List of CH members to meet in 2015

[Yurian Stonebow]

Now that we have just started the year 2015 it makes me wonder what the future holds for us. Things I pounder very hard include these:

*will Limbic and Ubisoft manage to release Heroes VII before the year ends?
*will the Heroes IV fan add-on Equilibris finally go open-source as happened with the equally much-awaited WoG version 3.59?
*will the VCMI Project for Heroes III reach version 0.99 by the year's end?
*will Yurian Stonebow and HeroOfPunk stay true to their word that the Third Sighisoara Campaign for Heroes III shall be released by Christmas?
*will the Heroes V AI Mod by Quantomas revive the said game's vitality and its fanbase from a near-death state with the unofficial Patch 3.2 for H5?

As these questions remain to be seen as of January 10th 2015, I decided to focus my energy on thinking about and perhaps realizing other things first.


So here it comes: the list of CH members I would like to personally meet irl during 2015! (in no particular order)

HeroOfPunk, my Sighisoara Team mate and friend
Koni, another great friend and Team mate
Kalah, the Supreme Leader of Celestialheavens
Artas 1984, my partner in arguments and a fellow H3 mapmaker
Dalai, the Equilibris chieftain


What will your list look like? You are all invited to share your thoughts.


In solidarity,

Yurian

[Koni]

Oh, Yurian, I feel appreciated and somehow flattered reading my name on your list. But I think, a meeting of us 2 will happen only in our dreams. I don't plan a journey to your beloved Suomi in future and for the rest of my life, ah, if I only were younger, ... (dreaming...)

So, thanks, mate, and have a nice and successful 2015.

my list?
sorry, I haven't any.

[Kalah]

I'm going to Munich next summer, possibly also Trier. If anybody'd in the vicinity, let's have some wine.

[Panda Tar]

That's something that's nice when it comes to Europe, where you can visit many countries in a short time in a small portion of land, if compared to my country, for example.

I too would like to visit some of you, but it'll have to wait a while. Not sure how long, but I cannot either say that it's impossible nor possible. hoho

And then hug you all like a panda bear would do with its cubs.

[Groovy]

To continue Panda's train of thought, if anyone is planning to come to South Africa, particularly Johannesburg, we could meet then. I don't have plans to travel abroad for the foreseeable future.

As an extra incentive, you will get to try out an early prototype of Heroic - a tabletop fantasy strategy game that I'm making that was inspired by HoMM.

[wimfrits]

The members I'm most curious about:

Banedon and Corribus, whose talents in reasoning I value highly
jeff and pepak, with who I had many interesting discussions concerning mapmaking
Psychobabble, who joined the forums around the same time I did and whose real life events seemed to parallel my own (but on the other side of the world)
and Koni ofcourse because he seems such a nice guy.

Actually it'd be interesting to meet anyone of the forum members.
Except for Panda Tar. I've seen his upper body so am rather afraid of this 'panda bear hug' thing

[Panda Tar]

Except for Panda Tar. I've seen his upper body so am rather afraid of this 'panda bear hug' thing

You simply cannot escape my panda-love, wimfrits. Almost as fierce as Liam Neeson finding his daughter in Taken franchise. Beware that I still remember how you look (well, some years ago looking photo actually ) from a photo you posted, some mountains in the background and wearing a coat.

[wimfrits]

Ouch.. Guess one cannot outrun a panda

[jeff]

There are several I would like to meet; probably the most interested in meeting the ones who help me with my campaigns, my trusted map testers:

Wimfrits, HodgePodge, Robenhagen and Koni.

It was fun working with you. Slowly time and real life pared the group down and essentially doomed my last work to a perpetual state of limbo.

Of course BDJ whom I worked with on the TCC project.

We all are just too far apart and scattered to get together but it would be nice.

[Karmakeld]

Wimfrits, might one suggest you try the bamboo distraction strategy
But like Jeff, I think my list would consist of the people who've helped me with my campaign and those I've had more direct contact with, being:

Maciek
Duzeom
Linda and Donald Bryant (not sure about nickname)
and lately Taro.

But in relation to other onlineforums (Danish band fan-site) I've had the pleasure to meet numerous Fellow fans both from within my own country's borders and aswell as foreign fans. Some I've kept in contact with for the past 15-16 years and have had the pleasure of visiting on vacations.
Point being, forums like this is a nice way of getting to know new people and perhaps get a oppertunity to see new parts of the world.

[Panda Tar]

Wimfrits, might one suggest you try the bamboo ...

OMG! Where!? WHEEEEEEERE!? *NOM, NOM, NOM*

[Yurian Stonebow]

Oh, Yurian, I feel appreciated and somehow flattered reading my name on your list. But I think, a meeting of us 2 will happen only in our dreams. I don't plan a journey to your beloved Suomi in future and for the rest of my life, ah, if I only were younger, ... (dreaming...)

No worries there friend, I understand. But who said anything about you having have to come to meet me in Finnland?* What if I visited you in Germany? Your country certainly is in my list of states to visit before I turn 35. (Which would be October 25th 2017) Touring some great historical places of Germany during my summer holiday would in fact be quite the adventure for me as a "man of the summer" and a well-educuted fellow in world history.



@Panda Tar, jeff, Groovy and wimfrits:

While I don't think that my humble budget allows any grand travel plans outside Europe in the foreseeable future, meeting Panda Tar, jeff and Groovy would nonetheless be great. The three of you are folks whom I've had some dealings with before in terms of discussing Heroes and map making. (I seem to recall having exchanged some sour & short messages with jeff about Heroes IV but that was years ago and I took it all with humour even if an ironic, but jovial, smile visited briefly my face back then)

Meeting wimfrits is certainly a much more "doable option" as he lives in the Netherlands, well inside the borders of the United States of Europe. They even use the same currency there thanks to a graceful Imperial Edict given by the High Office of the European Emperor in Brussels.


-Yurian




*when discussing my home land with Koni I tend to use the German word for Finland, "Finnland", as a sign of my friendship to him

[jeff]

@Panda Tar, jeff, Groovy and wimfrits:

While I don't think that my humble budget allows any grand travel plans outside Europe in the foreseeable future, meeting Panda Tar, jeff and Groovy would nonetheless be great. The three of you are folks whom I've had some dealings with before in terms of discussing Heroes and map making. (I seem to recall having exchanged some sour & short messages with jeff about Heroes IV but that was years ago and I took it all with humour even if an ironic, but jovial, smile visited briefly my face back then)

Yes we did have exchanges in the past and all of it was fine. Meeting you or several others unmentioned would be equally nice.

[wimfrits]

Meeting wimfrits is certainly a much more "doable option" as he lives in the Netherlands, well inside the borders of the United States of Europe.

Come to think of it, my youngest sister recently moved to Finland to live with the Finnish fellow she fell in love with. I forgot what town, but if I ever plan to visit her I'll let you know.

[Panda Tar]

@Panda Tar, jeff, Groovy and wimfrits:

While I don't think that my humble budget allows any grand travel plans outside Europe in the foreseeable future, meeting Panda Tar, jeff and Groovy would nonetheless be great. The three of you are folks whom I've had some dealings with before in terms of discussing Heroes and map making. (I seem to recall having exchanged some sour & short messages with jeff about Heroes IV but that was years ago and I took it all with humour even if an ironic, but jovial, smile visited briefly my face back then)

Why, thank you, Yurian. That's nice to hear.

Expecting good H7 map designs from you, if you ever do those.

I hope someday I'll be able to visit Europe, dunno where, given that I never left my own country, so it'll be a tough call. However, I do enjoy the idea of going to Dublin and then ... somewhere else.

[Koni]

What if I visited you in Germany? Your country certainly is in my list of states to visit before I turn 35.

... that would be a great joyful meeting, indeed. We have a nice beer here, which is produced in my neighbourhood, we could visit the brewery by feet in less than 10 minutes from my home; it is named "Hohenfelder Pilsener". (if you would like to google it); You always will find a ready welcome!

*when discussing my home land with Koni I tend to use the German word for Finland, "Finnland", as a sign of my friendship to him

...and so I did with "Suomi".

[Corribus]

Doesn't meeting people in real life destroy the mystery?

[ywhtptgtfo]

Doesn't meeting people in real life destroy the mystery?

Indeed. And Kalah may disappoint by revealing himself as a big fat Swede contrary to his claim of being Norwegian.

[Panda Tar]

Destroys the mystery and reveals the wonders of reality.

[Yurian Stonebow]

I just checked the web for bargain priced flight tickets for Helsinki-Düsseldorf. And you guess what? Late May-early June (2015) will be a time for campaign offers for various airline companies. From Helsinki to Düsseldorf, there and back, for about 150€. Also, the train trip from Düsseldorf to Langenberg costs about 40€ two-way ticket. All in all, it'll be just under 200 €uros from my city to yours. And that's quite a bargain for the overall trip, a distance that makes it a total of 1640 km to travel. (to the international folks here not familiar with the Kilometre system, 1640 km equals 1019 Miles)

Moreover, typing "Langenberg (Westphalia)" to Google's Picture search service included the following nice view in its results.



Typing "Hohenfelder Pilsener" to Google search guided me to the website www.ratebeer.com where the following picture comes from. The people there have generally rated the beer as Good with mean score of 2.77/5.0 out of 28 individual ratings from the site members.



Let us not forget the fact that Langenberg is located within the legendary Teutoburg Forest area! And what pleases me, a history buff, is that the city of Münster, the site of the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia ending the Thirty Years' War in 1648 is also within the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. With these treats and Koni volunteering to give me a tour of "the brewery by feet in less than 10 minutes from my home", I'm sure making a note of this in my calendar for things to do during my summer holiday.

-Yurian