Monday, October 30, 2006

From the Front Line


Okay, so we were bored.

A lament for Lucky Jim

Jim, my lad, you did just fine
Even for a humble mine
On the winds of change you'd drift
Whilst Varras always seemed miss
To us you never be "just a spore"
We'll remember you for ever more.

And a contribution from Jasper...

Lt. Varras you lucky man,
Soaring through the air.
Your spaceship crashed away you ran,
Those red blobs don't look friendly.

Lt. Varras you lucky man,
You keep the geneseed safe.
Dancing swiftly as you can,
Avoiding Lucky Jim.

Lt. Varras you lucky man,
The red blobs float the other way.
Your nimble feet - your electric fan,
You waft the floating menace.

Lt. Varras you lucky man,
There seems to be a noise.
A flash of claws - A glint from teeth,
Not so lucky now.


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Saturday, October 21, 2006

Westonbirt

Westonbirt Arboretum is just up the road from Bristol, and a favourite place of mine, especially during autumn. Alas, I was a week or so early and the full display of autumn colour had not quite begun.








Wednesday, October 18, 2006

From the front line

Well, the Battlewagon bits delivery turned up last week. Although annoyed by the additional customs charge, everything was as expected. I did make one mistake as I had not realised that Jump Packs are now two pieces so I had only ordered 3 whereas I thought it was going to be 6. Ah well, at least the Chaplain is now properly equipped and the Assault squad he leads is now up to seven troops (all 'legally' armed with bolt pistols and chainswords).
 
The Lascannon model will have to wait a little longer, as the marines I had left over wouldn't fit with the new pose, but the missile launcher is together.
 
So, a few new models to paint.  These were added to with the arrival of the Battle for Maccragge box set that I found on eBay. To be honest, this was a disappointment. The book is pretty flimsy and only A5 sized and the plastics are the worst mouldings I have ever seen from Games Workshop. Every model had bad mould lines, and the crashed ship scenery pieces almost needed carving out.
 
Although the scenery turned out to be pretty natty, and the marine squad is useful, I would recommend getting the full rule book on it's own instead. 
 
Still, another tactical squad of marines to add to the collection, even if a little blocky. This now gives me ample troops to field two or three tactical squads all armed with bolters, plus a Devastator squad. More than enough for most battles :) I spent most of yesterday evening putting the marines and scenery together.  Haven't managed the Tyranid troops yet - maybe tonight!
 
The next thing to get, which really will have to wait until more models are painted, will be a Scout Squad armed with sniper rifles. These are a very cheap Troops selection for the army, and I like the idea of being able to infiltrate a squad to take and hold a key area of cover that can provide some useful covering fire and threaten light armour. In addition, the sergeant can always be upgraded to carry a teleport homer to allow Terminators to deploy close by in later turns. Since this squad is likely to consist of either a stack of fire power, or the most heavily armed close combat troops available, this could be a useful tactic. Even if only to worry the pants off my opponent!
 
Oh, and finally, and the pilot from the Maccragge boxed set will make an excellent Igor to accompany Archie...now all I need to do is create some rules for them.
 
Current wish list, (cheapest first!)
 
3 jump packs
1 Terminator with assault cannon
1 Marine Scout squad boxed set (4 scouts with sniper rifles and 1 with missile launcher)
1 Land Speeder boxed set (with assault cannon and heavy bolter)
1 Crusader Land Raider
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

A small step up...

I had completely forgotten that several months ago I put together the justification for my being promoted to the next grade up - basically I had to show that I was already doing that role.
 
Anyway, Friday last week my boss called me aside and gave me the letter saying that I had been successful!
 
Even better was the very slight pay rise that I wasn't expecting :)
 
Apart from now having to live up to expectations, I now qualify for a bigger share of the pie when it comes to the performance-based bonus next time around...but the day job won't be changing.