Colonel Failure

03/01/2025

Welcome to another year of things on this internet videotronic entertainment destination secondary advertising portal. You didn't realise it was a secondary advertising portal and yet here we are.

You don't know this, but will after reading this paragraph, but I've recorded a lot of bits for the next episode of Transport Fever but it needs a bit more editorial tweakage. I wanted to have that tweakage done today, but it won't be, so it'll be ready for next week instead. Phew. I can sense your palpable relief from here.

So, what's coming up?

Saturday! The social club returns with a brand new as-long-as-I-deem-is-needed series. No hints.
Sunday! Mutant Football League returns on Electrosports.
Sunday! The Wizard Hole commences its new term for Fail Brigade rascals.
Monday! Transport Fever is back for the aforementioned Fail Brigade rascals.
Tuesday! Week 10 of Brutalball on Electrosports.
Wednesday! More wizards in the Wizard Hole for rascals.
Thursday! I stare blankly into space.
Friday! Transport Fever for the consumption of the mass public. Lucky mass public, I say.

There are more changes coming to this, now sort-of-established, line up and I'll be talking about that in this month's Colonel Reduced, which will land next week.

That's it for this time. I'll do more of these. I like doing these. Some of you like that I do these. So I'll do more of these.

-CF

20/12/2024

Saturday Social Festive Bingo Business
Ho ho ho ho ho etc

It's the second ever non-annual Uncle Colonel Failure's Festive Family Funtimes, this time with a slightly limitation on the number of prizes I'm giving away, because I learned my lesson.

If you want to hit up this Saturday's stream you can enter For Free and Win Real Things. The only catch is the need to watch the stream (mandatory), play the bingo game (necessary) and pretend to have a good time (optional).

I say prizes! You say how high?

This high!

Sign up now! (Or later)
https://app.bingomaker.com/play

Game name : Jingleballs
Password : bingohazmat
Obviously don't sign up if you're not going to play. You can't win if you don't watch the stream and check off your collection of Dozerverse personages.

14/11/2024

There are pieces on the board. They move around the board. Someone yells "yahtzee", another player considers which of their 12-card hand they should play in response. Uh-oh! Jemima just rolled a double-4, that triggers the landslide. Quickly! Rotate the 49 second egg-timer before anyone can shuffle the legend tiles! Nope? Too slow, you just lot your last side-cruiser, only your freight-magnet remains, better be extra careful because Simon's been eyeing that open spot in the Region Of Sandwich for two turns. He's not been subtle about it either, he's positioned his junk-slider to "quell" and that really only means one thing.

I reckon you should tap the seventh stone, then upend the walrus before playing your dreadlock matrix. They won't see that coming. As long as Lazlo doesn't have a forked invention in his stash-bag, this might just work.

Pre-order now.

Battleplan! Ongoing and full of arcane mischief!

Friday : Transport Fever for people who like it.
Saturday : Mind Over Magic for backer-type people.
Saturday : The Social Club (20:00 UTC) with the last episode of Humankind.
Sunday : Electrosports features sports, this week, something new.
Monday : Transport Fever for backer-type people.
Tuesday : Electrosports Brutalball.
Wednesday : Mind Over Magic for backer-type people.

A few changes in the offing. Humankind will be replaced next weeked - I've already won the game, I just don't see the value in dragging out the victory for the sake of getting an achievement. Will it be farming? It might.

I'm also looking for a change of pace from Mind Over Magic, but I need a natural conclusion to emerge ... and I've a feeling that one may be close right now.

There'll be additional videos occasionally, when the right topic slides into my facebox, but that's what you should be expecting for now if you're in the mood to expect something.

Yahtzee!

CF

02/09/2024

RETURN TO SERVICE SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

INSTRUCTIONS: READ THE FOLLOWING WORDS ONE AT A TIME. PARSE THE INFORMATION. ABANDON WHEN PART WAY THROUGH. GLANCE AT A SUMMARISED VERSION. THEN REPEAT AS NECESSARY.

This service announcement is hereby announced to announce that the service, which is the service you have grown accustomed to, will shortly resume, or return, to the level of service that you have come to anticipate, expect, or even, in rare moments, look forward to. You shall find yourself on "the receiving end" of not fewer than TWO SEMI-NEW videotronic installments of entertainment each and every week, except during those moments when the number of installments is slightly less than two, which, though rare, may occasionally occur. In addition to these weekly installments, there shall be sporadic, and by sporadic, we mean entirely irregular, "longer things." These longer things are designed to provide a modicum of semi-entertainment to an audience that is, in theory, potentially "larger" than the one already familiar with what is happening, and by "happening," we refer to whatever is currently occurring, has occurred, or may yet occur. Furthermore, the SATURDAY SOCIAL CLUB will continue its noble and routine endeavour to deliver live interactive videotronic entertainment (and possibly weather updates) with a vaguely ongoing narrative-type linear story for those who appreciate semi-virtual company on the evening of Saturday, which, it must be emphasized, will occur on a Saturday and no other day. For the adventurous viewer, those prepared to undertake a marginally greater effort in pursuit of their desire for videotronic entertainment services, there is the opportunity, nay, the privilege, to visit the ELECTROSPORTS TV ENTERTAINMENT TV NETWORK. This network, which can or may be accessed via the clearly designated web-page area at the bottom, or foot, of the main web-page of this videotronic entertainment channel, contains, and indeed houses, the final ever (probably ever) episodes in the Bulldozer Power Baseball Franchise of Baseball. These episodes shall be presented in a live and semi-interactive format on the Sunday day of the week. For those who find themselves woefully deficient in their consumption of videotronic sports entertainment (sports), there is also the BRUTALBALL series of live events (interactive), which shall take place on the day of Tuesday, with a frequency of once per week. This is accompanied by the much-anticipated, though not particularly requested, BRUTALBALL SPORTS NEWS HIGH-THRILL NEWS OF SPORTS weekly show, a program lasting for approximately 10 minutes, demanding a mere 9 minutes of your precious time. Upon the culmination, conclusion, or potential cessation of the Bulldozer Power Franchise of Baseball Saga, there will be, potentially and hypothetically, the introduction of the AS_YET_UNNAMED Videotronic Formula One Racing F1 Team Of Racing saga (or possibly a single season, contingent on your dosage requirements), which shall step into the well-worn shoes of the aforementioned baseball saga of the Bulldozer Power Baseball Series of Baseball. In the event the viewer finds themselves with an excess of currency (in the region of USD$5 or higher) on a 4-weekly basis there is the opportunity to consume the exclusive series currently showing for FAIL BRIGADE members in addition to all previous exclusive series that have previously been shown to FAIL BRIGADE members. Should you find yourself lacking in high quality, low quality videotronic entertainment you can offer USD$5 to FAIL BRIGADE in order to receive further entertainment. To recap, in brief and concise terms, which is to say, without any further excess verbosity: THERE WILL BE VIDEOTRONIC ENTERTAINMENT OF VARIOUS KINDS, AT LEAST TWICE A WEEK, SOMETIMES MORE, POSSIBLY LESS, WITH UNFORESEEN SURPRISES, AND ALWAYS INFUSED WITH THE DISTINCTIVE ESSENCE OF THE COLONEL FAILURE OR ELECTROSPORTS EXPERIENCE. This essence is definitely legitimate and has in no way been diluted. Stay tuned, stay flexible, and always remember to prepare for the unforeseen while unforeseeing the prepared. This concludes the service announcement, which, to be clear, is now concluded. Re-opening service announcement: you have been promised trains. There will be trains. Re-closing service announcement.

SUMMARISED VERSION FOR THE INATTENTIVE
1. Saturday Social continues
2. Sunday Baseball about to end
3. Sunday will have new F1 series
4. Tuesday has Brutalball, and a new quick-fire Brutalball series
5. There will be 2 other videos of a game nature each week
6. Trains are coming
7. There will also be an additional 2-episode-per-week series for backers

I was going to put a video up today, but I'm going to do one tomorrow instead because there is a new game tomorrow I am going to play and I didn't immediately find The Angle on the one-and-done I was doing for you today. K?

Lovely job, sign here.

-CF

26/06/2024

While I sit here waiting for an accursed video to complete rendering, I though a slightly longer-reaching Battle Plan was in order. Whether it's in order or not is largely unimportant as I'm doing it anyway.

Let us review a few things first.

The Farming Simulator people are currently twisting in their knickers because the new game has been announced and is scheduled for November. Why are they twisting? Because gamers. They'll gripe about it, buy it anyway, then gripe about it some more while sinking 2,000 hours in. Personally, I can't wait, although it does mean I need to reach some form of meaningful conclusion before November. At that point I'll just start the same setting again (different map, obviously) in the new world. Monthly is good, like monthly.

Satisfactory, meanwhile, is awaiting the release of the 1.0 version. Finally, some purpose for all those work in progress rare doohickies! And maybe more! The problem however is that a few resource nodes are changing, as well as some core recipes. This shouldn't bork the Railwerkz save game, but it means I should avoid any big recipe builds for the time being, as reworking it will likely be more hassle than building from scratch. The "good" news there is that I've a few raw materials still to gather, so plenty to keep me occupied until the update comes out, assuming that's in the next couple of months.

Euro Trucking is on its way to the end of the road. Yes, it's quite good fun while things are going wrong, but fewer things are going wrong (although Friday's journey rather suggests I am mistaken) and I've less to jabber on about, which is the important bit. How many more? Not many.

Rolling Line on Saturday is proving to be good fun, and I've done some pre-build work ahead of the next instalment. I won't be going too much further with it, so there's a decent chance we have one more stream, then an "and here's the finished product" video to wrap it up. I'll preserve the save so it can be revisited later.

The Baseball. Ugh. I really enjoy the Sunday night streams, but I think I might be done with it. Not only does it not bring in a colossal number of views, but with each passing season there are fewer Dozerverse characters involved, and that's the justification I've been giving myself for continuing it. What will I replace it with? Unsure right now, maybe nothing, maybe a second Brutalball stream. I know that even fewer of you tune in for fantasy creatures slapping each other on a 2D playing field, but it's serving as the bedrock for testing out some systems for a project I'm hoping to release later this year. (Once I get better with Blender.) There are some open Brutalball teams if you'd like to join in...

The Wizard Hole is going to continue for now. I really like the game, but it feels a little slow to develop (could be the speed at which research is done) while your wizards don't improve their skills once graduated, Not sure, except that there'll be another half dozen episodes at least.

So, what's coming up then?

Eventually, Cities Skylines will form the third monthly series, but I'm going to give the game a little longer to brew before heading in. The concept is all set, just waiting for the game to percolate.

We Are Football is returning to Electrosports soon™ probably. It won't be in the same format as before. It'll be more betterer.

Norland is going to be the next Saturday social game. The fusion of Rimworld and Crusader Kings... yes. PLEASE BE GOOD PLEASE BE GOOD PLEASE BE GOOD.

What else? Let's talk Vuvu Boys very briefly. I'm in the process of editing the entire series into one superstrong video. Perfect for either a repeat viewing or for those who want to sleep through me muttering. I have you covered. Alongside this I've a one-off related video in progress, and the digital and audiobook versions of Vuvu Boys The Book is very nearly done (if you bought the physical copy, you get the digital version for nowt).

Finally, Fail Brigade is going to evolve soon. Jeepers it's a complicated ecosystem to unpack and rebuild, and I need to figure out a big creative part of the puzzle. It'll be peachy when it's done.

Finally, finally, I've a something new and odd and experimental that I'm targeting for later in the year. I talk about it in June's Reduced (if you're a Fail Brigadist) you can watch it with your face.

Also finally, podcast. Maybe. Soon-not-soon.

HAVE YOU FINISHED RENDERING YET?

-CF

15/06/2024

Who needs a live stream when you have a Battle Plan?

That's right, beloved viewer, there won't be any hot streaming action (which sounds all kinds of wrong) from yours truly this weekend as I won't be anywhere near the bunker. I mean, it's not out of the question that my PC has become self-aware and just starts streaming for itself, but that's a long shot.

If you're feeling anxious about this you could try yelling out the weather to yourself at arounnd 21:10 UTC this evening to see if that helps. I don't think it will, but I'm not a trained psychotherapist so what do I know?

What do I have coming up?

I'm looking at Blockbuster Inc for a potential shortish run. Why only shortish? Because The Movies, the game on which it is based, was NOT A GOOD GAME. I've said it before, you heard me, some of you disagreed which is fine. Either way, it feels like it ought to have a place in the pantheon of similar games this channel has molested over the years.

Beyond that, you have the ongoing expert haulage action of Euro Truck, and when hot streaming is re-enabled next weekend, an instalment of Rolling Line that I think will be actually quite good. Now that I've got half a handle on what I'm doing, I'll try to make something cool. I may even do some of the basic bits ahead of time, but I wouldn't count on it.

Did I mention that this outage in service extends to Electrosports? Well, it does. I may be back in time for Sunday's baseball, but I'll like be knackered from driving all day so let's not. Brutalball will be back on Tuesday.

Hmm. I thought I'd have more to say. Guess not.

There's (a lot) more stuff available for Fail Brigade members, but you knew that already, and if you didn't you do now.

Okay then, have a good one.

I've a feeling my car my break down.

-CF

25/04/2024

Hello there, patiently-waiting viewers and/or passing dignitaries.

Welcome to this, another in a series of sporadic channel news updates we like to call "The Battle Plan". Please settle yourself for the following 3-5 minutes of reading. Your time will vary based your pace of written ingest, how convoluted I've made individual sentences, and how much of it you skim to see if you care. All approaches work for me, I hope they find you similarly.

So, the question you're asking yourself right now... no, not "when's he going to get to the point?" The other question... is what's going on with the channel and why has the vervy levels of videotronic entertainment dropped off some. Or, more succinctly, "sup?"

At present I'm working on reaching a conclusion to Let's School. I'll be honest, I could run the series for 50+ episodes and still have enthusiasm for the game, untapped pithy comment moments, and I likely won't have uncovered everything the game has to offer. I cannot praise it enough for the amount of depth it has, but I get that it's not everyone's cup of tea.

The overwhelming piece of feedback in the recent survey was "just make what you're enthusiastic for" with a side order of "just keep doing what you're doing". So that's what I'm doing, but I also want to lean in a direction that hopefully generates some enthuse from you nice people - many of whom are train devotees. Not all of you. But a good chunk. Put it this way, when I sling up the next Let's School episode it'll land somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 views over the first seven days of its life. Those who lived through the woodchipper era will recall that 5,000 views in the same window was the cutoff point, but the world is a very different place now... and that's okay.

The problem is that I don't have a train-anything that's tickled my particular biscuits recently. Railroader didn't cut it. I know Sweet Transit has just hit release, but I played 3 hours of it previously and didn't care for it. This is no reflection on the game in either case, rather my enthusiasm for it. I know for a solid gold fact that if I were to kick off a new Transport Fever series, it'd land 15-20,000 views in week one, but as you know already, I have no new Transport Fever stories to tell... until the next instalment releases.

This may sound like some form of crisis. It isn't. We are in a period I like to call "bo****ks to the viewcounter".

Remember the golden rule for doing well at this YouTubery caper : Make Great Videos That People Want To Watch.

Two components here:
1. make great videos
2. on a topic that entices viewers

So, let's self-evaluate, am I making great videos? Not really. They're good. Occasionally, better than good, but you have to know why it's likely to be good before you start watching. Essentially, unless you're picking up the free-associating commentary I'm putting down, the superficial appearance is of a run-of-the-mill-lets-play, your interest only piqued if there's nothing else in your recommendation list that looks more spicy.

That's item 2. If few people are looking for a run-of-the-mill-lets-play-on-[insert game here] then few people will watch.

Still isn't a crisis.

Rather, it falls into the rather sizable category of "I know this isn't going to perform, but I'm doing it anyway."

Right, so there's that. What's next?

Course adjustment! That's what's next.

Let's School will wrap up in the next week or two, then we're onto a fresh adventure. Or rather, adventures.

I can't promise trains, but I can offer... TRUCKS.

Yessirandormadam, I've a hankering for some truck driving and Star Trucker isn't out yet. I contemplated an Elite Dangerous trucking miniseries but nah, I'll save that thought for when I'm actually star trucking. So it'll be something a little more traditional. You'll need to wait and see.

Is Manor Lords going to go the distance? Nah.

I like it. It's an accomplished village builder with a limited-feature RTS embedded. Nice. Doesn't ignite my passions in a storytelling sense - I feel like it's a story I've told a lot. I'll stream maybe one or two more sessions, but I'm about there.

I'm keeping my hopes up for Norland. If that doesn't pan out, there'll be something else. We're only doomed if we go to the well of ideas and find that it's dry, or that someone has nicked the bucket, or that there's a small orphan at the bottom of it, or it's been cursed by the wizened hag from the dirty hut on the edge of town. At present, the wizened hag isn't a factor, she's got other fish to fling.

Right. There you go. That's the story.

Here's what's coming up:
1. School on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays for a couple of weeks.
2. No stream this Saturday. Not for the reason I said. That's next month, I had a momentary monthly mixup, which I am self analysing to find out why. No, my brother's in town which is decidedly rare, so we're gonna do some slot car racing. Not a euphemism.
3. Baseball on Sunday as usual. Brutalball on Tuesday. That's on Electrosports, the home of over-excited-and-partisan commentary.

I have half a dozen "video essay lite" ideas that I'll kick across the line, because I think they're interesting and you might be interested, and I'm doing them anyway because bo****ks to the viewcounter.

That is all. Digest as you wish.

-CF

05/04/2024

Look, you've probably done this already, and yay for you if you have, but just in case you haven't, now you can, then you will have done, and can join others who also have done.

A quick tour around the conjugation of the verb "to do" there, grammar fans.

Take my survey, if you feel like it. It's painless*
https://s.surveyplanet.com/hvibs4sw

(*unless you have one of those rare allergic flare-ups when being asked what you think)

Hello, friendly Sir and/or Madam. In this survey I'm going to ask you a few questions about what it is you like about The Colonel Failure Video Entertainment Network, what you want more of, and where you want less. Fundamentally, this is a survey that establishes a bit about your taste and what, in....

29/02/2024

Battle Plan 29 February 2024

There's no video today! Everybody panic!

As much as I hadn't got a definite video planned for today, had it not been a leap year you'd have scored either Farming Simulator or Satisfactory (both of the March videos for these are done and good to go) but I can't start playing it fast and loose with these things or we'd have anarchy. I do have another one and done lined up for you, but I want to play a load of it before unleashing it upon you and I suspect quite strongly it'll be a belter.

Those who are part of the Saturday Social Club will already know that the Bongos Saga has reached its conclusion. It was a tremendous run, and an awful lot of fun, so the quest is to find the Next Big Thing. I've already considered a few dozen games without reaching a conclusion, but I have something new and (I hope) interesting for this week. I'll be taking it on completely cold, but it may end up being rather like Planet Crafter last year, where we spent a happy month tinkering around with it and having a jolly time.

Manor Lords will be our feature game when it releases, but I have to work on the assumption that it might not be quite as long-lasting as Bannerlord has been, so anticipate some changes over time. The heady mix of named characters, errors in judgement, civilisation building, and a dab of action here and there isn't the easiest criteria to fill. I may end up doing The Sims. Who knows?

Those who are in the Vuvu Boys fanclub will have spotted that The End Is Nigh. There really aren't many episodes to go now after which the current B-Series, Let's School, will take its Monday/Wednesday/Friday slot until I feel like the story has been told. The one certainty right now, is that I am absolutely loving the game - not because the game itself is solid (even though it is) more that it makes ludicrous situations and commentary a delight to stumble upon.

There is, as many of you have spotted, a great difference between playing a game and playing a game for video entertainment. Take something like City of Gangsters, which I ran as a short series a couple of years ago. Very enjoyable game to play, but dreadful for making viewing entertainment from. On the flipside you can take any one of dozens of janky "simulators" that are a long way from being good games, but boy oh boy do they make for fun videos to make. Those who've been around for a while know that when I'm having fun, the video tends to be a whole lot more entertaining to watch.

To reiterate a point I make regularly, this channel is at its best when you ignore the game and instead focus on the story and how it's being told. The game is almost completely irrelevant. They're merely vehicles from which I try to carve adventure, narrative, and the occasional laugh.

So, what's taking the B-series slot? Railroader. That'll be a once-per-week thrilltime until I either yeet it or want to play much more. What's the B-series after that? Tentatively, Cities Skylines 2, however I'm currently considering adding it to the monthly update list as I've found myself a concept for it.

And what, pray tell, of Electrosports? Will baseball get another season following the absolute delight that is the Sunday Sports Stream? Well, first things first, yes. There will be another season, but it may be the last. Much depends on the strength of the dynasty gameplay in Mutant Football League 2 (currently slated for early access release in April, but I'm anticipating either a slip, or that its features won't be sufficient). I'll be playing it day 1, so we'll just have to see; it'll only get a full season if the team editor is up to scratch. I'll grumpily settle for being able to edit just my own team, but I'd far sooner we also had the likes of the Beekeepers, Bumson Medics, and Stardozer Human Resources in the mix.

Finally, there's a new backer's series coming really soon. Maybe as soon as in the next week. My aim is to run increasing amounts of backer-exclusive series in the future, as well as... well that'd be a spoiler, but suffice to say, "a lot more".

That's it. No TL; DR schedule for you this week. If it's too much for you to absorb all at once, skipping to the end won't save you. Get on my power level.

CF

13/02/2024

Weighing in at 7 days in length, the heavyweight champion of the worrrrlllldddddd, it's The Battle Plan!

Right you are then. It's been a little while since I last slapped one of these badboys and called it Susan, so let's get in on some planning.

I've got a pile of games THIS BIG that I either want, or have agreed to play (special note: I only "agree" to play games if I at least partially fancy playing, although that's a moving target based on how much dirty cash is fluttered in my direction. This is a moot point however as I currently have no dirty cash offerings in my inbox.)

I digress.

Big pile o' games. It's a good thing, but also a bad thing when something like Let's School, that I was planning to one-and-done immediately taps into The Dark Side Of Commentary and makes me laugh regularly. That's going to need a 6-parter at least. I really wanted the Vuvu Boys to be done before I embarked on another multipart odyssey, but you gotta go when you gotta go.

With that in mind, school will be once a week for now. The Vuvus need their 3 weekly episodes in order to reach the end of the story some time before the heat death of the universe. This leaves me with Tuesday/Thursday to chip away at the big pile.

What's in the pile?

I've got a farming game for a review. A simulator I'm certain will be janky-but-fun. A spacestation buildy thing and a pair of "it's Rimworld-but", one of which is really good. That's before I dredge my inbox for the latest prospects. Typically, and this is a great insight into the state of the games industry, I'll get 30 games offered each week, maybe 2 or 3 of these will have been sent by a PR company (more often the dev team, who've done their sodding homework) are actually appropriate to you fine people. I swear I get 3 emails per week that start "Amazing Puzzle Platfor..." *DELETED* No idea what they say after that. Between that and "Finally! The Nintendo release of..." *DELETED*

It's not that I begrudge devs trying to gain some exposure, far from it. Watch I have no time for however is PR companies who haven't done due diligence, because you know that somewhere along the line they've charged some desperate studio good money for providing their service.

I also get more than a few "Hey there! We have examined your channel and think your content is really great. We'd like to offer our services to help you quadruple you [WHATEVER]". You'll sometimes get some "clever" people who'll mailmerge the list they've bought with their generic template. How can you tell? Because your channel name is in a different font.

The amount of charlatans out there is remarkable.

I'm off topic again. In the next one of these I'll go well off topic and reveal some Forthcoming Projects That May Be Stimulating. They might be sort-of interesting.

Wednesday : Vuvu Boys
Thursday : A Rimworld-but one and done
Friday : Vuvu Boys
Saturday : Please can we eradicate the Empire, Bannerlord
Sunday : Last week's first game was HOLY CRAP exciting, Baseball
Monday : Vuvu Boys
Tuesday : Back to School

There you go. Set your expectations.

To preempt the comments: Railroader will be occupying the Vuvu Boys slot when it opens up (my expectation is that we're within 20 episodes of the conclusion).

That is all.

-CF

31/01/2024

The second "Do I want to play" is now available for your viewing pleasure and critical consideration.

Arms Trade Tycoon: Tanks.

Ever fanced designing tanks and selling them to witless nations who just fancy blowing each other up? You're in luck. That's exactly what Arms Trade Tycoon: ...

24/01/2024

So... Palworld has a 93% positive rating on Steam. Obviously, I'm going to give it a spin when I get an hour to do so given my soft spot for survival games. I am, however, somewhat amused by games media's obsession with slating it. That said, I think the Vuvu Boys already covered this:

02/01/2024

Time to start making videos again, I reckon.

Vuvu Boys will return next week, but I'll have a selection of other things for you to gaze lovingly upon this week. If, in fact, gazing lovingly is something that is up your strasse.

We'll have some Train Sim World, a bit of Farming Simulator, probably some Satisfactory, and a little dab of something else. At the weekend you'll have another two streams to play with. The Bannerlady will return on Saturday, approaching total victory with ever greater certainty, and following the last live stream for the baseball, I'm kicking around the notion of only pre-recording the game when I can't do it live. The crowd reaction made the game that much more fun.

Meanwhile, here's the book situation:

250 orders have now been delivered with a further 54 somewhere in the wide wide world of postal systems. This represents 98.7% of all the orders placed. The missing player count is now down to just 4 orders:
#1094 (USA - Kentucky)
#1116 (USA - Texas)
#1200 (USA - Indiana)
#1301 (Germany)

If your order has not yet arrived, and one of the places above is where you're expecting it to be delivered, please check your order number and your email. I've written to each one of you with a delightful personal message. DELIGHTFUL. Can't send your order out until you get in touch. Hast thou forsaken the VuvuBook?

If you're still waiting for your order to arrive, I'm quietly confident this week will see the majority find their way out of the postal sausage machine. If you've had nothing by Friday, please drop the customer service address on the store a quick note, maybe using language like, "OY, WHERE IS BOOK" all caps is sure to get the machine pumping faster.

Right. Good.

-CF