ACW - Battle Snapshot Pt2

Hi All,
          The second batch of pictures from the American Civil War dust-up I was recently pleased to witness.

 Back up the other side of the table.

Artillery in action.

The central section.

Being mauled.

Advancing on the regimental flank.

Unionists advance across the road.

Worse for wear.

The Left flank river assault.

Defenders, Man the barracades !

Prepare to receive charge.

The Right flank.

I took part on a couple of moves in the centre, where the Unionist lads were beginning to grind into the Good ole' boys.

Thanks again for the invite, guys.

Part three has now been posted.

Ivor Cogdell

All photos copyright 2017. Ivor Cogdell

ACW - Battle Snapshot Pt1

Hi all,
          I was very kindly invited to a friend's war game event, covering a massive 60 feet by 6 feet table, using 10,000 28 mm figures, starring in an American Civil War "what if ?" battle, using Fire and Fury (Regimental) (TM) rules. There will be a part amphibious landing to add to the mix. as well.

The plot is this - Vicksburg has fallen in May 1863 and the Confederate area of influence in the West is collapsing very quickly. Sherman is pushing rebels really hard and very quickly to Atlanta, Lee has decided to send one Army Corp to help Johnston and delay his move / invasion North. However Grant is now overall commander of Union forces and he has just arrived in the Eastern flank on the James River where Lee was stocking up for his move North.

Let the dice roll the fate of a Nation.

I was only able to take part in the afternoon of the first day of the two day event, but I hope it gives you a taste of what was going on.

"Roughly going right to left along the table."

The long view.

One of the naval troop carriers is shown at the bottom of the shot.

More to come in part two.

Ivor Cogdell

All photos (C) copyright 2017 Ivor Cogdell.

Thoughts on - XXX 3 - Return of Xander Cage (No Spoilers)

Hi all,
          XXX 3 -  "Whoosh, Whoosh, Splash, Wheeee, Bang Bang Bang. That went well. The End."

I'm only kidding, but with this movie, unfortunately, its not too far from the truth of the matter. My pal and caught it in 4D, which means a rocker seat, complete with pressure pads and air blowers built into the back, it even came with optional water mist sprayers, (Controls on the seat rests). The bad news was that it costs more, also it did not have Audio Description for the visually impaired, which my friend needed.
        The plot was not very surprising, XXX and muscle bound friends vs. master criminals, assorted chatting and scrapping with each other. The chosen locations were not impressive at all, it felt like a cheap budget flic, not the return of a classic hero.
         Acting, who needs acting when you have a fight scene, explosions and pretty girls. Stunts, it seemed like there was nothing fantastic, no doubt it took a lot of work to look seamless and realistic, but that's their job. Even the use of the super bouncy seats was overdone. It was not seasick inducing, but as they say "Less is more".

The first XXX was fresh and different. I missed the second, possibly as my man Vin was not in it. The third installment of XXX was not even impressive. My friend, who had not caught the first two films, summed it up with one comment, "That was stupid."

Score - 3 out of 10. A waste of time and money.

Ivor

Thoughts on - Passengers (No spoilers)

Hi all,
          A friend and I went to see the 2d version of Passengers. The ship design  was original, for a deep space vessel. The inboard ship graphics were well done and not too complex to understand. The story line does have a few inconsistencies, and they do juggle with the laws of physics in places, but that's Hollywood for you. For details check out the IMDB database.

 http://www.imdb.com/

 Good performances by the cast.

7 out of 10, 8 out of 10 if you ignore the physics errors.

Ivor

Merry Christmas

Festive Greetings to one and all.

I hope you and yours are having a great time over Christmas and hopefully getting in a bit of game related fun. I have just been watching a TV program about the Must Farm archaeological excavation, a 3,000 year old, Bronze age settlement that has been preserved by fire, mad as it may sound. The wreckage dropped into the water below the platforms the village were built on.  They are calling it Britain's Pompeii.
                    The preserved textiles, wood, bronze swords, bowls and beads are giving the archaeologists a glimpse into the lives of the people living there with hints of the overseas contacts for trading. So for all of you Ancients battlers out there, take a look, it might give you an idea for a game.


http://www.mustfarm.com/bronze-age-river/archaeology/


Ivor

Thoughts on - Rogue One (No Spoilers)

Hi there,
             I think that Disney are finally getting their act together with this franchise. It seems like they may actually done a little bit homework before writing the film script.  Rogue One: A Star Wars (TM) Story (I saw the 2d version, but intend to see the 3d version too), was much slicker than Star Wars VII -  A Force Awakens, as it was more of a general action film, not needing too much background knowledge apart from the main character details.
             It probably helped that the plot itself was fairly linear. The graphics and acting were very good, as you would expect of Disney. There were nods to Star Wars that the fans will recognize, which was nice to see. A few old faces appear as cameos, just to wet our appetites for Star Wars VIII.
            All in all, it slots into the Star Wars History with barely a squeak out of place.

Niggle - How is the massively mighty (not to mention heavy) Star Destroyer able to just hovver in the atmosphere with only the rear engines going ? I suppose anti-gravity of some sort, like the land speeders ?

Lets see how they do with the next one.

It is worth a look.

Rating - 8 out of 10.

Ivor

P.S. I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing away of Carrie Fisher and then her mom Debbie Reynolds. They were icons of their age that will be missed indeed.

Thoughts on - Arrival (Spoilers)

Hi all,
         My feelings after coming out of the cinema was that this was a bit of a missed opportunity. The alien spaceships looked more like floating giant seeds than spacecraft, as you can see in the trailer. Rather boring. (They could have omitted the spacecraft landing out of the trailer, at least that would have been one more surprise to be had, even if it may have been a bit of a wet blanket moment.)  The aliens were shrouded in mist. Quite possible for their atmospheric needs, trying to add to the tension, but boring once again. Not much texture or colouration in their skin, another opportunity missed.
         The alien language and its actual decoding was handled in an interesting way, but why would the aliens have evolved its written / squirted usage in the first place? Just sound would suffice, unless they have genetically modified themselves at a later date. How were they able to control the smoke / ink once it had been emitted from their "hands" and into their atmosphere ?
         How had they managed to contact Dr. Bank's mind and not everyone on the planet (I know, that would blow the film), she was in the right place at the right time.
         I will confess that I had to leave before the film had finished, (about 5 mins to go, she was talking to an ambassador) so I may not have gotten some of the plot details, but I did not miss much, according to my friend who had seen it earlier.

A qualified 5 out 10.

Ivor