Zulu hordes with Trevor

Trevor came round on Friday for a game.  At one time we used to do this weekly, but it's been a long time since we could manage that.  As usual the evening was a mixture of actual gaming and chatter about what we've been reading and buying and so on.

Trevor has been painting up 10mm Pendraken figures for the Zulu wars, with the intention of basing them up for proper big battles, but he has based the first few as individuals for skirmishing.  So we played the One-Hour Skirmish Wargames Zulu scenario, which is a sort of miniature Rorke's Drift.  The British redcoats are taking cover in a redoubt as an endless stream of Zulu warriors rushes up to overwhelm them.  Dead Zulus are replaced after one turn, a little more than one move away from the redoubt (though they still count toward the Zulu morale breaking).

Tiny skirmish action

The luck of the cards was outrageous.  I kept pulling face cards for actions, while Trevor drew 2s & Aces.  Twice the turn ended just as Trevor had one of his redcoats attack my best warrior across the wall of the redoubt; to resolve this the attacker draws two cards and uses the higher of them to beat the defender's one card draw; he pulled a high card, I pulled a low card, then he drew his second card and it was a Joker.  That means that the turn ended immediately without resolving whatever activity needed the card to be drawn, and so my warrior wasn't dead after all.  It sounds like one of those very rare events, but it happened twice in one game.

The fighting continues until one side's morale breaks or until a relief column appears to save the day for the British.  The timing of the relief column is decided by drawing one card at the end of each turn, and when the running total reaches 30 the column arrives.  Trevor drew some terrible cards for this.  He was down to just the lieutenant and the inspiring private Alexander when it finally appeared.  He spent the whole game moaning about his terrible luck (and it really was outrageously bad) right up to the point when he suddenly won.

The OHSW rules are cinematic and generate games that are exciting and fun.  They are massively "swingy", generating very unfair and unlikely outcomes for individual actions with the expectation that they will average out across the game.  The outcome is far from predictable.  But if you are less concerned with playing the odds to maximise the effectiveness of your side and happy instead to effectively watch a Hollywood action movie unfold on the table, then they are worth a look.

The scenarios are frustrating to read.  They are all specific actions, no generic situations.  The terrain setup is disturbingly vague.  In this scenario "the only cover [is] small outcops of rock and giant ant hills".  There are no clues about how many to place, how large, where they should be, whether they slow movement or block line of sight, just the assumption that they probably provide a 1 or 2 card bonus for Zulus being shot at when next to them.

There is a chapter in the book on point values, but those costs don't give the numbers stated in the scenarios.  For example, in this scenario the British force is correctly costed at 18 points, with no extra points for being in a redoubt, but the Zulu force is 24 points, not the 31 stated in the scenario.  Perhaps the extra 7 are the price of limitless replacements and a 9" movement rate?  In effect the book might as well not include points at all, and instead say "write your scenario and play it a dozen times; if one side keeps winning then change something in the other side's favour".

Until next time, health & happiness to you all.

A sample story using Plotto

I mentioned [here] that I'd read Plotto, but didn't talk much about how it works.  Here is something of a worked example to show just how fascinating it can be.  You may wonder why you'd be interested.  Well, a lot of people play solo role-playing games with a bunch of random events and so on to fill in the story between the fighting, and Plotto works in a very similar way.

Plotto - the Master Book of All Plots

To start with, the book recommends that you choose an A clause (the hero), a B clause (the action) and a C clause (the outcome).  It sounds a bit like the old game of Consequences.  They start on p14 of the book.  There are 15 A's, 62 B's and 15 C's to choose from.

I was looking for a rom-com (don't ask, I just was), so I selected A4. An Erring Person  B23. Becoming involved in a complication that has to do with mistaken judgment and suspicion.   C8. Achieves a spiritual victory.

Now I want to add some detail to that story.  Each of the B clauses has a set of suggested conflict situations that can take place (in an index on p20, if you're trying to follow this with the book).

For B23 I am offered Love and Courtship 21, 177, 328, 365.  These are listed fully on p30.  I'll take the obvious conflict 21:

(4a) (1167) (1168) (1169) (1170)

A meets B and thinks she is a transgressor; and B, on her part, thinks A is a

transgressor * A and B, each thinking the other is a transgressor, nevertheless fall

in love ** 

(69) (97)

A and B are the standard identifiers for the male and female lead characters.  There are a pageful of supporting characters, such as A-2, a male friend of A.  The story will make a lot more sense when the characters have names.  I'll call our Romeo and Juliet something more English, like Rick and Jill.

The bracketed numbers at the beginning are situations that might come before this one, and the ones at the end could come after this situation.  The * and ** divide this into two sections, and you may only want one part of the situation.

OK this situation raises lots of questions for me to resolve into specifics: what is wrong with Rick's judgement?  What kind of transgression do Rick & Jill suspect?

Maybe this is chick-lit and our hero A is the woman, she has lousy taste in men (always picking the wrong sort) and suspects that Rick is another one.  But what kind of transgression has Rick suffered from women in the past?  Gold-diggers?

Just like a solo role-playing game, you are left to fill in these details out of your own imagination.  Or you could make a list of six possibilities and roll dice for it.

The method suggests further situations to take place before & after this one, which may make the story clearer. The mention of conflict 69 to follow 21 suggests an altogether different kind of transgression:

(27) (1146) (1173) (1175) (10c) (14b) (147) (61)

A, in love with B and thinking B has committed a crime (1172) (1206) (1292) (1293a, b, c), 

declares to the police that he committed the crime himself (828) (833) (787 ch A to B)

This looks more like A is an incompetent detective, mistakenly suspects B of something and confesses to the crime himself or herself (which is a lot to do for a complete stranger).  Now situation 21 already told us that B must believe that A is guilty of something, too.  How will they get out of this one?  Presumably the real culprit(s) must be discovered (or the crime be found not to have actually happened).

At this point I had a flash of inspiration and came up with a working title: Do you take this Mann? (featuring a stolen bust of Thomas Mann, the author of Death in Venice)

Maybe it will help if I add some more situations to happen before this point in the story, so I check the suggested predecessors of 21: 4a is the first suggestion sets up the detective angle.  A, seeking to uncover duplicity, falls in love with B, supposed to be guilty of the duplicity - maybe A is looking for a thief, expects an interview with a suspect and some mix-up has her meet B?  Later she can visit B and find a replica of the stolen thing boldly displayed in his home.

This other predecessor to 21 takes the same direction: 1168

(599) (1161 ch A-4 to A-2)

A, inspired by altruistic motives, assumes the name and character of A-2, using

A-2’s clothes and other belongings, and seeking to carry out an enterprise begun

by A-2 * A, posing as A-2, does not know that A-2 is a transgressor ** 

(603a) (822 ch B to A-2) (1044a)

Now we've got a possible mix-up.  Rick goes on a blind date in place of his friend Tony, just intending to let the girl down gently.  Tomy's mother is always trying to set him up and he has work to do that night (stealing the maguffin), which is why he asks Rick to cover for him.  In fact the next meeting could be at Tony's home and it could be the real maguffin on the shelf, not even a replica.

Now detective constable Jill doesn't even have to confess.  If she was the blind date then she has become Tony's alibi !  That won't go down well at work.

How do things develop from here?  And if Jill doesn't confess, why does Rick think she did it?

833

(1334c) (1337)

A sifts the circumstantial evidence of a crime in an attempt to discover the perpetrator 

(1371) (1413a) (1449)

Maybe she didn't confess?  What if it was a 1st edition of the book Death in Venice by Mann, and on the date they talk about how she's never read it and so Rick lends it to her, not realising it's stolen?  Now it's got her fingerprints on the cover and she can be caught red-handed with it...

Although why would anyone be in her flat to look at it?  She could have a boss or a colleague who's trying it on, decides to drive her home after a difficult interview (when she offers the suspect an alibi), and invites himself in for cofee.  He spots the book on the coffee table.

Meanwhile the real thief (Tony) is trying to arrange a buyer for the book, which must come back & bite Rick sooner or later.

1371

(l290a ch A to A-5) (1334c)

A is positive, in his own mind, that his friend, A-2, has been murdered by A-5 * A suspects A-5, seemingly an honest man, of a crime, and tries to prove him guilty ** 

(1222a ch A-3 to A-5) (1413a) (1456a) (1413 ch A-3 to A-5)

A-2 (Tony the thief) was trying to sell to A-5 (let's call Victor Cranborne).  Now we've got Tony giving Rick his keys to make the blind date believable.  Tony's mum called to set him up while the two men were in the pub, so Rick has to be the thief convincingly and then the blind date (Jill the detective) can convincingly tell Tony's mum how it went.  Rick goes back to return Tony's clothes when Jill arrives to take him in for questioning.  Tony's mum calls Rick to say she's worried about her son who's not been in touch...

How does Rick get a lead on the buyer?

1413

(a) (1302 ch A to A-5) (1305) (1334c)

A, by mind-reading, secures a confession from a transgressor, A-5 (1451d) (1461b

ch AX to A-5)

(b) (1097b ch A-2 to A-5) (1261 ch A-3 to A-5)

A, a detective, unmasking A-5 as the leader of a criminal gang, finds that he

cannot secure A-5’s arrest as the police authorities refuse to act * A discovers that

A-5 is a government secret service man, merely posing as a criminal in order that

he may secure an advantage in prosecuting his work for law and order ** (1222a

ch A-3 to A-5) (1228 ch A-3 to A-5)

I'll skip the mind-reading option, but 1413(b) looks promising. Once Rick somehow identifies A-5 (Victor Cranborne) as the buyer, he takes it to the police and they aren't interested.

That feels like enough twists and turns for my little brain.  Now I just need Plotto to help me tie up the loose ends, save Tony from Victor, and allow Rick and Jill to fix a second date with no lingering suspicions...

That can be the subject for another post, and perhaps a written-out version of the final version of the plot that I choose.

Until next time, health & happiness to you all

Holiday in Paignton plus Warfare 2024

No blog posts for a while, because we've been on holiday in Paignton for a couple of weeks.  In November?  Are we mad?  Actually we had two weeks of dry weather, warm for the time of year (16C in the first week, down to 11C by the end) and a fair amount of sunshine.

I got to see the cirl buntings in Brixham, watch seals from Goodrington Esplanade and see gannets diving for fish off Berry Head.  There were a lot of cooked breakfasts, meals in the pub and other creature comforts, along with a lot of shopping.  I got a new leather belt, just like the one I bought on Newton Abbot market over 20 years ago (and am still wearing).  There was also a significant haul from the charity shops, including a lot of CDs and DVDs that many shops are practically giving away at the moment.

Some relevant finds in charity shops

That lot in the photo cost me less than a tenner.  In fact I spent more on a grilled mackerel breakfast in the Guard House restaurant (which was excellent and well worth the price).  It was a good mix of familiar haunts and new discoveries.  Sad to see Oldway mansion looking so run down; apparently it has been closed since bits of masonry started falling off in 2022.  Originally built for Isaac Merritt Singer, the inventor of the sewing machine, the last time we visited it was in use as the local registry office.  Sue Barker learned to play tennis on the courts outside.

Oldway Mansion looking a bit tatty.  The other side looks worse

While away, I started playing Mike Lambo's Fields of Normandy.  In this book, the player commands a platoon of the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers clearing the Germans from dug-in positions around Caen as part of Operation Epsom.  The first few scenarios are a tutorial and I cleared each of them at the first attempt, getting the hang of scouting, flanking and supporting fire.  The fourth scenario by contrast had me stumped with a srting of 4 successive defeats.

Fields of Normandy, going the safe way

Here you see my stealthy approach,  Starting from the space at the bottom (with the black triangle) I've sent all three sections around the hill, scouting the German infantry squad position to find it looking the other way.  A section has already gone ahead and scouted the position of a second German squad (also looking the wrong way), so the attack should be simple.  There is a third position in the NE corner, still just a question mark.   I played the scenario four times this way and didn't lose a man, but there wasn't quite time to clear all three in six turns.

Eventually I took a chance and rushed straight over the hill into the first German position with the whole platoon.  I got lucky and cleared a light MG position, but it could have gone badly wrong.  As a result, the platoon was on hex further east and a turn sooner, leaving plenty of time to tackle the other two positions more carefully.

There's a surprising amount to think about in such a small scenario.

Drove home on Friday and on Saturday went up to Reading's Warfare show at Farnborough airport with my brother-in-law.  Spent a long time around the trade stands, but better not talk about the haul.  Let's just say that money changed hands, and unlike my companion I managed to stick to my orders and didn't buy any more toy soldiers.  MDF bases, scenic accessories, a rulebook and some special dice are not toy soldiers.  And we don't live in an elastic-sided house.

Most of the pleasure for me in a show like this is to look at the demonstration and participation games.  They are far beyond my ability to paint so many models, build so much fabulous scenery and above all find anywhere in the house to store it afterwards.  But I do like to dream.

Guilford Courthouse with Sharp Practice by Huntingdon Wargame Society

This beautiful layout is a great example.  You'll need to click on the image to see it full-size and appreciate how good it is.  The crown forces are at the far end, and will have to fight through three lines of rebels to cross the whole length of the table and achieve a significant victory.  While staring at the table, I eventually realised that I had met one of the organisers (Mark, on the left) last year at Posh Lard in Peterborough.  So we chatted a little.

There are a lot of familiar faces at a show like this.  I didn't spot any magazine editors this year, but plenty of other faces that I only know from their hobby blogs (or in one case from the television).  Keith Flint was there, which reminds me that one year I must make it to his Cotswold wargaming day.  And I also ran into a couple of Postie's Rejects.

Ray and Lee with some smug-looking bloke.  What's he so pleased about?

It's good to see Ray up and about for an event like this.  He said something on his blog about coming to say hello, so it would have been rude not to.  Actually I saw him at Warfare last year, and got as far as "Hello Ray" just as someone else that he already knew (it may have been Lee) appeared and started talking to him.  I left them to get on with their conversation, thinking we were bound to pass each other again, but it's a big enough show that it didn't happen.  So we got a proper hello this year, before I go back to being just a page-view statistic from Blogger.

I'll just say that there are a number of blogs that inspire me to do better at the hobby, and if I don't leave a comment, that's only because I've got nothing of value to add.

Update: Ray has published a much fuller report on the Warfare show on his blog [here]

So that's a summary of a busy couple of weeks.

Until next time, health & happiness to you all.

AWI 250 project

Next year will see the 250th anniversary of the shot that was heard around the world, and in preparation for a series of anniversary games I have been working on some small, simple scenarios to play with my brother-in-law.

I've initially gone for the One Hour Wargames format to make a short game that we can play a couple of times in an evening and still have some time left over to argue about how it might have gone differently.  Concord is a tough place to start; what kind of result could be counted as a win for the Crown forces?  If they had arrived sooner, without the rebels being tipped off by their network of spies, then they might have recovered some supplies or captured Adams and Hancock, but that depends on factors that would not be played out on the tabletop.  In some ways a search of all the places of interest followed by an orderly withdrawal is as good a result as could be hoped for.

Lexington presents a better scenario for a tabletop battle.  The outnumbered British must keep marching toward Boston, rarely having time to halt and return fire, while the rebels cause as many casualties as possible.  Can the Crown forces reach Charlestown before dark in a state of effectiveness?  Unfortunately the outcome will depend more on lucky or unlucky dice than any cunning plan or wise choices by the commanders.

Instead of these, I started with the first battle that I learned about at school: the incorrectly named Bunker Hill.  The plan was to capture Bunker's Hill, but all the fighting was about Breed's Hill on the way.  Both commanders had choices about the placement of their forces which can significantly affect the outcome.

Opposing forces deployed and ready

I've tried to follow the format of OHW, so that forces could be generated randomly, but also identified the forces that were involved historically (allowing for significant artistic license to fit within a small table and 6 units).  As we tackle more battles the file will grow into a complete scenario book.  The latest version is available [here].

The scenario map

I played the scenario solo a few times to develop it, then Trevor came round and we played twice.  On the first outing Trevor took the rebels and moved his skirmishers back to the North of Charlestown, while placing the artillery and line troops in the redoubt.  My Crown forces advanced within range of the redoubt and halted to fire, clearing the redoubt in a few turns before advancing to complete their mission.

Skirmishers in Charlestown

On the second attempt Trevor put his skirmishers at the South end of Charlestown, with two infantry units in the redoubt and his artillery back on Bunker's Hill.  This time a continuous fire on the Crown forces, focused on a single regiment at a time, saw my regiments break and run one by one without clearing the redoubt.

I'm going to say that this is ready for us to use next June.  I'll keep thinking about how to make a playable game out of Lexington and Concord while I move on to the next campaign.

Until next time, health & happiness to you all.

Hopton Heath solo

I'm continuing to work through Mike Lambo's solo game book Battles of the English Civil War, following my glorious victory at Braddock Down [link].  The next scenario is Hopton Heath, and the book sets the Parliament player (me) the objective of killing the Earl of Northampton.  This is rather removed from the historical battle [see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hopton_Heath] where the Earl died leading a cavalry charge.  However, the Earl's death was just about Parliament's only positive point from the outcome of the battle.

setup and order dice for turn 1

As  you can see, I deployed my force along the ridge (of cork mats) while the Earl of Northampton (hiding behind the trees, top right) set up his "roaring megs" centrally, with horse on both flanks and a scattered foot force strewn all about the field.  That's what happens when you let the dice decide.  My plan is to let my cavalry deal with one wing of his horse first, then shift across to the other wing.  Meanwhile I don't roll enough movement orders (1s to 3s) to advance my infantry.

The Earl manoeuvred his force, with his right wing charging into Brereton's cavalry, but to no effect.

On turn 2 Brereton's cavalry threw back the royalist horse (which left the field on the royalist turn), while Gell's foot troops advanced to the front of the ridge.

The Earl's canon opened fire, but without effect.  However the pikemen hiding in the woods charged into my horse, with supporting fire from a unit of shot, and drove them from the field.  So our losses are even, but my force is still outnumbered, with the uphill task to reach the royalist headquarters and defeat it.

Turn 3, I moved around a bit, not closing with the enemy.  In response, the Earl's remaining cavalry charged up the ridge into my pike - never a good plan, but the only target they could reach.

Turn 4 my troops all converged on the royalist horsemen and utterly routed them.

In the Earl's turn, the canon blew away one of my pike units, while massed musketry routed the other.

Not looking good

At this point my only hope is to send the remaining cavalry wide to the right and then charge the Earl unsupported.  If the royalists are slow to react, I should get two attacks before the light fails, with a slim chance of winning (albeit a pyrrhic victory).

I'm going to raise two comments about the rules now, rather than wait to the end.  Firstly the ability of canon to fire through friendly units, even when they are engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the canon's target.  Those must be very skilled artillerists to judge the elevation so precisely.  And secondly I've noticed that my bold cavalry end-run could get stuck into the Earl's HQ a turn sooner if I send it straight through those trees directly in front of the Earl's position.  I can't find any penalty to the cavalry for charging through a wood.

These are both observations to the effect that the simple rules provided by Mike Lambo are just a little too simple for my taste.  I'm going to send the cavalry around the trees anyway, partly from a sense of what feels right, but also to keep them further from the royalist foot troops, to make sure they are not halted by some roaming block of pikemen.

The cavalry gallop wide and my two units of shot face 3 pikes, 2 shot and 2 canon.  Thanks to the way the royalist forces have formed up in a long column to attack, even a modest push-back sent the leading pike block off the field (because there was no space for it to halt its retreat).

"Roaring megs" blew away one of my two units of shot and now I'm worried that I may not have enough units left, because fewer units mean fewer order dice get rolled each turn and I want to be sure of having a move order for the cavalry.

My remaining shot move around to avoid combat as much as possible, but it does no good and they are taken out by lucky royalist shooting at maximum range.  The royalist pikes start to move toward my cavalry.

On turn 8 my cavalry fail to roll a move order.  The odds against me have just lengthened significantly.

Two moves left to reach the Earl

On turn 9 the cavalry resume their charge; the royalist shot are ineffective, the royalist pike just stand and watch.  One move left to close with the Earl.

I rolled an attack order.  Cavalry can only attack an adjacent target.  The battle is over, the sun sets and the Earl of Northampton holds the field.

Epilogue

The following day I played the scenario again, since the table was still laid out and ready.  The royalist play seemed more aggressive, with both cavalry units together on the Earl's left wing.  The big guns remained a constant threat and for several turns the dice were not my friends.  But eventually the tide of casualties went my way, with three of my units lost to six of the royalist units.  I still had both cavalry left, so I started the same end-run charge tactic and this time the Earl's headquarters was routed on turn 9.

My triumphant cavalry close with the Earl.  One unit already in contact while the other is about to charge through the woods to reach him.

Until next time, health & happiness to you all.

Board Game Lounge

Last night I went out to a local community centre for an evening of board games.  They are now doing this twice a month on slightly different formats.  As usual, I went with my brother-in-law (or maybe he isn't - you can read me waffle on about in-laws [here] if you're interested).  We were there a little before the 7pm start time, because the car park fills up quickly.  As a result we helped set up the hall.

Anyway, it was a good evening out.  It's also very good value.  For £3 you get the use of the hall (tables and chairs) and free coffee or tea, along with one ticket for the prize draw.  Extra tickets are 50p each and there are boardgames for prizes.  Because there were only two of us, we stuck up our sign for 3 more players and were soon joined by a young guy on his own and a couple who live a few miles away.  Everyone was friendly and we enjoyed a couple of games in the 3-hour session.

Heat - US track

First we played Heat by Days of Wonder, which Trevor had brought.  None of us had played this one before, but Trevor had read the rules and watched some videos of how to play.  We played the two-lap US track.  It took about half a lap for people to remember to claim the advantages of being at the back and to remember that they could boost their speed at the cost of some heat in the engine.  By the closing half-a-lap they were recklessly charging around tight corners far too fast and just hoping to make it past the finish line.

For the record, I was in last place on the starting grid and finished second-to-last, so I count that as a positive result.  There were times that I had the lead, but just couldn't find the high cards for the final dash.  The handicapping system works well to keep the cars close together on the track (one square extra move for last place and slipstream benefits when catching another car), and the last two corners saw all 5 cars bunched up into 3 sections of track.  It could not have been closer.

Unstable Unicorns

Our other game was Unstable Unicorns, which looks like it should be all fluffy fun for little girls, but is actually quite mean as the players gang up to pick on whoever looks to be in the lead.  You win by having 7 unicorns in play, and once Jem became the first player to have 6 unicorns down the rest of us were most unpleasant to him.  As a result, Trevor and I managed to catch up with him and reach 6 as well, and then the meanness was spread around more evenly to take us back down to 5.  Eventually I got lucky with a ginormous unicorn (counting as two) at a moment when all the defensive cards had been used up to avoid Jem winning.

This is probably a game that favours regular players who will recognise the card combinations and winning moves, but it was the first time any of us had played, so nobody had an advantage.

At 10pm the raffle was drawn, and I think six games were handed out as prizes, but not to any of our table.  Then there were three lucky people who played Higher or Lower to win a free admission to the next session.  Only one of them won it.  And then there was half an hour to finish off any games that were still going and head for home.

Until next time, health & happiness to you all.

Third quarter reading

Another quarter ends, and I've not forgotten how to read, but haven't maintained much of a pace.

Richard Coles - A Death in the Parish

I mentioned [here] that the reverend Richard's first novel had rather too much about what a vicar's life involves, but I was hoping he might have got that out of his system and settle down to focus on a whodunnit.  Sadly for me in his second novel he doubles down on the ecclesastical side, by adding a second vicar to the story.  This allows for plenty of discussion about different kinds of vicar with differences in their beliefs and different views on how to serve their parish.

In contrast, the whodunnit aspect seems even thinner than the first novel.  There are two deaths in the parish (or in the next parish), but Canon Clement seems to form no theories and follow no red herrings.  It probably depends what you look for in a crime novel, but I was expecting a number of plausible suspects with motives and questionable accounts of their whereabouts, and a smattering of false or inaccurate statements, so that the reader can play along and try to work out the culprit before the detective collars him or her.  Thank goodness there's a real police detective in the story to sort things out.

Randall Monroe - What If?

I'm a big fan of the XKCD web comic [xkcd.com].  Even after such a long time, Randall Monroe still manages to find new laugh-out-loud humour for geeks like me.

The book was a mixture.  There were surprising questions like how long could you surprise in space if you were inside a nuclear submarine.  There were fascinating ideas that had not occurred to me, like the rule of thumb for how many pronounceable combinations of letters can exist in a particular length of word.  On the other hand, there were some very odd assumptions between the question and the answer: what if the world stopped spinning?  The answer assumes that the planet stops suddenly but the atmosphere continues to rotate, which raises the question of what kind of action could cause that?  Would it be more likely for the planet's rotation to slowly decrease to an eventual halt, and the atmosphere with it?

So a mixed verdict, with brilliant moments and frustrating ones combined.

Robert Thorogood - The Queen of Poisons

This is the third in the series of Marlow Murder Club novels.  We've had a story with airtight alibis, and a locked-room mystery.  Now we have a murder where all the suspects were in the room and nobody saw it.  It's great fun and my only gripe is that the amateur detectives spent too much of the novel bouncing from one suspect to another and being wrong each time.  I know it's a trope of cosy crime, because my friend David was moaning about it at the reunion, but it felt like the old saying "at least a clock that has stopped tells the right time twice a day".

Robert Thorogood always plays fair by the reader, and the murder scene contained all the clues to questions that puzzled the amateur detectives for the first half of the book.

Greg Costikyan - Uncertainty in Games

This wasn't the book I was expecting.  It was mentioned in a discussion about game design, and appeared to be a recommendation for people who fuss about what kind of randomness to use, percentile dice, buckets of six-sided ones, different shapes for different units (with bigger dice effectively adding as plusses) and so on.  But that's not what it's about at all.

Costikyan's point is that all the interest in a game is about the unpredictable outcome (or in a few cases an unpredictable route to the inevitable outcome).  That's why nobody over the age of about 10 plays noughts and crosses (or tic-tac-toe in the USA).  Some games rely on a player's skill (e.g. throwing darts at a board), or the fact that there are too many choices to analyse fully (like chess), or random factors like cards or dice, and this book is a survey of what kind of uncertainty applies to each game.  It covers board games, computer games, a broad range.  I found it interesting to read, despite being nothing like what I expected.

Tom Hindle - Murder on Lake Garda

This was a birthday present and the location (Lake Garda) was somewhere I've been on several holidays, so the description of the setting brought back memories.  There are several crimes in the story and the connections between them create an intriguing situation.  Something out of place is a clue, but to which crime?

Disappointingly for me the novel jumps about from one character's point of view to another, using maybe half of the key characters to tell the story.  It's a way for the author to tell us about the history of the characters' relationships when they reflect on how they find themselves in this situation, without having to contrive a conversation where they might talk about it.  Unfortunately, when the character wonders who could have committed the murder it becomes a way of removing suspects from that crime, which is a shame.  As a result, even with important information only being available late on, I was already shouting the solution at the main amateur detective and wondering how she could fail to see something so obvious.

In fairness the story maintains interest even after the culprit(s) are identified, because there are still armed criminals on the loose for the other characters to deal with.  But I still can't recommend this one as whole-heartedly as I'd hoped.

Until next time, health & happiness to you all.