Rob Roy

by on February 28, 2015 at 9:20 am
Posted In: Books

Well, this was a little different. There’s a set of introductions to the book that, between them, take up well over 50 pages. The main one (by the author) gives a short history of clan MacGregor, and explains the long-term problems they have had with the law. This then turns into a history of the actual person, Rob Roy. This would have been fine, but was over-long, not that well written, and of course, I wanted to get to the actual story.

The other introduction is from the publisher (of the 1893 edition) describing the writing of the novel. It is much shorter, and has some interesting points. An important one is that Rob Roy is not about Rob Roy. Sir Walter Scott in fact resisted the title for that very reason, but he was a popular enough figure that as soon as he was in the story, it was what everyone wanted to know about.

My copy of the book is a cheap (I got it for free) Kindle ebook from Waxkeep publishing. Unlike some other cheap ebooks, this one was in pretty good shape. All the footnotes merely appeared at the end of the paragraph they occurred in, and there’s a few ‘L’s instead of ‘£’s, but is mostly free of problems.

The book itself was a disappointment. It was by no means bad, but I found it nowhere near as engaging as Ivanhoe. The main character is Francis Osbaldingstone, a young man enamored of France, and poetry and creative endeavors. His father is a colorless businessman in London, estranged from the rest of his large Scottish family, and wants his son to take over the business. When his son refuses, Francis is exiled to his relatives with instructions to pick one out as the heir to the business.

Things get complicated from there, with fellow travelers on the road north, his uncle and cousins, a romantic interest… and then things go a bit sideways with trouble with his father’s business, sending him into Scotland and a new cast of characters. This new cast of course prominently features Rob Roy himself, but also the Scottish countryside.

The structure of the plot is sound; everything in the novel rests on other elements, even when it seems like a digression. In fact, the least essential thing in the book could well be the main character. His presence kicks off much of the action, but the vast bulk of the book is him being acted upon instead of acting. Add to this the fact that there’s a fair amount of dialog in various Scots accents, and the book is a slow read. (I found the heavier accents easier going for some reason.)

So, I can’t really recommend Rob Roy, even though I did generally enjoy it. If you do generally like 19th Century writing, I do recommend it.

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Two Rounds of Sphacteria

by on February 19, 2015 at 9:21 pm
Posted In: CC:Ancients

Not being ready for our next ASL game, Patch and I had another night of C&C:A on Tuesday. This time it was the Battle of Sphacteria from Expansion #6, which covers the end of the siege during the Peloponnesian War. The Spartans begin on a rampart (with a camp at an angle) and a line of impassable hills anchoring it on the right. There’s some passable rough terrain behind that, and a small force of Athenians set to take advantage of it. And in an unusually-written special rule, any Athenian unit that has been on or beyond the wall since the beginning of their turn counts as an extra banner.

I started as the Athenians, and began by confusing my right and left. I was thinking I had a bunch of cards for the flanking force, and only realized my mistake on the second turn. I was also looking at the city wall rules instead of the rampart rules, and so was wondering how I was going to do anything for a while. After a little skirmishing, I Double Timed my right up to the rampart and eliminated the Aux in the camp, and advanced in my own MH. Patch used a Line Command to counterattack, but lost two blocks on each of two units in return for two on the MH.

I then Double-Timed the other flank and eliminated another Aux to advance Demosthenes over the rampart and attack Epitadas, losing one block each. Patch countered with Mounted Charge, but lost a MH reducing the one in the camp to one block, and losing two blocks on another while forcing Demosthenes back over the rampart with only one block left on his MH. I Ordered Three Center to put a Light and MH over the rampart, and pick off a block from an Aux with my bows. The MH finished off Epitadas’ unit.

Patch Counter Attacked to let Epitadas join his remaining full-strength Spartan MH, and knocked my MH over the rampart with a loss, and then Momentum attacked to finish off Demosthenes’ command, killing him in the process. His Aux finally finished off the MH that had been occupying the camp.

I used Line Command to activate my entire right flank and picked off the Aux in the camp for the win (thanks to still having a Light on the wall). 6-3

Sphacteria-1

Patch began his round as the Athenians with a Line Command to activate everything except the flanking force. Some lucky archery reduced Styphon’s Spartan MH to three blocks. However, on the right, his Aux got up to the rampart and lost two blocks to zero against Light Slingers. I used Move-Fire-Move to pepper his line, and shift my Light reserve over to the broken area in case Patch had some Right cards.

Instead he Ordered Lights to do much the same thing. After a little more archery, Patch used a second Line Command to bring just about everything into contact. He took out Epitadas’ Spartan MH, and sent an Aux over the rampart. I then used my Line Command to activate most of my command and pick of a MH and weaken a couple units, losing the Aux camp garrison in the process.

Patch Ordered Medium to kill Styphon’s MH, but most of his MHs were dangerously weakened. I used Double Time on my center and split up to try and retrieve the crumbling situation. And Aux went to the left to pick off a MH, and my remaining MH went over the rampart to pick on Demosthenes, but only did one block, and then took two banners to be forced back behind the rampart. A weak Aux then finished off Patch’s MH.

Patch Ordered Four Center to get three units (and Demosthenes) onto the rampart. I Ordered Medium (only one left!) to attack one of his units, but got driven back. With three kills and three units on the rampart, Patch won at the beginning of his turn. 6-3

Sphacteria-2

Afterword: It not often we have an exactly even split. Too often, I win both rounds. The Athenian units counting for as long as they stay alive and in the victory area makes a certain amount of sense, but the scenario rule is poorly worded, and it is pretty much unique in the official scenarios. At any rate, it seems a really rough scenario on the Spartans, and would only be worse if the Athenians could actually draw some Left cards.

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G17 Hakkaa Paalle

by on February 18, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

Last year, Patch and I decided to celebrate the upcoming release of Hakkaa Päälle by playing scenario G17 “Hakaa Paalle” from Volume 29, Issue 2 of the General (pity that neither of us can afford the module right now). It’s January 1940, when a running firefight starts between the Finns and Russians. There’s Deep Snow, Extreme Winter, Drifts, skis, and winter camouflage.

The Russians enter first with 20 628s and 6 LMGs, followed by 12 squads of 838 Finn supermen (assault fire, spraying fire, no cowering, underlined morale, stealthy, and can declare HtH CC) with 4 LMGs. The Finns need to have at least 10 more CVP than the Russians at the end of ten turns, and the Russians can exit off the west edge without penalty (both sides enter from the east). The map is a board and a half (longwise) east-west (so 50 hexes for the Russians to get away), and two tall, with all the buildings, walls and hedges removed.

Patch took the Russians, who have already spent 2 MP before entering, so his first turn was occupied by ducking around the woods near his entry area, and got backed up a bit. The Finns entered, and moved laterally towards a group of woods near the board edges, trying to find a way to get into range before the Russians could get past. Patch managed to pin two squads with a long-range shot from a pair of LMGs to slow me down slightly.

G17-1
Full map, showing both sides first turn movement. Stacks are taller than usual thanks to all the skis.

↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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Two Rounds of Olpae

by on February 11, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: CC:Ancients

Patch and I played the Battle of Olpae from Commands & Colors: Ancients Expansion #6 last night. The Spartans have a notably better force on-board, but the Athenians have four units and a leader who can pop out of the woods with the use of a Leadership card for any section other than Left (which has no trees).

I had the Athenians first, and led off with Leadership Any Section to hit him before he could move away, and knocked out a Light and a MH in return for two damage on an Aux.

It was downhill after that.

Patch counterattacked, and eliminated the weakened Aux, and later eliminated one of the ambushing MHs and reduced the other to two blocks at a cost of two hits on a Spartan MH. I moved my line up in two phases with an Order Light and Order Mounted, giving me a solid line, and doing one more damage to his MH in return for two hits on my cavalry. Patch responded with Mounted Charge to come in contact with my line. He finished off my two wounded units, and then picked on my Light who had picked up the leader from my ambush at the end of the line. He stood, since I had a Clash of Shields I planned to use, and Patch eliminated the unit and leader to win. 2-6

Olpae 1

Patch led off his turn as the Athenians with Out Flanked, and moved up his right while getting two hits on the center of the main Spartan line with his bows. I burned an Order Heavy as an Order One to adjust my left, and Patch picked off the Aux there at a cost of two hits.

I then Double Timed to bring my main (right) line in contact with Patch, and forced one unit back with no losses, and eliminated his leader-led MH at a cost of an Allied MH and three hits on another. Patch Ordered Three Right to eliminate that last unit and force back my Lights. Patch then hit the last unit from my advance on both sides with a Mounted Charge (Patch always gets that card in these hoplite battles), but he retreated with two losses.

I then Counter Attacked to move up my three Spartan MHs, and killed an MH at a cost of three blocks. Patch Ordered Mounted to finish off the Aux and do a block to one of the Spartan MHs. I used I Am Spartacus (hmm, forgot to reshuffle) to move up the Spartan MHs again and have my slingers try to disrupt what was left of his flank (rolled a Hvy (useless), Med, Light, and two wild). I killed an MH and forced units back, scattering his remaining line.

Patch used Line Command for… one unit, and reduced my center (leader-led) Spartan MH to one block in return for two damage. I used Clash of Shields to continue that fight, but only caused him to retreat after reducing to one block. Patch Move-Fire-Moved to tighten up his units, but did no damage; I Ordered One [Heavy] to bring the far flank up and drive off his Lights.

Patch then did another one-unit Line Command to face off the two one-block MHs and eliminated mine, driving off Euylochus. He then Momentum Attacked to get four hits on one of the surviving MHs. 3-6

Olpae 2

Afterword: It’s a pretty brutal fight for the Athenians if they can’t get their Ambush off (Patch only saw a single Left Leadership card all game), but the dice liked Patch past the first turn of the first game. The disastrous result of the Double Time is what really broke me in the second game, though the Spartan MHs nearly did the job on their own.

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And Goodbye to Another MMO….

by on February 9, 2015 at 8:39 pm
Posted In: MMO

It’s been a while since I’ve said much about ArcheAge here. Some of that is my usual habit of wandering away after a little bit, even while Smudge continues on.

And that did happen here, but….

Both Smudge and I have been interested by the largish crafting system, which is fairly well done. The property owning, and the farms as a source for most of the materials you need is appreciated.

But then they gate it in annoying ways. Higher level/useful items generally need something that has to be gotten through running a trade pack from one continent to the other. That is designed to put you at risk in PvP—and one of the major guilds on the server recently went largely pirate (separate from either of the two factions in the game).

Smudge doesn’t care for PvP at the best of times. I technically like it… in more contemplative settings (board games…), but in a high-action setting where you’re being forced into it because something else completely is at stake (the future of your crafting), yeah. High-stress fox is unhappy fox.

My eventual judgement was that the crafting system existed to give the PvPers a fantasy adventure sandbox to run around in. i.e., instead of coming up with a bunch of random NPC/monsters to encounter and fight, they made sure there were random PCs to encounter and fight.

There’s been some bugs that have existed since Alpha without being acknowledged (I ran into one: one of the alchemy potions is supposed to be craftable on the basic alchemy workstations, and is listed that way in-game; but it’s missing from the list when you actually use the table), so we’ve been determined not spend money on the game. But while it is technically Free to Play, to own land, you have to be a Patron. You can do that by buying APEX with in-game currency, but the price has been going up by leaps and bounds, from ~60 gold around game launch (just about six months ago) to ~750 gold last week. Of course, all APEX have to be bought with real money by someone, and then you can sell it for in-game money, but this shows that the idea of ‘whales’ buying APEX so they can sell them to buy in-game stuff isn’t working. I’ve been wondering if they just haven’t kept the attention of big spenders or what.

Smudge has been involved in a guild for a while, which kind of expanded out of control, and drama kept happening with other guilds as a result, but the main people were good.

But, in general, ArcheAge has one of the poorer MMO communities we’ve seen, and it’s just been getting worse. The good people we know gave up on questing around level 30 (when the quests force you into PvP-land), and getting a group together for less than max-difficulty dungeons is difficult (not that there’s many dungeons to begin with). In fact, there’s a fair amount of dismissal of doing quests in general, and while there was a decent number of RP-interested people on the server to begin with, they were basically the first to go.

And the last straw for Smudge was seeing a group of guys complaining in general chat about not being able to have sex with their wives while they were asleep. >.<

Anyway, here’s a picture from happier times:

ArcheAge Screen Shot

This is a New Year’s group shot of the main members of the Night Owls guild (been meaning to post this for ages). My alt, Frasissa is the female Firran in the center, and Smudge’s alt/guildie LingLi is to her right. Several of the guild’s ships are in the background, and the symbol on most of the sails is the guild logo Smudge did.

We’re not sure what’s up next for us. Smudge is in the final stages of crunch time of getting To Kill A Dragon #4 out.

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