The Grumpy Gnome‘s Fantasy Projects Blog (latest update on page 61)

[CookAndrewB]

I was picturing them a bit like the Incan road system:


They don't really tend to be recessed,

[Grumpy Gnome]

Great images mate, I was unaware of those.

[CookAndrewB]

Glad I could help make some sense of those roads. I suspect that style of road was more common between towns than within. Even modern highways tend to sit above the ground around them. You would want the water to run off the road, and you wouldn't care where it went. Unlike in a city where you would want to control where the water goes to keep it out of homes and away from foundations. Thus, curbs, gutters, and drains become more useful in a populated area.

[Mister Frau Blucher]

Fascinating pictures, no idea those roads existed. They're not really elevated from the surrounding terrain, though they probably were when constructed.

Do those roads exist in flat terrain that you are aware of, or just in broken/mountainous terrain?

[CookAndrewB]

Take all of this with a little bit of salt as I'm no expert and only happened to vacation in Peru and Ecuador, which is how I learned about these roads. The Incan empire didn't cover a lot of flat ground, so I think that answer is a bit tricky to give. I want to say "yes, of course, there were flat streets" but probably not Kansas flat.






This is in the city of Ollantaytambo. Chances are good that the stones seen here are from a much older Incan structure, but modern Peruvians have a habit of taking the stonework of their ancestors and repurposing it. That started with the Spanish. Any time you see "sloppy" stone work with mortar, it is probably not Incan.


The Incas were pretty ingenious with their engineering. We visited sections of their irrigation and freshwater delivery systems that were still operational AND moved water uphill. Unlike Roman Aquaducts, a lot of their system was in the ground. You can see what is likely original Incan construction on the right (tight fit, no mortar) and repurposed stone on the left below.


This is from the city of Cuzco (I've been here). Notice the fit of the stones and the streets are original to the Inca. The white building built on top of this structure was a Franciscan monastery. The Spanish tore down some of the Incan structure and then just built over top of it.


The most amazing stonework was at Saksaywaman (our guide pronounced this like sexy woman). This fortification was largely disassembled by the locals to make new homes and structures, but many of these stones were just too big to move so a decent amount of the walls still exist.


Getting stones up and over the mountains in this part of the world is stupid tough, so I understand why they tended to recycle from ready sources. Cuzco is at an elevation of 11,152'. Denver is at 5280', for comparison. Quito, the capital of Ecuador is at 9350'. So you get an idea of just how rolling the terrain is. Lima Peru sits at roughly 500'. So you ask about flat roads and I'm guessing there aren't more than a few sections of road and most of that closer to the coast.

[Grumpy Gnome]

For those curious about my take on Spiele this year…

https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/2021/10/28/spiele-21-in-essen/

… plus some TV and movie talk.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

Sounds like a rather disappointing show overall, which is depressing but not what I'd call surprising.

The dice-shaped chair/stool things are very cute, though.  Wouldn't care to sit on a d4 version, though.   

[Grumpy Gnome]

It was disappointing in that it was not as good as last time but it was nice to at least be able to go to a show. It would be great if things could get at least close to what they were before COVID/Brexit/International shipping crisis… although I am not sure that is possible.

We did not spend a lot but we did manage to get information to help us spend money better in the future, ie… what not to buy. That said, we have a much higher opinion of Titan-Forge now. Expensive and we would prefer buying items printed by themselves rather than have someone else print them for us. We almost bought heavily into their fantasy Asian and fantasy Mesoamerican Amazon lines at the show but they did not accept cards. They also did not make clear how much of a discount they were offering compared to their website.

[CookAndrewB]

Interesting Spiele review. I haven't ever been to anything approaching that size of gaming convention, and I suspect that once I would factor in drive time, cost to park, food, etc, the discounts would hardly be worth it. I honestly find that most discounts aren't very good when they force you to move outside of your normal spending and behavioral habits. Buying $100 worth of things when I wanted $40 just so I can get a discount or free shipping isn't really saving me money, and buying things that I may theoretically have use for at some undetermined time in the future is also not helpful. Part of this blends with your idea that it isn't money that limits me but time and storage. I could buy far more than I could ever paint or play with.

My wife liked Dune and said it was far easier to understand than the Lynch version. I think it was helpful that my son and I had both read the books before watching the movies, so we could gloss over some concepts as "known" without needing an explanation. My wife just felt lost in the Lynch version. While I think the modern CGI effects were a very nice addition to the experience, I felt like something was missing by removing a lot of the quirkiness that the Lynch version had. Dune is, after all, a universe with mind-reading witch advisors, drug-using human supercomputers, and mutated hallucinogen addicts who can fold space. It is a weird place, and with all of the polish that the movie gave, I think they didn't take the weirdness far enough. It felt closer to Trek than it needed to be. Very enjoyable, but ultimately too safe. I am glad to see that this will be a series of movies, as part of the trouble with Lynch's Dune was that it had a TON of heavy lifting to do where the story was concerned. Too much to tell in too little time. I guess it was envisioned as a multi-movie trilogy like Star Wars, but never got there. The new Dune has the luxury of slowing down and telling the tale more thoughtfully instead of either rushing through the plot like a meth addict on fire, or jumping over items entirely.

I'm infamously easy to please where movies are concerned, so I look forward to your critique.

[Grumpy Gnome]

The savings we got on the mats covered our entry tickets and lunch. And we to to cherry pick from various suppliers based on seeing them with our own eyes rather than relying on digital images. So that was cool for us.

Your review is fascinating and echoes that of Angry Joe from YouTube. I usually enjoy his reviews.

I agree that Lynch captured some of the interesting quirkiness of the Dune universe that seems missing in the trailers of this new one. I really enjoy hearing what you and your wife thought of it and look forward to sharing what Mrs. GG and I think of it in due course.

[Grumpy Gnome]

My review of Warlord Games and Northstar Figures Osprey Games Oathmark skeletons…

https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/2021/11/07/review-skeletons-warlord-games-northstar-figures-oathmark/

… now that I have finished a few of each.

TLDR: Good kits, I prefer the Oathmark but both are better when mixed together.

[Anatoli]

Skeletons look great, but those pictures from your vacation are mind blowing ! 

[Grumpy Gnome]

Thanks… I am pretty pleased with how the skeletons came out  but I do not think you are referring to any holiday photos of mine.

And now, my review Archon Studio Rampart 2 Kickstarter…

https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/2021/11/09/review-archon-studio-rampart-2/

… we managed to successfully late pledge before Rampart 3 which is due soon.

[CookAndrewB]

I find the skellies a bit fiddly, but I also just use them as parts for dead bodies in my apocalypse, so I haven't spent too much time trying to get them to stand up 

The Archon studio's terrain looks ok. I've been eyeballing their next offering as it will include some ruined modern city terrain. I have an interest in that, but keep wondering if I wouldn't go mad trying to remove everything from a sprue. How does the removal go? I think that removing bits from tight areas always annoys me, and those sprues look chock full of bits.

[Grumpy Gnome]

I do not mind removing parts from a sprue so I do not find it too problematic. The plastic on Archon is quite hard, making it a bit brittle at times with very thin pieces. There does tend to be less mould lines to clean up in exchange.