Wednesday 27 May 2015

Watch out for that as....



Had great fun on Saturday.  I went to a local game store and had a day playing X-Wing, the Star Wars game that I play.


Each player brought his own squadron of 3 to 5 ships (there is a point system that allows a range of ships to be used while keeping the game reasonably fair - Han Solo flying the Millennium Falcon costs the same as about 4 of the cheapest TIE Fighters), meaning that there was a nice variety of stuff on show.  I was Imperial and used a shuttle and a pair of very deadly TIE fighter variants.  Other players were Rebels or Scum (mercenaries and bounty hunters).


I won one of my three games, one was a draw.  The two I lost were very close and could have gone either way.  One ended when my opponent had a sudden rush of good dice just as time was called, while in the other one I managed to ram my last surviving ship into an asteroid.  But surely that is a classic way for a TIE fighter to die?


Here is a photo of one of the games, with everyone getting up close and personal:



Good fun had by all!


Meanwhile, the wildlife in our garden is doing well, and I managed to snap this pic the other day.  I can't resist a flower with a bug on it, for some reason, so much better than just having the flower, don't you think?  This flower is on one of our pond plants.  Those are lily pads in the background.



Our bird table continues to thrive too, with daily visits from sparrows, starlings, black birds, dunnocks, wood pigeons, doves and a blue tit.  Babies are starting to join the parents too, which all adds to the fun!

Which brings me to a comment about doves, the bird of peace.  From what I have seen, doves can be very nasty to each other.  They are happy in pairs and multiples of pairs, but if you get a single one trying to join the gang he is soon bullied and driven away.  But when it comes to other birds, doves are right at the bottom of the scale, even being chased off by the smallest of sparrows.  I guess the only thing a dove can beat up is another dove...


6 comments:

Riot Kitty said...

That is hilarious! I had no idea about doves. They sound more like blue jays or betta fish.

ShadowRun300 said...

Aww! That's so sad about doves. They should be taking care of their own.
Sounds like you had a great Saturday night! How fun to get together with others who enjoy the same game. Is it usually the same people?
And your pictures are terrific as always. Still waiting on the hedgehog pics.....

Rock Chef said...

Riot Kitty - Are blue jays equally useless? Never heard of a betta fish, I will look them up.

ShadowRun - This was only my second visit but there were a number of familiar faces. Yes, I will have to grab Chuffington for a photo shoot. Maybe tonight if I can catch him in his run...

Abby said...

Looks like a fun game night - old school style!
We have lots of doves around. They don't strike me as very intelligent. Pretty dumb actually. Still, no reason to get picked on.

Not familiar with beta fish? They are notorious loners. Try to kill any other fish... which has me thinking I should get a big mean one for my aquarium!

Rock Chef said...

Abby - Yes, doves do seem to lack the spark of intelligence that you see in a lot of other birds. I think you should stay away from beta fish by the sound of it. You already have enough trouble!

terri said...

And here I thought doves were supposed to be so regal ... or actually ... holy! Seems odd that they rank so low in the bird hierarchy! I saw one on my walk this morning, just hanging out on an electrical line.

Beautiful shot of the flower! I'd love to have a little pond in my yard, but Mark is not on board. Besides, it would probably be a lot of maintenance considering how cold the winters are here. We'd be starting all over again every single spring.

We've got a resident pair of wrens hanging around our deck. They sing beautifully (and loudly) to us every day. They're making a nest in the birdhouse. Around the feeders, we get a lot of sparrows and cardinals. And there are even some blue birds around.