Love and family are important themes in the sixth book of The Dresden Files and are brought into sharp juxtaposition with the setting for much of the story: the set of a pornographic movie. Much of the action revolves around Harry tracking down the source of a curse that is killing several of the actresses in the production, while the White Court vampires show an … Continue reading Blood Rites (Jim Butcher) book review
The fifth book of The Dresden Files is a damn good book. Two major plots wind their way through the book: a hunt for the Shroud of Turin, and a duel with one of the major vampires of the Red Court, but it is the character interactions that make me like this one so much. Butcher is primarily dealing with the themes of temptation and … Continue reading Death Masks (Jim Butcher) book review
The fourth book in The Dresden Files does not quite reach the heights that the third and fifth books do, but it is still a worthy book. Harry is not in a good place as the book begins, still reeling from the events of Grave Peril (and this almost a year later), and things get steadily worse for our hero as the book commences. From … Continue reading Summer Knight (Jim Butcher) book review
And this is where it gets good. Grave Peril, the third book in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series, starts about a year after the events of Fool Moon. It’s rather worth emphasising that point: this book takes place a year after the last one. Many series like packing as much events into a short space of time as possible. This is not the case in … Continue reading Grave Peril (Jim Butcher) book review
I am far from the world’s best player of Advanced Squad Leader. My record with Michael is about 50-50, with a slight advantage on Michael’s side, I believe. Although I am quick to pick up and remember rules, little points such as “don’t attack the Machine-Gun nest from the open street” occasionally elude me. In this scenario, the fourth of the Starter Kit #3 scenarios, … Continue reading Advanced Squad Leader report: S23 Monty’s Gamble
Looking at I2: Tomb of the Lizard King after having spent quite a bit of time looking at the pre-1982 adventures, I can see a change coming over the AD&D adventure landscape. We’d got a hint of it with U1: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, but Tomb of the Lizard King is particularly noteworthy. It starts with three event-based encounters where the players meet the … Continue reading AD&D Review – I2: Tomb of the Lizard King
The second book in The Dresden Files, Fool Moon, sees Harry Dresden come up against werewolves, about six months after the events in the first book. And, in the sense of not letting anyone get left out, Jim Butcher includes four different types of werewolves, thus covering all the bases. It’s an impressive bit of world-building, but the writing isn’t quite good enough to sustain … Continue reading Fool Moon (Jim Butcher) book review
With the fifteenth volume of Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series about to be released (just over a fortnight away as I write these words), I thought it was an appropriate time to reread the series. And to write a few words about it. I haven’t followed the series since its inception; I was finally persuaded to read the series a few years ago, and … Continue reading Storm Front (Jim Butcher) review
On the 3rd of April, 1367, the forces of Henry of Trastámara were lined up outside the walls of Nájera, awaiting the arrival of an enemy force. Henry had been fighting in a civil war with his brother, Peter of Castile (or Pedro the Cruel), for some time beforehand, and Peter had finally gained the aid of foreigners: Edward, later known as the Black Prince, … Continue reading Men of Iron: Battle of Nájera report
My Advanced Squad Leader games have recently been put on pause as Michael and I have had slightly differing schedules during the last couple of weeks. In the meantime, I finally managed to play Glen, who had rather liked the look of the game when he saw Michael and me playing it. So, ever the sucker for introducing newcomers to the game, I set up … Continue reading Advanced Squad Leader: S1 Retaking Vierville
