Books & Stuff (NS, No 7) - Reading in Oct 2020

This month three books, all of which appeared last month or earlier.

Finished

Max Brooks, The Zombie Survival Guide

A fun book with surprisingly practical advice for coping with Zombie outbreaks.  It's 2020, so who knows?

James Ellroy, Perfidia

As I said last month, this is a monster of a book (and not just because it's 700+ pages) - there's a lot going on (and not a lot of it is nice).  

Ellroy's writing is dark, involved and twisted.   But it's adictive and I've already bought the seond book in this trilogy.

Currently Reading

Simon Harris, The Other Norfolk Admirals: Myngs, Narbrough and Shovell

After a long time only nominally on my ' currently reading' list, I finally got into this.

Quite interesting, not only for the Dutch Wars, but for Carribean escapades.

Books & Stuff (NS, No 6) - Reading in Sep 2020

 

Robert A Heinlein, Time for the Stars

What can I say?  I love the Heinlein juveniles.  And they're just the right length to read at a (long) sitting (and if you don't have anyone who objects to the light being on until 4am).

Joss Whedon, Brett Matthew, Will Conrad, Serenity: Those Left Behind

Regular readers might have spotted the odd hint that I'm a 'Firefly' fan.  During Lockdown I watched several dvd box-sets.  One of them was the complete 'Firefly' - which, sadly, doesn't take long.  I'm now making up for it and getting some Joss Whedon fix by watching the complete 'Buffy the Vampire Killer' (which is less hokey than I remember).

This comic book (orignally issued in three issues) bridges the gap between the premiture end of the TV series and the film 'Serenity'.

It's nothing spectacular - it would have made a couple of decent episodes.

John Gisby, New Zealand With A Hobbit Botherer

A quite funny account of a holiday to New Zealand the author took with his Orlando Bloom-fancying wife in 2004 - the height of the LOTR tourist boom.

Light but fun.

Currently Reading

Simon Harris, The Other Norfolk Admirals: Myngs, Narbrough and Shovell

Biography of the aforesaid admirals.  Another study of the Restoration navy.

I'm not sure if I actually picked this up during the month. It's a little heavy-going.

James Ellroy, Perfidia

About 20 years ago I read a shit-load of James Ellroy (that's the technical term), but very little since.

Perfidia is the first book in the Second LA Quartet, serving as a prequel to the first Quartet.  This book covers the first fortnight of America's entry into the Second World War and, more specifically how that effects LA's Japanese community and the LAPD.

As you'd expect from James Ellroy it's dark, dense and a little perverted.  

A great read.  It's making me thing that I should re-read the original Quartet: but a little Ellroy goes a long way!

Max Brooks, The Zombie Survival Guide

Because the way this year is going, it's better to be safe isn't it?

I picked this up on a whim and am finding it better than I expected (I didn't rate the film that was made of his other book, World War Z).  It's written in a dead-pan completely in-universe style and makes some interesting games.

If anyone plays any Zombie RPGs (or LARPS!) this would prove invaluable reading.

No Zomtober This Week - But Noggin!

I doubt very much whether I'll be posting anything for Zomtober this weekend. 

I have done any painting this week, and I'm feeling so awful at the moment I can see any being done over the weekend.

On the bright side, there is a rather nice Kickstarter going on, which may warm the cockles of the heart of anyone who was in the UK during the late 60s and 70s.

Yes, it's Noggin the Nog!

Sadly, given the above-stated 'feeling so awful' situation, my immediate thoughts were on the grumpy side of negative:

• There's no mention of the IP rights in the 'Risks' section.  Edit:  I've just re-read the preamble, and is says they've got a licence from the Postgate sons.  So - Yay!
• At £20.00 for a blister of four figures or £60.00 for all 16 figures, it is very expensive

If you aren''t as grumpy as I am, go and have a look at it here - a month left to run and already fully-funded.

Zomtober '17 - Week 3 (in Week 4!)

To comply with the not-very-demanding Zomtober rules, these should really have been posted yesterday.  I'm sorry about that - they just weren't ready.

As a bit of compensation, I can offer no less that four (yes, that's right, four!) Zeds instead of the one-a-week I'm managed so far during the month.

And what a bunch they are.  Warlord Miniatures' again, and I'm beginning to warm to them a little. 

It's hard to tell from these photos (or on the table really), but I've attempted my first lady zombie.  This was done by the simple expedience of sticking a head from the female sprue onto one of the male torsos.  It's an interesting head - half the face has been eaten away to reveal the skull, but I don't know if you can see that from the photo.

As promised , I thought I'd try blue scrubs rather than last week's green ones.  I prefer the blue as they stand out more on the table: what do you think?  It is. of course the same body.  As with all these zombies, I've perhaps gone OTT on grunging her up. 

Halloween Sale!

I dare say we'll get quite a few of these as the month comes on, but Hasslefree Miniatures has beaten the rush by announcing 20% off orders for the rest of the month (which won't be shipped until the beginning of November).  They of course do some rather nice zombies and survivors.

Zomtober '17: Week 3 - WIP

A WIP post for Zombtober. Not for today - because today has been crap - but for yesterday.

So, I spent a little time de-spruing and assembling some Zombs.  I got a half-dozen done before the inevitable meeting between craft knife and index finger.  Fortunately, I had some superglue on hand.

Tomorrow they *might* get primed, which would give me a dozen to play with before the end of Week 3 on Sunday.  What's the betting I only have one complete yet again?

Again, these are Zombs from Warlord Game's Project Z.   I must admit to being somewhat disappointed that the Zombie Horde expansion pack merely duplicates the sprues in the core box.  Am I naive in this?  I'm not terribly fond of the female figures (both Zombs and survivors), who are all a bit tits and ass for my liking - but again, that's probably just me being picky.

Blogging Schedule

If things go to plan, you should see the following posts this week.  But who knows, something exciting might happen to mix everything up!

Thursday - JRRT books
Friday - Dwarves and gargoyles
Saturday - Paint table
Sunday - Zomtober

Zomtober '17: Week 2

Slow progress this Zomtober, but I've met the criteria of having at least one zombie or survivor to show each Sunday.

I'm not sure whether it's clear given the poor quality of the photos, but this chap (another of Warlord's) is wearing medical scrubs.  They're not as shiny in real life as the photos, but I still think that the next one I do will be in blue rather than this green.

More zombs next week...

Zomtober '17: Week 1

 Well, the Zomtober rules requiring submissions on Sundays in the month, Week 1 is already on us!

I therefore present Patient Zero.... 

A businessman just back from a inspection tour of a new Asian facility for the cloning of GM battery chickens.  He developed a snuffle on the flight home...

He's one of the Warlord Project Z figures.  His other arm's somewhere between the shed (where I primed him) and my painting table.

My first bash at a Zombie - quick and dirty.

Paint Table Saturday: Zom 1

Nothing terribly exciting here - just a little proof of life [sic].

A handful of Warlord zombies ready to be primed.  I'll talk more about them tomorrow in what should be my first Zomtober post.

Zomtober is Nigh!

With November almost upon us I've decided to participate in Zomtober - basically a joint effort by painting bloggers to get some Zombies or Survivors painted.  Details and a role-call can be found here.

I had thought that I'd leave the Project Z figures I picked up (way back in March) until this winter's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, but there's no harm in getting a head start on them.  For the Zomtober challenge I only need to do a minimum of one a week, which even I should manage!

And last night I found a tutorial on painting Z's...

Who knows, I might get a Halloween game in!