Our First Real Snow of the Season --

Yes, we had a brief dusting of snow last week . . . but it barely lasted an hour on the ground.

The prediction for today was for 4" of snow . . . well we've already cleared 7" from our driveway and the snow hasn't let up at all . . . and we still have most of the night to go (currently about 9:30 pm here).

Yes, the photo to the left is of me . . . taken today shortly after the snow started to fall. (As usual, if you should want to see a larger image, click on the photo.)


-- Jeff

Our Tree is Decked --

Yes, we have another "Frasier Fir" this year . . . and please note the "nutcracker" style toy soldiers that grace some of it's boughs. (click on photo for larger image.)

In addition, to initiate the holiday season, we had our first dusting of snow today at about 4:20 pm . . . just enough to turn the roads white and to give spotty coverage on the lawn . . . although many blades of green emerged from the snow.

May all of your holidays be full of warmth and good cheer.


-- Jeff

YIKES! Where did the time go? ---

It is almost two months since I last posted anything here.

*sigh* . . . There hasn't been much to report on the gaming front, I'm afraid. We've been very busy with "real life" issues . . . nothing particularly noteworthy, but time-consuming nevertheless.

As my dear lady wife says, "Getting old isn't for wimps." . . . and I fear that we are getting on in years, with all of the assorted aches and pains that that entails. For example my hands didn't start to ache every time the weather changed . . . but they do now.

My dear lady has been having some nasty difficulties with her hip for the past several months . . . and lots of time is spent going to physiotherapists, chiropractors and acupuncturists as well as her doctor . . . and then we've been through the crazy go-round to get H1N1 shots.

Nothing earthshattering, but time consuming. Hopefully the new year will bring more gaming back into my life.


-- Jeff

Some ECW Reading --

One of my "long range" projects is to build some English Civil War armies. But being as I am an American now living in Canada I have very little knowledge about that conflict.

Yes, I have a number of rule sets . . . and NO, I haven't picked one yet because I don't know enough about the conflict to choose wisely. So obviously it is time for me to do some reading.

Yesterday's post brought a copy of John Barratt's "The Civil War in South-West England 1642-1646" which I hope will provide a good background for that ECW theatre.

It should cover the campaigns pitting Hopton and Waller . . . neither of whom I had ever heard of before starting my inquiries into this period.

Of course I HAD heard of Prince Rupert before . . . it is a community on the northern coast of British Columbia (less than 180 miles from me) . . . but I had not known that it was named for the ECW general:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Rupert,_British_Columbia

"All the King's Armies" by Stuart Reid is another volume that arrived recently. It comes highly praised by various posters on the TMP English Civil War Message Board.

It presents a broader picture of the war . . . covering the armies and events in other parts of Britain (at least I think that it gets into the northern war where the Scots had lots of action).

I would love to do the ECW using Sash and Saber's lovely 40mm figures . . . such as those featured on the Lead Gardens and For Ye Kinge blogs.

However I do not think that my pocketbook could handle the burden (particularly with the cavalry for much of the ECW is quite cav heavy). So I suspect that I will eventually have to join the Old Glory army club and use their 25mm figures . . . and fortunately it is supposed to be one of their better lines.

However I am still a LONG way from getting figures . . . and it isn't like I don't have other projects to work on . . . but right now it is simply "research time".


-- Jeff

Easy 15mm Fences for ACW --

While reading Steve-the-Wargamer's blog, I was reminded of my easy method for making split-rail fences for the War Between the States.

(note -- click on photo for larger image)

These fences are really simple to make. Start with flat toothpicks. Cut some into sections about 5/8ths of an inch in length. Glue these into "X" shapes.

After these have dried, glue full-length toothpicks into opposite sides of the Xs. (note the three segments lying sideways in the photo -- while they obviously stand the other way --these give a better idea of how the fence segments are constructed.)

Glue one X near the end of the toothpicks; and the other a bit past halfway. Be sure to have the narrow ends of the toothpicks go in opposite directions since they look better that way.

Now you can place the "long" end of a segment against the "short" end of another to get the right look to the fences. And these are very flexible. They can be used to make either straight fences or the irregular fences so common on the rural frontier.

The best part is that these segments are pretty mindless to make. You can do it while watching TV . . . or if you have children, you can probably get them to make them.

Finally I will note that they probably should be painted grey since that is what most weathered fences I've seen look like . . . but they will look okay even if left as is.


-- Jeff

My Ancient and Medieval Rules --

Peter of The Nyudrev Chronicles posted a list of his wargame rules. I thought that this might be a good idea for me too . . . but I own so many that I've decided to limit this first part of my list to my Ancient and Medieval rule sets only . . . and only to ones that I have published copies of (and not those that I've downloaded from the Net).

My very first wargames were with WRG 7th Edition "Ancients". Indeed, this was all that I played for a number of years (since that was all that my opponents played). I got pretty good with these rules . . . but I never really liked them. To me they were too much of a "thinking" set.

I ended up playing a few other rule sets (but not nearly as many as I own . . . not even close). And I still own a lot of full Ancients armies (big ones, not just DBA size) . . . somewhere north of twenty I fear.

And why do I "fear" it? Because I haven't played any Ancients in years . . . except for the DBA tourney that Murdock hosted a while back . . . and really only then in order to provide an even number of players.

Format of the following list will be Title, (Author), Date . . . and I will try to put them more-or-less in order of publication date. Note also that I will use "shortened" titles for some of the better-known sets (e.g., "WRG" in place of their much longer titles)

• WRG 5th Edition (Phil Barker ?), 1976
• God's Acre (Dave Milwood), 1976
• Condottieri (Dave Milwood), 1976
• Broadsword (George H. Schneider), 1977
• En Garde! (Darryl Hany & Frank Chadwick)., 1977
• Bireme & Galley (Jan Vrapcenak, Edward E. Simbalist & Terry Cheeseman), 1978
• WRG 1430-1700 2nd Ed. (George Gush), 1979
• Fire, Hack & Run (Mike Gilbert), 1979
• The Shock of Impact (Ian S. Beck & Michael Bussey), 1981
• Newbury Fast Play (T. J. Hutsall), 1985
• A to Z Rules for Ancient Warfare (Andrew Zartolass, Jr.), 1985
• WRG 7th Ed. (Phil Barker), 1987 & 1992 printings
• Ancient Naval Wargame Rules 500 BC to AD 500 (Martin A. Johncock), 1988
• Tactica (Arty Conliffe), 1989
• Romans, Goths & Huns (Simon MacDowell), 1990
• DBA and DBA 2.0 (Phil Barker & Richard Bodley Scott), 1990 and 2001
• Shieldbearer (Michael J. Young), 1991
• Knight Hack (The Jogglers), 1991
• Classical Hack I (The Jogglers), 1992
• Blood Axe Ancients (Lance Runolfsson * David Kaser), 1992
• Legio (Simon MacDowell), 1992
• Tactica Medieval Rulebook (Arty Conliffe & Ed Regendahl), 1992
• Flower of Chivalry (Bruce McFarlane), 1993
• Armati (Arty Conliffe), 1994
• DBR (Phil Barker & Richard Bodley Scott),1995
• Warhammer Ancient Battles (Jervis Johnson, Rick Priestley, Alan Perry & Michael Perry), 1998
• DBM 3.0 (Phil Barker & Richard Bodley Scott), 2000 plus earlier editions
• Warrior (Four Horsemen Enterprises), 2001
• Battlestandard Ancient Rules (Jeff Stuckey), 2004
• Warmaster Ancients (Rick Priestley), 2005
• Impetvs (Lorenzo Sartori), 2008

Now besides all of the above rules, I have lots of army lists, battle books and army background books . . . and almost certainly more rules that haven't been unpacked yet.

And I really haven't played Ancients in years . . . because other periods have claimed my interest since.


-- Jeff

(OT) Hot and Sore --

I'm sorry that I've been so inactive of late. Once again "real life" has interfered. We are just over a very nasty heat wave here on Vancouver Island. I'm not sure just when it started, but the past few weeks were brutal.

The temperature here seldom dropped below 30` C. (86` F.) even at night; and most days we were between 35 and the low 40s (say 95 to 110 F.).

Note: our home thermometer is in the shade and in a relatively windy spot so it doesn't "bake up" . . . the official temperature here is at the airport, right near the ocean, not in the "heights" where we live. Still July was the second hottest in 128 years of record-keeping.

Now I am of a much more than stout build. I am not built for warm weather, let alone hot weather; and my dear lady wife suffered even more than I did. Anyway we spent most of our time in the basement . . . and since our computer room is the warmest in the house, we kept it closed off and seldom ventured in.

Additionally I have been rehearsing a play which closes tonight here in the Comox Valley . . . and that eats up a great deal of time and energy. Add to that a fall I suffered a couple of weeks back (nothing broken, but bruises and sore muscles aplenty).

Finally, a very sore right foot. I thought that I'd pulled my Achilles tendon . . . because that is what was sore . . . but as the pain increased and the foot began to swell we discovered differently.

It was a gout attack in my right ankle. I've had a number of attacks of gout before (remember the one in my left big toe back in April?) . . . but they've always been in my big toes. I didn't realize that gout can attack other joints as well.

Anyhow once we knew what it was, I had medication to knock it down . . . but it has been a very hot and sore stretch of time . . . with no gaming (except for some reading).


-- Jeff