[GZG] [FT] Cancon 2006 Random Observations

The Canberra Games Convention Full Thrust competition didn't run :-(
There was an unfortunate injury to the original organiser which left
him unable to answer email for a while, and the assistant organiser -
er, me - didn't do enough to publicise the event and even confused a
few people. So nobody knew what was happening and we had no entrants.
Instead I ran my public participation Full Thrust Babylon 5 scenario
for two days.

Something this old fogey hadn't really noticed before is that kids
have no idea how many inches there are in a foot. I'd brought along
my trusty tape measure, which is old enough to vote and restarts
numbering after each foot. So I'd say "You have to be within 18
inches to be in range" and they'd just look at it blankly.

No, this isn't a complaint about kids today. Advanced societies ( :-)
) have switched over to metric so why should they learn this stuff?
But at close quarters I find 1 MU = 1 cm to be too fiddly and awkward
with the average ship models, so prefer inches. Next time I'll
remember to bring some tape measures that just count inches from 1 to
72.

I found and bought a Pegasus Hobbies Platformer System "Chemical
Plant Construction Set" which I'd recommend to any kit basher. Unlike
all the other terrain construction kit I've seen, this one is mostly
round bits. Four big cylinder tanks with domed ends, 12 medium tanks,
a couple of feet of piping and elbow bend joins, various wheels and
struts. For $34 Aus you get "300" parts, but since most of them are
halved length-wise it's really more like 180. Just the thing for
refuelling stations and fleet replenishment tankers.

(In a nice demonstration of the power of global trade, an Australian
stall sold me this model kit which according to the box label was
manufactured in Russia and "Only for sale in America.")

The aforementioned Babylon 5 scenario was a two or three way battle
between B5 ship designs translated into standard Full Thrust rules. A
number of those ships carried grasers, which led to some interesting
outcomes. I'm putting those in a separate message, so people who
don't care about grasers or don't want to read yet another complaint
can skip it.

	cheers,
	Hugh
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