HAVING spent hours poring through Game of Thrones books for clues about the fictional boardgame cyvasse, Michael Le Page has created his own physical version, brought to life with 3D printing.

He and online GoT forum buddies scanned the books looking for any instance of when the chess-like game was mentioned and scoured interviews with author George RR Martin looking for clues.

In the books Tyrion might be playing cyvasse and mention “my fort is in ruins, the horse is circling around the rear,” and remark he’s wary of bringing out his dragon too early.

A PhD student researching immunology through UWA, Mr Le Page aimed to keep the rules simple to learn, steering clear of the jargon-filled rulesets of modern Euro-games which often come loaded with hefty rulebooks that read like legal tomes.

Instead it’s a pretty simple pyramid of power: the most powerful dragon piece can kill any enemy on the board, you’ll need two elephants to take down a dragon, and two crossbows to take out an elephant.

With the rules taken care of, he had to bring it to the physical realm. He cast about looking for a wood-carver or metal-worker to fashion the pieces, but those options turned out to be pricey. So he turned to 3D printing.

He’d had his first encounter with the technology back in 2001, long before most had ever heard of it. Aged 18, he underwent corrective surgery on facial bones.

Doctors first scanned his skull and built a replica layer by layer on an early 3D printer to visualise the work to be done.

After the surgery he was given the cast as a memento: it’s helped to serve as his inspiration for the game. “That’s how I first heard about [3D printing] but I never expected I’d be using it for this,” he says.

He taught himself how to use free design software and set to designing the pieces. He knew he’d need horses and castles—they were mentioned in the books—and Tyrion Lannister once complained about having lost his dragon to a trebuchet, so they went in too.

Once designed he sent the files off to a website called Shapeways which prints them on demand, charging around $1.75 per cubic centimetre of plastic.

It costs about $300 to print out a full set—about the same as a good wood and metal chess set—and anyone from around the world can now print off their own version and access the free rules from Mr Le Page’s website (mikelepage.com).

Mr Le Page is keen to get the game out there for people who can’t afford to print their own version. He’s collaborating with a friend in Germany (who he’s never met) to build a website that’ll let people play a virtual version.

by DAVID BELL

LIKE most light industrial traders around Leederville, Jim Ellis is moving out.

For 20 years he’s run All Suburbs Glass and Glazing from Carr Place, but now he’s sold up. The new owner plans to bulldoze the place and whack up units.

Mr Ellis, a 70-year-old native of England’s Birmingham, has seen a lot of changes to Leederville in two decades. He’d picked the site because it let him travel north and south of the river pretty easily. Back then it wasn’t much of a cafe strip and “cups of coffee were few and far between”.

“Leederville was not a desirable area,” he recalls. “It was a rough area, people used to go to Subiaco.

“You’d never have a beer at the Leederville hotel 20 years ago,” he chuckles. “There was always fresh blood on the wall from someone who’d been snotted! Now it’s a trendy place.”

Over the years the place was tamed, cafes jostled for position and the factories moved out.

Mr Ellis’s shop and three factory-style shops in the block have been bought by a developer believed to be based in China. Word is the new owner wants 50 apartments for the site.

Mr Ellis is a bloke who never leaves the house without cash in case he runs into a friend and wants to buy him a pint: he delivers the same sort of old-fashioned service at work.

He didn’t charge locals who took small bits of glass in for minor cuts and he’s proud of the apprentices he’s trained up and taken on full-time.

And while he’ll miss the community atmosphere, he’s philosophical about moving out of Leedy, acknowledging its industrial days are over.

He says the neighbours probably won’t miss the sound of the saw or fortnightly bin collections when a skip full of glass gets tipped, clattering and shattering, into a truck in the wee hours.

“It’s something that’s not viable in a residential area,” he shrugs.

by DAVID BELL

BAYSWATER city council’s budget has been approved after two dramatic false starts.

The council eventually settled on a 3.8 per cent rates increase.

Domestic service charges increase from $284.70 to $307.30 and $1 million will be allocated for council mergers.

The rates rise in the draft budget was 4.5 per cent, but councillors insisted on a 0.7 per cent reduction, triggering a second special council meeting Monday night.

A motion to pass the amended budget was then lost with councillors Chris Cornish, Mike Anderton and Martin Toldo voting against it.

Cr Toldo wanted the council to cut $200,000 from spending to cover the drop in rates revenue.

“We can’t keep dipping into the reserves, we need to look at making savings instead, otherwise our reserves will get smaller and smaller,” he said.

Cr Anderton suggested the $200,000 promised to Main Roads for a safe crossing on Guildford Road be snipped.

Cr Cornish said the budget was neither balanced nor restrained, but wouldn’t go into detail citing the presence of the media.

The trio’s rejection had mayor Sylvan Albert and council executives visibly fuming, given they’d spent several late nights fine-tuning the revision.

“If we don’t pass the budget tonight the city could lose interest on around $7 million,” he said.

“As the director pointed out we need the cash flow to pay bills and staff wages, and we also have a printer deadline tonight. To pull this at the eleventh hour—well I don’t know where you’re pulling it from.”

Eventually Crs Anderton and Toldo were brought around when a note was attached to the budget noting council executives must rely less on reserve transfers to top up spending.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

PLANS to plonk a giant doll’s head on Beaufort Street have fallen through, but there’s another project in the works to replace it.

The Beaufort Street Network offered 100 donors a refund on the cancelled plan but most opted to let the network keep the funds for a future project.

Last year Vincent mayor John Carey—then head of the Beaufort Street Network—launched the project on Pozible, asking art fans to contribute the cost to install the giant doll’s head artwork on the street.

The public came out in force and about 100 pooled cash for the $5000 needed to buy Sandi Bliim’s sculpture, joining funds already raised by the network.

As time dragged on problems popped up. There were issues with the location on a footpath and the safety of a sculpture that kids could climb on. They sought to install it on an awning but had no end of trouble finding a good spot where both the tenant and landlord agreed, and transportation was another looming problem.

About a year after the funding drive, the Network has conceded it won’t go ahead, with new chair Pam Herron emailing an apology to donors.

“The project had some issues and we have tried hard to overcome these issues and have worked with the city of Vincent and land owners on the street to find a suitable location,” she says. “Because of the construction of the head it needs to be elevated and secured to a building. This has become too challenging.”

Ms Herron says there’s a replacement project in the works and it’ll be announced in the next couple of weeks once the final details are hammered out.

Experts know best for art: mayor

VINCENT locals look to have failed in their bid to force the council to consult them over public art.

Leederville cafe owner Debbie Saunders submitted a petition with 104 signatures—40 of them local—calling on the council to consult with the community when using ratepayers’ money to buy art, or installing it on public land.

Mayor John Carey says major developments affect people’s amenity far more, so that’s what they should be asked about, not whether a piece of art is a big blue head or a dude in the nude.

He says the council has an expert panel that matches art with appropriate locations.

Stories by DAVID BELL

BAYSWATER freeman Ian McClelland has died aged 77.

Mr McClelland was elected to the council in 1986 and served for 23 years, including two stints as deputy mayor.

In the year he was elected the Morley Boans store burnt down, and Mr McClelland was subsequently heavily involved in planning and building the Morley Galleria, which opened in 1994.

He was also instrumental in getting the Morley Sports and Recreation Centre and Bayswater Waves built.

Mr McClelland represented Bayswater on outside bodies including the east metropolitan regional council and the WA local government association and received meritorious and distinguished service awards.

His service was not without controversy: in 2009 he was fined $500 in the district court after pleading guilty to electoral fraud.

He was awarded a spent conviction, meaning no criminal record, which allowed him to continue as a councillor. However, then-WA attorney-general Christian Porter later refused to renew Mr McClelland’s Justice of the Peace status.

“I was privileged to have served with Ian from 1999-2001 and then again in 2007-2009,” says mayor Sylvan Albert.

“He was very passionate about representing his community on the council and made a great contribution to the city and it’s residents.

“Ian was always a vibrant personality and he was dedicated to his community to the very end and will be sorely missed.”

Mr McClelland signed off from every council meeting with, “well folks it’s time to go home to my lovely bride.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

VINCENT SAMMUT of Franklin Street, Leederville, is concerned by Vincent city council’s tougher approach to heritage protection, saying it tramples individual property rights.

I APPLAUD Vincent mayor John Carey and councillors for their great leadership in the fight to keep Vincent free of amalgamation. However, they are not infallible.

Concerning the heritage listing of a shop at the corner of Charles and Newcastle Streets, questions arise (“Council takes tougher line on heritage, Voice, June 28, 2014). The re-categorisation of a previously unlisted property gives cause for serious challenge to council thinking.

The 1894 shop in question is not invisible. Various Vincent councils over the years have had ample opportunity to deliberate over its appropriate heritage status. With respect to the “consent” rules, it was not listed because the owner withheld consent, as was his right. Now, a retrospective change in the heritage status of the building to “category B” is proposed for which consent is not a requirement for listing.

The owner has had the rug pulled out from under him. What of his loss of benefit from his investment, believing in good faith, the property was unencumbered by heritage provisions?

We must assume the original heritage assessment was made only after a prescribed process was followed and all contingencies were carefully considered. Then, what previously unknown factors were discovered to warrant a different assessment?

If not its age, history or physical character, what changed? If the council cannot produce tangible evidence to support its decision is it fair to conclude it based its decision on collective sentiments, personal preferences and “gut” feelings, all of which are unquantifiablly subjective and hardly a basis for making important and binding decisions affecting the lives and welfare of individual owners.

A decision or ruling made by the council is a kind of contract of understanding: an implied relationship with all the normal expectations implicit in a relationship. One trusts each will hold faithfully to the contract. Contracts can change by mutual agreement but when the council, without consultation, changes the terms of understanding, it loses trust, integrity and it shows lack of faith: it looks fickle.

As for the hapless victim of its indefensible change of heart, he is left with a powerless inability to act as an equal partner in the matter. His rights are squashed. It seems the council can make decisions without reference to an accountable, transparent system of rule-making. Ratepayers should have the right to demand legislation that is formulated on understandable, concrete grounds and not on shifting value judgements.

All ratepayers want certainty so they can confidently plan without fear their plans and dreams may be nullified. Once the council gives its approval it must stand by its decision. If the council can change decisions merely through exercise of power that is government by edict.

Do we want government by power or by principle? If the council can entertain the desire to “unilaterally list commercial buildings” without first providing a comprehensive ethical, argument with sound premises, demonstrating that all parties will be dealt with in an equitable manner and there will be no financial victims, then what is to prevent it from “unilaterally” listing all categories of buildings, including homes?

If no principles or policies are adhered to and it so easy to change existing decisions, where does that leave us? It certainly isn’t certainty.

The council has a responsibility to stand up for individual rights. This is not happening. It is the law that the vendor of a property has an obligation to disclose any information about the condition, history or any adverse proposed planning decisions relating to that property which might cause the prospective buyer to cancel the purchase.

Surely, councils have an obligation to inform a possible buyer of any intention to change the heritage status of a building before purchase is settled. If this isn’t practicable then council should stand by the heritage status existing at the time of purchase.

Ask yourself, “if this were my property, how would I feel about the council destroying my investment potential without full compensation?”.