The war continues

Lucky game #13 went to the aliens (oops... spoiler). Aaron was the aliens, and got off to a good start, smiting Smaug so effectively, he never really recovered. The rest of us beat up the aliens for a while, and Graydon and the Saharans were in ascendance. After I punched Graydon from below the equator, Ken dropped a ton of troops next to Graydon's HQ and smashed through. Aaron rebuilt himself, and a couple human cities got turned into ruins. I almost took out Graydon next turn, hoping to get his resource cards, but Ken stopped me with missiles, and then finished the job himself. But before things could get around again, Aaron dropped a ton of troops and captured Ken's and Graydon's HQs, winning the game.

It was a pretty good game, since (apart from poor Smaug) everyone was in the game and had a credible chance at winning.

The Aylesford Skull, by James P. Blaylock

The Aylesford Skull brings us another steampunky adventure in the life of Langdon St. Ives and his archnemesis Professor Ignacio Narbondo. This time, it's personal.

This is the first novel-length St. Ives story in 20-some years, but provides plenty of the same rip-roaringly implausible quasi-Victorian adventure. Nevertheless, it's certainly not my favorite of them. Arthur Conan Doyle shows up as a minor character for the purpose of... being Arthur Conan Doyle, I suppose. And the ending was not as carefully constructed as most of the solid material leading us there, which leaves the reader (me, at least) on a low note.