Most of the past fortnight I have been quite unwell, a tummy bug that just refused to budge.
Spent a few days in bed unable to do much of anything including one day where I basically slept for 20 hours.
Emulation
So the emulation game needs improving, and I have tried to do that by turning my Raspberry Pi kit that I got earlier this week into an emulation console.
Originally when I ordered it, I was thinking of making it a server to run Home Assistant, but I am not quite ready to do that yet, but it is high on the list.
Anyway at first I installed Recallbox, but I couldn’t get on with it and it refused to recognise the DualShock 3 controller I am using temporarily, well I was and then an Xbox controller was freed up, and I much preferthe layout of the Xbox pad.
So I ended up putting Batocera on there, but that refused to connect to the houses Wi-Fi, which was really annoying as Batocera was my first choice to run the system.
So I ended up going with RetroPie, which is a fantastic bit of software and very user configurable, but it’s as user friendly as I wanted it to be.
At the moment I have emulators for the Master System, Mega Drive, Game Gear, Mega CD, 32X, Dreamcast, NES, SNES, Game Boy Advance, Amstrad CPC and PlayStation running and still figuring out to get Amiga CD32 and Neo Geo games running.
The primary intended use is for my nephews to enjoy use of it and play some amazing games from my childhood.
But I am looking forward to being able to play some of these games myself.
Meanwhile downstairs I took a photo of my family of controllers that I have right now!
I have now started on Halo 4, which I never got very far in the last time I played, and I am now further than that.
I found it frustrating and dark, and at the time my setup wasn’t that great. Much more enjoyable to play now, but the Forerunner level was a bit of a chew on.
Also played a few games of Street Fighter Alpha, I seem to be incapable of pulling off the special moves or defeating the final opponent 🙁
I played a lot of Forza Horizon 4, managing to go on an Achievement hunting run on Friday, getting myself a total of 150G in a couple of hours.
I am kind of wanting to get to 32000G by Christmas, so need a few more days like that.
What Tabletop Games Am I Playing
Adeptus Titanicus was played a couple of weeks ago at the club, mostly as an intro game for Graham.
Myself, Lindsay and Megan also played a game off Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese Pizza, which I won, and a game of Love Letter, which Lindsay won on a Friday night.
What I Am Creating
I have been quite ill these past weeks so things have been slow.
I have made a video that’s going out Monday about a couple of odd games for the Master System from Brazil, more because I though that they were weird.
And the next Imperium Battle Report went out as well!
What I Am Backing
Actually noting right now.
What I Am Cooking
Another week with nowt at all.
What I Am Spending
Probably too much, I bought a couple of movies to watch on the Xbox, I had some vouchers going spare from the rewards program.
I bought Ultra Street Fighter IV just cause I fancied playing it and I didn’t own it, only cost me £3.99 and I was happy paying it. I want Street Fighter V but I am gonna wait until next month for that.
I did also pick up Aeon’s End because it came on sale at the right price.
And I umm, well I bought an Xbox Series X, managed to get it from EE with a pair of extra Controllers and Assassins Creed Valhalla as an Add to Plan item, which is fantastic.
It’s going to live in the den and will also be used as the households 4k Blu Ray Player, so I picked up a couple of 4K UHD Blu-Rays, The Little Mermaid and Mulan, cause it’s Lindsay and Megan I need to win over to this new format!
I am following the advice the doctor gave me, so no being in bed unless it’s for sleep, staying up until I am actually tired, no caffeine after 4pm (I am actually quite bad at that one) e and getting up at a set time etc.
The biggest issue I am having is that I love reading in bed, it’s my safe space to read and it’s where I feel most comfortable reading, so my reading has plunged to a record low.
But I am struggling to be asleep before 4am and it’s making my days awful, even when I am so tired I just can’t get to sleep.
I don’t want to end up on sleeping tablets, so I am doing my best to avoid that, but something has to give.
What I Am Modelling
I started the week by painting two units of Stromcast Eternals Judicators armed with Skybolt Bows.
This actually completes all the Stormcast Eternals I have right now, other than Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear, and the Celestant Prime should also be delivered and day now.
I then painted some Orks, specifically five Nobz, a Painboy, Warboss, Gorzag Gitatompa and Nikkit.
And whilst painting those, I also knocked out the Spindle Drones and Guardian Drones for Blackstone Fortress, which actually completes the original games and the Ascension expansion.
Started that late Monday night, with very frequent saves. I had intended to play a level a night but due to a shitty sleep cycle, I only got a chance ti play again on Friday night.
I also started streaming again, and had a very early morning Bioshock Infinite stream on Thursday, which was uploaded to YouTube on Friday.
I have got the old PC that used to belong to Geoff set up to run some old games via emulation, it is however a lot lot older than we thought it was and the GPU is not the GTX 750 that Geoff was told it was, but rather a GT210, which is significantly worse.
I have also played a little bit of Back 4 Blood, which has been rather enjoyable, and I am continuing to play Halo Reach.
What Tabletop Games Am I Playing
Sadly none, but I am playing Adeptus Titanicus tonight with Graham for an Intro game!
In regards to the YouTube stuff, I made it to 75 subscribers on Monday, which is amazing cause I was on like 30 something a few months ago, and at time of writing, I am now at 88 subscribers which is mind blowing!
I am not trying to become some kind of popular content creator, I just feel like there is stuff I want to do for my own enjoyment. I have zero interest in appeasing the algorithm, I just want to make content that I personally want to see myself.
So my current focus is on the battle reports in the casual narrative style, and retro video game playthroughs. And any Twitch video game playthroughs will get added to that as well.
What I Am Backing
Sadly Munchkin Mayhem was cancelled, so right now I am not backing anything.
What I Am Cooking
Not a good week, other than beans on toast, nowt.
What I Am Spending
I feel like I am finally in a place where I can restore this section of the blog, but I may not share any hauls quite as frequently.
This week was subdued in terms of spending initially, I bought myself the Play Pink Bundle on Humble Bundle, I had most of what’s in the bundle, but what I didn’t have saved me plenty of money still.
And Steam Codes for most other stuff is being given to friends, who don’t have them.
I also bought a couple of video games in addition to the bundle.
I bought Far Cry 6, well I got it dirt cheap from a friend who works at Ubisoft. I also grabbed Alan Wake Remastered with a voucher for the Epic Games Store and the Premium Add-Ons Bundle for Forza Horizon 5.
I also kinda spent some money on a Raspberry Pi kit, I am enjoying old games and I want to add a emulation machine in the den, that’s easily transported around. Along with a USB Bluetooth dongle so I can link the DualShock 3 Controllers to it.
This week I had my birthday, and it wasn’t what I hoped for.
My sister in laws cat went missing, and I have some medical stuff to deal with.
So Fosfos, Emma’s cat went missing on Sunday night and it’s not like her to wander, so Monday Emma was busy leafleting in Blyth where she lives.
Tuesday, Lindsay and Megan went up to help her, but she was still no where to be found, thankfully she returned home at 2am Tuesday and woke up Emma for cuddles.
So that was a huge relief.
Tuesday night we went out for Nando’s for my birthday, which I really enjoyed, haven’t had a Nando’s since the day before the first lockdown and I really enjoyed it.
Present wise, Lindsay and Megan bought me the Evil Comes Prepared expansion for Disney Villainous and the Orruk Warclans Battletome, and I bought myself the Stormcast Eternals Battletome and the Charadon terrain box.
At the weekend we were meant to have some of our nephews staying but Gandalf our arsehole of a rabbit developed an ear infection, so he had to be rushed to the vets and needs hand feeding for a bit, so that was not a good environment for the boys to stay over as they are very active.
He is slowly getting better, but he really does fight us when it comes time to give him his medication.
What I Am Modelling
I started off by painting the Negavolt Cultists and Rogue Psykers for Blackstone Fortress.
After that Megan joined us to play a game of Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu, and we managed to close all four gates and save the world from the terror of the Old Ones!
On Thursday #Cans happened, for those not from Newcastle upon Tyne, this was the end of a long running saga, last nearly two years in which the local football club, Newcastle United, my team, were sold.
To give some background, for the past 14 years the club has been owned by Mike Ashley of Sports Direct fame, under whose watch, we have seen the lowest recorded attendances at the stadium since the formation of the Premier League and its expansion, two of the clubs six relegations, and the lowest net investment of any club in its team in Premier League history.
He was not a popular man, he was aloof, rarely spent any money on the team and say an overall decline in all aspects of the club.
To put it bluntly, the squad is threadbare with almost no injury cover, the academy is all but decimated, the training facilities need to be demolished and rebuilt they are in such bad contrition and St James’ Park is Felapp dated and in serious need of maintenance.
The club has been a zombie of the game and in perpetual crisis, within a few months of his arrival, he had sacked two managers and alienated club legends like Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer.
Our ground has become not only potentially the tattiest ground in English football, but has basically become a cheap advertising board for Sports Direct.
So to summarise, the club is glad to see the back of this awful man, and I honestly hope he never sets foot in the city again.
But…
However there is a big but, our new owners are a consortium of the Reuben brothers, who are some of Britains richest men and have actually been investing a lot in the city these past few years. One of the sons, Jamie will sit on the board.
Amanda Stanley owns another 10% and she has been trying to buy the club since early 2017 have fronted a number of bids and put together a few consortiums to try and prise the club out of Ashley’s hands.
She was also a broker in the sale of Manchester City so she has a track record of football wheeling and dealing. And she is relocating her main residence from Dubai to Newcastle so she can be on hand to run the club.
The remaining 80% is owned by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, a state owned investment group that invests the counties oil profits.
That makes us the richest club in the world.
But it also means we are owned by a regime which restricts the lives of women, murders journalists and LGBT folx, and routinely suppressed Shia Muslims and Baha’is.
And of course there is the involvement in Yemen, which to be honest is such a bloody complex situation with no actual good guys that I am not even going to try and explain that one.
We are being used to sports wash, you would have to be a fool to not see that, but frankly, we fans get little choice in the matter.
Are they the idea owners, of course not, but when we look at who else has been allowed to own Premier League clubs, it would be hypocritical to make a special case for Saudi Arabia, after all Manchester City has been own by people with questionable human rights records twice and are also used to sports wash.
The crack is, we fans have a chance to use our club to show the Saudis that they need to change how they do things at home, we can protest their crap during games with chants and signs, and these will be broadcast into the Kingdom for all their citizens to see, and I highly doubt beIN will be in any mood to censor that.
Look I know it’s not perfect, but right now, I am glad to see the back of Ashley, as for the Saudis, that’s something we have to figure out, the club lost its soul long ago, for all the bad they have done, The KSA has given us that back.
I am conflicted, I doubt it will ever sit easy with me, but my club is more than the ground, players, infrastructure and owners, it’s the fans, and we must remember that owners come and go, but the fans are what make the club.
This weekend we took a trip to North Wales to see two of our polycule members, Paul and Mary get married.
On our way to Wales we stopped in Manchester, where we visited Fanboy 3, Travelling Man and Warhammer, whilst the girls called into their favourite tea shop, Bird and Blend.
We then had lunch at Home Sweet Home, as recommended by David Salisbury of Fanboy 3 fame, and I had a beautiful chicken in a basket with an amazing gravy.
Paul loves trains, potentially in a slightly worrying amount. And unsurprisingly they got married at a heritage railway, but all the way over in Wales.
It was a lovely day and full of lots of fun, the food was quite nice too and I had a lovely bit of Welsh lamb.
We stayed quite a bit away so couldn’t stay the whole night but it was so much fun. it was Steampunk themed so I dressed up as a steampunk engineer.
On Saturday we out on a trip to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, and I murdered any attempt to pronounce the name of the place.
Played a bit of Halo 3: ODST which I forgot had such an amazing soundtrack.
I also played a bit more State of Decay 2, and I think this is something I will come back to, I only played it for the GamePass Quest, but found myself really enjoying it.
But I was playing it over cloud gaming on a 3G signal so it was very laggy and a bit rubbish.
What Tabletop Games I Am Playing
We played a fair few games whilst away on holiday in North Wales, starting with Munchkin Steampunk.
I published a battle report, done differently to my others, this one has focused solely on the games narrative rather than getting fussy about dice roles etc.
It’s very rough but I am headed in the right direction at last.
What I Am Backing
Rawr! Velociraptor! was funded and as we said we backed just for the greatest hits album and I look forward to getting that.
So we think the reason I am feeling crummy, is a change in medication for my diabetes.
To be honest though, I am gonna try and tough it out, this new medication has some real positives, it’s reduced a personal issue which was causing a lot of pain, and it’s got me feeling like I have a healthy relationship with food for the first time in a long time.
The disadvantages are that my tummy has been a bit topsy turvey, and I am having eggy burps.
I have asked the doctor if we can reduce the dose slightly, so I shall see what they say.
What Am I Modeling
I started by finishing off the Necron Canoptek Wraiths, which actually completes the resolution to paint 2000 points of Necrons this year!
The first unit is armed with Transdimensional Beamers.
I then painted up three Crypt Flayers, a Crypt Infernal and a Crypt Haunter Courtier, which leaves me with just a Aberrant Ghoul King on a Royal Terrorgheist to paint for this army.
Magos Macrotek Enginseer & Sevo-Automata x 4 (if I can find it!)
Thousand Sons Terminators x 5 & Ahriman
Blackstone Fortress Rogue Psykers x 3 & Negavolt Cultists x 6
Stormcast Eternals Judicators x 10
Ork Nobz x 6, Painboy & Warboss
Death Korps of Krieg Infantry Squad x 10
Legio Custodes Caladius Grav-Tank x 2
Blackstone Fortress Spindle Drones x 6 & Guardian Drones x 2
Phase 1 Clone Troopers x 22
Ork Shokjump Dragster
What I Am Reading
Not a sausage actually.
But I did finish listening to the Godblight audiobook, and really enjoyed it, some interesting plot points that the Black Library can build upon.
What Video Games Am I Playing
I played through Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, a game I got for my 8th birthday, leant to my friend Simon and never saw again.
But I played it though emulation on Retroarch, and you can see that video below.
I also completed Halo 3, and I kinda wish that 343 Industries would remaster this game as it looks so much worse than the anniversary version of Halo 2.
And I have just tonight started on Halo 3 ODST, which is a beautiful game.
I then began work on a Fire Raptor for the Heresy Death Guard, I have had this model for so long, originally it was intended for the Space Wolves, but plans changed.
