(no subject)
Thursday:
Fencing again at Saxon. Had fun chatting to Mel and Kate about Civil War re-enactment. On the fencing front, not sure (it's only been two weeks at Saxon) but I'm sure the opposition was tougher when we were there over the Summer. Maybe I've just had a good couple of weeks, they've been off form or maybe fencing twice a week at Poly vs once at Saxon is starting to make a difference. Well, it'll be interesting finding out.
Friday:
Jo's Birthday drinks at the Marlborough Head. Interestingly Kate B turned up - haven't seen her in months, ever since she joined Accenture. Lots of head shaking about the table as we started trading consulting war stories :-)
Saturday:
Down to the Excel Centre for Salute (got reminded the night before at the pub that not everyone on the Team Sheep list is a long-term wargamer when Kate said she'd been wondering what the rest of us were talking about on the list!). Haven't been to this event in a while but the new venue is much better but the location sucks or, rather, access to it via the DLR sucks.
Still, nice to wander around and admire all the display games and even took part in a demo game of the Battlestar Galactica collectible card game. My initial impression: not bad at all, especially given I'm not generally a big CCG fan. Quite like the basic premise of players vying for control of the Fleet and needing to balance competition (to control the fleet) versus co-operation (to deal with the inevitable Cylon threats).
One nice touch: demo players got a convention exclusive Starbuck card:
Spent a lot of time at the laser tag stands, having been guided there by Tim who also introduced me to the guys there. I'd love to give this a try to see how it compares with airsofting (last time I tried this was when they were still running games at the Trocadero!). Alas, I now have a clash with Dropzone, the big annual event - there's a major ECWS muster that same weekend. What a choice: P-90s or pikes? :-)
Interesting too to see two English Civil War groups with displays. Amusingly, despite openly stating I'd signed up with the Norfolke Trayned Bandes, both tried to recruit me. OK, Blew Regiment is a Sealed Knot, as opposed to ECWS, regiment but Hazzard's Company or Artillerie is ECWS. Ah well, it's another option if I get bored of pike :-)
Picked up a few Osprey books too: The New Model Army, The English Civil War Armies and South-East Asian Special Forces. Surprised to note that Singapore only gets a few paragraphs and no photos or colour plates - WTF? Still, better than Brunei who weren't mentioned at all!
Also nice to catch up with a bunch of people too, including jmswallow, the guys from the LOTNA and others (one of the guys at the Leisure Games table recognised me!). Anyway, helped Dave and doughnut_doney load up the car and caught a lift with them to the pub for the LOTNA meet but, alas, could only stay for a quick Coke as I'd arranged to meet Liz for dinner - she was keen to get her hands on my Galactica DVDs.
Sunday:
Supermarket run, caught up on Doctor Who and Numb3rs, ordered new Springsteen CD out on Monday and scared myself by costing up desired PC upgrades. Ouch. Also made the bookings for Malta and then discovered half of us seem to go by middle names or variants thereof. Says something when my name seemed to be one of the more straighforward ones...
Fencing again at Saxon. Had fun chatting to Mel and Kate about Civil War re-enactment. On the fencing front, not sure (it's only been two weeks at Saxon) but I'm sure the opposition was tougher when we were there over the Summer. Maybe I've just had a good couple of weeks, they've been off form or maybe fencing twice a week at Poly vs once at Saxon is starting to make a difference. Well, it'll be interesting finding out.
Friday:
Jo's Birthday drinks at the Marlborough Head. Interestingly Kate B turned up - haven't seen her in months, ever since she joined Accenture. Lots of head shaking about the table as we started trading consulting war stories :-)
Saturday:
Down to the Excel Centre for Salute (got reminded the night before at the pub that not everyone on the Team Sheep list is a long-term wargamer when Kate said she'd been wondering what the rest of us were talking about on the list!). Haven't been to this event in a while but the new venue is much better but the location sucks or, rather, access to it via the DLR sucks.
Still, nice to wander around and admire all the display games and even took part in a demo game of the Battlestar Galactica collectible card game. My initial impression: not bad at all, especially given I'm not generally a big CCG fan. Quite like the basic premise of players vying for control of the Fleet and needing to balance competition (to control the fleet) versus co-operation (to deal with the inevitable Cylon threats).
One nice touch: demo players got a convention exclusive Starbuck card:
Spent a lot of time at the laser tag stands, having been guided there by Tim who also introduced me to the guys there. I'd love to give this a try to see how it compares with airsofting (last time I tried this was when they were still running games at the Trocadero!). Alas, I now have a clash with Dropzone, the big annual event - there's a major ECWS muster that same weekend. What a choice: P-90s or pikes? :-)
Interesting too to see two English Civil War groups with displays. Amusingly, despite openly stating I'd signed up with the Norfolke Trayned Bandes, both tried to recruit me. OK, Blew Regiment is a Sealed Knot, as opposed to ECWS, regiment but Hazzard's Company or Artillerie is ECWS. Ah well, it's another option if I get bored of pike :-)
Picked up a few Osprey books too: The New Model Army, The English Civil War Armies and South-East Asian Special Forces. Surprised to note that Singapore only gets a few paragraphs and no photos or colour plates - WTF? Still, better than Brunei who weren't mentioned at all!
Also nice to catch up with a bunch of people too, including jmswallow, the guys from the LOTNA and others (one of the guys at the Leisure Games table recognised me!). Anyway, helped Dave and doughnut_doney load up the car and caught a lift with them to the pub for the LOTNA meet but, alas, could only stay for a quick Coke as I'd arranged to meet Liz for dinner - she was keen to get her hands on my Galactica DVDs.
Sunday:
Supermarket run, caught up on Doctor Who and Numb3rs, ordered new Springsteen CD out on Monday and scared myself by costing up desired PC upgrades. Ouch. Also made the bookings for Malta and then discovered half of us seem to go by middle names or variants thereof. Says something when my name seemed to be one of the more straighforward ones...