Welcome!
This entry will be short. I have to vacuum the house, fold and stow all the washed clothes and do the grocery shopping while Momma is at work. It is 3:30 now and time’s a-wasting.
Sent some money off to David Dryburgh. He has not responded to my questions on the vignettes, so my guess is that he will not be able to do them. Too bad. I will send the remaining money to him in the next two weeks.
Ian Stead has submitted the final version of the Merkava MkVII, as you can see at the top of today’s entry. It looks very nice and will be a solid addition to the TRO.
The TRO Table of Contents has been updated and page numbers added. While I was working on the Index, I discovered that I’d left a Lyran ‘Mech out of the page count and the TOC, so I added it and went through the page count to renumber everything. The Index is also complete, all the ‘Mechs and Vehicles listed in alphabetical order in two different sections. I sent these three documents off to our layout man to incorporate into his work.
If there is any confusion over the difference between the number of machines presented in the index (102) and the number claimed for the TRO (107), it is because five machines are Omni variants of the Roland OmniTank and the Culverin OmniMech.
No response from the playtesters yet on the fate of the Jenner JR7-X. I asked for a quick turnaround, but at least a couple of them are real games so it’s anyone’s guess whether or not they took place this weekend. I may have something to report by this time next Sunday.
The others are presumably being tested out on MegaMek software. MegaMek is a game which permits you to play BattleTech against the computer or online against other players. So far as I know it’s free. There are scads of updates which add ‘Mechs to the roster by year. And you can punch in your own machine if you like. I have neither the time nor computer access to really take advantage of MegaMek myself, so it will be up to others to do the testing. A friend of mine tells me it is processor-intensive, some battles taking hours to complete due to the game’s limited AI.
The writing is complete, pending any further oversights.
The art is down to Lee Madison adding some scenery to CG vehicles. My payment roster still stands at about $150 total, and most of those will have to be sent out by money order to folks who do not have access to PayPal. Several folks have pitched in over the past couple of weeks with money through the PayPal button – I thank you from the bottom of my heart as I wait for the funds to be transferred to my checking account and the money orders cut.
We are almost there. About another month while we finish the last of the art and make final artist payments – hopefully Josh will have some good backgrounds ready to go by then. After that, it is a matter of dropping all the content into the waiting PDF framework, correcting the format and proofing the final product.
Airsoft!
I ordered an R36C, or so I thought. What I got was an R36K, the longer version. It works pretty well, though, and as it is a ‘guest’ gun for my son’s friends to use, will do quite nicely. Had to get an adapter to charge it from our existing wall charger, but it cycles nicely on 9.6v and that battery should last the game. I hope. I have a spare for it, but to be honest, even after all the trimming of the internal battery compartment to fit the longer cell pack, I need a few taps from a hammer to get the locking pin into place. Not what I call sound design on the part of the manufacturer.
I finally got a response from Echo1 and have ordered the replacement parts for my M-14. They should be here in a week or two. Maybe this time I will break down and use Loctite on my gun’s wayward bits so they don’t fall off in the woods. Hopefully I won’t have to remove them in the near future, as they must come off to disassemble the gun.
We are ready to play another game, but the weather continues to alternate between damp and cold, and just plain rainy. Bill is already preparing to play with an ‘official’ airsoft group in the area, but I am holding out for a local game with the kids. After all, that is why I got the guns in the first place.
For now, I am halting all further expenditures on airsoft. We have the gear we need. Now it is just a matter of organizing games. I think things will pick up when warmer weather arrives, but last year the warm weather did not come until early June, so who knows? Besides, I need to save up for the printing of the TRO.
Thanks for stopping by. Off to do the laundry!
Steve
This entry will be short. I have to vacuum the house, fold and stow all the washed clothes and do the grocery shopping while Momma is at work. It is 3:30 now and time’s a-wasting.
Sent some money off to David Dryburgh. He has not responded to my questions on the vignettes, so my guess is that he will not be able to do them. Too bad. I will send the remaining money to him in the next two weeks.
Ian Stead has submitted the final version of the Merkava MkVII, as you can see at the top of today’s entry. It looks very nice and will be a solid addition to the TRO.
The TRO Table of Contents has been updated and page numbers added. While I was working on the Index, I discovered that I’d left a Lyran ‘Mech out of the page count and the TOC, so I added it and went through the page count to renumber everything. The Index is also complete, all the ‘Mechs and Vehicles listed in alphabetical order in two different sections. I sent these three documents off to our layout man to incorporate into his work.
Click on the image below to see Index Page One
Click on the image below to see Index Page 2
If there is any confusion over the difference between the number of machines presented in the index (102) and the number claimed for the TRO (107), it is because five machines are Omni variants of the Roland OmniTank and the Culverin OmniMech.No response from the playtesters yet on the fate of the Jenner JR7-X. I asked for a quick turnaround, but at least a couple of them are real games so it’s anyone’s guess whether or not they took place this weekend. I may have something to report by this time next Sunday.
The others are presumably being tested out on MegaMek software. MegaMek is a game which permits you to play BattleTech against the computer or online against other players. So far as I know it’s free. There are scads of updates which add ‘Mechs to the roster by year. And you can punch in your own machine if you like. I have neither the time nor computer access to really take advantage of MegaMek myself, so it will be up to others to do the testing. A friend of mine tells me it is processor-intensive, some battles taking hours to complete due to the game’s limited AI.
The writing is complete, pending any further oversights.
The art is down to Lee Madison adding some scenery to CG vehicles. My payment roster still stands at about $150 total, and most of those will have to be sent out by money order to folks who do not have access to PayPal. Several folks have pitched in over the past couple of weeks with money through the PayPal button – I thank you from the bottom of my heart as I wait for the funds to be transferred to my checking account and the money orders cut.
We are almost there. About another month while we finish the last of the art and make final artist payments – hopefully Josh will have some good backgrounds ready to go by then. After that, it is a matter of dropping all the content into the waiting PDF framework, correcting the format and proofing the final product.
Airsoft!
I ordered an R36C, or so I thought. What I got was an R36K, the longer version. It works pretty well, though, and as it is a ‘guest’ gun for my son’s friends to use, will do quite nicely. Had to get an adapter to charge it from our existing wall charger, but it cycles nicely on 9.6v and that battery should last the game. I hope. I have a spare for it, but to be honest, even after all the trimming of the internal battery compartment to fit the longer cell pack, I need a few taps from a hammer to get the locking pin into place. Not what I call sound design on the part of the manufacturer.
I finally got a response from Echo1 and have ordered the replacement parts for my M-14. They should be here in a week or two. Maybe this time I will break down and use Loctite on my gun’s wayward bits so they don’t fall off in the woods. Hopefully I won’t have to remove them in the near future, as they must come off to disassemble the gun.
We are ready to play another game, but the weather continues to alternate between damp and cold, and just plain rainy. Bill is already preparing to play with an ‘official’ airsoft group in the area, but I am holding out for a local game with the kids. After all, that is why I got the guns in the first place.
For now, I am halting all further expenditures on airsoft. We have the gear we need. Now it is just a matter of organizing games. I think things will pick up when warmer weather arrives, but last year the warm weather did not come until early June, so who knows? Besides, I need to save up for the printing of the TRO.
Thanks for stopping by. Off to do the laundry!
Steve
4 comments:
Is it a bad thing that seeing the index pages made me almost start drooling? Hehehe...
Huh. Would've thought the tank image at the top had that effect.
Yeah, that's a lot of machines, and we're talking quality goods with the design, art and writeup.
I know most folks drool at the art, but am hoping there are a few who appreciate the hard work we put into the storytelling as well.
And of course, those designs are very playable.
Steve
As long as you have the right gear to cope, playing in the wet will not harm your airsoft guns.
Agreed, but it dampens the spirits of potential players as well, and those we cannot do without!
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