Seven Days In….

Between these two (along with Conways and Janes) I reckon that I will have more than enough technical detail for the ships of the Kaiser. As well as the ships that served with the High Seas Fleet there are also details of projected types as well as those that were German built and served in other navies.

At long last my annual throaty, chesty thing seems to be petering out and as a result I am feeling rather more with it! A start has been made of the reorganisation/tidy up of the man cave and as expected, this has nudged my brain cell in various unexpected directions. The biggest single thing thus far is that I now have my boardgames in some kind of order, at least more so than previously. Amongst the collection by far the largest ‘space taker’ is Memoir ‘44. I own a lot of what was published (except for the Air Packs, some of the scenario packs and the books) but in truth most of it has languished on the shelf for sometime - at least until the new, refreshed version appeared. That served to reignite my interest in the period (not that it ever disappeared) and as it makes for an easy WW2 fix I fully intend to get some mileage out of it this year - possibly using the Axis and Allies miniatures along with the Tanks collection recently acquired (and added to!). 

Needless to say there are a few disposals arising from reorganisation including some that may be rather surprising. I have decided to let my Air Force collection, along with Wings and Spitfire, head off into the sunset. I never thought I would ever do this but game mechanics and rules have moved on from their heyday (late 70s to mid 80s) and the chances of me getting any of them to the table top, let alone against a live opponent, are slim to zero. I could say the same about Flat Top but I am to emotionally invested in the game to part with it - especially as I have an unpunched copy signed by S Craig Taylor.

There are many more ‘modern’ aerial rules I can play around with that do not require copious amounts of record keeping and so for me that is where I shall be looking.

The New Book

Work has continued on the new book, despite a couple of self-inflicted speed bumps, and so I am now tackling the ship specifications for the American Civil War. I have nearly finished the Union ships - much of the data I already had available from the Portable Ironclads Wargame - and then it will be the Confederates. I will also tackle the ships for the War in the Pacific so the adventures of the Huascar. The Great War will then follow - at least a certain portion of it.

I am hoping to get another Russo Japanese test game in this month which should, all being well, ‘wrap’ this part of the book. Fingers crossed!