Tweet of the Week
I love a good call out video. And this, my friends, is a good call out video.
Off Topic: Parkrun
A few years back, some people at work started doing 5k runs on Saturday mornings through Parkrun, and you know how that goes – we’d be talking about it in the office on the Monday morning, so a bunch of other people would hear us yapping and want to join in, and it snowballs from there.
There ended up being a big crowd of us and we split into two factions after the run each Saturday: one group would head home, and the other group would head out for a bacon sandwich. Wanna guess which team I was on?
Damn right, I was a founding member of Team Bacon. I also learned the hard way that it’s not good to run on a hangover – the organisers take photos of people coming down the home stretch, and there’s a notorious set of images from Gateshead Parkrun where I’m in the background of everyone else’s finishing photos: hunched over at the side of the track, enthusiastically vomiting out the previous night’s indulgence.
Parkrun is a free, timed 5k run that takes place in 22 countries every Saturday morning. It’s all run by volunteers, and once you’ve registered, you can just roll up with your barcode at any Parkrun in the world and run on the day – I’ve had a bit of fun going to the local Parkrun when I’m on holiday in Torquay* for example. And you always get a little buzz when the email comes through with your time and you’ve hit a course PB, or even just beat last week.
Anyway, yesterday I did my milestone 50th Parkrun and now I can literally get the t-shirt. I’m certainly not setting any course records, and there are plenty of people who walk the whole thing – so if you want to give it a crack, it’s a really positive step forwards. Give it a go.
Why did the chicken go to the gym?
To work on his pecks.
Shoutout of the Week
Tavendale at No Rerolls is a long term friend of the blog, and he’s in the middle of something really special. He’s posted new articles every day for 250 days and counting – so let’s all get behind him and roar him home to the full 365. What an achievement.
One that stood out for me from Tavendale’s back catalogue was this short but thoughtful piece on the pile of shame. I guess this one particularly chimed with me thanks to the quote about buying books: regular readers will know that I have a literary pile of potential beside my bed to match the grey sprues in my garage. No Rerolls covers AOS as well as a whole lot of other systems (especially RPGs), so check out their site.
The Week Ahead
- Clarkey’s “Kruleboyz at Masters” interview wasn’t quite ready to go last week, so we switched it around with another article – and that means it’ll be coming out next week instead.
- The Mirebrute Troggoth was Mr Popularity in Gloomspite Troggoth lists for a while there, but he’s been forgotten about now. Theo takes an analytical look at whether he still has legs as an ally in a Troggoth army, or whether he is finished.
- And Seanzor will be hitting you up with the next installment in his outstanding Hobby Aesthetics series: Sean is a world-class hobbyist and this is not to be missed.
We’ve posted a couple of shorter-format articles in the Patreon this week: there’s a batrep on a game I played with Sons of Behemat into new OBR, where I focus on learning points rather than turn-by-turn details. I think this will be the blueprint for Patreon batreps moving forward, because there’s generally a couple of key takeaways (good or bad) from any game you play, and the only thing better than learning from your mistakes is learning from some other chump’s. We’re also about to cover off the latest two Warcry Warbands, and there’s some real value there, so if you’re a member of the Patreon be sure to check that out.
Speaking of which, massive thanks to both Bradley Graham and Sam (Anzo) of Unidentified Wargamer fame who joined the Patreon this week – glad to have you both on board, fellas. Sam’s podcast has grown and grown thanks to his hardcore dedication, pushing out excellent interviews week after week. We’re all rapt to see you both in the Discord.
*Not the Torquay where Basil Fawlty has a hotel. In Australia we’ve got our own Torquay, and it’s where Patrick Swayze went at the end of Point Break.
If you’d like to help us continue with our work, we’d love to have your support. Please click here to join us on Patreon.
Plastic Craic 