Thoughts On - The "Predator" prequel - "Prey" (No spoilers)

 Hi Everyone,

                      PREY - This was my Christmas Movie of 2024. I had missed it when it first came out in 2022, then planned to watch it at a mate's abode, but the chance arose to see it on my cable offering this festive season. The plot is that our Native American heroine wants to hunt with the rest of the warriors, which is a traditionally male job, as you can imagine. They are not too keen. Things get a bit messy when our unfriendly fanged tourist shows up and begins chopping its way through our local wildlife. It works its way up the food chain and everything goes sideways from there.

                    Looking at the odds on paper, it does seem to be a rather one-sided contest, you would usually put your dosh on the big guy. But there lies the tension of the film. How many trophies will it get? Will it eat her dog? Will our heroine survive, in one or more pieces? You will have to hunt out PREY to find out. There is not fantastic acting in it, but it is a fairly young cast, so that can be forgiven. It is worth a watch if it is on catchup or you are at a friend's night-in.

Rating - 4 out of 5.

THE TRAILER - https://www.google.com/search?q=prey+trailer&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB1059GB1059&oq=Prey+trailer&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgBEAAYgAQyBwgCEAAYgAQyBwgDEAAYgAQyBwgEEAAYgAQyDQgFEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgGEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgHEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgIEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgJEAAYhgMYgAQYigXSAQg3OTMwajBqN6gCCLACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Ivor Cogdell

Thoughts On - The Guards Wargame Group - Bring and Buy Event 2024.11.30

 Hi Everybody,

                       Just a quick note to record that I was glad to meet the Circle Battle Group attendees and the Guards members at the 30 November 2024 Winter Guards Bring and Buy event in Birmingham. I met up with Richard J on the 11 bus route as arranged, getting off at the Swan Centre, only to find that all the bus stops had been moved around. to get the 60 bus, you now have to walk a few yards further towards the airport.

                     There were slightly fewer tables than the previous times we attended. I purchased the Osprey Rules for the post-apocalypse vehicle skirmish game "Gaslands", some 72 mm African warriors (painted), other lead minis, plus "The Wargamers Guide to Dark Age Britain" by Martin Hackett (Amberley Publishing - ISBN. 978-1-4456-03803) a battlefield guide https://www.tabletopgaming.co.uk/reviews/as-told-in-the-great-hall-the-wargamers-guide-to-dark-age-britain/, including the dice for the rules in the back, very kindly signed by the author. A sci-fi laser cut shelter (at home, a box landed on it and it is now in its component parts again, so I shall have the fun of assembly as well as painting it).

                    The Guards had set up a wargaming table for members of the public to take part in, as usual. Richard had some figures for sale, (The items are logged and priced, then you check for the sale at the end of the show), but I don't think he had any takers. He did get some dragon teeth scenery, a munchkin card game and some 10 mm humans for Oathmark.

                     I was not feeling too well and had to cut my day short, but the busses were very bad in the afternoon and we did not get home until after 6pm.  Regrets - I should have treated myself to a 72 mm Roman Infantry "Tortoise" formation, a temple and a bit more terrain. Richard did buy some items as well.

                     I was very pleased to see some youngsters attending again, they all received a warm welcome. Thanks to Paul and the Guards members for their time and efforts to present another chance to expand the wargaming hobby community.

NOTE: I hope that the Penkridge Wargaming Sale is still happening on Sunday, 5th January 2025, 11:00 start, I am not sure of the venue.

  Please confirm the details, as I could not find any information on the British Historical Games Society Calendar. https://www.bhgs.org.uk/calendar.html.

There is a mention of one in May, but no actual date.

Regards all,

Ivor Cogdell

Happy Hogmanay 2025

 Happy Hogmanay 2025

               Here comes another year again. Just as I was getting used to the old one. For those in northern UK, stay safe with the nasty weather that is expected. I hope it does not disrupt your plans too much. In Birmingham, the late night crowd did not seem to be too bothered, as the fireworks started about 23:30 and went onto 0:30. I hope they were wrapped up warmly.

              Hobby-wise, I treated myself to the ring binder expansion pack for Ironsworn, The Sundered Isles. I have only flicked through parts of the books, but the quality is great. Many of the Oracle Tables in the second book can be used in other settings with a bit of imagination.

Regards,

Ivor Cogdell

Thoughts On - Life and Trump (Updated)

 Hey Y'all,                                                                                                                    1st November 2024

                 Another quick update for you. I have been doing my 72 mm Vikings, the base painting is pretty well complete on them, as you cannot see much detail on that scale. I will mount them onto lolly sticks for the time being. I will be able to test the Oathmark rules with them, to see if they are to my taste before I buy the books and models. My pal Richard J, has bought the rules and the makings of an army for me to attack. (The figures he bought were 10 mm scale, my 72 mm Viking warriors were too big and did not fit. Such is life.)

 How Richard managed to paint that small is beyond me, I had a hard time painting my Vikings, compared to my usual 28 mm figures.

15th November -  We did a test game and then tried a scenario from the rules (No 4.) Which I will do a quick description of later.

I have been helping a mate who has just had her flat broken in for the second time. It is very disheartening what people will do to other people.

Regards,

Ivor Cogdell

P.S. Good luck with the Election, America. You need it, as it is going to be close. I'm rooting for Kamala Harris, but I can't vote, I am not a US citizen.

P.P.S. - I was surprised to see that Buzz Aldrin is supporting Trump. I thought better of you. Everybody makes mistakes. Maybe Elon talked him into it.

18 November 2024.

P.P.P.S. After one week of being President-Elect, the Cabinet Trump has chosen is being hailed as the most incompetent ever. The Climate Change Electee is a Climate denier and is an Oil and Gas company man.

 Only now are Trump voters realising what Trump had been promising was directly opposite to their values and needs. The stock market is crashing. (One poll quoted a 75% chance of a recession coming). The care packages that many of them rely on are going to be ripped up. They just did not do research into what he was actually proposing, just listened to the slogans, guessing what they meant, following biased news channel broadcasts.

Thoughts On - Alien RPG 10

 Hi Everybody,

                        Here is the latest Alien instalment for you.

30 August 2024 - Edan is in a big sample tube, but the alien refuses to "Face Hug" it, it seems scarred. The "Mother" Computer decides at that point to keep Edan for itself. Charles tries to save Edan. Rooster tried to strangle Edan. Douglas tried to save Edan from Rooster. Cobold was then told to throw a grenade into the room, by Cowboy, to kill Edan. Cobold hates kids and it was an order, so he does so.

"BOOM"!

Spanner the Robot dog got blown up, and black pus is coming out. Rooster is paralysed in the blast and loses one ear. Bishop disappeared. The Doc suffered a gouged eye and a damaged thigh. Edan's Cryo Pod is destroyed. He suffers a punctured lung and is unconscious. Douglas looses one arm. Ava - 7 Has damage to one arm. The Robot Dog develops a red eye in its forehead. Eva King has now got control of the Robot Dog through the headset. Shepherd suffers a lost leg and the snake is getting ready to attack him, but Cobalt kills the snake in the nick of time. It expells black goo.

The Robot dog starts shooting bolts at Cowboy - He gets 1 hit and takes 1 stress for the wound. Eva is coming to help. Sheperd throws a sample case at the Dog, it bounces off its armour. Cowboy gets into the Mini Gun adapted wheelchair and tried to contact the dog. (Stress has gone up to 9). But he panics and flees the area.

Officer Badog - He flees with Cowboy. Hunter the mechanic shoots at the dog and misses. Eva tries to control the dog with the head controller and fails. Ava 7 is going to bandage Rooster. The Dog reactivates. Eva gets a shock and the Controller falls off her head. The Dog shoots at Shepard.

Meanwhile, Rooster is jerked awake by someone falling against the Autodoc. Paralysed and only with hearing in only his left ear. But it is enough to hear Shepergd scream with fear outside the Auto-Doc.

He yells "What's going on out there?".

He can hear the retreating footsteps of Cowboy as he runs away in panic.

Rooster clamps his eyes tight with fear.....

That's where we will leave it for now. Until next time,

Regards from John, Kitty, Richard and myself,

Ivor Cogdell

Thoughts On - Alien RPG 9

 Hi everybody,

                       I have found some of my alien notes, They are a bit disjointed and there is a gap since Diary entry 8. I will slot entries in as they come to my attention.

? - We explore the Air processors that are on the southern area of the planet.

? - "Nuclear Boy" fired nuclear missiles at two of the air processing plants, destroying the nuclear material that was inside, so that we could not drop a nuclear missile on him. (This was Cowboy's idea of dealing with the problem of "Nuclear Boy", We had tried three times, but they always malfunctioned for some reason).

? - While we were away, "Nuclear Boy" and "Terror Girl" have teamed up together, got into the research base next to the Alien ship, activated the Alien Nexus and went through the portal.

------------

10th May 2024 - We were exploring a WV base. We came across an Alien Queen, who we managed to kill, eventually. We came through battered and bowed, with two casualties. Dillon died with his head crushed in. Kiara died of a punctured heart. We managed to repair the Comms Array port and are now receiving signals from outside again."The Blue Hand are coming". Is that good or bad?

------------

7 June 2024 - We come across a crashed vessel. We salvaged the two Armoured Personnel Carriers, 1 week's rations, 4 hand grenades. We fix Edan's and the other's leg with an artificial one in the auto doc. We receive coordinates over the comms as to where the Blue Hand ship will land. Outside of the second nuclear blast zone.

27 June 2024 - I shoot the squid by Douglas. Everybody gets 1 stress point. Cowboy gets hit by Edan using an alien weapon (friendly fire) and loses an arm. 

6 July 2024 - One squid exploded due to multiple hits. The second squid attacks me and drags me into another room out of the line of fire. I managed to fight it off but suffered a broken knee in the process. I retreat with Cowboy and we drag him to an autodoc. Afterwards, we fix my knee.

           We lift the guards on the Blue Hand ship. We spotted an octopus nest on the way back to base. We avoid it for the time being. Ava 7, the missing synth in action, was with the Blue Hand crew. She is now making a painting of an attacking Alien Queen for the Nexus room where we have installed a weighted net above the teleport point. We hope this will disorient whoever comes through first so we can capture them more easily.

9th August 2024 - Cowboy had an artificial arm attached, it did have a flashing red LED. On further inspection, it was found to be a tracking device that had been added to the unit. We disabled it and checked for any more that were hidden, but none were found. The Blue Hand crew have a space monkey and Cowboy asks if he can use the controller helmet. Damien, the Synth Blue Hand leader agrees.

Edan builds a mini Gun into the mobile wheelchair. We are heading to the research base. We feel vibrations, The power level has been ramped up to 6, meaning the Nexus Teleporter can be activated.

There are more notes to add, but it's time for bed.

Regards one and all,

Ivor Cogdell

Thoughts on - Films Lockdown DVD (No Spoilers)

 Hi Everyone,

                      I have just seen the film Lockdown and I am sure that it would make a great plot for a science fiction adventure game or tabletop skirmish wargame at your preferred scale and rule set. Our damsel in distress, Miss X is visiting an orbiting prison, for the reason of Y. There is a jailbreak because of Z. The authorities have to send in our hero or heroes to rescue her and find where "something" has been hidden, otherwise, he will be charged and locked up in the same jail, for doing naughty things that he has been framed for. You can do a "One Off" game or spread it over multiple game sessions as your heroes work their way through the different levels of the facility to rescue Miss X.

I saw the trailer of this film when it first came out, but I missed it at the cinema, I am so glad I finally spotted it at my local movie store. The visuals (meaning blood and gore special effects) and acting are very good. That's another reason to watch it, by the way.

Warmest regards,

Ivor Cogdell