Is there anybody out there?

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. So the popular Mark Twain paraphrase goes. In a similar vein, the recent silence from Battleshed Diaries may have had my reader wondering what on earth has happened? The last report was back in March when the headline was ‘The Indians are coming!’ And then nothing. Nada. Zilch.  

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Surely the Battleshed hadn’t fallen to an Iroquois raid, its usual denizens - namely Shelob the Spider, Wookie the Cat and myself - a scalped victim (not that anyone would tell the difference these days) and the B-Shed’s miniature horde scattered or taken as exotic trophies by whooping warriors in a kinda’ Time Bandit style raid…

Erm. No. Obviously. That would be just wacky. Although it’s the kind of thing that wouldn’t be out of place in any Battleshed discussion. No, I’m afraid the truth is much more mundane. I simply took a blogging breather for a few weeks whilst I recharged the gaming batteries and concentrated on other non-gaming projects. Not that there’s been any pause in my regular tabletop gaming schedule; that’s been pretty much steady going. Mostly filled with the usual suspects – Saga, Songs of Blades’, In Her Majesty’s Name, X-Wing, Rogue Stars, Firefly, Dead Man’s Hand, Sharp Practice! etc.

So what’s been happening? Briefly, Saga has been weirdly foremost, certainly for the last month or so. Definitely by way of happenstance than design. There’s been an increase in player interest at my local club and with my long running Saga campaign (Dance of Power, season 3) still running, Dark Age tussles seem to have been front and foremost for me up at the Falkirk club. I’ve not neglected my painting queue either. Although, admittedly, the going has been slow with regular pauses. I’m still flicking bits of paint at the illimitable queue of undercoated miniatures. Only my scenery projects have stalled really (nothing new there!) due to lack of time. But no doubt I’ll revisit them at some point. It’s the way of these things.

Somehow, rather miraculously, I’ve managed to stick to my New Year commitment not to buy into any new systems until I’ve made a big dent in current painting queue. What constitutes a 'big' dent is between me and my lead mountain! Not bad for me, though, you’ve got to agree! I’ve not purchased anything hobby-wise since Vapnartak in York back in February. Blimey! However – technically – that came to an end only Saturday past.

Saturday was my club's annual show, CARRONADE 2017, which was another big success this year from the feedback received so far. It meant a good few hours sweaty work prior to and after the show putting everything together for the traders, clubs and the wargaming public. And that’s only the culmination of months of organisation put in by the club's senior members. All the hard work running these shows is worth it though, if just for the camaraderie and seeing the line of eager wargamers, young and old, excitedly heading into the show and then heading back out a few hours later encumbered by bulging bags and sporting wide grins!

Some of my fellow 'Carronade Crew' taking their spot on the 'Front Door'

I only had two items on my shopping list. Both were Saga reinforcements (Warriors & Hearthguard) for my campaign warband. Which I duly purchased. Nothing else… well ok, maybe the new Saga Aetius & Arthur supplement introducing 6 new factions (Romans, Britons, Saxons, Goth, Picts and Huns for some post-Roman battling. Technically it's not a new system, OK?!  Anyway, despite huge temptation, I stuck to plan, helped by keeping myself busy as part of the ‘Carronade Crew’. And we'll be doing it all again next year!

Coincidentally, the Falkirk Club is highlighted with a two-page spread (pages 70-71) in the June edition of Miniature Wargames! Well worth a look:

 As is the video below from Paul Alba providing a flavour of Carronade 2017. Thanks, Paul!

This should bring my reader up to date with the Battleshed shenanigans since the last report. The Battleshed blogging should ramp up again. There’s already one of my notoriously one-sided battle reports incoming from Lord Curr (IHMN) and also Valgen’s Dwarf lads' (aSOBH) latest fisticuffs with Sam Pate’s bloody barbarians (featuring Crom the Contemptable). I’ll also be reviewing the current state of play with my Saga campaign and my thoughts on the Aetius & Arthur supplement. And of course, the usual eclectic mix of Battleshed wargaming reports. The Battleshed schedule (right column) gives you an idea of what I’ve got planned at least. See, I’m not dead yet.