Since my last post I’ve only finished five books, which brings me to 65 for the year. This is the lowest total of any year since I began keeping track of my reading in 2008.
The last five books were The Surgeon’s Mate, The Ionian Mission, Treason’s Harbour, and The Far Side of the World, volumes 7-10 in Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series and Frederick Forsyth’s The Shepherd, which I read every Christmas eve. The Aubrey-Maturin books are just as good this time around as they were the first three or four times I read them over the last 20 years. I recommend them to anyone who enjoys Age of Fighting Sail books. The Shepherd is both the quintessential Christmas Ghost story and an outstanding aviation story. The movie adaptation on AppleTV+ is pretty good as well.
I would up with 65 books for the year.
Gaming wise, I’m continuing to grind away printing and painting armies for the new Midgard rules from Reisswitz Press. I’m starting with Early Imperial Roman and Ancient Briton armies and will then branch out into Vikings, Goths, Late Imperial Romans, and Saxons. Once the armies are completed, they can be used for Midgard, Infamy Infamy, and Saga. All the figures will be 3D printed and I’ve already acquired all the necessary stl files and the rule sets and supplements.
I’m about halfway through the initial armies. For the Romans I’ve finished the command figures, the archers, the slingers, the cavalry, and one of six units of infantry. The Britons have the chariots, the slingers, the command figures, and one of nine units of infantry. Stay tuned for pictures.
Finally, I played my first boardgame in a very long time recently. A buddy who is reading Eisenhower’s Crusade in Europe got interested in playing a D-Day/Western Europe game. So, he came over and we broke out Hexasim’s Liberty Roads. I’ve owned it for years but have only played a couple of turns at a local convention years ago. We played through the introductory Cobra scenario a couple times to learn the rules and now we’re confident we’ve figured it out and will run through Cobra one more time before starting the campaign game.
Well, that’s about it. Thanks to everyone who has read this blog over this year and all the other years and hopefully I’ll update it more frequently in the coming year.
I hope everyone has a safe and prosperous New Year!
BillP's Book\Miniature\Wargame Blog 