Examples of Old Wombat's stuff.

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, guys!

And, yup, that's me; the SSM Old Wombat.... as annoying here as I am there!

[philp]

Bout time you posted your stuff here. 

Going to be a hard time in the Sci-fi Whiffie category this year between you and Sotoolslinger setting the bar.

[Doc Yo]

Thanks, guys!

And, yup, that's me; the SSM Old Wombat.... as annoying here as I am there!

Oh, balderdash. My instruments show that you're only .979 as annoying here. 
If I didn't say it at SSM, its great work. I should have registered you being a David
Drake fan, though-have you read the Lord Of The Isles series?

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, philp!

Thanks, guys!

And, yup, that's me; the SSM Old Wombat.... as annoying here as I am there!

Oh, balderdash. My instruments show that you're only .979 as annoying here. 
If I didn't say it at SSM, its great work.

Thanks, Doc, & I stand corrected!

I should have registered you being a David
Drake fan, though-have you read the Lord Of The Isles series?

I can't say I have. In all honesty, my Drake collection is limited to 4 paperbacks ("Hammer's Slammers", "Hammer's Slammers - At Any Price", "The Military Dimension" & "Birds of Prey").

Is the Lord Of The Isles series SF or Fantasy, or one of those hybrid things?

[rickshaw]

Some nice work there, Old Wombat.  Never been a fan of Drake's novels.  They strike me as not terribly well written and his knowledge of military matters appears to be based upon watching too many Hollywood movies but if you like'em thats OK.   

[Doc Yo]

  OW- Lord of the Isles is multi-volume fantasy series that chronicles the rise and career of a young
  noble and his friends in an age when the forces of magic are reaching a thousand year peak. As he mentions
in his afterwords, its based strongly in Summerian mythology. The novels tend to be a bit repetitive in plot,
but continuously inventive in detail, and the characters are by turns, delightful, horrible, and human.

Drake served in the US Army in Viet Nam as an interregator. The few times I've corresponded with him, I've found
him to be very gracious and informative.

[Old Wombat]

Doc; Unfortunately, with the one exception of Terry Pratchett, I've burned out on the Fantasy & SF-Fantasy hybrid stuff. I prefer my SF to be heavy on the hardware & action but there seems to be too little of that of any real quality, these days. Plus, when I'm not modelling or hanging out at SSM or here, my reading tends to be more reference oriented (books or web) to get ideas for modelling, or just because the subject grabs my interest.

Rickshaw; Thanks for the compliment, mate! Drake does base most of his military action on his experiences in Vietnam as an interrogator in an armoured unit & on historical battles but, for me, it's his superficial, (excuse me for inventing a word here) "touristic" view of foreign cultures that bugs me. However, he knows his audience is (was?) mostly young males, so he keeps (kept?) the politics & broad strategy basic, so it didn't interfere with the action plot.

[rickshaw]

Doc; Unfortunately, with the one exception of Terry Pratchett, I've burned out on the Fantasy & SF-Fantasy hybrid stuff. I prefer my SF to be heavy on the hardware & action but there seems to be too little of that of any real quality, these days. Plus, when I'm not modelling or hanging out at SSM or here, my reading tends to be more reference oriented (books or web) to get ideas for modelling, or just because the subject grabs my interest.

Pratchett is superb, particularly his later Diskworld stuff.  I put him down very much in the Swiftian mould of satire.  Loads of very pointed commentary about our world there.

Rickshaw; Thanks for the compliment, mate! Drake does base most of his military action on his experiences in Vietnam as an interrogator in an armoured unit & on historical battles but, for me, it's his superficial, (excuse me for inventing a word here) "touristic" view of foreign cultures that bugs me. However, he knows his audience is (was?) mostly young males, so he keeps (kept?) the politics & broad strategy basic, so it didn't interfere with the action plot.

Personally, I find most military SF far too heavily influenced by American experiences (not surprising as all I've seen has always been written by Americans for the American market) - they ignore that the rest of the world has its own military traditions and methods.  When they attempt to copy say, Royal Navy tradition, its obviously written as a poorly educated observer looking in, rather than an experienced observer looking out and so rings rather hollow.   I tried reading one Hammer's Slammers book and had to put it down, it annoyed me so much. 

[royabulgaf]

Drake's stuff can be good, but he gets into these awkward parallels with historical battles, or refights Vietnam over and over. 

[Doc Yo]

 Matter of personnal taste, Ol' Wombat, no matter otherwise. I like Pratchett quite a lot myself ( finished
Unseen Academicals a few weeks back ) but I'll leave it to history to see if he ranks up there with the
author of A Modest proposal

[Taiidantomcat]

I really like these! very creative 

[sequoiaranger]

I'm not into "armor" and land vehicles, but I recognize imagination and quality when I see it. And I see it in your "28" series of vehicle dioramas. Great "stuff"!

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, guys!

Hey, Doc! I just found a few more Drake books out in the shed ("Rolling Hot", "Counting the Cost" & "The Sharp End")..... survivors of the Great Book-Destroying Inundation of 2001.

[pyro-manic]

Superb stuff, Wombat! I particularly like the post-apocalyptic Landy. I want to try something similar myself at some point.

For great SF, Try Iain M. Banks and Alastair Reynolds. Banks does superb space opera, and Reynolds is a master of very hard sci-fi (he's a working astronomer IIRC). Both can write very well, in addition to spinning a great story.

[Weaver]

Those are fantastic Wombat - I love everyone of 'em! 

May I ask how you do your hover skirts?

Oh, balderdash. My instruments show that you're only .979 as annoying here. 

Interesting - what's the SI unit of Annoyance then?