I’ve just completed my semi-monthly trip to Melbourne. Actually, I think I’ve only been down there once this year. No sign of Keep on the Shadowfell, alas.

I visited Minotaur Books first, and picked up five books:

• Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold, and
• Legacy by the same author – the first two books of her Sharing Knife series. LMB is one of the truly great writers of sci-fi – it’s her Miles Vorkosigan books that have won the most acclaim – and she is pretty good at fantasy as well. These are LMB writing in her fantasy stream; I’ve read the first, and it was fun. Apparently at least two more books to come.
• Omega by Jack McDevitt, and
• Odyssey by the same author. Books #4 and #5 of his Academy series. These are great sci-fi; it’s a really unusual universe he sets up, where intelligent life was once common but is now mostly extinct, and us Earthers keep discovering their ruins. Additionally, and most unusually, space travel isn’t really considered economically worthwhile.
• Dzur by Steven Brust. One of my all-time favourite authors, this is #10 in his Vlad Taltos series. There’s so much going on here and it’s intensely enjoyable. My main problem with Brust is that he doesn’t write quickly enough to satisfy my need for more of his books!

After that, it was on to Mind Games and a few new gaming purchases…

• Advanced Squad Leader 2nd Edition Rulebook. It was A$95 for just the rules. Heh. I actually have a set of the 1e rules which I picked up for $5, but it was high time I upgraded to the current rulebook. Mostly it’s the same, although with more examples, slightly bigger font, and a bunch of rules from the supplements included. My ASL collection is now the rules, Beyond Valour, Yanks, Partisan, The Last Hurrah, and Valor of the Guards, along with the three starter kits. I’m enjoying it!
• D&D Miniatures (2.0) Starter. It’s been a very, very long time since I last bought DDM. However, with the 2nd version of the game now underway, I decided I’d like the new rulebook and maps, and the prepackaged minis actually look pretty nice as well, especially the dwarf.
• Growing Hunger – Last Night on Earth expansion. More cards, four more heroes, three more scenarios and no doubt a lot more fun with this great Zombie-themed game. I’ve no doubt we’ll play this in the near future. The new heroes include the Prom Queen (Cordy?) and the Supermarket Checkout Kid. Oh, and a janitor who used to be in the army. Looks cool.
• Call to Arms – BattleLore expansion. This is the expansion that allows you to build your own armies by drafting cards, and then pit them against your opponent. Or something like that. I don’t play BL enough, but I consider this a pretty important expansion and one I’ve been wanting for a while.
• Reiner Knizia’s Colossal Arena. I’ve picked this up based on a recommendation by Rodney Thompson. 2-5 players, plays pretty quickly (30 mins?) and involves wagering on various fantasy creatures as they fight it out (and playing cards to make them win!) It’s of the same line of games as Citadels, and looks pretty much as fun.
• Starcraft: The Board Game. FFG just keeps getting more of my money (CA is also published by them). I’ve played this with Sarah and it was great. I think it’ll be perfect for a BGDs when we want an epic-feeling boardgame that handles fewer players well, and also doesn’t take 4+ hours. I can’t wait to play this again, probably at our next boardgame day if people agree.

Alas, Descent is currently out-of-stock, otherwise I’d probably have picked it up along with the Road to Legend expansion…