Deal or No Deal

 "When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus."

 -Turkish Proverb

Wargames Bloggers' Hats

 "I never saw so many shocking bad hats in my life' - Wellington

David over at The Ragged Soldier (*) has wondered aloud if bloggers should wear name badges to wargames shows so that we could be identified by one another and presumably by our adoring fans as well. Obviously I am always dressed in the chiton and sandals befitting the philosopher and therefore tend to stand out in a crowd, but his suggestion makes sense for all the others. My proposal is that they agree to wear a specific and recognisable wargames bloggists' hat. This being 2025, and me being up with the latest fads as well as the eternal verities, I asked AI for suggestions as to what type of hat that should be. This is what it came up with:

"For a wargames blogger, the hat they wear can be a fun way to lean into their niche, show off their personality, or even subtly hint at their preferred wargame era or faction. Here's a breakdown of considerations and hat styles:

Key Considerations for Wargames Bloggers:

• Era/Faction Alignment: This is perhaps the most unique aspect for a wargames blogger. Do you primarily focus on WWII, Napoleonic, Sci-Fi (like Warhammer 40k), Fantasy, or historical periods? A hat can directly reference this.
• Humour/Inside Jokes: Wargaming communities often have their own memes and running gags. A hat with a humorous wargaming-related phrase or image can be a great way to connect with your audience.
• Practicality for Content Creation: If you're filming or taking photographs, consider if the hat will cast awkward shadows, obstruct your view, or be uncomfortable during long sessions.
• Branding: Like any blogger, you might want your hat to feature your blog's logo or name.
• Comfort: Wargaming sessions can be long! Choose something comfortable for extended wear."

Very much sitting on the fence there I think, and also way off the mark when referring to humour being found in wargames blogs. My twopenny worth is that the choice should be flat caps as worn by Edward 'Callan' Woodward's sidekick Lonely. Callan is the wargamer and hero. Lonely, perhaps like we bloggers, is the low-life assistant, involved only on the fringe, but nevertheless compromised by the moral ambiguity of it all. Oh, and he smelled terrible.

* Which title, of course, bears no resemblance to the internet address of the blog

Still A Good Game It Is

 "If no mistake you have made, losing you are. A different game you should play." - Yoda

We're just about to have both yet another break and a change of period, so we needed a pick-up game to tide us over. X-Wing it was.

Considering how much money James must have tied up in models, at current second-hand prices rather than what he paid for them, we don't play it as often as perhaps we should. And despite all the reasons I shouldn't like it, I rather do. We had a complete novice playing, and after he had made the comment we all do on our first outing - i.e. "Shouldn't it be, you know, more three dimensional?" - he really enjoyed it. 

Zinnfiguren

 After a month of drought there has been a week of feast. I have had my third and fourth wargames in seven days, and in addition of course I went to Partizan. I played two shortish games with Mark's German 30mm flats.

I had never seen thm in action before and found them aesthetically rather pleasing. You don't get the best view of those directly in front of you, but the ones on either flank look anything but flat. And naturally one doesn't stand rigidly in the same place all the time anyway.

Rules were the 7YW version of DBN. I'd only played DBN once, a couple of years ago, so don't remember enough about it to tell you what the differences are. I do remember enjoying it and certainly did so once again. It's quick and entertaining, and what else does one need. It was one win each for both Austrians and Prussians, with the defenders coming out on top both times.

Can Epictetus keep up this punishing hobby pace? Watch this space (pun intended).

Shows, Shows, Shows

That's a bit of an exaggeration; it's actually shows, shows (*). First up was the 214th Otley Show. I know that regular readers will be expecting action photos of the Young Farmers Ladies Tug-of-War competition - which was as engrossing as ever - or at least of some sheep, but you'll have to make do with this instead:

One of my regular boardgaming group is the Otley Lemon Curd King for a year. We are an eclectically talented bunch.

And then on Sunday it was off to Partizan. Regular readers will not be expecting anything much in the way of a photographic record, and indeed there is none. Fortunately other, more diligent, bloggists have already started to post image-rich accounts of the day for your viewing pleasure. Suffice it to say that there were lots of games (too many? I've certainly seen photos of at least one game that I simply don't remember.) and they all looked very nice. In a slightly annoying development a couple of them had added scenic endpieces to the tables, which no doubt made it look prettier if one was sat at the table playing, but rather got in the way of the enjoyment of the paying punters. I hope this doesn't become the fashion.

I didn't buy much. I picked up a copy of the Northampton Battlefield Society's wargamers guide to Edgecote and had a short chat with co-author Graham 'Trebian' Evans. Anyone familiar with his blog won't be surprised that he managed to turn the conversation to Towton, very much a bee in his bonnet. I bought a laser line thing at the Warbases stand. I had one which I bought very cheaply when Woolworth's went bust, but it went the same way as its vendor some time ago. I managed to have a word with Early War Miniatures and establish how to order stuff given the current state of their website. I felt a bit bad about raising the subject of their IT problems because it clearly touched a raw nerve and elicited a very pained look. Will I now progress the Mexican Revolution project? Maybe.

I also caught up with my old schoolfriend and wargaming opponent Don. He had news of another old friend (and bandmate, about which the less said the better) who, judging by the pictures Don had, has signed some sort of pact with devil because he looks exactly the same as he did when we were young men. Bastard.

* Note the semicolon, which will not disappear here while I'm in charge.

Fuentes de Oñoro

 I previously wrote that I was having a month's break from wargaming. I don't seem to have added that I signed off by taking the role of General Ney in the first night of a refight of Fuentes de Oñoro. 

I obviously expected it to be all wrapped up by the time I returned to the legendary wargames room of James 'Olicanalad' Roach, but there seemed to have been some slacking in my absence because the situation hadn't moved on much at all. In particular some stubborn British infantry in square, who had held up the French swinging left flank advance were, weeks later, still doing the same thing. However, I broke the square with my heavy cavalry and rode them down. This was historically a rare event, and to do so in Piquet, or at least the bastardised version which we play, requires a rather unlikely sequence of cards to be turned. I got so excited at it all falling into place that sadly I forgot to take a photo of the event. After that it was fairly inevitable that the British would eventually run out of morale, which they duly did.

I also got in the first game in months in my annexe, with a re-run of the C&C game of Dennewitz last played with my plumber. This time it was against one of regular boardgaming opponents, who acquitted himself well in this different form of gaming as long as you ignore all the suicidal cavalry charges he made. 

And to continue this startling run of hobby activity I'm off to Partizan on Sunday, provided of course that I survive the excitement of tomorrow's 214th Otley Show.

As I Was Going Over The Cork and Kerry Mountains

Mush-a ring, dum-a doo-dam-a-da

Whack for my daddy-o

Whack for my daddy-o

There's whiskey in the jar-o

I have been on a bit of a road trip in the South West of Ireland. Oddly, given how very, very old I am, I had never been to the Republic before. I really enjoyed myself, and I don't think it was all down to the glorious weather we had. Wargaming related stuff was there if one looked for it, such as this dark ages stone fort:

Or this Martello tower on Garinish Island:

Or Elizabeth Fort in Cork City. I haven't got a photo of the whole thing as it's surrounded by buildings, but here's a doughty Englishman seeing off a Spanish invader. Or possibly a noble Spaniard trying to  to aid the liberation of his co-religionists. Your money, your choice.

We were travelling from Kenmare towards Cork when I suddenly saw a sign proclaiming "Toy Soldier Factory & Visitor Centre". Sadly I wasn't driving and my companion for the holiday - who was at the wheel - forcefully expressed the view that I was merely guilty of wishful thinking and that in any case she had an urgent appointment with a cup of tea and a home made scone in Macroom (*) and so refused to turn around and look for it. Subsequent investigation at the Cork tourist information office identified it as the premises of Prince August. I didn't know that they were Irish and in any event had done no research of any kind about anything at all prior to boarding the ferry, so I suppose it's very much my own fault. From the leaflet which I eventually picked up far too late the visitor centre seems well worth a look.

The only model soldiers encountered on the visit were these in the Cork City Museum:

The room at that museum which I found to be the most interesting was that covering local events and personalities during the Irish Civil War. As William Faulkner said "The past is never dead. It's not even past.".

* In fairness the scone turned out to be rather excellent.