...And other things!
Sorry I've been so quiet lately. Real life issues have been getting on top of me, and I've been very stressed. I am now putting in place means of limiting those stresses and making some proper 'me time'. This week has been an odd one - I've been supposed to be 'on holiday' (i.e. not doing much, if any, of my usual stress-inducing activities), but have been quite stressed as I've tried to work out how to cope. I'm getting there now!
I have almost finished painting the gladiators; I've just got the sand to glue to the bases, the bases to paint, and a squirt of Dull Cote to do. Then I should post another update with a few photos. They're probably not my finest ever figures - I haven't enjoyed painting them very much, largely because of problems I've been having with 'copper alloy' paint - consequently, I haven't, perhaps, lavished as much love on them as I usually do. Don't suppose they'll look too bad when they're done - they're looking truly horrid now though, because they're covered in shiny dip!
Anyway, on to the main reason for this post. Rich Clarke, over at Too Fat Lardies, has too much work, and not enough time to do it, and is also suffering from stress. So he and I have had a little chat, and decided that, as he has too many projects on the go, and waiting in the queue, I should take back the responsibility for AVGVSTVS to AVRELIAN. I am hoping to publish it sometime fairly soon. The rules themselves are as finished as they're likely to be this side of a second edition. I need to deal with fonts, page layout, photography, artwork, what formats to make the rules available in, and a price...
All of which may take quite some time! Not least because, though I am quite able from a technical point of view (I can draw on a computer fairly well, I understand type-setting/DTP quite well), I don't have an arty-farty, creative, bone in my body (or neurone in my noggin, which is more to the point). So producing an 'attractive' product isn't going to be easy. Hail Caesar, it won't be!
As far as formats go, I simply can't afford to pay for the production of a printed 'hard-copy' version. 'Print on Demand' might be possible, via Lulu or some such, but is, at the moment, not a high priority. My initial thoughts are to produce two versions. The first would be aimed at iPads (and other tablets) and would be 'all-singing, all dancing' - with hyperlinks for cross-referencing and table of contents and that sort of thing - doing all the stuff that tablets do well, but which are a pain in a printed book - taking advantage of the medium properly, rather than just making a 'flat' ebook! There'd be plenty of colour in that version. The second would be a 'printer-friendly' PDF, with very little (or no?) colour. At the moment, depending on more discussions with Rich, it's looking most likely that it'll be available as a download from Wargame Vault.
I've no idea on price yet, but most probably somewhere in the same 'ball-park' as Too Fat Lardies' products.
At some point in the near future, I shall be seeking photographs... You supply the photos, and if I deem them good enough to use in the book, you'll get your name in lights and a free copy of the rules in the format of your choice. My own collection of models is limited, and it'd be nice to have good photos of other people's, attractively painted, models. I'd be most interested in photos of armies I don't have any models for, such as: Germans; Dacians; Arabs; Palmyrans; Parthians; Jewish Revolt; Alani; Iazyges; Roxolani; Mauri/Numidians; Blemmye/Nobades;