ohgawdohgawdohgawdohgawd,,,,

I got home today from work to be greeted by the 9 year old monkey saying,

"Your parcel with stuff for that game is here."

And sure enough, I spent the next 15-20 minutes unwrapping and checking out Crucible of Steel (CoS). Thankfully only a few counter blemishes but nothing that actually impacts the printing, just extra care needed when clipping.

Immediately I went online, only to see several blogs had broken the news that Festung Budapest (FB) was available for pre-order. Now I'm not one for duplicate orders of HASLs but maybe this time I might just do so, after missing out on A Bridge Too Far and regretting the temporary poverty ever since.

Other blogs have already posted the PR blurbs and review pics of both CoS and FB so I'll not duplicate their industry. Suffice it to say that my BFP stack of items is starting to scare me and I definitely have to get my act together re the Hozan, Raaco and Box Box storage systems.

The down side is that currently I have to pass on the MMP pre-order blitz of releases that look to be coming out/released at Winter Offensive 2012. I have spousal approval to pre-order but as we live on my salary alone, it's an imperative that i mind the dollars and cents right now to make sure I can cover the probable 6 week gap in between my last pay-cheque at the multi-national bank and the first one at the new position (yet to be confirmed).

So a bittersweet ASL day, but I'm still playing, although no PBeM logs today which is also a mixed blessing.

2012 was ment to be my quiet year for ASL expenditure but Journal 10, AP8, WO3 and Festung Budapest in January/February alone are going to kill that pipedream stone dead. Oh well if the new job pans out, I will have regained 4 hours a day of my life due to the lessened commute which means i could get back to generating hobby income through painting again.

There's always an upside.

Keeping It Positive

The week didn't start particularly well with a meeting at work to advise that my role, and the entire team I work with was being shuffled offshore for the usual reasons. So I'm looking for a new job at the moment, but I won't be unemployed as I can return to my former role at the end of the month if necessary.

In the meantime, I'm heading off to play some Face to Face ASL this evening, DASL 1 Guryev's HQ. This is something of a skills exercise with a less experienced opponent who has played it before but as the Germans and is now looking to take the part of the Soviets.

Guryev's HQ is a scenario I think teaches far more core infantry skills to a newcomer to ASL than most so-called intro scenarios such as Gavin Take, any of the Para module or Fighting Withdrawal from Beyond Valor. The use of opportunity Fire, scouting by half-squad and smoke grenades by the attacker are critical to playing ASL further, and on the defender's part, fire discipline, concealment and knowledge of the rout paths and withdrawing while in contact are just as vital to learn early on.

After tonight's game it's on to the Bearz, but unless there's a pick up game of ASL, I doubt I'll be there past the morning, Then it'll be back home to do the latest round of PBeM moves which have been affected by the aforementioned external events at the beginning of the week. 

Who knows, I may even get a local regular Face to Face game out of this evening, as the person I'm playing lives approximately 6-7 kms away as the crow flies but transport to and from his place is an issue for me as it's only serviced by one public transport bus route and is too much of a real mission to cycle or walk.

I'm looking forward to it and I'm hoping that it's not the only good news I have, particularly as Crucible of Steel hasn't arrived as yet.