came in a boxed set which is currently retailing for £200. Whilst I would really like to complete the collection I don't have the kind of low level psychological condition that would value this over the actual money in my bank account.

My collection is old and very far from pristine. I was just trying to think of a suit antonym and dog eared is probably it. It is a much used collection. That said, if I get a pristine copy I will want to keep it that way.

If Tunnels and Trolls was my first RPG kiss, then Traveller was definitely my first, er, meaningful relationship. Like a lot of first relationships, I have learnt a lot since then. As has Mongoose. Old school Traveller is good but it is showing its age. Mongoose Traveller is a more well rounded game. Its a much more fun experience. Original Traveller is a pretty solid game. It's got a lot of nice mechanisms that I have stolen again an again. Mongoose Traveller is just better all round. That said, I am feeling just a little bit of fomo. 

The Halflings are progressing. They are almost starting to look like they might be finished this week. Almost. I think I just need to add a couple of metallics and paint the bases as they will be done. I am getting sick of the site of these guys.

In other news, my real baby has demanded a fur baby. Specifically a dachshund. Dachs are not a dog that would normally go with my self image, although I have a neighbour with a Dachs crossed with a Jack Russel, which seems more like me. But what my daughter wants, my daughter generally gets, eventually.  

With Added Musings On Hex Terrain

The plan calls for even more hex terrain. I mean it's not like I have enough. I was even considering alternatives for storing these hexes. The number is getting out of hand and I have to figure out what to do with them.

I've got through the first batch of hex edges, I need some variation. I am going to run of some of my Paradise City tiles and urban apocalypse. I'd also like a couple of smaller sets, for the bad lands and mud to start with. Thinking about it I will need a few transitions too. Which would be at least two for each set. There are a few other bits too. This means another three sheets at least and I am almost out of 3mm MDF. I will have to look out for some off cuts.

The original plan called for a different layout. This would require having two sets, which I think is a little sub optimal. The lower set is what I have made so far. The upper set would give more usual hexes but it would take up mor space and I already have plenty of hexes. 

I think I am going to need another storage box. Or maybe three.

Start Of The Week: Situation....

Just a quick one. There is a lot going on this week. Lots of family stuff and I might even be getting a dog. I think I am going to finish the Halfling Blood Bowl team this week. I should probably call it to be the equivalent of thirty minis but given all the G Dub extra details, I will call it forty five. Not there yet. Something about counting chickens...etc etc.

Along the way I should probably have a plan for the next few weeks. One that doesn't involve hexes or Blood Bowl.

It has been a slow week, if not a slow month for buying anything new. Right now that is probably a good thing. I've just spent a bit of money and, well, as I like to say, Christmas is coming.

Another End Of The Week (0)

It has been a busy week. Too busy to get much painting done. The insomnia doesn't help either. There has been some progress on the Halfling Blood Bowl team. Not nearly enough, but some. Realistically I have one more base colour to do and then its on to doing some detail. There isn't too much to finish so I am fairly hopeful that these guys are going to be finished by the end of the week coming.

Busy With Insomnia

I seem to be busier than usual. It is that time of year. My sleep patterns are pretty peculiar at the best of times. As soon as the clocks go back they go crazy. This may explain why I have been awake and farting around since 5am. This may explain why  I managed three posts yesterday and October is becoming my busiest month for blogging in almost a decade and almost the busiest ever.

Given the level of insomnia, I suspect I am about to crash. Still I better make the most of it. Back to the Halflings.

Patrick Stewart RIP

Another sad day for the sci-fi nerd in me. I heard that Patrick Stewart has just died.

So back in the mid eighties, I liked to watch by horror film I could get hold of. This is back in the days of VHS and an absence of  age checks. Given my height, demeanour and facial hair, I had been able to get away with renting the best horror films since I was 14. I had a few favourites, mostly involving zombies, or something like that. 

One such film was Lifeforce. Not true zombies but something like space, zombie vampires. So perfect for me. This is the film where I first remember seeing Patrick Stewart. A classic Shakespearian actor in a trashy British horror film.

Images of him have featured in my blog many times. My image of him is as Mr Perdue, the maître d at the L'Idiot restaurant has become my personal motivator on many occasions. This was a character that touch a place in my head that perfectly matched my sense of humour. Rewatching him in L.A. Story is one of my favourite things to do. 

This was all before Star Trek: The Next Generation. This still continues to be relevant for me down to the image of his face on a Christmas jumper, surrounded by snowflakes over the words "make it snow, make it snow, make it snow". I watched every episode of this show. Multiple times. Star Trek is the other faith from my Sci Fi pantheon but it is a pretty cool one.

He has been in a lot of other stuff over the years. Not least of which was Coronation Street. This was a bit part in a show that would mean nothing to anyone beyond the UK. As the voice of Avery Bullock in American Dad always amused me. Not to mention being the best version of Professor X.

Just as a side note, I saw the band of the Guards doing a tribute to Patrick Stewart. They did however play the wrong theme.

Direction Of Travel

A bit less ranty today. I had planned for this to be my day this week. I sat down at the bench at about 07:30 with a view to getting things done. This went well until about 10:00 when the real world stepped in. Again. Still around all the stuff going on I managed to do a bit of shopping and get a haircut.

Unlike my recent past, I had a desire to finish some stuff off. This was not going to be the halfling Blood Bowl Team. I figured I could finish off the hexes I had been working on. The general idea was to finish off some edge hexes. Enough for my table at least. So this is what I did. As these are now interlocking hexes I need to finish off some more before the sets are complete. This involves roads, paths and tracks and some rivers and streams. The next project perhaps? This is just for the green scenery. There are half a dozen other sets to do although not all need as many pieces as this. Only most of them. My hex project is a long and ongoing project. There are a few more pages of hex terrain here.

There is also some progress on other terrain. This is just a piece of scatter terrain. It is made of bits of an old and broken Star Wars toy. Although primarily done for Star Wars Legion, I can dozens of uses for it. The basing bits are finished but I still need to paint up the metalwork. I appreciate that this is probably the wrong way around.

Finally I did make some progress on the aforementioned Blood Bowl halflings. Not as much as I would like but still this is me heading in the right direction Of travel.