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Saturday, February 19, 2011

Age of Empires - Egypt

Let me list down all the unit entries for the Egyptian Faction in AOE (both AOE1 and AOM)

Infantry

Clubmen/Axemen
Shortswordsmen
Hoplite
Spearmen
Axemen

Archery

Composite Bowmen
Chariot Archer
Slingers

Cavalry

Scout
Camel Riders
Chariots
War Elephants

War Machines

Siege Tower
Stone Thrower/Catapult

Others

Priest!!!

Mythological

Sphinx (tne one whose special attack is the tornado)
Wadjet (the poison splitting cobra monster)
Anubite (the anubis warrior in Mummy Returns)
Petsuchos (the crocodile that concentrates light from the sun and fires it as lasers through its eyes)
Roc (the flying transport)
Scarab (the warmachine)
Scorpion man (just some heavy duty fighter...I remember I use them coz they cost wood, which is cheap)
Mummy (usually we get them free through some power)
Avenger (the horus warrior)
Phoenix (the flying flame thrower cheesefest)

Naval units not included.

So why am I doing all this? In preparation of my Warhammer Fantasy Tomb Kings of course. Recently I read about this guy who did a warhammer army (i forgot if it is fantasy or 40k) to honor his favourite pc game. So now I am doing the same for the Age of Empires series.

But why not historicals? The biggest reason is that I am not interested in the Chariot Wars supplement, secondly I already got TK who are egyptian enough. No point collecting a "living" version. Lastly the TK army also to some extent captures the AOM feel.

So looking at the AOE/AOM units and comparing with GW's TK roster, I will kinda know what sort of army I will do once the book is released.

P.S: This is not the first time this idea appeared. I did thought about fielding a "historical" TK army consisting of only skeleton troops back in 6th ed. But it is so weak that I drop it.

Painting Challenge - What is my achievement

Here are the stuff pledged for the painting challenge months ago. (see http://vernwardiary.blogspot.com/2010/07/painting-challenge-again.html for reference)

10 Themata Kallavaroi
14 Cataphracts plus Archers
24 Infantry including Archers

4 Longbeard Rangers
13 Miners
1 Warrior Standard bearer
7 Warmachien Crews
4 Dwarven Characters
1 Gryocopter
20 Hammerers

From the list above, the minis not done are 1) Cataphract Archers 2) 24 Infantry 3) 13 miners 4) 1 Runesmith 5) Gryocopter

However I have painted more than enough to make for this with my

1)Inquisitor Lord
2) 3 Accroflaggelants
3) Penitent Engines
4) Norman Knights

And I still have coming up...

1) Swooping Hawks
2) Guardians
3) Grudge Thrower
4) Runesmith

Random Stuff done in January

I know it's late but...



Friday, February 11, 2011

My take on the rising cost of living.

Recently the media has been repeatedly harping on the rising cost of living thus with a heavy heart I intend to write about my own views on this issue. I know that I mentioned about a year ago that I will no longer write about economics, politics or personal matters on this blog but I decide to do an exception for once.

My explanation for the rising cost of living is very simple. There are simply just insufficient natural resources to go around. As people around the world becomes more affluent (read China, India and to some extent Brazil), expectations increased and people are willing to pay more for luxuries of life. Allow me to use the example from NatGeo years ago. As China develops, the Chinese people expect to have more meat in their diet (eating meat is a sign of wealth) which lead to greater allocation of resources for pig farming. Crucial farmland, formerly used for growing rice, are then diverted to grow grain which in turn is used to feed the pigs. As expected, price of rice soars. Logically speaking the whole thing makes sense for the farmers as pig farming is indeed more profitable. But now we are suffering from the economic effects of the tragedy of commons, as everyone diverts resources to fulfill their individual needs, they neglected the public good and everyone becomes worse off. This pork incident is just an example, the theory also applies to other materials such as cereals (land in USA is diverted to grow either maize or corn as fuel), granite, copper & other raw materials in various industries.

The problem is everyone knows the problem and no one wants to tackle the root of it. People choose the easier alternative which is to secure the resources at the expenses of others. A simple day to day example is rather than conserving electricity or food, people choose to backstab their way in office to get the pay raise to pay for these rare stuff!

I am not saying that we should not work hard for better sales figures or revenues. What I was trying to say that since we cannot prevent other people from becoming affluent (we shouldn't anyway) we should instead try to ease supply side shortages. This include a greater commitment to recycling, cutting down on un-necessary expenditure (switch off your aircon unless it is unbearably hot!) and consume less (don't order a western set meal if you can't even finish the soup). Such sustainable practices goes a long way in saving your own pocket and the world.

Some may argue that one's individual effort is too small to make a difference. Well that's the ultimate illustration of the tragedy of commons. The thought that "I will not make a difference" cause the inefficiencies of a typical individual to be multiplied by many many times.

From my personal experience, conservation and simple living pays well. The savings from cheaper food contribute a lot to my financial well being as well as the act of not switching on the aircon whenever possible. I also believe that my refusal to succumb to the temptation of the I-phone or I-pad or any other funky gadgets helped a lot.

Now I better practise what I preach and not succumb to the random gian of warhammer miniatures.