Author Archives: Gavin Syme

Doctor Who Audio – The Sword of Orion – Review

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On occasion great bounties can be found in charity shops if one is lucky and I was indeed lucky a few months back.  While waiting to return to the pre-arranged meeting place where my good lady and her friend expected me I dallied in a branch of Oxfam and amid the ranks of objects I spotted some CD’s.  Most of the time it is the kind of turgid rubbish that I find it hard to believe appeals to anyone but was I wrong this time.  I saw a case with the Big Finish logo and it was a Doctor Who audio adventure from about ten years back called…The Sword of Orion.

I listened to the adventure over a week in the car and even stopped and sit to listen to more of it!  It was very good.  Paul McGann to me is a superb Doctor Who and does a great job driving the tale forward while I also adore India Fisher’s voice as the character of Charlie Pollard.  It had all the elements of my favourite kind of Who story; hard sci-fi, space, monsters, action.  The villains of the piece are the Cybermen who lurk and then strike aboard a mothballed battle cruiser in a space scrapyard.

The story gave me a lot of ideas for wargaming scenarios and I recommend it for wargamers and fans of Doctor Who as well.  There are nine other adventures in this series and this one is the second in the list.  I may well get myself more of these…but the chances of finding them in the charity shop….low indeed!

GBS

Rob Alderman looks at the Londinium Coach kit

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My good buddy Rob Alderman has gotten around to doing a video review of one of the most complex and wonderful sets of miniatures that Alternative Armies has ever created – The Londinium Coach.

His video goes over the contents and ideas of this box set and he is rightly bursting with appreciation for the talents of the designer and the quality of the white metal kit and the booklet that comes with it.  I do not own a Coach at this moment but it is on my wants list and once I have assembled enough Albion Orcs to give the Ferach Elves a right kicking I will be getting myself a set of these sweet wheels.

Oh, and to answer Rob’s question in the video, ‘who designed it’ well I came up with the concept and the structure while Edward Jackson did some rough outlines and then the talented Mark Ricketts sculpted all the parts.  You only needed to read the credits on the inside front of the booklet lad!  🙂

Have a watch.

GBS

Girvan Primary Sports Day 2012

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Primary One gets ready to race!

This week the rain stopped long enough for the Girvan Primary school to put on its Sports Days for all classes.  While I was unable to see the little Warrior or the big Thinker do their races I did make it to the Poet’s day on Tuesday afternoon.  Taking place in the area outdoor grounds of the school the first three years (Primary One, Two and Three) raced against their own in girls and boys events.  A flat race, a bunny hop race and a ‘tattie on a spoon’ race too.  Good times were had by all.

I had hoped to get a good action picture of the little lad charging for the red roped finishing line but unfortunately I did not manage it due to a lack of crowd control so the image above shows the ‘P1’s’ getting into line and ready to race instead.

We did not get any medals this time but it is all in the spirit of fun and boy do some parents take it WAY too seriously.  I took comfort instead in knowing that all three of my children are happy, secure and especially in the case of the Poet literally top of the class in reading, writing and mathematics.  Well done to him!

GBS

The Edinburgh Dead by Brian Ruckley – Review

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Given to me by Steve Young

At Salute 2012 my good friend Steve Young, talented miniature designer and musician, and all around great bloke gave me his copy of  The Edinburgh Dead by Brian Ruckley.  Jolly decent of him eh!

So it has taken me since late April to get to the point of reading it.  I really must take a picture of my ‘inbox’ of books which I swear to myself and all who buy them for me that I will read in the order of reciept.  It is a sight to be seen.  Well, this book broke the order.  Yes, I cheated and put it to the top of the list!  I had to otherwise you would not be hearing about it until Christmas at least.

Steve told me it was a great read and that it would be super material for some scenarios for Flintloque.  Being set in Scotland in the early part of the nineteenth century and featuring detective work along with gruesome action and the Undead as well what was not to like.  So I chewed my way through it at the weekend and the verdict?

The Edinburgh Dead is by an author whose other books I have not read so there was no comparison there.  It is well written and moves at a fast pace, the main characters are well drawn and the plot builds to a tense resolution.  I do not want to give spoilers so I will leave it with this.  A good read and set in a period and place not often used.  It is well worth picking up if you like grim and gritty with a Scottish flavour.

Recommended 🙂

GBS

p.s. see, I can write short posts!

Cultists, Ashigaru and Arid World Warriors – Concept to Completion

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A while ago I discussed with Elton Waters some idea for expanding the HOF 15mm Science Fiction range at 15mm.co.uk.  We went over many ideas, keeping some, discarding others and also paying a lot of heed to the hundreds of requests that customers had made in responce to being asked ‘what next?’ in miniature designs and releases.  While I cannot discuss everything we worked out (that would spoil the surprises to come this year!) the time has come for the first three of the agreed sculpting sets to be set loose on the world!

Starting last week and over the next few weeks three new packs will be added to the 15mm.co.uk website.  I have included some of my thoughts on each of them under the pictures. They are:

HOF76 Corporate Ashigaru

This pack is one of my personal favourites of the year so far.  The Corporate Ashigaru went up on the 15mm.co.uk website Friday last.  Full of character these three came about from an ideas session about who would be perfect for troops in a ‘Cyberpunk’ setting.  While the HOF range already had cyborgs and so on one area not covered was Japan.  The Japanese feature heavily in vintage Cyberpunk writings and wargames so what better than some near future hired guns in armour that mimics that of the Tokagawa period of Japan’s history.  Great for skirmish gaming and as bodyguards to your leaders. So look out for HOF76!

HOF77 Cultist Command

It would be no mistake to tell you just how popular the current HOF Cultists are.  Infantry and Heavy Weapons packs go out all over the world to wargamers and many of those happy customers come back and ask for expansions to that part of the range.  Highest ranking among the requests were ones for a Command set featuring characters who would be fit to lead their fanatics on their missions.  So Elton and I agreed on a theme, that of robes and bare feet, then we thought about poses.  I knew we needed a ‘grand pooba’ a head honcho (far left) and a second in command (one in on left) to get the Cultists properly instructed.  But on top of that Elton came up with the idea of the ‘propagandatron’ (middle) upon which the cult can broadcast its views to the world while in battle.  Added to this someone to wave the flag and a general runner rounded out the concept and then the sculpts.  HOF77 is bound to please many.

HOF78 Arid World Warriors

I like to introduce new ideas and new sections into the ever growing HOF range and on that note we either pick an idea from the ‘suggestions’ pile (like we did with the HOF Rim Mercenaries) or I let the designer make a suggestion.  In the case of the Arid World Warriors it was the latter and Elton suggested some Human warriors from a very dry environment.  Lots of science fiction settings take place in deserts and other dry places so when you need an enigmatic tribe or some plain old raiders to take on your regular forces these are your fellows for the job.  HOF78 is a first in the range.

So get along to 15mm.co.uk and check them all out.

GBS

Olympic Torch passes through Girvan

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An event that has seemed so far very far away and often irrelevant to life in Girvan has just passed through our little town.  The Olympic Torch procession made it’s way through Girvan today  just after seven in the morning.  Myself and the rest of the family were up super early and out in the street to see it.

The Crowd Gathers in the Early Morning

Luckily the rain held off and the turn out was very good.  Many of the local children were there and most were waving self made torches and little flags.  The procession began with the normal clearing of the roads and then a number of corporate sponsored vehicles handing out their wares, playing music and generally trying to incite an atmosphere into a slightly damp and sleepy crowd.  It worked well though and by the time the local runner (a man from the village of Mossblown which is up past Ayr) went by everyone was cheering and waving madly.

Cheer the Mascot!

The Torch!

So while the Olympics are happening far away they were, if only for an hour, part of everyone here’s life.  I greatly enjoyed it and the chance to see the ‘torch’ in person and for the children it was the culmination to a week of school based preparation.

The Warrior having Fun!

Oh…and I got a little bottle of free Coca Cola.  Nice and Sporting.

Excellent  🙂

GBS

Ray Bradbury a master of Science Fiction dies at 91

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Normally I do not comment on the news but I just learned that Ray Bradbury author of more books than you could carry has died at the age of 91.  He had been ill for a long time, that I knew, but in a career that lasted seventy years I came across his work again and again.  From the classic Fahrenheit 451 to lesser known works he always impressed me with the skill and touch of his writing not to mention his boundless imagination.  My personal favourite has to be the collected tales in The Illustrated Man.

If you have never heard of Mr Bradbury then get out from under the rock where you live and get informed.  An excellent author who will be greatly missed.

GBS

Carrick Lowland Gathering 2012

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It is June now and that means time for the annual Carrick Lowland Gathering which takes place around the same weekend each year at the Victory Park in the middle of Girvan.  The Gathering as it is known has been a fixture of life in Girvan for a long time and it encompasses a lot of fun and festivity.  This year was no different on that score but it was an improvement on last year.

Throwing the Hammer at the Lowland Gathering!

A sunny Sunday lunchtime saw the Syme clan arrive and while I trotted about and had a few chats my good lady took some photos, the best two are in this posting.  The Gathering has a highland games event that includes hammer throwing, Highland Dancing and it has a Pipe Band championship too.  Alongside this are other smaller events and charities and a number of fairground rides and many stalls selling everything from traditional sweets and clothing to local wares like tartans and curling stones.  There are also workshops on how to dance and play the drums and pipes.

The Poet enjoying the Trampoline! (He is jumping, it just looks like he is tied up in the ropes)

Unlike last year it was dry and sunny which I think increased the turnout to more than two thousand all in and it meant more traders turned up too; there were no spare pitches left.  The pricing of everything was reasonable too and as always it was great to see the town busy and the children having fun.

Good Times!

GBS

Winter of ’79 Blog inspires USE ME Modern Warfare players

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The Winter of ’79 blog run by my good mate Mark Hannam (the original creator and runner of Dropship Horizon blog) is a fasinating place to visit and makes you feel like you have stepped into an alternate reality.  His passion in creating a world where end of the 1970’s in Britain came out rather differenty is an inspiration and I greatly enjoyed trawling the posts and looking at the pictures (like the ‘mock’ Osprey campaign book cover above…brill!).  But why was I there?  I do not game modern period most of the time.

Well I went along because 15mm.co.uk had half a dozen emails and comments sent to it over the weekend referring to the Winter of 79′ blog along with purchases of our own UM004 USE ME Modern Warfare pocket sized rules system.  It seemed obvious enough to me that wargamers were looking at the blog and then buying USE ME rules for setting their games there in 20mm scale.

Well done Mark!  Great Blog and Great Imagination.  I hope your continued recovery from illness gets you back to full strength.

GBS

Slorm reviews UM013 Eldritch Horror rules

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UM013 An Eldritch Horror

My friend the wargamer known as Slorm has kindly reviewed UM013 An Eldritch Horror on his great Spanish/English blog called El Rincon de Slorm.

It is a nice little and honest review of the pocket sized rules so have a wee read if the fancy takes you.  Remember you can get a free scenario for these rules from Barking Irons Online too.

GBS