Wonderful Wedding Number Two!

I had a lovely time in Cullen the other weekend. Almost everyone reading this will be scratching their heads, muttering to themselves, "Where? Did he mention this in a previous post?" Cullen is a teeny-tiny place in Scotland, where my friend's family live, and where she and another friend got married. I stayed in the charming Norwood Guest House in the town, which is run by an absolutely charming couple. I admit I was attracted by the name, since it brought to mind Sherlock Holmes! I am happy to report no sinister lumber-yard fires occurred during my time there. I shall spare you the details of the drive. Suffice to say that on the Thursday I got up around midday, collected two friends from Manchester Piccadilly about 21:40, reached Cullen at about 07:30 on Friday morning, and finally got to sleep an hour later. I went through four cans of Red Bull.

The town itself is beautifully situated on the slope of a hill, facing out to sea. There's a lovely little harbour, and a sea wall against which the sea was epically dashing itself on the Sunday. But let us return to the Friday. After a nap of a few hours, I met up with everyone - it was quite the joyful reunion of folk from the old alma mater. I was especially pleased to see and catch up with Sarah and Jack, whom I hadn't seen since university! Jack was the Best Man, but isn't a man, and arguably her name isn't Jack. If you don't understand, you clearly aren't an alumnus/a of Lampeter! We chatted for ages, and had a grand old time. On the Saturday we all met up in the town square, where TJ, the groom, led us on the picturesque trip to the beautiful church. It lies some distance from town, I learned, because the aristocrats decided they'd move the town so the church was more secluded. Friendly bunch, eh! There was a minor emergency before the wedding, with Sarah sending her tights to the bride via Dave. I drove Dave over to save time, but he couldn't recall Caroline's parents' house, so someone got Sarah's tights through their letterbox. I think Sarah recovered them later!

The church itself is quite old. The heart of Robert the Bruce's wife is buried within, and the Ogilvie-Gordons are buried there, too. Anyway, everyone was there in good time for the wedding. I am happy to say that I recognised the tune of one of the three hymns, if not the words: the peril of being the wrong religion is that we all have different hymns. Although I keep finding myself singing unfamiliar things when I'm at the 10:30 instead of my usual 8:35 am Mass on Sundays. Digression over! The bride looked lovely, and the groom the very picture of a distinguished gentleman! The priest put everyone at their ease, and a harpist played her instrument in accompaniment to Caroline's arrival and at other points. There then followed an abundance of photography, within and outside the church. Smiles abounded!

Following the ceremony, there was a wee pause of half an hour or so, and then we adjourned to the church hall, where a lovely spread had been put on for us. So considerate had Caroline, TJ and their families been to my peculiar vegan needs, that there was more choice I could have hoped to enjoy. I was very grateful. There were little favours and boomarks for all the guests, which was handy, as I was able to slip mine into my copy of Catch-22 later on. Following the meal, there was a break while most of us got changed into more relaxed clothes and ambled up to the Cullen Bay Hotel. As befits a celebration in Caledonia, a certain amount of Scotch was imbibed, including a 1974 cash strength one, which was utterly heavenly! Around midnight, I think, we all trundled out en masse, and ambled in an approximately homeward direction, a day well spent!

On the Sunday I had arranged with Dave to go for a walk, but shortly before we were to set out, the bride and groom arrived, so we cancelled our plans, and had a nice afternoon chatting with them. Later on, Dave and Maz and I went for a stroll around the clifftop paths which Dave had earlier reconnoitred. It was very pretty, and not too cold, despite the wind sweeping in off the North Sea. On the Monday, we did get to go for the walk. What we thought was five miles turned out to be more like seven or eight, and only two of us remembered to bring water! The sun was quite hefty, and I managed to catch some despite repeated applications of factor 30. It's great being ginger, really! We saw the ruins of Findlater Castle, which left me a little confused. The castle, although it was tricky to reach on foot, was overlooked by the surrounding cliffs, rendering it not terribly defensible, I should have thought. Historically, it was taken following a siege. The castle's main purposes appeared to have been to monitor the sea approaches, and to provide a nice spot for a picnic. If only we had brought one!

On the Tuesday, we left about 9am. The bride had prevailed on me to take a few things they had no space for themselves. This meant I wasn't driving back to the bottom of Cheshire, but to Milton Keynes. There's a nice church just down the road from me. I am going to have to start persuading my friends to have their nuptials there so I'm not driving off to Wales and Scotland again. ;-) We stopped off at home so I could pop my washing in the machine and get a change of clothes for the next day. I caught up with Sam's chap, Erik, who hadn't been able to make it to the wedding, but unfortunately got caught in a foul-up heading home, adding two hours to a two and a half hour trip. I got home on the Wednesday night about half eight, having driven 1,210 miles, I think, and my brain was pretty much mush! It was a delightful occasion, but if I visit Cullen again, I'll take the train to somewhere nearby, I think! I hope you enjoy this small selection of photos.

Silos and fields of wire

I popped out and got some more modelling supplies yesterday. I have been working the last couple of days on these silos. A friend kindly bestowed on my another bottle of Scotch as a Christmas/New Year's gift, and it's one that comes in a cardboard tube, so inevitably, the bottle is sitting all exposed now, and the tube is another silo! The modelling supplies mainly amounted to a 4' by 2' plywood board, so I have started basing up a few ruined buildings, and begun work on some seriously large barbed wire emplacements. I have a 12" by 3" segment near me, and you can see it's big brother in the pictures: 24" by 3". That's right, a two foot long strip of barbed wire for when you absolutely must halt that enemy infantry attack! I've taken it outside and applied a coat of black all over it, and aim to paint it up properly tomorrow. Until next time.

A shack, a tower, a moon and a planet!

Per ardua ad astra, as they say! I was a bit over-eager with the grey moon here, and didn't allow the GS to set, so it came loose. I shall have to get some more GS or similar before I can fix that problem. I have given the Plumbing Planet a basic colour scheme, and dabbed on a lot of pale grey and white to represent cloud cover. It's outside now, its varnish drying. I also based and painted a wee shack for my Wild West set-up, which I will get back to properly in the New Year. Lastly, there is now a way up part of the Silo of Scotch. I need to base it now so I can knock up a similar ladder stretching up from the ground to the first walkway. I hope you like the pics, folks.

Planets and towering silos

As I believe I said yesterday, I finished off the last of my Greenstuff, which mainly served to provide some small continents for my medium-sized planet for Star Fleet: ACTA. It's undercoated, and I shall probably paint it (or at least begin to) a bit later. I also found some more snooker balls, and realised that I ought to set them in a holder when drilling to ease the difficulty of getting a good straight line. While I was doing that I suddenly had a flash of inspiration - or of the blindingly obvious. Christmas baubles are all around, and are pretty much round, and I want round things for planetoids and so forth. Yes, it was a flash of the blindingly obvious, wasn't it?

I was checking out Frontline Gamer's site the other day, and very taken with the reviews he's been posting lately of the new Sarissa products. If I had a spot more money, I would definitely be buying a few of those pretty new things! One of the products he reviewed was a silo. As I say, I'm trying to avoid spending money on fripperies right now, but I do have things lying around all over the place. So I gathered an old container for a bottle of Scotch and decided to put it to good use. I added strips of cereal box cardboard up the side. I will rivet those later. Then I added a pair of rickety-looking walkways, halfway up and at the top of the edifice. So far I have also added a cover for the top and some supports for the walkways.

As a closing note, I said I would report on the success or otherwise of those foam asteroids, and I do so now. It's "otherwise" that I have to report. They lack the structural strength to bear all that sand well, so I have switched over to the polystyrene. I shall try to get some pics up next time. Right, be well, folks!

Birthday!

I had (as you might have surmised from my failure to post since Friday) a great time this weekend. Come the Friday night and a friend arrived from deepest Wales. I haven't seen him in a few months, and we had a great time catching up and a spot of food and drink to ease the flow of things. He also bought and brought me a bottle of Penderyn peaty Welsh whiskey, which we had a bit of then, a bit more of the next night, and which I am just finishing off now. I am in a minority among my friends, but peaty whiskey is just awesome. When it came to the next day, confusion arose. I woke up about 10am, stumbled myopically out of bed, showered, and hobbled off to do some shopping, having checked Jude was not yet about. Jude, having checked twenty minutes before that my door was not open, had retired to his room until I arose.

I returned from shopping, and all became clear. So I got my poor starved friend some breakfast! It was about midday by now, and I had planned ahead for tardiness. I fear I may have been confounded by a counter-conspiracy. Si is always late, and I've evolved to respond to this. So, after telling my other guests to arrive between 2 and 2:30, I bade him arrive at 1. As it happens, all the other guests were late, too, and so it was only around 4:30 that the last straggler trailed in. I would say that I didn't mind, but whenever people say that, it always means they minded. So, um, I did mind? Hugely? However much I minded, I certainly wasn't amused, oh, no, and definitely did not decide to evolve in response by telling everyone to arrive three hours early next time. Noooo. :-D

When everyone had arrived, and had a drink in hand, and I had forced on them a vegan pumpkin cheesecake (a little soggy, but I know what went wrong! It was acclaimed universally as tasty, anyway!), we had a lovely chin-wag for a while. See, I can't get annoyed about tardiness when I expect it, and my prime pleasure in these gatherings is getting to see friends (ok: and fiddling in the kitchen). Having gathered everyone to the Accusing Parlour (see Futurama, bemused readers), I then compelled them to devilish games. That's how some people feel about Trivial Pursuit, anyway. ;-) For the sake of a scrupulously accurate account, and not in any way to crow about victory, I feel I must admit that Jude and I won. That said, it was a very narrow-run thing. Laura and Berni took an early lead. Nathan and Mawbs popped up in a convincing position just after. Then we had a spurt of good questions and die rolls. Suddenly Laura and Berni had the same, and were on five cheeses. But again fortuna amat audentes - well, we were bold enough to roll a die ;-) - and Jude and I slipped into victory. I have to say that I have never seen so unlucky a collection of rolls and questions as Si and Tammy got in that game. It even managed to make my wargaming dice-rolls look good!

A small break so that nobody feels a pressing need to throttle me, and then I drove us onward to a game of Cranium. I can't describe this game without sounding like an advertisement. Suffice to say that there are four types of question: those involving words (spelling, anagrams, fill in the blanks), those involving traditional party games (charades, impersonations), drawing games (at which I am hopeless), and your standard fact-checking stuff. We combined the teams from the last game, so this time, Si, Tammy, Jude and I faced Mawbs, Nathan, Berni and Laura. The game see-sawed back and forth, and then our lot managed to make a final dash for victory. I love Trivial Pursuit, and when I can, I will play it. Come a birthday, I'll drive people who hate it to play it, secure in the knowledge that none can complain. You can punch me next time you see me folks! ;-) Cranium, on the other hand, I can force on friends at any event. I love Yellow questions, and my friend, Heidi, loves those Blues. Nathan's a dab-hand at those Reds, and everyone loves a Green card. Um, especially immigrants to the USA, I suppose.


As well as the victory in two games, presents abounded. Jude, as I say, brought me peaty Penderyn, Laura made me some vegan brownies, which were delicious! Nathan and Berni got me an awesome t-shirt, most apt to my hobbies: it's for World of Tanks, a game I'd surely play if I had a stronger computer! :-D Si and Tammy got me a perfect combination of gifts: a book (of title and nature secret, known only to those present at the party and Martyn, Kev and Kat - and other halves) and a 21year-old Scotch from the Mortlach Distillery, which is about the smoothest I have ever imbibed. After the presents, I provided my  guests with a curse, or so they may have subsequently remarked. Mint Juleps are very tasty, and this concoction was also exceptionally strong. I believe that Si remarked (how genteel that sounds) that it was like "getting kicked in the face by a delicious boot" (less genteel now).

Having attempted and failed to give my guests alcohol poisoning, the majority of them left. I sat up for two or three hours, eating enough high-fat foods to ensure I would not be wracked on the rack of hangovers the next day. ;-) Having said farewell to Si, Tammy and Jude on the Sunday, I relapsed into sitting in a chair for a bit! Another friend, busy on the Saturday, invited me over for the Monday. I suspect I missed a seance, so thankee, Debbie, for telling me to arrive late! ;-) Seriously, I fancy it is indeed not by bag, baby, as Mr Powers would say. ;-)  I had a lovely chat with pretty much everybody, and was especially taken with Russell's talk of Viking longships. In retrospect, I feel I ought to have asked him whether he knew my old sensei, Tony. Next time!

Waking on the Tuesday, I felt a bit too dry - not on account of alcohol the night before, but because the house is so comfortable when kept at a pleasant temperature. I toddled home, got back here, slumped into bed, and this morning had a message from San Salvator himself, Rahul, that he might be here tonight. He was! In accord with this communique, I deployed all sorts of non-alcoholic refreshment. He was abstemiousness itself, officer. Really, he only wanted water. Need you local colour as confirmation? He remarked on my drinking of flat Coke (horribile dictu), comparing it to that of an old friend, Alex, who once drank same.

This takes us to tonight, dear readers. I have, I assure you, been painting white trim on the shoulder straps of my WWI Germans, but they still don't have their bases, so maybe you just don't care. I do mean shortly to pop up some actual pictures on this wargaming blog of wargaming things I have wargamingly done, my fellow wargamerinos. Is it wargamerinoes? That seems so . . . Cranium and not Trivial Pursuit. ;-) Adieu, mes amis! :-D

Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!

The lasagna, which I made on Sunday, went well. I'm not sure how others will take to it - vegan cheese, like Scotch, is an acquired taste. Who was it said that an acquired taste is one not worth acquiring? Untrue, untrue! How could one have a taste for Ovid without a little acquisition of knowledge? However, whether the non-cheese would be universally appreciated or not, the appearance of the dish is unquestionably pleasing to the eye.

As well as this successful culinary expedition, I have thrust myself back into going through our film catalogue. Yesterday was the turn of Kiss the Girls,
a flick about Morgan Freeman hunting down a serial kidnapper-cum-rapist-cum-murderer. The ending is rather predictable, and yet one can be denied that small pleasure if one looks the film up on IMDB and their featured quotation reveals the mysterious monster's identity. Tsk-tsk! It was interesting to see the chap who played Doctor Emmett Meridian in Dexter turn up in something else. Today I've put myself through Outrageous Fortune, which was pleasant, but not worth wasting your time over, unless you like seeing George Carlin in small roles. As well as that, I exposed myself to Barbarella. The most peculiar part of the film is that the music seems so often totally divorced from everything else. It's a rather peculiar pile of events, unified only by a skimpy plot and a youthful and scantily clad Jane Fonda leaping on everything in sight. Aside from her amorous adventures, the most memorable scene for me was when she was sentenced to death by being sealed in a cage with hundreds of small birds - budgies and the like.

I dug through an old computer the other day, and ran across an account of a pre-Apocalypse-era battle I GM'd (badly) at uni. I can date the report to 2003/4 thanks to internal evidence. Oh, cunning of me, eh? Not really too interesting to you, though, so I shan't recount it all at length. The main points of the battle were as follows. We used an area 12' by 8', divided into two 12' by 4' strips. We had a designated attacker and defender, and the defender's had an HQ located in a fort my Granddad built for my brother, and which I had borrowed for the occasion. He still has it in his room: it's about 20" long on either side, although the gates aren't really quite wide enough for Chimera models and such, it made an impressive sight.

The events of the game suggest just why the chaps at GW formed the Apoc rules as they did. Our defenders didn't bother to occupy a network of defensive bunkers (and possibly not even the fort besides a single minor special character), and sallied forth to glorious combat. One wing of the attackers advanced so slowly that they took forever to get into combat. Only one player paid any heed to his objectives or to the cohesion and safety of his force. He ended the game on the verge of turfing the scant defenders of the fort out of their positions, so was probably a bit miffed! The fella representing critical reserves for the defender ambled off after turn 2, and the game stalled about turn five after six or seven hours of play. Heh! Then I seem to have gone off to console my then-fiancée who was upset about her post-graduate degree in Cultural Heritage Management. Two battles lost in one day! :-D

I must see if I can dig up some pictures from that battle. I know there are some extant from the era. Pictures of what I've been working on these last few days are right to hand, happily. First of all, there's a delightful Scotch from the Isle of Jura, Superstition, which by some happenstance, I bought for myself at the same time that my friend's sister bought it to congratulate him on passing his degree. So I feel I should congratulate him, too, and feel a bit abashed at buying myself Scotch. I'm sure we're both enjoying this stuff, as it's very "moreish", as the portion I have poured myself shows!

"Why, that's enough sippin' whiskey to bathe a man!" As well as noting that this Scotch is less ruddy than these pictures suggest (does Scotch get "red-eye"?), I'd also like to draw your attention to a friend's blog. He recently had an inspired idea, combining a beloved children's TV character with his Ogre army. I challenge you not to delight in the idea and in his skill with Greenstuff. Here, meanwhile, I have been distracting myself by fiddling about with some 1/72 plastics. I have a large box of these fellas, sat securely on a shelf over my sink, covering many periods. I can remember Romans and Gauls, Mediaeval Knights, Conquistadors and Aztecs, Seven Years War Austrians and Prussians, all sorts of Napoleonics (although mainly French and British), a fair whack of WWII vehicles and infantry, including several jeeps I purchased, intending to run a game based on that Michael Caine film all of you will recognise if I mention these clues: Winston Churchill, paratroopers.

But what I have been working on has been the ACW infantry I have here. I haven't decided what to do with these models yet. Well, I mean to use them for skirmish gaming, as I have only Johnny Reb and Billy Yank infantry. Nary a gun nor horseman is to be seen. I have elected to give Johnny Reb a variegated look, while Billy Yank is getting a somewhat uniform, er, uniform. I started off giving the Bluebellies an Ultramarine Blue jacket, but it struck me as a bit bright, so I have switched now to the Foundation Paint Fenris Grey. Pop some Leviathan Purple or Asurmen Blue Wash over that, and it's just about right. The trousers are Lightning or Ice Blue, I think. I don't intend to throw too many hours into producing these guys, and I always seem to produce somewhat manky-looking 1/72 stuff, no matter how hard I try, so these guys will just get some basic coats of paint then a few washes to tie everything together. Here's how they look so far. Until next time, dear reader!

The Joy of Lego

Well, at any rate, it's a handy material to use, if you're not quite sure about your right-angles and if you're running a little low on thicker plasticard. Since both of those apply to me, here's a set of vehicles I'm currently labouring on.

Things have ground to a temporary halt as far as regards gluing the Lego and the plasticard together. Polystyrene cement, excellent though it is, does not create a suitable bond. As I said before, I hope to get some superglue on Tuesday. Although given what's waiting for it, I may have exhausted it by Wednesday!

I think the set-up is pretty self-explanatory, but presumption makes fools of us all! I grabbed a load of Lego (or, as one says in America "a load of Legos"), and arranged them to form a six brick by twelve brick formation, then added height as appropriate. I've seen this done by many 40k modellers over the years. It has a side-benefit of giving the model a bit more heft than it otherwise would have. As you can see, I mean to make a total of five of these vehicles. I am unsure whether I should make them recce vehicles (Salamanders) or transport vehicles (uncovered Trojans). I'm sure I'll decide eventually. Suggestions welcome, as always! On another note the ebaying seems to be coming along quite nicely. I might get myself a nice bottle of Yamazaki out of these proceeds. ;-) For more details, do peruse this blog entry.

Um, oh, the sides of the vehicles above are 2mm plasticard, and the panels overlaid are from 0.5mm plasticard. The rivets are finely chopped (am I accidentally writing a recipe?) 1mm plasticard rod, again a widely-used method. I have a feeling I want to write more, but not quite now. So I may update this post or just make a new entry later on. Until then, sweet reader, I shall steal from the Bard, and say may flights of angels guard you! I actually only remember that because it's from the end of Rex Harrison's Doctor Doolittle. So my Shakespearian pretensions are exposed as naught! But the sentiment is sincere, see, sibilants aside. So long!