Not much has been going on the last few days.

A dice tower I had ordered via Amazon turned up but broken. It wasn’t damaged in the post. It had to have been done when created. So wasn’t chuffed with that. But it got worse as the dice tower also wasn’t the clear plastic that I wanted but frosted. Naturally I asked and received a refund.

Continuing the refunds I had a refund for the issue 250 of Retro Gamer I had ordered direct from the publisher. That was a real saga. Allegedly the issue had been posted. But it was never delivered. So they sent a replacement which did turn up. However that was the wrong issue! They then once again allegedly sent another replacement. Which you guessed it never arrived. After a brief email exchange from a now unhelpful support I requested a refund via PayPal. Which I got. I’ve sworn never to buy Retro Gamer again after this awful experience.

I was really keen for issue 250 because of the mini magazine looking back at the legendary 8 bit power house software developer Rare/Ultimate.

Back in the day Ultimate as the majority of the UK knew them were creating amazing games that were pushing what the hardware could do.

Cookie, Jetpac, and Trans Am on the ZX Spectrum were my first encounters with Ultimate’s catalog.

There was definitely a distinctive art style to those games. They had great game play. Jetpac became one of my all time favourite games of all time. A game that I did get up to level 99 on.

Attic Atac was also a great game that influenced my all time favourite video game creator Jeff Minter on his C64 classic Ancipital.

I could go on title by title of their catalog. But it was their game Knight Lore, third title in the Sabre Man series that had everyone go wow! It was isometric. It looked amazing. Reviewers and players were like how is this even possible on a Spectrum? It was ground breaking and was copied by others. I don’t think it is unfair or incorrect to say it was genre defining.

Seeing the Ultimate name on the box was seen as a guarantee of quality back then.

That’s why I wanted this particular issue of Retro Gamer. I wanted to see if there were any new insights into this legendary British powerhouse. And maybe step through memory lane once more. Looking back on the good times I had playing those games.

So that’s my two stories of recent failed orders.

Catch you in the next post.

I’ve survived the weekend.

It’s been amazing being back to the old job. Didn’t realise how much I missed the work or the people.

Obviously I’m not gaming much for the foreseeable future. But…

I did get some gaming in during the week. It was our clubs hopefully weekly lcg/ccg/tcg game night.

This session saw a three player game of VtM: Rivals.

It’s been a while since we have got the game to the table. So we were a little rusty on the rules.

I wasn’t expecting to win. But thanks to Marcin throwing himself on his own sword to give me a points victory to deny his rival Diego getting the victory. I did. If Marcin hadn’t died then, I would have on my turn with four antagonists delivering the fatal blow. Which would have given Diego the points victory.

Hopefully like Dice Masters this evening will allow us to get the game to the table more regularly.

The next lcg/ccg/tcg night will see MtG getting a turn at the table. I’m looking forward to that.

The game collection is growing again!

Thanks to Ben I got Hadrians Wall, and Trekking the World from Marcin. Which was a very generous thank you for giving him the Star Wars Carcassonne I had (and never played).

The Lord of the Rings lcg The Fellowship of the Ring Saga is on its way. I’m looking forward to getting it to the table next time I visit Nathan. Who knows I might even get it to the table on a lcg/ccg/tcg night.

Fuji Flush and Grail Cup are also winging their way to me.

And that’s it until the start of October but there will be more about the addition in a separate post at the time of ordering. But I’m sure you can guess what it will be.

The dvd walk down memory lane is getting a new addition in the form of the complete Transformers cartoon and its movie from the 80s. Although that Saturday morning chill of watching the cartoons is on hold.

Catch you in the next post now you know I’m still alive.

I had an interview this morning at my previous place of employment. It went well because I left with a job offer. Though a two month notice period did put that at risk.

But an offer to start immediately by working weekends helped swing things back in my favour.

Which basically means until my notice period is up I’m working two jobs!

The implication gaming wise means during the next two months I’m not going to be able to make club nights or weekend gaming sessions. A necessary sacrifice.

However it does make tomorrow nights gaming session extra special.

Today has always been a tough day for me. Even after 35 years the pain of my Dad’s death has not eased.

The proverb “time heals all wounds” on this anniversary seems so hollow.

Dad’s passing has always meant September has never been a month where emotional I’m in a good spot.

But the pain is now doubled with Nan leaving us just eight days later.

It truly feels like September is the month my heart and soul shows how broken they are.

The only signs to the outside world is I may become more reclusive and avoid the outside world. Which might mean I cancel plans at the last minute and piss off friends. But that is unavoidable. It’s hard to give the true reason. I’m one of those irrational folks that will gladly help anyone in anyway I can, but not be able to ask for help when I need it. Sometimes that mask slips. I’m sure I’m not as good at hiding it as I think.

I miss them both dearly.

But I remember the good times and their love. May they both be in peace wherever they are.

Well for two or three days I have been. And didn’t think you wanted more posts on my current fixation.

The plan was for September to get off to an epic start of gaming after the disappointing amount that took place in August.

However best laid plans etc meant that this start to the month has been a damp squib.

For instance today was meant to be Twilight Imperium 4 again. And it would have been if British Gas had come to upgrade mums meters at the time they told her (8am).

In my defence my mum organised this without checking with me first.

However as the morning went on and no sign of a British Gas engineer I had to make a call about if the game went ahead.

The guy didn’t turn up until after midday. Apparently they didn’t know they had to come to mums until they thought they had finished their last job for the day and got told they had mum to do.

So with no Internet, and having dog sitting duties whilst the engineer was next door I tried getting mums dog Ebony to settle. But she just wouldn’t. She’s an old dog who doesn’t handle changes to routine that well. Which meant it was nigh impossible to watch any dvd. But I tried a couple episodes of Blake’s 7.

So no gaming but at least mum has a new smart meter for her gas and electric.

I’m hoping Tuesday still happens and I can draft Dice Masters with Dave, and finally get the gaming off to a start for the month.

On the arm front the arm is starting to get sore again. But not nearly as bad as before. So I’m still popping the pills to control things to allow me the use of the arm and to try and rest it as much as possible.

Some gaming stuff did happen in the last week such as…

I had been putting off getting the recent Rolling Realms promo packs when they were released due to cash flow issues at the time.

But now I have them and they are added to the Rolling Realms box. Which now is so full you couldn’t fit another card in it. Well not with out a bit of knife work on the insert.

I did finally manage to get the custom Dice Masters playmat image that I purchased shared with Patriot Games for printing. It was too large to upload via their website. So hopefully that arrives soon. Just hope Gav is able to find the playmat I originally had now. I know the dice bag I ordered off etzy has been posted. So with a fair wind it will be here by Tuesday.

Other arrivals in the week were two Dark Phoenix draft packs. Can’t wait to draft these. The temptation to crack them open has been huge. I want to know if I have the current meta defining Master Mold Endless Sentinels in one of them. So far I’ve been good and resisted.

Wow did I just sneak in Dice Masters to this post? Oops. Bait and switch.

Thanks for reading this far and catch you in the next post.

After a weekend of resting the arm, popping pills (only the prescribed medication btw and in the correct dosages and intervals), the arm is currently pain free!

Not only that today I was able to raise the arm high enough to be able to put on a tee.

Until now I was unable to raise my arm high enough (without hurting) to put a tee on.

So I’m a bit chuffed with this progress.

Sadly I had to sacrifice my gaming plans for the weekend to be able to rest the arm and give the medication time to work.

Which meant I missed a really well attended Fenland Gamers club night on the Friday evening. I think going by the photo there were 15 or 16 that turned up, with about 3 new to group folks giving us a try.

Obviously the banter went it was only so well attended because I wasn’t there! “Again, right in the ears, straight to the feelings.” Wil Wheaton Big Bang Theory

The arm also meant I had to cancel our planned D&D session on Saturday afternoon. This Summer so far has not been good for the running of D&D.

No impromptu gaming session Sunday afternoon.

There are plans to play Three Sisters tomorrow evening. Obviously having just introduced Dave to the roll and write genre with the Trek 12: Himalayas entry level roll and write. The next logic step is to throw him totally into the deep end with the sharks (Charlene, Ben, and myself) and play this combotastic, not even remotely entry level or mid level roll and write.

I am hoping the medication and the arm hold out so that I am able to attend the annual Jeff’s all day birthday gaming day next weekend. I believe it is once more going to be Memoir 44 with an overlord map. But more importantly is the home made curry Jeff makes. His curries are rather good.

Even with these plans in place I think my gaming stats will be down for the month. I played way less than I could at Nathan’s because of the arm. It’s cost me a weekend of gaming. How could the numbers not be down?

I’m just happy the alarm is not a major source of pain at the moment. The rest will be what it is. See you in the next post.

Monday I caved and tried booking an appointment with my doctor. However there were none and was told to login at 8am the next morning and fill in the form to get one (hopefully) for Tuesday.

I did phone the minor injuries department at the North Cambs hospital who do walk ins. However they told me because I had no history of this sort of thing they would most likely just refer me to my doctor! So there was little point struggling to get to them for relief from the pain.

Tuesday morning I did indeed fill in the form that my surgery requires to be done first before getting an appointment, pressed submit and started the wait.

Nearly three hours later I had a text back saying they had sent a prescription to my regular pharmacy. Which surprised me as I hadn’t had a prescription for years and didn’t know I had a “regular” pharmacy. Plus they were referring me to physio.

Within minutes I had a call to arrange an appointment with physio. That will be happening on the 22nd of the month. I also asked them where they thought my “regular” pharmacy was, as I had no idea. When they told me it was ASDA it made sense, its where I pick mums stuff up from.

In the meantime I had my brother pick up my prescription that only had two of the three items I had been prescribed.

But still £28 was a bit of a shock. Tells you when I last paid for a prescription. Plus I had only been expecting one item.

So yesterday saw me having to pick up the missing medication from the pharmacy and after a day it seems to have started making a difference. The arm is less painful with a little bit more movement. But not much.

Hopefully it keeps it this way or better until the 22nd.

It’s been one of those weeks where nothing much gaming wise has happened. Hence the blog silence.

Preparations for Nans memorial next week are in full swing. As you can imagine things are a getting a bit emotional for me.

My iron clad edition of Scythe Expeditions arrived yesterday. The production quality is amazing, as usual for a Stonemaier game. And OMG those large metal mechs are gorgeous.

Luckily I don’t have too long to wait before it hits the table with tonight being club night.

So look for initial thoughts on the game over the weekend.