You're Going Home In A Larrey Ambulance!

 I'm 3 weeks into the working year and already the number of audio books I've gone through is quite astounding.

It's been mostly 80s music memoirs with varying levels of entertainment:

Trevor Horn's 'Adventures In Modern Recording' was one I'd looked forward to, but which was actually pretty boring. How can someone with the Trevor's 'chops' end up with such a bland memoir?

'Ticket To The World' by Martin Kemp was a surprisingly fun listen, with his tales of the Blitz Kids and his time in Spandau Ballet putting a different spin on the early to mid 80s.

Finally, 'Electronically Yours' by Human League founder Martyn Ware was particularly interesting as it was set against the backdrop of my own home city and brought back many memories from my early years and teens. Witty, irreverent and sometimes a little bitchy.

I then went on to listen to 'Nailing It' by U.S comedian Rich Hall, whose dry wit and pithy insights into the modern American Dream, I always enjoy. A brilliant listen, but I think there could have been a bit more 'oomph'.

Yesterday, I finished 'You're Going Home In A F*cking Ambulance' by former football hooligan and ICF 'Top Boy' Cass Pennant. I cannot get my head around the whole soccer violence thing, but having known a fellow wargamer who was also in a top 'Firm' I thought that the book would give me enlightenment on one of the few things about the 80s I don't celebrate. A good listen, but I still don't 'get it'. I am just glad that I went with the youth tribe I did, rather than being 'one of the lads'.

Today, I think I'll either catch up on my Rivers Of London series or perhaps a John Mortimer book, but not one of the Rumpole series, because you can't beat the 80s TV series with Leo McKern.

Other than my normal work, I've been commissioning three new ranges of fantasy figures for my Satanic Panic MIniatures project and getting ready to launch a 4th. This year will see 15 Trolls, 20 Orcs, 20 Dwarves and 18 Lizardmen, all with seperate weapons and shields, but not with the usual seperate heads. I'm expecting the first two of the new ranges to arrive in the next week.

The Trolls are due to be launched next week on Kickstarter, with a two month gap between the next ranges.

Now, to my gaming...

I confess, I'm not finding much that I actually want. When I say not much, I refer to the periods rather than numbers of troops. My painter is working through a couple of thousand ECW (massed battle and skirmish) and Samurai as we speak and is doing a grand job, but I have been trying to make a list - a definitive list - of the stuff I fancy playing. I am still quite set on something naval, but I cannot decide between WW1 or WW2, further confused by desire to revisit the Navwar fast play Renaissance naval rules. The Navwar Philipine Sea or Jutland sets are very tempting indeed. I love the look of 1/3000 naval battles where the sheer distances between fleets can be represented in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

I'm still hankering for some Cold War action too, but I am not certain whether to go with 1/300 or 15mm scale. A division in 1/300, particularly an airmobile force looks awesome, but the 15mm stuff looks equally impressive. The one thing I am finally set on, is the War Of The Triple Alliance, which has been on my gaming rader as you may recall for a couple of years or more. 

I love the idea of a major war which has not been done to death and which has some interesting uniforms  and plenty of bloodshed. I believe that it was the bloodiest war in history based on percentages, with Paraguay losing an estimated 70% of its male population . I'm hoping that the first of the 3 books I have ordered arrives today.

Apparently Perry Miniatures are putting out army sheets for the war for use with their V&F fast play rules, so this is another reason to take on this war. My painter is also quite excited at the the thought of this project. I am looking at 800 - 1000 pieces which will give a good looking and large game.

I'm looking at also knocking together a fantasy army using some of my own models, but that is the last in line.

Beyond that, I have very little which is calling to me hobby-wise.

Having heard that Grand Manner are closing this year, I placed an order for a few od bits I wanted to complete my English 15th-17th century terrain collection in the shape of a covered market square, low arch bridge and saxon stone cross. 

On Tuesday, 20 feet of Hudson & Allen road sections arrived, courtesy of a gaming friend in the U.S, which will replace my Last Valley road sections.

I'd originally not planned to go to Vapnartak on Feb 5th, but, as they have a tabletop sale and because I need about 36 ECW figures to polish off my army, having reorganised a couple of units, the Memsahib and I will be popping up to York for the morning.

Right, I better go and earn my daily crust...

TTFN