18 February 2025
English Civil War
Finished the Oxford foot units apart from the final basing and flocking. Started two more foot units - Bard's and Hopton's Foote. Bard's unit replaces Page's Foote and grey coats and Hopton's Foote wear blue uniforms. The tercio is still under the command of Bernard Astley, son of Lord Jacob Astley so I have since learned.
20 February 2025
World of Warships
My Steam WOWS account is playing up. Keep being disconnected. By sheer coincidence, I receive notification of the glorious opportunity to sign in directly with WeeGee. It means my old Steam account with my 600+ ships cannot be transferred over. It would mean therefore starting all over again. Shame...
21 February 2025
World of Warships
Follow on from last night. Logged in after reinstalling and everything seemed fine. Today, logged back in and no problem whatsoever until...
First sign something was up was being disconnected from the server. Sure enough, WeeGee was trying again to woo me to sign up directly. But this time luckily being disconnected only happened once. The notification is still there when I logged out (I had done my daily grind anyway).
Read the latest news regarding developments. New events and bundles being offered. Fortunately for me they are ships I already have so happily won't be bothering too much. Even the next Battle Pass which is a Russian one features two ships I've had for ages - Tallinn, a tech tree ship and one other whose name eludes me at the moment. May be the Markarov which is a premium.
Watched an interesting YT video a couple of night back by a veteran of WOWS. In it he mentions that WG are running out of ideas for new ships whereby the assets they received when it and Lesta split (Ukraine war) have all been used up. And every new ship since is simply a clone of an existing ship. Lesta, on the other hand, are going gang busters with new maps and ships. Seems the art and design departments went with Lesta.
One good piece of news from WG however. They are no longer incorporating Secret Documents into Random battle mode for the next two Updates while they figure out how to do without being overly blatant and upsetting the playing community. So while it may seem they've listened to the many complaints, they haven't entirely removed it altogether. As someone pointed out, it's not happening...for now!
22 February 2025
English Civil War
Hobby day...sorta. Taking a break from yard work (clearing the slopes of all those noxious weeks can be draining physically not to mention also dangerous with the steep sloping ground and poor footing traction). Anyway, I finished cleaning and priming Talbot's and Bard's regiments yesterday. Continued with the remaining foot units - "Shrewsbury" Foote with their mostly green uniforms and Duke of York's Foote with white/grey uniforms.
This now gives me a total of six complete foot units. Will commence the cavalry next week but first gather the forlorn hope and the firedrakes. And dismounted dragoons.
23 February 2025
Grandson's Football Scholarship
Yesterday learned my grandson's football (American football) scholarship in Santa Monica, California is now official. Starts schooling in April. Expect he will be gone (if he succeeds) for the next two years which should give him time to adjust and learn the game proper. Happy he's about to forge his own unique path.
Meantime he's getting plenty of rep football happening both in American football here and rugby league in the meanwhile. Proud of his achievement and grateful for the opportunity being presented. Here's hoping he's smart enough to make it work.
English Civil War
Easy relaxing Sunday so it's time to work on minis. Painting finally started on Talbot's units and Duke of York's regiment. Yellow is always a tough colour to get right when displaying, so I've found. Below is Talbot's yellow-coated regiment. Started with Yellow Ochre over the priming coat. Then added Something Yellow. Will highlight with Lemon Yellow before applying first wash.
The coat colours of the Duke of York are speculative at best, according to the various sources consulted. Going with the generally accepted promotion that white was the most likely colour for units from the Yorkshire region. But it's the flag though that has attracted this unit for me. And the gryfonny flag make a nice contrast to the white uniforms.
Postscript: Did some further online research and have pretty much verified the uniforms for the listed units. Swapping Hopton's unit with Duke of York because I want a contrast in uniforms. So, all I have to do is just copy and not stuff things up (as sometimes happens). Cheers.
25 February 2025
Madness
Too exhausted from long-neglected yard work and general maintenance around the home to bother with minis. My fault really for ignoring the obvious fact that the homestead needs constant maintaining. Now I'm paying for it. But it's good in a way; gets my lazy self moving again. Hoping the body can handle it. Pacing myself but it still feels like running an RFL every day! Sweating profusely while working but that's also the Frusemide kicking in (trying to lose weight to a livable and manageable 145 kgs). And the constant joint aches, declining physical health, it's becoming a real challenge.
All day while I was trimming the bush tree that had overgrown at the letter box I kept hearing Madness' Our House". Been playing on and off all day in my head. Tonight I happened across another tune from their latest album Theatre of the Absurd C'est La Vie. Heard other tunes from the album (Round We Go, C'est La Vie, No Reason, and Theatre of the Absurd Parts 1, 2, 3) the other night but this one is a "new" one and starts off on a familiar opening riff. After a few frustrating moments, I realised it was very similar to the keyboard opening from the Michael MacDonald and James Ingram collaboration, Ya Mo Be There. Link.
Odd thing is that I really like the tunes I've heard so far on this album. Hoping to buy it later and listen to this six-piece while painting. Still very much the same line as the original 70s start up. This album, so far from what I've heard, is not a rehash but a sign of their maturity as musicians. Suggs is still in fine voice. And that sax solo is choice, eh bro!
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