Reflections on a day well spent....

Today saw one of those days that would ordinarily be difficult to organise - if I was at work that is! This afternoon saw the visit of Bob Cordery for a chat, a game, some more chat, some food (originally planned to be Fish and Chips but for a technical oversight on the part of yours truly!), yet more chat and a cup cake courtesy of my daughter.

It was a great day for me - topped off by the enormity of the bag of booty Bob deposited as a result of his recent clear out/reorganisation. Suffice it to say that my much mooted plan to game elements of Operation Barbarossa has suddenly moved right up the batting order courtesy of a pile of Zvezda 15mm kits for both sides and some PSC plastic figures. Then there was the two 3 ft x 2ft gridded and flocked boards and a gridded cloth - not to mention a book on the Ottoman Turks in WW1 for good measure! I was completely overwhelmed by this gesture and rest assured - it will all be put to very good use!

We talked about war games matters many and varied and Bob shared many wonderful anecdotes about such things as the early evolution of Megablitz, visits to Salute and other shows and plans for the future. A dash of family history ranging from Scotland to Port Royal, Gibraltar and Woolwich also features which was really interesting and capped a splendid afternoon.

As for the game well, the full after action report will follow tomorrow - if only because Bob took all the pictures!  - and suffice it to say the result was historical, the action fast and furious, the terrain and blocks looked absolutely fine and above all else, it was fun. The rules work even better against a live opponent (we were using Bob's 'Memoir of Battle' 19th Century rules) and they really hit the sweet spot in terms of the all important 'feel' factor. The Exhaustion Level idea worked very well and I will certainly be incorporating this going forward. They will now be my rules of choice for the period as I can think of little reason to look elsewhere.

In closing this post I would again like to say an enormous thank you to Bob for taking the time out to visit me; for the chance to chat about lots of war games 'stuff' and for the act of incredible generosity with all the assorted goodies.