ACTA DIURNA

NEWSLETTER FOR THE WESTERN SUBURBS GAMING SOCIETY

Editors note. I would like to wish Ty all the best in his future endeavours and thank him for his support of the club for so many years and his efforts in editing and publishing this newsletter.

I still have my training wheels on so bear with me while I iron out the bugs try to bring you a newsletter worthy of Ty’s efforts.

UP AND COMING EVENTS:

·                                 16^th January (1st meeting after the Christmas)

·                                 6^th February (Family day meeting & display day - Best WWII unit)

·                                 20^th February club meeting

·                                 27th February - The postponed 2004 WSGS Interclub challenge hosted by Western Warriors  

·                                 6^th March (Family day meeting)

·                                 19th and 20^th March club meeting (Ancients bash)

·                                 25^th and 26^th March Two day Easter Show display

·                                 3^rd April (Family day meeting)

·                                 16^th April Bunnings BBQ

·                                 17^th April club meeting

·                                 23^rd and 24^th April Leviathan 2005

·                                 1^st May (Family day meeting)

·                                 15^th May club meeting

·                                 18^th and 19^th June (Weekend meeting)

·                                 3^rd July (Family day meeting)

·                                 9th July Proposed club dinner

·                                 17^th July club meeting

·                                 7^th August (Family day meeting & display day - Best Sci Fi Creature)

·                                 21^st August club meeting

·                                 27^th August Bunnings BBQ

·                                 17^th and 18^th September (Weekend meeting)

·                                 1st, 2nd, 3rd Oct MOAB, two day WSGS display

·                                 15th October, WSGS display at the Matisse Open day

·                                 16^th October club meeting

·                                 6^th November (Family day meeting)

·                                 WSGS INTERCLUB CHALLENGE Date to be set.

·                                 20^th November club meeting

·                                 26^th November Bunnings BBQ

·                                 4^th December (Family day meeting)

·                                 11^th December Bunnings BBQ

·                                 18^th December Last meeting for the year (Display day - Best Christmas single miniature.)

Whats Hot and What’s not….

Our meeting on the 20^th of Feb saw several games being played. We had several members having a bash at war machine, while Andrew Bigwood and Ross Heenan went head to head playing a new fantasy skirmish game (the name of which escapes me at time of printing).

A large 4000 points a side Flames of War battle took place with the British (Stephan Black) and Russians (sorry didn’t get introduced) going down to the Germans (Trevor Williams and myself).

Last but by no means least there took part a huge Tactika battle involving the English and Selucids invading Ireland….. at the close of business on Sunday the battle was still raging . Stay tuned for more info on that one.

Battle Report from Port Macquarie.

The gaming scene in Port has been quiet large for a long time on the GW front with a large following of WHFantasy and 40K.

Role Playing has been hit and miss. Late last year a Game shop (not me) opened up in town catering mainly to GW (That's 2 GW shops in the area now) and things that you find in say a Ventura Games store. I mainly service the FOW crowd.

One of the long-standing GW guys started up a club at the local PCYC, the new shop is supporting this and we may also have enough response for an RPGA Living RPG games day. It is supposed to be on the 3rd Sunday, but seems to fall more on the 4th Sunday - have not worked that one out yet.

One pleasant surprise is the number of FOW gamers in the area. Already we have 6 WITH armies and expect more to join in who are 40K and WHFantasy guys.

An extra bonus is there are 4 ancients players in the area, that USED to play DBM, with the new version coming out, they have stoped playing and switched to FOW, I have given them copies of AusTacktica to Read and they like it. Comments have been "a bit more complex but it looks great". They are all keen to see the new army lists when they come out.

We are tentatively toying with a FOW comp in July /Aug and maybe something bigger - Port Con, including some RPG/ WH.

Anyway anyone visiting on the mid north coast contact a head of time to see if you can arrange a game, or come along to the new club meeting. There are usually spare armies around as well.

So far we have the following FOW armies.

1.        Soviet Guards Strelkovy Battalion.

2.        Desert Rats

3.        Herman Goring Panzer Grenadiers.

4.      DAK (All permutations inc FJ)

5.        British Armour

6.         US (mainly Hell on Wheels Armoured Recon Honey Pot)

Fed: Navy says it's now safe to drink the water on Collins subs
Tuesday, 22 February, 2005 
 
Content provided to you by AAP.

CANBERRA, Feb 21 AAP - The Navy says its safe again to drink the water aboard their Collins Class submarines.

The water supply systems onboard all six vessels have been fitted with filters to remove toxic heavy metal cadmium, Navy chief Vice Admiral Chris Ritchie said today.

The problem emerged in 2003 when tests on the submarines' drinking water systems revealed higher than acceptable levels of cadmium which can accumulate in the body and is suspected of causing cancer.

Chronic exposure, usually through industrial pollution, can cause lung and kidney damage and, ultimately, death.

The contamination was traced to material used to weld together water pipes. The cadmium leaching was accelerated by the exceptional purity of water produced by the two reverse osmosis seawater purification plants on each submarine.

With the onboard water supply off-limits, the Collins subs were obliged to carry large amounts of commercial bottled drinking water.

Admiral Ritchie said the original problem had yet to be fixed and the manufacturer, the Australian Submarine Corporation, had accepted it was a latent defect that would have to be rectified in due course during normal refits.

"There has been a modification put in place... that takes away the ill-effect of the original defect," he told a Senate committee last week.

"But the brazing of the pipes and all that sort of stuff that caused the cadmium to be released still exists. Effectively, there have been filters and things put into the water supply system."

Admiral Ritchie said tests on a sample of 40 of the longest-serving Collins Class submariners had found none with cadmium levels outside normal body limits.

"Nevertheless, all of the people who served in the submarines during this period of time that this has been a problem have had their medical records annotated that that happened," he added.

If any club members have any ideas for the newsletter email me and let me know…