Category: Island Life

November Rain

On By NuadaIn Blogging, Island Life, RPG, Terrain, WIPLeave a comment

Well, we’ve had a break in the rain here, and it’s been gorgeous.

No, that’s not the Lonely Mountain in the centre, that’s Mount Baker 116km away peaking up over the San Juan Islands. The picture was taken in a Garry Oak meadow that’s ready for the rains. And yes, 116km. There’s a plinth nearby with the measurement.
Sorry for the over exposure. The white below the mountains in the distance is thick, thick fog that flows into the Straits of Juan de Fuca and has nicely stayed away for some sunny days

On the gaming front I’ve finished my wire fencing, and also put together some 4Ground barbed wire barricades. The fencing has turned out okay, but when I need more I’ll be building them a bit differently. I’ll probably use skewers in MDF as balsa is just too flimsy. I’m happy enough with them, considering the time and energy involved but they’ll be touched up sometime.

The wire fences are done for now. I’ll probably weather the wire later and dress up the base more, but they do the trick and it’s time for me to finish getting bigger piece of terrain finished

I’ve also noticed that my shortening RPG blog list on this site is no aberration.  Monsters and Manuals, a great RPG blog, has decided to stop blogging. Dungeon of Signs (who created some great adventures) did so about a year ago. Many of the blogs that I enjoyed in the OSR community (a community centered around the return to an older style of play or “Old School Renaissance” in RPGs) seem to be going dark. Now, I know that people say that 10 years is the lifespan of an average blog, but as blogging is relatively new, I’m not sure how much I trust that data set. I think it in the OSR world, it has more to do with acrimonious debate and incivility. The debate tends to be about things ranging from gender-roles in game worlds to what Saint Gygax wrote (seriously, to some people everything in the first editions is sacrosanct). There seems to be increasing polarity, and that is being coupled with RPG blogs being used less to share interesting ideas in the hobby and more to  reinforce how others are having BADWRONGFUN and that they alone hold the answer to how to have fun as is proper.

Personally, I’ve avoided reading blogs that focus on debate, choosing to frequent blogs that share an interesting take on a particular narrative or rules situation, or neat adventure hooks and so on.  Monsters and Manuals had the great idea of a world that rotates slowly and nights last hundreds of years. The edges of darkness would be full of strife with creatures from the darkness running rampant while nomadic cultures would rediscover old ruins when they once again returned to the light. Great stuff and really thought provoking. So, it’s sad to see blogs that come up with gems that you can chew on go dark. It’s also sad to see people lose faith in each other and merely use the Internet as a medium for attack and not discourse or support.

The online wargaming community certainly has its share of characters and opinions, but in my limited experience, it seems to be far more about sharing the joy of the hobby than to bash others. I think that’s why the list of wargaming blogs I’m following is steadily increasing (and if you have blog suggestion, please pass it on).

So, if you’re feeling offended when you read a blog post and want to write something nasty, think twice. Instead, keep on gaming and sharing stories, and pictures and your crazy project ideas. I know my lead pile needs more reasons to keep growing.

Now, back to the rain…

 

Croup (There it is!) – with apologies to Tag Team

On By NuadaIn Blogging, Island Life, WAT, WW2Leave a comment

Note: for those reading this blog on email, the pictures are a little large. It may be easier to see this on the site itself: Croup

So it is well and truly the wet season on the island. A week of fog broken by endless rain. Some clearing in strong winds. Repeat.

7am in my neighbourhood, no murderers lurking but lots of foghorns going in the distance

The trees are turning and the temperature slowly cooling. My hobby room is poorly insulated, and though it has an electric heater, has been less welcoming. This has been compounded by the croup. Parenting isn’t something I mention much on this blog as I intend to keep the media presence of my family as low as possible until everyone is of age to make their own (responsible) choices. So you won’t see photos or hear much about the clan. Bellyaching, however, is fair game.

Misery loves company, and let me tell you, croup is misery. For those who haven’t experienced it, croup is an upper respiratory tract infection that in kids causes coughing attacks. It is worse at night and well, the coughing can be brutal as it is continuous and impairs getting oxygen into little bodies. As a parent, this means little sleep and much stress. I haven’t been able to do much game-related in a week of sickness. It seems as if we have turned a corner so there should be more posting shortly. Next up will be another RPG play report followed by some AARs.

I shall leave you with week-old pictures of a WAT action that Lucius and I played. The first few fights were Soviets vs Germans. Then we switched up and did Brits vs the same King Tiger and Panther combo. Note: A King Tiger and Panther vs 3 Achillies is a really fast, fun match, though Lucius may disagree. He had recently painted up the King Tiger and I don’t think it lasted longer than 3 rounds in any of the 4 games we played. After the first match my fingers failed and I have sadly no good pictures. So enjoy the first fatal outing of the King Tiger below:

The first battle – 2 x T34/85s, and lend lease Sherman vs a King Tiger and Panther
The battlefield (same as last week). Once again the Cigar Box Battle Mat looks more brown and grey than in real life. The tank tracks from the previous battles show up quite well. Lucius is grabbing dice that will fail him utterly. I liked those dice that day.
Lend-lease Sherman moving up
King Tiger from a T34. That is a big beast…
The lead T34/85 opens fire at the big German tank
And a second T34/85 joins in and ends it, firing past the Biergarten
The end of an unlucky cat
T34/85 tries to surprise the Panther. Great positioning but I had forgotten that the main gun was unloaded. The cat got away and…
Blew up my Sherman, which burns as the Panther races to a better position. My T34/85s are in the distance. One is behind the house line in the top of the picture
Checking sight lines – you can see the laser from the Panther trying to get a bead on one of my tanks
The end for the Panther. A great fun, and fast game using our house rules for WAT.

 

Summer Time Gifts

On By NuadaIn Island Life1 Comment

Well my friends, it has been a busy summer, but I have been blessed with kind friends and family. First, the Prussians and French mentioned earlier (which will be shown more fully in a future post), and now two more kindnesses.

The first is a gaming cabinet made by my cousin who lives over the mountains (not suggesting that he’s over the hill, but merely lives on the other side of the Coastal and Rocky Mountain chains from me).

The beautiful cabinet

The cabinet is wonderful. The hardware is all brass, and the drawers are large (I have over eighty 28mm figures in one with room to spare). Plus the drawer pulls are library-style, so I can slip in a label once I’ve figured out what is going where. The long drawer at the top holds my tools, and the small bins above are holding flock, paint, pins, etc. Behind the top levels is a space for an air-compressor, so I can have it chugging away as I use the very top of the cabinet (or sit nearby at my workstation). The picture does not do it justice. It is a wonderfully kind gift and speaks more about my cousin’s big heart and woodworking skill than any worthiness on my part!

The next gift is smaller and shiny.

Loverly Lapis!

One of my good friends picked me up some lapis lazuli dice from PAX. They are gorgeous dice and have a very satisfying weight. Plus, they’re pretty!

So there you have it. Kindness is alive and well! I am posting this not to show off (well, a maybe a little), but more to thank my friends and family.

Thank you!

 

Summer Time – VI Style

On By NuadaIn Island Life2 Comments

So you may have noticed a drop in posts. It is Summer here and I am recently returned from Hornby Island, an island in the Strait of Georgia.

This post will have some pictures, as I try to show you all what some of the West Coast Lifestyle is like.

To get to Hornby Island, you need to go from Vancouver Island, to Denman Island (by the longest cable ferry in the world), and then via another ferry to Hornby itself. Some take boats to the one marina at Ford’s Cove, while others seek anchorage in Tribune Bay (but only in the Summer before the winds shift and the bay becomes exposed).

We are lucky enough to have family property (and family residents) there, as the population of the island swells up (from about 1,000 normally to over 10,000 in the Summer), so space is at a premium. This is somewhat at odds with the reclusive hippie/artist lifestyle on the island, but it’s an important money making time for the locals. There are markets held in a forest near the community centre twice a week:

Market in a cleared woodland

The markets are great. Everything from snacks to local produce, art (from ironwork to quilts), to massages and haircuts. As Hornby has a great music festival and still has a free-living lifestyle, the markets now have community health initiatives stands(sexual health and naloxone instruction by paramedics) which is great as there are no resident doctors on the island.

The community centre near the market itself has a nice performance venue and an interesting exterior:

The community centre

The main notice board for the community:

The local notice board

Unlike some other parts of Canada, we don’t get as much humidity here, but we do get hot weather (for us). We do have great beaches, the most famous of which is Tribune Bay. With our 5 metre tide range, the sand soaks up the heat and then makes the water nice and warm. Even swimming at low tide is pleasant. The beach is stunning:

Courtesy of Tribune Bay website

And the water is clear:

Courtesy of Hornby Island website

Along with lovely water, we also have tall trees here. And I mean tall. On Vancouver Island some trees push above 80m in height! On Hornby, most of the trees are second growth, but they are still tall (40m+).

Even the maple trees are trying to get in on the height action! This one is close to 30m!
You can only see the bottom half of this fir. It is that tall

These tall trees are wonderful, but as you can see in the picture above, should they fall they do considerable damage. Therefore, Summer time is also a great time for arborists who climb to dizzying heights to remove branches or fall trees that will pose a danger once the Winter winds come.

The gardens on the island are still blooming, and the fruit is ripening nicely. Apples are ripe, quinces are almost there, blueberries are ready, and the first of the many, many blackberries are edible.

The lower garden in bloom

That means that walking to a beach, or just wandering the paths you can find food at your finger tips.

The small building on the right in the photo above is a well. As rainwater fed aquifers supply the fresh water on the island, water conservation is a big deal. We really don’t want the aquifers to drop too low as the sea will rush in and then we’d be forced to truck in water. We have two large cisterns (one under the house) that provide us some lee-way.

Anyway, there is a brief look at some of the West Coast lifestyle out here. The heat is supposed to break this week, so I should be able to get some more painting and prepping done.