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#littlemonsters

A very short post giving a brief update on the ETA for the arrival of Diogo.

Earlier today I spoke to Kate who is handling all the bits to do with bringing Diogo over from Peru.

The unveiling of Diogo to the world as a full on member of the little monsters has been put back from the start of October to the end of November.

Which is ok because I’m also due to have some time off from work around then too.

So yes a little disappointing that I’m going to have to wait a little bit longer. But all good things come to those that wait.

In memory of Dad, Still missing you

life, the universe, and everything, Touching My Father's Soul

September is such a shit month for me anniversary wise.

Today (as I write this) is the anniversary of my dad taking his life 37 years ago.

It doesn’t get easier.

He regularly is in my thoughts. Particularly when situations arise and I think the people involved are lucky I’m not like my dad. Well in some ways I am. But in one important one they are lucky because they are still standing. They would not like the combination of his short temper and para training.

Yesterday evening for some reason YouTube threw up a clip from NCIS (s18e09) where Fornell’s daughter dies from an overdose. In the clip Vance is asked to read a poem he had been given after the loss of his wife to the NCIS team.

I thought the poem was lovely and would be a suitable tribute for Dad and Nan.

Epitaph 

by Merrit Malloy

When I die 
Give what’s left of me away 
To children 
And old men that wait to die.  

And if you need to cry, 
Cry for your brother 
Walking the street beside you. 
And when you need me, 
Put your arms 
Around anyone 
And give them 
What you need to give to me. 

I want to leave you something, 
Something better 
Than words 
Or sounds. 

Look for me 
In the people I’ve known 
Or loved, 
And if you cannot give me away, 
At least let me live on in your eyes 
And not your mind. 

You can love me most 
By letting 
Hands touch hands, 
By letting bodies touch bodies, 
And by letting go 
Of children 
That need to be free. 

Love doesn’t die, 
People do. 
So, when all that’s left of me 
Is love, 
Give me away.  

As a final tribute to the only man I ever feared but loved with all my heart (yes a lot there to unpack for a therapist) here are some photos of post Army dad. I think we can all agree my beard is more impressive, and probably why subconsciously I started growing one.

Not sure what wedding this was. But you get to see a rare photo with me in it.
Backyard of our house at Osborne Rd.
Dad and Rex
Dad and a very young Robert (my cousin)

Miss you Dad.

Stop the world I want to get off

life, the universe, and everything, still alive

Mention the word vertigo and I instantly think of the Hitchcock classic.

However since Sunday morning I’ve been reminded it’s a medical thing too.

Being woken up by Dolly to go out at 6am on Sunday is not the ideal time to find out that all of a sudden the world has turned into a 1960s Batman set.

Returning to bed was a relief and I tried to sleep off the feeling of nausea I’d gotten from standing up too long.

Later in the morning I dumped the little monsters on mum. They needed letting out regularly and that was going to be an issue for me in my current state. In the end they stayed the night with mum.

But during the day and night I was lying as still as possible with my eyes closed. Often drifting in and out of sleep.

A risky trip to the doctors (mind you all trips to the doctors unwell are potentially risky for a single person) yesterday got me an exercise to do plus some tablets to stop the nausea.

Although all three missed me. Dolly apparently didn’t settle. So she has been back with me. Dolly needs less visits outside than the Nico and Loki.

The nausea has stopped thanks to the pills.

Nursing daddy

However the world is still spinning when I move my head, and I still walk like a drunk. So stating the obvious I’m not safe to drive. Let alone spend the day on my feet working.

So that’s where I am lying on my back, moving as little as possible, doing the exercise I have been given.

Games I played in the later half of August

Gaming roundup

Yeah a really catchy click bait post title I know. But it’s accurate.

This post should have come out earlier. But old age I’ve been too tired to finish it off.

Mind MGMT: A really fun hidden movement with a “campaign”?! At the end of a game the losing side gets to open one of seven mysterious packages for their side that is meant to help balance things out for that side in the next game. It does give the game a campaign feel. At the end once all of these packages have been opened you can either mix and match the ones you use in a game, or reset and start the “campaign”. I managed to get my hands on the deluxe edition and the production is gorgeous. The closest we’ve come to catching the “recruiter” as the hunters was our very first learning game. The two games we’ve played as part of the “campaign” as hunters we’ve not gotten close. But it’s great fun.

Twilight Imperium 3: I’m not going to write much about this epic game. Mainly because it’s already been written about in a recent post.

Moon Colony Bloodbath: it looked an interesting concept in the reviews, an engine builder that has you destroying your engine! This game can be won on points. However it’s last man standing. I love the theme of building your moon colony and then this utopia turns into a nightmare as the robots malfunction and start killing your colonists. This really is a game of making hay while the sun shines (the engine building bit) but that doesn’t last long before things start going wrong and you are having to destroy buildings in your engine. It’s a blast.

Wroth: Marcin has the deluxe version of this area majority game. It’s fun, I was left unchallenged in a couple of areas allowing me rack up the points. By the time they decided to try and do something about it, it was too late. I triggered the end of the game and easily won. I’m not sure the game is worth the price folks would have paid for the deluxe version originally. It’s not a £100 plus game. I think Marcin paid the upper limit I think it’s worth. Which was considerably less than its original price.

A Place for All My Books: a non-gamer, casual worker placement game! It was fun, fairly light. Obviously a little competitive in our game with us all being gamers. It was an enjoyable experience.

And that’s it for the later half of August. There are some new arrivals I really would love to get to the table. Hopefully September will see them getting the attention they deserve.

Dolly and I Finally Get A Good Walk In

#walkingDolly, hiking/backpacking/camping, Walking

Finally Dolly and I managed to get out for a decent walk.

Life had meant it had been a while since our last “proper” walk. Dolly and I were owed a chance to get out and destress in nature.

We decided to return to Shouldham Warren. The last time we had been here we had started to head off towards the abbey remains. However we had to abandon that effort due to the heat. What we didn’t know at that point was we were about to enter into the first of the summers heatwaves that hit the UK.

It seemed right that we return and complete our mission.

The woodland on our left that we didn’t make it to the previous time was most definitely planted by man. The trees were too neatly in rows. I imagine at some point the landowner will turn this lovely woodland into cash.

River Nar
An unexpected diving pool
Definitely planted by man
The abbey in the distance
What’s this strange object ?
‘Hello there”
Hops I think

Sadly when we got to the river Nar the banks were too steep for Dolly to have a paddle. Luckily I had a long enough camera stick to take the under water footage in the video below.

But the big surprise was the diving board into the river. A visual inspection of the water did indeed confirm that this was a most excellent spot for a diving board. Plus the diving board was secured to the ground with some serious big spikes. Which told me that this was a popular spot for locals.

I have to admit I was tempted to jump in. But it would have been unfair on Dolly leaving her on the side while I enjoyed a swim.

But the river Nar reminded me of bygone years when as a young lad we would swim in similar rivers at Santon Downham. That was a more carefree time.

I did shoot some video too while we were out. I even got to try one or two outdoor YouTube tropes. I don’t know how they do them for their videos. It was a right pain especially the walking towards the camera.

I even managed (after checking the video) to capture the big fish in the river near to the swimming hole.

Lunch was the usual ramen and a mug of coffee. Dolly had beef billatong and a bowl of water. There might be a pleasant surprise for the lunch break next time we go out.

We had this sitting next to the idilic River Nar.

Today’s stove was a Bushbuddy playing windshield to a Trangia burner. Pot is a snow peak 900ml (iirc). And yes that is a titanium ramen spoon!
Army instant coffee
Added the soya chunks first
Finally the miso mix, and ramen
The finishing touches were the soy sauce, hot sauce, and the Japanese rice topping.
Next added the friend veg and mushrooms

We didn’t actually make it to the abbey itself. We stopped at the crossing of the River Nar. It was basically a country lane to the abbey and that didn’t hold any appeal to me. Plus would we be able to look around for free. I know it’s used as a wedding venue. Which stinks of being charged and not being able to take Dolly in.

There was a good view of it from the river and where we stopped for lunch.

After refuelling we packed up and headed back the way we had come.

It had been good timing because as we got back to the car there was the odd spot of rain starting to fall.

Distance walked: 3.6 miles

Bgstats for August 2025

bgstat, by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

Wow this month has flown by.

I’m hoping September flies by as well because at the end of it, maybe a day or two into October Diogo should be joining the little monsters. Plus I’m also on holiday at the same time.

But I know September will drag on especially as it gets closer to arrival and the excitement levels ramp up.

However today you are here to see what I played in August. And you know I hate to disappoint.

So here are the “infographics” summing up my August gaming.

Obviously I owe you a long post talking about the games I’ve played recently and that’ll be in a day or two.

Jeff’s Birthday Gaming Day 2025

TI, Twilight Imperium 4

Apart from last year, which was a special case (Jeff was celebrating a significant wedding anniversary with a cruise instead). The highlight of August is Jeff’s birthday gaming day.

These gaming days are usually a big epic game, such as Civilisation, Memoir ‘44 Overlord, or Twilight Imperium 3. Plus some equally epic food such as Jeff’s homemade Indian food.

This year it was once more the turn of Twilight Imperium 3 to hit the birthday celebration table.

Five factions sought to rule the galaxy but only one would be victorious.

Top left; Muaat (me), Top Right: Sol (Charlene), Middle Left: Creuss (Jonas), Middle Right: Mentak (Jeff’s youngest), Bottom Left: Hacan (Jeff)

I’d never played Muaat before so decided to go with them. Which meant I started with a War Sun. And yes there were many Star Wars Death Star references through out the day.

Looking back on the days play I wasn’t nearly as aggressive or expansionist as I could have, or even should have been.

For me the War Sun seemed to be a big red flag telling the others not to mess with me.

I think it was after round two when everyone but Jeff’s youngest got the War Sun technology thanks to a vote being successful that allowed those with a trade agreement to share technology.

This years melt in your mouth double cooked chicken curry

For a longtime during the game I remained on zero victory points. As the others claimed objectives of one kind or the other I was being left behind.

I had a bit of an alliance going with my neighbours the Cruess.

I was determined that I’d score one victory point so that I wasn’t completely embarrassed with scoring zero points.

Then in what was to be the final two rounds I had a made splurge of points scoring a total of three points, followed by two more in the final round.

That left me tied with Jeff and Charlene for second place or as we lovingly call it in Fenland Gamers, first loser. The winner was Jonas, who by claiming his tenth victory point end the game instantly screwing his brother out of scoring any more points and keeping him in last place.

Whether it’s third or fourth edition I do enjoy playing Twilight Imperium. Luckily October/November the second expansion for fourth edition comes out giving us an excuse to get it to the table again (as if we really needed an excuse).

I had a great day playing with friends, and helping Jeff celebrate another lap around our sun. A big thank you to Jeff for inviting me.

Games I’ve played in August so far

Gaming roundup

It’s back to the ol’ cardboard and plastic posts. Specifically just quickly going over what’s hit the table recently.

51st State Ultimate Edition: I finally got my hands on a gamefound edition of 51st State. I can’t believe the person I bought it from didn’t get the extra faction board add on.

Rebirth: Not going to say much about this because I have nothing new to say about this great game.

Raising Robots: After playing this engine builder that Marcin billed as similar/like Wingspan a bit disappointed, even frustrated. Yes it has a Wingspan like element to it but that seems minor. The engine you build is basically your opening hand. Getting new cards was frustrating and apart from an action that had you discard cards to get new ones, no other opportunities came to get them (although some robot cards allowed you to). Playing cards to your board other than your opening hand seemed less of the game. I felt the game was over complicated and not as fun as any of the Wingspan family.

Planet Unknown: an interesting game where you are placing tetronomes on your game board. Well basically that’s its core mechanic. Very Uwe Rosenberg like. It’s interesting.

Citizens of the Spark: nothing to add to what I’ve said previously. It’s fun.

Rebel Princess: our go to trick taker. Colin set a new record for most points gained in a round of 26 beating the previous record held by Marcin.

Rail Road Tiles: a newly arrived kickstarter, which looks really nice. This tile drafting/placement game is fun. We played a basic game as recommended by the rule book for the first game. Mechanically it’s not complicated. But with the objectives and expansions to still be added in the decision making of where to place tiles should get more interesting.

Gift of Tulips: not a bad area majority, market manipulation game. Along with post apocalyptic themed games this type of filler card game seems to be a favourite of Marcin’s. He has one or two of them. It was a fun game. Didn’t blow me away.

And that’s it for August so far.

Learning to fly

Z80 Assembly, ZX Spectrum, ZX Spectrum Next

“There is an art, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy

Sometimes I think this HHGTTG quote sums up learning assembly language whether it’s Z80, 6502, 68000, or any other processor. There is a knack to it, almost a frame of mind/thinking you need to achieve/enter.

I like to have something I’m aiming for while learning. It gives me a focus.

For learning Z80 assembly and the ZX Spectrum Next I have two things I want to aim for. However I’m only going to reveal one of them now.

This first target is to write a small Z80 assembly program to generate fractal music.

I first came across fractal music back in 1986 with a “short” program listing in a Commodore magazine for a game called Syncro by my favourite games programmer of all time Jeff Minter.

Luckily I didn’t have to type it in because it was also available as a download on Compunet (an official Commodore dial up bulletin board).

In Syncro you had three or four floors moving in different directions and speeds which you had to get numerous cippy’s (the creature first introduced in the Llamasoft game Ancipital) synchronised with. Whilst doing this in the background playing away on the SID chip was some fractal music.

It was nothing like anything else on the C64. The likes of Whittaker, Galway, and Hubbard were masters of the SID chip. What they did and the tunes they produced were incredible.

However this was something completely different. Mathematically driven.

In an interview Minter talked about the fractal music and the Byte article that inspired it.

I’ve tracked down a pdf of that issue of Byte (although I’d love a physical copy, which I once had) and printed out the article.

This article will also be my inspiration for my first assembly program that will not be a learning exercise from a book.

I’m all out of bubblegum

So as I wait for the kickstarter to complete and take my money (tomorrow as I write) and then the actual machine to arrive later in the year. I’ve started reading the books on assembly, making notes, and making a temp dev environment on my laptop.

That should mean when the Next finally arrives I’m in a good position to continue my journey.

ZX Spectrum Next – my next geek out?

life, the universe, and everything, Retro Computing, still alive, ZX Spectrum, ZX Spectrum Next

One project I recently backed on Kickstarter and about to finish and go into production is for the ZX Spectrum Next version 3.

I’ve been aware of the ZX Spectrum Next since its original crowdfunding a few years back. But I resisted backing that and the subsequent follow up campaign. The cost put me off if I remember correctly.

So what changed with this new edition to tempt me to part with my money?

When I saw that this version will also have the ability to be a Commodore 64 I was tempted. After all I had a C64 before I had a Speccy. For the record I loved both, and I think this was the start of my gaming philosophy of playing a game on the platform that had the best version.

However what got me to press that back project button was a third computer that it could also run as. That third machine was the Sinclair QL. The QL was a dream machine for me that I’d never own. It really was an object of desire for me.

And the thing about the ZX Spectrum Next is this is not some Raspberry Pi running emulators in a pretty case. It’s doing all this in hardware! Plus it upgrades the graphics, sound, can use sd cards, tape, WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI, etc.

Not only that as a programmer it comes with NextBASIC (I’m assuming I can also tinker with Sinclair BASIC if I so desire), full C support, Assembly, and complete IDEs and toolchains. So I can write my own stuff for it.

“With every system shipped, a SD card is included packed with games, apps, demos, documentation, and development tools to get started right out of the box.” (from the kickstarter page)

I’m looking forward to tinkering with Z80 assembly on it. Back in the day I was a BASIC and 6502 assembly guy. Then it was BASIC/C/Modula 2/68000 when I made the jump to 16bit on the Atari ST.

To help me with my Z80 journey I found out that a company has reprinted Spectrum Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner that was originally printed by Melbourne House publishing (I had the C64 version). To go along with that I also got Programming the Z-80 by Rodnay Zaks. Back in the day the go to authors for assembly programming were Zaks and/or Lance Leventhal. I had Lance’s 6502 and 68000 books. I had one by Zaks as well but I can’t remember for which processor.

I also backed and received a copy of Hewson’s Helpline for the ZX Spectrum, ZX80 & ZX81 a few months back. This is basically a collection of his columns from Sinclair User. These are fairly technical articles answering readers questions with snippets of code in BASIC and assembly.

I’ve also ordered a copy of 40 Best Machine Code Routines for the ZX Spectrum by Hewson as well.

So armed with these books I’m hoping to write my first ever Z80 assembly programs for the Speccy. There’s just something about writing assembler that higher languages don’t give you. I’m kinda excited about that prospect.

Finally before I finish this post I should say there were two versions of this Next, classic black and magenta. I went for the magenta.

I’m sure there will be more on this subject once the project delivers later in the year.