Back to class

 I really missed my Art History weekly class during Covid, the on line ones were no substitute for in person discussions , dialogue and just chatting. Yesterday saw this term’s class start. We are looking at Bosch, Bruegel, Durer and Holbein. Yesterday got off to a cracking start with Bosch and his wonderful yet enigmatic early works. It was great to see some old faces not to mention our splendid tutor.

The above statue represents me inside- the enthusiastic learner off to class…

I had to purchase a new notebook as l had finished the last one during my Scottish Course before Christmas.  Looking forward to learning loads this term…

Space

 Tasks for the coming days- 

Clear this ( again) to allow a game to be set up…

Enter the shed and look for my Ottomans . My regular opponent is keen for me to get them on the table to oppose his Poles. No idea where I put them. Getting at them will be a weight lifting workout…

Pluscarden Abbey

 I’m an early riser at the best of times and while away I got up at the same time or so. Here are some early morning pictures l took-

I’m back

 Been away since  Friday morning on a retreat/conference without internet access. I am looking forward to catching up with your blogs, emails etc. My recent posts were set up beforehand.

John Ruddle Book

 Bought this very cheaply second hand, it was the name that attracted my attention. Comprehensive lists and some photos that were new to me. 

I like the old library sticker and stamp.

Finally, need to tackle this again!

Farm or Someone’s knocking at the door.

 Wednesday saw us trying out my new farm building complex with VBCW figures. The straight forward scenario was that the Swedish volunteers occupied the buildings and the Liverpool Free state attacked from either end of the table. Much of the morning involved my players getting to know the windows and doors in the buildings, defining lines of sight/ dead ground and working out rules for potentialities. Loads of chat, loads of questions, rule definitions dissected and it took ages. I really hadn’t considered much of what came up. Here was the layout-

Below is the picture I took which shows the reality of gaming- stuff everywhere on the table, rules, dice, dice trays and playing cards. I don’t have enough space to begun these on and anyway the cards have to remain to mark order of moving and firing 

Farm looked good, impressed the players and was fun to use. For next time l need to prepare floor plans of each building with doors and windows marked in order to put figures on and to help track where folk are when indoors. Has anyone done this, was it helpful? I feel a one to one floor plan would be best …

Not many turns were run through but we learned a lot of what to do and what not to do.

Finally the highlight of the game was the inability of one LFS volunteer to blow the door open-

I’m not really that good a photographer with my phone but this one came out well l think.

A Joe Morschauser game in 15mm

 I was inspired by this cover of a magazine I saw at Ronnie’s-

So I set up a dark age game in 15mm and am currently playing it through…