The 2nd ed 40k challenge is still moving along and next week month 4 waves are coming in… But now, it is time to hear a bit of banter from the Warp,.. I mean discord!

From the Discord

Firstly, to my great pleasure to of our Australian comrades have managed to meet up for a bit of miniature swapping. I always love these things, like we have seen in the past with some of our American contingent.

M4cr0dutch and Tain managed to find each other in the dusty Australian outback, while dodging killer snakes, spiders and tumble weeds. They both had to get back in their pick-up trucks before they had the time to have a game of 2nd edition, but I am sure that could be in the future plans, now that they have met and agreed that Fosters isn’t any good.

Also, our resident painter Tom Reynolds, was awarded the April Duncan Rhodes painting academy award for his sorceror entry in the challenge! Kudos Tom! We all knew you could paint, so no one is surprised really. Well, maybe we’re surprised the rest of your entries haven’t gotten the awards too! Duncan – what’s up with that? Give Tom some more awards!

I learned a very important lesson this month! If you have old yellowed transfers… just tape them on your windows in the bright sun for a couple of days and the yellow goes away! Voilá!

The participants have all been very busy, but the Power of Chaos have been especially active. Tom and Ted seem to have engaged in a “rhino off” – both going for a blue Rhino this month. Tain must have missed the memo, and has been doing a “Drednought off”… with himself! So far he is up to three dreadnoughts! No clear idea how he will decide which of himself will win.. but hey the powers of chaos are fickle!

Mork has also been busy and maybe he is in the midst of a “camel-off” where the camel that carries the most stowage wins?! Let us just hope this month wont be the straw that broke the camels back!

We have also seen an unprecedented amount of terrain pop up this month. Again all of the Chaos powers are busy planning obscure dedications to their Dark Gods. The Iron Warriors’ unholy terrain piece is so obscure that we don’t know what it is? A bacta tank perhaps? Mork has also been busy with the terrain, and has started 10 things at once. That is the spirit!

In addition to this we have of course seen MULTIPLE entries from all the others… there are simply too many to mention! But most people seem to be having a good time and getting some paint on the figures. Very nice.

Now, for this bulletin’s “gamer’s grub”! Again it is our Australian compadres, who chime in with a special dish!

Van Diemen’s Promethean Balls 

Dutch oliebollen (“Oily Balls”)  with Australian ingredients, by an Australian gamer with Dutch ancestry)

Ingredients

Fruit

100 g/3.5 oz raisins

100 g/3.5 oz current

100 g/3.5 oz finely chopped apple (Tasmanian, if you can get them).

Yeast mixture

50 mL milk

30 g/1 oz dry yeast (60 g/2 oz fresh)

50 g/1.75 oz butter

Dough

1 kg/35 oz plain flour

1.5 tablespoons of sugar

15 g/0.5 oz salt

2 large eggs

750 mL of beer (I used Mountain Culture, in honour of our challengers who live up in the Blue Mountains. Try and get a good Australian lager or IPA. Fosters doesn’t count…).

Deep frying

~ 2 L sunflower/vegetable oil

Procedure

Fruit Preparation

1. Wash the raisins and currents then soak them in a small bowl, just below the water level, for 1 hour.
2. Finely chop the apple and soak the pieces in water in a separate bowl.

Dough Preparation

3. Mix the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl with a wooden spoon.
4. Stir the eggs, one at a time, into the flour mixture.
5. Add the beer to the flour mixture, a bit at a time, with a mixing/folding action. The dough should be relatively uniform before continuing.

Yeast Mixture Preparation

6. Warm the milk to 37 ^oC/100 ^oF. Stir in the yeast and leave for 5 minutes. If bubbles aren’t forming within this time, discard and try again with new yeast.
7. Melt the butter on low heat.

Bringing it all Together

1. Add the milk-yeast mixture and the butter to the dough and stir well.
2. Drain the raisins, currents and apple and add them to the dough with a gentle folding action for a few minutes (I use a wooden spoon for this).
3. Use a damp towel to cover the bowl containing the dough. Leave the dough to rise for about 1 hour in a warm location. Use the time to paint your minis. Perhaps, partake of a remaining beer (in moderation, of course; don’t deep fry under the influence, or you may end up in the hospital!).

Frying

1. Heat the sunflower oil to 180 ^oC/350 ^oF. I use a large pot for this, but you may have a deep fryer you can use.
2. Lay some absorbent paper towel in a colander and set it beside the pot/fryer.
3. With two spoons, add balls of dough to the heated oil. They will sink to the bottom of the oil but then immediately float to the surface. Use a draining spoon to gently turn the balls periodically, so that both sides fry evenly. Fry until golden brown, then scoop out the balls and allow them to drain in the colander. LOL; balls.

Eating!

1. Dust the donuts with powdered sugar before eating; enjoy! They are best eaten fresh, but will keep for a couple of days, or can be frozen and eaten later. Wash your hands before touching a Codex.