Chandler: The Dedication I Missed...

A few weeks ago I was chortling about the £6 second-hand book I bought online which turned out to have been the property of Charlie Wesencraft, as evidenced by a personal library plate on the front end-papers..

Since Charlie was a great friend of the late David Chandler, and it was one of Chandler's books, I made joking references to the fact that I had fleeting hopes that I might have got a signed copy for my £6, but it wasn't to be.

In fact it turns out that it is a signed copy - I was just too stupid to spot it. Here you go - front title page:

I have to say I feel a little awkward about this, bearing in mind that Charlie is still going strong, and wargaming regularly. I imagine that, like all of us, he has thinned down his library from time to time, so the book I bought recently would have been in circulation for perfectly legitimate reasons, and I'm just lucky to have chanced upon it. However, if it were all a mistake, and he would really like to have it back, I'm open to approaches. Mind you, Charlie would have to sign a few books from my own collection as part of the agreement...

Nerds' Corner: Some Mystery Figures...

These aren't mine - any idea what they are? The figures in question are the British Waterloo-period Life Guards at the back of this photo. They are, as you see, of very slim build, and lanky (for comparison purposes, the figures at the front are Alberkens, which are the same size as Hinton Hunts).

Suggestions thus far are Greenwood & Ball, or possibly Stadden from his Tradition period. They have soldered-on sheet metal bases, with corners clipped. I rather like the Old School appearance, but I think they may be too toy-like for Stadden.

Any thoughts?

WSS - A Little Rules Playtesting

I'm pleased to have made good progress with my new rules for the WSS project. This is closely related with having coerced a little external help. The excellent nundanket kindly did some reading of them for me,  a few weeks ago, and made some useful (and probably tactful!) suggestions, which I've incorporated. 

The huge advantage of getting someone else involved in the production of wargames rules is very similar to the advantage of getting someone else to proof-read your writings - maybe getting someone else to check a description of your computer system is a better parallel; if you check your own stuff, you'll do it armed with the background knowledge that you didn't write down, and you'll find that what you've written is pretty much what you meant. An independent checker will find the holes and the nonsense that you didn't even consider.

Yesterday's positive step was that Stryker very kindly volunteered to help out with some Zoom-based playtesting. Despite my broadband supplier's attempt to scupper the whole idea, we did get running, about 30 minutes late, and played through a very simple game situation. It was very good - time well spent.

I learned two principal things:

(1) there are a lot of things to look at, and sort out - I took a lot of notes!

(2) the game is actually a lot more entertaining than I had feared it might be.

Not much to say about the rules yet, except that they are provisionally titled Prinz Eugen - entirely because Eugen is such an alternative hero, given his rather bizarre lifestyle, that it amuses me to feature him in this role. Sincere thanks to Stryker for his time and willingness to have a go - very useful, and much appreciated.

I include some pictures, partly to commemorate the fact that the event took place, and partly to let Ian see what the 20mm troops look like on the table, in rather better resolution than is possible via my Zoom set-up!

Typical testing session - random tiddlywinks and sticking-plasters (and cotton-wool puffs of smoke!)             

Featherstonia: Tony Bath's Rules for 1750 Period Wargames

With many thanks, yet again, to Albannach, the Keeper of the Scrolls, here is another of the rules publications of Wargamer's Newsletter, from another century. Please handle them carefully, and enjoy the read!

One Crossed Off the Job List...

 

According to this blog, in October 2011 I added the Lanceros de Castilla to my 1812-period Spanish army, and I made a note at the time that I needed to fit red pennons to their lances. Almost nine years later, gentlemen, I have not done anything about this, but, before you gasp in astonished disappointment, let me add that this very week I have read that it is very probable that this regiment did not fit their pennons when on campaign.

YES.

That will do nicely.

I shall now amend my Napoleonic Catalogue notes to say that this unit is complete, and I shall move on. Another triumph. Just goes to prove that you should never rush into anything. That was smart planning on my part, to delay this little job. What's that I hear? Do I have any confirmation or cross reference for this new information I have read? I regret that I have now placed my fingers in my ears, and am singing, very loudly.

 TRALALALALALA!

Quiz: Places I Remember - THE ANSWERS

 

I decided it was rather boring to hang about too long to publish the answers, and there are no prizes anyway, so here goes! I received a refined trickle of entries - it did occur to me that people might be waiting until they went back to work on Monday, so they could take some more time to do the research...

[No, I'm joking]

I received a couple of entries from THE AMERICAS, which is a jolly fine effort, since I would have expected this stuff to be unknown in those parts. There were some very good entries generally - highly commended are Mr H Bell-End (?) and Mr D Suffolk, who both got 7 correct, but the best entry was received from Mr D Sarrazan, who scored 10. In fact, he reckons he scored 11, but we agree to disagree (it's my quiz anyway) - splendid achievement anyway.

In case you were waiting for the answers, here they are:

(1) The Square, Earl's Barton  - LES HIGGINS MINIATURES

(2) Station Street, Meltham - HINCHLIFFE MODELS

(3) "Rowsley" - MARCUS HINTON

(4) Ponteland - CHARLIE WESENCRAFT

(5) Northam Road, Southampton - MINIATURE FIGURINES

(6) 20 St Mary's Road, Doncaster - TERENCE WISE

(7) Lovel End, Windsor Forest - BRIGADIER PETER YOUNG

(8) 66 Long Meadow, Frimley - SPENCER-SMITH

(9) 69 Hill Lane - DONALD FEATHERSTONE

(10) 75 Ardingley Drive, Goring-by-Sea - WARGAMES RESEARCH GROUP

(11) "The Quantocks" - QUALITICAST

(12) 130 Wexford Avenue, Greatfield - BILL LAMMING

(13) Spade House, Sandgate - HG WELLS

 

Thanks very much to anyone who entered, or even just thought about it - much appreciated! HG Wells? - well, I didn't know the chap personally, of course, but the word is that the famous pictures of Little Wars being played on the floor were sketched in the attic of Spade House, so I feel that I almost knew him.

 

In passing, while I was reading about HG, someone asked a question on a forum, which was whether HG had actually built a Time Machine. There were a lot of very sarcastic answers, naturally, but one respondent said, "No-one will ever build a Time Machine - if it was ever going to happen, someone would already have travelled back in time with it and delivered it to us!"

 

So there you have it - one less thing to worry about...

 

Quiz: There Are Places I Remember...

Some have gone, and some remain.

I was sorting out some old notebooks and files of - well - tat, really, and I found some old addresses connected with my wargaming interests over the years. I thought that some of this stuff must be well-known (and I'm sure 10 minutes with Google could destroy the fun anyway), so I offer the following (random) list of addresses and part addresses, to see if anyone knows them, or can remember what/who they are/were.

Because this is entirely (unfairly) slanted towards the UK, and my own interests, figure scales and periods, I offer it simply as a fun quiz - no prizes offered. See how many you can identify. Send me a comment, and I won't publish it if it contains answers. Or you can email me at the address in my Blogger profile (I assume that still works).

Whatever, I'll publish the answers next week.

(1) The Square, Earl's Barton

 

(2) Station Street, Meltham

 

(3) "Rowsley"

 

(4) Ponteland

 

(5) Northam Road, Southampton

 

(6) 20 St Mary's Road, Doncaster

 

(7) Lovel End, Windsor Forest

 

(8) 66 Long Meadow, Frimley

 

(9) 69 Hill Lane

 

(10) 75 Ardingley Drive, Goring-by-Sea

 

(11) "The Quantocks"

 

(12) 130 Wexford Avenue, Greatfield

 

(13) Spade House, Sandgate

 

All these places had their moments...