For Christmas I was lucky enough to receive the first two seasons of Rome, the HBO series. I'd already seen it on Netflix, and was a big fan. In case you haven't seen it, it  follows two legion soldiers during the era of Caesar. The first season covers Caesar rise to power and the civil war with Pompey, and ends with the Ides of March. There's a pretty wide range of characters that are followed - from the two soldiers to men and women from the noble families.

The history is pretty good, as is the costuming, sets, etc. Most of the action takes place in a huge set of ancient Rom that was built for the show, and is pretty convincing. Of course the show is also pretty bloody, which I suppose is to be expected given the society and the times that are portrayed.

One really neat feature that I'm taking advantage of watching it the second time is what they call "All Roads Lead to Rome" - it's sort of a "pop up video" for the show - if you turn the option on boxes pop up from time to time with more historical information about what is happening, which is quite handy for some of the cultural references to gods, social conventions, locations, etc. that are referred to during the show. And I have even listened to the commentaries yet!

Of course the downside is that no I have a hankering to paint up a roman legion. Thankfully so far I've resisted it so far, I know I'd never have time to do the minis justice! Perhaps I'll just fire up Rome Total War and play that a bit.

Since sometime last summer I've been gaming every week or so with a group. We play everything from board games to RPGs to card games. One game we play quite is called Three Dragon Ante - a card game published by Wizards of the Coast. We play the game whenever we have a half hour to an hour to kill for whatever reason. I liked enough I actually picked it up - and I've played with some non-gamers who also enjoyed it!