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A Wild Sheep Chase
**Caution this post contains spoilers for The Wild Sheep Chase!** When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons and Dragons with, it being the 80’s and the game not being popular here in the United [...]
“The Backroad to Bures”
"The Backroad to Bures" by Basho AI image upscaled from 2019. It would make a lovely computer background.
“Morgan” – Digital Watercolour
"Morgan" by Basho Painted in Rebelle 3.
You’re the Pretender – a Tier 1 tribute
A loving tribute to 5 years of Tier 1 Military Simulations events. They say that it is only when you lose something that you realise the value it had. That emotional wrench requires a loss of access. Not that [...]
The Iron Church – Why Do People Quit Fitness Training?
And what the science — and AI — say about how to stop them. I would leave work after a long, hard day in the city and simply have no energy to attend my GoJu Ryu Karate training. I’d [...]
The day I met the Buddha, and killed him
Delhi. Many people say they have “done” Delhi, but in all honesty they haven’t. They have perhaps done the tourist parts of New Delhi, or maybe spent some time in an Ashram there – which amounts [...]
Harvest Bales, Late Summer Mist
Painted from an evening walk through Suffolk. The almost-pink mist and long shadows, combined with the sweep of the field to the epic sky above, created a true and warm sense of space and clarity. Prints and full [...]
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist | Dungeons & Dragons
**Caution this post contains spoilers for WDH!** My players (9-year-old children, my wife and her 70+-year-old mother) just completed Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, and there follows my write up of the adventure. The piplins! [...]
“Countryside walk” – Digital Watercolour
"Countryside walk" by Basho Painted in Rebelle 3.
And so I went for a walk…
"And so I went for a walk..." by Basho Painted by hand onto a Microsoft Surface Studio 2 in the software "Rebelle" using a digital stylus. This is near the village of "Mount Bures, Suffolk, UK" [...]
The Iron Church: Why Most ‘AI’ Fitness Apps Are Just Marketing (And How I Built One That Actually Works)
7 AI Pipelines ? 5 AI Prompts, 2 Deterministic Engines. Discover the technical strategy behind building The Iron Church—an AI fitness trainer defined by periodisation science, multi-prompt architecture, and serious consideration of your real equipment. This article is the [...]
Varanasi – City of the Hindus
Many Indian cities are a jumble, a mix of the ancient and modern, but nowhere I have ever been compares in this regard to Varanasi. I come from a country, and from a city, which [...]
Varanasi City of Gods – Special Edition
How does it make one feel to be in one of the most “holy” cities in the world?
Remembering Catherine
"Remembering Catherine" by Basho Today, on the anniversary of her passing, I present a new painting; a present for my mother in law. This digital portrait was painted in Rebelle 5 Pro.
The Storm King’s Thunder and the Dragon’s Bane
There follows the campaign we have played all through the 2020 lockdown. It has helped us all resist the mental anguish of the COVID virus, recover from the infection itself and be a beacon of bright enjoyment for all. Truly the great value of this magical game cannot be overstated when played with attentive and imaginative children. So, I present the chronicle of my son, my daughter and my wife playing their first campaign after the starter set, Storm King's Thunder!
Basho rewrites: Rime of the Frostmaiden – Sunblight
**Caution this post contains spoilers for Sunblight!** When I was a child, I had no one to play Dungeons & Dragons with. Now, I am 46 and play with my own children. Yes - I built my own [...]
Basho Reviews : Sins Of A Solar Empire
...more depth than the Mariana trench!
Sins Of A Solar Empire : Multiplayer Review
I am going to review Sins Multiplayer by recounting a game I played against my friends Jim and Kiero over broadband from our homes.
On the nature of art, a definition
"Art is that human endeavour which illuminates the contiguous nature of reality. Momentarily breaking us free from our illusion that the Universe has a dual nature." Writes Basho. Find out why...
Kerala, the heat and the wonder of Southern India: part one
Kerala the beautiful; the green of a million palm trees, the blue of warm waters. Kerala the red of the [...]
Bodh Gaya Part 2 and onwards to Sarnath
Eating food in India is no joke. On one hand there are high-end coffee cafes that have prices that could only make sense to the gainfully employed. High-end coffee needs to be carefully metered out as it is too comforting and familiar a western experience to eat in such a cafe. Not only does it take you away from your local-encounters in this mighty country, but also takes a large amount of Indian coin from your purse and that directly affects how much you have to spend on the fun things.
Sennybridge, a Basho film about “The Chernarus Conflict”
To those of you who play computer games, the country of Chernarus may ring a few bells. As anyone who loves the Arma series of games from Bohemia Interactive will tell you Chernarus, or Black Russia, is a fictional post-USSR country somewhere in the East that is used as the main game location. TA Events have licensed the entire storyline from Bohemia meaning that players at the event could sign up to the various factions found in the series. When someone says that you should get out from behind the keyboard and get some exercise, these events enable you to re live the brilliant, in-depth storyline for (almost) real. A detailed account of the factions and background to the event can be found here and it has a very professional depth to it not usually available to airsofters.
Operation Zulu
The DA’s have played some unusual games over the years, but this was a first for us: this was the first time that we were asked to be a scripted opposition. The idea has a lot of merit if you think about it. Firstly, games often ebb and flow randomly. One side may gain the upper hand in an attack, but they loose too many men to reinforce the position and soon are driven back and it is the other team who are then on the offensive. Similar to a game of football. However, sometimes a team simply hammers all opposition to such an extent that the suffering team cannot fulfil their objectives at all. Sometimes they cannot get out of their safe zone. The game suddenly becomes unbalanced, tempers raise, cries of cheating go up and no fun is had at all. Well, at least none by the team getting a kicking.
Tracking the Predator : A Basho Film
Get up close with a wild Tiger!
Tier 1 Military Simulation – Operation SNAKEBITE writeup
I stood alone in the pre-dawn of the morning and the silence of the surrounding forest was punctuated only by the hooting of owls and the snoring of AQT players as they serenaded the coming sun. I was taking my turn on watch and the firebase was so dark that I couldn’t really see my way to walk around the inside of the perimeter. It was a large base by airsoft standards, about 70 meters long and 20 wide, with several small wooden buildings, huts and fire positions all surrounded by steel barrels acting as the wall between the players and the trees beyond. Every few steps I raised the NVG scope to my left eye and took a look into the gloomy and misty darkness. Through the NVG there were only dark shapes with blurry outlines, suggestive of men among the trees, but these didn’t move so I took them to be bushes. Nevertheless, I gripped my rifle tightly in my right hand.
Dell Alienware M11x Review: Portable Gaming Heaven?
When I was considering taking a year off, I started looking around for a computer that I could take with [...]
Big in Japan
This was the very first film I ever made when I first purchased my camcorder. In 2008, I visited my [...]
Pebble Smart Watch Review – More than just potential?
No recent product launch has grasped the Zeitgeist as much as the Pebble watch. It represents a perfect storm of [...]
Leaving on a Jet Plane – don’t know when I’ll be back again!
The flat is empty - everything is in storage. I leave work tomorrow for good - can't wait! The bags [...]
Tactical Man Watch?
My friend, “Big D”, gave me a going away present when I announced that I was leaving for a year. It was, what he called, a “Tactical Man Band”. That is the classic macramé bracelets beloved of Girl Guides, made out of super strong and manly paracord used by soldiers. Not girly at all. Seriously. You, stop laughing.
Basho’s art 1992 to 2011
I have finally finished a long time project (no more procrastination for me!) to scan in all my paintings, drawings and sketches from the last 15 years and post them up here. After all they were not doing any good in my case on my cupboard!
A Basho Film: Blue Hunter
Here is the next in the line of Basho Films. I am working hard on the next one and have [...]
Truth and knowing
Truth and knowing. "What is truth?" — Pontius Pilate, the Gospel of John. Truth is easy to explain but rather [...]
Life Goals : Converting the Garage to a Gym
I have written before about working out at home, but I never thought that this post would be anything [...]
Maxpedition Rolly Polly Extreme Review
Maxpedition's latest is put through its paces
Tokyo: Akihabara, Asakusa and Shibuya
Tokyo, like Beijing and especially like Delhi, is a city that one could spend a lifetime in and never feel [...]