*cough*cough*hack* Mk II (or is it III?)

Haven't had a great couple weeks. I took my entire course of antibiotics this time and still find myself sick now. On the other hand, my injured finger has recovered - while there's still a bit of pain I'm assured I can and should use it to strengthen.

• Finally obtained my second CS Grant scenario book, Scenarios for All Ages, after (like the other volume) it took three trips across the Atlantic. Shared with the late Stuart Asquith, there are a similar number of scenarios, mostly small and basic (only half a dozen units a side, most of them). To my delight, there is a version of Sittangbad from Charge!
• I've been a little more cautious with ebay stuff lately. I was looking for the OOP simple plastic trees from Merit that feature in The War Game, and while they're a bit expensive I found Zvezda trees which look similar. I received two boxes a couple days ago. They're a little fiddly to put together, but the smaller ones don't require glue and I've built about a dozen without pricking my fingers on the pointy edges too much. The larger ones seem looser. The very tops of the trees are easy to lose. Overall, they look like they'll go well with my Wofun 18mms. I found it easier to build them from the bottom up - largest layers first.

  

  Assembly.

  

  The tops of the trees would be just fine for very-small-scale games.

Completed. They seem hefty enough to stay in place without
basing, especially sitting on a cloth mat. We'll see.

• As of today, I've only got twelve of my 30 Wargames Atlantic BEF built; still hoping to finish them by August and then send them off to my brother to paint for me.
• Waiting on Victoria Miniatures' Space Aussies 2 pledge manager; I hope it and the 3dprint files might come in time to make a few on a YouMedia printer before August 9 (when I'll be visiting for game day).
• Speaking of which, still have my painting program to prep - will need to construct and undercoat the Warhammer Alliance minis before then. Another deadline.
• Reread the rules for Fistful of Lead, with the intent to try a couple solo skirmishes. I'm increasingly sure it'll work for Picacho Peak, if I ever get around to running it...

So that's it - another short post but with some hopeful progress. 'Til next time.

*cough*cough*hack*

Down with bronchitis again, ie a 4 day weekend. I probably won't be spending it gaming, because standing up and leaning over a table is harder than sitting at a pc or lying sacked out with a cat staring at me. So, more reading. I haven't gotten to Unsung Hero of Gettysburg or Queen Emma and the Vikings yet, but I have started on a duology about WWI cavalry - The German Failure in Belgium, 1914 and Chasing the Great Retreat. 

So far the first is quite absorbing. Clearly written amidst controversy over the Schlieffen Plan, the authors' contention is that the goal was less to "sweep into Paris" than to find, fix and get around the Allied left flank. Destroying armies is better than destroying ground. Whether the Germans recognized this at the time is, like the flanks, up in the air.

The key to finding that flank is reconnaissance, and it would appear that the Imperial Germans were not very good at it. I look forward to reading the rest.

In modeling, my count of constructed BEF is six of thirty. I belatedly realized I'd put a prone figure on his feet, so that he's on his tippy-toes and arching his back as he points towards the foe:

This is why kits should have instructions!

I will probably have to go back thru the figures afterward and add some webbing-equipment. I tend to build figures barebones, but with historicals I should maybe be more accurate. I'm leaving off the gas-mask pouches on this squad, but I'm not sure where to put the canteens or sure which bits on the sprue are ammo pouches. Hopefully I can find an Osprey book on the Battle of France for examples.

Well, that's it for this abbreviated post. See you again soon, hope your weekend is better than mine.

Reading Again

As usual of late, I haven't got much gaming done. There was a TSATF game at the club last Saturday that I missed. I might get something in during the Fourth of July weekend, if I can clear off my table:

Hey, at least it's full size now.

Been reading a lot instead. Just today, I received one of my Charles S. Grant books that has taken three trips across the Atlantic to reach me, an old classic:

I've only taken a quick glance through it, but there is plenty of food for thought. Two of my favorite scenarios, for one - Fontenoy and Sawmill Village. I hope to try them out at Das Krieg Haus one of these days. Sawmill Village and a couple others provide a choice of units to the player and the first, with about six units rather than the original four, would probably be enough for two players a side.

Several of the scenarios require map-moves - not quite mini-campaigns as they are over the course of a single day and lead up to a single battle. Others are for specific periods (mostly 20th-century, with airborne and one specifically Vietnam scenario), and there is at least one small-scale skirmish game, with a dozen guerrillas, 50 civilians, and a middling number of opposing troops. Charge! isn't quite designed for it, certainly not with my Wofuns, but there are enough minis in the club collection for a try. There are even a couple scenarios that would work in The Sword and the Flame. Rest assured I will take a closer look at this book and see what I can make of it. Playing the 52 scenarios at the rate of one a week is, while a tempting prospect, sadly not doable here.

A better choice for an "ongoing" project would be my 30 BEF plastics, of which I've still only assembled five, one of which I reassembled after its arms fell off. One a day, thus finishing them within the month, seems an achievable goal... though a plausible excuse for not finishing will be that I sprained a finger at work. Physical therapy is going well, but I suddenly wonder what the physiotherapist and gamer Donald Featherstone would have suggested for wargamers with injured hands... he seems to mostly have dealt with sports and dancing injuries, though (maybe he had early members of the Sealed Knot in to see him?).

Enough asides; what else have I been reading?

The Siege of Gibraltar, 1779-1782 by Tom Guffie - part of a "British Battles" series by Batsford. Fairly short, but comprehensive. I'm unfamiliar with the siege, but I've always wanted to visit the Rock and this scratches that itch. I'll look for more of this series.

The Boy Generals, by Adolfo Ovies - the first two volumes of a three-volume trilogy (the third appears to not yet be published) about George Custer and his rival Wesley Merritt during the American Civil War. The first volume covers events up to the end of Gettysburg, the second the beginning of Sheridan's Shenandoah campaign; the third will go to the end of the war. Merritt, who has been forgotten because, unlike Custer, he wasn't interested in publicity, was two years senior to Custer at West Point. They were both promoted to brigadier just before Gettysburg and emnity developed from there. While they're also absorbing biographies, the series is largely about the development of the cavalry from riders with swords (which Ovies characterizes as hussars), to mounted infantry with carbines (characterized as dragoons). Custer was basically the former sort and Merritt the latter, except that Custer seems to have used mounted action as a partner to Spencer carbines. Two of his regiments used firearms to pin the enemy while the other two got into position to charge. So while he was famous for his charges, he's shown to have more depth than is usually depicted.

Unsung Hero of Gettysburg, by Edward G. Longacre, is recommended by approving mentions of its subject in The Boy Generals. It's a biography of David McMurtrie Gregg, another Union cavalry general, which I haven't started yet but looks quite good. While he commanded Custer during Gettysburg, like Merritt he was unassuming and led an unrecognized if busy career. I look forward to reading it.

Queen Emma and the Vikings, by Harriet O'Brien - A biography of a Norman queen of Saxon England, betrothed to Aethelred the Unready and the mother of Edward the Confessor. Another period I'm not very familiar with, but looks very involved with a great deal of intrigue and interesting characters.

In "fantasy" news, my coworker who was going to GM Dungeons and Dragons at an August library event has had to beg off, which may put me on the spot. There is a meeting tomorrow to discuss plans which I hope to attend; at this point, while I am expecting to do a painting program in the background of the gaming, I don't yet know the space I'll have or the people who'll be backing me up. I like to think I've learned lessons from previous tries, so I will have plenty to say!

Thanks for reading. Until next time...