Dwarves: The Natural Choice For An Army Painting Sprint

The last meaningful work I did on my Warmaster Dwarves was seven years ago (nearly to the day). I'd been humming and hawing about a Warmaster army for awhile now, and settled on the Dwarves when I got back from Scotland a few weeks ago. Since then I've finished the silver and gold, and laid down the first layer for the wood. I have no idea if I'll get these to a usable state before Fall In! in November, but I'm trying.

Ashen Free Download

Ashen is a 3rd person, action RPG about forging relationships. You are a lone wanderer in a sunless land. The only light to be had sputters from an age-old lantern at your side. There is a rumble in the distance, and then a light. Through leaking eyes you make out a peak on the horizon, choking the land in a cloud of ash. Nothing ever shone so bright. The first dawn turns to dusk and finally recedes into familiar blackness. A GAME BY AURORA44. This is the tale of a bygone world. Choose a path and hold on to those you trust. Players can choose to guide those they trust to their camp, encouraging them to rest at the fire and perhaps remain. Together, you might just stand a chance.
This Release Includes:
• Ashen (main game)
• Ashen Nightstorm Isle (DLC)

GAMEPLAY AND SCREENSHOTS :

DOWNLOAD GAME:

♢ Click or choose only one button below to download this game.
♢ View detailed instructions for downloading and installing the game here.
♢ Use 7-Zip to extract RAR, ZIP and ISO files. Install PowerISO to mount ISO files.

Ashen Free Download

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THIS GAME

➤ Download the game by clicking on the button link provided above.

➤ Download the game on the host site and turn off your Antivirus or Windows Defender to avoid errors.

➤ Once the download has been finished or completed, locate or go to that file.

➤ To open .iso file, use PowerISO and run the setup as admin then install the game on your PC.

➤ Once the installation process is complete, run the game's exe as admin and you can now play the game.

➤ Congratulations! You can now play this game for free on your PC.

➤ Note: If you like this video game, please buy it and support the developers of this game.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
(Your PC must at least have the equivalent or higher specs in order to run this game.)

Minimum:

• OS: Windows 7 (64 Bit)
• Processor: Intel Core i3 @ 3.5GHz or AMD FX-4170
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 or AMD R7 270X (2GB VRAM)
• DirectX: Version 11
• Storage: 15 GB available space

Recommended:

• OS: Windows 10 (64 Bit)
• Processor: Intel Core i5 @ 3.5GHz or AMD FX 6 Core
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 or AMD R9 290X (4GB VRAM)
• DirectX: Version 11
• Storage: 15 GB available space

Supported Language: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish language are available.
If you have any questions or encountered broken links, please do not hesitate to comment below. :D

If I Could Impose On A Moment Of Your Time?

As you all know DreamForge is embarking on a new path, new releases in a new format.

Although the Kickstarter platform has a lot of advantages, it only makes sense to put your best foot forward and provide your customers with the items they desire.

To that end, I have created a very short survey to get all of your feedback, not just about the StuG and Shadokesh, but about DreamForge and the general direction you would like to see.

Please... Take a moment and let your voice be heard.

SURVEY LINK

Thank you so very much for your time!

20Mm Big CoC At The WHC Gavrus: Part 1

 I've been badgering Mark Freeth about CoC for about a year now, first of all to do it in 20mm, then of course its turned into 28mm. Meanwhile, The group of lads from Huntingdon who do an annual game to remember their sadly missed old friend Carlo were coming to Basingstoke.
Now I knew they had played CoC, and I also recall Carlo being partial to the game, so I thought it ideal to use them as guinea pigs for trying out Big CoC! They were more than happy to go along with it, so a format was put together. As the 28mm stuff is still being painted (nearly done though!) this weekend would have to be in 20mm
I thought that for 8 players, a Big CoC campaign of 4 games over the weekend from Friday night through to Sunday afternoon would work fine. I allowed for an extra scenario just in case things went a bit quick.
What to do?
An obvious choice was Normandy, I had all the kit required, and of course, Mark has his amazing collection of Mick Sewell buildings which were aching for a run out.
I only needed a reinforced company for both British and Germans, plus various AFV options, all of which we had.

 The scenario was to be the action at Gavrus on 29/30th June 1944, when the 2nd battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders came under ferocious attack by the 10th SS 'Frundsberg' division.
The battle is reasonably well documented, particularly in Iain Dalglish's book "Operation Epsom: Over the Battlefield" which includes some fantastic aerial photographs of the area taken just days after the battle, these would substitute perfectly for maps.
I came up with 4/5 scenarios with games running into each other to replicate the fighting:
The first was a bit of a "what if" with infantry companies from each side recce-ing the village of Bougy about a mile South of Gavrus, the Germans supported by an armoured infantry platoon in half-tracks and the jocks by their carrier platoon. Both sides did recce Bougy, but I doubt they did it in such strength or necessarily at the same time, but I thought it would give a good introduction for the players, and set the tone for the weekend.
This was to be a fairly standard Patrol scenario as per the CoC rules, with each side receiving an additional 8 points of support to be drawn from a fairly limited selection

                                                           Main road at Gavrus

                                                          The British briefing:      

                                                        

                                                   Scenario 1:  BOUGY- BRITISH

This depicts the action between The 2^nd Argylls and the 10^th SS Frundsberg Division early in the morning of 29^thJune 1944, around the village of Bougy. This is a patrol action as per the main CoC rules. National characteristics as per the main rules.

7 Patrol Markers will be placed along the respective baselines, resulting in 6 Jump off Points. Vehicles will enter via the Gavrus road.

The adjutant may either: Act as an off table senior leader for 1 platoon. OR for the entire company, in which case he will just add +1 to their deployment rolls

Casualties from scenario 1 will carry over to scenario 2.

British Infantry: 3 platoons, C Company 2^nd Argylls, Regular, 5 command dice

 Each as follows:

HQ:

Lieutenant: Senior Leader armed with a pistol. 

Platoon Sargent: Senior Leader armed with SMG

PIAT Team: 2 men

2" Mortar Team: 2 men.

Sections 1 to 3:

Corporal: Junior Leader armed with SMG 

Bren Team: Bren LMG 3 crew

Rifle Team: 6 riflemen

SUPPORT OPTIONS:

List 1:  Medic, Adjutant(max 1),,

List 2:  PIAT Team: 2 men, 2" Mortar Team: 2 men.

List 3:  Sniper Team, Universal carrier Bren Team with Junior Leader.

List 4:  6 pdr Anti-tank gun with 5 crew and Junior Leader (max 1)

ELEMENTS, CARRIER PLATOON, 2^ND ARGYLLS: , Regular, 5 command dice.

1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren team, and Senior Leader with pistol

Section 1:

1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren team, and Junior Leader with SMG

1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man 2" mortar team, and 1 rifleman

Section 2:

1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren team, and Junior Leader with SMG

1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man PIAT team, and 1 rifleman

Section 3:

1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man Bren team, and Junior Leader with SMG

1 x Universal Carrier with driver, 2 man 2" mortar team, and 1 rifleman, OR 2 man PIAT team, and 1 rifleman

No Support may be allocated to the Carrier Platoon

Total support points.8

Each asset picked must be allocated to a specific platoon for the duration of scenario 1

                                                  Recce half-tracks move up( die-cast vehicles, AB crew)

                                                        The German briefing:

                                                   Scenario 1:  BOUGY -GERMAN

This depicts the action between The 2^nd Argylls and The 10^th SS Frundsberg Division early in the morning of 29^thJune 1944, around the village of Bougy.  This is a patrol action as per the main CoC rules. National characteristics as per the main rules.

7 Patrol Markers will be placed along the respective baselines, resulting in 6 Jump off Points.

Vehicles will enter via the western road

The adjutant may either: Act as an off table senior leader for 1 platoon. OR for the entire company, in which case he will just add +1 to their deployment rolls.

Senior Leaders must be allocated to a specific platoon

Casualties from scenario 1 will carry over to scenario 2,

German Infantry: 3 platoons of the 1^st Company 22^nd Pzrgrenadier Regt, Regular, 5 command dice

 Each as follows:

HQ:

Obersharfurher: Senior Leader armed with a SMG. 

3 Panzerfaust 30.

Sections 1 to 3:

Scarfurher: Junior Leader armed with SMG 

M42 Team: MG42 LMG 3 crew, 1 Rifleman

M42 Team: MG42 LMG 3 crew, 1 Rifleman

SUPPORT OPTIONS:

List 1:  Medic, Adjutant (max 1), Panzerfaust 30

List 2: Senior Leader armed with a SMG.  Panzerschreck team with 2 crew

List 3:  Sniper Team, Panzergrenadier team: Junior Leader armed with SMG, 5 riflemen.

List 4:  Mg 42 MMG team and 5 crew

List 5: Sdkfz 250/8 with junior leader, 250/9 with junior leader

3rd Kompanie, 10^thSS Panzer  Aufklarungs-Abteilung:  Superior Regular *, 5 command dice

1 x Sdkfz 251/10 + Obersharfurher: Senior Leader armed with a SMG.

 Panzerschreck team with 2 crew

3 x Infantry sectionseach:

1 x Sdkfz 251/1 Scarfurher: Junior Leader armed with SMG

M42 Team: MG42 LMG 3 crew, 1 Rifleman

M42 Team: MG42 LMG 3 crew, 1 Rifleman

*Superior regulars treat a single 6 on their command dice as a 5. Other rolls are unchanged.

No Support may be allocated to the Recce platoon

Total support points.8

 Each asset picked must be allocated to a specific platoon for the duration of scenario 1

                                             Cautious grenadiers (Elhiem and Adler figures)

The Battle For Light Rock Valley

Where to start? This game could have made a great Newport Noodle article or  made for a good long blow by blow post describing how the rules worked turn by turn and what affect they had on each player decision but that might have been as tedious to read as to write. So I'll quickly summarize the game in the picture captions while writing the post about the rules and how they worked in the game.

The scenario, which I picked as a nod to the origin of the turn sequence which came from one of the sample games in Don Featherstone's Battles with Model Soldiers, was, as identified by Cesar Paz in a comment, "Action in the Plattville Valley" from Don Featherstone's Wargames.

The Dominion (Red) Advance Guard under Brigadier Ross pushed quickly over the bridge while the main forces arrived at the end of  turn 3 (after a joker froze the 2 advance guards for turn 3). Alas for the young volunteers in the Dominion advance guard they were facing the crack shots and stubborn veterans of the oldest brigade in the Rebel (or Origawn Freestate) army. 
Both armies have been tasked with taking control of the valley. I decided this meant either controlling the bridge and the town and hills or more likely, breaking the enemy's morale and forcing him to retreat. 

Each side has 3 infantry Brigades, a cavalry brigade and 2 guns. (I also threw in a field hospital on each side though these weren't really ready to be seen in public at the moment, being in the process of being renovated.)  One infantry brigade on each side moves down the road on turn One. These troops can do what the player wants for turns Two and Three and at the end of turn Three all the remaining forces arrive anywhere on the baseline. The objective is to "control' the valley by the end of the gaming day without being more specific. I've gotten into the habit of playing 15 turns (thank you Mr Thomas) but with my usual initiative/chance card deck meaning that could be shortened by 1 turn for each joker which shows up, which one did today.

My brigades were each made up of 4 units plus a Brigadier, giving a total of 18 units per side with an army break point of 9 units lost. Once again it was just right. I got interrupted twice but the game took somewhere between 1.5 about 2 hours to play.

The firefight across the river raged for several turns but with Ross's Brigade down to half strength he felt compelled to order the remnants of his brigade to retreat  behind the cover of the ridge.

Two of the main ideas behind the rules were that they should focus on the General's decisions and the role of Brigade commanders, not the minutiae of battalion tactics and be grid friendly rather than grid dependent. The last part was easy since a few years ago I had made measuring sticks with 3" bands painted on for use with a set of rules calling for measurement in "lengths" so all measurements were made as multiples of "3" and thus 'one unit' of measurement can be 3", 3 cm., 1 grid area of any size and shape, or 1 "band" on one of my sticks.

The near abandonment of almost all unit tactical detail was harder, I don't think I'd have gotten there without having played Volley & Bayonet in the late '90's  followed not long after by Morschauser and then by all sorts of new designs especially the various gridded games from Bob Cordery's The Portable Wargame to Battlecry and its descendants and having recognized the possibility of including some simple rules to allow the effect or feel of such tactics without showing them or taking up too much time and attention away from the army commander.

The orders, of course, are essentially a variation of the original DBA command system which I plucked out of a pre-publication article in Slingshot in the early '80's and have used on and off since!

Basically I'm not sure there are any original ideas in here but it feels like a different blend to me and more important, so far, it seems to be providing the kind of game I've been looking for for most of the last two decades although my Morschauser Meets MacDuff/ later renamed Hearts of Tin set of rules was close, at least until I started upping the detail!   

"There's something wrong with our bloody troops today". All along the line the Rebel guns and infantry were dishing out more than they were taking. With heavy casualties, the Dominion infantry pulled back into dead ground while MacDuff's Highlanders were ordered forward to storm the town, held largely by dismounted cavalry , while the cavalry were ordered forward to threaten the enemy's guns. It must have been the powder smoke (or possibly a low Blue command roll followed by a flip in the initiative sequence)  but the Red cavalry manged to catch the enemy artillery in flank, rode over the first gun and into then into the second catching General Lannigan and his staff before they even knew they were in danger. (The Lifeguards dice were HOT! and I honestly did not see the danger coming at the start of the previous turn or I would have shifted him then, just in case! ) To make matter worse Reds's artillery and the Greandiers hit Grey's Brigade hard before the Grenadiers retired. In a flash the situation was changed. Blue's morale was now lower than Red's and they were going to have trouble with command. 

Its pretty unusual for me to make it through a play test without wanting to make changes but, perhaps because none of the  individual rules were completely new,   this time there was nothing I felt an itch to improve except that I realized I hadn't really specified what a unit or Brigadier without orders could do. For units its essentially that they can mount/dismount etc and change facing but I also had intended to allow them to retreat without orders from enemy within 3". For Brigadiers, I had intended that they could rearrange their brigades without orders, bring forward reserves, retire units near the break point, refuse a flank etc.. They will also have the right to withdraw if closely engaged as above, subject to possible courtmartial if things go badly of course. But I won't allow any heroic unordered attacks except perhaps as a Chance cards event. It was tempting to bring back a control test for out of command commanders but it had to be EITHER the single command roll OR a series of individual rolls. Past experience has shown that using both in the same game provides too much overhead and the control check tends to override the orders dice making it superfluous and that all the individual command rolls slow the game too much compared to the single one and require additional rules to encourage players to maintain multi-unit formations . 

Never say die! As next senior officer, General Byrd took command, pulled back his battered cavalry to hold the center and be prepared to cover a retreat (ie don't get shot up worse and break army morale). This left the Highlanders in possession of half the village but they'd lost heavily while doing so and were in no shape to finish the job. Both armies were on the edge of breaking but Byrd wasn't one to settle for a draw if victory was even a remote possibility. He led his brigade forward to finish their attack. 

For the rest, I really enjoyed how the game played. It was best to think at least 2 turns ahead, be prepared to use high command rolls but to not count on getting them, nor to count on combat dice.  I was a little concerned early on that Blue would break Red's army by the 1/2 way mark given their hot shooting and Red's sudden inability to hit a barn door. However, with my Red hat on and a coffee break, I forced myself to give up a very promising, if rash and accidentally poorly supported attack,  and pull back while I desperately tried to stay alive and think of a new one.  Just at the danger point, Blue's dice failed him. All of a sudden he had trouble getting his brigades moving and while the firefight continued the losses soon started to even out. Still, Red was in a pickle, twice the number of units lost in the firefight and his artillery losing the duel, Blue's left was in cover and his right was already, if belatedly, moving forward to finish off the two already shot up brigades.

 Suddenly I noticed that Red's cavalry was within 2 moves of the flank of Blue's artillery and Blue's supports had moved away, some to pursue Red's retreating left, some to help defend the town. Blue could probably get some supports back or withdraw his guns but at least it would ease the pressure. Blue went first and a rolled a 1 for command! ARGHH. None of his infantry was able to come up and enemy way their fire helped by the artillery had almost silenced Red's batteries. Most of the cavalry was too far away to mount up and get back but he had one mounted unit in reserve. He ordered it to move to support the guns and turned one gun towards the open flank. Red moved his cavalry forward. Next turn, Red got first go. What!? Yup, ample orders, it was a long shot for the cavalry to wipe out the fresh batteries but better than nothing.

The trumpets sounded and the Gentlemen Pensioners in their cuirasses and plumed helmets trotted forward. The gun decided to hold fire while the other gun finished silencing one enemy gun. The cavalry picked up speed and the cannon fired........getting 1 hit on 4 dice.....the cavalry rolled, 4 hits! The gun was over run and the cavalry pursued into the flank of the second gun and over rode it as well. Then I noticed that Red's cavalry had had to ride over Blue's general during the pursuit. My rule there is that both sides' dice off and the commander escapes if he rolls a tie or higher. He rolled 1, they rolled 6! The "old fellers"  were having a good day!

Oh dear. Who said you can't surprise yourself? I didn't think the charge would work that well but if I had noticed the General there on the previous turn when I was trying to prepare for the charge, I would have moved him anyway, just to be safe!  So suddenly Blue was down 3 army morale points and had a -1 to his orders dice for the rest of the game. That was to became a problem for him. 

Red's field hospital had been working hard though and Ross's battered units and the Grenadiers were sufficiently  recovered to make it an even fight. Twice Byrd had to ride amongst his men and rally them to hold together as he reluctantly led them back, fighting every step of the way but at last it was managed as the sun set. A truce was arranged for the collection of the wounded while the two armies camped on their respective sides of the valley and contemplated their next move.  (In game terms, by turn 14/15, both armies were 1 unit loss away from breaking with several units only 1 hit from being broken. On each of those two last turns Red inflicted a hit on a Blue unit which  would have broken the unit and the army but each time Byrd rallied it: (5,6=cancel hit, 1=commander shot). Red was also down to being able to lose 2 units, lost one on turn 14 but none of turn 15 despite having several under fire and only 1 hit away from breaking. Any victory for either side would have been Pyrrhic at best. 

Well, balance in all things. Red's less than all out attack on the town led to near equal losses and ended with both sides hiding in 1/2 the town, sniping at the other side. The focus switched back where Blue's best chance was to pursue and break Red's worn brigades. Unfortunately for Blue, low command rolls with  a minus 1 on top and the need to manage the fight in the village meant that the pursuit was slow, the more so since the Blue units were battered so took advantage of a slightly more circuitous route to avoid artillery fire on their approach.  In the meantime Red's hospital finally started getting some of the early casualties back into the fight and by the time the firefight resumed, the sides were equal.  Red's men were firing more steadily now though and had artillery support. Eventually Blue's units started nearing their break point and he pulled back, going for the draw. Red pursued at first but didn't dare risk a charge with his battered units. He kept getting hits but was taking them too. Soon both armies were down to 1 hit and 2 hits respectively from their Army Morale point. There was momentary jubilation in Red's ranks when they got that last hit but the brigadier rode in and risked a rally roll: 5,6 = cancel 1 hit, 1=Commander dies. Hit saved, next turn Blue took another hit and again rallied it while Red lost a unit (Apparently Brigadier Ross is less charismtic!). That was it! A Bloody draw.

So, work has begun on the four or five page version of the rules, adding explanations as well as more unit types, irregulars, boats, trains, engineers, etc etc. All the usual. It will need more testing as well but so far I'm pretty happy with how closely they resemble in play the vision that has been trying to get out of my brain for years. Time and playing will tell.  

The Year In Review, Just The Leisure Time

Last January I did a review of how I spent my leisure time the previous year, and I set down a few expectations for the coming year, now past. It's time to look back and see how my actual activities stacked up to my expectations, and maybe learn something for the fresh year to come in 2020. I had big ambitions between reading, blogging, and playing, and not all of them were achieved. But, that's okay because it makes it easier to figure out what I want to do this year—some of what I didn't finish last year, and some new ideas and desires. How I spend my leisure time is very important to me. It should be at the same time relaxing and reinvigorating, enjoyable and enriching, soothing and stimulating. If one thing is obvious, it's that I still love to read because it hits all of those notes, and that is likely to continue in the year(s) to come.

Blog Posts

I'll start out again with what I've done on my blog, and I very nearly did everything I set out to do. I wrote 17 posts (not counting this one) instead of the predicted 18 because of how the 3-week intervals fell. They were almost all Tech Book Face Offs, except for the last two that were a general review of books I will read again and programming practice sites that I've enjoyed, and a random Physics Book Face Off that I threw in there in April to mix things up.

The most popular post by far was the review of books that I'll read again, which racked up over twice as many hits as the next most popular post, and it was pretty fun to write as well. This was not your normal list of best books because I'm tired of reading best-programming-book lists that put up the same old safe books like CLRS or Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming. This post had a little of that just because some of those books are great to reread, but these were all genuinely books that I want to read again, not just because they're instructive, but because they're enjoyable reads. They make my brain tingle. They get me excited about programming and learning (or relearning) new things.

Of the Tech Book Face Off posts, the top three most visited ones were Python For Data Analysis Vs. Python Data Science Handbook, How To Design Programs Vs. Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, and Seven Concurrency Models in Seven Weeks Vs. CUDA by Example. These were all good, but the one that was most fun for me was easily Game Engine Black Book [Wolfenstien 3D Vs. Doom]. Reading these books was a blast, and writing down my thoughts about them was just as fun and satisfying. I'm surprised it didn't gain more traction, but I'm pretty much done trying to figure out which posts are going to take off and which ones will fly under the radar of the Internet.

For the coming year, I'm planning on keeping up the same cadence, which means 18 more posts. That's really 18 posts, too. I checked. I didn't get to that exciting blog series I alluded to last year because the schedule was filled up with reviews, but I'm intending to start in on it right away this year. The book review posts will be much reduced as well. I've only got about a dozen programming books on my list that I'd still like to read, and I'll probably hold off on them while I work on this other project.

Technical Books

I really dug into the technical books this past year, even more than the previous year, and I just met my goal of 22 books (plus 2 pop physics books) while working through most of my tech book backlog. As I had hoped, most of these books were quite good. A fair number of them even made it onto my read-again list. There were only a few duds and one stinker. Here's a run-down of them, roughly ranked in order of preference and linked to the longer Tech Book Face Off reviews.

The Good

• Game Engine Black Book: Wolfenstein 3D - Between the high level of nostalgia and the fascinating topic, there was no way this book wasn't going to top this list. It's an incredibly well-done guide to how Wolfenstein 3D was made.
• Game Engine Black Book: Doom - Arguably, this book is even better than the Wolf3D one, but you should really read that one first so this one comes second. I highly recommend them both for anyone curious about how these legendary games were done on such feeble hardware.
• Rails AntiPatterns - I loved the tactic this book took of showing bad Rails code, explaining why it's bad, and then showing how to fix it. Some books do this sporadically without telling you in advance, but this worked so much better, knowing that each example was intentionally bad from the start so there was no confusion about what was the right way to do things.
• Data Smart - This was the most fun I've had reading a book on Excel spreadsheets. Not that I read many books on spreadsheets, but if I did this would definitely be the best. It's about implementing data science algorithms in Excel with humor, and it's so much better than it sounds.
• Don't Make Me Think Revisited - I enjoyed the first book, and the revised edition is just as good. Learn all about how to design user interfaces that make sense, and have a great time doing it.
• Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - A classic that still holds up today for teaching the fundamentals of programming and much more, this book has a steep learning curve, but the rewards match the effort it takes to get through it.
• The Hidden Reality - This was a super fun and mind-expanding read, taking us through the numerous types of multiverse concepts that have been thought up by cosmologists. Brian Greene continues his excellent, approachable writing style with this enjoyable book.
• Parallel Worlds - Michio Kaku does his own tour of the different types of multiverses we can conceive of, with a few more fantastical stories thrown in for good measure. This is another great book to read to get the high-level overview of this topic.
• Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering - You don't have to agree with everything in a book for it to be excellent, and that's the case here with Robert L. Glass' thought-provoking arguments about the software engineering industry. Still relevant after 17 years.
• Professional CUDA C Programming - If you're interested in GPU programming and want to play around with your nVidia graphics card, this book has all the information you need to get started in a nicely written, diagrammed, and organized guide.
• Python Machine Learning - It's a solid introductory text on the fundamental machine learning algorithms, both in how they work mathematically, how they're implemented in Python, and how to use them in scikit-learn and TensorFlow.
• Data Science From Scratch - Fundamentals are so important to learning a topic well, and this book does a great job of teaching the fundamentals of data science by implementing the algorithms from scratch in Python.
• Seven Concurrency Models in Seven Weeks - I've loved every 7-in-7 Weeks book that I've read, and this one is no exception. It's an entertaining read through seven different ways to do concurrent programming with today's technology.
• The Non-Designer's Design Book - Learn how to design boldly in text and graphics with a few simple rules and clear, straightforward guidelines. Anyone and everyone who works around websites should give this quick read a look.
• Getting Clojure - If you're looking for a fun read and a tour of the Clojure programming language, this is the book to pick up.
• Effective Python - Every programming language has its beyond-the-beginner-level book on how to write programs in that language well, and this is the one to read for Python.
• Programming Elixir ≥ 1.6 - An excellent book for learning the ins and outs of this highly concurrent, fault-tolerant language, and it's well worth a read if you're operating in that domain.
• Metaprogramming Elixir - This book fills in the few gaps in Programming Elixir ≥ 1.6, and it's a great companion to that book.
• Programming Pearls 2 - This is a fairly decent algorithms book that's worth a read as a casual second or third book on programming algorithms.

The Not-So-Good

• CUDA by Example - This book is clearly written, but not especially well-written. Still, it's a good introduction to CUDA programming that covers the basics. Just don't feel compelled to read it all the way through, as the later chapters are fairly useless.
• Learn Functional Programming With Elixir - Neither thorough on Elixir nor especially focused on teaching the unique aspects of functional programming, this book left a lot to be desired. It's fine, but not great in any respect.
• Programming Massively Parallel Processors - For a subject that is inherently interesting to me, this book managed to be tedious, verbose, and opaque in its explanations, and way, way, way too long. The necessary information is in there, but it's not worth the effort when there are better options available.
• The Rails 5 Way - This book was so much longer than it had to be. It was light on discussion and super heavy on documentation, as if it was simply a transcription of the online documentation into a book.

The Suck

• How to Design Programs - Nearly 750 pages of the most tedious, drawn-out, agonizing explanations about learning to program, I disagree with the title given to this book. Nowhere in it does the reader learn how to design programs, maybe design of functions at best.

This showing is much better than last year, with a half-dozen more good books, and less bad books. It was actually quite hard to rank the good section beyond the first few because they were all well-written and engaging. I don't know if I was better at selecting good books to read, or if I just got lucky, but I was pleased with the high level of quality in this year's book list.

Novels

As planned, I read even more technical books this year than last, but I still managed to read some great novels in the past year. Partly, this is because of listening to audiobooks in the car, and I have a 30 minute commute to fill. The number of books I got through was still less, but some of them were much longer than what I read the previous year. Again, they're roughly ranked.

• The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Oathbringer - Wow. Just WOW. I could not believe how wonderful these books are. The characters are all flawed and broken and so human, the story drags you along as you watch in amazement at how everything develops, and the world that Brandon Sanderson built in this Stormlight Archive series is simply incredible. It has weight. It has life. It has history. I can't wait for the next book to come out.
• The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky - This trilogy is just as awesome as the Stormlight Archive series, and I was constantly amazed at how clearly written the world of the Stillness is. The fantastical powers that the orogenes and Guardians have could be confusing, but N. K. Jemisin writes so simply and beautifully that everything was crystal clear in my mind as I read it. The story is at the same time one of the most engrossing tales I've ever read and a powerful allegory about the struggles of racism in society. It's enlightening and revealing without being accusatory. Beautifully done.
• The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass - Throughout this trilogy I was continually surprised by the incredible imagination of Philip Pullman. Each book brings entirely unique new elements into an already rich and diverse world, or rather many-worlds. Even with all of these new elements being introduced, the world always felt cohesive and real. Everything made sense within the context of the story. This is a hard thing to do right, and Pullman did it masterfully.
• The Eye of the World - I'm just getting started in this long Wheel of Time series, and I'm already hooked. The first book is essentially one long, thrilling chase through a world of mystery and magic. The reality of the world is revealed slowly, and the suspense of wondering when you'll find out that next tidbit of knowledge about the world was gripping. By the end I have more questions than answers, and I'm ready to learn more about the Wheel of Time.
• Snow Crash - This book was ridiculously fun, plain and simple. The setup makes no sense at all and the story doesn't care one whit about anything, but it doesn't matter. You're a pizza delivery boy in the future who also happens to be the world's best samurai swordsman and an elite haxxor. You get mixed up in some crazy shit and lots of weird stuff happens. It's a wild ride, and you're just going to have to read the book to see how it all works out.
• Jurassic Park - It's a book about man recreating dinosaurs in the modern age. What could go wrong? And what's not to like? This book is basically a classic at this point, and great fun to read.
• Ringworld - While the premise of this book was interesting—humans and aliens go visit an enormous world built in a ring around the aliens' host star—I just couldn't get into this book by Larry Niven. The story was only tangentially about the ringworld, and the main focus was actually about whether people could be bred for luck. It seemed like Niven wanted to write about building a ringworld, but couldn't figure out how to write a compelling story around that so he had to also write about this other thing to justify it. Also, his writing was too disjointed for my tastes. Scenes changed so abruptly and dialog and narration was so terse that I had trouble understanding what was going on most of the time. That was a huge disappointment, especially considering the other books on this list.
• The Color of Magic - This book was another disappointment, but for a different reason than Ringworld. The writing was fine, even funny sometimes, but the discworld made no sense at all. Completely random and nonsensical things would happen to the main characters at every turn, and I never could figure out what the plot was about. It didn't take long to lose interest in the characters altogether, since whatever happened to them wouldn't make any sense whatsoever and they were probably going to end up fine anyway. There were a lot of similarities in style to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and while similar elements somehow worked there, they fell totally flat in The Color of Magic. That leaves me with no reason to read the other 40 books in the series, lucky me.

One of my goals here was to branch out and read new authors, and I mostly held to that goal. There's no Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, or Dragonlance books on the list, but I did read another book by Neal Stephenson after Seveneves and was not disappointed. The first eleven books were extremely hard to rank. They're all basically equivalent levels of awesome in my mind, and you absolutely should go read them if you haven't already. The stories are incredible, and the worlds these authors imagined and built are even more incredible. 

I also reread Jurassic Park, from my youth, by way of introducing it to my daughter, who absolutely loves dinosaurs. It was well received. For this year, I already know I'll be rereading The Lost World with her. I'll also be continuing The Wheel of Time saga, and starting another new author for me, Ursula K. Le Guin, with A Wizard of Earthsea. Other than that, I'm thinking of finishing up the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov and reading a few more new authors. All I know is there are a lot more worlds to explore.

Video Games & Movies

I actually have not watched many movies this year. It didn't seem like there were too many worth watching. I did see Avengers: Endgame, of course, and it was probably one of the best movies I've ever seen, considering the vast context and buildup of the rest of the MCU. I also finally saw Captain Marvel (I wait until I can get movies from the library), and that was pretty good, too. 

One of the more unique movies that I did end up watching was Annihilation. I happened to get it when I was by myself in the house one night, and I popped it in the PS4, turned off the lights, and turned the sound way up. That was an intense, wonderfully creepy experience. Do you know how great the sound effects are in that movie? And that freaking bear, holy crap. I'm surprised I got any sleep that night. 

I also rewatched The Lord of the Rings with my wife. Those movies hold up really well. If the movie drought continues, I've got a growing list of other (not-so) old movies to watch again, like Jurassic Park.

As for video games, I'm still enjoying the LEGO videogames with the kids. We finished up Jurassic Park (are you seeing a theme here?), The Hobbit (much better than the movies), and most of Marvel Super Heroes. We're still working on The LEGO Movie, Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, and LEGO City: Undercover (this game is ginormous). Then we've started Marvel Super Heroes 2, Marvel's Avengers, and we just got another batch of LEGO games for Christmas. I don't know why, but I don't ever seem to get tired of these games. It's gotta be the character development. (I'm kidding; it's the graphics.)

For myself, I ended up playing Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII and God of War III. These are two very different games, and yes, they're both older than dirt. I said last year my backlog was deep. I know Final Fantasy XIII got a lot of criticism, but I still enjoyed the whole trilogy. I especially liked Lightning Returns for the new battle system. Gone are the menus and inventory lists, and instead you link four different actions to each of three different outfits to set up your available commands for a battle. You have a few other special actions that you can do, and then you're choosing actions in real time during battles. It's a much more dynamic, exciting battle mechanic than selecting actions from menus, and like most Final Fantasy mechanics, surprisingly deep. It really made the game for me. Lord knows the plot didn't.

God of War III was another installment of hack-n-slash, vengeance-upon-the-gods action game that was pure entertainment. I was reminded of how perfectly responsive the controls are in these games, and I think the most fun to be had was beating the crap out of Hercules.

The Year Ahead

I have more than enough games to play this year as I play through my backlog. I actually got more new games than I finished, so that backlog is just getting deeper. If only there was more time. I won't be reading as many technical books, so there's that, but I'll probably fill a lot of that time with more novels and the next blog project. Still, maybe I can squeeze in a couple more games, and I haven't picked up the guitar again, yet.

Battle Of Edgehill 1642 - Part 1 Set Up

Another big favourite here at YG is the English Civil War and it's hard to believe that it is over 3 years since this lot last saw the light of day !

Edgehill is of course the first major action in the ECW and many who saw action that day would be getting their first taste of battle. I have decided to break this up into two reports, this the first on will cover the set up and orders of battle whilst the follow up will cover the refight itself.

Information on the Battle is avaliable from a multitude of sources so I don't intend to harp on about the build up but instead give you a wargamers view of setting up the clash.

Parliament Cavalry on the trot

A Word on Rules and the like

Like most periods we are a little off piste when it comes to rules, for the ECW we use a modified version of Forlorn Hope. I "modernised" the basics over 10 years ago and they have worked well ever since.

The figure ratio for the game is approximately 33:1 and that has worked perfectly for this particular battle in terms of figures avaliable and the 12 x 6 table here. One good thing carried over from the original set is that each Infantry unit has a set number of figures and rather than individually counting Pike numbers and Shot numbers the unit is given a ratio of Pike to Musket.

Figures are 28mm from a collection of manufacturers including Perrys, Bicorne, Warlord and Renegade.

Royalist Foot Advancing early in the Battle

Table Set Up and Terrain 

For this I have used the medium of video ! How modern of me. For some reason the sound didn't work on the footage so I have gone for some snazzy subtitles in stead.

I managed to locate a number of maps of the Battle all of which differed in some way. The troop set up seems to be pretty constant but some maps show enclosures, a brook, small woods etc it's difficult to tell what was present on the day and what is a modern interpretation.

However I don't recall reading of the terrain having any massive affect on the Battle so I chose to leave the table relatively sparse and just the the armies get on with it.

Orders of Battle

There is a very good OOB at the link below,

http://bcw-project.org/military/english-civil-war/edgehill-campaign/order-of-battle

So the list below is my interpretation of that for the game with the following notes,

1. Forlorn Hope rules have army lists for each year of the war in each theatre, these generate troop morale classes, pike:shot ratios etc by rolling dice, this is how the factors have been determined. So for this stage of the war there are no Veteran Infantry.

2. We rolled particularly well for Ruperts Cavalry but if you don't I would suggest for realisms sake that if you have a "name" unit in a brigade, roll up the entire brigade and allocate the best rolled factor to the best unit.

3. I was unable to find any break down of the total numbers (on the orbat above) other than Rupert having around 1700 Cavalry vs 1300 to his fore. Therefore I have had to estimate the size of the infantry units dividing the numbers present by 33 and then filling up the numbers required in each area with the units in our collection. Our rules need Infantry units at least 16 figures and Cavalry of at least 6, so the eagle eyed will notice the odd unit missing in name from our game, however the men of that unit have been spread across that particular command.

4. Forlorn Hope has a sub morale class of Elite, this can be tagged to any units basic morale and reflects an over confidence not necessarily linked to ability.

Prince Rupert, Standard Bearer and of course his dog "Boy"

The Royalist Army

C in C King Charles LV1
General of Foot Sir Jacob Astley LV2
General of Horse Prince Rupert LV3 (may not use LV to stop pursuits)

Prince Maurice Brig of Horse LV2
Ruperts Horse - Veteran Elite Gallopers - 12 Figures
Kings Lifeguard - Raw Elite Gallopers - 12 Figures
Maurices Horse - Veteran Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures
Prince of Wales Horse - Raw Gallopers - 9 Figures

Lord Byrons Brig of Horse LV1
Lord Byrons Horse - Trained Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures

Ruperts Cavalry 

Charles Gerrard Brig of Foot LV1
Gerrards Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 26 Figures
Dyves Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 20 Figures
Duttons Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures
Medium Gun - Trained Crew

Col Fieldings Brig of Foot LV1
Fieldings Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 24 Figures
Lunsfords Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 20 Figures
Bolles Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures
Medium Gun - Trained Crew

Royalist Foot 

Wentworths Brig of Foot LV1 
Gilbert Gerrards Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 24 Figures
Salusburys Foot - Raw - 2 : 3 - 20 Figures
Molyneuxs Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures
Medium Gun  - Raw Crew

Belasyse Brig of Foot LV1 
Belasyse Foot - Raw - 1 : 1 - 26 Figures
Blagges Foot - Trained - 3 : 2 - 20 Figures
Pennymans Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 20 Figures
Medium Gun - Raw Crew

Nicholas Byron Brig of Foot LV2
Kings Lifeguard - Trained - 1 : 1 - 30 Figures
Lord Generals Foot - Trained - 1 : 2 - 20 Figures
Beaumonts Foot - Trained - 1 : 1 - 16 Figures

Royalist left wing

Gen Wilmot Brig of Horse LV2 
Wilmots Horse - Raw Gallopers - 9 Figures
Grandisons Horse - Veteran Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures

Lord Digby Brig of Horse LV1 
Lord Digbys Horse - Raw Elite Gallopers - 9 Figures
Ashtons Horse - Raw Elite Gallopers - 6 Figures

Independent 
Gentleman Pensioners - Veteran Elite Trotters (Cuirass) - 9 Figures (must remain within 8" of the King and protect his personage)
Legges Firelocks - Trained Skirmishers - 9 Figures
Blue Dragoons - Trained (left flank)
Red Dragoons - Trained (right flank)

Forces of Parliament

The Parliamentary Army

C in C Earl of Essex LV 2
Earl of Bedford - Gen of Horse LV1
Sir John Merrick  - Gen of Foot LV2

Balfours Brig of Horse LV1
Lord Generals Horse - Raw Trotters - 9 Figures
Balfours Horse - Raw Trotters (F) - 9 Figures
Fieldings Horse - Raw Trotters (F) - 9 Figures
Brownes Dragoons - Raw Trotters (F) - 6 Figures

Parliament right wing

Sir John Meldrum Brig of Foot LV1 
Meldrums Foot - Trained - 2:1 - 20 Figures
Saye and Seles Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 20 Figures
Constables Foot - Raw - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Fairfaxs Foot - Trained - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Robartes Foot - Trained  - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Medium Gun - Raw Crew

Essex Brig of Foot LV1 
Essex Foot - Trained  - 3:2 - 26 Figures
Chomleys Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 24 Figures
Mandevilles Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 24 Figures
Whartons Foot - Raw  - 2:1 - 24 Figures
2 × Medium Gun - Raw Crews

Parliament Foot and Stapletons Cuirass 

Ballards Brig of Foot LV1 
Lord Generals Foot - Raw - 3:2 - 32 Figures
Brookes Foot - Raw - 2:1 - 24 Figures
Ballards Foot - Trained - 2:1 - Trained
Holles Foot - Raw - 1:1 - 20 Figures
Medium Gun  - Raw Crew

Stapletons Brig of Horse LV1 
Lord Generals Lifeguard (Cuirass) - Trained - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures
Stapleton Cuirass - Trained - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures

Ramseys Cavalry 

Sir James Ramseys Brig of Horse LV1 
Drapers Horse - Raw - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures
Balfours Horse - Trained - Trotters (F) - 6 Figures
Bedfords Horse - Raw - Trotters - 6 Figures
Mordaunts Horse - Trained - Trotters - 6 Figures
Peterborough Horse - Trained  - Trotters  - 6 Figures

Independent 
Yellow Dragoons - Raw - 9 Figures (right wing)
Red Dragoons - Raw - 9 Figures (left wing)

The Yellow Dragoons 

So that's our set up, I'll post up a battle report next week.

Out of all the privacy-focused products and apps available on the market, Brave has been voted the best. Other winners of Product Hunt's Golden Kitty awards showed that there was a huge interest in privacy-enhancing products and apps such as chats, maps, and other collaboration tools.

An extremely productive year for Brave

Last year has been a pivotal one for the crypto industry, but few companies managed to see the kind of success Brave did. Almost every day of the year has been packed witch action, as the company managed to officially launch its browser, get its Basic Attention Token out, and onboard hundreds of thousands of verified publishers on its rewards platform.

Luckily, the effort Brave has been putting into its product hasn't gone unnoticed.

The company's revolutionary browser has been voted the best privacy-focused product of 2019, for which it received a Golden Kitty award. The awards, hosted by Product Hunt, were given to the most popular products across 23 different product categories.

Ryan Hoover, the founder of Product Hunt said:

"Our annual Golden Kitty awards celebrate all the great products that makers have launched throughout the year"

Brave's win is important for the company—with this year seeing the most user votes ever, it's a clear indicator of the browser's rapidly rising popularity.

Privacy and blockchain are the strongest forces in tech right now

If reaching 10 million monthly active users in December was Brave's crown achievement, then the Product Hunt award was the cherry on top.

The recognition Brave got from Product Hunt users shows that a market for privacy-focused apps is thriving. All of the apps and products that got a Golden Kitty award from Product Hunt users focused heavily on data protection. Everything from automatic investment apps and remote collaboration tools to smart home products emphasized their privacy.

AI and machine learning rose as another note-worthy trend, but blockchain seemed to be the most dominating force in app development. Blockchain-based messaging apps and maps were hugely popular with Product Hunt users, who seem to value innovation and security.

For those users, Brave is a perfect platform. The company's research and development team has recently debuted its privacy-preserving distributed VPN, which could potentially bring even more security to the user than its already existing Tor extension.

Brave's effort to revolutionize the advertising industry has also been recognized by some of the biggest names in publishing—major publications such as The Washington Post, The Guardian, NDTV, NPR, and Qz have all joined the platform. Some of the highest-ranking websites in the world, including Wikipedia, WikiHow, Vimeo, Internet Archive, and DuckDuckGo, are also among Brave's 390,000 verified publishers.

Earn Basic Attention Token (BAT) with Brave Web Browser

Try Brave Browser

Get $5 in free BAT to donate to the websites of your choice.

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