Reading other people’s blogs helped raise my spirits
Posted: October 30, 2012 Filed under: MIscellaneous musings 26 CommentsThis morning was spent waiting for an engineer to arrive to fix a faulty clock on the gas boiler that warms our central heating and water. The visit was booked several days ago, and I asked for the ‘first call’ of the day … a service that I have to pay extra for.
At 8.00am I was washed, dressed, and waiting for the engineer. I was still waiting at 9.00am, … at 10.00am, … and at 11.00am, … but of the engineer there was no sign. At 12.15pm the engineer finally arrived, looked at the faulty clock, … and announced that he did not have a replacement with him. I think that he sensed that this was not something that I wanted to hear, and he telephoned other engineers who were in the area until he found one who had a replacement clock. He then went and collected it from his colleague, returned, and fitted it … and at 2.30pm my wife and I were finally able to leave home in order to visit my father in his care home.
I have not been able to visit my father for some time because the car home he lives in has been ‘off limits’ to visitors due to an outbreak of Norovirus (AKA Winter Vomiting Virus). This is highly contagious and can be passed on by touch. The care home is now ‘clear’ of the virus, and the local doctor has finally been able to call to see my father, who is suffering from several medical conditions in addition to his dementia.
My wife and I spent some time with my father this afternoon, and somewhat longer talking to the care home manager. It appears that my father is going to have to have a number of medical tests in the hope that this will help identify the best way in which to treat the medical conditions that are afflicting him. This means that I will have to ferry him to and from the local hospital so that he can have a chest X-Ray and, depending upon the results of the tests, I might have to repeat this several times if he requires out-patient treatment.
On the way home we got delayed by a traffic jam on the M25 at the Dartford Crossing, and by the time I got home I was feeling depressed, angry, and frustrated. After having a drink I sat down at my computer to catch up on the various blogs that I follow … and this was a tremendous boost to my flagging morale. In particular Steven (and Spike) Page’s ‘Halloween Special: All’s Wells …‘ blog entry on their Adventures in Portable Wargaming blog and the follow-up ‘Halloween Special: … That ends Welles‘ blog entry on their Old Admirals blog did much to raise my morale, especially as they were using some of my rules to fight their battles.
So the message to all the bloggers whose blogs I follow is a big ‘Thank You!’. You have assisted me get through a very trying day and helped raise my spirits no end.
Errors and Omissions!
Posted: October 29, 2012 Filed under: MIscellaneous musings, The Portable Wargame 4 CommentsThe latest draft of my BIG BOARD PORTABLE WARGAME: MODERN rules are a case in point. Several people have already queried one or two things that I seem to have inadvertently changed, mistyped, or missed out entirely. I have looked at each of these queries … and there definitely were some errors and omissions on my part.
I will correct these as soon as I can … but in the meantime several domestic and family problems have arisen that are going to need my reasonably urgent attention, and this may mean that the time I had hoped to spend undertaking wargame-related activities may be limited for the next week or two.
Latest draft of the Big Board Portable Wargame: Modern rules now available for download
Posted: October 29, 2012 Filed under: Early 20th Century, The Portable Wargame, Wargame Design, Websites, World War II 8 CommentsThe rules are five pages long. The first three pages cover ground combat and the last two pages contain optional ground and air combat rules. The latter are based on my earlier INTERBELLUM rules, but have been modified to make them compatible with the ground combat BBPW:M rules.
All I need to do now is to play-test the rules thoroughly … but first I have to make or acquire a BIG BOARD!
More about the electronic version of the Portable Wargame
Posted: October 29, 2012 Filed under: The Portable Wargame, Wargame Design, Websites 4 CommentsWell Peter has been in contact again, and has sent me both an image of an electronic version of my recent ‘Aggressor in action!‘ blog entry …
… and a link to the online electronic version of my rules.
I have tried a few moves out with the latter … and found that it is both simple to use and works very well indeed.
Slow progress
Posted: October 29, 2012 Filed under: MIscellaneous musings, The Portable Wargame 6 CommentsMy wife wanted to collect the photographs of our most recent cruises from the branch of Boots the Chemist that is located in the local shopping centre. The problem was there were 1,700 of them … and that was what she had selected from the 6,000+ that we had taken! The reason there were so many was that we had not had any photographs printed for nearly two years … and pile of unprinted photographs had just grown larger and larger.
Whilst we were out my wife also took the opportunity to talk to our travel agent (whose shop is located next door to Boots) about a special offer we had received from P&O Cruises. We had been offered a ten-day cruise to Belgium, Norway, Denmark, and Germany for less than £50.00 per day each … and it was very tempting … so tempting, in fact, that my wife booked us on the cruise. This will be our thirty sixth cruise (!) … and I already know that she has booked numbers thirty seven and thirty eight.
Our shopping expedition ended in a shop that specialises in selling electronic goods. The retailer was having a pre-Christmas sale, and it so happens that our current flat-screen TV is not working properly (the integral DVD player works when it feels like it … which is not very often). The cost of the repair was greater than the cost of a newer flat-screen TV, so I ended up carrying a large bag of photographs and a 24″ flat-screen TV back to the car. Needless to say I spent a couple of hours setting the latter up whilst my wife began the process of sorting all the photographs out before they are put into their albums.
It is now almost midnight … and I have managed to do about half an hour of work on my rules. I need to spend at least another hour (or possibly two) on them before the draft is finished. All I can hope is that tomorrow will not be quite so hectic.
PS. My day might have been busy, but my thoughts and prayers go out David Crook (an old wargaming friend and fellow blogger), whose family has had a very traumatic couple of days. If you don’t know what I am going on about, read this and this.
British Battleships of World War One
Posted: October 27, 2012 Filed under: Book Review, Early 20th Century 4 Comments
At the time that I bought it, I also pre-ordered a copy of the same author’s book entitled BRITISH BATTLESHIPS OF WORLD WAR ONE (Seaforth Publishing [2012] ISBN 978 1 84832 147 2) … and it was delivered today.
The book follows the same pattern as his earlier book (and is, in fact, a revised edition of a book that was originally published in 1986), with individual chapters devoted to the design and service histories of the battleships that were in service with the Royal Navy during the First World War.
I have so far only managed a quick glance through the book, but it appears to be every bit as good as the earlier volume written by Mr Burt.
Nugget 256
Posted: October 27, 2012 Filed under: The Nugget, Wargame Developments, Wargames publications, Websites 2 CommentsThis issue is the first of the new subscription year and I have already sent re-subscription forms to all members of Wargame Developments. I note that several regular members have not yet re-subscribed and I would like to take this opportunity to remind them that they can do so via the link on the Wargame Developments website (click here).
Big Battle … or Big Board?
Posted: October 27, 2012 Filed under: MIscellaneous musings 8 CommentsOn reflection this actually makes more sense, and henceforth BBPW:M will stand for BIG BOARD PORTABLE WARGAME: MODERN.
Encouraging feedback … generates some more work!
Posted: October 27, 2012 Filed under: MIscellaneous musings, The Portable Wargame, Wargame Design 8 CommentsIn addition to these corrections I intend to add some more optional rules and some air support rules. This will turn BBPW:M into a much bigger set of rules than originally intended (i.e. the wargamer’s Holy Grail of a set of rules that will fit onto one side of a piece of paper!) but it will hopefully make them a much better set of rules.
The first draft of the Big Battle Portable Wargame: Modern rules is now available!
Posted: October 25, 2012 Filed under: MIscellaneous musings, The Portable Wargame, Wargame Design 12 CommentsThey now cover just over three sides of A4 paper, but this is because of the changes I have incorporated. Besides some of the changes I outlined in a previous blog entry, these include:
- A table that shows the Strength Point values allocated to each type of Unit.
- A limitation on the number of Units each side can activate each turn. (This has been included because of feedback I have had from some players who don’t like the idea that each side can move as many Units as it likes each turn. Please feel free to ignore it if it is not to your liking, and use the existing mechanism from PW:M.)
- A simplification of the Artillery fire rules. (There is now one system for both direct and indirect fire, and there is no automatic hit when direct Artillery fire takes place. All Artillery fire is subject to a degree of inaccuracy, but direct fire and indirect fire that is being controlled by an Artillery Spotter is more accurate.)
- Most Units now have increased survivability in Close Combat.
- The outcome of hits has been changed so that Units that are hit are not automatically destroyed or forced to retreat. Instead a hit can cause a Unit to lose a Strength Point from its value or a Unit can ‘trade off’ a retreat against the lose of a Strength Point from its value, thus allowing Units to make a stand and fight to the last bullet … should they wish to!
BBPW:M is not a perfect set of rules, but users now have the ability to ‘go large’ if they want to … and I suspect that some of the changes I have made will end up being incorporated into the next draft of PW:M.
WARGAMING MISCELLANY 