The "Not" Jutland Ship Collection

Some people have drug or alcohol addictions I have model ships ! Not satisfied with all the ships at Jutland (250 for the uneducated) I could only stand withdrawal symptoms for so long before embarking on the lesser "Not" at Jutland collection.

All ships are 1/2400 scale GHQ and a handy guide on how I paint them is avaliable on the link below.

https://yarkshiregamer.blogspot.com/2015/11/12400-ww1-wtj-naval-from-box-to-table.html

So let's have a run down of the new ships starting with Team Britain.

HMS Queen Elizabeth 

The lead ship of a class of Super Dreadnoughts, 3 knots faster than the standard 21 knot Dreadnought, she and her sisters were designed to form a Fast Squadron. With 8 15" guns and 13" armour QE was a formidable force.

Whilst undergoing trials in the Mediterranean she was called up for the Dardanelles Campaign where she served as a flag ship. After that ill fated action QE returned to the Grand Fleet at Scapa, however she missed the big day as the ship was in dock for maintenance.

Later in the 1st World War QE became the flagship of the Grand Fleet and went on to see extensive service in WW2, being badly damaged at Alexandria by Italian Frogmen.

HMS Dreadnought

The ship that started a revolution in Naval Warfare, launched in 1906 she was the first Ship to have a single calibre main armament (12" guns) and steam turbine engines which gave a top speed of 21 knots. Both of which made the existing Battleships or the now Pre Dreadnoughts, obsolete.

Despite the fanfare of Dreadnoughts launch her active career was less auspicious. The ship rammed and sank a U Boat in 1915 but missed Jutland whilst in dock being refitted. After that there was a stint in the home fleet before being scrapped in 1921.

HMAS Australia 

One of three Indefatigable Class Battlecruisers and the only Capital ship in the Australian Navy, she began the war searching for the German East India Squadron before being transferred to the North Sea.

Australia missed Jutland as she was in dock for repair following a collision with her sister ship New Zealand. The Battlecruiser returned to Australia after the war but was scuttled as a result of the Washington Naval Treaty.

HMS Glorious 

A strange beast, the second of three Courageous Class Battlecruisers, armed with 4 15" guns, with a top speed of 32 knots but very thin armour (3" belt).

One thing immediately obvious is the decks, rather than the standard teak decking of the time this class of ship had bare metal decks to save weight and therefore increase speed.

The ship took part in the second Battle of Heligoland Bight but after the war she was converted into an aircraft carrier, the model itself is huge and only just fits on the 120mm base.

The four new British "Capital" Ships 

HMS Drake

The next two ships fall firmly in the "why and when did I buy that" category.

When going through the "to do" box I found this Drake Class Armoured Cruiser but for the life of me I can't figure out where it came from. Coronel I hear you call, but alas no; I already own HMS Good Hope.

But never mind whilst the ship yards are open...... painted up as the lead ship of the Class it adds to my Armoured Cruiser collection. Before WW1 she was stationed in Australia before returning to the UK to be part of the 7th Cruiser Sqn. She was torpedoed in shallow water in 1917.

I love the detail on this ship, a hint of black wash in the recesses works nicely.

HMS Kent 

Lying in the box next to Drake was a Monmouth Class Armoured Cruiser, clearly there has been some sort of Coronel mix up going on as the Class name of that group, famously lost in the South Atlantic battle.

So rather than leave the model unpainted she has been finished and named HMS Kent.

Kent was refitting at the start of the war and spent time in the South Atlantic after Coronel playing a part in sinking the German Light Cruisers Nurnberg (Falklands) and Dresden. She was on the West African coast at the time of Jutland.

That concludes the new additions to Team GB, all I have planned to add are Repulse, Renown, Furious and the mysteriously missing HMS Audacious which I am sure I bought but can't find !

Team German

SMS König Albert

The fourth ship of the Kaiser Class Dreadnoughts she was in dry dock for maintenance at the time of Jutland, a big miss for the High Seas Fleet.

SMS Goeben

I previewed this ship a couple of weeks back, I had been suffering a spot of Painters Block after the rush of the Italian Wars Project but finally managed to drag myself forward and get this model finished to hopefully get the Vallejo flowing again.

Another lovely GHQ model. Goeben was in the Mediterranean at the start of the war and was transferred to Turkey. Our Naval Campaign has historically taken a different route and the ship has been recalled to the 1st Scouting Group, hence the need for the ship.

It's going to be great seeing her go into action alongside her sister Moltke. The German Capital Ships are all done now and I have some early Pre Dreadnoughts and Armoured Cruisers on the go (from Tumbling Dice) so look out for a review on those soon.

Konig Albert firing it's front turrets

Out of interest I took a picture is Queen Elizabeth next to Dreadnought, it's amazing to see the two ships side by side in the same scale, Dreadnought as we know was a revolution but look how far things moved between 1906 and 1914. The sheer size of QE paints a real picture.

When Our "Heroes" Become "Those People"...

"If there is to be a brave new world, our generation is going to have the hardest time living in it." - Chancellor Gorkon, Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country







Another revelation is rippling across our little niche of a niche of a hobby and it's having the effects that one would expect. Things said that have no place being said, opinions that are now public that reveal one of our own to be... unsavory and unwelcome.

I suspect that what I'm seeing in the generation around me and the generation before me is no different than the things that folks saw from their generation and prior generations in the 1960s and 70s, as change swept over our country.

Needed changes. And the changes we see today in society are needed.

But... change is never easy, especially societal change. It's violent. It's disruptive. It alters lives in very significant ways. It also changes the landscape and, like it or not, my generation and older are not going to be as nimble to accept or change.

I know, I know... you are the exception. You've kept up with the times, you have no problems with how society works these days, etc. etc... yet I see the "Old School Gamer" groups and forums full of "stupid 5ers" and "why kids these days and their storytelling, precious snowflake D&D, it's not REAL D&D!" (insert South Park rabble-rabble-rabble noise, or reference meme below...)

Let me be clear, if you haven't figured this out already, I'm left-center on a ton of issues. I, unfortunately, see where folks come from, even the ones that I vehemently disagree with. And let me be clear, I vehemently disagree with the things that Bledsoe advocated.

Yet, I know why and how, I know the environment and generation he grew up in and how unlikely it was ever going to be that he was going to change. Even now, he won't. Probably. It's just too hard. At some point, I suspect age is the main thing, people are going to stop adapting. Not all. But dammit, I see it too much to not think that it's a thing. That at some point, at some age, the vast majority of people "lock" and it's usually on the things that they grew up with. The ideals, morals and values that were there when folks were kids and that sort of thing wraps into their DNA.

Jesus, that freaks me out a bit, because I grew up with Archie Bunker and all that wonderful 70s and early 80s TV and culture. I've managed to keep, I think, pretty nimble and adaptable and understanding to how things change and WHY things change... but there's a bit of me that worries that I'm going to hit 70 or 80 and suddenly some dumbshit switch is going to throw and I'm going find myself the equivalent of ... well, the dude yelling at the cloud.

Can I have a Save Vs. Old Age, please?

Look, Bledsoe and the other folks who exhibit bad behavior and won't learn/change/adapt - yea, they're going to get sidelined and that's for the best. Society marches on, changes, and the way things were... well, they're not going to last forever. Sure, folks can gather and do their thing, hell, technically, me having a 1st edition AD&D game could be seen as "not adapting or growing and having a group to stay stuck" - but I think there's a helluva difference between wanting to play elf-games in a particular way and having the anti-Semitic, racist, sexist opinions that were largely accepted without question for a long time.

I suspect that this will get some blow back - most of the posts I've seen are very, very, carefully neutral. I get it. The mob frenzy really fucking sucks.

Welcome to the new world. It's not easy living in it.

Recreating Classic Puzzle Mechanics In A Very New Shape

One of the most classic puzzle mechanics that we can find in games (specially in mobile games) is to push certain elements to the right places; sometimes the movements are limited, so we need to carefully study the challenge, sometimes we have unlimited movements, but usually get an element stuck in a place, so we need to start over again.



Push Maze Puzzle and Rebuild Chile are excellent examples of this gaming mechanics (by the way, the last one was used in a social campaign to earn donations for earthquake victims in Chile few years ago). Below, you can check out the gaming trailers to understand how this kind of puzzle game works:





This is a very traditional puzzle mechanic and, what we regularly see in many games, is the change of elements: sometimes we need to move rocks, other times we need to move boxes, plants, zombies, elephants and (fill the blanks).

However, recently I played one interesting game that caught my attention completely: Baba is You. The game has the simplicity of this previously discussed pushing mechanics, but you can interact with elements and words; when you interact with words, you can change the order of some phrases and affect game's ecosystem and dynamics. Check the trailer below to understand this clever idea:



Baba is you reaches a new level of experimentation and recreation of a classic mechanic. This game is an excellent example of how we can (re)think something that, apparently, was exhausted in terms of innovation. By using words as a key to the puzzle design, Baba is you invites the player to use his mind in a creative way. On this subject, Koster (2005, p.152) reminds us that the "toughest puzzles are the ones that force the most self-experimentation. They are the ones that challenge us most deeply on many levels – mental stamina, mental agility, creativity, perseverance, physical endurance, and emotional self-abnegation".

#GoGamers

---

Reference:

KOSTER, Raph. A theory of fun for game design. Arizona: Paraglyph Press, 2005.

PUBG 4 New Upcoming Updates Of 2019

PUBG  never stays back in surprising us. This time PUBG is bringing 4 new updates which will seriously shock you and will change the way you play the game.

  Though these updates are still a concept, PUBG is trying its best to convert these concepts into reality

               Below are the 4 surprising PUBG's new updates : 

1. RIOT SHIELD :
                                 
                     Before describing the riot shield, I must ask you if you have seen the official PUBG trailer video. If yes, then you might have seen a scene where a player was using a shield to protect himself from the bullets and grenades. If you have not watched the video, you can still watch it here.

Shield as seen in PUBG official video

                     PUBG Corp is trying to add this weapon into the game. But unlike pan(which also acts as a shield), the riot shield will have some health and after some firings or bursting of grenades, the shield will either break or just disappear.

2. Digital Binocular : 

                    A binocular will also be found in PUBG very soon. This digital binocular can zoom in up to 15×. It will help players to see up to a long distance and track enemies.

3. Truck vehicle : 

                   A new vehicle truck will also be added in the future. While playing PUBG you might have noticed destroyed or unusable trucks in various locations. A modified version of this truck will be added which will carry upto 8 persons.

Unusable Truck 

4. Harley Quinn and Joker outfit : 

               This was planned before the beginning of Season 4 but only the joker's hair was available in Season 5. But now there is a hope because we might be using it in Season 6.

Outfits

Note : Though there is no guarantee but the first three updates might be available in 0.13 update and the fourth update in Season 6.

Which of the above given updates,according to you, will be the most useful one and why? Please tell us in the comments section below.

Pro T-SQL 2019: Toward Speed, Scalability, And Standardization For SQL Server Developers - ScanLibs

Pro T-SQL 2019: Toward Speed, Scalability, and Standardization for SQL Server Developers

Dispel, Short Film, Review And Interview

Dispel is a story with a lot of impact. There is the battle as summed up in the synopsis, but there is more. This is fight told on different levels as Lizzie fights for her mother using imagination and her love.

Dispel was screened at the 2019 FilmQuest film festival (website). It was nominated for Best Fantasy Short, Best Screenplay (Kylie Eaton), and Best Score.

Synopsis: When young Lizzie learns her older brother is moving out, she realizes she will be left home alone with her monster of a mother. Armed with the lessons of her favorite TV show, 'Celeste Skygoode,' Lizzie battles to save her mother from the dark forces that have transformed her.

Kylie Eaton wrote and directed Dispel. She was kind enough to share some thoughts about her film and what other projects she is looking forward to. She also shared what her inspiration was for getting into filmmaking.

What was the inspiration for your Dispel?

DISPEL came to life when two ideas collided to make one greater idea. I wanted to tell a story about a young girl dealing with difficulties at home, as well as honour the impact that sci-fi and fantasy films had in my childhood.

Film can be used as a way of projecting our worries or desires onto a physical form, especially in a genre package. I want to tell honest, emotional stories in this way. There's also so much to unexplored in those worlds when it comes to women, such as mother-daughter relationships, sisterhood, and female friendships.

I'm proud that, together with the cast and crew, we were able to create something that has a deep story, but also honours the fantasy and sci-fi themes that I love so much.

 

What project(s) do you have coming up you're excited about?

I'm finishing up rewrites on the sci-fi feature that landed me as a finalist in the ScreenCraft competition, and I'm in post-production on a new science fantasy short. Keep an eye out for more details coming soon. I've got some feature ideas bubbling away in me as well. Once things have calmed down around the DISPEL premiere, I've got new worlds to explore and bring to life.

What was your early inspiration for pursuing a career in film?

Early in life, I was influenced by Peter Jackson, Tim Burton, Mimi Leder, and JJ Abrams, but most of all by Steven Spielberg. Telling stories through the eyes of a teenager, that can also resonate with adult viewers, is something Steven Spielberg does incredibly well.

After attending Chapman film school, I started work in post-production with a focus on editing. I began as a director for music videos, which is a great way to learn visual storytelling, constructing a narrative without dialogue or professional actors. I was the main editor on 2017 short film, Girl Meets Roach, and learnt the craft of directing from behind the scenes. I've always been a fan of sci-fi and fantasy, so I decided to create a few experimental shorts in this genre first, before moving onto wider narrative.

I'm enthusiastic about the entire filmmaking process—whether that's being on-set, post-production, or helping to promote the film after it's released.

What would be your dream project?

My goal is to one day direct a big-budget studio sci-fi or fantasy film. Having the time and money to really delve deep into the world building and mythology of a story is so enticing to me. I love the spectacle of film. Of course, I always want to keep it rooted in the stories and characters. But there's something so unique to film's ability to transport viewers to a completely different dimension. Doing that on a large scale is absolutely my dream project.

What are some of your favorite pastimes when not working on a movie?

I love working, so I'm always trying to find a balance. Some things I enjoy are yoga and meditation, reading, and playing board games. I also recently started horseback riding—and now I'm dreaming of making a western!

What is one of your favorite movies and why?

This is the most stressful question you can ask a filmmaker! I love so many films, and I learn so much from every movie that I watch. Spielberg was a huge influence on me growing up, and there's something that just endures about all of his films. E.T. stands out to me as a film that works for children and adults, has a real emotional story at the center, and tackles some big ideas while still giving us the icon imagery of Elliot flying on his bike with E.T. It's the kind of film I would love to make. Also, Star Wars will always hold a special place in my heart.

You can find out more about Dispel on UMDb (link).

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WW1 Naval Campaign - War Is Declared !

It's that time of year again, Easter always heralds the start of our annual Naval Campaign and this year we are focusing on early WW1, which is a great excuse to get Project Jutland out of the boxes again and of course add some new ships to the collection.

Thankfully this time rather than doing a load of prep myself prior to the Campaign I am using the book below to guide us through our journey.

The book was a download from Wargames Vault and is highly recommended, it has two levels, the tactical tabletop based element (report below) and a higher level Campaign Event element. I have decided to introduce the world to T'Yarkshire Ferret Newspaper, this esteemed publication will bring you the gossip and tittle tattle of the Campaign Events whilst the more traditional blog format below will bring you the blow by blow game reports. Make sure you have a good look at Ferret for the latest stories.

The Könign Luise (or as close as I have in my collection)

With the game reports I will be reporting what happened in our games, if you purchase the Campaign book you will find that each game has numerous potential paths that are determined by dice rolls or Campaign Events so each time you play the scenarios they have the potential of being different.

Game 1 - Chasing Königin Luise - 5th August 1914

In early August 14 with war imminent Jellicoe and the Grand Fleet put to sea, encouraged by the King with the following message, (they were of course further moved by the message from The King in the North Geoffrey Boycott see the latest edition of T'Ferret)

"At this grave moment in our national history I send to you, and through you to the officers and men of the Fleet of which you have assumed command, the assurance of my confidence that under your direction they will revive and renew the old glories of the Royal Navy, and prove once again the sure shield of Britain and her Empire in the hour of trial"

The Könign Luise was a liner that had been hastily converted to a minelayer and she had been out at sea around 30 miles off Harwich laying mines when she was sighted by two RN destroyers who were on patrol HMS Landrail and Laurel and the chase was on. I gave the Könign a couple of deck guns to liven things up.

The game starts at 11.00 am, the two destroyers are heading East 10,000 yards behind the Könign Luise. With a top speed of 30 knots to 16 in the Destroyers favour the boilers were stoked and the game begins. Visibility is 12,000 yards but there are a number of squalls in the area where visibility is as low as 2,000.

HMS Fearless to the rescue

11.15 following a radio message from HMS Landrail the nearest supporting unit, a Active Class Light Cruiser Fearless appears out of the gloom 12,000 yards East of the Könign.

11.23 First shell hit of the war as the front gun from HMS Landrail lands a hit on the deck of Könign.

Strike One to Landrail

11.37 The Germans haven't been asleep though and 5 Torpedo Boats V1,2,3,4 and 6 appear at full speed 12,000 yards West of Könign heading towards the Minelayer.

German reinforcements arrive

11.45 A squall settles over the table reducing visibility to 5,000 yards, initially leaving only the two destroyers and the Könign in sight of each other, shot continue to be traded, the Minelayer is struck a couple of times but without any critical damage. HMS Laurel is unlucky though as one of the shells from Könign finds the base of her funnel reducing her top speed by 4 knots.

12.00 visibility increases to 7,000 yards bringing the German Torpedo Boats into visible range of the British Destroyers.

First blood to the Germans

12.07 The Germans sink the first ship of the game as V1 puts a round into the Magazine of the Destroyer HMS Laurel, without warning the ship explodes sinking rapidly.

12.15 Visibility increases to 9,000 yards.

12.23 further German ships arrive in the shape of the light cruisers Breslau, Regensberg and Rostock 10,000 yards South of the Könign.

British Light Cruisers

At the same time 12,000 yards to the east of Könign two British Light Cruisers in the shape of Lowestoft and Southampton steam into view.

12.30 Meanwhile it's all getting a bit messy in the middle of the table as the close range destroyer action continues around the burning wreck of the Laurel. It's not all going the Germans way as a hit on V1 from HMS Fearless starts a fire on board the German Torpedo Boat.

12.37 in the general Melee in the centre there is a narrow miss as the leading German TB narrowly misses HMS Fearless only for the next in line to strike her.

12.45 The fighting in the middle is getting nasty as the photo below shows, V3 has a none exploding magazine hit whilst V6 stumbles ahead blindly with her Bridge destroyed whilst the Germans pour fire on the slow moving Fearless who is getting underway post collision.

12.52 Torpedoes are in the water and heading towards the slowly accelerating Fearless, she is a small ship combing the tracks so all the odds are in her favour.

13.00 in what turned out to be the final turn as Visiblity drastically reduced again due to a Squal and the Germans took their first loss, the V3 was unable to extinguish an on board fire which raged out of control.

But at the same time even with all the odds in her favour Fearless was struck in the rudder by a torpedo causing massive damage and flooding she too quickly sank.

But it wasn't all good news for the Germans as they lost a further two Torpedo Boats in the post action phase, one failed to deal with damage sustained in the fight, the other had sustained so much damage that she was unable to make it back to port and had to be scuttled by her crew.

So in a quite bloody first encounter the British have lost a Light Cruiser and a Destroyer whilst the Germans have lost three Torpedo Boats, next time will see us cruising round the sights of Heligoland Blight.