Game Time…

These days my regular gaming fix is done at the computer, but not computer games, oh no, I still play traditional RPG but use the technology as an enabler. We use a virtual table top application called Fantasy Grounds to show the characters, maps, rule books, dice rolls and other cools stuff as we currently play Necropolis-2350, a Triple Ace Game using the Savage Worlds rule set. In addition to this we use a group voice application called Mumble to talk to each other on.

Playing this way allows a group of us to get together regularly without the hassle of travel also to have fellow gamers all over the place (currently it is London suburbs, Wales and Canada – but has previously included people from Belgium and Finland).

Even with this technology some of us do miss the extra non-verbal communication you get from a face-to-face game and the subtly it adds to the party interaction, so those of us that are near enough try to get together once and a while to play games in person.

This time we played a few new games that we varied in style and objective, but were all great fun.

Munchkin Quest – This is a dungeon crawl variant of the humorous card game that is maddening and hilarious in equal measures. You have the same sort of characters and monsters as are in the card game but it incorporates a more visual interlocking board that you can explore. We found it a little slow to pick up at the start, but we eventually got into the swing of things.

Red Dragon Inn – This is a great fun game full of humour. The premise of the game is that you are stereotypical adventurers who have finished beating up monsters in a dungeon and have retired to the Red Dragon Inn for a few celebratory drinks. The last one standing is the winner (we have heard a variant of the game is where you actually drink along with your characters – could get messy).

Pandemic – this is a fabulous co-operative game where you are a group of specialists out to attempt to prevent the spread of four diseases that threaten to become a pandemic and sweeping across the world. It is a real brain teasing strategy game that is very difficult to win – we just managed it with one card left.

We also played a fast and furious card game that was something like snap that really got our hearts racing.

The guys pointed me towards a great website that has a bunch of gaming inspired web channels called Geek and Sundry, here there is a channel called TableTop that is hosted by Wil Wheaton, where they review and play out various board games giving you an idea how they look and play before you buy. From this I have added a couple of games to my wish list – Forbidden Island, Fiasco and the Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

Climbing a mountain…

Sue has volunteered along with several of her work colleagues to participate in a physical endurance challenge for charity.

 

The company is Learning Tree International and their Tri-Challenge includes a 40 mile cycle ride around Mt Snowdon, climbing the Pyg track up the mountain and back down again to race in canoes across Lake Gwynant. Sue is planning to do the climb and the canoe event but not the bike ride as she can’t be trusted out on the roads.

The sponsorship will be split across three charities; Children with Cancer, Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation and the Pilgrims Hospices.

For my part I will be acting as support crew, driving them up to Wales and ferrying them around the events.

Training has been to walk across the hilly Ranmore Common from our house in a circular route and I must say I am certainly glad I am not going to do the challenge myself.

Go ride your bike…

The Prudential Ride London – Surrey 100 and the Surrey Classic bicycle races came through our village on Sunday 4^th August with the some 16,500 amateurs starting in the morning as part of the Surrey 100 and then later in the day the 150 so professionals came through as part of the Surrey Classic. Our village of Westcott is about 60 miles into the 100 mile course and is just before the challenging Box Hill stage. Somewhere amongst the amateurs was Boris Johnson – the mayor of London.

Harvest Time…

After a long cold winter and a poor spring we have eventually started to see some decent plant growing weather settle in for a while and the veggies in the garden are responding to the warmer temperatures providing us with some long awaited produce. We have dug all of the potatoes up even though they might have grown larger because the plants have been raided by a badger - we think (the clumsy brute has done as much damage by stomping through the crops as it did from digging up the tubers).

We had some early beans a while back and are now on to the main crops, also we have raised our onions and garlic with mixed results – the red onions are always a struggle with their tendency to bolt and the garlic suffered a little with the wet weather, some of it rotting off, but the white onions and shallots did quite well.

We have high hopes for the squashes and pumpkins that seem to now be doing well, and the new greenhouse is full of healthy looking tomatoes, chillies and even a few exotics such as a watermelon a regular melon and a couple of cape gooseberries.

We have enjoyed a couple of meals now where all of our veggies came from the garden including a roast on the weekend that included various types of beans, carrots, chard, broccoli and cauliflower, courgette and potatoes.

Costing up the price of the seeds, compost, tools and other materials used without even considering the labour effort we are never going to see a commercial return for our work, but in terms of the rewards in the satisfaction of growing and serving friends with our hand reared food, and the exercise we gain, then we are quids in.

More of wot I have seen…

StrauBenZee

This band played at Bertram Bees on Friday night to an enthusiastic audience. They play skiffle versions of well known pop songs including Walk of Life by Dire Straits, Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival blended together with I’m a Believer by the Monkees, Three Little Birds by Bo Marley and Nutbush by Ike & Tina Turner blended with Delilah by Tom Jones. The uniform for the band seems to be Hawaiian Shirt and linen suit with a hat, and the hats change with the songs – in the end half the audience ended up wearing a hat at some stage.

 

Ghost Town Showdown

We went to the small but perfectly formed Surrey Bluegrass Festival in Mickleham village on Saturday and saw plenty of banjos. One of the acts bowled us over, a three piece of youngsters who played some amazing original music and sang great harmonies and were called Ghost Town Showdown. They reminded me a little of Munford and Sons in their style and delivery.