FALLEN DRAGON

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I'm currently reading FALLEN DRAGON by Peter F Hamilton. It's an absorbing read. Grimy with real world future technology yet set on the expanse of a Space Opera stage.

The idea of intersetllar asset-stripping corporations protected by their own militaries has a certain resonance at this time, given the government sanctioned asset stripping going on in local authorities the length and bredth of the UK.

Imagine, a colonised rock, which some anonymous accountant has declared to be uneconomical, being forcibly stripped of all salvageable assets. Multiply that by hundreds as man's endeavours to carve out a toehold on and colonise new worlds is reduced to a bottom line. Plenty of scope for role-playing, tabletop battles and a mini campaign with what are essentially corporate vikings.

Anyway, good read. Has me hooked and making the daily commute something to look forward to.

Cheers

Mark

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Sci Fi Reading: The Cole Protocol

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If you want a cracking old school Sci Fi read with lots of wargames potential, pick up a copy of Halo: The Cole Protocol by Tobias S. Bucknell.

The sixth novel set in the Halo universe,  I couldn't put this book down once I began reading and finished the 358 pages in a single day. Don't worry if you are not a fan of Halo, or have not read any other books in the series, it stands alone in it's own right as a worthy piece of Science Fiction writing.

There are asteroid colonies, space battles, stealth ships, insurrectionsists, independants, smugglers, special forces, orbital drop troopers, aliens by the bucket load and of course the ubiquitous Halo Spartans. Kimball Kinneson and the Galactic Patrol would have been right at home among these pages and could have been transplanted into the story without missing a beat.

 Without giving too much away, the Cole Protocol is a UNSC directive to ensure that navigation data leading to Earth and the Inner Colonies does not fall into the hands of the alien Covenant forces.

On the rim of the Outer Colonies, in an independant colony hiding in the trail of a gas giant, one man has a nav. chip that contains data that could lead the aliens to earth. The smugglers want it, the Independants want it, the aliens want it. Lieutenat Jacob Keyes, a platoon of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST) and the stealth frigate, UNSC Midsummer Night find themselves in an unequal battle to recover the data and forestall an alien invasion.

For an in depth summary of the novel including plot spoilers visit Halopedia (click here). If you are a Halo fan, note that some Halo diehards see The Cole Protocol as playing a bit loose with the canon, but as Bungie have been doing that for years anyway.......

Sad I know, but rather than stuff the suitcase with novels I also took the latest beta version of Ambush Alley Games' upcoming Tomorrow's War rules with me on hols. I wanted to thoroughly familiarise myself with the systems whilst I was relaxed, with no other pressures or distractions and with plenty of time to spare.

As a consequence, as I read The Cole Protocol I easily found myself visualising it more as part of the Tom.War 'verse. Not only that, but I visualised the action in the book, and there's plenty of it, as Tom.War tabletop games with 15mm figures. This was helped along not a little by the not quite Spartan figure on the book cover reminding me of some new Federal Army figures heading our way in September from Khurasan Miniatures.

So, I drafted up several scenarios based on episodes from the book, mostly written for Tom.War with the new Federal Army minis in mind (as ODST'ish proxies) and will share these with you over the coming week.

Cheers

Mark

HALO: First Strike

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I blame that Jon fella at GZG. Those all new New Israelis, got me thinking about painting some up as all new HALO Spartans. Like I need more Spartans! Between the GZG New Israelis and Critical Mass Augmented Drop Troops I have enough, surely I have enough.

Picked up two HALO inspired novels by Eric Nyland, HALO: First Strike and HALO: Fall of Reach. I expected little more than "good train reads", but have really enjoyed First Strike, which has also provided several scenario ideas. It's actually made me look forward to the morning train journey!

I do still have issues with Spartans - Earth's ultimate warriors - called Fred and Linda, but First Strike has been a cracking read so far. Cortana the AI of the XBox game gets a very meaty role in this book. I'm very impressed with how Nyland has developed her AI character through exploring the technology that makes her possible. Overall this would make a brilliant Sci Fi movie.


Cheers
Mark
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I Have Mostly Been Reading.......Mass Effect: Revelation

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I'm currently reading MASS EFFECT: Revelation by Drew Karpyshyn. Modern Sci Fi can sometimes be tortuous to read and best done in some darkened cloister beacuse it feels like a badass hangover. Not so MASS EFFECT: Revelation, instead I found it easy going and a good read for the train. It's scarily engrossing. I passed two stops without noticing and the train pulled into Aberdeen in a blink of an eye as a result.

You don't have to know the MASS EFFECT universe to enjoy the book, and I'm thankful that it doesn't try to force it by overloading your brain cortexes with leaden descriptions of everything. Certainly having played MASS EFFECT on the XBOX360 to the point where it was going to be cited as the other party in a divorce, I probably am enjoying the book more because I'm familiar with the visual imagery.

The storyline revolves around an attack on a research station by Mercs and the resulting search for a missing scientist. It does fill in the back story of MASS EFFECT as it goes along and provides a decent prequel to the game.

It's by no means in the same league as Forever War or Starship Troopers, but it's an enjoyable military Sci Fi read nevertheless and has given me some plot ideas for a couple of Sci Fi skirmish games.

Cheers
Mark
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I Have Mostly Been Reading.......Contact Harvest

Bit of a relapse and back in bed for a while today, as I have been really struggling for air in my lungs once again.

Never mind, make the best and take the opportunity to start CONTACT HARVEST by Jospeh Staten.

Set in the HALO universe, it covers a multitude of themes including an internal struggle between the UNSC and insurrectionists and the first battle between man and the alien Covenant on the agricultural colony world of Harvest.

From the very first page CONTACT HARVEST had me hooked. Don't worry if you haven't played the game or simply just not a fan of the HALO 'verse, this book stands on it's own two feet. It's not just immensely believable military Sci Fi, it's also a superb read.

As an author Jospeh Staten is easily on a par with Alan Dean Foster. If there can only be one HALO movie, I want CONTACT HARVEST to provide the inspiration for the script.

Shame about the relapse, though it's been a wild & pissy sort of day, quite out of character with the rest of the week and the sort of day where being in bed isn't such a bad thing. I'm glad that last night we took advantage of the warm evening to walk in the local forest and amble along the old 'Kings Highway' (pictured below).

The Kings Highway (click on picture for larger image)

Roman Legions, Pictish tribes, Edward Longshanks, Covenanters, Jacobites & Redcoats, Boswell and Johnston all travelled this road. The sense of history within this church of trees is compelling. If you want to see ghosts, this is where you conjur them.

Cheers
Mark

I Have Mostly Been Reading.......The Last Colony

I have to thank the Master Chef for sending me what have turned out to be two great reads, both from the same author...The Last Colony and The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi.

A major and unexpected downside of introducing the kittens has been that I have quite unexpectedly been increasingly debilitated in the evenings by an astmatic allergic reaction to them.

The only respite has been to retire to bed and lie on my side till the rasping in my chest subsides. The upside has been that it's been a perfect opportunity to read these books.

It's been a long time since I've read a book that I couldn't put down and the The Last Colony is such a book. It's a well written, intelligent and entertaining space opera.

Our main protagonisti being a war veteran turned colonial administrator presented with an opportunity to start a new colony on a newly charted planet. Only, it's a strange mix of colonists, the equipment in the manifest is antiquated and supplies in the stores don't add up. When they make the jump into hyperspace they come out in uncharted space and are faced with landing on an uncharted world. And that's only the first of many interesting and thoughtful twists in the story.

Bloody excellent, it turned out that Last Colony is the third and last of a series of novels by John Scalzi which explore interstellar politics and warfare through the eyes and experience of the principal characters who tie the stories together.

I'm about half way through The Ghost Brigades and enjoying it just as much. It starts with a bang and a subtle but exciting twist in the storyline. Basically, two alien species have been fighting each other for 30 years but now joined forces to wipe out mankind with the help of a renegade human scientist whose field of expertise is DNA.

The 'ghost brigades' are the Colonial Defence Forces elite. DNA engineered militarised clones given the consciousnesses of the old and dead. Born again as fully grown adults without memories or moral self, they can be given the jobs ordinary human soldiers with life experiences, hopes and aspirations would baulk at.

An interesting premise for Sci Fi wargames' human troop types and opens an intresting debate on what 'human' soldiers would be like in the future!

Cheers
Mark