Variable Pig was probably the first time in my life I was grateful that United had (once again) ......

Variable Pig The Red Holstein Husum Issue

The “N’Awlins” issue Featuring “Polar

Pig” 149, “The Universe Is A Pink

Blancmange Called Simon” 67 and on-

the-shelf vol. XVI, issue 18.

Variable Pig – Red Holstein Husum

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VARIABLE PIG (RED HOLSTEIN HUSUM)

POLAR PIG 149

Welcome to another, slightly tardy edition of Variable Pig. I don’t seem to have had much time to work on the zine this winter, despite having been forced inside for much of February and early March by the snow and brutal cold. It’s hard to decide whether this winter has been worse than last years, although as I look out at the snow falling again on the first day of spring, I have to wonder. We didn’t get as much snow as last year, but it has been colder and again, once the snow arrived, it never melted. Fortunately, I had a business trip to escape some of the bad weather. This year, in addition to my regular trip to Vegas and the World of Concrete, I was also asked to present a short course on additives at the Waterborne Symposium in New Orleans the week after. I prefer not to travel two weeks in a row if I can avoid it, but decided to go straight to New Orleans after Vegas, rather than risk travel delays and flight problems in the North East. This meant I had the weekend in New Orleans, one week before Mardi Gras and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Waterborne Symposium took place at the huge Sheraton Hotel, near the waterfront and situated on Canal Street, just outside of the French Quarter. The Taxi from the airport was unable to bring me all the way to the hotel as the road was blocked by carnival parades and people celebrating, so I had to walk about 7 blocks. This was probably the first time in my life I was grateful that United had (once again) lost my bags and had to deliver them the next day. I spent Saturday wandering around the French Quarter. It’s not as big as I had expected, but I really enjoyed all the decorated balconies, street musicians and flowers. I found my way to Jackson Square, which reminded me a little of Paris, as the square was full of artists with paintings and other artwork on display. There was a crowded restaurant to one side of the square, but I was able to find a table near the window so I could watch the world go by while drinking my Voodoo Juice and enjoying Jambalaya, Crawfish pie and Gumbo. After lunch, I ambled up to Bourbon Street to take in the atmosphere (not too wild in the early afternoon) and some of the parades. I was quite successful in catching beads and other throws. I returned to the hotel, unpacked and relaxed a little before returning to Canal Street for dinner and more parades.

I began Sunday by strolling down to the waterfront to view the Mississippi river and spot some paddleboats. There was a newish shopping arcade near the riverfront, that reminded me a little of the Red Brick Warehouse in Yokohama, but sadly it was closed, so I wandered along the river to the Café Du Monde for breakfast and their famous beignets. There was quite a long queue, but there was an excellent three piece of young musicians playing outside that kept everyone well entertained.


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The food was good to and with the sugar rush from three beignets, I wandered along to the excellent covered market to look for some souvenirs. It’s quite a big market with plenty of interesting stalls and things to see, so I spent more time there than I expected, so I stopped for an alligator Po’boy for lunch. After lunch, I continued my explorations in the neighboring district of Faberge Marigny, before heading back to register for the Symposium at the hotel. However, my route was blocked in Bourbon Street by yet another parade, this time a science fiction themed pet parade which was quite bizarre. Bourbon Street was a little more lively and there were plenty of interesting characters to see. Once registered and recovered, I returned to a restaurant I had spotted on Bourbon Street for another really excellent meal (the Boudin sausage was probably the culinary highlight of my stay) at an open fronted restaurant with a very loud and enthusiastic brass band just outside. In case you wondering, if I did any work, the Symposium was excellent. The short course (for new paint chemists) was well attended and the other course teachers very good. It was my first time presenting the additives short course and I think it went very well, although I have a number of ideas for improvement next year. The Symposium itself was also excellent, with some really good and detailed technical papers (sadly not a given in my industry) that really made me think. There was also a table top exhibition where we exhibited and enjoyed pretty good traffic. Most evenings were free, so my colleagues and I continued to enjoy the excellent food and atmosphere of the city; the open air jazz café was wonderful. There was also a highly enjoyable, spy themed reception on the Wednesday where people had to find certain items carried by guests, who would then stamp their pass books for the appropriate item. If you completed the pass book, you were entered into a draw for various prizes. I wore the Fedora and really enjoyed the event – it was a very successful mixer. All in all, I really enjoyed the whole event (the only downside was that Jacqueline wasn’t there to enjoy it with me) and would highly recommend New Orleans as a place to visit. Whoever had the bright idea of organizing a quality Technical Symposium in the week before Mardi Gras in New Orleans was a genius. Back in the frozen Northeast, Jacqueline and I have continued to volunteer at the Church homeless center every Thursday night. Jacqueline and I help with the check in, making sure everyone gets bedding and keeping order until the overnight volunteers arrive. I have also helped with some of the organization of the shelter while Jacqueline has helped do the laundry once per month – this is not a small job! Our average numbers have been down slightly on last year, although we are still averaging around 40 guests per night. Sadly, there have been more problems this year, although mainly at some of the other volunteer churches. This year, we have had to ban 10 guests from the program (we have had > 110 different people stay at the Cathedral this year) for various reasons, many probably related to drugs. The laundry is one of the toughest jobs for volunteers and we have had problems finding volunteers for this. Someone suggested using another charity service that employs handicapped people for many different jobs, including a laundry operation. This sounded like a win – win scenario, so I spent some time making arrangements and coordinating the service, only for it all to fall through when they found a needle hidden in the bedding. To say I was annoyed would be an understatement; this was the only time that this had happened, but understandably the charity was unwilling to continue. We recently found another service that could partly help but this will be another concern for next years program. My knee is recovering well. I finished the course of physiotherapy which helped a lot and I plan to join our company fitness center to continue the strengthening exercises I was practicing. I restarted bowling after the New Orleans trip and have been doing quite well. I have been forced to slow down my action, but once I adapted to this, it has helped with my accuracy. This week, I scored my highest ever series with 573 in three games; I had no open frames in the opening game of 199, although scoring 8 off the last ball was mildly frustrating.


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We have quite a few concerts and events lined up this year. Next week, we will go the State Theatre in Easton to see a musical version of Jekyll and Hyde, which should be fun. There are some really good restaurants in Easton, so we plan to make a really good day out. We are also going to see Nightwish again, this time down in Philadelphia. This will be the third time we will have seen them, each time with a different singer. I believe that Floor Jansen is closer in style to Tarja than Anette was, but we shall see. I will also be going to see All Time Low with Hannah in Bethlehem. I’m not sure about this, but they are one of her favorite bands and certainly less hard core(and more musical) than most of the bands she likes. We’re also going to see Henry V at the Shakespeare Festival in the summer. We kicked off this round of cultural events with two concerts in two days last month. The first up was Uriah Heep in Sellarsville. I last saw Uriah Heep at the Lanchester Polytechnic in Coventry back in 1985 (or 86) when I was still a student at Warwick, and they weren’t a new band then. However, they have survived and still have much of the same line-up, which showed. Jacqueline came along as there is an excellent restaurant right next to the Sellersville theatre, but we both really enjoyed the show. They played quite a few songs from their new album, interspersed with many classics. Highlight for me was the sing-along “Lady in Black” although the “Easy Living” encore was also rocking. The only thing missing was “The Wizard”. Richard is partly to blame for my renewed interest in the Heep; he put “July Morning” in one of his Lyric Quizzes together with a link to a live version of the song. Next evening, it was Mike and the Mechanics at the Bethlehem Sands event center. Jacqueline loves their “Living Years” album and when we saw that this was that album’s anniversary tour, we couldn’t miss it. We had great seats on the second row and enjoyed a great concert. Personally, I would have liked a few more Genesis songs (“Home By The Sea” anyone) thrown in, but it was a very good show. The support act was Steve Poltz, who wrote “You Were Meant for Me” (sang by Jewel), and also very good. He only played four songs, amidst one very long monologue about an incident that took place with him and Jewel. I can’t remember the details, but it sounded highly dubious until we confirmed the story the next daty. He closed with an amazing piece played with just guitar, voice and echo box (repeater) that built up into an incredibly detailed sound. Meanwhile, life continues much as before. Hannah is still busy at college and Burger King and spends most of her weekends away with friends. She has a boyfriend in Philadelphia who we see occasionally. Thomas is back at LCCC and seems to be doing well. He has already signed up to work at Dorney again. Jacqueline is very busy with the choir, with a number of concerts coming up over the busy Easter period. This issue sees the end of the current 6 Nimmt game and a few Railway Rivals games coming to a close. I’ve not included any game starts this issue, but will probably try and prepare before next deadline. If anyone knows of any new RR maps we can use, please let me know; if not, I might raid my cupboard for some of my old maps. That’s about it for now – enjoy your spring everyone.

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Letters Colin Bruce Thanks very much for Pig 148. Your Thanksgiving experiences could make you a fortune if you start writing heart (and oven) warming sitcom scripts!

I think I’d have more success with some of our tales from Japan.

Conrad von Metzke Hope Christmas wasn’t too messy and cold. Ditto New Year.

Christmas was quite relaxing and successful, at least I think it was. The cold and snow waited until

February.


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Murray Egan Sorry to hear that our most revered holiday (yes, Black Friday) here in the US didn't pan out with the door buster surprises of last year. As my wise father always reminds me: "well son, you need a few of those to make the good ones look good". Emma went out with a girlfriend at some obscene hour in the morning and came back with some frilly things I didn't need to see. As for me, I really enjoyed the lie in.

The lie-in on Black Friday is our usual plan - we will probably revert to it next year. The only real

surprise was that it was Thomas shopping, but Hannah shops most days so wouldn't know the

difference. Allan Stagg I hope all is well with you and the family. What sort of winter are you having - not too harsh, I hope. Winter has not fully arrived in Milton Keynes yet, Although other parts of the country have seen much more snow, ice and gales.

The timing of your question about the weather was perfect - I received your email after I finished

shoveling the 8 inches of heavy wet snow that fell early Saturday morning from off our drive! Lots

more followed…. Richard Smith Hope you’re coping with the arctic weather in eastern USA. I woke up to a light dusting of snow this morning but luckily it had melted by the time I went out to the car, phew!

We’ve had plenty of practice. Murray Egan Snow-greetings Jim, I'm sitting here (in Atlanta) watching the news on the internet and it seems like the east coast is on the verge of collapsing under the weight of the new-fallen snow there. I hope that you and Jacqueline are not being hit too badly?? (Hard to tell from the pictures if it is hitting all the way back in Allentown, or just on the coastal areas). This morning I saw the mayor of New York describing a real apocalypse situation there. Our prayers are with you and your family.

Fortunately, the storm passed us by. Driving was very unpleasant, but it was so cold, I don't think the

snow was ever heavy enough to really settle and cause problems. I think we got maybe 2 - 3 inches of

very light, powdery snow in total. Tony Bayley Oh joy, just utter and deep joy !!!! Joy as deep as the snow we don't have here...not even 1 flake !!!

Tony was referring to his game cards, but he certainly captured my reaction as the February cold went

on. Steve Guest Just to confirm that this year’s Superbowl weekend is in Oxford Jan 31st – Feb 3rd. Let me know your expected attendance/arrival time. (This is also input for beer order). In theory any (reasonable) time is ok from the Friday. Can you also let me know if I’ve forgotten anyone or if you think anyone else should be invited.

Thanks for copying me in. Sadly, I definitely won’t be able to make it (as you probably guessed) as I'll

be spending the weekend in New Orleans ahead of a conference. I don't think I should have any

problem finding a good bar to watch the game, although I will miss the games. David Cowie Can't decide if I should be sad that you can't make it over here or jealous that you'll be watching the Super Bowl (TM) in a bar in New Orleans ...

Actually, I got it wrong - I thought Superbowl was the second weekend in February. I was at home for

the Superbowl and watched the first half of the game at church as part of their usual fundraiser, before

snow forced us home. They had a chilli cook off competition as part of the fund raser, but hopefully

that makes you feel less jealous.... David Cowie Church would seem to offer fewer opportunities for drinking tequila and shouting. Less jealous now :)

Indeed, although we did have beer and wine (and snow!). Murray Egan We just had a big snow storm blow through this SuperBowl weekend, and Emma got a snow day from school, Sue as well from the Junior College. For some reason I didn't get it off. (And this, is "Penance" being paid by the Salesperson for the last proposal he wrote with the shady discounts, said the English professor to his students).

So that’s why the winters have been so bad!


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Tony Critchley February already? what happened to January? Just caught up with the Superbowl - cracking game with bit of a crazy finish, worth watching. And the half-time show was pretty spectacular too!

I missed the half time show due to a weather event, but the game was certainly crazy. Jason Asker Stayed up to watch the superbowl, and feel pretty good on just 3 hours sleep. It normally hits me on Tuesday, but an early night to night will hopefully counter act that.

Hope you enjoyed the game – it was certainly one of the more interesting Superbowls. Harv Barker Well I called it, the Panthers nose dived out the playoffs, and I was rooting for the Seahawks in the Superbowl, so I could see that coming, but just not in that spectacular style. What's the opposite of a "hail Mary"?

Very good question – a “Carroll clanger”? Mike Townsend Late again. Was a bit crazy last week with being in Germany then off to Superbowl. Only just catching back up now. I guess you saw the game? None of us could believe the play call made by the Seahawks on the last play. Having said that they made a pretty crazy call to get 7 instead of 3 at the end of the 1st half. So you might say – some you win and some you lose!

That’s very true, although one could argue that taking a risk at the end of the first half is radically

different from the final seconds of a game. David Cowie Thank you Seattle for looking like you were going to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and then blowing it at the very last moment, thank you so bloody much.

Yes, that was pretty much my reaction, especially as someone who cheers for “anyone but the Pats and

Cowboys”. David Cowie On a more positive note, the half time show was much better than I had feared. I'm not a great fan of Katy Perry's music (it's mostly harmless), but I know it from the radio, unlike Bruno Mars last year, and she took the effort to put on a proper show. I particularly liked the dancing sharks.

I didn’t think Bruno Mars was too bad, but then I still quite like pop music. They’re both young and

talented, which makes a change from the relics they usually bring out at the Superbowl. Sadly, I

missed Katy Perry’s set due to the weather. Murray Egan Had a good beer at the Superbowl party next door. "Smithwicks" Comes in a Guiness/Harp Irish party pack at Costco. Pretty good taste considering it is bottled in high volume.

It’s been a long time since I last had Smithwicks. It used to be pretty much the only bitter you could

find in Ireland. I don’t know if that’s still the case. Murray Egan Well Jim, I hope that you aren't snowed in, and if so, that you have plenty of English Ale to see you through (by the way, my FAVORITE ale at the moment is: 'London Pride'. yumm!!!!)

Currently, I'm drinking Hawaiian Beer from Kona Brewery whilst I wait for Jacqueline to get some

freebies from her friends who work for Sam Adams. With the wonderful PA alcohol laws, I have to buy

beer in crates of 24 to prevent me from binge drinking! This means that I go to our local beer outlet

(Shangys) and try to find interesting crates with different beers. This usually works well, but in the

winter, these usually include fruit ales, porters and stouts, none of which really appeal. This time, only

Kona offered a set with only ales and lagers, so they got the vote. The crate has nearly run out, so I'll

be shopping again soon. London Pride is a great beer - one of my old locals. Enjoy! Murray Egan Wow James! Beer by the 24 pack??? Now THAT is a thoughtful governmental initiative! Perhaps the theory is that if they can reduce the cost of drinking on college campus by the 'buy in bulk, it's cheaper' mentality then we can actually reduce their on-campus costs. (Says the English professor to his students defining the term Rationalization). Well my friend, I'll let you get back to finishing your Kona party pack.

It’s a State Government initiative, along with many other archaic Pennsylvania liquor laws. These are

slowly fading away as the insanity of these laws finally sinks in. I was able to buy some 6-packs of

different ales at Wegmans (supermarket) last week. I understand that they (and some other

supermarkets) can do this by acting as a restaurant. However, you can only buy 192oz at a time, so the

4 six packs, crate of Yuengling and 4 ciders had to purchased in four separate transactions, each

requiring a scan of our driving license!


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Martin Walker Doubt you'd have heard that the BBC had lost The Open golf to Sky Sports, a pay per view channel, I'm fortunate in that nowadays I subscribe to sky sports but for many years I couldn't afford it and so there's going to be many households who will miss out from 2017 onwards. Peter Alliss was bound to retire soon and so that'll be his swansong but I can't help but feel another part of British sports has lost its soul, Sky bought the rights for £15m a year which is a pittance compared to the English Premiership rights of a billion a year, small change for them.

I’ve never been a big golf fan, but the continued takeover of sports by pay TV is frustrating. I’ve all but

given up on following the Premier League. Andy York Well, the baseball season is looming. The Rangers Caravan comes through town on Thursday and it'll be my first chance to see the new Ranger's Manager and the new Express Manager (last year's manager, Steve Buechele, moving up to the Ranger's Bench Coach). Some of the players scheduled to attend are Andrus, Holland and Chirinos. Looking forward to a fun year!

We're going for 10 games this season and just had the draft to select which games we’re going to.

We’re now planning who to invite. I think the opener is now almost exactly 1 month away. Andy York Good for you, glad you'll get to see Pigs games again this year. Our season starts April 17th so I've three months and a couple of days to wait.

Enjoy – hope the Express do well. Allan Stagg So you found the ice hockey game an interesting experience? Sam has started playing with the adult rec team - the MK Hurricanes - and has had two matches so far. There is no organised league for the team (in contrast to the juniors) although there is an end-of-season tournament. Also, the team are fairly low down the pecking order as far as getting priority for ice time is concerned, with Sam training from 10.15 to 12.15 at night, and some matches not starting until just before midnight. The team are on a 5-game winning streak at the moment, and Sam has played in two games so far. He has not scored any goals, but has been credited with 4 assists, which gives him a healthy 2.0 average.

Good to hear that Sam has been able to continue his hockey and that the team are doing well. The

Phantoms were doing well (much better than their parent Fliers) but their form has nosedived of late. I

will probably go again if they make the playoff to cheer them on. Murray Egan Awesome story on the hockey game. It occurred to me the other night that Ice Hockey is the equivalent to English Rugby. Similar toughness, speed, and not a lot of complaining or over-reffing. Good stuff.

Seems like a fair comment to me, although I don’t know enough on either sport to truly assess if that’s

accurate. Colin Bruce On a more serious note, good to hear that your knee surgery went well. Better stick to tennis and soccer and give up thoughts of grid-iron glory!

My efforts at Grid Iron glory have been limited to throwing a beer keg round at Cropredy and that was

many years ago. Andy York Glad the surgery went well and I hope that you're (literally) back on your feet in full form soon.

Well I’m back on my feet – full form is another matter… Mike Townsend Hope that the knee is doing ok? My shoulder still seems to be strengthening although I do not really exercise it.

I think the strengthening exercises have been really important – I need to restart doing these now the

physio sessions are over. Murray Egan Glad to hear you recovered from the knee surgery. I marvel at your abilities on the pitch, and can only assume that you will be back in the five a side matches soon. Still excellent memories playing in goal with the Air Products 'Team Utrecht' tour.

Ah, happy days. I have finished the physio but think I need to continue building up strength in the knee

before I return to soccer.


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Allan Stagg Sorry to hear about your knee - I hope there is no lasting weakness there, especially for your sports. My bowling league has come to the end of the season - it is the AGM and awards next week, and then the new system starts the following week. I will have finished with an average of 148 - not as good as I would like, but a lot better than when I was bowling in leagues in Paris and Germany, 30 years ago.

My knee is recovering slowly but well, although it didn't enjoy the snow clearing. I do my best to keep

up with all the exercises and stretching and this seems to help. I have restarted bowling and have been

doing quite well – I bowled a 573 series this week (199, 192 and 182) which is I think my best. Murray Egan Emma still Is doing the ice dancing and loves it. This weekend she jumps in a bus to balmy Minneapolis with the rest of her team for her midwest regional championships. Sue and I will watch it on the internet and hope that no one falls. 14 teams are competing for the top 4 spots so they would need an excellent performance to have a chance.

Glad to hear that Emma is still skating and enjoying it. I wish her all the best for the tournament in

Minneapolis. Dane Maslen As one of the cyclists who occasionally helps to clog up the roads in the Meon Valley, I can't help wondering whether my first meeting with Richard might take place at some stage in the future when I find myself draped across his car bonnet. Given that he also mentioned recently driving through Cocking, I should perhaps be alert to danger when next I'm in that area. The A286 between Singleton and Cocking is not, to say the least, one of my favourite roads to cycle, but unfortunately there are very few routes across the South Downs on minor roads, so several times each year I find myself slogging up the hill out of Singleton after we've had a ride to the coast (Bosham is a popular destination for us, very picturesque).

Richard’s actually a pretty calm driver – it’s KD that offers the “enhanced excitement potential” seat

on the Cret’s holidays. Dane Maslen The only redeeming feature of the A286 is getting the sign on the approach to Cocking to light up with a warning to slow down, but as the speed limit is only 30mph and it's after a good descent, it's not much of a challenge. 40mph would require a bit more effort, though there are places where that sort of speed can be achieved simply by freewheeling. On one occasion while cycle-touring in Scotland my route took me on the A939 from Cock Bridge over the pass to Tomintoul, a road I remembered from listening to the radio in my childhood as always being one of the first to be closed by snow in winter. When I arrived in Tomintoul a car driver lent out of his window and the following conversation ensued: "Do you know that you were doing over 50mph on the descent?" "Yes." "You looked like you were hanging on like grim death." "Yes!!"

It’s good to know that some people paid attention to the cover as well as the roads. Dane Maslen Unlike many descents the one to Tomintoul was mostly straight with good visibility of the road ahead, so I only had to brake twice: once when approaching a hump that obscured the road ahead and once when I found myself catching up the car in front. I was of course younger and less cautious back then. It really doesn't do to consider what would happen if a bicycle travelling at over 50mph had a mechanical problem.

Ah, the folly of youth. David Cowie Further to the "Rude Britain" map, here are two number plates that I've seen with my own eyes: BO55 POO and PO02 YOU. Both Range Rovers, for some reason.

Must be bankers… Chris Hibbert Here's an early turn. I tweaked my back at breakfast, so I'm not moving around much today.

Sorry to hear that – I hope you have recovered now. Blaise Hudson New Year started badly, with me in A&E after having a transient ischemic attack (aka a mini stroke) on New Year’s eve. The effect start to wear off after 24 hours and your back to normalish after about a week, worse thing was not being able to drive for a month until I had the all clear.

Very sorry to hear about your mini-stroke. I hope that you have now fully recovered and getting

treatment for any underlying conditions that might have caused it. Our best wishes for a full and

speedy recovery.


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Blaise Hudson So I’m back at work now after a month being driven insane by daytime TV.

I’m sure day time TV is a business plot to force people back into low wage jobs. Conrad von Metzke At this end, everything is boring - weather, general life cycle, etc. To show you just how boring at the moment: I just got home from having a blood test. It is the third day in a row I’ve gone to have this test, but the first two times there was a problem with the doctor’s order and they couldn’t do it until the order was clarified. Since the doctor is in a different building from the lab., this took some time. And why this proves life to be boring is, these repeat trips were FUN. Something different to do! When it gets to that level, you know it’s time to change direction and get a life! So - here are your orders, and then I’m going life-shopping….

Conrad has obviously been affected by daytime TV. Martin Walker Sorry these are a few days late, hard to believe we're into February already. The snow is still hanging around and frustrating my metal detecting, I was out for a couple of hours yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks, nothing much came up but it was good to get out and about.

It’s March now and still bloody snowing! Murray Egan Things are good here. I survived CES in Las Vegas and still have a wallet. Last year's event was a no-show for me because of the polar vortex closing all the Chicago airports down. This year I told myself I would only schedule 4 meetings a day so it was MUCH more reasonable and I wasn't late for any meetings, nor stressed. Will you make it to World Of Concrete this year??

I have a great year - I survived World of Concrete in Vegas before going directly to the Waterborne

(Paint) Symposium in New Orleans. I also have conferences in Detroit, Mexico City and Sao Paolo

already lined up, but sadly Chicago isn’t on the list – a colleague will cover Coatings Trends and

Technologies. I'm glad that you enjoyed CES - anything new and exciting to report. Mike Townsend Sounds like a pretty fantastic conference to me! I would love to go to New Orleans. Certainly not your average US City I think. Did you still see signs of hurricane Katrina?

No, I didn't see any sign of Katrina, but I didn't travel very much. Our hotel was right at the edge of

the French Quarter and I just wandered around that district (plus neighbouring Faberge Marigny)

and the French Quarter is lovely. Lots of artists display their work around Jackson Square which is

great, and the district is full of old houses with decorated balconies. The food is also excellent with

loads of good restaurants and bars. Highly recommended. Howard Bishop Orders were already delayed, but have finally set aside some time to do them last night. There's a knock on the door. It's my son Joe, who's currently on his Uni placement year. "Hi Joe, what on earth are you doing here?" "We're going to see Mark Watson at the Swan [Theatre]. Why are you in your running gear? We're supposed to be there in half an hour" "Arrrrrrggggghhhhhhh" How can you forget something so basic and fundamental? My brain has obviously melted. If he'd turned up five minutes later I would have gone out and he'd have travelled back from Richmond for nothing. I think I need a lie down. Anyway, even more belated ....

I try to keep all my appointments (work and private) synchronized on my work calendar and i-phone. It

doesn’t work perfectly but it does help. Murray Egan Still trying to figure out what Emma wants to do for college next year. She doesn't seem to have much interest in going to visit candidate campuses and so it is tough to gauge. Oh if ONLY she would listen to her parents with the same attentiveness that her mother and father obviously did with theirs. (er, 'uh, cough..)

Good luck with Emma and college. I think the huge range of colleges here must be quite bewildering,

and also disturbing when the huge costs are considered. It was definitely a lot easier in England back

in my day, with the simple UCCA form; not sure how it was for you and Sue. I hope she starts making

some choices soon.


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Murray Egan On the college payments side all I can say is wow! Sue and I went to our first high school college finance night to hear more about the dreaded college FAFSA form... It is insane how complicated they have made the funding for college. I remember getting college loans when I went to school (assisted by my father) but never anything as complicated / expensive as now. Can't imagine what a family with many children would do.

I fully agree with your comments about college loans - the costs are amazing and I really don't know

how people can afford this. Fortunately, community colleges are only $2 - 4K per semester round

here, so more and more people are starting their majors there, getting credits and then finishing at a

transfer college. This is still expensive but much more manageable. It's easy to see why people are

concerned about student debts becoming the next bubble. Carolyn Townsend Hope you are well. Swindon is a little cold at present but the building where I work is about 27-30°C so my body does not know if it is winter or summer. We are threatening to take into work cocktails and sunbeds.

It’s the first day of spring tomorrow, so we’re celebrating with another 6 inches of snow! Michael Pargman I hope everything is fine with you and your family. I've just come back from a great skiing vacation in Northern Italy (Canazei in the Dolomites). We got really good weather most of the days and there was no shortage of snow (but they had to make some of it themselves), and the food was more than ok. The only thing to complain about was the map of the area. It was impossible to look at the map and understand in what direction the lifts and the slopes ran, and even more impossible to be able to see how many lifts you would have to take in order to get back to "your" valley,

Sounds very nice – was it one of those artistic maps that always look nice but are hopeless for

navigation? Michael Pargman So the afternoons were always a bit stressful and exciting. Would we manage to get back in time? One day we didn't, and ended up in the next village and had to take a taxi to get back home. 14 Euro per person did that "mistake" cost us. One of my travel companions had been in the area a number of times and guided the rest of us. Among the things we did was visiting the "hidden" valley from where we had to go ski-joring after horses. Two horses and a wagon pulled around 40 skiers after them, so that we could get back to the regular lift system.

That sounds like fun and I’m not a skier. David Cowie Are you enjoying your cat? Mine is driving me up the wall. I kept him on after Mum died, but I often wish that I had palmed him off onto one of the neighbours.

We enjoy having Stilton a lot. He was a great comfort to Jacqueline last year and is very sociable. He

usually likes to hang around where we are, even sitting at one of the chairs when we eat dinner. David Cowie Another of that damn cat's annoying habits: I'm sitting on the couch watching TV or playing with my tablet or something, and the cat shows up and starts pestering me (by tugging on my right sleeve with his needle-sharp claws). Eventually I give in, and go to the kitchen, where I find that there is food in the cat's tray. The cat then eats the food, sometimes after I encourage him by stroking him. For bonus points, he can find the food by himself when I'm out of the house. For double bonus points, I have a small house, and *I can see the kitchen from the couch.*

Jacqueline can teach you how to cut his claws – this can help a lot. Stilton will often ask you to play

games with him – his current favourite is the piece of yarn


11

David Cowie The problems really started in summer 2014. He was having trouble eating, and was being sick. So I took him to the vet. Medication got him back on his food, but he kept on throwing it up. They took his temperature, prodded and poked him and found nothing, so they said "Try giving him bland food like boiled chicken." Made no difference. Blood test. Found nothing. X-Ray. Found nothing. Another blood test. Found nothing, but they suspected an intestinal irritation. To be certain about this would have required an endoscopy, at a cost of two or three thousand pounds. I can't afford that (well, I could, but I don't love the cat that much), so they prescribed a course of steroids. Cats tolerate steroids very well, so the vets felt OK about dishing them out to see what happens. Victory! He went from vomiting nearly every day to once or twice a week, which is much easier to cope with. Now I just have to deal with him turning my money into cat litter, scratching the furniture, and being a fussy eater (before he was sick he would eat anything). And despite it all, I can't stop myself stroking the useless brute every time he comes within range.

Stroking cats are supposed to be very good for reducing stress and blood pressure. We have a bottle

that can squirt water, that we use to discourage Stilton from things we don’t want him to do – like

walking over the kitchen sides. Richard Smith Meanwhile some good and bad news. My washing machine broke down and as it was fairly new I decided to have it fixed rather than getting a new one which is usually the best bet financially. It is now fixed so I don’t have to “go commando” tomorrow but the engineer didn’t turn up until late in the afternoon so I ended up taking the whole day off work and completing the the production of the paper Pigs.

I hope the repair was under warranty – they can be darned expensive to fix here. Roger Trethewey You have me down for a new game of Robo Rally. I don't recall putting my name down, but I am quite happy to play. Your website doesn't have the rules, and there seems to be several versions, so can you advise where I can get them.

I use the basic rules for this game with none of the expansions. Unfortunately, I no longer have a copy

of the rules but hopefully you can find these online.Richard - can you help with this. Richard Smith I will look at resurrecting the Robo Rally rules web pages that were on the old site. I haven’t had time to fix the old robo rally HTML page (though I will soon and do some other rule updates and additions), but I have managed to rustle up a reasonable PDF version (attached) via a roundabout route.

The rules are now on the website, along with many others. Richard has been busy, Brendan Whyte There is a gamestart for you 3 for Teadance. Rules are in DtC 154, and also here: http://www.variablepig.org/rules/teadance.html. So, for next time, please give me preference lists for the 3 parties (A,B,C) you want to be, and give the parties names (Liberal, Labour, Conservative, is so,… conservative)

This sounds like you might be able to create some interesting and fun variants, depending on the

parties that you choose.

UK Variant:

Labor (as before)

Conservative (as before)

UKIP - gets +1 for both men and women, but only gets 80% of the people attending as the other 20%

are thrown out of the country as unwanted aliens

US Variant:

Democrat: Monday and Tuesday - elections held in Blue states so get +3 for both men and women

Republican: Wednesday and Thursday - elections held in Red states, so get +4 for men and + 2 women

2 player variant only, unless Tom can maybe think of a suitable 3rd party Andy York OwlCon is in Houston, early February (don't have my calendar with me to get the exact dates) on Rice University (the Owls is their team mascot). Very well run con, this is the 30-something one they've had. I've been to it for, maybe, the past ten years. Several years back I started running "Rail Baron" and "Ticket to Ride" games.

This must have been and gone, so I hope you had fun.

http://www.variablepig.org/rules/teadance.html


12

Mike Townsend Yet another epic game of War of the Ring with Frodo destroying the ring ably supported by Mike and Box against the evil Andy and Stuart. As per usual went very close with Sauron being too close for comfort to a military victory. For a while we looked pretty corrupted in Mordor but somehow found a new lease of life and quite nonchalantly threw the ring into the fires of Mount Doom. Had another try at Mage Knight and still seems to be very long for a game that has an apparently simple mechanic but many layered complications added that pile the time on.

We played War of the Ring at last year’s Crets bash, for the first time in many years and had a good

time. I’ve not tried Mage Knight. Mike Townsend Also managed to play Keyflower for the first time which has some very interesting and quite unique bidding game mechanics. We had absolutely no idea who had won until we added up the score at the end (partially as first time of playing for most of us and partially as everyone has unique victory point rules – think big buildings in Puerto Rico). Not sure if that helps to make it a bad game or a good game?

That sounds a bit like the game of Pax Brittanica we played years ago – no idea who won and absolute

shock when it was revealed as they looked totally out of the running. Dane Maslen Having played WITWIKN? under two GMs, I have to say that I found Tom's clues (in the game I played in WIMM?) more helpful than those of the other GM. Having also now run a game of WITWIKN? in DG, I concur with your comment that coming up with suitable clues is not easy.

Some people have a knack of writing good clues – sadly I don’t. David Cowie It probably didn't make the news in the US, but the courier company City Link went bust on Christmas Eve over here. They were our main delivery company at work, so this affected me more than the average Pig reader. My first thought when I heard the news was "We haven't got anything out for delivery, have we?" So I logged in to the website on my iPad, found that everything had been delivered before Christmas, as expected, and relaxed.

Ah, the joys of organization David Cowie With the benefit of hindsight, the surprise isn't that they collapsed, but that they lasted so long. I joined my current employers nearly seven years ago, and within the first month I had been told that City Link were good at delivering things, but not so good at invoicing. Our regular driver told us it was chaos behind the scenes. Then he left, and and we had a succession of other drivers, who seemed to last shorter and shorter times. Every now and again I would see City Link mentioned in the business pages of the papers, and the news was never very good. The most recent owners are reported to have paid a whole pound for the business, which does not suggest a going concern.

Invoicing and collecting payment is pretty important. David Cowie We're currently using Transglobal as a substitute. We used them before for sending things overseas, but they do domestic deliveries as well. Compared to City Link they're in business, but they need to know the size and weight of every box you send. This rapidly becomes irritating if you have to send more than zero items. City Link just wanted to know how many.

Don't know City Link, but maybe our former parcels expert Chris H would know. Something to ask at

Croppers over the odd pint or five of 6X. Murray Egan So, I trust you have the freezer stocked full of Garlic Cupcakes??? Always good to have around whenever Hannah's boyfriend or Thomas' girlfriend stops in! ("so tell me, how ARE you today?" leaning in for a good question). Go ahead and take one of those cupcakes out of the fridge and see if Jacqueline notices ;-)

I'm sad to say we don't have any more garlic (or bacon) cupcakes left, but I'll be happy to send a

shipment to you and Sue next year! It sounds like you might be needing them soon. David Cowie Parcel update: the boss decided to go with UPS (which I'm trying to get her to pronounce Oops!), because their pricing structure was least opaque of the contenders. Compared to dear dead City Link they're in business, but booking things feels terribly long-winded , and I'm hearing mutterings about their invoicing too. Hey ho.

At least I think you can expect them to stay around.


13

Brad Martin Australian politics are going from the bizarre to the absurd. Last year the Mad Monk went on TV to tell the world that he would “shirtfront” Putin at the G20 summit in Brisbane. This was met with widespread ridicule. Then in January he gave Prince Philip a knighthood. He characterised this as a Captain’s Call [a cricket reference?] on behalf of Team Australia. Although some Tory MPs said the senile consort was ‘extremely deserving’ of the gong, others reckoned it was evidence of how out-of-touch Abbott was. Worried that they were going to lose their comfy jobs at the next elections, a call went out for a leadership spill in the Liberal Party. 49 MPs voted for the spill but this was not a majority so Abbott remains prime minister. Now he is busy trying to bolster his position in readiness for the next challenge. Once again he is playing the “terror” card – blaming Muslims for all the country’s ills, and sending more Australian soldiers to fight Islamic State.

I heard about the leadership challenge – sounded like some good, old fashioned dirty politics. The

terror card is sadly all too easy to play – are people starting to get cynical about this in Australia yet? Murray Egan I'm sitting here abusing the wifi of the local Panera bread waiting for Emma to finish her babysitting assignment at 1030pm. 3 little kids at $8/hour all-in. I think if she does this for 27 more years she will have enough money saved up for her first semester at University of Illinois. I read an article the other day that with the raising of minimum wage, and the increased expenses to businesses of universal health care in companies with more than 50 people that it is causing more and more businesses to cut the jobs for young kids, NOT a good trajectory IMHO.

I believe that the counter argument is that raising the minimum wage will allow more people to spend

and inject money into economy. Walmart and a number of other companies have recently raised their

minimum wage, allegedly for this reason. Hopefully wages in general will start to increase soon as the

economy improves. Harv Barker I'd like a side of bacon, please.

Finally on its way… Harv Barker Hi, how are you? Hope you and family all had a great festive season - that's what you're meant to say now, isn't it? Apparently we're not allowed to wish people Merry Christmas! Bonkers.

We did, thank you. The Merry Christmas issue always frustrates me, as it’s a political game (on both

sides) for those with an axe to grind. It’s a phrase frequently used for commercial reasons with little

care for the real origin of the phrase and season. Also, in my limited experience, many people I’ve met

who practice other religions also have no problem accepting this as a well-intended greeting and not

overt proselytization. Murray Egan Take care of yourself James, and my best to Jacqueline and the kids, Andy York Take care, heal up and enjoy the New Year! Kev Lee Happy New Year to you. I'm hoping that 2015 is as good as 2014 was for Saints, Bristol City and Eastleigh.

Thank you. Hope all is well and all the best for 2015 Steve Ham Hope you are well. Sorry, rushed as usual - where does all the time go?

Who knows……? Chris Green Not much going on at this end. See you at Croppers,

Sorry, I just couldn’t resist that link Roger Trethewey Also, for future reference please amend my email address to rogertrethewey ”at” gmail.com (previously rogertrethewey ”at” aol.com). I still check AOL so no problem anyway.

Duly noted, and with that, we’ll wrap this one up.

* * * * *

BY ODDLY POPULAR DEMAND

Turn Five

mailto:[email protected]


14

Player Christmas Carol Christmas Number 1

Christmas Tree

Ornament

Old Testament

Prophet

Sent on 12 Days of Xmas

Part of Knee

Steve Guest

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

Too Much Tinsel Nahum Partridge Patella (31) 173

John Walker

Past 3 o’Clock Too Much Childs Handmade

Obadiah Pear Tree MCL (36) 162

Dane Maslen

Ca Bergers, Assemblons Nous

Let’s Have Another Party

Lights Ahimelech Partridge Knee Cap (30) 162

Michael Pargman

Shine Over The Lake and Beach

Only You Ginger Bread

Nahum Hot Air Patellar Tendon

(28) 162

Richard Smith

Every Star Shall Sing A Carol

Mr Blobby CDs Gad Partridge PCL (34) 160

Howard Bishop

This Endris Night Let’s Have Another Party

Christmas Brain

Nahum Partridge Knee Cap (33) 158

Martin Walker

Away In A Manger He Ain’t Heavy

Chocolates Micah Geese A Laying

Medial Mensicus

(19) 151*

Roger Trethewey

The Seven Joys of Mary

Answer Me Sugar Mouse

Haggai Maids a Milking

Synovial Capsule

(29) 156

Bob Gingell

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Love Me Tender

Model Sleigh

Balaam Partridge Knee Bone

(29) 152

Conrad von Metzke

Kasadya ni’ng Táknaa

Lily The Pink Moose Elisha Partridge ACL (25) 148

Brendan Whyte

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Snoopy’s Christmas

Glass Balls Nathan Gold Rings Knee Cap (28) 147

Tom Howell Silent Night I Feel Fine Nothing Isaiah Gold Rings Lateral Collateral

(33) 144

Harv Barker Good King Wenceslas

Last Christmas

Baubles Noah Gold Rings Knee Cap (27) 144

Murray Egan

Silent Night Feed the World

Star Isaiah Gold Rings Knee Cap (30) 142

Kev Lee

Silent Night Stay Another Day

Star Moses Gold Rings Knee Cap (29) 140

Chris Green

Away In A Manger Merry Xmas Everybody

Tinsel Moses Lords a Leaping

Patella (22) 140

Andrew York

Oh Tannenbaum Long Haired Lover

Galileo Shuttle

Nathan French Hens

ACL (26) 137

Tony Critchley I Saw Three Ships I Hear You Knocking

Lametta Jethro Maids a Milking

Medial Meniscus

(17) 137

Steve Ham I Saw Three Ships I Will Always Love You

Miniature Snowmen

Elisha Ladies Dancing

Patella (31) 136

Arthur Owen

Silent Night Merry Xmas Everybody

Fairy Elijah Partridge Kneecap (33) 134

Brad Martin

Star of the East Lonely the Christmas

Ribbon Gad Hounds Patella (34) 133

Allan Stagg

O Holy Night Ernie Chocolate Decoration

Micah Swans Swimming

Patella (32) 130

Blaise Hudson

The Holly and the Ivy

Mistletoe and Wine

Candy Cane

Esau Gold Rings ACL (25) 130

Jim-Bob Burgess

- - - - - - (17) 129

Jacqueline Reader

O Come All Ye Faithful

Feed the World

Baubles Haggai Lords a Leaping

ACL (18) 127

Chris Hibbert - - - - - - (17) 115

MY CHOICES Little Town of Bethlehem

Mistletoe and Wine

Zwarte Piet

Isaiah Drummers Drumming

Axial Meniscus

(35) 139


15

1. A Christmas Carol? Silent Night (4), Away In A Manger (2), I Saw Three Ships (2), God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (2); Little Town of Bethlehem, Star of the East, Kasadya ni’ng Táknaa (How Blissful Is This Season), Oh Tannenbaum, O Come All Ye Faithful, The Seven Joys of Mary, Ca Bergers Assemblons Nous, Past 3 o’Clock, O Holy Night, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, Shine Over The Lake and Beach (Gläns över sjö och strand), The Seven Joys of Mary, The Holly and the Ivy and Every Star Shall Sing A Carol all score 5.

I think I maybe should have selected Good King Wenceslas as this seems to have disappeared from the

Canon now. Of course, our biggest gripe here is familiar carols sung to different tunes, as Americans

in Europe could also testify. 2. A Christmas number 1. Merry Xmas Everybody (2), Lets Have Another Party (2), Mistletoe and Wine (2), Feed the World (Do They Know It’s Christmas) (2), Too Much (2); Only You, Mr Blobby, Lonely this Christmas, Scaffold – Lily the Pink, Long Haired Lover from Liverpool, Stay Another Day, Snoopy’s Christmas, Answer Me, Ernie (the Fastest Milkman in the West), I Hear You Knocking, I Will Always Love You and I Feel Fine all score 3. Last Christmas and Love Me Tender score 0.

Given the ‘popularity’ of Saint Cliff in this hallowed tome, hopefully my guess should be assured of a

good score. I wonder how many modern entries we will get (Lady Gaga’s fairly pornographic

Christmas Tree anyone?). I could not find any reference to “Love Me Tender” as a Christmas number

1, either in the UK or US, but I will accept an appeal for this with a reference. Elvis’ “Return to

Sender” was number one in 1962. “Snoopy’s Christmas” was number one in Australia and New

Zealand in 1967. Amazingly Wham’s “Last Christmas” (or it’s many covers) has never made number

one anywhere, despite being the top selling Christmas single of all time in Germany. 3. A Christmas Tree Ornament? Glass Balls / Baubles (3), Star (2), Tinsel (2), Chocolates /Chocolate Decorations (2), Ginger Bread, Lights, Sugar Mouse, CDs, Zwarte Piet, Ribbon, Moose, Christmas Brain, Shuttlecraft Galileo Ornament, Sugar Mouse, Model Sleigh, Lametta, Child’s Handmade Ornament, Miniature Snowmen, Candy Cane, Fairy and nothing all score 4.

We had two, furry wire ornaments based around Sinter Klaas’ fairly controversial helpers when I was

growing up. I think my parents picked them up when we lived in Holland in the 60s. I think they still

have them. I suspect that this will be a low scoring category given the potential for odd heirlooms to be

dragged out. Lametta is a specific type of tinsel from Italy. 4. An Old Testament Prophet? Isaiah (3), Nahum (3), Micah (2), Haggai (2), Gad (2), Elsiha (2), Nathan (2), Moses (2); Obadiah, Balaam, Jethro, Noah, Esau and Elijah all score 4. Ahimelech scores 0.

Isaiah was in our church lectionary this year, so this was an easy choice. Ahimelech was a Hebrew

High Priest, but I could not find reference to him as a prophet. 5. Something Sent During the 12 Days of Christmas? Partridge in a Pear Tree (7), Gold Rings (6), Maids Milking (2), Lords Leaping (2); Drummers Drumming, Hounds Running, Pear Tree, French Hens, Swans Swimming. Ladies Dancing and Geese Laying score 8. Hot Air scores 0.

I wonder if we will get all 12 entered. I allowed Pear Tree as a separate answer as everyone else sent

the partridge. I could not find any reference to hot air, so this scores 0. Hounds Running features in a

1900 version of the song. No takers for the Turtle Doves or Pipers Piping. 6. Part of the Knee? Patella / Knee Cap / Knee Bone (12), Anterior Cruciate Ligament or ACL (4), Axial Meniscus, Medial Meniscus (2), Medial Cruciate Ligament or MCL, Posterior Cruciate Ligament or PCL, Patellar Tendon, Lateral Collateral Ligament and Synovial Capsule all score 13

The axial meniscus of my left knee is sadly no longer what it once was, but it still reminds me that it’s

there. And now, the players comments section Andy York 01) "Oh Tannenbaum" (yes, as a child my brother and I performed this in German at a school event) 02) "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" (glad I Googled this as I didn't know of the UK/Ireland practice - I would have went in an entirely different direction) 04) Nathan (you didn't say it has to be someone who has a book in the Bible, so this prophet is the one who passes on the Lord's pronouncement to David after he arranged Uriah's death) 05) Three French Hens (wild guess on this) 06) Anterior Cruciate Ligament/ACL (nasty thing to injure/tear) Kev Lee 2. Stay Another Day - East 17


16

Conrad von Metzke 1. Kasadya ni’ng Táknaa (it’s from the Philippines, and that’s the title in the original Cebuano language; a Tagalog translation is on line)

I think I’ll check that with my friend Asha in Makati City…. 2. "Scaffold.” (I never knew until five minutes ago that there was a UK category of “Christmas Number Ones.” Not that I really care….)

I’m surprised they don’t make more of it in the US, although I must admit that I don’t follow the charts

much now. I interpreted your answer as “Lily the Pink” sang by the Scaffold which was a Christmas

number one. Let me know if I need to take some medicinal compound for this. 3. Moose. (And if you try to disallow this answer, I shall unpack all the decorations until I find our three-inch-high Christmoose (sic) that gets pride of place every year.) (There’s also an 18-inch-tall illuminated one that greets people at our front door, but he never hangs on the tree.)

I think we need a picture. 4. Elisha. (All I did was pick a random name from amongst those I’d never heard of, which means most of them.) 5. Partridge in a pear tree. (It strikes me here that if any category screams “Go for MOST popular,” this is it. Now watch me be dead wrong.) 6. (1) Outside. But if you disallow that as absurd, which it is, then substitute (2) Anterior cruciate ligament. This game and its queer rules drive me round the bend. And yet so far I’m doing better in it than in almost any other BPD game I’ve ever played. Why is this? Please discuss in one page or less…. (Hmm. I seem to recall I actually won a game, years ago in the on-line ‘zine run for a short while by Berry Renken in the Netherlands. But he only had six or seven players….) Brendan Whyte 4. <singing> [Zadok the PRIEEEST and ] Nathan the PROPHEEEEET.. 5. [does Jacqueline know her?] FIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVVE GGOOOOOLLLD RINNNNNNGGGGS bad um dum Jacqueline Reader 1 O Come all Ye faithful (with descant) Roger Trethewey 2 Answer Me (Frankie Lane 1953) Dane Maslen This time I've gone for popular answers in the three categories where I felt it would be difficult to avoid duplicating someone else's answer and obscure answers in the other three. I'm particularly confident about my Christmas Carol but less so about my OT prophet: as it's a subject I know nothing about, I might have accidentally picked one who is better known than I have assumed. 1. ÇÀ, BERGERS, ASSEMBLONS-NOUS (a traditional French Christmas Carol - cf http://french.about.com/od/christmascarols/) 2. "LET'S HAVE ANOTHER PARTY" by Winifred Atwell in 1954 (cfhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UK_Singles_Chart_Christmas_number_ones) 4. An old Testament Prophet: AHIMELECH (cf http://www.online-bible.org.uk/old-testament/old-testament-prophets.htm) Tom Howell 1 Silent Night - although I like Good King Wenceslas 3 for us, it would be "Nothing", we being 'bah, humbug central'. If "nothing" is an unacceptable answer, try "Walnuts" 5 Five Gold Rings - of course. 'Twould have been better had you put this one in another order (3rd, 6th) 6 Lateral collateral - not many choices here. probably should have gone for the meniscus you keep tearing. John Walker 2 Too much - Spice Girls 3 Child's handmade ornament Steve Ham Old Testament Prophet - Elisha (going for one who doesnt have a book named after them.

http://french.about.com/od/christmascarols/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UK_Singles_Chart_Christmas_number_ones

http://www.online-bible.org.uk/old-testament/old-testament-prophets.htm


17

Tony Critchley Unless I'm missing something, I make the top possible score 43 (7+11+5+6+5+9) - since I thought I'd only dropped the 1 point!

You only scored 8 for Supermarine Spitfire, not 9 so your score is correct. Michael Pargman Comments: Question #5 had me looking like a question mark. There were so many parts of that question that could be questioned: "my true love", "sent to me" and "12 days of Christmas". Steve Guest 2. Too Much - Spice Girls 4. Nahum (a prophet of Judah according tohttp://www.online-bible.org.uk/old-testament/old-testament-prophets.htm) 6. Patella (aka kneecap) Oh, and I thought something looked not right in Martin Walker’s score in BOPD. A quick sum comes to 39, not 44.

Correct – I have adjusted his score above *. The maximum possible score was only 43 too. Harv Barker 4. Noah (heard a great quote on TV the other day, "Remember, the Titanic was built by professionals, the Ark by an amateur") 5. Fiiiiiiiiiiive goooooalld riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiings! Martin Walker 2. Justice Collective - He Ain't Heavy (2012) Bob Gingell 2. Love Me Tender (Elvis 1962) 3. A small model sleigh with shiny wrapped presents on it 4. Balaam [who is a non-Israelite prophet] 6. Knee Bone [and breaks into song] Howard Bishop 3. I guess you could hang anything on your Christmas tree, but I found a festive brain Christmas decoration. Picture is attached.

5. A Partridge In A Pear Tree (bluff, double bluff, treble bluff, arrrgghhh) In this round, the top scorers this round was John Walker who scored 36 from a maximum of 37. The questions for the sixth and final round (yes, I know it was meant to be a 5 round game, but I forgot to announce that this round would be the final, so we’ll have one more) are

1. A member of the Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings) 2. A popular fictional detective 3. A character from the 3 Musketeers 4. A character from Pride and Prejudice 5. A novel by Thomas Hardy 6. A poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson




18

Lyric Quiz

Game Ten – Round Three Anyone can play – score 1 point for identifying the song and another for the artist. 1) “If you see me walking down the street, And I start to cry each time we meet”

“Walk on By” by Dionne Warwick Brendan Whyte, Jacqueline Reader, Murray Egan, Dane Maslen, John Walker, John Hopkins, Blaise Hudson, Martin Walker, Harv Barker, Steve Guest, David Cowie, Richard Smith, Arthur Owen

2) “I would have given you all of my heart, But there's someone who has torn it apart” “First Cut is the Deepest” by Cat Stevens or Rod Stewart

Murray Egan, John Walker, John Hopkins 3) “I hear hurricanes ablowin', I know the end is comin' soon”

“Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater Revival Murray Egan, Dane Maslen (song only), John Hopkins, Blaise Hudson, Harv Barker, David Cowie, Arthur Owen (song only) 4) “What's the use in trying, All you get is pain, When I needed sunshine I got rain”

“I’m A Believer” by Neil Diamond or the Monkees Brendan Whyte, Dane Maslen, John Hopkins, Blaise Hudson, Harv Barker, Richard Smith 5) “I know I've got to find, Some kind of piece of mind, Maybe” “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted” by Jimmy Ruffin, The Searchers and others Brendan Whyte (song only), John Walker (singer only), John Hopkins, Steve Guest, Richard Smith 6) “No-one else can make me feel, The colors that you bring, Stay with me while we grow old, And we will live each day in springtime”

“Loving You” by Minnie Ripperton Jacqueline Reader, Dane Maslen, John Walker, Martin Walker, David Cowie 7) “Isn't it rich, Are we a pair, Me here at last on the ground, You in mid air”

“Send in the Clowns” by Stephen Sondheim Andy York (song only), Dane Maslen (song only), John Walker, John Hopkins, Blaise Hudson, Martin Walker, Steve Guest, David Cowie, Tony Critchley, Richard Smith, Arthur Owen (song only) 8) “Dog goes woof, Cat goes meow, Bird goes tweet and mouse goes squeak”

“The Fox” by Ylvis Jacqueline Reader, Blaise Hudson (song only), Harv Barker (song only) 9) “As the Midnight moon, Was drifting through, The lazy sway of the trees”

“Slow Hand” by The Pointer Sisters Murray Egan 10) “I hope you have fun, The near and the dear ones, The old and the young”

“Happy Christmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon Jacqueline Reader, Dane Maslen, John Hopkins, Blaise Hudson, Martin Walker, Steve Guest, Richard Smith, Arthur Owen

Comments Andy York Ok, for the Lyric Quiz I only have one right now (and I'm scratching my head on who was the first to sing it). Many other I can recall, but don't know the song/singer. So, likely an amended entry will be forthcoming. 7) "Send in the Clowns" Jacqueline Reader Omg. I've not been listening to what you've been listening to.


19

Dane Maslen 1) "Walk on by". Was it by Dione Warwick? 3) I don't think I know this one, though I've got some jumbled lyrics running through my mind (the only bit of which makes any sense is "Don't go out tonight") for which the title might (or might not) be "Bad Moon Rising", so let's guess at that. 4) "I'm a believer" (but is that really the title?) by The Monkees. 6) "Loving you" by Minnie Ripperton? Strange that I should be able to identify it as it was a song that used to irritate me. 7) "Send in the clowns". But who by? 8) I've certainly heard of this song, even if I've not actually heard it. Alas that doesn't help me identify either the title or the artist. 10) I can sing the song and I know who sings it, but whether I can identify the title and the correct artist name is another matter. Let's try "War is over" (though I have a nagging suspicion that it might be something like "Merry Christmas (War is over)") by John Lennon (though the correct artist could well be 'John Lennon and Yoko Ono' or something similar). Tony Critchley Wow - tough round. 7. Send in the Clowns.... Dusty Springfield? 10. - It's a Christmas song, but for the life of me I can't pin down which....grrr John Walker 10 Wonderful Christmas Time - Paul McCartney John Hopkins Hey – I was on a roll there! Harv Barker 8) It's that bloody Fox song!!!! Chris Green No idea whatever, not even a vague 'that sounds familiar'

Scores Jacqueline Reader 8 (31) John Hopkins 14 (30) Blaise Hudson 11 (30) Richard Smith 10 (29) Harv Barker 7 (28) Martin Walker 8 (27) David Cowie 8 (24) Dane Maslen 10 (23) Steve Guest 8 (20) John Walker 9 (20) Arthur Owen 6 (19) Murray Egan 8 (18) Tony Critchley 2 (17) Brendan Whyte 5 (14) Chris Green 0 (6) Andy York 1 (5) Tom Howell 0 (2) Next turn’s selection (2 from the 60s, 2 from the 70s, 2 from the 80s, 2 from the 90s and 2 current hits and in that order as an extra clue) 1) "I got sunshine on a cloudy day, When it's cold outside, I got the month of May" 2) "I see trees of green, red roses too, I see them bloom for me and you" 3) "You spurn my natural emotions, you make me feel I'm dirt" 4) "If I could, Baby I'd give you my world, How can I, When you won't take it from me" 5) "But the best thing of loving, Was her sister and her cousin, And it started with a little kiss, like this" 6) "Turning and returning, To some secret place inside, Watching in slow motion, As you turn around and say" 7) "All the flowers that u planted in the back yard Mama, All died when u went away" 8) "My loneliness is killing me, I must admit I still believe" 9) "Yeah, my Momma said don't worry about your size, She says boys like a little more booty to hold at night" 10) "Maybe you think you can hide, I can smell your scent for miles"


20

Work Rest and Play

Game 10 – Round One Honours are shared evenly on the opening day of the week as Tom plays around and Roger slaves away at the office.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

Tom 35-33-32

Roger 97-2-1

Arthur 52-47-1

Tom: 0 x 0 x 1 Roger: 1 x 0 x 0 Arthur: 0 x 1 x 0

* * * * *

6 Nimmt! – Game Ten

Round Nine

HAND 1 HAND 2 HAND 3 HAND 4

52 100 100 69

88 44 99 89 90 35 71 67

82 34 87 75 87 70 27 70 66 44

81 93 21 86 61 85 55 24 62 65 33

80 92 20º 84 49$ 98@ 82 40# 45 69* 17& 22 60 64 63^ 24

10 2 11 11 5 1 10 3 12 1 1 9 8 10 1 11

In one of the highest scoring rounds seen in the zine (68 points scored), John has an absolutely nightmare taking almost half the points himself. Kev picks up a few more points, but not enough to really threaten his lead as Steve moves into second place.

Kev Lee plays 93 in Hand 1, 89 in Hand 2, 17 in to row 3 Hand 3 and 44 in Hand 4. Score = 16 Steve Ham plays 44 in Hand 1, 75 in Hand 2, 66 in Hand 3 and 55 in Hand 4. Score = 33 Carolyn Townsend plays 92 in Hand 1, 47 in Hand 2, 27 in Hand 3 and 56 in Hand 4. Score = 35 Jacqueline Reader plays 21 in Hand 1, 61 in Hand 2, 62 in Hand 3 and 54 in Hand 4. Score = 63 Dane Maslen plays 52 in Hand 1, 49 in Hand 2, 63 in Hand 3 and 33 in Hand 4. Score = 65 Arthur Owen plays 20 to row 3 in Hand 1, 40 in Hand 2, 35 in Hand 3 and 58 in Hand 4. Score = 68 John Walker plays 34 in Hand 1, 98 in Hand 2, 69 in Hand 3 and 63 in Hand 4. Score = 71 º Arthur takes row 3 of hand 1 for 7 points ! Carolyn takes row 2 of hand 1 for 9 points # Arthur takes row 4 of hand 2 for 7 points $ Dane takes row 1 of hand 2 for 9 points @ John takes row 2 of hand 2 for 11 points & Kev takes row 3 of hand 3 for 3 points * John takes row 2 of hand 3 for 11 points ^ John takes row 3 of hand 4 for 11 points


21

Round Ten It’s Arthur’s turn to get stitched, but the big surprise was Kev finally picking up two big rows. This made the result much closer than expected, but Kev had just enough of a lead to hold on.

HAND 1 HAND 2 HAND 3 HAND 4

52 100 69

88 44 104 90 67

82 69 34 103 87 84 70 32 56 66

81 40 21 102 103 28 85 41 55 28 54 74 65 61

80 5º 20 101! 101$ 6# 82 40 45 6@ 17& 51& 73^ 64 63 59*

10 6 11 4 2 2 10 5 12 3 1 3 2 10 1 2

Kev Lee plays 103 in Hand 1, 101 in Hand 2, 32 in Hand 3 and 73 in Hand 4. Score = 31 Steve Ham plays 69 in Hand 1, 84 in Hand 2, 28 in Hand 3 and 72 in Hand 4. Score = 33 Carolyn Townsend plays 101 in Hand 1, 41 in Hand 2, 54 in Hand 3 and 61 in Hand 4. Score = 35 Jacqueline Reader plays 102 in Hand 1, 97 in Hand 2, 56 in Hand 3 and 57 in Hand 4. Score = 63 Dane Maslen plays 40 in Hand 1, 28 in Hand 2, 6 in Hand 3 and 52 in Hand 4. Score = 66 Arthur Owen plays 5 in Hand 1, 6 in Hand 2, 51 in Hand 3 and 59 in Hand 4. Score = 94 John Walker plays 104 in Hand 1, 103 in Hand 2, 37 in Hand 3 and 74 in Hand 4. Score = 71 º Arthur takes row 2 of hand 1 for 2 points ! Carolyn takes row 4 of hand 1 for 11 points # Arthur takes row 2 of hand 2 for 1 point $ Kev takes row 1 of hand 2 for 6 points @ Dane takes row 2 of hand 3 for 1 point & Arthur takes row 4 of hand 3 for 10 points * Arthur takes row 4 of hand 4 for 13 points ^ Kev takes row 1 of hand 4 for 9 points

Congratulations to Kev Lee Game End Statements welcome

* * * * *

Backpacks and Blisters 2

Round One Sweaty Betty felt the weight of her money in her pockets and decided to go on a blitz. She bought a bar of chocolate at a newsagents in Keswick, scoffed it down and then took off like a mad thing to Greathow Woods, where she caught the 555 bus to Wythburn. Walker had set off a minute or so earlier in the direction of High Rigg, when he was overtaken by the blur that was Betty. Biggus Nickus was another spender, striking out to Braithwaite where he bought some chocolate. The anonymous Australian hiker followed close behind Walker, while the equally anonymous English walker (one triangle shot of a percussion section) went with him, while another hiding his identity headed towards Skiddaw. There followed a procession up High Rigg, with Walker getting overtaken on the slopes firstly by the Australian and then the mysterious English hikers. The other secrete hiker enjoyed Skiddaw all on his own while Biggus Nickus stayed on the flat as he wandered into Thornthwaite Forest.


22

Player 10.00 – 10.20 10.20 – 10.40 Location Score

Walker John Walker

Eel Crag (4O) to 227 Glaramara (2T2O) to High Rigg

Keswick 8

Sweaty Betty Steve Ham

Haystacks (1T4O) plus chocolate to Greathow Woods

Bus to Wythburn. Discard Sprinkling Tarn

Keswick 4

Biggus Nickus Richard Smith

Lodore Falls (4O) to Braithwaite

Brandreth (1T4O) to Thornthwaite Forest

Keswick 5

Brad Martin

Skiddaw (3O) to 226 Great Gable (1T3O) to High Rigg

Keswick 14

Howard Bishop

Catbells (3O) to 226 Knott (1T3O) to High Rigg Keswick 11

Arthur Owen

Skiddaw House (3T3O) to 49 Spout Force (1T2O) to Skiddaw

Keswick 15

The targets are Skiddaw, Grisedale Pike, High Rigg, Blea Tarn and Dale Head. Everybody still has £1, except for Biggus Nickus who has 50p and Sweaty Betty who is skint. Movement order next turn will start with Richard, then Brad etc for the 10.40 – 11.00 slot and then Brad then Howard etc for the 11.00 – 11.20 slot. The weather will remain sunny for both turns next time. Please can you remember to include a name for your hiker, if you haven’t done so already. Questions Can you answer my question about buses?

I'll need to find your question about the buses, but the general answer is that all buses run once per

hour at 20 minutes past the hour. Your walker has to be at a bus stop (waiting) to catch the bus - they

cannot move to bus stop on that turn and then take the bus. The bus will take you anywhere on the

same route (marked by the numbers - all buses go to Keswick) for a cost of 50p. You also have to play

one card for the turn, but the movement is done by the bus. An example would be

16.00 - 16.20 Play X to move from start point to location with bus stop

16.20 - 16.40 Play Y and pay 50p to take bus from bus stop to Keswick

Ferries work on exactly the same principal, although you also score 5 points for taking a ferry, but run

at 40 minutes past the hour. What are the crosses in some of the triangles - such as striding edge?

I think the crosses are just there from an earlier game. The special targets should be marked with a

larger handdrawn star, but please ignore everything else written on the maps. I answered your bus

question in an earlier email.

* * * * *

Breaking Away 6

Game End Statements Steve Ham It's nice to have won though I think there is a lot of luck involved in this game. My aim was to try to get points at the first sprint and then try to replenish and get some points at the end. I think I nearly lost my leader (Artie Wu) after the first sprint. Thanks to everyone for the game Tony Critchley Congrats to Steve - a substantial win. Happy to take 2nd place thanks to a strong finish and this is definitely the best BA result I've had. I do find it difficult to "put it all together" and be well involved in both the sprints and the finish, but part of that is down to the game mechanism which seems to turn out different races each time. Thanks Jim! Richard Smith Breaking Away (postal) is one of the games that I really like but never win. F2F Machi Koro and Race for the Galaxy are similar. At least one of my riders was first over the line – Bellisimo!


23

Chris Hibbert That was fun. Congrats to the winners. Let's try it again. Jim Reader I’m certainly not one to comment on how to win BA games, although I think I have won one. I must admit that Steve’s tactics sound similar to the ones I usually try, but it worked out well for him. Thanks to everyone for playing and for coping with all the corrections.

* * * * *

Breaking Away 7

Turn Five

Bini takes the first sprint, just ahead of Smackdown based on tiebreaker in rule 7.2.3, but the Magnificent Seven take three sprint positions and move into the lead. The riders bunch up again after the first sprint line.

Square Replacement Riders

49 2 Carroll, Wonders (7th),

48 -

47 3 Polly, Darth Vader

46 5 Luft Hanza, Hodgson, The Terminator (T-800), Derogo

45 9 Roy Batty (6th), Amens, Red Baron, Clavus, Manuel, Rickenbacker

44 15 Bushwacker, Bini (1st), Smackdown (2

nd), Number 6, Allardyce

43 15 Sybil (8th), Nolan, Blue Duke

42 15 Deadly Sins, Asteroid

41 15 Basil (3rd

), Sisters (4th), Shepherd Hills Tested, Seas of Rhye (5

th)

TEAM NO NAME (Tom Howell) 10 points THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (Allan Stagg) 11 pts A. Amens 15, 15, 15, 9 A. Sisters (5) 15, 10, 10, 1 B. Bini (10) 13, 3, 15 B. Wonders (2) 2, 6, 12 C. Clavus 15, 15, 9 C. Deadly Sins 15, 9, 2 D. Derogo 5, 15, 7 D. Seas of Rhye (4) 12, 15, 1 CARROLL SINGERS (Lee Batchelor) 0 points BULL (Steve Ham) 8 points A. Carroll 2, 11, 3 A. Bushwacker 13, 15, 3, 13 B. Nolan 4, 15, 6 B. Smackdown (8) 3, 3, 15 C. Allardyce 8, 15, 3 C. Shepherd Hills Tested 15, 11, 7 D. Hodgson 5, 3, 4 D. Asteroid 10, 15, 15 FLOWERY TWATS (Bob Gingell) 7 points SOPWITH (Arthur Owen) 0 points A. Basil (6) 15, 10, 5, 5 A. Red Baron 12, 9, 6, 3 B. Sybil (1) 5, 15, 6 B. Blue Duke 4, 15, 4 C. Polly 6, 6, 3 C. Luft Hanza 15, 5, 3 D. Manuel 9, 4, 14 D. Rickenbacker 15, 9, 3 TANHAUSER GATE SURVIVORS CYCLING CLUB (Bob Pitman) 3 points A. Roy Batty (Nexus 6, Blade Runner) 6, 9, 3, 15 (3) B. Number 6 (Humanoid Cylon) 15, 14, 6 C. Darth Vader 14, 6, 3 D. The Terminator (T-800) 3, 11, 5


24

Breaking Away 8 Game Start

Late orders from Geoff Kemp slipped in so this is now a 7 player game as planned – fwtdr rules will still apply. Let the race begin. FAT BOTTOMED BOYS (Tony Critchley) THE TANGERINE DREAMERS (Richard Smith) A. Mercury 14, 10, 5, 1 A. Fay Drah 1, 3, 11, 15 B. May 13, 9, 3 B. Ruby Con 3, 10, 12 C. Taylor 11, 8, 1 C. Rick O’Shea 3, 4, 13 D. Deacon 10, 4, 2 D. Mel Rose 2, 5, 9 I's Is ISIS (Brendan Whyte) SF GREATS (Chris Hibbert) Manager: Abu Napoleon Blownapart. A. Islamic 6, 7, 8, 9 A. Vinge 2, 14, 10, 4 B. State 8, 8, 9 B. Heinlein 15, 5, 5 C. Iraq 6, 7, 7 C. Stross 12, 4, 4 D. Syria 4, 5, 6 D. van Vogt 9, 6, 1 HOUMOUS RIDERS (Steve Ham) CYMRU (Arthur Owen) A. Chick Pea 15, 9, 5, 1 A. Bryn 8, 8, 8, 6 B. Tahini 14, 7, 4 B. Gareth 9, 8, 8 C. Lemon Juice 13, 4, 3 C. Wyn 7, 7, 6 D. Garlic 8, 5, 2 D. Guto 7, 7, 2 BEATLES (Geoff Kemp) A. Paul 9, 8, 7, 6 B. John 9, 8, 8 C. George 7, 7, 6 D. Ringo 6, 5, 4

* * * * *

Bus Boss (TEXEL) BB337TXL

Round Eleven The sixth and final set of races is 45. Wester Duinen (4C) – De Waal (KH): 46. De Koog (9C) – Den Hoorn (KD) 47. t’ Hoorntje (6D) – Jachthaven (7H): 48. De Waal (QH) – De Slufter (7S) 49. De Muy (JS) – NJHC “Panorama” (JH): 50: Airport (10S) – Den Burg (AD) 51. Pomona (QC) – De Cocksdorp (4S): 52. Den Hoorn (JD) – Ecomare (5C)

Enter up to 5 races and may the best man win. Good luck everybody

vPE Arthur Red

NSCB Brad Blue

BOTTOM Roger Black

GREEN Bob

Green

PEAR Kev

Purple

36. Vuurtoren (AS) – Oost (AH)

30

37. Naakt Strand (AC) – Ijzeren Kaap (5H)

+ 5

10 20 - 5

38. t’Licht van Troost (9D) – De Schorren (8S)

+ 2 + 2

20 - 2 + 1

10 - 2 - 1

39. De Cocksdorp (5S) – De Koog (8C)

+ 3

20 - 3 + 2

10 - 2


25

40. NJHC “Eyercoogh” (7C) – Surfstrand (6H)

12 - 4

5 + 4

+ 3

13 - 3

41. Den Burg (2D) – Ferry to Den Helder (7D)

4 9 9 8

42. Fonteinsnol (6C) – Zwem Paradijs “Calluna” (3C)

15 - 1

+ 1

15

43. Den Burg (5D) – Oosterend (3H)

10 - 3

10 + 3

10

44. Den Burg (4D) – De Cocksdorp (3S)

4 + 2

5 10 11 - 2

Last Turn 236 268 237 278 204

Points from Races 38 50 71 62 49

Bank 274 318 308 340 253

Bus Boss (ISHIGAKI-JIMA) BB347ISH

Round Two Correction There was a small but serious error in last turn's report. I forgot that Roger was moving last and not before Arthur, so Arthur would have been able to build the connection Nagura Wetland - Nagura after all. Roger did supply alternative orders and fortunately his other build was a simple change to connect Ishigaki-machi to Torin-ji. My thanks to Roger for spotting this and reporting it quickly, so all players were notified by e-mail or mail. BB Seishika Bridge –Ishigaki-Machi: Seishika Bridge – Nagura Blue Bank: 108 – 11 = 97 Brad Martin JAD Oganzaki – Nagura Wetland - Nagura Green Bank: 108 – 12 = 96 Arthur Owen HEAR Omoto Tunnel – Kainan - Miwa Black Bank: 109 – 11 = 98 Kev Lee GHIDORAH Nagura – Seishika Bridge – Miwa – Kainan Purple Bank: 108 – 12 = 96 Bob Gingell RED Ishigaki-machi – Ryugu-jo – Nagura: Ishigaki-machi – Torin-ji Red Bank: 110 – 12 = 98 Roger Trethewey

Round Three JAD Nagura Wetland – Fusaki Beach: Nagura – Ryugu-jo Green Bank: 96 – 12 = 84 Arthur Owen HEAR Miwa – Isobe - Airport Black Bank: 98 – 10 = 88 Kev Lee GHIDORAH Miwa – Moriyama: Seishika Bridge – Banna Forest Park – Ryugu-jo Purple Bank: 96 – 12 = 84 Bob Gingell


26

RED Airport – Isobe – Miyara – Shiraho Beach Red Bank: 98 – 12 = 86 Roger Trethewey BB Nagura – Fusaki Beach: Miwa – Shiraho Beach Blue Bank: 97 Brad Martin Next turns build order is Kev, Bob, Roger, Brad and Arthur.

* * * * *

Café International 8

Turn Fifteen

John plays mGB to GB2 scoring 4 points Kev plays fCHI to the bar scoring – 6 points Steve plays mJOK to RUS1 scoring 8 points Brad plays mUS to USA1 scoring 2 points The turn order for the sixteenth round is Steve, Brad, John then Kev. There are still 23 customers waiting at the Café and approximately 8 chairs still to be filled.

Brad Martin female: ITA male: USA, USA, RUS score 68 John Walker female: JOK, CUB male: IND, score 52 Kev Lee female: GB, USA, male: GB score 39 Steve Ham female: JOK male: CHI score 52

fAF fIT mIT mCH mCH mES

mAF AFR1 mIT ITA1 fIT ITA2 mCH CHI1 fCH CHI2 mES ESP1 fES

fAF mIT fCH fGB fES

mAF AFR2 fAF GB1 mGB mGB GB2 fES ESP2

mAF fGB mGB mRU

fCU CUB1 mCU mJO RUS1 fRU

fCU Bar - 8

fRU

mCU CUB2 fCU mRU RUS2

mTU fFR mIN

fTU TUR1 fTU FRA1 fFR FRA2 mIN IND1 fIN

mTU mFR fFR fIN

mTU TUR2 fDE DEU1 DEU2 USA1 fUS USA2 mUS IND2

fTU mDE mUS mJO fIN

Customers at the bar are – mUS, mCUB, mFRA, fFRA, mUSA, mDEU, fIND, mIND, mAFR, fCHI

* * * * *

The Golden Strider 3

Round Seven John’s 4/6 card should have been listed as 10/6 after last turn’s correction, but I think most players realized this and ordered. All starting cards had to be played by the end of this round, which forced Xavier Vincent CIV and Mr Lapp’s hands, but this didn’t stop Xavier Vincent CIV growing his lead.


27

P S Runner Cards P D M B R O

1 25 Xavier Vincent CIV John Walker

6/0, 9/3, 8/4, 0/5, 10/6, 0/7 6/0 0 6 0 0

2 18 Mr Lapp Allan Stagg

7/0, 10/3, 9/4, 7/5, 9/6, 7/7 7/0 0 4 3 7

2 18 Hitch Gitalong Tom Howell

9/2, 9/3, 10/4, 10/5. 9/6, 9/7

10/4 2 4 4 9

4 17 Sweaty Betty Steve Ham

8/2, 10/3, 4/4, 9/5, 9/6, 10/7

8/2 1 3 4 10

4 17 Dick Dastardly Tony Critchley

8/1, 10/3, 8/4, 10/5, 10/6, 8/7

8/1 1 4 3 8

6 17 Hollie Moloney Arthur Owen

10/1, 10/2, 10/3, 9/4, 10/6, 10/7

10/1 0 6 4 10 1

7 16 Pinback Lee Batchelor

8/2, 8/3, 10/4, 10/5, 8/6, 8/7

8/2 0 4 4 8

8 12 Mo Nearer Richard Smith

6/2, 8/3, 9/4, 6/5, 10/6, 10/7

6/2 0 1 5 10

This is a 60 space race.

* * * * *

Fair Means or Foul 5

Turn Fourteen DCs Bishop and Stagg prowled the barren halls of Bolsover Castle searching for Wicked Whyte who was found hiding behind behind coal scuttle, wearing Humphrey Bogart's topper. They also uncovered Crafty Critchley lurking in the wine cellar and ‘Orrible Owen in the pantry. Meanwhile, at Sotheby’s Earl Walker picked up the Schuddig-Mundle Mask for a bargain 5K.

Howard Bishop

Allan Stagg Brendan Whyte

Tony Critchley

John Walker Arthur Owen

Cheques 1, 12 2, 11, 14 10, 15 4, 9, 16 8, 17, 20, 22 6, 7, 24

Thieves - 5 4 3, 10 2, 11 1, 12

Location next turn

Castle Castle Castle Castle Castle Auction House

2/1 3/2 4/2 5/3 3/2 4/2 4/2 2/1 3/2 4/2 4/2 3/2 4/2 2/1

AO TC AS HB, BW

JW

5/3 3/2 4/2 5/3 3/2 4/2 2/1 3/2 4/2 3/2 4/2 2/1 5/3 Finish

Jail: Allan Thief 8, Howard Thief 7, Howard Thief 6, Brendan Thief 9, Tony Thief 3, Arthur Thief 1 At the auction next month are Andy Warhol's Glasses (E 1982) and Charlie Chaplins Boots (E 1928). Please send orders for next time should include bid orders (which check and what item you’re bidding for) and exhibit details (if exhibiting) plus your location for the following turn. The location choice may be made provisional on the outcome of actions next round.

* * * * *


28

Nuclear War 5 Turn Four The first victims of the war are claimed as ATLANTIS sinks beneath the waves created by two 50MT warheads and WASTELAND is wasted by a Minuteman after 10 million Wastelanders defected to a neutral country. Meanwhile, WOLVERHAMPTON starts seeing double after a successful cloning experiment and the first anti-missile appears. Next turn will just feature the final strikes from ATLANTIS and WASTELAND but players may rearrange their face down cards if they wish. Note that information about missiles and the warheads that they can carry were published in issue 147 - http://www.variablepig.org/zines/vp147.pdf. Press ATLANTIS: Propaganda is useless. COIBA: To MARS UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP !! (translator device readout........Thank you so much, the dove was utterly delicious especially when stuffed with what I assume were olives. So thoughtful of the bird to carry its own stuffing in its beak. Please send Quail or Swan, oh....and some chestnuts). I am sending you a "Space Salami" in gratitude for the wonderful meal you sent, do enjoy its spicy afterburn....plenty more left in the fridge..

To Atlantis, It seems damp down there, have a towel and a heat lamp. Concerned, Sukmai Plums Los Angeles Duke Nukem to PISS OFF: Mess with the best, you will die like the rest! MARS Ack? (Translator Device: Ouch?) Ack Ach Ack! (Translator Device: We'd send Wolverhampton a nuke back in return but we understand that would just beautify the area. Instead we send our ambassador, you puny humans may call him Mark McGee) Ack Ack-Ack Ack Ach (Translator Device: We are having a peace conference to outlaw some weaponry (including nuclear, Bio and the use of Slim Whitman). Dove-burgers at the peace conference are on us) This Turns Actions

Secrets and Other Nefarious Activities

First Face Up Card

Second Face Up Card

Other Activities

WASTELAND

Top Secret - 10M of your people leave your country for a

neutral country

50MT warhead from B1 bomber on ATLANTIS

killing 16 million people

Launch Titan

LOS ANGELES

Top Secret - a disastrous

earthquake destroys 10M PISS OFF

population

Launch Titan Missile

20MT warhead strikes PISS OFF

killing 6 million

Shoots down Wolverhampton Minuteman with Anti-Missile P

PISS OFF MY LAND

Secret - you have discovered a way to amplify the radiation

emitted by WOLVERHAMPTON TV sets. He loses 2M

population

Launch B1 Bomber

20MT warhead at WOLVERHAMPTON

killing 15 million people

http://www.variablepig.org/zines/vp147.pdf


29

WOLVERHAMPTON

Top Secret - your scientists clone a

25M population card!

Launch Minuteman

10MT warhead at Los Angeles – shot

down

COIBA

Secret - MARS raises taxes 100% this year. 5M Martians move to

your country

Titan and 10MT strike Atlantis killing 8 million

Launch B70 Bomber Drop 10MT warhead at MARS

killing 8 million

ATLANTIS

Top Secret - a violent tornado kills 10M of

your population

Launch Minuteman

10MT warhead at WASTELAND killing

7 million

MARS

50MT warhead from B70

bomber dropped on ATLANTIS

killing 20 million

Launch new B70 bomber

Status Report

Secrets In Hand

Face Up Card

Population Change this turn

Net Population

Change

25 mil cards played

Visible Deterrents

Other Specials

WASTELAND Arthur Owen

Titan - 17 - 60 DEAD

1 None

None

LOS ANGELES Richard Smith

- - 66 2 None None

PISS OFF MY LAND Jason Asker

B1 Bomber

- 16 - 21 1 None None

WOLVERHAMPTON Tom Howell

Secret - + 8 + 11 1 None None

COIBA Tony Bayley

B70 Bomber

+ 5 - 2 0 None Space Platform

ATLANTIS Chris Hibbert

- - 54 - 76 DEAD

2 None None

MARS Bob Pitman

B70 Bomber

- 13 - 36 3 None None

Please remember to include orders for both of your two face down cards, plus secrets and any special cards that you may have, plus orders for two new face down cards.

* * * * *

Puerto Rico

Game Six – Round Four Chris takes the Mayor and mans his Construction Hut, Corn Plantation and one spot in his Large Indigo Plant. Allan puts 2 colonists into San Juan; Richard mans one spot in his Large Indigo Plant, Mike mans his Small Market and Jon also puts a colonist into San Juan. Another six colonists board the new colony ship. Allan takes the Settler and one doubloon and takes a quarry that he mans from his Hospice. Richard and Chris use their Construction Huts to also take quarries, Mike takes a corn plantation and Jon takes a tobacco plantation. Richard takes the Builder and builds the other Hospice for 2 doubloons. Mike builds a Small Warehouse for 3 doubloons, Jon and Chris pass and Allan builds a Tobacco Storage for 4 doubloons. Mike takes the Trader and one doubloon; no-one has anything to trade. Jon takes the Craftsman and one doubloon and produces one indigo and one sugar. Chris produces 1 corn and 1 indigo, Allan produces 2 corn, Richard produces 1 indigo and Mike produces 2 tobacco. Jon then produces another sugar.


30

Player Doubloons VP Goods Buildings Plantations

Richard 0 0 1 indigo Construction Hut (√) Large Indigo Plant (√,x,x) Small Sugar Mill (x) Hospice (x)

Indigo (√,x), Quarry (√,x)

Mike 1 0 2 tobacco Tobacco Storage (√,√,x) Small Market (√) Small Indigo Plant (x) Small Warehouse (x)

Indigo (x), Tobacco (√,√)

Jon 4 0 1 indigo 2 sugar

Small Sugar Mill (√) Small Indigo Plant (√)

Indigo (√), Sugar (√), Quarry (√), San Juan (√) Tobacco (x)

Chris 0 2 1 corn 1 indigo

Hacienda (√) Large Indigo Plant (√,√,x) Construction Hut (√)

Corn (√), Coffee (x), Sugar (x), Indigo (√)

Allan 2 2 2 corn Hospice (√) Tobacco Storage (x,x,x)

Corn (√,√), Tobacco (√) San Juan (√,√), Quarry (√)

Stock

Quarry 4

Corn Tiles 3 (2)

Indigo Tiles 6 (1)

Sugar Tiles 3 (4)

Tobacco Tiles 5

Coffee Tiles 4 (1)

Corn Goods 3

Indigo Goods 8

Sugar Goods 8

Tobacco Goods 6

Coffee Goods 9

Colonists 66

Victory Points 122

Building Cost Victory Points

Number Available

Small Indigo Plant 1 1 3

Small Sugar Mill 1 1 2

Small Market 1 1 2

Hacienda 2 1 1

Construction Hut 2 1 0

Small Warehouse 3 1 1

Large Indigo Plant 3 2 1

Large Sugar Mill 4 2 3

Hospice 4 2 0

Office 5 2 2

Large Market 5 2 2

Large Warehouse 6 2 2

Tobacco Storage 5 3 1

Coffee Roaster 6 3 3

Factory 7 3 2

University 8 3 2

Harbour 8 3 2

Wharf 9 3 2

Guild Hall 10 4 1

Residence 10 4 1

Fortress 10 4 1

Customs House 10 4 1

City Hall 10 4 1


31

The play order for the second turn is Chris, Allan, Richard, Mike then Jon. There are 6 colonists on the colony ship. The 6 and 7 ships are empty and the 8 ship holds 3 corn. The trading house holds 1 corn, 1 sugar and 1 tobacco. There are + 1 bonuses available on both Prospectors and the Captain roles. The plantations available this turn are corn, corn, sugar, sugar, coffee and coffee.

* * * * *

Rail Baron 5 Round Nine Kev rides the NP into Seattle but cannot afford to pay Brendan the bill, coming up 2K short. He must sell to cover the costs before receiving payment and offers the Illinois Central for sale. Please send your bids for the Illinois Central with your orders next turn. I have orders on file for all player’s moves for rolls 42 – 45, but you may change these if you wish. You may also include provisional orders depending on the new owner of the IC. Brendan Whyte Cash 43.5K Home City: Memphis (South Central) 41) 1E Tucumcari – El Paso (AT&SF) 10K to Andy, + 14.0K

Andy York Cash 6.5K Home City: Milwaukee (North Central) 41) 1N Salt Lake City – Salt Lake City (UP) 1K to bank, + 23.5K

Arthur Owen Cash 31.0K Home City: Baltimore (North East) 41) 2E Des Moines – Buffalo (CRI&P, NYC) 1K to bank,

Kev Lee Cash - 2.0K (+21.5K) Home City: Omaha (Plains) 41) 1N Oakland - Seattle (SP, NP) 1K to bank, 10K to Brendan, +21.5K PLAYER FIRST DESTINATION PAYOUT SECOND DESTINATION PAYOUT Brendan Cleveland (North Central) 17.5K Denver (Plains) 13.5K Andy Oakland (Southwest) 8.0K Boston (North East) 33.0K Arthur Albany (Northeast) 27.0K Atlanta (Southeast) 10.0K Kev Los Angeles (Southwest) 9.0K New York (Northeast) 31.0K Arthur’s 3

rd destination is Pittsburg (Northeast) for 8.0K and his fourth destination is Rapid City (North West) for

13.5K. Kev’s 3

rd destination is New York (Northeast) for 31.0K

PLAYER ARRIVALS TRAIN RAILROADS CASH Brendan 14 S NP, GM&O, B&M, CB&Q, C&O, NYNH&H, 57.5K D&RGW, WP, SOU, N&W. Andy 9 S C&NW, SAL, ACL, GN, UP, AT&SF, SL&SF 39.0K Arthur 13 S PA, NYC, L&N, CRI&P, CMSTP&P 30.0K Kev 14 E MP, T&P, B&O, RF&P, SP, IC - 2.0K

Turn Die Roll Bonus Priority

42 2 + 2 6 Andy

43 5 + 5 1 Arthur

44 1 + 2 5 Kev

45 4 + 5 2 Brendan


32

Railway Rivals

RR Games LXII – East Africa Map – RR2218EAF – Round Eleven There were a few questions about race 30 and the use of ferries, as this could be run entirely by ferry, My ruling was that players must use at least 1 hex of their own rail track to enter this (and any similar races). I think everyone included orders to cover this.

RThere

GRIEF Bob Red

LION Steve

Orange

FEAR Roger Black

POOR Dane Green

29) Mbale (12) – Nairobi (31)

15 - 1 - 1

0 + 1

15 + 1

30) Kisumu (36) – Bukoba / Musoma (53)

10 - 1

20 0 - 2

0 + 2 + 1

31) Tanga (21) – Kilosa (43)

15 - 1

15 - 2

+ 1 + 2

32) Dadoma (44) – Lindi (62)

15 - 6

15 + 6

33) Gulu / Mbarara (15) – Songea (64)

20 - 5

10 0 + 5

34) Bujumbura (55) – Minerals (Sp6)

20 + 3 + 1 + 4 - 1

5 - 3

0 - 1

5 - 4 + 1

35) Marsabit (26) – Indian Ocean Port (Sp1)

+ 3

20 - 3

Total Last Turn 202 262 218 269

Points from Races 78 45 34 43

Total 280 307 252 312

The sixth and final set of races is 36) Kampala (11) – Dar Es Salaam (41): 37) Mombasa (22) – Mwanza (52) 38) Nakaru (33) – Mpanda / Masasi (63): 39) Lira / Masaka (44) – Kigoma (54) 40) Arusha (25) – Iringa (65): 41) Cape to Cairo (Sp3) via Magadi / Meru (32) 42) Morogoro (42) – Pemba / Zanzibar (Sp2) Enter up to 5 races and may the best man win. Good luck everybody. Note, as stated at the start we are using

the historical set of special runs.

RR Games LXIII – Cambodia Map – RR2220CM – Round Eleven

Correction A very small correction to this game - it should read enter race 23 and up to 4 other races instead of just enter 4 races. All players were notified by email. SIEM REAP: (I59) – Ta Kaev

SIEM REAP Brendan

Red

RIEL Steve

Orange

KAMBUJA Judy

Green

GIT Bob

Purple

23) Sen Monorom (26) – Krong Keab (56)

+ 5

Offer JR to GIT 20 - 5

29) Pailin (14) – Pouset (34)

10 - 5

20 + 5

30) Kracheh (24) – Kampomg Speue (44)

20

31) Moung Reussei (33) – Sihanoukville (53)

20 - 6

+ 6


33

32) Phnom Penh (43) – Svay Rieng (63)

10 - 1

0 - 2

20 + 1 + 2

33) Sisophon (13) – Saigon (64)

20 Offer JR to SIEM REAP

10

34) Stoeng Treng (23) – Khmer Ruins (Sp4)

20 - 1 + 6

+ 1

10 - 6

35) Sihanoukville (54) – Vietnam (Sp3)

+ 4

10 + 6

20 - 4 - 6



Builds - 1

Total 173 336 232 351

The sixth and final set of races is. 36) Poipet (11) – Tbaeng Mean Chey (21): 37) Siem Reap (31) – Phnom Penh (41) 38) Koh Kong (51) – Ta Kaev (61): 39) Stoeng Treng (22) – Siem Reap (32) 40) Phnom Penh (42) – Srae Ambel (52): 41) Samraong (12) – Laos (Sp2) 42) Prey Veaeng (62) – Thailand (Sp1)

Enter up to 4 races and may the best man win. Good luck everybody.

RR Games LXIV – Cambodia Map - RR2221CM – Round Eleven

The sixth and final set of races is. 35) Saigon (65) – Khmer Ruins (Sp4): 36) Sisophon (13) – Phnom Penh (43) 37) Ban Lung (23) – Sihanoukville (53): 38) Moung Roussei (33) – Svay Rieng (63) 39) Paillin (14) – Sihanoukville (54): 40) Kracheh (24) – Saigon (64) 41) Pouset (34) – Minerals (Sp5): 42) Kampong Speue – Laos (Sp2)

Enter up to 4 races plus race 35 and may the best man win. Good luck everybody.

MIR Brad Blue

KHMER ROUGE Jason Red

Jon

Black

CRAP Arthur Green

29) Samraong (12) – Stoeng Treng (22)

20

30) Snuol (25) – Kampong Thum (35)

20 - 10

Offer JR to MIR 10

31) Siem Reap (32) – Phnom Penh (42)

0 20 + 11

10 - 11

32) Ta Khmau (45) – Kampot (55)

10 20 - 2 + 4

0 + 2 - 4

33) Srae Ambel (52) – Prey Veaeng (62)

10 - 5

20 + 5

34) Batdambang (15) – Vietnam (Sp3)

10 - 2

0 + 2

10 JR 10 JR

35) Saigon (65) – Khmer Ruins (Sp4)

No Entrants – note only ruin connected in Angkor Wat



Total 274 336 309 95

RR Games LXV – Kazakhstan Map - RR2219KZ – Round Ten ROKON: (G15) – G14 – G13 – G12 – G11 GRAB: (T15) – T16: (N12) – M13 – L13 – K14 – J14 – J15 – J16. KRAP: (K53) – L53 – M54 - N53 - O53 - P52; H63 - - - I53 KITSCH: No builds KR: No builds


34

ROKON Richard Black

GRAB Bob G Purple

KRAP Bob P Red

KITSCH Michael Green

KR Arthur Yellow

23) Ganyushinko (12) – Zhezqazghan (34)

5 - 3 - 2

5 + 3 - 1

20 + 2 + 1

24) Qostenay (23) – Ayagoz (46)

0 - 2 + 1 - 5

+ 2

10 + 2– 1 – 6 + 8

20 + 5 – 2 + 6 - 8

25) Qaraghandy (33) – Qyzylorda (53)

+ 3 + 1

0 - 3 - 3

0 - 1

15 - 1 + 1 + 8

15 + 3 - 8

26) Zyryan (45) – Almaty (63)

20 + 4

+ 1

10 - 4 - 1

27) Kulsary (14) – Shu (61)

10 - 3

Offer JR to KR

20 + 3

28) Zhetigara (22) – Volga Region (Sp1)

10 - 8

20 + 8 – 9 (R)

29) Baikonur (52) – China (Sp4)

20 - 2 - 3

Offer JR to KR

+ 2 + 6

10 + 3 - 6

Total Last Turn 105 207 153 149 159

Points from Races 50 - 4 34 48 73

Builds - 4 + 2

- 7 - 2 - 1

- 8 - 1

+ 1

+ 1

Total 153 193 178 198 233

The fifth set of races is. 30) Oral (11) – Oskemon (44): 31) Petropavl (25) – Taraz (56): 32) Astana (32) – Taldyqorghan (64) 33) Zhanaozen (16) – Shymkent (55) 34) Arqalyq (24) – Zharkent (65) 35) Balqash (35) – Uzbekistan (Sp6): 36) Pavlodar (42) – Urals (Sp2)

Enter up to 4 races and build up to 4 points.

RR Games LXVI – RR2255NIL - Nile Delta Map – Round Two

COPT 2) 17. (Port Said) – H36 – I37 – J36 – K37 – L36 – M37: Blue (F29) - - G29 - - H28 - - I28 – I27 – J26 - - K26 – K25. Brad Martin Bank: 26 CIB 2) 17. (Y33) – Y32 – Y31 – Y30 – Y29 – Y28 – X27 - - Bilbeis - - V26 - - U26 – Zagaziq: Green (Zagaziq) – S27 – S28 – Abu Kebir – Q29. Arthur Owen Bank: 23 – 5 (RED) = 18 RED 2) 17. (X24) - W25 - V25 - - U26 - ZAGAZIQ - S27 - - R26 - - Q26 - - P25 – EL Red SIMBILAWEIN - - N24 - M25. 1 short Roger Trethewey Bank: 26 + 6 + 3 + 5 (CIB) = 40 COPTICS 2) 17. (L10) - - Damanhur - - L12 - M13 - - N13 - O14 - P14 - P15 - - KAIR EL ZAIYAT - Black P17 - - TANTA EL SANTA. Brendan Whyte Bank: 23 + 3 + 6 = 32 The third build allowance (should be a single allowance on this map) is 12

RR Games LXVII – RR2256NIL - Nile Delta Map – Round Two

NEFERTITI 2) 11. (G29) - - H28 - - I28 – I27 – J26 - - K26 - - L25: (PORT SAID) – H36. Purple Mike Townsend Bank: 26 NITWIT 2) 11. (W22) - - BANHA - - - U21 – QUWEISNA - S22 – ZIFTA - - Q22 - P21. Red John Walker Bank: 25 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 34


35

FEAR 2) 11. (Damanhur) - - L12 - - L13 - - SHUBRA KHIT – M15 - - N15: (L10) - - K10 Black Kev Lee Bank: 29 + 3 = 32 RANDOM 2) 11. (Tukh) - - W21 - - - W20 – V19 – SHIBIN EL KOM – T18 - S18 - R18. Green Michael Pargman Bank: 27 + 3 = 30 RA 2) 11. (U33) - U32 - U31 - U30 - V29 - W29 - X28 - X27 - Y27 - Z26 - A76 - B75. Orange Steve Guest Bank: 23 The third build allowance (should be a single allowance on this map) is 11

RR Games LXVIII – RR2257VL - Vastmanland Map – Round Two

There were a couple of very small errors in last turn’s report. Fortunately, these were spotted and reported quickly by both Roger and Bob so I could notify all players quickly. 1) VARTA's 1b builds should have read (P13) - Q14 - R13 - Guldsmedshyttan and (Q14) - R14 - Stora and not Q13 - R13 - Stora as reported. 2) STAMBANAN's 1b build should have ended N23 - O23 (not O22) - Riddarhyttan

RED 2a) 6. (Nora) - A61 - A60 - B59 – ALYHATTAN: (A61) - Z10 – STENBERG, Red 2b) 3. (Lindesburg) - W17 - X17 - Y18, Roger Trethewey 2c) 3. (Y18) - Z18 - A69 – FELIX. Bank: 26 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 44 IKEA FLAT PACK 2a) 6. (Fagersta) – G27 – G28 – G29 – G30 – G31 – G32, Blue 2b) 2. (G32) – G33 – G34 – G35, Jason Asker 2c) 3. (G35) – G36 – G37 – G38. Bank: 23 VARTA 2a) 6. (M10) – M9 – M8 – BREDISJO – N6 – O6 – P5, Black 2b) 3. (P5) – Q4 – Q3 – R3, Richard Smith 2c) 3. (R3) – GRYTHYLTAN: (Q4) – HALLAFORS: (R3) - R2. Bank: 38 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 56 REAR 2a) 6. (Surahammar) - - - R33 – Q33 – P32 - O32, Purple 2b) 3. (O32) – N31 – VINSBO: (U40) - T39, Kev Lee 2c) 3. (T39) – S39 – SKULTUNA: (Vasteras) - W42. Bank: 25 + 6 + 6 = 37 ROVER 2a) 6. (Västerås) – W42 - W43 – ULLVI; (W33) – W32 – W31 - W30, Green 2b) 3. (W30) – W29 – KOLSVA - W27, Michael Pargman 2c) 3. (W27) – W26 – W25 – W24. Bank: 27 STAMBANAN 2a) 6. (Fagersta) – H27 – H28 – H29 – ANGELSBERG – H31 – H32, Brown 2b) 3. (H32) – G33 – G34 – G35, Bob Gingell 2c) 3. (G35) – H35 – I36 – J36. Bank: 23 + 6 = 29 The third set of die rolls are 3a) 6, 3b) 3 and 3c) 6.


36

Comments Bob is running a new Vastmanland game in Devolution, and has received a couple of questions, that I have repeated below for future reference. The first is that the ‘bridges’ to D87 will be treated just like normal river crossings, even if the edges are in fact narrow channels of the lake. So D87 (and also U4) in fact work just like a hill with 3 to enter and 3 to leave. The second question asked whether track can be built across neighbouring provinces and the answer is no.

* * * * *

Robo Rally 4

The Real Game Start OK, amazingly after the last game start where I had lots of questions about the board, this time there were none. Most players remembered to include orders for their special options, but a few forgot. Please remember to include this with your first turn orders if you haven’t specified this already. The full list of specials is given below. The robots and players are as follows –

Player Robot Location Damage Lives Lost Specials Flags Registered

Andy York Dalekbot I5 0 0 To be ordered

Roger Trethewey Dropkick I5 0 0 To be ordered

Chris Hibbert R. Daneel Olivaw I5 0 0 1 unknown

Tom Howell Python I5 0 0

Harv Barker CAT-5 I5 0 0 1 unknown

Michael Pargman

Robbie I5 0 0 1 unknown

Steve Ham Shootme I5 0 0 To be ordered

Bob Pitman Skaffen-Amtiskaw I5 0 0 1 unknown

Options will be kept secret until revealed or unless they are clearly visible (e.g. turret) to others. All robots will start virtual from the start space. Please send orders for your first turns moves, including starting direction; those who didn’t order their starting special, please also include this with your orders.

* * * * *

Sopwith T-359VP

Turn Fifteen Kapitan Luft Hanza knew he was in danger and decided to slip into a cloud for extra cover, although further damaging his plane as he did so. Wing Commander Fields took a pot shot from distance, before turning his attention to the Red Baron who was closing in. Both managed to get clear shots at each other from close range before turning away. However, both had suffered critical hits and they started to spiral down to earth, watched by the Black Vegetable.

Pilot Starts Moves Ends A:D:P

1 The Red Baron (Arthur Owen) H9 A fA, A fA, (LT) Shot Down (7P)

2 The Blue Duke (Harv Barker) - Shot Down (0P)

3 Kapitan Luft Hanza (Brad Martin)* D11 RS, O, O 0:4:21

4 Rickenbacker (Chris Hibbert) - Shot Down (10P)

5 The Black Vegetable (Brendan Whyte) F4 RT, RS fA, RS fL 1:12:3

6 Wing Commander Fields (John Walker) C7 A fA, RT fR, (O) Shot Down (13P)


37

Rules for this game are available on-line at http://www.fwtwr.com/sopstats/rules.htm.

STERNENHIMMEL 3

Round One John places a mystery star in the ring star of Widder. Brad places a mystery star in the left ring star of steinbock. Andy places a mystery star in the ring star of Krebs Arthur places a star 3 in the southernmost star of Widder John places a black hole next to Arthur’s star 3 in Widder The turn order for the second turn will be Brad, Andy, Arthur, John and then Brad again. Please try to be as specific and descriptive as possible about where you are placing your stars each turn. For example, ordering place a 6 star on a ring star in Aries is clear, as there is only one ring star – there are three in Pisces, so more specific information, such as central ring star, is needed. Please remember to include provisional orders if you are not going first. The opening constellations are Aries (Widder), Pisces (Fische), Cancer (Krebs) and Capricorn (Steinbock).

Martin

Owen Hibbert

Barker

Walker Whyte

Luft Hanza

Fields Red Baron

Black Vegetable

http://www.fwtwr.com/sopstats/rules.htm


38

The next constellation, if Aries (Widder) gets filled will be Scorpio. Note that stars can only be placed in Scorpio once Aries (or another constellation) is completed.

JW BH

AO3

JW?

AY?

BM?


39

on-the-shelf vol. XVI, no 18 21 March 2015

Brought to you by Tom Howell. Still at the usual place: off-the-shelf at olympus.net. Welcome to on-the-shelf, volume XVI, number 18.

Variation on a Theme

The vast majority of doctors aren't bad. It is the system that makes us bad, makes us make mistakes. Most

doctors – and this is certainly true of my colleagues at the hospital – are willing to stay late and work hard to

provide good care. But they are struggling to do so in a system that is diseased.

from Doctored – The Disillusionment of an American Physician

by Sandeep Jauhar

Welcome back to those of you who played in our last game, and a warm welcome to all you newcomers. I hope

this incarnation will be to your liking. I took the liberty to write the first round's response in the same mode as

Dane used in his last game of WitWiKN? Just so you know: correct information or not, I use Wikipedia for

dates, places, and biographical information. If the person or place name you give me produces more than one

option on Wikipedia, I won't make an arbitrary choice; you'll be hearing from me. For distances, I use the

(thoroughly nasty) Vincenty formula, rather than a spherical earth model. If you use the latter, your mileage

may vary, as they say. Have at it, and may the best man figure out...

Where in the World is Kendo Nagasaki?

New players welcome anytime. Game goes 10 rounds, unless won earlier.

Round 1:

Jim Burgess Abraham Lincoln in Weehawken, NJ

Bob Gingell Genghis Khan in Karakoram

Douglas Kent Louis Pasteur in Baddeck, Nova Scotia

Dane Maslen Benjamin Disraeli in Lusaka, Zambia

Richard Smith Thomas Edison in Milan, Ohio

Richard Weiss Oliver Cromwell in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Brendan Whyte Thucydides in Semey

Kevin Wilson Mahatma Gandhi in Johannesburg, South Africa

Andy York Tom Howell in Port Townsend

Public response to player with closest guess: There are twenty one and a half more miles between our

places of birth than there are weeks between our birth days.

In My Neighborhood

I'm off to Seattle for a weekend of dance. We've had several days of sunny, warm-the-house weather,

but it is supposed to rain while I'll be traveling. About 80% of the ceiling is up. Soon as that is

finished, we'll start laying down flooring. Barb says the garter snakes have been sunning themselves in

her raised garden beds.

off the Reference Shelf CDs The Overlook, by Michael Connelly

The Brass Verdict, by Michael Connelly

Japanese, The Complete Course II, Part A, from Pimsleur Language Programs

Catch 22, by Joseph Heller -- I got about a quarter of the way through this and gave it up. There didn't

seem to be any point to it. But, then, wasn't that the idea?

The Red Queen, by Philippa Gregory

Painted Ladies, by Robert B. Parker


40

#67

The Universe is a Pink Blancmange Called Simon A subzine by Richard Smith – [email protected]

This issue's picture (and puzzle) are in honour of the Cricket World Cup in which finely honed athletes from all

over the world compete for the gleaming gold and silver ICC World Cup Trophy. As I type this, England have been heavily beaten by Australia but are still in the competition. By the time you read this they will surely be on

the plane home with their tails between their legs. Update: I was right, England blew it!

I've recently been playing the new Steven Wilson album "Hand. Cannot. Erase." and I absolutely love it, though not all the critics are enamoured with it. His previous album "The Raven That Refused To Sing" was 70s prog

but the new record is much more modern and varied including blatant pop tracks. It is a concept album about

the sad story of a young woman who died in her flat but nothing happened for three years.

I also spent quite bit of time on testing out hexGIMP for making RR maps, using the old Carolinas map I have been playing in WIMM?

So what is hexGIMP? Well, it's is a free plugin for GIMP (freeware graphics program) and can be obtained here http://axiscity.hexamon.net/users/isomage/gimp/hexgimp/

The instructions in the readme file are clear and concise which just as well as GIMP looks a bit scary when you

fire it up for the first time.

The plugin draws a hex grid for you (you choose the dimensions and whether or not to number the hexes). It

also adds lots of brushes for things like mountains, cities, forests etc. Using “snap to grid” you can drop these on the map simply and accurately. I had to create a new brush for RR towns but everything else I needed was

there. The automatic hex numbering is not the style used in RR so I had to do the hex numbers manually and found that they could not be read on mountain hexes (so skipped these). Everything goes on separate layers

(terrain, rivers, borders etc.) which is good and I found GIMP’s Path facility ideal for borders.

http://axiscity.hexamon.net/users/isomage/gimp/hexgimp/


41

I did do the text and final tweaks in Paint Shop Pro (ye olde version 5) but that was just due to familiarity – I

could have used GIMP for this.

As part of the test I clocked how long it took me. ‘Twas a grand total of 16 hours (not sure if this is good or

bad). Check out the results at http://www.variablepig.org/images/carolinas_rr_v1.jpg

Tony has helped me sort out some rules for 7 Wonders with Leaders, Cities and Babel and I will be opening a list soon. I did wonder it would be too much with Babel but Tony came up with a way to make it playable. I do

also have to consider which wonders to offer as there are now well over 100 to choose from.

I still haven't completely given up on the London Underground game but it still doesn't "work". Phantoms of the

Ice to start next issue. Shadow Hunters looks like being abandoned due to insufficient takers but I will leave it up for a bit longer.

I have made some desperately unexciting changes to the Pig website, to make the pages resize automatically

on mobiles. Apparently Google give you extra beano points for this. You can test your site at this URL:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

All us old sci-fi nerds shed a tear for Leonard Nimoy. I'm not a fan of Twitter but his final tweet was rather good: "A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory."

Sad news about Terry Pratchett too. Whilst I confess I've not read anything by him recently I was a massive Discworld fan in the past. Alzheimer's' really is horrible and probably the disease I would most like medical

science to conquer.

Two musicians whose work I have enjoyed for many years, Edgar Froese (Tangerine Dream & Solo) and Daevid Allen (Gong, Soft Machine & Solo), have also sadly passed away. Both men were trailblazers in their genres.

Daevid looks quite healthy in this recent picture from the booklet of his final work "I See You", but it was

recorded in 2014 when he knew he had cancer, hence the inclusion of the penultimate track "Thank You".

Richard

Most toilets flush in the key of Eb

http://www.variablepig.org/images/carolinas_rr_v1.jpg

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/


42

7 Wonders Postal and F2F rules on the website. Postal rules also printed in VP 141. Wonder description reprinted in VP

148.

Age 2 continues.. ROMA B (Chris)

Round 4 age card: Build second wonder stage using undisclosed card (cost 1 stone 1 clay own resources 1 cloth buy from Olympia for 2). Use the power of the wonder to recruit Hammurabi (build blue buildings for one less

resource) for 0 coins. Round 5 age card: Build a Laboratory (cost 2 clay own resource, 1 papyrus pay 2 to Sparta). Note that this

gives Roma a set of three via the Pigeon Loft.

OLYMPIA A (Brad)

Round 4 age card: Build Courthouse using Scriptorium (chain) Round 5 age card: Build second wonder stage using undisclosed card (cost 2 stone buy from Babel for 4).

Olympia's second wonder allows one structure to be built at no cost, so one of the remaining age 2 cards will

be free and one of the age 3 cards, some of which are very expensive)

BABEL A (Tony)

Round 4 age card: Build Consulate (cost 1 clay 1 papyrus own resources). This gets Babel a spare peace token (only one needs to be handed in after the age 2 conflict is resolved).

Round 5 age card: Build second wonder stage using undisclosed card (cost 2 stone 1 clay 1 ore all own resource). Babel's second stage gives +1 VP per brown card.

ALEXANDRIA B (Bob) Round 4 age card: Build Temple (cost 1 wood 1 clay 1 glass own resources)

Round 5 age card: Build Quarry (cost 1 coin)

ANTIOCHEIA A (Jim)

Round 4 age card: Build Temple (using chain) Round 5 age card: Build second wonder stage using undisclosed card (cost 2 clay 1 glass own resource except

1 clay from Alexandria for 1 coin). Antiocheia's second wonder gains a one-off 5 coins plus 1VP per yellow card.

EL DORADO A (Kevin)

Round 4 age card: Build second wonder stage using undisclosed card (cost 2 ore own resources 1 stone buy from Sparta for 1).

Round 5 age card: Build Loom (no cost)

SPARTA A (Allan) Round 4 age card: Build Caravansary (cost 2 wood own resource).

Round 5 age card: Build Training Ground (cost 2 ore 1 wood own resource).


43

Player Wonder (Stages)

Leaders Gold Military (Tokens)

Cards Production*

VP**

Chris Roma B (1 = gain 4 leaders; 2 = play 1 leader)

Croesus (+6 gold when laid) Nebuchadnezzar (+1 VP per blue) Hammurabi (build blue buildings for one less resource)

6 0 (-2)

Stone Pit Clay Pit Pigeon Loft Lumber Yard Altar (2v) Theatre (2v) Secret Warehouse Library (T) Gambling House Laboratory (W)

1 stone 1 clay / ore 1 wood

14

Brad Olympia A (1 = +3VP; 2 = one free build per age)

Caesar (+2 military when laid) Sappho (+2 VP)

3 3 (+2)

Ore Vein Loom Apothecary (C) Scriptorium (T) Stockade (1m) School (T) Library (T) Dispensary (C) Courthouse (4v)

1 wood 1 ore 1 cloth

24

Tony Babel A (1 = +3VP; 2 = + 1 VP per brown card)

Justinian (+3 vp per set of red/blue/green) Aspasia (+2 VP and peace token)

10 0 (0)

Tavern Tree Farm Glassworks Clay Pool Residence (1v) Workshop (W) Quarry Foundry Forum Consulate (2v)(

1 papyrus 1 wood / clay 1 glass 1 clay 2 stone 2 ore * 1 glass / cloth / papyrus

13

Bob Alexandria B (1 = extra resource stone, clay, ore or wood)

Bilkis (buy 1 resource from bank for 1 gold)

11 5 (0)

Excavation Guard Tavern (1m) Loom East Trading Post Clay Pool Ore Vein Walls (2m) Vineyard Stables (2m) Temple (3v) Quarry

1 glass 1 stone / clay 1 cloth 1 clay 1 ore *1 stone / clay / ore / wood 2 stone

3

Jim Antiocheia A (1 = +3VP; 2 = 5 coins +1 VP per yellow)

Xenophon (+2 gold each yellow card) Ramses (all guilds free)

19 0 (-1)

Tavern West Trading Post Marketplace East Trading Post Baths (3v) Mine Altar (2v) Forum Caravansary Temple (3v)(

1 stone 1 stone / ore * 1 glass / cloth / papyrus *1 stone / clay / ore / wood

16

Kevin El Dorado A (1 = +6 (7) coins, -2VP per blue card; 2 = 3 gold per yellow when built)

Berenice (+1 gold from bank 1/turn) Midas (+1 VP per 3 gold)

29 0 (-1)

Tavern Lumber Yard Gambling Den West Trading Post Marketplace Scriptorium (T) School (T) Foundry Forum Loom(

1 wood 2 ore * 1 glass / cloth / papyrus 1 cloth

3

Allan Sparta A (1 = one brown or grey produces extra resource)

Vitruvius (+2 gold for building chain) Pericles (+2 VP each red card)

9 4.5 (2)

Forest Cave Timber Yard Theatre (2v) Press Baths (3v) Barracks (1m) Pawnshop (3v) Statue (4v) Caravansary Training Ground (3m)

1 wood / ore 1 wood / stone 1 papyrus *1 stone / clay / ore / wood

16

* production that cannot be purchased (e.g. from yellow cards or wonders) is marked with an asterisk. ** not including leftover coins


44

Pigeon Loft - copies neighbour's science card at game end Secret Warehouse - each turn produces an extra resource of the player's choice from among those already

produced via initial resource, brown or grey cards.

Science Symbols:

C = Compass

T = Tablet W = Wheel

Chain Possibilities:

Altar: Temple Apothecary: Stables or Dispensary

Baths: Aqueduct Caravansary: Lighthouse

Dispensary: Lodge or Arena

East Trading Post: Forum Forum: Haven

Laboratory: Observatory or Siege Workshop Library: Senate or University

Marketplace: Caravansary

School: Academy or Study Scriptorium: Courthouse or Library

Temple: Pantheon Theatre: Statue

Training Ground: Circus Walls: Fortifications

West Trading Post: Forum

Workshop: Laboratory or Archery Range

Comments:

Age 2 continues and more wonders are built. Wome Wecwuits while Alexandria final scores a VP, and Babel

gets more like Basel in guaranteeing its neutrality until the end of the game (Justinian may not get used). No significant rules problems this time, just one person forgot to name the card to be burned for wonder building

so I chose randomly. Next time Age 2 concludes with play 2, bin one.

Machi Koro

We have 8 takers for this Japanese classic, so I'm running 2 games.

Postal rules are on the Pig website http://www.variablepig.org/rules.html

F2F rules with Japanese artwork and English text, and card images /

translations are available to download from Boardgamegeek here http://tinyurl.com/pgso5pp

The game has just been re-released by IDW Games.

Example orders: Build preference: Forest, Cafe, Convenience Store, Livestock Farm.

In this case the player is defaulting everything else (see 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6

in the rules). On the postal turns when you have two rolls, you can

supply separate preferences for the two rolls, or use the same for both.

http://www.variablepig.org/rules.html

http://tinyurl.com/pgso5pp


45

RULES UPDATE: I had one vote for playing to the death and two votes for sticking to 12 turns, so I'll keep it as it is with a 12-turn time limit. So whilst 12 postal turns (15 goes) is unlikely to be enough to build all fourt

Game 1 Postal turn 5:

Jim roll #6 = 2 [one dice] (Jim gets 1 coin from Bakery; Jim 1, Allan 1 and John 2 from Livestock Farms) Jim

builds a Convenience Store Allan roll #6 = 2 (Allan gets 1 from Bakery, Jim 1, Allan 1 and John 2 from Livestock Farms) Allan builds a Cafe

(not permitted to build second Stadium) John roll #6 = 1 (Everyone gets 1 coin from Wheat Fields) John builds a Convenience Store

Bob roll #6 = 1 (Everyone gets 1 coin from Wheat Fields) Bob builds a Convenience Store Jim roll #7 = 4 (Jim gets 6 coins from Convenience Stores) Jim passes

Order for postal turn 6: Allan Roll 7, John roll 7, Bob roll 7, Jim* roll 8, Allan roll 8 *n.b. default is 2 dice with train station Status Table

Player Coins Buildings

Jim Reader 11 Wheat Field, Bakery, Livestock Farm, Forest x2, Train Station, Convenience Store

x2

Allan Stagg 7 Wheat Field, Bakery, Livestock Farm, Forest, Convenience Store x2, Stadium, Cafe

John Walker 5 Wheat Field, Bakery, Livestock Farm x2, Forest, TV Station, Stadium, Convenience

Store

Bob Pitman 1 Wheat Field, Bakery x2, Forest x2, Mine, Convenience Store, Restaurant

Available Cards

No. Type Cost Roll Name Description

3 Landmark 4 - Train Station You may roll 2 dice

4 Landmark 10 - Shopping Mall +1 coin for bakery, cafe, conv. store, restaurant

4 Landmark 16 - Amusement Park Extra go if you roll a double

4 Landmark 22 - Radio Tower You may reroll your dice once per go

6 Blue 1 1 Wheat Field Receive 1 coin from the bank (anyone's roll)

2 Blue 1 2 Livestock Farm Receive 1 coin from the bank (anyone's roll)

5 Green 1 2-3 Bakery Receive 1 coin from the bank

5 Red 2 3 Cafe Receive 1 coin from any player who rolls a 3

0 Green 2 4 Convenience Store Receive 3 coins from the bank

0 Blue 3 5 Forest Receive 1 coin from the bank (anyone's roll)

2 Purple 6 6 Stadium Receive 2 coins from each player

3 Purple 7 6 TV Station Receive 5 coins from the player of your choice

4 Purple 8 6 Business Complex You may exchange 1 card* with an opponent

6 Green 5 7 Cheese Factory Receive 3 coins for each Livestock Farm

6 Green 3 8 Furniture Factory Receive 3 coins for each Forest or Mine

5 Blue 6 9 Mine Receive 5 coins from the bank (anyone's roll)

5 Red 3 9-10 Restaurant Receive 2 coins from any player who rolls a 9 or 10

6 Blue 3 10 Apple Orchard Receive 3 coins from the bank (anyone's roll)

6 Green 2 11-12 Produce Market Receive 2 coins for each Wheat Field or Apple Orchard

* excludes Landmarks and Major Establishments (Purple) Game 2 - Postal Turn 5:

Kev roll 6: 4 [2,2] (Kevin gets 3 from Convenience Store) Kev builds an Apple Orchard Tom roll 6: 4 (Tom gets 3 from Convenience Store) Tom builds a Forest

Roger roll 6: 5 [4,1] (Roger gets 1, Tony 1, Kev 1, Tom 2 from Forests) Roger builds nothing (only has one coin

and no Livestock Farms left) Tony roll 6: 5 (Roger gets 1, Tony 1, Kev 1, Tom 2 from Forests) Tony Builds a Cafe

Kev roll 7: 9 [6,3] (Nobody gets anything) Kev builds an Apple Orchard

Order for postal turn 6: Tom roll 7, Roger* roll 7, Tony* roll 7, Kev* roll 8, Tom roll 8

*n.b. default is 2 dice with train station


46

Status Table

Player Coins Buildings

Kevin Lee 0 Wheat Field, Bakery x2, Forest, Train Station, Livestock Farm, Convenience

Store, Apple Orchard x2

Tom Howell 5 Wheat Field, Bakery, Forest x2, Livestock Farm x2, Convenience Store, Cafe

Roger Trethewey 2 Wheat Field x2, Bakery, Cafe, Livestock Farm, Forest, Train Station

Tony Bayley 0 Wheat Field, Bakery, Forest, Livestock Farm x2, Train Station, Cafe x2

Available Cards

No. Type Cost Roll Name Description

1 Landmark 4 - Train Station You may roll 2 dice

4 Landmark 10 - Shopping Mall +1 coin for bakery, cafe, conv. store, restaurant

4 Landmark 16 - Amusement Park Extra go if you roll a double

4 Landmark 22 - Radio Tower You may reroll your dice once per go

5 Blue 1 1 Wheat Field Receive 1 coin from the bank (anyone's roll)

0 Blue 1 2 Livestock Farm Receive 1 coin from the bank (anyone's roll)

5 Green 1 2-3 Bakery Receive 1 coin from the bank

2 Red 2 3 Cafe Receive 1 coin from any player who rolls a 3

4 Green 2 4 Convenience Store Receive 3 coins from the bank

1 Blue 3 5 Forest Receive 1 coin from the bank (anyone's roll)

4 Purple 6 6 Stadium Receive 2 coins from each player

4 Purple 7 6 TV Station Receive 5 coins from the player of your choice

4 Purple 8 6 Business Complex You may exchange 1 card* with an opponent

6 Green 5 7 Cheese Factory Receive 3 coins for each Livestock Farm

6 Green 3 8 Furniture Factory Receive 3 coins for each Forest or Mine

6 Blue 6 9 Mine Receive 5 coins from the bank (anyone's roll)

6 Red 3 9-10 Restaurant Receive 2 coins from any player who rolls a 9 or 10

4 Blue 3 10 Apple Orchard Receive 3 coins from the bank (anyone's roll)

6 Green 2 11-12 Produce Market Receive 2 coins for each Wheat Field or Apple Orchard

* excludes Landmarks and Major Establishments (Purple)

Comments:

Game 1 continues to be the more lucrative with Jim getting far more money than expected making passing the second turn a bit dodgy as there are Stadiums, TV Stations and Cafes ready to relieve him of his wealth. Allan's

wad is fairly safe as he goes first next time. Meanwhile game 2 (where 3 players have train stations) finally gets some 7+ buildings as Kevin builds 2 Apple Orchards (6 coins on a 10 enough for a Mine or a Stadium).

Snakes and Ladders - Gameend Statments

Tom Howell: I was trying to keep a board with ups and downs. I certainly had it all wrong! After round 5 or

6, I figured the other players would be gunning for me with the trapdoors since I was clearly the one to catch. I was extremely lucky to have hit a ladder on my first play with the second set of numbers. That meant the

other players couldn't know for certain what I had played that round, and it would be more difficult for them to anticipate where to put trapdoors. The last three rounds I tried to make my moves as random as possible

given what we had to work with because of the trapdoor threat. However, I was anticipating at least one snake

in the last ten squares and that had me more worried than the trapdoors. If I was lucky enough to not land on a

snake nor a ladder on round ten, I would have been across the finish line next turn. Imagine my surprise to land nearly two full rows past the finish! It was all luck guys. Thanks for playing and thanks to Richard for

running SaL!

Chris Hibbert: I didn't see the pattern. I was trying 20 per level, since ladders seemed to go up 20 a lot of the

time. Being an American, of course, I had no chance of figuring out the significance of the numbers, but then I doubt anyone else saw that either. Bad luck that my big drop was on round 8 just before Tom got to the top.

Congrats Tom.


47

John Walker: Thanks for GMing and running this, a brilliant map, which I completely failed to work out.

Congratulations to Tom for his landslide victory and his avoidance of trap doors. I think this is certainly my favourite PBM game.

Roger Trethewey: Good game. Over too quickly, but congratulations to the winner and thanks for the game Richard.

GM: It did end rather suddenly and I really wasn't sure if anyone would get the mystery element of the election

dates, but it wasn't required to win the game, just a bonus if you twigged it. I am tempted to run another one - I think a deducible (but not too obvious) pattern for the placement of snakes and ladders is required and one or

two more players to make the trapdoor vote more of a factor.

Puzzle - Cricket Killer

A nice easy one this time (took me 11 minutes to solve) so you won't be stumped (groan!)

VARIABLE PIG (Red Holstein Husum)

Polar Pig 149 on-the-shelf vol XVI, no 18 The Universe…67

JIM (CJ) READER, TOM HOWELL RICHARD SMITH, jim_reader”of”hotmail.com off-the-shelf”of”olympus.net richard530smith"of"btinternet.com

Jim Reader is the Editor. Richard Smith does the printing and distribution from the UK. Back issues of the zine (and some rules) are avalable from the new website http://www.variblepig.org. Variable Pig also has a Mailing List – go to http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/variablepig/ or send a blank email to [email protected] to join (posting address [email protected]). Variable Pig is free but donations of British stamps or a PayPal transfer (to Richard's email) are welcomed.

PIG WAITING LISTS

TEA DANCE – Arthur Owen and Roger Trethewey; 1 more wanted (Polar Pig) DER FUHRER – John Walker, Howard Bishop and Arthur Owen; 2 – 3 more wanted (Polar Pig) PUERTO RICO – Bob Pitman, Arthur Owen and Kev Lee. 1 - 2 more wanted (Polar Pig). SNOWBALL FIGHTING – Regular game. Arthur Owen and Andy York. 3 - 4 more wanted (Polar Pig) HARE AND TORTOISE – Regular Game. Arthur Owen, Lee Batchelor and Howard Bishop. 4 – 6 wanted (Polar Pig) WORK REST AND PLAY – Steve Ham, Arthur Owen and 1 more wanted (Polar Pig) MANEATER - Roger Trethewey, Lee Batchelor, Richard Smith, Arthur Owen and Tony Critchley. Game start next time. (Polar Pig) 6 NIMMT! –Arthur Owen, Kev Lee and Steve Ham. More wanted (Polar Pig) RAILWAY RIVALS – Map to be determined. Chris Hibbert, Steve Guest, Arthur Owen, Jason Asker and Michael Pargman. 2 – 3 more wanted (Polar Pig) KENDO NAGASAKI – new players can join (on-the-shelf) SHADOW HUNTERS – John Walker, Mike Townsend, Roger Trethewey and Jim Reader. 5 – 8 wanted (The Universe) ORIGINS OF WWI – Arthur Owen, Brendan Whyte (on-the-shelf) PHANTOMS OF THE ICE – Kev Lee, Jim Reader, Chris Hibbert, Tony Critchley, Arthur Owen, Mike Townsend, John Walker, Bob Pitman. Game Start next issue, room for one more player. (The Universe)

THE DEADLINE FOR VARIABLE PIG (JINHUA) is Friday 17th April 2015

The Jinhua pig of Zhejiang Province in China, is characterized by its hair color and meat quality. The animals have a white body, with black at the head and rump and the back and loins are slightly curved. The breed is especially noted for its thin skin, fine bones and tender meat. "Jinhua ham" is favored for its attractive flavor and rosy color and has a high reputation in the international market. Jinhua belong to a type of swine found in central China, the region between the Changjiang and Zhujiang rivers where the climate is temperate (or warm) and moist. Agriculture in this region is highly developed and the main crop is paddy rice. The area is rich in feed and especially abundant in green and water plants which are used as pig feeds. Pigs in this region are generally penned and well managed. Jinhua pigs are early maturing and may be mated as early as 3 to 4 months old. They are fairly prolific with an average litter size of 13 and seven pairs of teats.

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