My mate Andy and I finally got our lives together enough to get a game of Kill Team in this week. The first of the year.

I wrote about my initial impressions of ruleset last year. Having got all the basic mechanics out the way previously it meant that we could get down to the fun bit – actually focusing on the story unfolding on the kitchen table. IMO when you play a table top game narratively and have a firm grasp of the rules, all the dice roles and various tables, stats etc receded and just become mechanisms for powering the simulation the story unfolds in.

The lad on the right above is a demolitions expert. But still haven’t decided if I’m going to run a medic/spotter/or a comms specialist long term. When they are released, I’m gonna spend 35 quid on some more guardsmen models so I can make up all options for a WYSIWYG veteran guardsman kill team.

After playing a few games, I find the reliance on the Leader key word to or issuing orders – only benefiting models within range – a little tricky. If your sergeant gets killed your up shit creek. And if you want to split the squad into 2 fire teams, you really need a comms specialist.

This was evidenced when in the second game my sergeant was brutally cut down by a Necron Flayed One in hand to hand combat during the second turning point of the mission. The only way I could earn victory points was with the leader sitting on the objective so I lost by default.

The ruleset produced some some some really cinematic moments however.

With one wound remaining, this injured guardsman limped around the corner to face two tinboys draped in the flesh of his fallen comrades.

Despite his injury resulting in +1 to hit with his flamer, I rolled an entire hand of crits and he absolutely burned the shit out of them both.

Unfortunately, still alight with burning promethium fire, the remaining Xenos warrior leapt in to hand to hand combat with one wound. As the guardsman went down still singing praise to the Emperor of Mankind, he killed the Necron with his bayonet.

Trust me nerds, it was absolute SCENES

I’m really not sure how to fight Necrons yet. Their Gauss Blaster’s are absolutely brutal if you get caught out in the open between objectives. I really can’t belive you can take 5 Necron warriors and 5 flayed ones, that has got to be FAQ’d at some point.

Having played a few games now, I’d update my review to say that I wish GW had included some wound tokens in box. We’ve been using tiny dice, WarcCry has some grate counters included with the game they should have gone with something like that.

Moving on from waffling about nerd shit…

Women of Rock

Since the new year I’ve been working my though the archival interviews on the Women of Rock Oral History Project on Youtube.

Some highlights so far have been:

Brenda lee

The queen of rock and roll! She has some really interesting points about knowing your context and history. IE: Whose company are you in when you are singing rock and roll?

Alice Bag

This interview with Alice Bag of the Bags is really cool. She’s always been an inspiring figure to DIY punks everywhere but this interview has made me want to pick up her books when I get the chance.

June Millington

It was really interesting hearing about June Millington’s early life and how she got into rock music in the 60’s. So many bands owe her and the whole of Fanny so much. Rock Bottom Blues is one of the best rock songs ever written imo.

The whole channel is fantastic, I was watching the Peaches interview the other night, there’s interviews with Shirley Manson, Ginger Bianco from Goldie & the Gingerbreads and Goldie herself Genya Ravan. So good.

So much content out there on the internet.

Photo 365

Been a little busy this week so I’ve been getting out and about after dark for walks. I tend to walk the same/similar routes as there are only so many loops you can walk after 2 years of lockdown and 6 years of living on the same square.

Whats been cool about leaving the house with the objective of taking a photo is the change in ‘way of seeing’. Something you walk past everyday suddenly becomes a photo opportunity just because of the sky/light conditions are just right.

One of the main reasons for taking a photo everyday this year is to try and re-flex the critical eye. I’ve always taken a lot of photos, I bought my first film camera – an Olympus OM10 – with my 16th birthday money. I’m really hoping that doing this 365 dials my eye back in.

The ability to compose a banger off the cuff and shoot it with my phone is the goal. lol

Permanently Moved

Some Things to Get Done

I woke up this morning with no idea what I was going to talk about on the show today. As it turned out, ambitions for 2022.

The Ministry Of My Own Labour

• Had some really fun calls this week.
• I got my 3D Depth Camera working with Unity. I can’t say this part of the project is fully complete tho as A. My ambitious for this haven’t yet been met
  B. I’m now suffering from ‘it worked yesterday syndrome’

• I’ve switched to Unity this week after 6 months of learning Unreal Engine. Which in all honestly is a whole thing. I’m not sure how I feel about the switch. But due to the larger indie community the amount of support and tutorials at the end of the a google search will be more beneficial in the long run I think
• I’ve started writing a what might turn out to be a massive post for Dimensino.
• Reviewed several friends documents this week. Stoked over what they are all up to.
• Helped Ryan over at garbageday.email with some DNS stuff.
  • If you too have a Substack and want to get your custom URL working without the www. hit me up lol.
• Still thinking hard about getting part time/full time roll of some kind somewhere.

Dipping the Stacks

Carbon Capture Can Be Part of the Climate Solution

Fossil fuel companies tout carbon capture as a way to shore up their own profits. But the technology holds the potential for good — helping us to save the planet, and ourselves, from ecological catastrophe.

Democrats’ Betrayals Are Jeopardizing American Democracy – Rolling Stone

History is screaming at Democrats to both rescue the economy and save democracy from a meltdown. They’re doing the opposite

Gen Z Has Arrived At the Office—And It’s Freaking Everyone Out

The good news is that Zoomers aren’t nearly as entitled on the job as millennials. The bad news? They could really use a hug

This article is insane bait, going in on everyone.

Mysterious footprints suggest Neanderthals climbed a volcano right after it erupted

But just who left these tracks? It’s impossible to say for certain based on an assortment of dull shapes pressed awkwardly in time-worn volcanic sediment.

The American Room. Behind the nation’s closed doors, with… | by Paul Ford | The Message | Medium

It’s daytime. The wall is an undecorated slab of beige. That is the American room.

Reading

I reading Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich. It’s definitely a text I’m going to be return too. Pouring over and reflecting on paragraphs in isolation. It’s been a heady meal all in one go. Planning on re-reading/returning to The Cloud of Unknowing next to contrast it against Devine Love’s very form and imagined audience VS The Cloud’s instructional form.

I moved straight on to Julian of Norwich: A Very Brief History by that cool goth historian off the TV Dr Janina Ramirez. Apparently she made a show about Julian of Norwich in 2016. I’m going to try and find it once i’ve finished the book.

I’ve made it 25% though Dawn of Everything. Much like Graeber’s Debt I think this book will have a long tail of deep influence in pop culture. The two books taken together will be remembered as some of the most important popular works of the early 21c.

Music

thejaymo.net Spotify Playlist

Martha Skye Murphy

New artist to me. A friend recommended Martha Skye Murphy to me the other day and I’ve been enjoying the back catalogue of singles immensely. My favourite track is definitely 2021’s Stuck from the Concrete Ep

The lead single Concrete from the EP is also wonderful. Breathy, reverb drenched, sometimes processed vocals float over landscapes of sound. It’s so carefully constructed. Listening to the production of the tracks brings to mind the sonic equivalent of hanging weights on a Calder-esq sculpture. Each new element effecting the balance and ‘poise’ of the whole work.

Really so pleased to have been introduced to Martha Skye Murphy. I think the work is best suited to making time to listen to the EPs as complete works. The Concrete EP is lovely to stick on and go for a walk. I’ve been enjoying it whilst walking along the Thames in the 4.30pm failing light of the January sky.

Remember Kids: