Two major wins decide top table!
Birthday BowlDraw for round 2
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Two major wins decide top table!
Birthday BowlDraw for round 2
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Game 1 – Regeneration on Roxanna, Claw on a Rat Ogre, more updates to follow!
Birthday Bowl – Draw for round 1
Table | Match | ||||
1 | Norse | hairypete77 | vs | Amazon | cornishwoon | ||
2 | Skaven | wobert | vs | Vampire | 20phoenix | ||
3 | Skaven | hawk | vs | Human | dementor | ||
4 | Pro Elf | sann0638 | vs | Chaos Pact | scs.sam | ||
5 | Skaven | lunchmoney | vs | Dwarf | frogboy | ||
6 | Chaos Dwarf | psmiddy | vs | Wood Elf | dionysian | ||
7 | Chaos Pact | mawph | vs | Skaven | enderman | ||
8 | Underworld | glowworm | vs | Norse | landrover |
Lots of video fun during the day, and photos later.
Some thoughts on the eve of Birthday Bowl, a 16-coach BB tournament at my house, quite exciting! Thoroughly enjoying my BB at moment, as it’s providing an amazingly rich tapestry of experience for just one game.
My tabletop league stalled a bit after the first round of games, but I’m expecting a flurry quite soon – currently playing Necro, and top of the league, though not sure how long that will last. I’m playing online on two leagues on Fumbbl – the Team Scotland league, which allows me to keep in touch with my Eurobowl team mates despite not living anywhere near them, and the White Isle League, which I think is Britain’s biggest and has a good selection of decent coaches. I’m also part of the UKBBL on Cyanide, which is allowing me to meet a load more new coaches.
On the tabletop tournament scene, as well as Birthday Bowl, I’ve managed to wangle 3 tournament weekends in a row at the end of May, which is unheard of for me. The NAF Champs is the biggest individual tournament of the year, currently nudging 130, but I would expect 150 by the time it rolls around, and it’s a great opportunity to meet up with a load of players in one place. The weekend after is a UKBBL non-NAF tournament, which will allow me to become possibly the first person to play 25 races in tournaments (I’ve done the 24, and will be adding Khorne!). Then it’s Cakebowl, which is our local 2-day tournament, and the boys will be joining me for that one. Defending my title too!
Painting wise, I’m looking forward to my Impact Kickstarter arriving with Pro/Dark/High Elf teams and the Scotlings, plus another that I can never remember. I’m redoing my snotlings, and finishing off a load of individual models. I’m also going to knock together a Duel Entry for the NAFC from my bits box, to support the idea rather than with any hope of winning…
Later on in the year, I’m currently in negotiations with my employer to allow me the time off to be a ref in Lucca for the World Cup, which would allow me to do a load of media work too – writing match reports, live streaming some highlights, it would be awesome.
Fingers crossed, and on with Blood Bowl we go!
Last night, I joined around 300 people at the Wyvern for the South Swindon (SS) hustings. The chair (Editor of the Adver) asked if anyone was undecided in the audience, and I was one of a minority to put their hands up. I am still undecided, but it was a very helpful evening. All that follows is just my opinion on the evening, but I’m not trying to be independent, so no apologies for that. Apologies however if I do have any facts wrong, I haven’t particularly checked them, so this may be my perception of the facts.
Questions ranged from local buses to Trident, and gave the candidates a good opportunity to show their local knowledge and represent the position of their parties.
Lib Dems (LD), Conservative (C), Labour (L), Greens (G) and UKIP were represented, and each gave a 2 minute speech at the beginning. C, L and G were all well-rehearsed and fitted nicely into the two mins, with C and L using a hand held mic instead of the lectern. L came across as energetic and confident, C as self-assured and local, G as idealistic (to use her own word) and enthusiastic (despite being quite ill). LD struggled a bit, listing some of the LD achievements in coalition, but it didn’t seem like his heart was really in it, and throughout the evening he often ploughed his own furrow (e.g. on Trident). UKIP spoke about his experience as Deputy Chief Executive of Swindon Council.
From my personal point of view, I am choosing between C, L and G. I think the LD are a spent force, they have had their time in Government, and I don’t entirely see the point in voting for them at all, and this is particularly true in SS. The UKIP candidate is also standing as a local councillor in my ward, which I thought was interesting, as it did reflect the little chance of winning. I am also very unlikely to vote UKIP in general, as I believe lots of their policies are designed to foster resentment of different people. And leaving the EU would be bonkers.
SS is very marginal between C and L, and having had a few chats with the two candidates I think there is little to choose between them as individuals – both seem very enthusiastic and committed, both have experience as MPs. They give the impression of not liking each other very much, but I suppose that is inevitable when they are in competition and have to spend 6 weeks disagreeing with each other.
I am also tempted by G, in that I like the groundswell of popular support they are getting, and like some of their more outlandish polices (a set wage for all, whether working or not). I was also impressed by a phrase at the local hustings that reflected the real situation, in that she said “if we were to have influence in government” then they would push for certain policies. I think it would be a lot more of an interesting election if all the “minor” parties took this approach, rather than pretending they have a chance of getting a majority and being able to put their policies into practice.
The obvious problem with voting G is that even if you believe in all their policies, you are leaving the choice between L and C to all those who vote for either L or C. G addressed this point directly in her address, saying that if you keep voting for people you don’t want, you’ll keep getting people you don’t want, which was a fair point.
The UKIP candidate came across as perfectly reasonable and sensible, to the extent that one wonders why he is the UKIP candidate. Please don’t vote UKIP, as outlined above.
So I will mainly focus on L, C and G candidates, and the main memorable points for me.
The main flashpoint between L and C was over the so-called “bedroom tax”. I really dislike this phrase, as it doesn’t seem to reflect what the policy is actually about, but never mind. The irritation on the evening was that L and C had a disagreement about facts, as to whether C had supported it, whether L had brought it in and so on. Disagreements about facts on panels really annoy me, in that there is very little point in arguing about them. Someone should stop the discussion whenever it happens, and Google whether it is true or not. Instead, it is always left unresolved, like a pub discussion about “who that bloke was who played that part in that sitcom” in the days before mobile phones. Opinions about what should happen in the future are worth discussing, discussions about facts about things that have happened in the past should not be allowed.
Locally, there was interesting discussion of housing, particularly to the East of the A419, but the candidates (if I recall) were mostly in agreement that it needs the infrastructure to support it. C is very keen on buses not going through the centre, and seems very pleased about the new bus station that will be built, but in a week where the number 20 bus is being axed, this was never going to be a good selling point. This discussion also sparked the introduction “Talis, you like buses…” from the chair.
G made a good point about the subsidisation of public transport – I had never particularly thought about buses being a public good, but it does make a lot of sense, in that they bring people together and help people who can’t necessarily afford (or use) transport for themselves. All the candidates said very strongly that local groups should always put pressure on transport companies, so I had better go and write that letter.
So who to vote for? Nationally, I think that the accelerated austerity that C is promising is going to be damaging to vulnerable groups, and the more C candidates that get elected, the worse it will be. L do not have plans to completely reverse the cuts, but equally not to accelerate them. If L were to reverse some of the cuts I think that would be a mistake, as to a certain extent once the pain has been inflicted you should get the benefit, and the benefit should be making more jobs possible. G are not going to be elected in SS, realistically, but the candidate is fantastically committed and the cause is good.
So after last night, if you are choosing between C and L, vote L, if you are choosing between C and G, vote G, if you are considering UKIP or LD, I’d be interested to know why. So that leaves choosing between L and G.
I think Miliband is running a good enough campaign to avoid anyone getting a majority, and I don’t think “Bluekip” will get enough votes for a majority, but neither will the “Coalition of Chaos”. I love these terms. So given that, I think voting for G is probably a good thing to do, as the whole thing is going to be a ridiculous mess that no-one can predict. So in that case, it’s probably a good idea to vote for change. Which I think means voting Green.
That’s my take – here is what the Adver thought.
“Differentiation by Depth” by Steve Lomax – Steve will forward the slides to KM.
From SJCC: Mike and Darwin
This was a good mixture of doing maths with other teachers and ideas for making lessons more productive, looking at deep understanding. A lot of it has been introduced at SJCC already, in terms of differentiated questions, and a lot of the ideas were already familiar. The Bar model was introduced, and we tackled a few questions on it. Steve also mentioned Don Steward as a good source of resources.
Steve runs kangaroomaths.com, which contains a load of ideas that should be incorporated into schemes of work, and is actually a scheme of work in itself, but not one that should necessarily be incorporated wholesale.
I also found out that oblong is not just another name for a rectangle!
I mentioned to Steve about Swindon Schools Network, which I have used to organise G&T days and network meetings, as well as keeping minutes from them in one place. It would be good if a similar thing existed for maths teachers. Would be interesting to hear from Maths Leaders whether it is needed.
Excellent lunch and refreshments in general, and a good spirit in the room. Hopefully these ideas can be incorporated successfully into the Maths Handbook.
A bit of ongoing commentary on my adventures in recording live Blood Bowl – things I have tried, what works and what doesn’t. I’ll probably leave a few questions unanswered, so if I do just drop me a line and I’ll happily answer any questions.
Equipment
I have an HP Pavilion G series laptop, if anyone cares to look up the spec – it’s not very powerful, of which more later. I’m using a Logitech C920 USB webcam, which I have gaffer-taped to an old lamp so it can be pointed in various directions, and a separate USB microphone to pick up the sound.
Software
I’ve used a few different combinations of software. Before live-streaming, I had recorded the screen using Debut and then moved on to Open Broadcast Software (OBS), both free programmes. When using Debut for screen capture I recorded the audio separately using Audacity, and then used Windows Movie Maker to combine the two. This took an age, whereas live-streaming means the video is available straight away.
I had a look at Twitch, but I had already set up my YouTube account by this stage with a few videos on it, so I didn’t fancy making the switch.
So the easiest way to live stream is through Google Hangouts. This is the default option. To live stream on YouTube you create a live event, which needs an account in good standing (some videos already published, I think). Once you have done that it’s literally a couple of clicks to get your Hangout going.
I then found that it was a bit tricky to get the score, turns and dugout in clear view, so HairyPete suggested using OBS with an overlay. This is a text box that allows you to put any text over the picture, by setting up a “scene”. He and I played around for a while, before I put the call out on Twitter, and Christer (of Fumbbl fame) came to the rescue with a snazzy little app that updates a text file automatically. This allowed me to just have a simple interface for increasing the score etc.
In terms of getting YouTube going with OBS, this was straightforward, and there are lots of guides out there written by more technical people than me.
The only problem I found with OBS was the amount of computer power it took, and this is where my poor little laptop couldn’t really take it. I couldn’t have any other programmes going at the same time, and had to reduce the frames per second (fps) to 10, down from the recommended 30. I don’t think this affected the quality, however.
There were still occasional hangs, but mostly I think it was OK. A better camera would probably improve the resolution, and a better computer would speed it up, but I am in no hurry to invest money in a niche activity!
I stopped using the overlay more recently, and adapted one of my boards to have a mini-dugout on it, copied (I think) from a Dutch Open design.
Once an event appears on YouTube, you can edit it, trim it etc, but only if it’s less than 2 hours, which I learned to my cost as some of mine have half an hour of nothing at the beginning while I wait for my opponent! Will do first half and second half in future, I think.
Hope that was helpful, questions and comments welcome!
I had the webcam set up to livestream Lycos’s 1000th game, and then recorded game 2. Took a different approach to game 3 by using the webcam to take snapshots at various points in the game. This is my Humans with a wizard against NinjaHamster’s Necro.
I kicked, and this was the starting set up. NH set up fairly deep, with only 3 on the line – I tend to pack the line when receiving to get as many blocks in as possible, hoping to remove the line of scrimmage if possible. When kicking I have 3 on the line, with the big guy behind to dissuade following up. My 3 blitzers are protecting the vulnerable catchers and throwers behind.
The kick went short, and NH gathered his forces at the top of the board. After a few turns this was the position. He pushed forward after this and I managed to dodge out but not get down the blodge ghoul. Thought about using the wizard, but was not in a position to capitalise. After 3 games where I have kicked I am starting to think that when having a wizard receiving is actually the better option, as it keeps the psychological effect in play for longer. After this position NH scored, giving me a few turns to score back.
A wiser man would have taken a pic of my setup, but I forgot. The kick went deep, but my thrower and ag4 catcher combo meant that after receiving I got into this position with my cage just over the line and the catcher within scoring range. NH put some nice pressure on and I used a reroll early in the turn, leading to two unprotected GFI for the score.
Made it!
I received in the second half , and a touchback meant that I could get the catcher in a nice cage early on (top of picture). Still no wizard used.
Nice little position here, little tricky to see. Start of NH’s turn, and my catcher has retreated a bit after it got a bit crowded near the sideline. NH has a flesh golem a couple of squares away, with a werewolf nearby, so spots the opportunity for a nice chain push to put the golem next to the ball carrier. Does so successfully, but doesn’t get the reward of a pow or both down (neither golem nor catcher has block).
After the chain push:
It was one of those positions though where the manpower needed to make it work means that if it fails (i.e. no pow) there is a gap, so my lot zoomed through the line and protected the catcher. At 1-1, and with a wizard in hand, I should have scored rather than stalled.
But I stalled, running the catcher over and not protecting him properly. The wight (NH happily pointing at him!) needed a dodge and then two gfi’s to hit me, which I realised but allowed. Oops, both down (last reroll gone on the dodge).
Ball bounces in to the end zone. Not a problem, my catcher at the top of the screen can reach it and… fail the pick up, bounce into the crowd, head towards half way line. Argh!
Many shenanigans ensued, and I eventually had to lightning bolt a ghoul to get the ball back, and do a quick pass with the blitzer to get the score. The morale of the story, if you can go ahead and still have a wizard, don’t stall!
Fun game, excellent opponent. Finished day 2-0-1. On to Sunday!
Would have been easier if he had numbered them!
With the election in 5 months, the media is all about the beginning of May, and not just because of my birthday (or even partly). So who to vote for?
The public finances are in a bit of a state. The massive deficit does seem to be a bit of a problem, as it does mean that a lot of taxes go to servicing debt. Gordon Brown did talk about the economic cycle, but that didn’t seem to work. So it would be nice to reduce the deficit.
Cuts are probably necessary, but wouldn’t have been necessary if Labour hadn’t made such profligate increases. Belt-tightening only hurts if you are too large to start with.
So probably not Labour. Though Anne Snelgrove seems to be a good egg, despite her too-political tweets. But the negativity there might just be a necessary by-product of the political system, which is obviously flawed. The worst except for all the others, possibly.
So Tory? What’s wrong with voting Tory? Rob Buckland seems to be doing a good job for Swindon in Parliament, but I do have a slight bias against white middle-class Oxbridge types (like me) because it would be nice for Parliament to be representative.
And voting Tory just seems wrong, to be honest. Working in state education means a frequent anti-Tory union agenda, which is difficult to resist. The Academy agenda just seems a bit unnecessary, and the changes to GCSEs etc are spectacularly ill-thought-through (can you double hyphenate?). But if cuts are necessary, who else will implement them?
So are cuts necessary? Could tax rises work instead? Obviously getting large international corporations to pay tax would be a good idea, but everyone wants to do that and no-one seems able. High tax on ridiculously large incomes (£2m+?) seems like a good idea, as do crazy things like a maximum wage as well as a minimum wage, so maybe that means I should vote Green. But they will never win in Swindon, where it’s a two-horse race. Or maybe not this time round, if UKIP rock the boat and the Green surge continues.
I would also find it very difficult to vote Green because of the name, and that I don’t especially buy into the Green agenda. I believe in climate change (because I’m sane) but until India, China and the US start changing their behaviour it won’t make a huge amount of difference for the UK to do so. So I’ll recycle, but I won’t get solar panels (or whatever the international metaphor is).
Speaking of wasted votes, there is then the economic problem that the difference one vote can make is miniscule, and it is very difficult to decide who to vote for, so it takes a lot of energy reading manifestos etc, which in economic terms is irrational because the difference you can make is much less than the energy required. So there are better ways of making a difference, and hopefully I do some of them (like, erm, teaching…).
But to vote is good! So the sensible thing to do is to find someone you trust, and ask them who to vote for. But I am yet to be convinced by anyone’s arguments.
Would like to be convinced. Go on, convince me.
To wrap up the Christmas gaming period – returned home a few days ago and was promptly struck down with a horrible bug, consigning me to my bed for about 48 hours.
In the meantime, what had happened? My elder brother mentioned that his son was keen to play Risk, so we dug out the old family edition (about 35 years old) and dusted off the old dice, though updated it by adding some nice Perudo dice of matching colours to the armies and Perudo dice cups (I love a good dice cup). First game went smoothly, but then we played again later and as I’d had a few glasses of wine I didn’t give enough thought to how to level the playing field, as this time I was playing against two rookies. I duly played to win, and thus did. Tears ensued.
The next morning the boys played against each other, and there were mild fisticuffs. Love Risk.
Upon returning home (before starting shaking and other unpleasant things) I again dug out some Lord of the Rings Risk, this time last used about 10 years ago!
This is the same as the original, but on Middle Earth, with special figures (for 1,3,5 instead of 1 and 10) and with a few optional special rules to do with fortresses (+1 to defence) and Leaders (+1 to defence and attack). I also decided some extra special rules where children get 3 extra reinforcements per turn. Predictably, this time I lost (a bit too heavily, so 3 was probably too many…)
Final gaming addition after the family party on the other side was Holiday Fluxx, lots of fun as are all the foolish Fluxx games. Back to school on Monday, ah well!