The Circus Maximus Project: A game or more of a "Frame of Mind?"

Do you covert the laurel wreath? Will you risk all in search of glory at the games? Not even put off by those horrific crash scenes in Ben Hurr .. OK then Avalon Hill's Circus Maximus is for you. It's time to take a the chariot of your choice for a trial race. He drives like a pro ... (see below):

Looking good, then ... Oh dear what could possibly have happened here then? Medic! (see below):

The course will be cruel and unforgiving (see above and below, just look at the number of charts):

Nevertheless a new batch of Colosseum hopefuls (fresh farm boys from the country) arrive (see below):

So I will probably need these extra crash markers painted then (see below):

But will it be ready in time for Xms? All I need do is get twelve 6mm chariot pieces painted, doesn't sound hard does it?

(Ahem, I suppose there is the small matter of reading the rules too)

Thirty Day Challenge No.III (The Big "T") Thucydides

Following on from the read of the Big H (Herodotus) earlier in the year chronologically next comes the big T (Thucydides), when the Greek world was brought to its knees in civil war, 'modern' in its brutality

Target at least "16 pages" a day (on average) so that the big T (Thucydides) "History of the Peloponnesian War" is read before Xmas Day 2013 (see below):

Three reading sources:

• Penguin Classic Big T (a nice handy pick and read size of book)
• Electronic (Free) Book iPhone Bookshelf (incredibly handy anywhere you need it volume)
• Landmark Big T (useful when the place names are confusing or previously unknown)

So far so good, and it is almost as exciting as eating the Xmas Calendar chocolates ;) 

Thirty Day Challenge No.II (Movember)

Following on from the TED talk "you can do pretty much anything for 30 days" I embarked on my second Thirty Day Challenge: Movember

No previous experience of wearing a moustache:
I once had a beard (for about a month) in my early thirties (just to shock the family when I returned home after a long trip, all I can say it was great shaving it off) but since then bar the occasional "forty eight hour weekend man-stubble" I have been a regular wet-shaving man.

Twenty eight days in and I'm itching, wondering where this wire brush came from under my nose, living like a monk, still surprised nobody has passed a remark on my striking resemblance to Tom Selleck (aka Magnum), but disturbingly several people have made passing references to John Cleese (Faulty Towers), Captain Mainwaring (Dad's Army) and Roger de Corcey (of Nookie the Bear fame).

The result after thirty days (see below): 

Oh well it's all for a good cause, promoting publicity about :

• Prostate Cancer
• Testicular Cancer
• Mental Health Issues

The aim is to fund research and drive away the stigma associate with the above, the latter I believe as important as the research. 

Note: Rest assured my third "Thirty Day Challenge" (which has already started) is more wargaming orientated ;)

Painting Tray (Cupboard Review)

What's in teh cupboard before Xmas to do?

The AFV collection (see above):

• 1/72 Italeri/Esci Hetzer (to make up a Command Decision ersatz panzerjaeger late-war company of three)
• 1/72 (notorious as big in scale) Skytrex 1944 Bren Carrier (to be the universal helper to my Paltoon 20 British PBI)

The "half completed" aeroplane collection (see above):

• 1/72 Westland Whirlwind (pain job and decals required)
• 1/72 De Haviland Mosquito (bomb and rocket racks to add, paint and decals required)

Repair jobs (see above):

• 1/48 Spitfire Vb (bits dropped off that need replacing)
• 1/72 Do 17 E/F (bits dropped off and upgrade to paint job)

Terrain Projects (see above):

• The "real water" effect, see interesting scenery box  

Kits lurking in other corners of the house (see above):

• 1/700 Fujimi HMS Hood
• Revell snap-together Millennium Falcon

Can the above be done before 2013 turns into 2014?
(On teh other hand need they all be?)

Renaissance Campaign Update

I returned to assess the state of affairs of my local Redcar Wargaming Club's Renaissance (Thirty Years War) campaign. As a free-lance mercenary general I am expected to drift in and out of tactical commands, but every now and then it is good so see the world from a strategic perspective.

The major news is that Vienna has fallen to a Protestant army which is a huge coup (see below, bottom left corner - those are not HRE counters):

But Protestant Prague itself finds itself on the cusp of falling to the mighty HRE siege-train arrayed around its walls (see below): 

All-in-all the HRE is coming off second best with the Protestants having more active pieces on the board, but there is still plenty of fighting to be done.

All I am interested in is a warm bed, sack of wine and purse of gold.

Expanding Science Fiction Fleet (Star Wars)

The latest addition from the Star Wars universe to my model collection comes in the form of a Republic Gunship (see below):

The snap together kit was a little fiddly in parts but overall is a lovely kit. A few bits need to be squeaked together and the side hull side ball turrets are cleverly but precariously attached (required a dab of super glue after I had a small accident with mine).

What I can do with it in wargaming sense remains another matter

Board Game: "War on Terror"

How do wargamers relax in the run up to Xmas. Surrounded by good company (fellow wargamers) and interesting material for future projects (see below, Air War, South Atlantic) they sit down and play "War on Terror", which to the uninitiated (me) seems like a game of Risk (see below):  

Anyway, I am "Mr Pink", intent on building up an "Evil Empire" whose aim is "World Domination" not hindered with any concept of scruples or morals (see below for the ominous collection of pink playing pieces):

I start with an interesting hegemony over Australasia from which I intend to expand my power-base through the Antarctic and Asia proper (see below):

I bloodlessly conquer the Antarctic (I mean how much resistance could those penguins realistic put up?) and eye up Asia proper and yes I realise I am making up new pseudo geographical terms (see below):  

My plan is going well, but sadly so is everybody else's (in particular the American (see below, top of photograph, all those red counters in high real-estate squares), so it is time to start attacking my neighbours (the green and blue players in my case) by fair means or foul (see below):

In a spectacular show of economic "uncommon-sense" the American (red) player becomes bankrupt (he should not have spent ALL his money, politicians of the present take heed) and becomes a minor terrorist player. What followed was then referred to as the "great American land grab", naked capitalism or colonialism, take your pick (see below): 

After suffering from a serious bout of  "the enemy from within" (other players using event cards to cause internal dissent in my glorious Empire) I decide to seize the moment and "Go for Broke!" and come oh so "close but yet so, so far away". I reached nine points but needed ten, for want of a favourable roll of the dice in South America (see below for the height of my Empire building):

As is the way with these game, I was savaged as but a "tall poppy" can be savaged (glorious in defeat), only to see the player nominated as "The Axis of Evil" by the "game spinner" (which seemed to be permanently stuck on 'pointing at blue' because of a 'crease in the game board') romp to victory acquiring the "oil of Texas" to build cities galore in North America.

An addictive little game that thankfully finished before 'last orders gentlemen please' otherwise we might well have been locked in the room overnight playing on, yes it was that addictive and pleasant an evening the only sad part was that it had to stop. I am already looking forward to the next game :)