I borrowed a book from the school library yesterday evening, and returned it, read, to the librarian this morning. Yes, I read that fast. Yes, she was surprised. I have the other two in the trilogy now, so I guess I’ll read them this week. The author in question is Alison Croggon, a Melbourne-based fantasy writer, and she does the best imitation of Tolkien’s voice I’ve seen. The books themselves are only partly derivative of the Lord of the Rings, but the dialogue is pure Tolkien. Indeed, I’m sure I’ve read some of the phrases in LotR, along with the feel of the dream sequences.

The book was enjoyable, although not of the highest standard. We’ll see if she improves with the other two.

Apart from that, yesterday I was ordering more gaming stuff. The publishers of ASL, MMP, have just released a special edition of their house journal, “Operations” mag. It contains a mini-ASL campaign game along with a couple of ASL SK scenarios and a few other interesting things. It’s also expensive, and I would have to order it direction from them. Eep. To make things more palatable, I ordered it along with Pegasus Bridge, a Historical Module for ASL… it’s on special from MMP. So, $15… With the shipping it’s still expensive, but in a few weeks (months) time it should arrive. I hate ordering stuff from overseas.

Paizo have sent the first issue of the new Pathfinder AP to me. It’s also in the mail.

MilSims have sent me a couple of C&C supplements – the first “A1” adventure, which I actually have in pdf, but having a print copy would be nice. And “Engineering Dungeons”, which I am very, very interested in reading – anything that makes the job of creating dungeon adventures easier (and more interesting) is something I’d like to see. I should receive it today or tomorrow, and I’ll post a review of it in due course.

The other things I ordered yesterday were from MilSims: three expansions to Memoir ’44 which they have on special (Terrain Pack, Eastern Front, Pacific Theatre), and a reprint of an old game: SPQR Deluxe. Randy will probably be quite interested in that last (to be honest, he’ll be happy I have the former because it means we can play M44 at my place as well as his), but he’s a long-time wargamer, and he’s played other releases in the Great Battles of History series, of which SPQR is one.

It’s likely to be a busy week of MilSims action, actually – the new D&D 4e releases are almost due out (Forgotten Realms setting, adventure H3, and the DM’s screen), and I also have hope that Agricola, one of the best Eurogames in recent years, will also come in (and out) of stock this week or nearly so. Not quite sure, though… I don’t think they’ve printed enough for the demand and I’ll have to wait a little more before I get my copy.

The one other order I will probably make this week is from Warchest, a wargame distributor in Australia. This one is all MMP releases: a couple of ASL Journals, and “Warriors of God”, a relatively simple wargame about the 100 Years War, which looks quite attractive.

Randy’s likely to be inviting me over to his new place to play some of these, I guess…

Now I have to set up a bunch of NPCs that the Friday “Castle Greyhawk” group can hire to aid them in the dungeons as a couple of the players will be away this Friday. 4e, unlike 1e, doesn’t assume men-at-arms and cohorts, so I’ll have to work something out.