Playing catchup

Turnover has been slow here at RD/KA! lately. My mood hasn't been great, as old hands might already've imagined. More important than that though- and a contributory factor too no doubt, is the fact that I've been living for several months with the burden of undiagnosed type 2 diabetes, which has left me tired and lacking in motivation. Now that I'm know I'm hoping that management of the condition will soon get me rolling again.

In brighter news I returned last night from UK Games Expo 2010. I had a great time and will be getting to work soon on my report. Meanwhile here are some bits and pieces.

Prizes! Prizes!
The response to my Waste World prize draw was sufficient to make a draw necessary so that's a result I guess! I am pleased to announce the results of the draw:

• Grand prize: the Waste World rules and the Hydra sourcebook go to Josef.
• Consolation prize: the A Fistful of Credits starter set goes to the Gnome.

Congratulations gents! If you'd like to email me your addresses I'll get your goodies off to you as soon as possible. Commiserations to those of you who didn't win. Keep haunting ebay and remember: this was the first RD/KA! prize draw.

Sioux goes global
I wrote last month about the launch- at the Art Exposure Gallery here in Glasgow, of my friend and neighbour Sioux Jackson's career as a line illustrator. At least as net-savvy as she is an illustrator Sioux has since launched a website to publicise her work: Sioux's Art. Sioux can also be found on Facebook. So go along and take a look; tell your friends; and most of all: buy something! It's all for a good cause remember.

Conflict of Heroes on tour
The success of my Conflict of Heroes WW2 tactical boardgame demo at March's Conpulsion convention in Edinburgh, and the generous support that event enjoyed from Uwe Eickert of Academy Games left me keen to have another go. I was soon in touch with the FLGS who'd participated in the discount scheme for which Uwe had given the nod.

I am pleased now to be able to confirm that I will be running 2 Conflict of Heroes demos later this month:

• Kingdom of Adventure, 21-23 Whytescauseway, Kirkcaldy: Friday 25th June, 6-10pm.
• Black Lion Games, 90 Buccleuch Street, Newington, Edinburgh: Saturday 26th June, 12- 4pm.

I am delighted to be appearing at both stores, naturally enough, but I'm sure Liam of Black Lion Games won't be miffed if I note that I'm particularly pleased with the Kingdom of Adventure demo.

I hooked up with KoA via fB last year because the store was Keith Baker's next port of call on his Have Dice Will Travel world tour after his visit to Glasgow. David of KoA has been pestering me to visit ever since. So it's great finally to get a chance to make the trip over to Kirkcaldy to visit this store soon to be celebrating its first birthday, and about which I've heard good reports from reliable sources.

So please do come along on one of those days if you can make it. Conflict of Heroes is a great game and a worthy addition to the ever-expanding stable of WW2 tacsims on the market. You'll get to roll some dice and you might even, y'know...?

DiceCon West 2010: an old favourite returns!
Cancelled last year because of the closure of its familar venue, everyone's favourite friendly Scottish boardgames convention- DiceCon, is back west for 2010, and in a new venue. The full details:

DiceCon West 2010.
Saturday 26th June.
09.00 till late.
Saltire Centre.
Glasgow Caledonian University Campus.
Tickets £7.

The Saltire Centre is modern and looks spacious, bright and airy. I'm sure it'll make a lovely venue for a boardgames convention. Unfortunately the date clashes with my CoH demo tour so I'm unlikely to be able to make an appearance and will have to wait until next year to savour the new environment. Don't let that put you off though: get out there and get gaming!

40K for Glaswegians: the inaugural Partick Crucible
My recent return to the miniatures tabletop with my beloved Penumbra's Talons has suffered for the same reasons as the bloggery, leaving David's and my miniseries caught on the cusp of the cliffhanger of our last game. It turns out that our respective commanders have also been diverted by a major encursion of other hostile alien forces (are there any other kinds of alien forces in 40K?) into our sector of operations. In other words, David back in April took it upon himself to organise a small tournament for members of the 40K for Glaswegians fB group.

I signed up promptly, naturally enough. There will be 12 of us participating, with 1000pt armies. I found this points limit a serious constraint when it came to putting together my army, what with my penchant for always spending 210pts on my 10-man jump pack assault squad. Still, I managed to put together a list which should be fun to play with, if nothing else. I'm looking forward to the big day.

Tournament army building is inevitably accompanied by modelling and painting. I've still not picked up a paint brush so I've long since started counting down towards the day when I hit that, "Oh no, how long's left?" panic button. How will I fare? Only time will tell. Fingers crossed, as ever. ;)