(OT)  It's what?  SNOWING?  --  

Yes, I woke up today to discover that snow is falling from the sky and building up on the ground.

"Yeah, well you live in Canada, eh?"

Our only other real snowfall this season was on December 14, 2009 . . . that is three months ago.  Since then we've had the warmest January on record and a February where the temperature hovered aboud 50` all month.  Heck, right across the way, they had to truck snow in for a bunch of the Olympic venues.

Weird.

(note:  photo taken at 1 pm from kitchen window -- click on it for larger image.)

-- Jeff

Murdock's "Grizzlyville" Photos --      

My gaming buddy Murdock, who was kind enough to step in when I was ill and run my "Shootouts in Grizzlyville" game at our local convention has post many more photos, as well as accounts of the games, on his "MurdocK's MarauderS" blog.

Above is just one of the twenty photos he's posted on his blog.  As usual, click on any photo to view a larger image.

-- Jeff

My Perfect Rule Set --    

I've been reading the new "Black Powder" rulebook between naps (my bug makes me sleep a lot) . . . and this evening I took a break and read Phil Olley's article on his Thirty Years War project in the new "Wargamers' Annual -- Volume 1"

It got me to thinking about "my perfect rule set".  One of the things that concerns me is how units look on the table top.

The problem is . . . I really like the "no figure removal" concept of "Black Powder" and other rules . . . and I really like the individual figures (and figure removal) of "Charge!" and "The War Game", etc.

A bit of a problem, what?

I demand simple mechanics . . . but want a great deal of flexibility while maintaining proper period character . . . which usually means detail, not simlicity.

I do not want every unit to look like every other unit . . . I want units to have a variety of sizes.  Wow!  Guess what?  That one is pretty constant . . . what do you know?  There's at least one aspect that I'm settled on.

But not settling on the others makes it difficult for me to define my perfect rule set . . . and let me be clear about this, my perfect set isn't necessarily what anyone else would find "perfect" (or even acceptible).

One of the problems that I have with a number of periods I'd like to play is that I really can't decide HOW I would like them to look on the table top.  It makes things difficult . . . particularly in finding that "perfect rule set".

-- Jeff