Columbian Guinea Pig Fever........

I've spent the last few days consigned to my bed. The reaction to the cats has subsided with the help of a HEPA air purifier, not cheap but cheaper than posting the cats back to the breeder. My chest has cleared but I think it opened me up to a vicious bout of something nasty with flu-like symptoms, which is I am glad to say are starting to dissipate.

The good news is that it's given me time to finish reading The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi. Bloody excellent read and thoroughly recommended to anyone who wants to write Sci Fi orientated rules, especially if you want to incorporate clones and neural intelligence/communication nets. There are potentially 4 gameable scenarios within the book though the attack on the Heirarch's Palace is gold dust and a must to play. I'm reminded in a small way of a Classic Traveller double adventure; Divine Intervention/Night of Conquest, Double Adventure 6.

At least I was well enough for us to enjoy a beautiful evening last night and whilst Heather took charge of the BBQ, I was able to pour over the first draft of Ambush Alley: Force on Force's futuristic/sci fi variant which Shawn kindly sent me to look at.

Sunset in The Shire

(click on picture for closer view)

The postie arrived with 100 Space Troopers (blame the W40K novels!) and 2 packs of Jet Bikes from Mike at The Scene along with some very nice low 'green' hills. On opening the package Heather says....."You buying a 15mm golf course" but agreed that they were well made, nicely finished and looked good on the tabletop (for 15mm Eastern Front etc).

The Space Troopers are well cast, robust miniatures, though the detail on some of the helmet faces aren't as crisp as they used to be. No worries, a portion of these guys are becoming WWW2 types with Peter Pig WW2 separate heads. The Jet bikes are great and I really like the 'Gimp' helmets worn by the riders. It's a shame only one of the three riders is firing a 'pistol' though, as he does makes for a very nice figure. Recommended! (pics to follow).

The Space Troopers are to fight Battlefront's new Soviet Assault Engineer-Sappers in an never-ending struggle for a decaying and destroyed city. I may, try to sculpt some hoods and masks on the Sappers to resemble the Forge World Chaos Renegade Militia, which I think are brilliant (especially the vehicle crew), sort of Texas Chanisaw Massacre meets W40K!

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