tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-690484241910643262023-11-16T09:28:14.206+02:00Ramblings of no great importanceWritten musings from yet another fool stuck somewhere between academia and the real world.Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.comBlogger152125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-7465440783929650762021-12-23T09:56:00.003+02:002021-12-23T09:56:58.217+02:00Warframe<p> As anyone who can see my steam stats can tell, 2021 is the year I played warframe.</p><p>Like many people, I started playing because a friend of mine suggested it - they stopped, but I continued, so I though it would be interesting to reflect on why warframe grabbed me the way it did.</p><p>Firstly, there's the movement, which is just amazing. Even now, after having gotten decent at it, it's still incredibly satisfying to chain a bullet jump into an aim glide into a roll to cross a large gap, or bullet jump to the next level up rather than finding the steps, or roll out of a heavy landing from a long drop. It's fluid, it's fast, it's fun and there's really not much else out there with the same range of options.</p><p>Second, the game makes a lot of concessions to solo play, which is rare in multiplayer games in my experience. Everything can be done solo, and solo play allows pausing in most situations.</p><p>Third, the mission design. There's a good range of different options, and you can choose to play them differently depending on mood. Do a stealth spy run where you kill no-one, or bull ones way through killing everything and tripping all the alarms. Do a quick capture run where you only tough the target, or kill everything because you're looking to find every nook and cranny in the map. The different reactor sabotage choices and their trade-offs. And so on and so forth. Of course, so of this flexibility goes away if you're playing multi-player, since most people are focusing on speed of completion, but it's still a good feature.</p><p>Then there's the endless missions. I find the "play as long as you want", with the increasing enemy levels a really interesting option. It can be a quick mission, just to get the first reward pool and some resources/credits, or you can choose to go long because you want to get something from the high tiers and/or test a build and/or level something up.</p><p>Of course, there's also the variety of weapons, warframes and so on. Different frames feel different. have different strengths and abilities and can be more or less fun in different situations. Different weapons can be very different in behaviour, and the range of options is quite fun.</p><p>Then there's the modding system, with it's multiple different layers of multipliers and the various damage types and combinations. It's a great space for someone who enjoys theorycrafting , although it does suffer from how weak some of the elemental options are (blast, for example), which ends up reducing the viable solution space one has to play with significantly.</p><p>Lastly, there are the open world areas. There's a certain enjoyable silliness in chaining a bounty mission into some "quiet" fishing into a Tony Hawk series of K-drive tricks into some mining into another bounty.</p><p>Ultimately, it comes done to really fun movement and enough variety in what is quite a simple loot collection game loop to keep me from becoming bored. I haven't mentioned the lore, which is an enjoyable convoluted mess with some fun (and some admittedly not so fun) quests, because, while entertaining, it's not central to the basic game play and so isn't a key part of what hooked me and has kept me hooked.</p>Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-38839787156909733192020-11-15T15:50:00.003+02:002020-11-15T15:50:27.189+02:00<p> More cat photos, because why not:</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRhrmjQFz1QfilbybC1cDeCqO4M853R3f0xsV2mcIu_rxcXognCQ8wM5g7OJjIWgytYBaXhxHtqwD2oMr91fEe6kA7FIEMxUJ4PAs5jh-WmNQNfWYnmjpT8eLAVil1xbzLC1CwKsEwHg/s6000/a_044_Tom_Grasshopper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRhrmjQFz1QfilbybC1cDeCqO4M853R3f0xsV2mcIu_rxcXognCQ8wM5g7OJjIWgytYBaXhxHtqwD2oMr91fEe6kA7FIEMxUJ4PAs5jh-WmNQNfWYnmjpT8eLAVil1xbzLC1CwKsEwHg/s320/a_044_Tom_Grasshopper.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtFfpquXBt11OATW-tOkQEhv0H8ZPwYi_pxb2jX8mcwa6PfzDwk6p2txy8lCYO6CalQv8Eeq21ttCbu0VMR823IPwK5TbaVhL9-a3q0-adcebE0p_TXYHJOKITy_BHNgHbXo-BJvxB5w/s6000/a_048_Tom_Grasshopper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtFfpquXBt11OATW-tOkQEhv0H8ZPwYi_pxb2jX8mcwa6PfzDwk6p2txy8lCYO6CalQv8Eeq21ttCbu0VMR823IPwK5TbaVhL9-a3q0-adcebE0p_TXYHJOKITy_BHNgHbXo-BJvxB5w/s320/a_048_Tom_Grasshopper.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Tom finds a grasshopper to play with</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin9oUSsr3KfqBZSdPSm6ZAmTFkniPbi4b4cvhZcsI-WYgc0bgFMqT4QkA34zRCPkA1z6s9MnXBTpQUaXfo1GIlzhDueAQip7s7L4hCh_nwIKBpkv6hPDkwzD5VrGpQM3YyzbBCxiBAJQ/s6000/a_122_Tom_Pigeon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6000" data-original-width="4000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin9oUSsr3KfqBZSdPSm6ZAmTFkniPbi4b4cvhZcsI-WYgc0bgFMqT4QkA34zRCPkA1z6s9MnXBTpQUaXfo1GIlzhDueAQip7s7L4hCh_nwIKBpkv6hPDkwzD5VrGpQM3YyzbBCxiBAJQ/s320/a_122_Tom_Pigeon.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Pigeon watching</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDXXcfe9D7XFgZtdkMZoyxMwWFhnHY5oHatIu4cxnXVZJROcrTndlwZy6ffn3CIK9VHzKzr6ueQ5vMIweFP9Ijn8S_3_wIXqqQ6L5yp0yWwcVYVBx5I7i-9yYO0kKe8FTG90iWV76CRQ/s6000/a_154_Tom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDXXcfe9D7XFgZtdkMZoyxMwWFhnHY5oHatIu4cxnXVZJROcrTndlwZy6ffn3CIK9VHzKzr6ueQ5vMIweFP9Ijn8S_3_wIXqqQ6L5yp0yWwcVYVBx5I7i-9yYO0kKe8FTG90iWV76CRQ/s320/a_154_Tom.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Sauntering cat</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjPtedXkVc_GJmN1kjykcr2KhFvT5jtBruydhichp-PZEzmx6f7KRDrJ1Xjq366DbF7zMI9i68LokcarvcVr5TsIU6Nq6o7AzaHRv38wvZA_VcoYktaYl-wNcd5kcUuxif3SmXFUevVw/s6000/a_157_Tom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjPtedXkVc_GJmN1kjykcr2KhFvT5jtBruydhichp-PZEzmx6f7KRDrJ1Xjq366DbF7zMI9i68LokcarvcVr5TsIU6Nq6o7AzaHRv38wvZA_VcoYktaYl-wNcd5kcUuxif3SmXFUevVw/s320/a_157_Tom.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Why are you not petting me already?</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqgOoka0iyGMj3nAOAavdfVUK4gDZz2Sk0MzaOsKJdQ7INDfpIjJbsvs0OMJZCQAzXvpJAUtsRoZOBgLz9NFLNcvC6zfWypO8Y76jGv12jGwLGpHn_0LIqaMbDv3Mk5KceQpODuIcmSA/s6000/a_160_Tom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqgOoka0iyGMj3nAOAavdfVUK4gDZz2Sk0MzaOsKJdQ7INDfpIjJbsvs0OMJZCQAzXvpJAUtsRoZOBgLz9NFLNcvC6zfWypO8Y76jGv12jGwLGpHn_0LIqaMbDv3Mk5KceQpODuIcmSA/s320/a_160_Tom.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Scritchable cat</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD_bw5naEwFcfkmXIRCn9QFh0j9TEFWzrCOwhLfIfj9Zwux7i0EnVcinTlabIcVGT-bX5OAlU84nnsWeBEBpZ6lo8v86xhraubtDPgrEy72t9xRastnv2MevMn1Dr_SzrCDyMQBtVd1w/s2048/330_Tom_Playing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD_bw5naEwFcfkmXIRCn9QFh0j9TEFWzrCOwhLfIfj9Zwux7i0EnVcinTlabIcVGT-bX5OAlU84nnsWeBEBpZ6lo8v86xhraubtDPgrEy72t9xRastnv2MevMn1Dr_SzrCDyMQBtVd1w/s320/330_Tom_Playing.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEUDpMydKVdH95l11WFFSL5ZXMYrmeDi6T3aZIe-86eS5Fp79s0GKovRStZjVvDTDNTHbLJb8tnIQ-vp9VSAk3tjzX72iJP_HM29Rg5_rfubM1rHiOpsb3LMpEJUJNyGF7gEWb_3rBcw/s2048/328_Tom_Playing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEUDpMydKVdH95l11WFFSL5ZXMYrmeDi6T3aZIe-86eS5Fp79s0GKovRStZjVvDTDNTHbLJb8tnIQ-vp9VSAk3tjzX72iJP_HM29Rg5_rfubM1rHiOpsb3LMpEJUJNyGF7gEWb_3rBcw/s320/328_Tom_Playing.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaGfaLAik0anQ4cRNUSi10g2VjxsXtm1mz-iAHdGDjZi1Vsip_sSqXtam_GJw5dDcdwtCyrNXnBRrgPjJ_aZvA14NaBfo0dizitaxpUah_ujwgj2EiBLUNFS-bq5JoyrbCaodcyrSfOg/s2048/334_Tom_Playing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaGfaLAik0anQ4cRNUSi10g2VjxsXtm1mz-iAHdGDjZi1Vsip_sSqXtam_GJw5dDcdwtCyrNXnBRrgPjJ_aZvA14NaBfo0dizitaxpUah_ujwgj2EiBLUNFS-bq5JoyrbCaodcyrSfOg/s320/334_Tom_Playing.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Playing with Tom</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5YyzPp6y0TiOzvAlL2v9pLThFEPQoBACJHkq3buN_hz4AQnbvZeVEwMemVkMPaoDG3lu5cmZr_34A34NI9gS91AzsRS-_vlZKx3QeY9z_m8_1o5-rBlPJFgVKufTYCFDAPUo_bFmFBA/s2048/351_Sleeping_Tom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5YyzPp6y0TiOzvAlL2v9pLThFEPQoBACJHkq3buN_hz4AQnbvZeVEwMemVkMPaoDG3lu5cmZr_34A34NI9gS91AzsRS-_vlZKx3QeY9z_m8_1o5-rBlPJFgVKufTYCFDAPUo_bFmFBA/s320/351_Sleeping_Tom.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Tom, combining sleeping on me with sleeping in the sun</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwYMJ8xlipotpSbzI0tl5hK9YMS3iSsTbS_ExgtTG3KtIyYa1ReURXRVVn5QGcf0vvzMOO52rsJcfmISCTqcZB0R7cDaaLEeg4Rhk1BVmSW8-S8o9zWCOEd28PqthrKyKolMMQ3k7fWQ/s2048/376_Sleeping_Tom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwYMJ8xlipotpSbzI0tl5hK9YMS3iSsTbS_ExgtTG3KtIyYa1ReURXRVVn5QGcf0vvzMOO52rsJcfmISCTqcZB0R7cDaaLEeg4Rhk1BVmSW8-S8o9zWCOEd28PqthrKyKolMMQ3k7fWQ/s320/376_Sleeping_Tom.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I'm not sure how this is comfy</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2UvSviZQV0y5ewWp22WHnISrHM0R5yMiVuQZma0TscNhtgKjmquxPf8g2QCiRv8vI-ha_W4jl-1JZ-hJgNjQ8lc72ZhZfKtrSd_Ni7XlEvF3Z8NrjBAK08LpvgVs9etL-0zGTTY1fTg/s2048/383_Sleeping_Tom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2UvSviZQV0y5ewWp22WHnISrHM0R5yMiVuQZma0TscNhtgKjmquxPf8g2QCiRv8vI-ha_W4jl-1JZ-hJgNjQ8lc72ZhZfKtrSd_Ni7XlEvF3Z8NrjBAK08LpvgVs9etL-0zGTTY1fTg/s320/383_Sleeping_Tom.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Aaaw</div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-2527657065972713022020-05-20T22:22:00.002+02:002020-11-15T15:50:50.437+02:00In case you'd forgettenI have a cat.<div><br /></div><div>The lockdown has given me more chances to take photographs of said cat, of which I will now show a selection.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIjg2lu02NHxl1Z-ZVw7S4DsJaUJw_eajpMNcTmkvAelUSs7wx_oxF_O0kK4034Q2zuxstZ8rZY8mL-r_I0_EawlgTH9cXA_ZpGRInuL3o0dQM6kbftkcUqJosWafL_sTBzrH1uy2bBw//" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIjg2lu02NHxl1Z-ZVw7S4DsJaUJw_eajpMNcTmkvAelUSs7wx_oxF_O0kK4034Q2zuxstZ8rZY8mL-r_I0_EawlgTH9cXA_ZpGRInuL3o0dQM6kbftkcUqJosWafL_sTBzrH1uy2bBw/w400-h266/123_Tom_Puzzle_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom is very helpful when trying to build a puzzle<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPixljsM_1UaQqTJTGPUcJPtFF0GeKiHpt0WyuVyeJi8mkUiUXiK7dPa36ThK-HHRHukIA3H9axA-QjUdVaDVIw7loipG0h0FusLbxrwcTE0JmEEV-dlszYAeT7K9HoeyFYq8lI2rKig//" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPixljsM_1UaQqTJTGPUcJPtFF0GeKiHpt0WyuVyeJi8mkUiUXiK7dPa36ThK-HHRHukIA3H9axA-QjUdVaDVIw7loipG0h0FusLbxrwcTE0JmEEV-dlszYAeT7K9HoeyFYq8lI2rKig/w400-h266/138_Tom_Bookcase_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watching Cat<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmPMFbuwf7Tcy53-ml2yP_OmRln7skQfeRKbRRuDzeaJz6GK9-gMehK0Ky7JOcN_kXQk2YMxSDH5X2agjeUU-7sK-flI-YvawNNVu9pdVACzMYkFASG14-rKCkqPV5fbQCDU3O9W93ZQ//" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmPMFbuwf7Tcy53-ml2yP_OmRln7skQfeRKbRRuDzeaJz6GK9-gMehK0Ky7JOcN_kXQk2YMxSDH5X2agjeUU-7sK-flI-YvawNNVu9pdVACzMYkFASG14-rKCkqPV5fbQCDU3O9W93ZQ/w400-h300/142_Cat_Cave_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A perfect cat cave<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU5C0dMjmm1XznMbbsW5gq1Rp5rCITFh1Ywt05O1LlDE_kd0FSehOezbBNVTDPq0nVe1LNE07EYBzy3QGHMMRl8vus0CnlD6GmamYENXcTtXj-XZxyI33U-a4B7DUbZgrTDI13cZevnQ//" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU5C0dMjmm1XznMbbsW5gq1Rp5rCITFh1Ywt05O1LlDE_kd0FSehOezbBNVTDPq0nVe1LNE07EYBzy3QGHMMRl8vus0CnlD6GmamYENXcTtXj-XZxyI33U-a4B7DUbZgrTDI13cZevnQ/w400-h266/108_Tom_Beetle_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nature provides the best toys<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVMdxkBQipxusEctvJ80krLNxbgVXatkAoEprkA3OzLp4e379oNIpe_CKumdYeFzZ5aXGEKTmV9ct75YICl3T9ScwyWn4TSQR7jNWDctG3nadjua-8DS23lcAK6I50RhqAR-e7or-5OQ//" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVMdxkBQipxusEctvJ80krLNxbgVXatkAoEprkA3OzLp4e379oNIpe_CKumdYeFzZ5aXGEKTmV9ct75YICl3T9ScwyWn4TSQR7jNWDctG3nadjua-8DS23lcAK6I50RhqAR-e7or-5OQ/w400-h266/323_Tom_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Overly artistic pictures of cats<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwtbY4oPH9WI9LDsmiLi3SmADIpaf-CvoVRPNAUUGs-8sqOVm5IN5lAsDY5v1aQek67sztncH7lBNmYzXURSesP7WjrkTH99Y32EHtr3ArlEGpn2cbLaH0u6UVS34TKSQRCyKee3YlsQ//" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwtbY4oPH9WI9LDsmiLi3SmADIpaf-CvoVRPNAUUGs-8sqOVm5IN5lAsDY5v1aQek67sztncH7lBNmYzXURSesP7WjrkTH99Y32EHtr3ArlEGpn2cbLaH0u6UVS34TKSQRCyKee3YlsQ/w400-h266/371_Tom_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Ditto</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0uvRMg0o1loCRc-V3ul1DMqpkIkwmObkrB3tZftv9VMadfNK5-tkNFX8RfozLSFOoWUH2SqYn_euhxCXLbZh7ek-mz3QD4VHQVG8iTDqOlCz3hCYD9w9-7fgf2FPTSgbUjzMJZQ_Hg//" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0uvRMg0o1loCRc-V3ul1DMqpkIkwmObkrB3tZftv9VMadfNK5-tkNFX8RfozLSFOoWUH2SqYn_euhxCXLbZh7ek-mz3QD4VHQVG8iTDqOlCz3hCYD9w9-7fgf2FPTSgbUjzMJZQ_Hg/w400-h266/351_Potted_Tom_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Be sure when planting cats that they will get plenty of sun<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinG4WeqsG6yljPFnWdzxpR2_xsviuLCsifk9w0hcRhu800wJSC45zl5ZzSPdJOW-PygkDZYdLaEWHtXYwQJm3WTy9WPHdnUkbs-Q_VkDzPMMVqQdax_fHmljXPQpdW1bQ2RZHjomtTiw//" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinG4WeqsG6yljPFnWdzxpR2_xsviuLCsifk9w0hcRhu800wJSC45zl5ZzSPdJOW-PygkDZYdLaEWHtXYwQJm3WTy9WPHdnUkbs-Q_VkDzPMMVqQdax_fHmljXPQpdW1bQ2RZHjomtTiw/w400-h266/408_Tree_Tom_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What are you doing down there?<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-49153064897541536752020-05-01T16:35:00.002+02:002020-11-15T15:51:09.238+02:00What we do in the lockdownSo, it's long been a personal annoyance that various games distribute figurines that aren't particularly visually distinct. The lockdown has finally driven me to the point of trying to do something about it<br />
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<h2>
Pandemic: Reign of Cthulu</h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPEo6yyQhcq89HyB8ZxwzA8qQtkl526FnW3Wb_uWjdHtZO4gjZeovZtwgTo1Esmg-DgSvY-9RgNN_BdvcKXDk-bEEMCg5IhADSXp16sJkhVgaylZyRwuQJPo6Gc2WxU-_wc4-FL1nj1g/s1600/Pandemic_Figures_BBG.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="1200" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPEo6yyQhcq89HyB8ZxwzA8qQtkl526FnW3Wb_uWjdHtZO4gjZeovZtwgTo1Esmg-DgSvY-9RgNN_BdvcKXDk-bEEMCg5IhADSXp16sJkhVgaylZyRwuQJPo6Gc2WxU-_wc4-FL1nj1g/s400/Pandemic_Figures_BBG.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Pandemic figurines</div>
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The pandemic figurines are reasonably distinguishable, but a bit dull, and it requires some effort to associate the figurine with the right character sheet at the start<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpULIarp6uiDwKviDHUDC7cCqwHw1YdUY_FZU0Aozsi-WLa7qW7pfQE0Oaju4PTQNiqQ7sD1UV-x9gzbQhm8nyeKKoDApuE_iRMBhM1sN0_1BWrrcsCEPsfVia4LcIhkA6SBu7-A1rjg/s1600/Pandemic_Cultists.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="1000" height="119" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpULIarp6uiDwKviDHUDC7cCqwHw1YdUY_FZU0Aozsi-WLa7qW7pfQE0Oaju4PTQNiqQ7sD1UV-x9gzbQhm8nyeKKoDApuE_iRMBhM1sN0_1BWrrcsCEPsfVia4LcIhkA6SBu7-A1rjg/s400/Pandemic_Cultists.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Painted cultists</div>
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The cultists don't strictly need to be painted, but it seemed a chance to add more colour and variety to the game.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbdIyS9ofQROLqoQxazezdwzKoBeskPSuaxBaCFUrT6zXcb-Ciycf-rNX5uxb9gbV1lApzGcnL6Xkbjm4K_qA8MXZPq3yfx7kxWqoSFe4pu5c0LB9DOynJCxHwjhQkK2CbL90CRt8-5Q/s1600/Pandemic_Shogoths.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="1000" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbdIyS9ofQROLqoQxazezdwzKoBeskPSuaxBaCFUrT6zXcb-Ciycf-rNX5uxb9gbV1lApzGcnL6Xkbjm4K_qA8MXZPq3yfx7kxWqoSFe4pu5c0LB9DOynJCxHwjhQkK2CbL90CRt8-5Q/s400/Pandemic_Shogoths.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Shoggoths on the march</div>
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Shoggoths should look ugly and menancing, and the pale blue just wasn't working for me</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUjma0KsuryDJi4FQwXOMP4Ops60VaCLKLfOzYim0LuaWyDFq1A2vU2PSklcZ7HVTm54XOOeOvV_cVkLRFDRbCT44478ha55AOrA7DV2PH5_P05nVBx99oq7h20yYo8QV5k8im-sGeHg/s1600/Pandemic_Heros.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="263" data-original-width="1000" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUjma0KsuryDJi4FQwXOMP4Ops60VaCLKLfOzYim0LuaWyDFq1A2vU2PSklcZ7HVTm54XOOeOvV_cVkLRFDRbCT44478ha55AOrA7DV2PH5_P05nVBx99oq7h20yYo8QV5k8im-sGeHg/s400/Pandemic_Heros.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Painted heroes</div>
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Far from the best paint job ever, but it achieves the goal of making the figures resemble the card artwork and makes them more distinguishable on the map<br />
<h2>
Gears of War</h2>
Gears of War is arguably one of the worst offenders, with it's basically indistinguishable CoG figures.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo7i_p82zX4V8MqQ7r9okgLV0hKvKxa55AOTZpjpdeUBhxSubuqNsLHL8_rDUeovaoFiN5b5ghQcTByNn-9d1hjzuW8Me0om_EoRsplEEuyVLAzo3xHvxrdAfG2k9utq3TuLi77Os8Fw/s1600/Gears_Cogs.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo7i_p82zX4V8MqQ7r9okgLV0hKvKxa55AOTZpjpdeUBhxSubuqNsLHL8_rDUeovaoFiN5b5ghQcTByNn-9d1hjzuW8Me0om_EoRsplEEuyVLAzo3xHvxrdAfG2k9utq3TuLi77Os8Fw/s1600/Gears_Cogs.png" /></a></div>
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However, the colour scheme of the cogs in the artwork doesn't help distinguish the figures, so I opted for the simple approach of solid colours to make them distinct<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8lIxXySwe7D8SUthGNjFYMikF_Y68z5RQ4qq5YpuVaLh-FN-mxv8YMLViy2u7Z4amD-l7vvwWeduj_XRn_7Qbia9qnoOc5uwzPMi56emyeemSrvDCF0hxedwowGY1Q5C9NeQeMKOLVw/s1600/Gears_Cogs_Painted.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="579" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8lIxXySwe7D8SUthGNjFYMikF_Y68z5RQ4qq5YpuVaLh-FN-mxv8YMLViy2u7Z4amD-l7vvwWeduj_XRn_7Qbia9qnoOc5uwzPMi56emyeemSrvDCF0hxedwowGY1Q5C9NeQeMKOLVw/s400/Gears_Cogs_Painted.png" width="345" /></a></div>
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Not terribly artistic, but much more usable.<br />
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<h2>
Fortune and Glory</h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bhx3Cxm083H5mA5n05m0XpjpbiaaYsLYMs5qmVT2eKo1eM-NySz0zq1jQIYcZ6AVsPLtDj6b7r4JwiyrMtqMCB7ZBDhhHiqztARJxBUOaQKTGcyMvIypyUakfznkV2WT2awcBhx9wA/s1600/FANG_Minatures_Sheet.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="982" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bhx3Cxm083H5mA5n05m0XpjpbiaaYsLYMs5qmVT2eKo1eM-NySz0zq1jQIYcZ6AVsPLtDj6b7r4JwiyrMtqMCB7ZBDhhHiqztARJxBUOaQKTGcyMvIypyUakfznkV2WT2awcBhx9wA/s400/FANG_Minatures_Sheet.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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That the FanG manual includes this handy reference sheet shows the issues with their figurines.
The heroes are somewhat distinguishable, but not particularly so at long distance, and the Nazi and Mob mooks are too similar with the default colouring
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdJC34MUl2v9N7vewLxfh__ZaeK1r354xOu406qqsTD4juvjzIZHXONPxtGOMao3EihRBLfpo9aecBZpnRKmBRKK5fsG4xtpQZaDFWCN3-jcqB7fQk-1C39BtNBkq3Gqw-pFwTv8fmGQ/s1600/FANG_Fortune_Tokens.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="166" data-original-width="650" height="102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdJC34MUl2v9N7vewLxfh__ZaeK1r354xOu406qqsTD4juvjzIZHXONPxtGOMao3EihRBLfpo9aecBZpnRKmBRKK5fsG4xtpQZaDFWCN3-jcqB7fQk-1C39BtNBkq3Gqw-pFwTv8fmGQ/s400/FANG_Fortune_Tokens.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKbs7UdrPO3JBM53n8PoK2XOuxmDOJgVjhK8n-g0YxePswbHpfKIG9L7ID2mI1lqKpqgBai0PW8K_Q8bocfqFjLC8B0JVpAf9c25dEnIaMil9K12UMhOGZeq0TG0ZRYfNBDI8Q4kvCsA/s1600/FANG_Glory_Tokens.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="500" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKbs7UdrPO3JBM53n8PoK2XOuxmDOJgVjhK8n-g0YxePswbHpfKIG9L7ID2mI1lqKpqgBai0PW8K_Q8bocfqFjLC8B0JVpAf9c25dEnIaMil9K12UMhOGZeq0TG0ZRYfNBDI8Q4kvCsA/s400/FANG_Glory_Tokens.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The different value tokens are somewhat too similar in size for that to be a good measure, and the different symbols are too hard to see at a distant. Painting the 1-value tokens makes things a lot clearer</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQqi0vltwtVrYY4NKAIYKr2aZIkQIrqvdCz-ESBDW7atxSQL9B-IQpsxKTklsUMfmI9mQvF3N7b5hrR_tsE9jD7hkfqVjb3UmmXdFHRMAsaUUtcrjRPuP3t15_QfDxfOPnLatsXxTOrA/s1600/FANG_Mob_villains.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQqi0vltwtVrYY4NKAIYKr2aZIkQIrqvdCz-ESBDW7atxSQL9B-IQpsxKTklsUMfmI9mQvF3N7b5hrR_tsE9jD7hkfqVjb3UmmXdFHRMAsaUUtcrjRPuP3t15_QfDxfOPnLatsXxTOrA/s400/FANG_Mob_villains.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Mob villians</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnViYWRYi8h0v674OliPkv71bxCsPwL95xnWibvvLVvDSo1Sydj4b9dZiI2R9tNzJ6qSJqZ8GG5BoIbNlkL4Auqy07ohj2jmHXd8LfWFE9YPpBSIVBe8brxKeCXv2vf4dUTPv_TC0XAQ/s1600/FANG_Mobsters.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="252" data-original-width="1000" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnViYWRYi8h0v674OliPkv71bxCsPwL95xnWibvvLVvDSo1Sydj4b9dZiI2R9tNzJ6qSJqZ8GG5BoIbNlkL4Auqy07ohj2jmHXd8LfWFE9YPpBSIVBe8brxKeCXv2vf4dUTPv_TC0XAQ/s400/FANG_Mobsters.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Mob mooks</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqm7QIiE7nrt3I2r2-_nCUPB-nBVu-4W4MtXUDWCk6Kcijsf2dziuYivP2AAuZSiHcxyieQyyxdGYRjMwKWZGNqgZ-LgTkE1Bm9l8tdQSyU2olyoJAwHCKawVytTwfnLpTXndrx6o2CQ/s1600/FANG_Nazi_Soldiers.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="284" data-original-width="1000" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqm7QIiE7nrt3I2r2-_nCUPB-nBVu-4W4MtXUDWCk6Kcijsf2dziuYivP2AAuZSiHcxyieQyyxdGYRjMwKWZGNqgZ-LgTkE1Bm9l8tdQSyU2olyoJAwHCKawVytTwfnLpTXndrx6o2CQ/s400/FANG_Nazi_Soldiers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Nazi soldiers</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1zgukRp5QGAbegdg3VSRiHhiJxvW6FFVv7yNNrACxfpu7lq_joArk4hvkXTlbLFmIQAK6ygoPBlW7tntVK1pg8Q2LDMIs2RCpjt8yv74RSna3gJn6bfs1iZMg71PMeRJ869wJkBZQg/s1600/FANG_Nazi_Villians.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="1000" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1zgukRp5QGAbegdg3VSRiHhiJxvW6FFVv7yNNrACxfpu7lq_joArk4hvkXTlbLFmIQAK6ygoPBlW7tntVK1pg8Q2LDMIs2RCpjt8yv74RSna3gJn6bfs1iZMg71PMeRJ869wJkBZQg/s400/FANG_Nazi_Villians.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Nazi villians</div>
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The different groups are now much more visually distinct, and it's much easier to recognise which figures are on the board</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghNDM1hE3lqYOMeL4hqHTJrLQ66EH40SL4dI6Hq-Xp_ScvifDQdjdynYC8Mouai35-bdONAUOFhpCjamd5ntzpxWbc8zkYZHbEipbAJyuRnmw_UnG_2CP83FaPcXDjDAU4nEJeP8Y5EQ/s1600/FANG_Zepellin.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1000" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghNDM1hE3lqYOMeL4hqHTJrLQ66EH40SL4dI6Hq-Xp_ScvifDQdjdynYC8Mouai35-bdONAUOFhpCjamd5ntzpxWbc8zkYZHbEipbAJyuRnmw_UnG_2CP83FaPcXDjDAU4nEJeP8Y5EQ/s400/FANG_Zepellin.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Painting the zepplin is not required, but seemed a fun idea</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUQ-zEIIEjYPKv9ceVhmYFRjpMOCjgNQ20Lts5sllUiLdYEb7Lk7dRqm0zOZLr4TKnNroVdRwya608rTy3a2cJ9MuU7UVAqsV8INfLPM-D_Z8LTa809MFON2eEaHO_OBfmLMYLa_0kQw/s1600/FANG_Heroes.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="258" data-original-width="1000" height="103" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUQ-zEIIEjYPKv9ceVhmYFRjpMOCjgNQ20Lts5sllUiLdYEb7Lk7dRqm0zOZLr4TKnNroVdRwya608rTy3a2cJ9MuU7UVAqsV8INfLPM-D_Z8LTa809MFON2eEaHO_OBfmLMYLa_0kQw/s400/FANG_Heroes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Visually distinct heroes are nice</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpdqpiVCV4k_tLZOCP9d8996wUYbgiFC8b-Tu9R4rgzvl8knhXHVwK7sSWTi1cJurRIFFKibX9vibBYG867eB2GiQ5v6uXfrTnDbkbO3kI1yIHAvZosregaeLQ29g4r4EcQdHO5qw-IQ/s1600/FANG_Pyramids.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="1000" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpdqpiVCV4k_tLZOCP9d8996wUYbgiFC8b-Tu9R4rgzvl8knhXHVwK7sSWTi1cJurRIFFKibX9vibBYG867eB2GiQ5v6uXfrTnDbkbO3kI1yIHAvZosregaeLQ29g4r4EcQdHO5qw-IQ/s400/FANG_Pyramids.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Again, painting the pyramids isn't required, but I wanted the option to talk about different ones easily, so I added the option to refer to them by colour rather than just position on the board. The paintwork is a bit light, since I like the effect of the underlying colour bleeding through - it feels a better look for ancient ruins.</div>
<br />Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-35733057477511169042020-03-08T19:15:00.002+02:002020-11-15T15:51:21.975+02:00CatblogContinuing the stream of cat photographs<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGEk8KuZ_M6cQgGl7XI4FFMaNWVFL_F_ix5SBPstIpUEHADwH6YcqhupFN8BLxhdVLCAlwLur0KLgFjWGmsVRku1c-LnbCQpVIglVgfQtpfdsjpXiAb_szxUgE_Q5dYGBcAHAGCPw8Ng/s1600/015_Laptop_Tom_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGEk8KuZ_M6cQgGl7XI4FFMaNWVFL_F_ix5SBPstIpUEHADwH6YcqhupFN8BLxhdVLCAlwLur0KLgFjWGmsVRku1c-LnbCQpVIglVgfQtpfdsjpXiAb_szxUgE_Q5dYGBcAHAGCPw8Ng/s400/015_Laptop_Tom_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Tom deals with a competitor for attention</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZgVY4yDC8_U32SAusQHT7Y2a0spsbgyIFSsLDH544IiOhd8YGc5rmap3CwRQLkEVZajGm57GrecpQ5GNLnKp10tv50xa3GfsN6DofgJ45PERmc_cJy470iz6BSqydCvfiiWUyZBkWWg/s1600/017_Garage_Tom_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZgVY4yDC8_U32SAusQHT7Y2a0spsbgyIFSsLDH544IiOhd8YGc5rmap3CwRQLkEVZajGm57GrecpQ5GNLnKp10tv50xa3GfsN6DofgJ45PERmc_cJy470iz6BSqydCvfiiWUyZBkWWg/s400/017_Garage_Tom_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Inspecting the garage door</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCZiaQafsq0enUAze0oPv_AsL_M6p670RN0tb_xQPQruIDIQfPNRBoyD6gDB1yquNlITveVuTTqMgaCEOuNf4hkNFRigDwzmwWvmI2JIklBELrQYA7ULsDi45lLETSQ0jSCg-m_H9FMw/s1600/025_Helpful_Tom_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCZiaQafsq0enUAze0oPv_AsL_M6p670RN0tb_xQPQruIDIQfPNRBoyD6gDB1yquNlITveVuTTqMgaCEOuNf4hkNFRigDwzmwWvmI2JIklBELrQYA7ULsDi45lLETSQ0jSCg-m_H9FMw/s400/025_Helpful_Tom_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Tom helps file VtES cards</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixfSXwNyZb-V50wPPAlZS4XxR9SXU7QmvIIAhAiEcqps8veHBQCTYA2UmGcuqP8XWIC4Av0XeGjew9PtAlXiac8YGp6xs2gtWxO2UkdZbPLDRfEQSJQli5ptaGI0HywsLVtXylx7BrXg/s1600/027_Wrist_Support_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixfSXwNyZb-V50wPPAlZS4XxR9SXU7QmvIIAhAiEcqps8veHBQCTYA2UmGcuqP8XWIC4Av0XeGjew9PtAlXiac8YGp6xs2gtWxO2UkdZbPLDRfEQSJQli5ptaGI0HywsLVtXylx7BrXg/s400/027_Wrist_Support_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Tom makes an excellent wrist support</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_AozYF0SRX5SyNHQyueFbPILQR9uFppI_0KNBn4w-J0FISBUFzbQxmu30wnHaTZXQgIRku7hsA2rq-9CdNhLgjGHSC2Y3klKlaxNPA6oUSoDdo4FUX7n7kjGjwIGut1I7ljvBmHH9QA/s1600/043_Tom_Mousehand_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_AozYF0SRX5SyNHQyueFbPILQR9uFppI_0KNBn4w-J0FISBUFzbQxmu30wnHaTZXQgIRku7hsA2rq-9CdNhLgjGHSC2Y3klKlaxNPA6oUSoDdo4FUX7n7kjGjwIGut1I7ljvBmHH9QA/s400/043_Tom_Mousehand_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Also an excellent mouse hand warmer</div>
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<b><br /></b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp1yJljENgSpuXfj9QCQZI0Vo8BXRlMGjFT3-jmdyMeCop1mv4FhIKsXBeR0OgBKQp5fggU3BnBEWMSaEQOdfhjDTdrm8faAwr4EgaTXmDZUkYGS0CRipNZI0BbNg58WGgFhkwLn_Srg/s1600/039_Tom_Lap_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="576" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp1yJljENgSpuXfj9QCQZI0Vo8BXRlMGjFT3-jmdyMeCop1mv4FhIKsXBeR0OgBKQp5fggU3BnBEWMSaEQOdfhjDTdrm8faAwr4EgaTXmDZUkYGS0CRipNZI0BbNg58WGgFhkwLn_Srg/s400/039_Tom_Lap_web.jpg" width="300" /></a><b> </b></div>
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Lap cat</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghrFsXhFkt6IBmTasFq8jll4LGoZDVU3OBwj5VpcGtlchyphenhyphenrPfswct5iRlt-4f9JJ72C1U6BRGxQc7Ee9BF32Asp12kfNAk0e8rd_zLcSgiuHPKcNK6PSA2ScRWTL3JKb04UtDbXziDPQ/s1600/039_Tom_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghrFsXhFkt6IBmTasFq8jll4LGoZDVU3OBwj5VpcGtlchyphenhyphenrPfswct5iRlt-4f9JJ72C1U6BRGxQc7Ee9BF32Asp12kfNAk0e8rd_zLcSgiuHPKcNK6PSA2ScRWTL3JKb04UtDbXziDPQ/s400/039_Tom_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The dedicated bird watcher</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYqLn8ZSdXG_Zrif1AxPwNEk5hBASCb9K_Y4uPiI5uIfZZa86Kqc9tvDWdIeFLr42S-Z8ImFvfWtVQ4vbmh0_S-XOpHNo1B3UcMFGgSrZKxFZpujP5ugbFsSjaRh1R9OPY59oYSh2c2w/s1600/071_Ambitious_Tom_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYqLn8ZSdXG_Zrif1AxPwNEk5hBASCb9K_Y4uPiI5uIfZZa86Kqc9tvDWdIeFLr42S-Z8ImFvfWtVQ4vbmh0_S-XOpHNo1B3UcMFGgSrZKxFZpujP5ugbFsSjaRh1R9OPY59oYSh2c2w/s400/071_Ambitious_Tom_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Tom ambitiously stalking a <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">hadeda</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioTIwLcbR6qJfIOlr3_snrf7darFv77NXVpY8Dpb6el2TlXeJPAinvC1x07DPtEAlId4loBJ_Vg7QA0E3kgmoDzhwtExD9j5Ps1FvlFxjCMWKk9H4IplXAFrc6UT-LIhGtq6uVdcWrMA/s1600/021_Tom_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioTIwLcbR6qJfIOlr3_snrf7darFv77NXVpY8Dpb6el2TlXeJPAinvC1x07DPtEAlId4loBJ_Vg7QA0E3kgmoDzhwtExD9j5Ps1FvlFxjCMWKk9H4IplXAFrc6UT-LIhGtq6uVdcWrMA/s400/021_Tom_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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That face</div>
<br />Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-76099335700204303092019-12-12T16:12:00.004+02:002020-11-15T15:51:32.240+02:00Surprised?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_sprKLNkOrGMOMTNtm5E43k1gKE1NfZK0AoMXGaBtUbIh-gq8nJ6TXyDjoXI436X827c-6jci_Joba3_uvZSBpEeh8aw2A0XL-B7yvz4icXKT6SZokzf66cbuGQQBjhRgelSerJzbhw/s1600/a_100_The_Cat_in_the_Box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_sprKLNkOrGMOMTNtm5E43k1gKE1NfZK0AoMXGaBtUbIh-gq8nJ6TXyDjoXI436X827c-6jci_Joba3_uvZSBpEeh8aw2A0XL-B7yvz4icXKT6SZokzf66cbuGQQBjhRgelSerJzbhw/s400/a_100_The_Cat_in_the_Box.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Boxes must be carefully inspected</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpkUL7hQ2NTZd5pwk2iL9w7zEzWnUKEPKO37Teo0sWwmuw5UtCbNx7ph3WBwZ32w78H5Fd9lWN4C6Z5AfQ-Fg3YHQGdU_8YY4s6VrcGo-r3VlfQyjTMVnGVYD6jWJnkm0wX48_uEFCw/s1600/a_108_The_Cat_in_the_Box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGpkUL7hQ2NTZd5pwk2iL9w7zEzWnUKEPKO37Teo0sWwmuw5UtCbNx7ph3WBwZ32w78H5Fd9lWN4C6Z5AfQ-Fg3YHQGdU_8YY4s6VrcGo-r3VlfQyjTMVnGVYD6jWJnkm0wX48_uEFCw/s400/a_108_The_Cat_in_the_Box.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Box inspection, take 2</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitJc6h3V_hnvWVhrnLlZoEUHd9BLs8mnX6A4I2wtSnqUmDpKX68Ooc-x9gbzAf5OFqKeB9n-ope55T84lwD2zlmgr0YOknME5yV6owenIvQowi3MnJTOjYSnli8sd-47QuoiRe4hQDhw/s1600/a_115_Tom_Storage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitJc6h3V_hnvWVhrnLlZoEUHd9BLs8mnX6A4I2wtSnqUmDpKX68Ooc-x9gbzAf5OFqKeB9n-ope55T84lwD2zlmgr0YOknME5yV6owenIvQowi3MnJTOjYSnli8sd-47QuoiRe4hQDhw/s400/a_115_Tom_Storage.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Tom Storage</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8u2awyA4vRaJm8yaB3QjIUUJ7OWiXc7NslmIBR1h0E70yzAImN3ParzYUG46n4TULCC5VCxouNmkfDgvsAB5-jDXdZufntSVA3TmPOOwdSeeGeOxVN4KF3qyVF6BunfM_gNDOIQoheg/s1600/a_119_Tom_Camera_BAg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8u2awyA4vRaJm8yaB3QjIUUJ7OWiXc7NslmIBR1h0E70yzAImN3ParzYUG46n4TULCC5VCxouNmkfDgvsAB5-jDXdZufntSVA3TmPOOwdSeeGeOxVN4KF3qyVF6BunfM_gNDOIQoheg/s400/a_119_Tom_Camera_BAg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Everything must be investigated, including the camera bag</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNUuWe0OVJcydvw7tdrc4ss4tGgXqC9uF16bG6p1ZVbPUXmhO61aMRIoEJ-uhBleAuiMVbz7_llYBqo-7Tj7u3iaTPI_ej6UlDLVVrgyGr6eVGO-FcuPE5LtIU606nF7bVq8CM56BGYg/s1600/a_085_Tom_Garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNUuWe0OVJcydvw7tdrc4ss4tGgXqC9uF16bG6p1ZVbPUXmhO61aMRIoEJ-uhBleAuiMVbz7_llYBqo-7Tj7u3iaTPI_ej6UlDLVVrgyGr6eVGO-FcuPE5LtIU606nF7bVq8CM56BGYg/s400/a_085_Tom_Garden.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Bird watching</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7koYBFrtwL6xw1ipfCO5FSqn2Sd8vC4DeaXuYDivop9BlRCHBh8skfKqgLEyAE6yR0303ynXUwgjmYjEKZuUbJqj-ei7SYomUJETlsC6BohQoGrgUdGukxSZrBd7OCLtjfXyhvtGcQw/s1600/a_089_Tom_Garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7koYBFrtwL6xw1ipfCO5FSqn2Sd8vC4DeaXuYDivop9BlRCHBh8skfKqgLEyAE6yR0303ynXUwgjmYjEKZuUbJqj-ei7SYomUJETlsC6BohQoGrgUdGukxSZrBd7OCLtjfXyhvtGcQw/s400/a_089_Tom_Garden.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Tom on the lawn</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ4McUGPjWNgwco2pBqbNjkchOg7g8AbGGESGX-Guacb0WBqmntouqgFFVJEcNgNAW2v9hEgdVXBpTKKoeMbiEyM4vTNFGWpqkMaFRGg2WhQmJt82Zw5_75pBbRxZht6TM0LhbK2-e6Q/s1600/a_078_Potted_Tom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ4McUGPjWNgwco2pBqbNjkchOg7g8AbGGESGX-Guacb0WBqmntouqgFFVJEcNgNAW2v9hEgdVXBpTKKoeMbiEyM4vTNFGWpqkMaFRGg2WhQmJt82Zw5_75pBbRxZht6TM0LhbK2-e6Q/s400/a_078_Potted_Tom.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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A perfectly sized planter</div>
<br />Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-10563554765116635302019-10-14T13:12:00.000+02:002020-11-15T15:51:42.261+02:00More TomA collection of more recent photographs<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWvsLFPDrGGM3t0GRCy4fnk-SrlIQ4cAMJ9lKXw6kGgXGqPYtrDYB6kfYag6qCQZcC7n9t8PyAtEgkuOSQwsz7t6waNKp2BZWd6arPuYSjoyEFkShIgFJGDxcxzl3uJQIAqLL8zRzVYw/s1600/a_014_Tom_Bed_Making_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="576" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWvsLFPDrGGM3t0GRCy4fnk-SrlIQ4cAMJ9lKXw6kGgXGqPYtrDYB6kfYag6qCQZcC7n9t8PyAtEgkuOSQwsz7t6waNKp2BZWd6arPuYSjoyEFkShIgFJGDxcxzl3uJQIAqLL8zRzVYw/s400/a_014_Tom_Bed_Making_web.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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Tom inspecting the bed</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgD_Ri5Ho_F6TTed0VBnekw8UZnrFq4w9qkVx1VRpJVQQ0YJaSISiaKxHq8zvH-fvV-ko8H1BDE0dfBLK8GgEIuOCTGjISYMKYh-Yqxvq-gvUMcKqS_e9Lvx0-9s_yWzROT6wZMU5Auw/s1600/a_039_Tom_Adorable_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgD_Ri5Ho_F6TTed0VBnekw8UZnrFq4w9qkVx1VRpJVQQ0YJaSISiaKxHq8zvH-fvV-ko8H1BDE0dfBLK8GgEIuOCTGjISYMKYh-Yqxvq-gvUMcKqS_e9Lvx0-9s_yWzROT6wZMU5Auw/s400/a_039_Tom_Adorable_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWHicHovFvNghvFPh6QphVmQNZR7eqStBVlpt26M7-iTC5ZcGW1XmXIBLGWTV4H4Mi5QLGv2p1-AmcykSzBFM9UKORTVE2G2NYZC4GL9zaNroo5xIUhI6NK7k7pTVR_n1Nmllm7EJdoA/s1600/a_080_Tom_Desk_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWHicHovFvNghvFPh6QphVmQNZR7eqStBVlpt26M7-iTC5ZcGW1XmXIBLGWTV4H4Mi5QLGv2p1-AmcykSzBFM9UKORTVE2G2NYZC4GL9zaNroo5xIUhI6NK7k7pTVR_n1Nmllm7EJdoA/s400/a_080_Tom_Desk_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Tom on the desk</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhToi3iqPCqVTcFvV8_DJtvaqMQ4z9GP4sQtPC8teGT17ehBLaEhm4jh3DssXGRmSqKSLmOkShpAp3s05ix_uWZtvkEqbgnSMOCCOL32jHpxNz19GvMqHXkRqw9yYhpKw1HbzrvHqovzg/s1600/a_077_Tom_Fits_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhToi3iqPCqVTcFvV8_DJtvaqMQ4z9GP4sQtPC8teGT17ehBLaEhm4jh3DssXGRmSqKSLmOkShpAp3s05ix_uWZtvkEqbgnSMOCCOL32jHpxNz19GvMqHXkRqw9yYhpKw1HbzrvHqovzg/s400/a_077_Tom_Fits_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Where the kitty fits </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYAP7hqiYkLYDBt_OceR-YPLKxejWjzuKF68ICF0o23fiugaVGtXdQ1jUsiI98yk8jR-PowcdGr01sv-zwXKTpaJyIIfO3zst2gvTgaf8vK4j4tqEcSjJKavGd3Pdfi_WhR2r3BG4j_g/s1600/a_094_Portable_Kitty_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYAP7hqiYkLYDBt_OceR-YPLKxejWjzuKF68ICF0o23fiugaVGtXdQ1jUsiI98yk8jR-PowcdGr01sv-zwXKTpaJyIIfO3zst2gvTgaf8vK4j4tqEcSjJKavGd3Pdfi_WhR2r3BG4j_g/s400/a_094_Portable_Kitty_web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This laptop bag is protected by a highlight trained attack cat</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYaKhGWLu_k30h9r4H4cY6wGPEgGzsiYx5g6kXHJAsfN2rEGifppkMgBlIHp8AOdFZbF4fbGqQSe5Z6E1TP8Cm86OtY_z63OCHjbinHF8ERHKSOZI0JkQxDfc97l6VtEffjLfG3iExQA/s1600/275_Tom_Lap_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYaKhGWLu_k30h9r4H4cY6wGPEgGzsiYx5g6kXHJAsfN2rEGifppkMgBlIHp8AOdFZbF4fbGqQSe5Z6E1TP8Cm86OtY_z63OCHjbinHF8ERHKSOZI0JkQxDfc97l6VtEffjLfG3iExQA/s320/275_Tom_Lap_web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Aaaaw</div>
<br />Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-84208440270861849302019-06-27T14:29:00.002+02:002020-11-15T15:53:20.211+02:00Autoreply<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5VTV8rY0SRWyxmVTad9TrII_Akm6OLYBTVwAfP8JTNRZhElVYdtcAycFViLyRmvcjnYDW7AU1eDZHg6uyv6-FeCdKRRT8C1HspS7jl08iF3JHCNJZdq3QdUKZkKNFBdwkkl86bXhOBg/s1600/UPS_WTF.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="1254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5VTV8rY0SRWyxmVTad9TrII_Akm6OLYBTVwAfP8JTNRZhElVYdtcAycFViLyRmvcjnYDW7AU1eDZHg6uyv6-FeCdKRRT8C1HspS7jl08iF3JHCNJZdq3QdUKZkKNFBdwkkl86bXhOBg/s1600/UPS_WTF.png" /></a></div>
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Yeah, that's a helpful response, UPS customer service.Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-48922694485733454712019-06-03T22:14:00.000+02:002020-11-15T15:51:55.547+02:00Onwards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim5QsbH0okfn5rFnLy8wQ3UUtzt4kYkJBn8ewtRllGhv04q1OVRHUNM1LxUX37EDHFBEIv2OdRufJBgJ4wVJbiUFJu8NCERmZ8OpWUMbJ1wjrCCUFkao-ENri-QN3C1iS7NLtoA7cGeA/s1600/194_Innocent_Cat_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim5QsbH0okfn5rFnLy8wQ3UUtzt4kYkJBn8ewtRllGhv04q1OVRHUNM1LxUX37EDHFBEIv2OdRufJBgJ4wVJbiUFJu8NCERmZ8OpWUMbJ1wjrCCUFkao-ENri-QN3C1iS7NLtoA7cGeA/s320/194_Innocent_Cat_web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The completely innocent cat</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgce_1c8xB6y078yAY9ChDCg1cwW-_hcaUZpZdvJyYxuiFtwYissty-E3ycXi1zQoeTXilSnVhEXhxpEvN_jL0pNR7VjrttpMmV9qwqBLP75dDuEz5-ORl8Nul9D8b2y8Cw9Pd4GtuG1w/s1600/253_Tom_on_top_of_the_world_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgce_1c8xB6y078yAY9ChDCg1cwW-_hcaUZpZdvJyYxuiFtwYissty-E3ycXi1zQoeTXilSnVhEXhxpEvN_jL0pNR7VjrttpMmV9qwqBLP75dDuEz5-ORl8Nul9D8b2y8Cw9Pd4GtuG1w/s320/253_Tom_on_top_of_the_world_web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I can see my house from here</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1PCzEEQnUIx10jBIN-L2cX1Alrxjp7zozLCejc_RAuTAchS9cpZlz1sKCLhUgLWVDIoTFCegCMQdwzFERWUfkXC4Bo0tM7KyrTNIYQMMVgThJrWlcsf7pNbHXQHhQVjNGfEiT6-fDWg/s1600/227_Tom_King_of_the_Castle_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1PCzEEQnUIx10jBIN-L2cX1Alrxjp7zozLCejc_RAuTAchS9cpZlz1sKCLhUgLWVDIoTFCegCMQdwzFERWUfkXC4Bo0tM7KyrTNIYQMMVgThJrWlcsf7pNbHXQHhQVjNGfEiT6-fDWg/s320/227_Tom_King_of_the_Castle_web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Cat sleeping on top of the world</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRzAEG19S-pODeObsWQ4ggDANf9S5J7cVotsyZsUNumZUNbKGDGGON1UZSh10NtPo5WCTzd4LtbAGrQPE5qq97uEWB-6XwG-PCayVCVlb54gorfPQcHDtcpDBHwmcd5BOqGBM95Lz8uQ/s1600/212_Tom_Prowling_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRzAEG19S-pODeObsWQ4ggDANf9S5J7cVotsyZsUNumZUNbKGDGGON1UZSh10NtPo5WCTzd4LtbAGrQPE5qq97uEWB-6XwG-PCayVCVlb54gorfPQcHDtcpDBHwmcd5BOqGBM95Lz8uQ/s320/212_Tom_Prowling_web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Tom prowling</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs20e2FD0SO5kAUCT_z37sTXMpbTCiJf2hNWHKgR9oGsxXdDnp51ODQurKJEOEbvLIKg_kl98ShgKcxZKW9Rpf8tMktNgB86sXOUgbYbyIQI2HnvBW8u2ga5bq5QD9fOsEGEDolefMfA/s1600/242_Tom_Garden_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs20e2FD0SO5kAUCT_z37sTXMpbTCiJf2hNWHKgR9oGsxXdDnp51ODQurKJEOEbvLIKg_kl98ShgKcxZKW9Rpf8tMktNgB86sXOUgbYbyIQI2HnvBW8u2ga5bq5QD9fOsEGEDolefMfA/s320/242_Tom_Garden_web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Fast moving Tom</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHhH6rnkSjcl1C6QZlawufHcNvktOO_yxPU7XEcf3HFYUJhipS6JuHchwASZ1yRYpInWNZA1gBeA2YkEsz3TuD8gEkWjwLxgI8U3EIrOJBC54mNDDPLy0SfxOz1n1iehqfcIIOSOwgeA/s1600/231_Tom_Climbing_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHhH6rnkSjcl1C6QZlawufHcNvktOO_yxPU7XEcf3HFYUJhipS6JuHchwASZ1yRYpInWNZA1gBeA2YkEsz3TuD8gEkWjwLxgI8U3EIrOJBC54mNDDPLy0SfxOz1n1iehqfcIIOSOwgeA/s320/231_Tom_Climbing_web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Why I had to rearrange my games collection</div>
<br />Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-23746422654980034922019-05-13T23:22:00.000+02:002020-11-15T15:52:04.760+02:00The inevitable followupYou all knew this was coming, right?
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8HuXELy8zz81GlqDgQGaFqqkEbIH6aQOKEB13opcKTyysOeoYbG_wG6PiQm2e048YjSJ_tVHxfiLu6NYyYmMGd841eifLTaxw1bLOqwUUfqxf2nFfHDB4iRWcsIWZxoMt1f0WnVHXvQ/s1600/129_Tom_Exploring_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8HuXELy8zz81GlqDgQGaFqqkEbIH6aQOKEB13opcKTyysOeoYbG_wG6PiQm2e048YjSJ_tVHxfiLu6NYyYmMGd841eifLTaxw1bLOqwUUfqxf2nFfHDB4iRWcsIWZxoMt1f0WnVHXvQ/s320/129_Tom_Exploring_web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Gardens are fun</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1iK___tbhLtPc80qMFtTfpA0XPLP2w-H8efJYXe6s473Y47DBhUpI2bablYJbq3dUt7_GfX6IBBsUf2Qu6ipmT_M4AsU6YrKhFV4TD70gMFpI7wZ00tvNOhEYZ3_Y0Qgn9-1d3-17LA/s1600/180_Tom_Climbing_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1iK___tbhLtPc80qMFtTfpA0XPLP2w-H8efJYXe6s473Y47DBhUpI2bablYJbq3dUt7_GfX6IBBsUf2Qu6ipmT_M4AsU6YrKhFV4TD70gMFpI7wZ00tvNOhEYZ3_Y0Qgn9-1d3-17LA/s320/180_Tom_Climbing_web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Trees are hard</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR4dUbcGkYe6yGh1BMus1QhNZubn1pguIBcYspZrUWa8144FB6wjr1xU7zLRRjKc8EnDkRY2bNSOhd_uIGwn1ZIvWNHXheCSFvJEmC45uk3Z_cIVIeFLRl97ly_K6r8t2RW7_Vkmyh9w/s1600/164_Tom_Garden_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR4dUbcGkYe6yGh1BMus1QhNZubn1pguIBcYspZrUWa8144FB6wjr1xU7zLRRjKc8EnDkRY2bNSOhd_uIGwn1ZIvWNHXheCSFvJEmC45uk3Z_cIVIeFLRl97ly_K6r8t2RW7_Vkmyh9w/s320/164_Tom_Garden_web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The perfect spot</div>
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So many things to climb</div>
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Inevitable, I guess.</div>
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A not unexpected complication</div>
Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-73962941568667520452019-04-19T10:14:00.000+02:002020-11-15T15:52:14.710+02:00Is this thing on?Oh, hey, long time no use of this blog.
I break my silence because, as is universally acknowledged, there are not enough pictures of cats on the internet, and certainly not enough pictures of this cat.
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3t8IZJ-2kLNMPDBuNO1NjKYAO7hTZEempjskmJkGj_nKAqyAllLSeGR0DumOXNr5SyHKvFVJXGWYgNykuNuxetwSaLxfzhc0eFzJSd0CIs6iyM_-nsxVGsxxuFL-pB9InbJRPfNYaDA/s1600/001_Tom_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3t8IZJ-2kLNMPDBuNO1NjKYAO7hTZEempjskmJkGj_nKAqyAllLSeGR0DumOXNr5SyHKvFVJXGWYgNykuNuxetwSaLxfzhc0eFzJSd0CIs6iyM_-nsxVGsxxuFL-pB9InbJRPfNYaDA/s320/001_Tom_web.jpg" width="320" height="240" data-original-width="1024" data-original-height="768" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgwOFRgztT41tgSIOoTPamWPPv_BVQbjmw_yMUabECzCsDo2MhOxFoSih_f9SLndntqrShVN65cagSFglZbzBGUaiKaRnUK71hCzwHEi57rQf5hGGZFl263ygkyNseYapArPd2OiC8lg/s1600/019_Tom_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgwOFRgztT41tgSIOoTPamWPPv_BVQbjmw_yMUabECzCsDo2MhOxFoSih_f9SLndntqrShVN65cagSFglZbzBGUaiKaRnUK71hCzwHEi57rQf5hGGZFl263ygkyNseYapArPd2OiC8lg/s320/019_Tom_web.jpg" width="320" height="213" data-original-width="1024" data-original-height="682" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRz1IbZl9WdaR6JfwIFBjznXNbO6Igw85fTn83NHjrqpyBvFHCivggdOSjjy-DhV4LlD1iuZG83KFyzWjwQnLVD-LPyt03pAFFa0zrEPfVc6GBSerqx2r0a367nP9sAdaZQzggFHi4DQ/s1600/028_Tom_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRz1IbZl9WdaR6JfwIFBjznXNbO6Igw85fTn83NHjrqpyBvFHCivggdOSjjy-DhV4LlD1iuZG83KFyzWjwQnLVD-LPyt03pAFFa0zrEPfVc6GBSerqx2r0a367nP9sAdaZQzggFHi4DQ/s320/028_Tom_web.jpg" width="320" height="213" data-original-width="1024" data-original-height="682" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi18ZTdwpd04JxbPGieCEkU17gNkOlqQOEVq7f31ShUbCmhSaa2UVhX13f39EMCGEGfeVqmzN05S9ohV-Arw5rJyRjgTgIiw1uWSQUWQocXRC3E_xRYJoVQUXEokTT8-aqLwqvpU0RoZw/s1600/031_Tom_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi18ZTdwpd04JxbPGieCEkU17gNkOlqQOEVq7f31ShUbCmhSaa2UVhX13f39EMCGEGfeVqmzN05S9ohV-Arw5rJyRjgTgIiw1uWSQUWQocXRC3E_xRYJoVQUXEokTT8-aqLwqvpU0RoZw/s320/031_Tom_web.jpg" width="320" height="213" data-original-width="1024" data-original-height="682" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinYDcy1YgA4Y3fZxFKBrirs-DeQkB1sacZUPeg6I42tCSOlSNZzQKMNbB9HYTuoZnFCqtjkICMf4doXP8WyOOQQxX7CRGy7nV4RaDDrb1NBOu8tUMk2M-V_PRYPtQRkjxfu0b9x7ayOQ/s1600/033_Tom_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinYDcy1YgA4Y3fZxFKBrirs-DeQkB1sacZUPeg6I42tCSOlSNZzQKMNbB9HYTuoZnFCqtjkICMf4doXP8WyOOQQxX7CRGy7nV4RaDDrb1NBOu8tUMk2M-V_PRYPtQRkjxfu0b9x7ayOQ/s320/033_Tom_web.jpg" width="320" height="213" data-original-width="1024" data-original-height="682" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjvKuVrnkfH41gn5wH09hamsy4jYDiNrJDno-w7kBUvC4Vv_epk0ChjJSM2nT9Vyb5E8IkbnQw_PiTP5Z-gFNMPGF0OkB7jWu9iRL7CRpqrtVgZySOWoPGv94cg3Ap__jsru1AHR2hfQ/s1600/045_Tom_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjvKuVrnkfH41gn5wH09hamsy4jYDiNrJDno-w7kBUvC4Vv_epk0ChjJSM2nT9Vyb5E8IkbnQw_PiTP5Z-gFNMPGF0OkB7jWu9iRL7CRpqrtVgZySOWoPGv94cg3Ap__jsru1AHR2hfQ/s320/045_Tom_web.jpg" width="320" height="213" data-original-width="1024" data-original-height="682" /></a>
This is Tom, who is gradually taking possesion of my house, and over the next while I will be trying to rectify the lack of photographs on the internet.Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-10138673189634557902017-09-25T15:10:00.002+02:002020-11-15T15:52:44.953+02:00Photos, redux again, repeated.<p>I've left the university of Stellenbosch, which unfortunately means I can no longer rely on dip.sun.ac.za for hosting my photos.</p>
<p>Thus I've moved everything to a VM instance, running at <a href="http://photos.drnlm.org/~neil/photos">photos.drnlm.org</a></p>
<p>And, because I can, <a href="http://photos.drnlm.org/~neil/photos/Digital/Western_Cape/Whales/Hermanus_Trip_Sep_2017/index.html">Photos from my recent trip to Hermanus</a> with Simon and Armin.</p>
Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-49076415114278776392016-01-28T00:53:00.000+02:002016-01-28T00:53:32.716+02:00Playing with Python 3 & Gtk (or What I did with my Summer Vacation)Oh, yeah, I still have this blog thing.<br />
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As is fairly obvious to people who've seen my homepage, I take quite a lot of photographs. While I'm a big fan of using file system hierachies to categorise information, and it's fundamental to the way my <a href="http://dip.sun.ac.za/~neil/personal/git/NitwitGallery.git">Gallery software</a> works, there are nuances that are hard to represent with a single hierachy.<br />
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For years, I've used f-spot to maintain a tagged database of my photos, which makes various queries a lot simplere. Of course, f-spot has always been annoyingly buggy, and is now essentially dead and increasingly suffering from bit-rot. The official replacement, shotwell, is nice enough, unless you're the sort of person you cares about how the data is actually stored in the database, in which case it's not for you. (I shall not eloborate - the curious can easily shotwell's behaviour themselves). Since I'm the sort of that does care, shotwell's out. There is digikam, but Ive never hit it off with the KDE design philosophy, so that doesn't work well for me either.<br /><br />Which of course leaves the traditional solution to minor inconviences with other people's software. Re-inventing the wheel. This does have a number of advantages. I can have something that just has the features I want, and drop a lot of stuff, such as all the image editing functionality, that there are better tools for. Furthermore, by writing in python 3, using gobject introspection and a pre-release of SQLObject, I can justify it both as a learning exercise (since I hadn't previously gotten beyond toy gtk3 programs), and also as testing SQLObject 3.<br />
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The net result of all this is <a href="http://dip.sun.ac.za/~neil/personal/git/PhotoTagger.git">Phototagger</a> , something I'd actually decided to write in 2014 (but then as a python 2 program), but then didn't do any work on for more than a year, and which now represents far too much of my free time over the last month and a half or so.<br /><br />There was a point early on where the actual code design was reasonably neat, but stuff got tangled as I worked around some questionable early choices without addressing the underlying problem, so a rewrite is on the cards at some point, but it now works pretty nicely.<br /><br />The features are nothing special - photos can be added, tagged, tags can be edited and have various images assigned to them, and all that sort of thing. The search functionality is a bit limited - it doesn't allow constructing arbitary tag queries, but it covers the sort of queries I generally need.<br /><br />
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Indivual photos can be viewed<br />
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And zoomed - this also supports mouse panning, which took a surprisingly long time to get right due to a misreading of the Gtk documentation.<br />
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As a learning experience, it was pretty useful. I got to play with some of the new Gtk 3 widgets, such as the Stack and FlowBox widgets, which are nifty, and work through some of the changes between Gtk 2 and Gtk 3. It's also given me a fair amount of confidence in SQLObject's python 3 support, although it doesn't stress the limits of SQLObject particularly.<br />
<br />As a tagging tool, it's now functional enough to replace f-spot for me, and has proved a great deal more stable. I now just need to rewrite a bunch of the tools I wrote to managing my f-spot database easier, and then I can finally move on.Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-45754168654291140762014-07-22T22:58:00.000+02:002014-07-22T22:59:08.016+02:00WhizzardAs I've mentioned a few times, I spend a reasonable amount of my free time (and sometimes bits of my not free time ("compiling!")) working on <a href="https://sourceforge.net/p/sutekh/wiki/Home/">Sutekh</a>, our card manager for VtES.<br />
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As I've also mentioned, I created a fork of Sutekh called <a href="http://dip.sun.ac.za/git/?p=neil/thufir.git;a=summary">Thufir</a>, which does the same thing for the defunct Dune CCG. While I got Thufir to a point I was happy with, I never really kep it up to date with Sutekh's developments, so the two code bases diverged rather rapidly.<br />
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Now we add the recent Android: Netrunner LCG into the mix. While there are a varierty of web-based card managers for A:NR, I find them clunky, and there's a dearth of other options. Maintaining a third fork of Sutekh also looked really unappealing, so I hatched a cunning plan to refactor Sutekh considerably, pulling a lot of non-VtES specific code into a nice, reasonably reusable basis for writing card management applications. I also reworked Thufir to use this new framework, fixing a lot of bugs and gaining a whole lot of new, useful features there. Of course, this all took time, and, as a result, I didn't get around to actually working on my A:NR app (called <a href="http://dip.sun.ac.za/git/?p=neil/whizzard.git;a=summary">Whizzard</a>).<br />
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Over the weekend, I decided to knuckle down and actually start working on this. Although there is still missing data and a bunch of features to hook up, it's moved past the vapourware stage really quickly, which gives me a warm fuzzy feeling about the refactoring work done on Sutekh.<br />
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Sutekh's base infrastructure is still not quite as self-contained as I'd like, which would avoid needing to duplicate code in the various repos, but I still haven't come up which a way of plugging the last couple of leaks I'm happy with, so I'll live with the current state of affairs until inspiration strikes.</div>
<br />Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-59347590996401100812014-02-05T23:30:00.002+02:002020-11-15T15:54:52.777+02:00WheelsSometime towards the end of last year, I lost an argument about how traffic lights work with a minibus taxi. While I got off reasonably unscathed, my poor Honda didn't, which was a very sad experience.<br />
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Consequently, I spent some time looking for a suitable replacement. This took longer than I wanted, due to general end of year craziness, but eventually resulted in something I quite like.<br />
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Now that I have the licensing all sorted out, I hope to be able to enjoy the remaining good biking weather before winter sets in suitable style.Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-85861907613251323672013-04-21T10:32:00.003+02:002013-04-21T10:32:59.523+02:00Pyweek 16: NemesisSo we've reached the end of another <a href="http://pyweek.org/">pyweek</a>, and I've managed another game (<a href="http://www.pyweek.org/e/erdslangetjie/">"Bane's Befuddlement"</a>), so it's time for my usual post-pyweek post.<br />
<br />
Since most of the usual suspects were busy with other things, I ended up doing a solo entry for the first time. I also decided, on something of a poorly thought-out whim, to use <a href="http://kivy.org/">kivy</a> for this entry.<br />
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Based on what happened with Mad Science (pyweek 14), I expected the solo entry to be something of struggle, and it does show in the end result. Artwork was obviously limited, since it's not my strong suite and I didn't want to spend a lot of time on the issue, but fortunately I was able to offset that somewhat by using one of the existing dungeon tile collections.<br />
<br />
Probably the most crucial failing is ambition. Several of the past pyweek entries I'm been involved in have suffered from being overly ambitious (Nine Tales (pyweek 12) being the worst offender), so I aimed to avoid that pitfall this time. As a result, I was under-ambitious. The game isn't that challenging, and is a bit bland. It's not without potential, but needed more time spent on the initial concept to really get something I would have been happy with.<br />
<br />
There are several things I am happy with. I reaffirmed my belief in the
importance of level editors for pyweek games. Even with the very
simplistic one I wrote here, I was able to fill out the level content
very quickly on Friday and Saturday as a result, and I rather like the careful level of stupid that AI achieves. <br />
<br />
There are a few tricks about touch interfaces I need to learn. The
most obvious one from this game is to avoid anything that goes too close
to the edge of the screen - it's too easy to accidentally trigger one of
the other buttons in that case.<br />
<br />
As an exercise in working more with kivy, this was pretty successful. I'm still uncertain about how I feel about kivy. It's quite nice in some ways - being able to add a settings pane or a popup dialog with only a couple of lines of code - but it's also all sorts of magic in ways that really aren't helpful. The complicated import dance needed to ensure that we set the configured window size before creating the kivy window is just one example of this sort of thing. More annoyingly, the inability to hook in to the command-line argument parsing without some serious monkey patching is the sort of poorly thought out design that makes working with it painful.<br />
<br />
Python's still a work in progress on android, and, while it's possible to use <a href="https://github.com/kivy/pyjnius">pyjnius</a> to access the hardware, and to build apk's, both require more fiddling with building python for android than I was prepared to do during a pyweek, so, while the game runs OK on my phone, it's missing some features which would be very nice to have. There is enough work happening in this space that this should improve, though.<br />
<br />
Windows packaging with kivy is a pain, and the recommended approach of using pyinstaller just failed horribly for me. I'm not sure if where to lay the blame for that, but debugging windows issues is not my favourite activity, and anyway not something I'm capable of doing at the end of a pyweek.<br />
<br />
Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-30576833439391189002012-11-22T21:57:00.003+02:002012-11-22T22:04:34.252+02:00Thoughts on the 2012 VTES LeaguesI had intended to blog about the league more, but that fell by the wayside, and got replaced by the game reports. I'll intend to do better for the next league.<br />
<br />
Having now run two leagues, I think I can safely say it was a good idea. It's given a bit more structure to the local VTES games, and ensured that we keep having regular socials, which is needed to keep the game alive. It's also allowed me to fiddle with several deck ideas in fairly serious competition without the risks of a tournament.<br />
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Keeping the league running is fortunately fairly low-effort, and I've gotten a lot of the score management and tracking reasonably automated (working on which has been a useful "compiling" project). I'm not sure we've quite got the length of the league right yet - people seem to get a bit burnt out both times, so we should maybe shorten it a bit more, but I'd like to avoid long breaks in the game, simply to help keep interest up.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure if it's accomplished my other goal of improving my play level. I have had a couple of games where I feel I've played really well, and made some good decisions in some somewhat non-obvious positions, but I've also made a number of really stupid errors, and thrown away a couple of potential game wins as a result.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, I did manage to top both leagues, which suggests I'm doing something right. However, I partly topped the league by simply playing a lot more league games than everyone else. I feel somewhat guilty about that, as I feel I've been gaining an unfair benefit from the way the league rules were setup to not penalize people playing lots of games, and, as the main driver of the league, I'm partly responsible for the rules we chose.
Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-20441379600492688632012-05-13T11:32:00.003+02:002012-05-13T12:05:46.253+02:00Pyweek 14: Mad ScienceSo we've reached the end of another <a href="http://www.pyweek.org/">pyweek</a>, and managed yet another game (<a href="http://www.pyweek.org/e/Sypikslang/">"Tomorrow, the World!!!"</a>), so it's time for my usual post-pyweek post.<br /><br />It's not one of the better entires I've been involved in, and I expect us to place very middle of the field this year. I think there's a decent concept here, but we didn't get enough content or game balance to have something that's really fun, and, as a result, much of the early game is a bit random and frustrating. There's nothing unfixable, but it needs a couple of days of people playing and extending the game to get to the point I'd actually be happy with it. It's got its entertaining bits, though, so I'm happy enough to throw it out there to be judged and see what happens.<br /><br />Due to everyone being busy and / or being out of the country, we had a much smaller team than previous entries. I expected we would need to downscale as a result, but this proved to be more of a problem than I had actually anticipated. There just wasn't space for people to play the game much, which partly accounts for the issues, and there also much less opportunity to riff off other people's ideas to improve things. Everyone being busy in the day didn't help either. There were far fewer of the "ooh, a bunch of cool stuff has happened since I last worked on the game" moments, which also made it feel like more of a slog than past entries. The lack of people was most felt in the final Saturday finishing sprint, for which only 2 of us were available - most conversations were "I'm fixing X, can you look at Y?", and then silence for about 30 minutes while stuff happened. Given how the smaller team affected things, my respect for people doing successful solo entries has gone up even further.<br /><br />I've now been involved 5 pyweek entries, and they've all been content heavy in various ways, so it's fair to call that as a definite trend. Given the games I enjoy playing, and the high value I place on being amusing, that's not surprising, but it's not a good feature for games with small teams.<br /><br />On the upside, it was still fun. Coding for pyweek is always liberating, since it's much more important to have something close now than completely correct later. Having now done 3 pyweeks with mercurial, we've now also got the setup and workflow around that reasonably well sorted (which means we're almost certainly due to change to something else now), and past experience means that we're making a reasonable number correct design decisions early, so I'm quite happy with the final structure of the game.Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-24892859176016470282012-04-08T12:47:00.003+02:002012-04-08T13:40:55.065+02:00The Easter Egg TournamentEver since I heard of the idea of playing <a href="http://www.orava.org/orava/weblog/tag/eastereggtournament">VTES for ante using easter eggs</a> on the #vtes IRC channel, I've been keen to try the idea locally. So this year, I bit the bullet and generally chivied things along to get the event to happen.<br /><br />We ended up with 8 players, although 2 only arrived late, so the first two rounds were 6 player games.<br /><br />In the first game, I tried my weenie DEM/obf bleed deck, which didn't quite run properly. The table was Richard (Ahrimane wall) bleeding Dave (!Ventrue grinder with guns) bleeding me bleeding Simon (Black Hand bleed) bleeding Kevin (Enkidu) bleeding Hendrik (Osebo with 419 operations). I didn't draw any minions with obf or any obf masters for some time, and, combined with several Ministy's from Simon, that caused slowed down my deck considerably. I also lost a minion to a Kiss of Ra on an ill-thought out block attempt. I was able to oust Simon, but then, with the combination of some rushes from Enkidu, DOM bleed and a Smiling Jack in play, was duly ousted. Kevin failed to any significant damage to Dave's minions with Enkidu, and duly fell to the !Ventrue. Richard and Hendrik had spent most of the game tangling with each other, with Richard gradually losing to the potence combat, so Hendrik was able to oust Richard eventually. The end game got a little tight, ass Hendrik put a couple of minions into torpor, but ultimately wasn't able to get the critical action to burn Smiling Jack through and Dave took the table.<br /><br />In the second game, I tried the Arika High Stakes deck I put together. The table was Richard (Group 4+5 Kiasyd) bleeding Dave (Group 4+5 Kiasyd) bleeding Simon (samedi wall) bleeding me bleeding Hendrik (Group2+3 !Tor with guns) bleeding Kevin (Group 2+3 !tor vote and bleed). The table was made interesting as Dave & Richard risked contesting, as did Kevin and Hendrik. Simon, at the end of a bounce chain, and with a wall'ish deck, walled up throughly, which caused me issues as I never got to cycle bounce out of my hand. I got a decent start, with Arika and an early Minion Tap, but drew few aggressive votes (although all the High Stakes), and, although I got Hendrik quite low on pool, I couldn't quite get what I needed to finish him off. Dave got a couple of bleeds on Simon, but failed on a lunge with Song of Pan and then failed to draw bounce and was ousted by Richard. I was able to minion tap a couple more times, and a voter cap off a High Stakes meant I was up to able to keep bringing minions out, and keep a healthy pool buffer. Hendrik ousted Kevin, thanks to a steady supply of Palle Grande bleeds, and then Richard was able to top-deck enough stealth to oust Simon. I was able to finally bounce a bleed from Richard onto Hendrik, and banish one of Hendrik's minions, but this was not enough to save Richard's Kiasyd from the !tor. At this point, I finally found my decks ousting package, and I was able to chomp through Hendrik's pool very efficiently for the last 2 VPs.<br /><br />Caitlin and Adrian arrived for the final round, which saw us play two tables. Table 1 was Richard (Ahrimane wall) bleeding Dave (!Ventrue) bleeding Hendrik (Assamite) bleeding Adrian (Simon's Black Cat deck). I saw little of the game before the end game, but Hendrik held off Dave for quite some time before being ousted, while The brujah were able to tool up to a fair degree. Adrian then drew a couple of Frontal assaults which allowed him to put down Richard's minions and oust him. Adrian decked himself shortly afterwards, but with the hunting ground and the guns down, was nicely setup. In the end game, Dave was unable to cycle intercept to draw prevent and was thus on a losing proposition on every combat, and, after losing 3 minions to the Brujah guns, conceded.<br /><br />The second table was Kevin (FoS temptation) bleeding Caitlin (Akunase wall'ish) bleeding Simon (DoC Choir / Bleed / Vote) bleeding me (Arika). I had a tricky game. And early Lily Prelude and bleed from Simon meant I only got Arika out, and, as I didn't see a Minion Tap or a Govern until quite late, I was stuck on 1 minion for most of the game. I did get a Legendary Vampire on Arika, which was very important, and, by steadily bleeding of 5, and a couple of votes and voter caps, was able to oust Kevin. Caitlin failed to do any significant damage to Simon, unable to get past the Daughters prevent and access to S:CE, and I was able to Minion Tap Arika and lunge with a Govern bleed for 7 to oust her. At this point, I erred, and decided to bring out a second minion, which left me too little pool to survive the daughters. I should also have remembered that I could have voted away the Command Performance, which would also have helped me. Still, 2 ousts with a single minion on the table was rather satisfying.<br /><br />Overall, I think it was a success, and fun seemed to be had. I'll probably try to arrange something similar again next year.Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-78426330099924494472012-03-18T21:42:00.003+02:002012-03-18T22:09:30.787+02:00Cape Town VTEs League, game 6I already posted a brief report to the mailling list, but felt like reporting on my game in a bit more depth,<br /><br />The game setup was Me, with my Orlando mob-rule deck, bleeding Mark (Brujah something) bleeding Nick (Aus / Tha / For shennigans with Saulot) bleeding James (!Nos group 2) bleeding Marc (Torrance Circle BB) bleeding Ruan (Gangrel with dominate).<br /><br />I had a decent start, with an early secure haven on Orlando, an early Rutor's and the Hungry Coyote for bloat, which was needed with dominate upstream. Fortuantely for me, Ruan didn't get off to the fastest start, but was soon putting steady pressure on me, with bleeds for 2 and 3, and form of mist to stealth past blockers. James found himself in an awkward position early, unable to deal with Nick's "Dawn Op / Weather Control" combo, and thus needing to spend actions rescuing vampires, and unable to put pressure on Marc, who used the free ride to tool up nicely, and, with the help of an early blood doll and a couple of Unwholesome bonds, was soon up to 4 minions out with a very healthy pool buffer. Ruan built up to 3 minions, and gradually whittled down my pool.<br /><br />Mark brought out Count Germaine, and then attempted to Arson the Secure Haven [1], but was firmly told no via an Obedience, before bringing out a 9-cap as a second minion. I bounced a bleed which forced Mark to tap out, and then was able to pull off a lunge to oust him in my next turn (voting and bleeding with Orlando for 8 pool damage, and then finishing t off with a Kine). The table stabilised for a while at 5 players - Marc gradually whittling down Ruan's pool and Ruan whittling down mine somewhat faster via bleeds and bounces. I was struggling to get actions though against Nick's intercept, not helped by the lack of votes, but was able to bounce enough bleeds to keep afloat. I managed to get up to 3 minions, and, with Orlando's vote doubling, 8 static votes, but with 9 other votes on the table, I didn't have the vote lock. James rushed both backwards and cross table, which also did interesting things to the table dynamics. I'd whittled Nick down to 3 pool, but my attempt to oust him via a Kine was foiled by the rest of the table. Ruan however eventually ran out of bounce [2] and blockers and was ousted, and the changed vote dynamics with the removal of Ruan's prince allowed me to oust Nick. At this point, however, both James and Marc had enough static intercept to shut down my votes, and, although a Giant's Blood / Minion Tap combo delayed things, I fell to the blood brothers bleed. Annoyingly, my two stealth locations were both right at the bottom of my deck.<br /><br />James was always struggling in the end game, as the battle with Nick had left him with not much pool or blood on his minions, and was not able to put down enough of Marc's minions in time. MArc did run out of library at the end, and was starting to lose the combats, but James just couldn't quite scrape up enough untap to stop all the bleeds.<br /><br />The Orlando deck is starting to work. I'm still unhappy with the combat module, which needs to walk the fine line between being effective in the Cape Town environment and not getting in the way of ousting people. I should also try to find space for a few telepathic vote countings, for that extra occasional vote push.<br /><br />[1] IIRC, this was the only action Mark attempted the entire game.<br /><br />[2] I bounced a bleed back onto him to accelerate this, since I needed the breathing space.Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-11143722308643327272012-02-07T22:28:00.006+02:002012-02-07T22:44:27.899+02:00Cape Town VTES League, game 2We held the second league game at the social at the Rondebosch Library.<br /><br />5 players played in the league game.<br /><br />The table setup was me, playing Kaisyd group 4 & 5 <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaY28-K0n-IULuntGjtcAYAdH8-xiyuEGqbv_upgQiVx1n57ezYzruT9n5V_vGA10K6aWa1RtyyGWwSbKXa-6T5ZSy5kQVzzeTqtDLjzIerEav7nsP9VoIZbvf0O3KrgH-X5g-XG4qtQ/s1600/04_Kiasyd.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaY28-K0n-IULuntGjtcAYAdH8-xiyuEGqbv_upgQiVx1n57ezYzruT9n5V_vGA10K6aWa1RtyyGWwSbKXa-6T5ZSy5kQVzzeTqtDLjzIerEav7nsP9VoIZbvf0O3KrgH-X5g-XG4qtQ/s200/04_Kiasyd.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 65px;" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706493988291775234" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />bleeding Richard, superstar deck with Lucian the Perfect,<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxt3SG_NYOdcHESh6Ktkw1o33y9S7cKcw6_1JfRvPhVI1xpC39QYO_ViVoyiPRljTZ6m_ymqfq_3CaZ3HOXmCgHaB9ur-_EuA1teL22kxVtj-eGEM893aT5lLfNwg1EOeLoe0_9CChsA/s1600/01_Lucian.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxt3SG_NYOdcHESh6Ktkw1o33y9S7cKcw6_1JfRvPhVI1xpC39QYO_ViVoyiPRljTZ6m_ymqfq_3CaZ3HOXmCgHaB9ur-_EuA1teL22kxVtj-eGEM893aT5lLfNwg1EOeLoe0_9CChsA/s200/01_Lucian.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 85px; height: 100px;" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706494847904499330" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />bleeding Anthony, playing Evan's weenie CEL guns deck,<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp4fl3P1SHW2rLaPaqD20hioF15Lx5Wk5LF9Ywx7U7dX2PgnVXl0W8ZfOJaHNBTV0mzosd87t1uYqhkdDre4ltfrcyvZBAse4Xf4n84ICuj91IPLi6QeuDMORSNEwVYtFtaTtcImDVLA/s1600/05_Weenie_Cel.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp4fl3P1SHW2rLaPaqD20hioF15Lx5Wk5LF9Ywx7U7dX2PgnVXl0W8ZfOJaHNBTV0mzosd87t1uYqhkdDre4ltfrcyvZBAse4Xf4n84ICuj91IPLi6QeuDMORSNEwVYtFtaTtcImDVLA/s200/05_Weenie_Cel.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 94px;" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706495716722998642" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />bleeding James, playing a group 2 !Nossie deck,<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2IDSUWoDTjHDRIgvn74NikLoa8NqY6rKTR3KcTCNocyt8PS-H-gyIA37ZZkdhip-fxbEozv2CEH80wBk_auiDf7V-cpEKOmKBmofR_qrQR4kq82yy94jeDsvgdCVUeptrxswVTFj-kg/s1600/02_Nossie.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2IDSUWoDTjHDRIgvn74NikLoa8NqY6rKTR3KcTCNocyt8PS-H-gyIA37ZZkdhip-fxbEozv2CEH80wBk_auiDf7V-cpEKOmKBmofR_qrQR4kq82yy94jeDsvgdCVUeptrxswVTFj-kg/s200/02_Nossie.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 53px;" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706495865547232034" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />bleeding Evan, playing Malk 94.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBkJK_sawdIAj6ztRKY8jBxfDmMbBCWFGjPazJxTcBjPNBESOSp7WK_j_qYUrYQbTTK4eodoGGUHVMEcLZ7_bp2DWbhRnrG3HmJsLv3SzFAWwPTcE2yfXZpph0EPFBixy_bYJzXpiNw/s1600/03_Malk_94.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBkJK_sawdIAj6ztRKY8jBxfDmMbBCWFGjPazJxTcBjPNBESOSp7WK_j_qYUrYQbTTK4eodoGGUHVMEcLZ7_bp2DWbhRnrG3HmJsLv3SzFAWwPTcE2yfXZpph0EPFBixy_bYJzXpiNw/s200/03_Malk_94.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 62px;" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706496279861806754" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I didn't see the Arcadian in my opening crypt, which is never ideal for the deck, but got off to a decent start, with an early Govern down and a Villein to help bolster my pool. Richard, with the aid of an early Zillah's Valley, had Lucian up early, and soon attracted the table's attention by bleeding Anthony for 9. Anthony played a Haven Uncovered on Lucian, and almost all of his attention rushing backwards, which left James free to tool up with little interference. James got an early Nossie Kingdom, which helped him build up. Evan gave me a little breathing space by Governing out a couple more minions, and then started to bleed seriously. With Richard not blocking me, I wasn't able to cycle stealth out of my hand, and so didn't draw enough bounce - it got so bad I rushed Lucian on the haven just to get a Earthswords out of my hand. I did manage to bounce a bleed for 6 onto Richard, and then followed that up with a couple of Govern bleeds for the oust, but was left with a hand full of action modifiers.<br /><br />I was now up to 3 minions, but not great on pool, with 4 obf/dom bleeders upstream of me. James had gotten up to 3 minions, with Cailean out, and was gradually building up to a 4th, while Anthoney was stuck on 2. Anthony, worried about the bounce, proceeded to put down one of my minions, and then wasted a couple of rushes against James without much effect, as each was blocked by Cailean. I was able to bounce a significant bleed onto Anthony, but was not able to survive the Malk swarm long enough to captilise. Anthony rushed backwards to put down one of the bleeders, and James, who had now brought out Beast, put down 2 more, but this was not enough to stop Evan sneaking through for an ousting Govern & Conditioning and a second VP. James, however, soon put down the reamining minion, and was quickly able to oust Evan for the last 2 VPs.<br /><br />So James is still unbeaten in the league, and our revenge schemes need more work.Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-83538559437746264112012-01-26T22:15:00.002+02:002012-01-26T23:10:08.933+02:00The 2012 Cape Town VTES League - game 1In an attempt to try and boost attendance at socials, and just generally play more VTES, I suggested we run a league this year and see what happens. Other people also seemed to think this sounded interesting, and so, probably rather foolishly, I'm helping run the inaugural <a href="http://locustforge.za.net/wiki/PrinceOfCapeTown/LeagueStandingsJun2012">Cape Town VTES league</a>.<br /><br />We started with a 7 player game, which was not ideal, but worked out reasonably well.<br />The <a href="http://locustforge.za.net/wiki/PrinceOfCapeTown/LeagueRulesJun2012">"Cap X at 5" rule</a> we stole from the <a href="http://extrala.blogspot.com/2011/01/bochum-vtes-league-rules-2011.html">Bochum League</a> works quite well in this situation, and helps keeps things somewhat sane.<br /><br />I decided to run the weenie vote deck (which suffers from looking scary without actually being effective), which turned out to be a poor choice given the number of other decks with titles on the table.<br /><br />The game setup saw Simon, playing a Black Hand bleed with light stealth deck starring <a href="http://www.secretlibrary.info/index.php?crypt=1311">Al-Muntathir</a> bleeding me (really weenie vote) bleeding Dave (new Brujah bruise & vote) bleeding James (all Jyhad Brujah) bleeding Philip (Lasombra rush & bleed) bleeding Richard (Akunase rush with Dragonbound) bleeding Brent (Gargoyle rush with Fame).<br /><br />I made my first, and arguably most serious, misplay right on the first turn. With two titles in my hand, and knowing that the deck needs to get titles early to get running, I chose to bring out a two-cap rather than two one-caps. I was able to get a title (Prince of Dublin, IIRC) down before anyone else had minions out and then bring out a three more minions, but, by the time my next turn came round, the number of votes on the table meant I wasn't going to pass anything without some serious sweet talking. <br /><br />By my second turn, the table was starting to get setup - everyone had a minion out, so I followed this up with my second serious misplay - having drawn a third title, I proceeded to cycle both titles out of my hand knowing that I wouldn't pass them while looking for a bribes. This was foolish, since I should have kept 1 in hand to cryptic rider into play later. I also had my second-turn Creepshow Casino Suddened, which was annoying, but ultimately not that relevant, since almost none of my votes actually got blocked.<br /><br />Dave, worried by my developing swarm of weenies, stuck on bringing out only 2 mid-caps, which meant he wasn't putting pressure on James, who happily took the opportunity to tool up, acquiring a laptop and a sport's bike. Phillip attempted a couple of rushes without being able to seriously inconvenience Richard's fortitude and Brent got out a !Tremere and Chaundice. After a couple of setup actions, Simon attracted the table's attention by bleeding me for 7 with Al-Muntathir. This actually worked in my favour a bit, as it meant the table allowed me to pass a Autakis Persecution to gain pool (the bribes helped) and that allowed me to cryptic rider a conservative agitation, which, combined with a few nibble bleeds, actually allowed me to make a significant impact on Dave's pool.<br /><br />I was given a bit more breathing space by Brent Faming Al-Muntathir, and rushing. He wasn't quite able to make the rush stick, but Simon was forced to be a bit more defensive as he sought to protect his star vampire. I continued to nibble at Dave, losing a minion to one of the combats, but getting down a few Saturday Night Specials, but fully expecting to be ousted quickly. The game dynamics changed again when Richard rushed Brent's !Tremere, and was also unable to make the deal stick. Brent responded by rushing backwards and burning one of Richard's minions, leaving Simon alone for a turn. Simon bled forward, leaving me on 3 pool.<br /><br />I bled Dave for the edge, losing a minion in the process, but putting down Dave's primogen thanks to a Scattershot (after surviving a Grapple by the skin of my teeth). With the votes a bit more delicately balanced, I was able to convince Richard to help me oust Dave, since that was the only way I'd stay in the game, which duly happened, giving me a VP.<br /><br />The enxt couple of turns weren't that significant. as the people recovered from the previous couple of turns. I attempted to call another Autkis Persectution, but that was narrowly voted down, which left me unable to cryptic rider off it, and damage James. I ended that turn on 5 pool. James transferred himself down to three pool to bring out Don Cruez, and, had I had another turn, I may have been able to swarm bleed him out, although that was unclear. Philip had ran himself down to 1 or 2 pool as well. Simon duly ousted me with a couple of stealthed bleeds, and then James ousted Philip. Richard fell soon afterwards, thanks to a deflected bleed by Simon, and Brent, having spent too many resources tangling with the Akunase, also fell to the Brujah quickly. <br /><br />Despite having gained 18 pool from 3 ousts quickly, the end game wasn't clear cut, as Simon could bleed faster than James, and was able to successfully farm with Reunion Kamut. Simon however, eventually came up a little bit short (James was on 3 or 4 pool at the start of the last turn) and fell to the Brujah swarm.<br /><br />So first blood to James, and revenge plotting for the rest of us.Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-80890750232929584562011-12-14T19:13:00.003+02:002016-01-28T00:54:45.437+02:00Misc Travel NotesOne of the better perks of academic life is the occasional opportunity to travel to various conferences, which gave me an excuse to go to Bali to attend <a href="http://irast.net/conferences/CACS/2011/">CACS 2011</a> in November. The downside of pulling this trick is of course that your opportunity to sight-see is rather limited by this annoying "conference" thing.<br />
<br />
Still, I managed to see a bit of the country, and generally had an enjoyable trip.<br />
<br />
Various notes:<br />
<ul>
<li>Sex tourism is clearly big in Bali, as evidenced by being offered Viagra by a very insistent street merchant and a "very nice girl" by the hotel's security guard on my first day there.</li>
<li>Walking around with a couple of million rupiah (about R2000) was rather fun</li>
<li>Having to scrounge up internet access at internet cafes felt very archaic</li>
<li>I seriously underestimated the carrying capacity of the average scooter</li>
<li>The rules of the road for scooters in Bali are from a very different book to anything else<br /><a href="http://dip.sun.ac.za/%7Eneil/personal/photos/Digital/Bali_2011/Day_1/Web/036_Street_web.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://dip.sun.ac.za/%7Eneil/personal/photos/Digital/Bali_2011/Day_1/Web/036_Street_web.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></li>
<li>The Balinese clearly have lots of practice at fleecing tourists</li>
<li>Dealing with the above while slightly jetlagged is not recommended</li>
<li>Not unrelated to this, the infamous Civet coffee is actually really good, but far too expensive</li>
<li>The runway right on the beach is very impressive<br /><a href="http://dip.sun.ac.za/%7Eneil/personal/photos/Digital/Bali_2011/Day_3_4_5/Web/491_Landing_web.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://dip.sun.ac.za/%7Eneil/personal/photos/Digital/Bali_2011/Day_3_4_5/Web/491_Landing_web.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></li>
<li>As is Mt Agung<br /><a href="http://dip.sun.ac.za/%7Eneil/personal/photos/Digital/Bali_2011/Day_2/Web/246_View_Pan_web.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://dip.sun.ac.za/%7Eneil/personal/photos/Digital/Bali_2011/Day_2/Web/246_View_Pan_web.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 82px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a></li>
<li>As are the sunsets<br /><a href="http://dip.sun.ac.za/%7Eneil/personal/photos/Digital/Bali_2011/Day_3_4_5/Web/469_Sunset_web.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://dip.sun.ac.za/%7Eneil/personal/photos/Digital/Bali_2011/Day_3_4_5/Web/469_Sunset_web.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 400px;" /></a></li>
</ul>
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The conference itself was pretty good, although it dropped down to minimal attendance fairly quickly, which was probably due to the competition with the local attractions.<br />
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More photos can be see at my <a href="http://dip.sun.ac.za/%7Eneil/personal/photos/Digital/Bali_2011/">gallery</a>.Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-81956646308077391282011-09-18T10:04:00.005+02:002020-11-15T15:53:40.869+02:00Pyweek 13: Mutable MambaFirst, play our latest pyweek entry: <a href="http://www.pyweek.org/e/mamba/">http://www.pyweek.org/e/mamba/</a><br /><br />The game went a lot smoother than pyweek 12's Nine Tales. I think we hit on a much better scale for this effort, given the time available, and, as a puzzle game, we were able to get the basic mechanics reasonably set early enough that we were never under pressure to have a game to submit, and so could do a fair amount of polishing. This also meant we actually spent a lot of time actually playing the game, so we could work off a few rough edges, which was good for the game.<br /><br />We also spread things out a bit better than in pyweek 12. We avoided the major stumbling block of lots of central state people had to touch which we had in Nine Tales (the infamous game.json), which meant we had fewer merge issues than previously, and, by not using yet another version control system, benefited from the lessons learnt about mercurial last pyweek.<br /><br />Unlike pyweek 11, where I ended up accidentally writing a level building tool, I more deliberately decided to write a level editor this time. While it's not perfect, and only learnt a few important tricks on the Saturday, the effort was, I think, well spent, as it allowed us to rope in spare people for extra level design effort, and made the addition of uploadable network levels a lot more feasible.<br /><br />There are several issues. Most notable, our within a week widget stack, although inspired and influenced by past experience, is kludgy and lacks proper support for several important features. We should probably have a good look at the our last couple of pyweek entries and cut out a basic widget library from them, which can save us time in the future.<br /><br />While not the best of our pyweek entries, I think we ended up with a fairly solid game, and it can fairly easily be extended by adding new levels, and, if we polish up the multiple tileset support, it would be quite easy to reskin levels.Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69048424191064326.post-40999662806890769552011-06-28T00:25:00.003+02:002011-06-28T01:13:05.131+02:00June 2011 Tournament (Final)The shape of the final was changed fairly dramatically when Yancke pulled out, and Simon stepped in, which bumped me up to seating 4th.<br /><br />The final seating was me (OBF/pre swarm) starting, bleeding Simon (5/6 Baali with the Horder) bleeding Richard (Gargoyle wall with Smiling Jack) bleeding Marc (Lasombra Anarchs) bleeding Brendan (Ahrimane wall'ish bleed and top seed).<br /><br />I didn't have an ideal crypt draw, but my opening hand had two Effective Managements, so that wasn't actually an issue, and I was soon up and running with both Renenet and Herbert Westin in play, and was able to steadily bleed Simon. Simon was able to put a fair amount of pressure on Richard, while Marc, without the stealth to get through Brendan, gradually brought out more minions without much pressure. Brendan was bleeding me for the odd one or two, but wasn't setup enough to bother me in the early game.<br /><br />The table ended up sitting up quite nicely for me, and my deck flowed really nicely in the early part of the game - with the aid of the Baali's infernal cost, I was able to oust Simon quite quickly, and then, thanks to some fortuitous stealth top-decking, and the increased hand size from The Bitter & Sweet Story, I was able to stealth over Richard often enough to oust him (Most memorably requiring 5 stealth cards to land one bleed, thanks to two cards being canceled). Marc didn't have the intercept to trouble me, although he did bounce a few bleeds, and I duly ousted him for my 3rd VP. At this point, though, I had burnt through a lot of my deck, and didn't have enough stealth left to get through Brendan, eventually decking myself, and, as he was soon setup with extra bleed options, I duly fell to the Ahrimanes. Still, I'll happily take a 3 VP final GW.<br /><br />The events module for the deck doesn't flow as I hoped - I eventually did get The Rising down, but only after I had gone through most of my deck, and thus it didn't impact on the game at all. The PRE/OBF bleed module worked wonderfully well, though, and the lack of rush on the table made my life a lot easier.<br /><br />After the final, we played a quick social game - I tried the Baali vote deck again. Although I did land one Reckless Agitation, I didn't get the combat cards I needed to survive against the rush from James' Assamites, who were my prey, and was not able to keep enough minions up to get votes passed with the other titles on the table, and so was ousted fairly quickly. The deck probably needs a bit more of a defensive bloat module so it can build up it's position a bit, and then lunge rather than it's current build, which tends to start a bit fast and attract table hate it can't really deal with.Nitwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06790433139449224363noreply@blogger.com0