Getting back into the swing of things (sort of).

I haven't been doing much which is modelling or wargaming related since Christmas, or before it to be honest.   I normally set up my gaming table in our conservatory which isn't the warmest space in the house and without any games in prospect my modelling and painting has slipped back a long way.  What I have been doing is reading around the development of the Swedish Army for the next part of the 17th Century armies sequence of posts and doing an awful lot of online role playing through the medium of Everquest.

If you are not interested in computer games then the name Everquest will mean nothing to you.  Everquest is old now, the game will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2024 and by now it's played by die hard fans (like me), people who stumble on to it by accident and old players who return for a short term nostalgia fix.  Graphically it's been improved over the original 1999 release, although not by a huge amount as there is a limit to what can be added to the bones of 24 year old programming.  Instead the game has expanding the original playable area of the game through 30 expansions. 

As you can see the early graphics were a bit, well blocky

What keeps me coming back though is the game play. The game is essentially a sword and sorcery role player in the Dungeon and Dragons mould. Players take on the role of a persona within the world of Norrath divided into melee or spell caster types with a few character types who can do a bit of both. I play as one of the later as I like the flexibility of that persona; a Wood Elf Ranger. In football terms (that's Soccer to my American readers) a Ranger is a utility player capable of doing a number of different things as need requires. The core of the game was always the interaction between a group of players each of whom brings a different set of abilities to the party. Sadly after two and a bit decades that ability to find a group of players within the game has lessened as player numbers reduced. Many players now have multiple game accounts and, for want of a better phrase, tend to play with themselves rather than interact with others. So it has been a nice change to find that when the 2023 expansion arrived just before Christmas it was one where some of my guild mates (bear with me I will explain guilds in a moment) wanted to form online groups to play. Four or five real people sat in several countries interacting to solve tactical problems and puzzles in our cosy little fictional world with all the associated banter that goes with it. Hence I have been slacking on the blogging front, but not on the Rangering.

Guilds? These are an online group of players who have created an in game association larger than just a playing group. The guild can provide facilities and support greater than individual players as the game software provides things where equipment, spells and loot can be shared and distributed amongst guild members.

Yes I know it's all a bit geeky, but I like geeky.  If you like geeky too and a game which is a bit old school Everquest can be played as a free to play game with only minor limitations to what you can do in game. You can find me on the Antonius Bayle server which caters for European time zone players.

With all of the above out of the way I have actually been doing some tabletop gaming related stuff this month, mainly texturing bases of completed figures but its a start.

It's that time of year again.

Time to reflect on another year gone past as we commence another orbit around our star. 2023 been a funny old year and not what I expected this time last year.  I don't think I have achieved any of the wargaming objectives I set myself, mostly due to the dreaded “circumstances beyond my control”.   In fact I haven’t done most of things I was expecting to do this year let alone the wargaming stuff.  So surely  2024 has to be an improvement on 2023.  I'm hoping for more wargame shows attended, more games to be played and hopefully more figures painted, oh and more blog projects completed.

The last 12 months have been a learning experience in life style management.  Clearly I can't just chuck any old rubbish down my throat after my unscheduled cardiac event, no matter how tasty it is.  So 2024 has to be a year of sensible food and drink choices (yeah right).  OK well fairly sensible then.  I suspect my days of carrying a musket in the service of Parliament are behind me too.  I will have to try to avoid becoming one of those boring old farts who sits in the corner of the beer tent lamenting how modern re-enactment isn't a patch on what it was.  I will probably do more commentary work, if they will have me, along with crowd line work.  I fancy the persona of a religious and political radical a Leveller, Digger or a Ranter perhaps.

So less of this unfortunately! (photo by Rusty Aldwinkle)

The key thing though, and this is the really important thing, is that I’m still here to muse wistfully about that state of affairs as are all of my friends and family who started the year with me.  One thing is for sure this getting old lark isn't for wimps!