Well, we're back!
A friend once told me, shortly after he retired, that he was busier now than when he was working. The difference, he continued, is that now he was busy with things he wanted to do, not things he had to do. Well, I have found that to be remarkably true and so it was that this blog of mine has been neglected over the last few months (well, more than a few). So, with your indulgence, I will take a few moments to re-cap.
Living in New England means having a wide variety of weather and weather conditions. Towards the end of 2024 and into 2025, that was manifest with cold spells, rain, winds, more rain, and a bit of snow. Being not quite a spry as I used to be, and with eyesight that really doesn't like driving at night, I tended to hunker down, as they say, and spend my time painting figures and working on my model railroad. War games and war gaming were not a priority! So, what's new?
In my last post, I mentioned how I had discovered a new, at least for me, set of World War II rules from Great Britain called Rapid Fire Reloaded. I had envisioned them to be an alternative to the sets we use at my club namely Chain of Command and Command Decision. Well, I was able to schedule a couple of club games using RFR which, no doubt due to their unfamiliarity with the players, were met with polite...disinterest. A couple of games were played but... there was little groundswell of any enthusiasm. At the moment, I am pondering a "Plan B": perhaps using the RFR based figures for Command Decision? I have played the rules in 15mm and 1/285 micro-armor. Why not 20-23mm? The basing is pretty much the same as is the level, so perhaps this might become Plan B.
On still another level, the War of Franconian Succession (SYW) has entered "winter quarters". One can paint and play with only so many tricornered fellows. My AWI figures have been semi-retired and I am even thinking of selling off the lot.
My French-Allied Napoleonic 54's and Royal Spanish are complete at least as far as I am concerned. The About Bonaparte rules work well with this scale and they have even garnered some enthusiasm from the Club. But ever the one to return to my roots, and with the excellent figures produced in 54mm by Expeditionary Force, I am returning to my War of 1812 gaming. In a way, I have come full circle: the first metal war game figures I ever painted (and still have a few left) were 30mm figures from that war produced by the American pioneer, Jack Scruby. The paint jobs were crude, but every apprentice needs to hone his skill!
So, I will leave you here with this photo from my archives! Until next time...
