Prepared for This

So, Ireland is in a Status Red weather warning today thanks to hurricane Ophelia and I find myself off work due to the store being closed. Even though we’re on the East coast so there will be some dissipation in the storm’s strength as it crosses the country, I’m still expecting the satellite to go down along with the broadband and maybe even the electricity. Thankfully, as a certain Irish actor might say, “what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you,” and I’m all stocked up on books and board games to get me through.

Indeed, while I was out yesterday, Laoise asked Méabh if we could play the next year of the Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle today if it turned out that I was off work. Pretty cool that I live in a house of tabletop enthusiasts. Anyway, see you after my date with Ophelia. Hopefully nothing too unexpected happens.

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New Comic Book Day Shenanigans

It’s Wednesday, and that can only mean one thing, NEW COMIC BOOKS! For once I was actually able to get to Dublin on release day and pick up a few choice books. Meabh has finally taken the hint that she’s been getting off some friends and started to read Saga, so I picked her up the first of the collected editions. It should give her something to tie her over until the next issue of The Librarians comes out in a few weeks.

For myself I picked up the latest issue of Supergirl, issues #2 and #3 of Dawn of War III, Kingsman: The Red Diamond #2, DC Bombshells Unite #3 and the latest Wonder Woman. Unfortunately though, I left it until Friday last week to pick up Comic Books, and with Octocon over the weekend, I’ve built up quite the backlog of reading. That said, I have the house to myself tonight and in the morning, so I’ll have plenty of time to get stuck in.

Of course, any trip to Dublin can’t be limited to just popping into one shop. I also visited Games Workshop to pick up a rather large selection of paints for Meabh before hopping over to Gamer’s World to put my name to a copy of Dead of Winter: Warring Colonies seeing as I hope to organise I big game of it for Halloween. I also found time to pop into Chapters’ second hand book section to pick up Omega by Jack McDevitt, The Majipoor Chronicles by Robert Silverberg and Acorna’s Quest by Anne McCaffrey & Margaret Ball. For once three books that I’d sort of been planning to pick up.

Obsessed With Android Games

If you’ve been following me on twitter over the last week or so you’ll have noticed I’ve been playing quite a lot of DC Legends. I downloaded the app while I was in hospital and have gotten into it in a big way. It’s no surprise really as I’ve found great enjoyment in other hero collection games (Soul Hunters, Idle Heroes etc.) and DC Legends is a pretty solid offering in the genre. In truth though, this is all part of a renewed interest in gaming on my Android devices. I’ve played, and set aside, the likes of Clash of Clans and Boom Beach in the past, but I’m looking to find other games to delve into at the moment. The odd thing is that I don’t really want a static game (one that every play is just more of the same) but at the same point, I don’t want a game that forces me to be constantly logging in to get the most of it. With Soul hunters and DC Legends (my main two games) I’ve come to a point where I can log in for a few minutes here and there to keep things going, and that’s really where I want to get to with any other game I try. Of course, all this will come with a regular ‘space usage’ warning from my tablet in spite of me moving things over to the SD card. Anyway, here’s hoping for plenty more exciting Android gaming; if only 16-year-old, PC gaming Seán could see me now!

Literary Indulgences

Last week I was a bit under the weather and missed the September meeting of my local book club, so today I finally got around to picking up the latest read. In my absence the group, which I gather included two new members along with some returnees from summer holidays, chose The Adversary: A True Story of Monstrous Deception by Emmanuel Carrére. While we’ve generally stayed away from non-fiction in the club so far, I’m not surprised something like this was chosen as there have been murmurs about reading a non-fiction for the past few meetings. I can’t say it’s something I would have chosen myself, but then again I joined the book club to read more books that I wouldn’t have given the time of day otherwise, so I’m looking forward to giving it a go – it’s pretty short anyway.

Of course, I couldn’t pick up just one book while I was in Waterstones – The Adversary was part of the Buy One Get One Half Price deal so I couldn’t resist adding a second. In that capacity I picked up Lost Boy by Christina Henry. I’ve previously read and enjoyed Alice by Henry so this is one I’m definitely  looking forward to, though I’ll probably read Red Queen by the same author before indulging in this new one. On my way to the till I happened to notice Simply the Quest by Maz Evans and remembering that Laoise had enjoyed Who Let the Gods Out? I felt there wasn’t any harm in adding that to the list, but Oh Dear!, it too was Buy One Get One Half Price. With some restraint I limited myself to adding just one more title to my growing shopping list; They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera. I’ve seen it in a few emails and the like over the past few weeks so I figured it might be worth giving it a go.

Countdown to Octocon

I’ll be heading to my first Octocon this weekend and I’m really looking forward to it I must say. The Guest of Honour this year is none other than Dan Abnett who has written for some of my favourite franchises (Warhammer 40k, Guardians of the Galaxy, Aquaman) so I’m really hoping I get the chance to meet him. I’ve also set myself the challenge of reading books by as many of the authors that will be present as possible this week. I finished The Call by Peadar O’Guilin late last night and am currently making headway with Roses in Amber: A Beauty and the Beast Story by C.E. Murphy. Thoroughly enjoying what I’ve read so far. The question is, do I go on and read something by Mr. Abnett next?

Praise the Sun!

It’s been a while since I occasioned to update this blog, something I’ve been meaning to do over the last few days. I suppose the biggest thing that’s happened over the past few months is that I finally got my hands on Dark Souls: The Board Game from Steamforged Games. For those who aren’t aware, the game got stuck in a bit of a shipping mire, and eventually arrived here in Ireland three months later than I’d hoped. Thankfully it was well worth the wait. Everyone I’ve played it with has thoroughly enjoyed the experience and we’ve even managed to defeat the supplied Mega Boss, so all-in-all a really good game. And if you fancy it, check out my Dark Souls: The Board Game review over on Geek Ireland.

 

Getting There

Back in January I decided to set myself the goal of assembling and painting 2,500 pts. of White Scar space marines for Warhammer 40k. I’m nowhere close to that at the moment but yesterday I managed to field a 100 Power Points force of assembled models for my first game of 8th Edition and that came to 2,003 pts. Frankly it was a relief to see that I have gotten that far, and many of the models I used were actually over 50% painted (nearly all painted in terms of larger vehicles.) I’m feeling pretty confident that I’ll be able to get the rest finished by the end of the year.

In terms of the battle, I came away with a lucky win. My opponent forgot to field an entire unit of chaos space marines which left me with a nearly 500 pts. advantage and I was able to sweep through most of what he had. That and I had some pretty lucky rolls when it came to Overwatch and 6+ saves. I’ll take the victory though as it was an introductory game for me and I’d no idea what any of my stuff did. Also, in keeping with White Scar fluff, I chose an enemy character as my quarry and managed to successfully eliminate him with my three Land Speeders. For the Emperor and the Khan!