Not your regular Sunday session #2. Of gangers, competitors and winners

Getting wired inWednesday's first installment of this Conflict Scotland 2010 report was all about meeting people, seeing the sights, and loading up with swag. Today I'll be telling of how Andy and I fared when we joined in the fun, and of the results of the competitions: the event's purpose after all.

Underhive shootout
The game
Knowing that there was to be open gaming laid on, Andy and I took along some of our models for a game. Andy took his 1500pt, 20 model Space Wolf Wolf Guard army (Andy's tried this army out already- against David's infamous Tau: you can read Andy's battle report here). I'd considered taking a Penumbra's Talons army but decided against it in the end, preferring instead just to take along my gang for a game of Necromunda with Andy.

Now part of GW's Specialist Games range, Necromunda was originally released in 1995 in a big box stuffed to the gunnels in best GW tradition (a box whose contents included- IIRC, the first appearance of the now highly prized plastic bulkheads). The game was an instant hit and has since won itself a following whose fanaticism is matched only by that of Blood Bowl, another game hailing from the same period (Blood Bowl's definitive 3rd edtion was released just the previous year).

Not your regular Sunday session #1. Of GWers, gamers and swag

It's been a long time
With no gaming the previous week because we had decided to go for a walk in the lovely spring sunshine, last Sunday's session was also cancelled because Andy and I had chosen to accept our mission: to attend GW's premiere Scottish gaming event, Conflict 2010. My last Conflict- at which I was a competitor, was back in 2002, so it was nice to go to another and to see what had become of this event in the intervening years. Neither Andy nor I were competing this year so we had plenty of time to take in the sights.

The writer
The Black Library stand was the first thing Andy and I noticed on our entry into the venue- the Braehead Curling Rink, but we barely had time to register its presence as we were both making a rapid beeline for the bargain stand across the far side of the hall. On this first of several visits I spotted a shopworn copy of Heldenhammer: the Legend of Sigmar, the first in Graham McNeill's trilogy of novels about this founder of the Empire in the Warhammer Old World; a bargain at a mere £1. Result!

Chop'n'swap droolage

Incoming!
A scant three months after officially announcing the release date, and following the subsequent obligatory official teasers and fevered internet rumours and speculation, GW a fortnight ago finally released the first tranche of its new Blood Angels range. Readers who also follow RD/KA!@fB will know already that I have since bought myself the crucial two new Blood Angels boxed sets: the Death Company and the Sanguinary Guard. The BA are one of the 4 classic iconic space marine chapters; the Death Company have long been their signature unit; the Sanguinary Guard have joined the Death Company as another signature unit as part of a shiny new BA codex.

The new Codex: Blood Angels is the fullest treatment of the BA since the 2nd edition Angels of Death codex, which they shared with the Dark Angels. Since then the BA have had one of the infamous 3rd edition 'minidexes' intended to supplement the standard codex and their 4th edition list was a 2-part White Dwarf article. The new C:BA is therefore the first full-sized, stand-alone codex GW has ever devoted to this always popular army: an event of some note for 40K fans in other words.

A singular honour

A belated Easter surprise
The names Paul D. Selman and iL-Logic should already be known to site-visiting readers who have the habit of checking out the various lists of links in the sidebar here at RD/KA!. Paul is a freelance artist with whom I've become friendly after we hooked up online because the guys at EMOTIONALLY FOURTEEN are his buddies, and iL-Logic is a new webcomic written by Adam Di Stefano- who blogs at 52 Short Stories, and with art by Paul.

I've enjoyed following Paul's blog since we hooked up last year. His artwork is always interesting; sometimes hits me right between the eyes; and has lately forced me to rethink my longstanding and largely blind prejudice against abstract art, something which had sometimes made me feel uncomfortable because of the philistine company I would often find myself keeping. I also enjoy reading iL-Logic, checking it out regularly in a way I stopped doing some time ago with all my other favourite webcomics simply because I found myself too busy to keep up with them.

Glasgow Comic mart: fB strikes again

Another old haunt
It all started- as happens so often these days, with a 'friend of a friend' notification on fB, from which I learned that Glasgow Comic mart was to stage its next comic and toy fair in Glasgow University's Queen Margaret Union on Saturday April 3rd. Although I've never attended Glasgow University the QMU is another students' union of which I have fond memories, although I'll leave those for another time. I was vaguely aware of the Glasgow Comic mart from adverts for previous fairs in its old venue- Hillhead Library, yet- just like Conpulsion, the event had somehow always passed me by.

The best laid plans
So, brimful of 'get up and go' after my exciting weekend at Conpulsion and a hot night on the town the Friday before; equipped with a fistful of my instruments of BSA and with my trusty digicam; and with some ready cash in my pocket, I set off last Saturday to investigate. Entering the venue I was immediately struck by the bustle: the place was stowed out. The press of the crowd was such that you had to squeeze through gaps to make any headway into the hall and you became an obstacle to general progress when you stopped to peruse the stallholders' wares.

My initial plan had been to check out all the stalls to see what was available before making any purchases, but that survived less than a minute's contact with 'the enemy'. Slipping through the crowd I immediately saw bargains too irresistible to ignore- TPBs at £1 each. I snapped up those which had caught my eye:

• Sinister Dexter: Murder 101.
• Legend of the Hawkman, ##1-3.

And I was off!

Mad March roundup #2. Grand geek gathering!

The place
Conpulsion 2010 took place last weekend in the Teviot Row students' union at Edinburgh University, as Conpulsion always does. The "oldest purpose built student union building in the world", Teviot Row is a place of which I have fond memories from the 1980s: I used to play a lot of Defender there- badly; the student wargames club used to have monthly games days there; and it was there- at a FilmSoc showing, that this lifelong fan of classic Trek first saw Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Teviot Row: the front entrance

You can imagine then, dear readers, that I was keen to see what Conpulsion made of this place so redolent of memory for yours truly. The short answer is that I was impressed.