Pot51pouri

That last post was a bit wargaming heavy so perhaps it's time for some waffle and digression. I could do with some light relief as I'm recovering from a truly tedious and futile journey to Birmingham and back through the teeth of Storm Gertrude. When I tell you that the highlight of the trip by a considerable margin was a Greggs sausage roll you will understand exactly how bad it was.

On the way back - during which I had to stand for the whole journey - I finished the latest 87th Precinct novel on my kindle (I have come late to McBain, but am relishing them) and having left my WWI trench research at home, I turned to the first of the Sharpe books. I had bought this in a weak moment when Amazon offered it at a big discount - presumably to tempt me into reading the rest at full price - and never got round to starting it. Having done so I didn't like it and shan't be finishing it. It's by no means impossible to do this sort of thing well (e.g. Patrick O'Brian or C.S. Forester), but this is poor stuff.

On the up side I have been to see Giles Hedley and the Aviators who were rather good. Hedley himself is perhaps too posh to make a totally convincing bluesman - although he did apparently once open shows for both Son House and Mississippi Fred McDowell - but they make a fine noise. They cover all the usual bases: House himself, Howlin' Wolf, Sleepy John Estes, Robert Johnson, Charley Patton and no doubt others I've forgotten; but they do it very well. The drummer, Sam Kelly, is unbelievably cool (and talented; if you've ever listened to Craig Charles you may have heard Cymande, of which Kelly was a founder member) and Hedley is the only man I've ever seen play two harmonicas at once, by nose and by mouth. A very good evening was made even better when I won the raffle.

The younger Miss Epictetus and her boyfriend continue to wreak mayhem across South East Asia. In the latest episode, said boyfriend has apparently chundered over an entire extended Bengali family while they were peacefully enjoying some folkloric Cambodian entertainment. In the version of the story relayed second hand to me by the elder Miss Epictetus, the recipients of his, shall we say, illness were in some unspecified way responsible for their own misfortune, but, whilst I am as prone to stick up for my children as any father, I'm not entirely sure that I buy that.

And now some random music, in no way reflective of my frame of mind:

Kvintessensen

There has been wargaming. The scenario is over at the Olicanalad's Games blog and hopefully some sort of report with photos will appear there as well. Last night saw two turns played through, which couldn't have been more different. On the first Peter, as the Austrians, quickly moved his light troops forwards. It looked as if we were in for a repeat of the recent game where my march columns got caught on the roads before getting a chance to deploy into the buildings. The Austrian cavalry also swept threateningly towards the still limbered Prussian artillery. Then came turn two and everything changed. I got an embarrassing amount of initiative and far from scrambling to occupy the town I was able to march straight through and deploy on the other side. My guns unlimbered and the Austrian cavalry withdrew circumspectly.

On the down side, I did listen to James' advice regarding attacking, casting aside the hard earned lessons of many years experience in the process. I did it essentially because I always like trying out unusual rules and this one was so obscure that a cynic might imagine that he had made it up on the spot. Anyway, for better or worse I am now minus one unit of Hussars while a second is occupying a village and a third has crossed the stream only to find itself outnumbered. If I can continue my run of initiative then maybe I can move some support up across the stream and extricate the cavalry from the village; otherwise advancing Austrian infantry may make things difficult. The forces for both sides are now on table and next week should see some heavy action.

In other hobby news:

• James' new roads are excellent.
• James' new space junk looks exactly like two razor blades stuck back-to-back.
• I have ordered a shed load more Hexon terrain to pick up at Vapnartak.
• My search for a painting project is leaning very much in the direction of WW1 trench raids, even to the extent of having bought a couple of books to read. However, and as readers of wargames blogs know more than anyone, the menu is not the meal and the map is not the territory.

Nearer My God To Thee

"It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness." - Eleanor Roosevelt

The last boardgames of the month have been packed away into the box, eighteen different ones in total. In an (almost) exciting development the last of them hit the table in the dark as an extended power cut blacked out Otley. I am pleased to report that, in the finest tradition of the orchestra on the Titanic, we played on. Our only reaction was to switch to Werewolves, officially because it better suited the gloomy ambiance, but I suspect in reality because, as with at least one of my other hobbies, one's standards inevitably slip when the lights go out.

On with the games:

Boom: Runaway: Odd though enjoyable game about smuggling bombs out of the arsenal before they can be used. It's strangely difficult to explain its rules despite them actually being rather simple.

Codenames: A surprisingly fun game even when the spymaster on your team is crap. Do you hear me? Crap!

Condottiere: I finally found someone who doesn't like this game. However, for any wargamers reading the blog by mistake and who don't know Condottierre, you need to check it out.

CS Files: Or possibly really called Deception: Murder in Hong Kong. A new variant on the deduction/hidden identity shtick although I enjoyed this one. It's a bit random, and the majority side always seems to win, but it doesn't out-stay its welcome. There are some imaginative possible murder weapons, although the old Cluedo favourites also make an appearance.

Elysium: I won this by such a distance that I can't help thinking that I may have been doing something wrong. It's a good game (interesting and innovative mechanics, sufficient player interaction, nice length) that I'd like to play more often, but which has suffered from the constant temptation to play shiny, new games.

Good Cop Bad Cop: Possibly my favourite of its type. I think it's because the roles can change, although having said that the same concept doesn't help Werewolf much.

Hau La: A three dimensional plant building game (as in flowering plants), the best strategy for which is a complete mystery to me. Completely different to anything else and enjoyable.

Lifeboat: This is a nice card game with bluffing, secret objectives and - happily - plenty of duffing up one's fellow players. I liked it, although that's maybe because I armed myself with a flare gun early on and challenged the others to try it if they were hard enough.

Lords of Waterdeep: A very good worker placement game with a notoriously thinly applied theme. One of the players this time round tried to re-introduce the theme by referring to warriors, wizards etc rather than orange, black etc. He got laughed at.

Mission: Red Planet: I'm not sure whether this is a new game or not. It's a steampunk type space exploration effort with little astronauts yomping around Mars and Phobos. It's rather like Libertalia with a very limited number (ten to be precise) of card plays made during the game. I picked up my cards too often; I should have been bolder.

One Night Ultimate Werewolf: At least we didn't play with the Insomniac.

Operation F.A.U.S.T.: Coup meets any number of set collection games. A bit ho hum.

Power Grid: The Stock Companies: It all bears no relation to the real stock market; as someone pointed out this is entirely about insider dealing. On the other hand the base game is not much like how real power grids are built either. The base game is better.

Red7: Cracking card filler; highly luck dependent, but enough decisions to make one feel one is doing something skillful.

Sail to India: This is a very good game, and certainly a complete snip at the half price that Travelling Man were recently selling it at. It's better with four players.

 Skull: A fine, fine game.

Survive: Escape from Atlantis!: I've loved this game for years. It has to be played really viciously.

Tiny Epic Galaxies: This is a good game, all the better for the rules being explained properly this time round, albeit by someone who was playing in our first inept attempt at teaching ourselves. My own performance on this occasion was truly, truly dreadful.

Wot? No Quartermaster General?

Le bonheur des méchants est un crime des dieux

"Cruel leaders are replaced only to have new leaders turn cruel." - Che Guevara

And so to the opera. Opera North have served up another fine slice of verismo in Giordano's Andrea Chenier. Inevitably the tone is black, though speaking personally I can't really see the downside of feckless, ci-devant aristos getting their heads chopped off. This style of late nineteenth century Italian opera is very much to my taste and, especially as well performed as it is here, easily overcomes the somewhat ridiculous plot. The truth referred to is of the emotional variety rather than the realistic.

So what is this plot? It involves two senior Jacobins who are ill-advisedly enamoured of Maddalena de Coigny, one of the very parasites that they have just overthrown. If simply being the daughter of a count wasn't enough to condemn her in the eyes of all right-thinking people (hint: it is) then her behaviour subsequent to the revolution certainly would be. Claiming to be penniless she encourages her maid to work as a prostitute to support them both, only to be revealed as having money and jewels stashed away all the time. These she uses to bribe her way to her final self-indulgent self-sacrifice. She obviously hadn't read his poems.

"Le moment d'être sage est voisin du tombeau." - André Chénier

Mercy sakes alive

Last night we played the convoy scenario from the Lion Rampant rule book. The result was positive for the rules, but negative for my translation of the scenario to the tabletop.

The picture above is extremely uninformative on both counts, but, alas, I still have no camera. My mistake was - as Peter pointed out as soon as he saw the set up - to have the convoy start off table. I did try to ameliorate this, but it didn't work; I should have stuck more closely to the version in the book. The game pitched some undefined central European Holy Roman empire types trying to take a convoy of equally vague  treasure across the table while some Ottoman raiders tried to steal it. We used most of the special rules, and while James' braveheart leader saw off the head sipahi following a personal challenge it was too no avail. He ran out of missile troops and faced being whittled away as he moved forwards without being able to reply.

The rules appealed to me for a number of reasons when I read them, all of which were, I think, validated upon playing them:

•  I could play them with stuff that I already had. Though written for singly based figures there didn't seem any real reason why they shouldn't be played with stands. We simply counted each element of two cavalry or four infantry as two hits and marked units which were carrying one. We had a bit of debate about the required gap between units, but I think that's also no real problem.
• They address a scale of game that appeals to me. I read a number of blog reviews of the rules before playing them and was taken by one observation - sadly, and as usual, I can't remember where from - that historical skirmishes involve dozens of figures and that most 'skirmish wargames' are really pub fights. Now I love a large scale battle in the legendary wargames room of James 'Olicanalad' Roach as much as the next man (1), but I also like the raid/ambush type of game and haven't always been convinced that the same rules - facings, formations, manouvre, etc - work for both levels.
• They give a chance to get out some toys that I have enjoyed modelling, but which don't really fit into a large battle environment. In this case it was wagons and pack animals, but believe me I have some strange stuff stored in the annexe. My Janissary marching band may make it to the table yet.
• They seemed easy to play. Whilst there was the usual rifling through the book looking for the appropriate section, I can't remember playing a new set of rules where we had less retracing of steps because of an obvious mistake we had made. 
• They would appear to be easy to tweak for different periods. I think the melee combat mechanism will work for my Romans in Britain rip off of Pony Wars better than the one we were using, and I've seen, for example, an ECW version.

 So, they were - in my book at least - a success. As ever, I'm not sure when they will be back on the table because James has some rubber roads to test, and the next game in the annexe will be likely to feature the new C&C Napoleonic expansion.

(1) except possibly Sidi Rezegh, which I reserve the right to like slightly less than the next man.

Bennett is back

And so to the cinema. I'm on a roll with my resolution to see more films, although to some extent I'm still in catch-up mode. I have been to see 'The Lady in the Van', and was most entertained. It's been out for a few weeks now and I was the only person in a 250 seat screen, which was somewhat disconcerting; although I'm sure I could get used to private screenings in due course. As regular readers will know I like a bit of Alan Bennett and this is a fine example of his work. He actually makes a cameo himself - possibly to dispel rumours of his death - and for added value the actor playing him doubles up, often appearing on screen with himself. On top of that we have the marvellous Maggie Smith in the title role. Excellent stuff which I was pleased to say included a chunk of untranslated French dialogue.

'Allo, 'Allo

Speaking of readers, this blog's have declined significantly in number. I'm not referring to the arbitrary peak at the time of the sultry woman in uniform video. I'm talking about the fact that the numbers have suddenly halved from the previous normal run rate. This doesn't actually bother me. I am - how shall we say - philosophical. Ceux qui restent sont évidemment la crème de la crème.

And speaking in turn of philosophy, I should like - as a leading Stoic thinker - to offer some advice. This is intended mainly for the boyfriend of the younger Miss Epictetus, but may possibly find some resonance with a few of my remaining readers. It is this: the best way to avoid having one's money stolen from one's trousers while dancing and singing onstage at a ladyboy show is not to take one's trousers off in order to dance and sing on stage at a ladyboy show. You're welcome.

Don't ignore the reaper

I have been delinquent in paying my respects, so here is a catch up:

First, Hawkwind wherein Stacia redefines the word 'dancer':

Second, and needing no introduction:

Third, in admiration of Robert Stigwood's management techniques:

Fourth, Alan Rickman reads Dante to a much younger woman. If it's good enough for Colonel Brandon then it's good enough for me:

      

You better you bet

I've been reading the rules to expansion #5 of C&C Napoleonics and like the look of both the enhanced role for leaders and the Tactician cards. It seems to me that the issue with commanders in C&C is whether to try to mimic actual Napoleonic command structures (see MS Fwa and his little coloured blocks) or just to use them as another fairly abstract game mechanic that adds some complexity and depth. In any event, I'm not sure when the new rules will get a run out, but I have desleeved the old cards and dug out enough sleeves to deal with both the larger Command deck and the Tactician card deck so at least no more expense is required. I complained about the wrong name on the parcel situation and they refunded my postage, so how about a shout out to Boardgameguru for excellent customer service after all.

Right, I'm off to Burton-on-Trent for a couple of days so let's have some music to see me off.

You better bet your life

Sonnet 116

This is a big Shakespeare anniversary year, so let me get in early. This isn't one of the sonnets that he dedicated to his mysterious 'Dark Lady', but if any other dark lady is reading she can assume it's for her.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
   If this be error and upon me proved,
   I never writ, nor no man ever loved. 

                             - William Shakespeare

Let loose the hats of war!

As one would expect I've been watching 'War and Peace'. The production raises many important questions about the human condition and I have been wrestling with one in particular: would I prefer to wear Ade Edmonson's hat or that of Jim Broadbent? I have tassel envy. By the way, Prince Vassily Kuragin is the spitting image of a chap that I used to know very well indeed some thirty five or so years ago. Admittedly he never dressed like that when we went to Griffin Park, which is a real shame now I come to think about it.

"Up the Bees"

Channel 5 have another historical documentary series worth watching, although this one is sadly presented by a proper historian rather than a glove puppet. It's about the Wars of the Roses, despite being bizarrely titled 'Britain's Bloody Crown'. I'm not sure what those in North Britain who weren't directly involved in the affair make of that. Anyway, I found it very interesting, but had some reservations regarding the reconstructions, especially what the various participants had on their heads while fighting. In the case of the main players - York, Warwick (whose father Salisbury was notable mainly for his absence), Somerset etc. - this was nothing at all. No wonder so many of the aristocracy perished during the conflict. In the case of the hoi polloi it was some odd conical efforts that rang no bells whatever with me. I suspect they were props left over from something else, perhaps a programme about Genghis Khan.

In other news,  my copy of Command & Colours Expansion #5 has arrived despite a heroic effort on the part of Royal Mail not to give it to me. In this particular case it wasn't their fault so much as that of the vendor who had put the wrong name on the parcel thereby making it impossible for me to produce valid ID to collect it from the sorting office. A review - of the game, not the inefficiencies of the supplier's dispatch department - will follow in due course.

Say adios to your huevos!

And so to the cinema. I promised myself to watch more films this year and what better place to start than with Quentin Tarantino's latest 'The Hateful Eight'? Even I'm expecting some sort of joke there - and I'm doing the writing - but I'm serious; it was rather good and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The BBFC describe it as containing 'strong bloody violence' and, well, they are spot on. I'd like to suggest that the violence is offset by some sort of moral message, but if it is then it went over my head. I'm not sure that Tarantino does spiritual journeys or redemption, but he does do cracking dialogue and well staged set pieces. And gore.

If I have any quibble it is that there is a bit of a hole in the plot regarding the explanation for the absence of the driver of the first stagecoach to arrive at Minnie's Haberdashery. Considering how tightly plotted the rest of it is, with all loose ends tied up by the end (however implausible the tieing up), that does stick out a bit. And if I had a second quibble it would be that for bounty hunters the Major and Ruth seem remarkably ill-informed about people who might have a bounty on their heads. Minor issues though, that don't stop me recommending it to all but the squeamish.

One of Tarantino's trademarks is playing homage to other films and there have been a number of suggested influences bandied about, most notably 'The Thing', which I've never seen and therefore can't comment about, plus the television shows 'Bonanza' and 'The High Chaparral'. I'd like to offer another: 'Calamity Jane'. Fewer songs and more blood perhaps, but I defy you to watch the film and tell me that I'm not right.

Lots of little soldiers

Indeed so:

Pot50pouri

A number of readers have been kind enough to post appreciative comments on the blog, for which I am very grateful. The reality is that I write entirely for my own benefit. Like many others I am prone to depression and find the creative element of blog writing to be a useful tool in managing my mental health. Hence the self-indulgence of choice of topic and varying degree of seriousness with which they are dealt. There are also periods when inspiration doesn't strike very often. Cyril Connolly famously said that the enemy of good art was the pram in the hall. Overlooking the fact that this isn't art of any quality I am, of course, too old for such concerns. Maybe in my case it is the love of a good woman that causes the problem. Or perhaps the occasional company of several bad women. There are only so many hours in the day.

Anyway, on with the post. There have been mixed reactions to my assertion that we live in a Stalinist society. There was some supporting evidence from Prufrock (see his comments on yesterday's post) and some raised eyebrows elsewhere. For those who are interested I have written more here.

And, in an unexpected return to the ostensible purpose of this blog, I have a couple of pieces of Command & Colours Napoleonics news. Expansion 5 has arrived in the UK and my order has therefore gone in. It won't be delivered very soon however because in keeping with my frugal nature I have only paid for second class delivery. What did arrive in this morning's post were the wooden C&C Napoleonic dice that I ordered before Christmas from Canada on eBay. It was as cheap to order three sets as two and they very kindly included three spares. I am now replete with the bloody things. I shall have to tweak the rules to require throwing handfuls of dice.

Who won the Cold War?

I have been asked to expand my recent comments on the Cold War. Now my only expertise on the subject is the fact that I lived through it, or at least from the invasion of Hungary to the fall of the Berlin Wall, plus of course what I learned at first hand from my tangential role in the US invasion of Grenada (to be absolutely precise my role was in the aftermath).

However, I am confident of one thing: whilst the Cold War was presented as a struggle between democracy and Stalinism which was won by the former, that is not what actually happened. In fact the Stalinists won and are ruling over us now, with their classic tools of surveillance, control of the media, propaganda and suppression of dissent.

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." - Camus

Events of the year (slight return)

My review of the year for 2015 passed unmarked except for a kind word from Tony Kitchen and a thumbs up from the big, bouncy woman herself. However, after a period a period of reflection and self-criticism I must add two honourable mentions to the previously published shortlist for event of the year.

The first was winning MS Fwa's mug competition, a rare moment of success in an otherwise under-achieving twelve months. The second is slightly more random; I nominate the occasion when a van driver knocked on the front door of my house and asked me to accept delivery of a coffin because he couldn't get any answer from the undertaker next door.

Here's some music that's as old as I am:

License My Roving Hands

 Let us start 2016 as we very much mean to continue:

To His Mistress Going To Bed

  Come, Madam, come, all rest my powers defy,

Until I labour, I in labour lie.

The foe oft-times having the foe in sight,

Is tir’d with standing though he never fight.

Off with that girdle, like heaven’s Zone glistering,

But a far fairer world encompassing.

Unpin that spangled breastplate which you wear,

That th’eyes of busy fools may be stopped there.

Unlace yourself, for that harmonious chime,

Tells me from you, that now it is bed time.

Off with that happy busk, which I envy,

That still can be, and still can stand so nigh.

Your gown going off, such beauteous state reveals,

As when from flowery meads th’hill’s shadow steals.

Off with that wiry Coronet and shew   

The hairy Diadem which on you doth grow:

Now off with those shoes, and then safely tread

In this love’s hallow’d temple, this soft bed.

In such white robes, heaven’s Angels used to be

Received by men; Thou Angel bringst with thee

A heaven like Mahomet’s Paradise; and though

Ill spirits walk in white, we easily know,

By this these Angels from an evil sprite,

Those set our hairs, but these our flesh upright.

    Licence my roving hands, and let them go,   

Before, behind, between, above, below.

O my America! my new-found-land,

My kingdom, safeliest when with one man mann’d,

My Mine of precious stones, My Empirie,

How blest am I in this discovering thee!

To enter in these bonds, is to be free;

Then where my hand is set, my seal shall be.

    Full nakedness! All joys are due to thee,

As souls unbodied, bodies uncloth’d must be,

To taste whole joys. Gems which you women use

Are like Atlanta’s balls, cast in men’s views,

That when a fool’s eye lighteth on a Gem,

His earthly soul may covet theirs, not them.

Like pictures, or like books’ gay coverings made

For lay-men, are all women thus array’d;

Themselves are mystic books, which only we   

(Whom their imputed grace will dignify)

Must see reveal’d. Then since that I may know;

As liberally, as to a Midwife, shew

Thy self: cast all, yea, this white linen hence,

There is no penance due to innocence.

    To teach thee, I am naked first; why then

What needst thou have more covering than a man. 

                               
                                                - John Donne

We ourselves must walk the path

So, what happened this year then? I should first apologise for the content of the blog, which was consistently neither relevant nor interesting. If it's any consolation, the comments that I have left on other people's blogs have generally been even worse; bloggers must wince when they see my username appear. All I can do is quote Rudyard Kipling: "You must learn to forgive a man when he's in love. He's always a nuisance."

Anyway, on to the much sought after Epictetus annual awards:

• Opera of the year:  'The Flying Dutchman' with an honourable mention for  'Tales of Hoffman'
• Theatre of the year: 'Beryl' with an honourable mention for 'The History Boys'.
• Gig of the year: I've seen an awful lot of excellent gigs, but it's a toss up between  Nils Lofgren and Tom Russell with an honourable mention for Gigspanner (which good as it was I don't seem to have posted about before), plus of course the Ilkley Blues Festival for sheer value for money.
• Film of the year: 'Lunchbox' with a dishonourable mention for 'Spectre'; once again I haven't actually been to see that many films.
• Book of the year: City of Wisdom and Blood, the second in the Fortune of War series by Robert Merle, the first volume of which was my book of the year for 2014. There's a pattern developing.
• Wargame of the year: There's been a lot of Seven Years War this year and I'm going to go for the large game in the summer where James got all his Prussians and Russians out on the table.
• Boardgame of the year: Quartermaster General, no doubt at all, but there have been a lot of very good ones among the 265 plays of 134 different games that I've managed this year.
• Cake of the year: I think pear and chocolate although the elder Miss Epictetus is a firm champion of the spiced fruit loaf.
• Event of the year: I'm tempted to cheat and choose every time that the big, bouncy woman came and sat on my lap; or possibly the Otley Wool Fair (I really enjoyed that day); or perhaps a truly memorable afternoon in the Victoria Hotel (definitely my pub of the year). However, instead I'm opting for a walk up to Top Withens that I took at the end of August, during which we got wet, the past was laid to rest and the future mapped out. As Christina Rossetti wrote in the poem of the year:

I loved you first: but afterwards your love 

Outsoaring mine, sang such a loftier song

I'm Free

When I bought my first box of Hexon terrain a couple of months ago I set up a Command & Colours game just to see what it looked like. Unexpectedly this got played pretty much immediately and so I set up another one. Less unexpectedly this one didn't get played as instead we took an axe to the morale section in James' Seven Years War rules. However, everything comes to those who wait and so there was a sudden flurry of activity in the wargames annexe last night. You may recall me mentioning some months ago that I had introduced a boardgaming partner to wargaming via a Romans v Celts go at To the Strongest!. Real life - on his part - had prevented him following up on what he said was an enjoyable experience until now, but it had always been our intention to repeat the exercise. The Wharfe has receded enough for the bridge between the north and south halves of the town to be reopened and so he visited for a festive run through of the Grossbeeren scenario. Once again he said he liked it, and indeed indicated a preference for TtS! over C&C; in other words for the more wargame like of the two. I don't think that he is ready for Piquet yet, but it might be time to introduce him to a game requiring a tape measure.

A wargamer from the days when they knew how to dress shows off his tape measure

In any event the Hexon terrain is to be taken down, put away and replaced with green felt. James very kindly passed on to me a copy of Lion Rampant that Osprey had given him in respect of his oeuvre, or to be precise, in respect of using some of his photos in their Seven Years war rules, the name of which escapes me just at this moment. These - Lion Rampant not Honours of War - have featured in a number of blogs recently (there's a set up here that appeals to the accountant in me) and having read through them I am inclined to give them a go. I have seen the term 'false skirmish' applied to them, which I think refers to their being designed for single based figures but used in units rather than individually. Notwithstanding that I think they'll work just fine with figures based in elements and in particular will allow me to use some toys that have been languishing in boxes for years without ever seeing the tabletop. Photos will follow, subject to the usual caveat regarding the Young Farmers' ladies tug-of-war competition.

Mush! Mush!

December saw another full month of boardgaming:

Avalon: I hate this sort of game.

Bohnanza: An excellent game which I hadn't played for ages. I was too quick to open up my third beanfield, which I never really needed. I love the no hand sorting mechanism.

Codenames: Another really good game, only spoiled by the imbecility of one's teammates.

Condottiere: A card game with a board. It's a sort of wargame that always goes down well, even with those that don't really like wargames.

Discoveries: The dice version of Lewis & Clark, full of opportunities to make the wrong choice.

Fresco: Similar in theme to Pastiche, and probably about as good. It's perhaps a little bit easier for the colour blind.

Game of Trains: Nothing to do with trains, but good anyway. It's a abstract number sorting game where I never see the end coming.

Ice Flow: I wish people would stop beating me at this.

Lancaster: The Hundred Years War theme is not that deep, although I understand the need to go to France to fight is stronger in the expansion, which I would like to try.

Mush! Mush!: My preference is to play a wide variety of games and a bit of husky racing never fails to entertain. It has a very simple mechanic and it's always amazing how with the same resources the various competitors can achieve such very different results.

Pi mau Pflaumen: A German card game about fruit and π. It sort of makes sense when you play it.

Quartermaster General: Playing as the Soviets I only ever had armies on Moscow, Ukraine and Eastern Europe, but I bled the Germans dry. There was an unusual amount of action in Asia, proving once again that every game is different.


Red7: The thinking man's Fluxx. Don't let that put you off; this is good.

Roll for the  Galaxy: We played the Ambition expansion, but frankly it didn't seem to make much difference to what was already a good game.

Sail to India: None of the others had ever played this previously and to a man employed strategies that I'd never come across before, all of which did better than mine. Bastards.

Shadow Hunters: An interesting game - despite being based on hidden identities - for which there seem to be a range of winning strategies. I suspect that the frenzied bloodbath will always be the most fun if not the most successful.

Skull: An excellent bluffing game, at which many of my regular playing partners are very bad.

String Railway: I loved this. It basically involves laying out railways with, er, string. Fantastic.

Glienicke

And so to the cinema. In an attempt to provide some competition in the eagerly awaited Epictetus film of the year award - watch this space - I have been to see 'Bridge of Spies'. It is, as one would expect, a well crafted piece of work without ever really reaching any great heights. Mark Rylance is as excellent as Rudolf Abel (not his real name of course - he was a spy) as he was as Thomas Cromwell. In one sense it's hard to see what he is doing differently from before, but he is as convincing a Soviet spy as he was a Tudor statesman. Tom Hanks is also predictably reliable, albeit perhaps too old for the role.

I've no idea how historically accurate it all is, although perhaps one could guess from the fact that the end credits claim that the Soviets never publicly acknowledged Abel as being a spy while the stamp above is one of a series commemorating intelligence agents issued by the, er, Soviet Union. It's at least debatable whether he was any good as a spy or ever uncovered any secrets. As for the message that Spielberg is trying to get across, that's pure Hollywood. He seems to have very little time for the intelligence or moral compass of ordinary Americans - Hank's character aside - but magically when aggregated together the whole country they suddenly become the good guys. Indeed they are so good that they are entitled to behave badly whereas the bad behaviour of the Soviets simply proves that they are the bad guys to start with. I think that it's fair to say that other, possibly more nuanced, interpretations of the Cold War are available. Hanks channels James Stewart throughout and, interestingly, Spielberg chooses to stick to the moral from one of Stewart's best films: "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend". His protagonist's previous connections with the CIA are downplayed so that everything can be portrayed as the ordinary guy running rings round the intelligence services of two superpowers.

It all passes a couple of hours very pleasantly, but the film that they should really make about Abel's life is of his part in Operation Berezino.

And all the boards did shrink

A whole lot of water decided to visit over Christmas, isolating the rest of the world from the lower Wharfe valley. I hope that you all coped.

Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow

Some festive wargaming news to tide us over the next couple of days:

The refight of Mollwitz ended with only two Austrian units remaining on the table while the Prussians had dozens, many of which had not seen any action, plus loads of morale. It was therefore declared a draw. The only reason the Austrians performed so well is that they once again got all the initiative. I don't think that I got half way through my deck on any of the seven turns. It was all highly enjoyable, with what can be a problem in Piquet - lopsided initiative - actually coming to the rescue here. I know that there has been some debate on the amount of snow on the ground during the battle, with various interested parties quoting different sources. Unless some film of the event miraculously turns up then we shall never know.

On the (lack of) painting front I have gone for a stopgap solution and yesterday in the post received some Napoleonic French Line Lancers and Ammunition Caissons. The former are because I haven't got any and the latter mostly to provide teams of horses for the Pontoon Train. There will be paint on the table this Christmas.

Gut Yontiff to you all, and remember that, as George Carlin pointed out, the main reason Santa is so jolly is that he knows where all the bad girls live.

Love Like a Man

A missive has reached us from the front line in Luxembourg where one of our occasional correspondents is bravely defending western civilisation against Islamic State armed only with a Collins Robert and a generous expense account. He astutely points out that Ten Years After are probably a bigger influence on Chantel McGregor than are Grand Funk Railroad.

The above video obviously comes from TYA's appearance at Woodstock, where they had the slot on the bill immediately following Country Joe and the Fish, the band with the most aesthetically overrated drummer in the history of rock.

Respect is due

My recent post which included the link to the video about Marcus Hinton and his other half continues to get literally hundreds of views. I believe that I have James 'respect to his ouevre' Roach to thank/blame for this, but I don't know how or why.

Anyway, in one of those moments familiar to people of a certain age I have suddenly remembered where I first saw the video. It was, glaringly obviously in retrospect, on a blog dedicated to Hinton Hunt figures. Respect to their mighty ouevre as well.

I note that none of my new readers has stuck around for the love poetry or the opera reviews, but perhaps that's as it should be. Party on dudes.

How...?

"How could I, blest with you, long nights employ; 

And how with the longest day enjoy!"

 - Tibullus

Pot49pouri

Just a short post as I have a cold:

• Another excellent Seven Years War(ish) game in the legendary wargames room - see the report here - is seeing a good year's wargaming wrapped up in style. James - respect to his ouvre - mentions in a throw away comment that the Austrians got all the initiative; if they hadn't then the game would be over by now, because the scenario is very heavily skewed in favour of the Prussians, especially given the extra cards they drew.
• It has become apparent that a number of people haven't watched the video of Mrs Hinton because they didn't realise that it had anything to do with wargaming; as if any non-wargaimg content would be posted here! All that I can say is that a) it is about wargaming, although perhaps not as we know it and b) if lots of you haven't watched it then the statistics rather imply that one of you has watched it dozens of times. 
• I don't think that I've mentioned recently how dreadful Windows 10 is. Let me rectify that now: it sucks.
• For no particular reason here is Eli 'Paper Boy' Reed performing a cover of a Motorhead song. This one really does have nothing to do with wargaming.

Pot48pouri

Well I've had a busy couple of days, involving lots of boardgames and nearly going to Bishop Auckland. I watched the launch, not because of the British astronaut - I am proud to say that I have no patriotic feelings whatsoever about anything at all - but because I am that age. Among my earliest memories are sitting on a classroom floor listening to a transistor radio (the detail is important because one of the teachers would have brought their own personal, portable - though still hefty - radio into school) as one of the Gemini flights was launched. I would happily watch any rocket lift off, any time, anywhere.

I also went to the theatre and saw Steel Magnolias. I've never seen the film, but was charmed by the play, which was both funny and sad. As an aside the actress playing Shelby had the longest legs I think I've ever seen. I say that with some trepidation because naturally this blog operates according to the conventions of the officers mess, and regards the ladies as off limits for conversation. But it may be that standards are slipping because my previous post has got a remarkable number of viewers (that's remarkable for this blog, still pathetic by anyone else's standards of course). I suspect that rather than new people being tempted in this is caused by regulars returning for a second ogle. Shame on you all.

I have also been to see the very talented Chantel McGregor. McGregor, a local lass and a woman in whom Robert Crumb would find much to admire, is an alumna of Leeds College of Music - an institution that has featured in these pages before - where she had a very distinguished academic record. She now plays guitar in a power trio who seem to think that Grand Funk Railroad circa 1969 is the aspirational route map to follow; which will get no argument from me. Their songs are basically just a vehicle for her to solo; which she does rather well, always assuming you like that sort of thing - which I certainly do. In addition she gets bonus marks for employing a bass player who looks exactly like the bass player in this sort of band should look. Check it out:

And here, as I mentioned them, is some Grand Funk Railroad from when they were good:

Mrs Hinton

I can't remember on which blog I first saw this video, so apologies for not giving credit. I post it here following a recent conversation with a young lady of my acquaintance. She's never shown any interest in wargaming so instead we inevitably found ourselves talking about the pros and cons of women wearing men's clothing. I, who do have an interest in wargaming, was reminded of this, which, once seen, does tend to stick in the mind somewhat:

I don't know about you, but to me that short video raises a very large number of questions. The only one that I can help with is that one and ninepence is just under 9p. Two pounds ten is of course fifty bob.

Project required

I am in need of a painting project. I am in some ways reluctant to acknowledge this because since pitching my tent in Otley a couple of years ago I still haven't managed to get all my existing stuff onto the table. The Hussites in particular need an outing. However, having a certain amount of free time, and with the weather being truly appalling I could do with something to get my teeth into.

The last big project I was working on was of course the War of the Spanish Succession, but much of those completed units disappeared in all the disruption and I have no appetite to pick it up again. This is not to say that I haven't done any painting over the last two years, but it's been mainly aimed at filling out OOBs for games that I wanted to play:

• I added some light cavalry to my Wars of the Roses forces and painted up all the longbowmen in the plastic mountain. I could no doubt do with some more of the latter.
• In Napoleonics I added Imperial Guard to the French plus some Russian dragoons. An Austrian force would make sense, but options are strictly limited in 20mm plastic. I also have a pontoon kit that I was intending to use for the WSS; it would be a shame to see it go to waste.
• I added more Roman auxiliaries, including cavalry, artillery and archers; indeed it is to some extent the completion of these archers that prompts me to ask what next. On the other side I added cavalry and a chariot. In the absence of any better ideas I suspect chariots will top the list.
• I painted quite a lot of Roman civilians etc to expand the Romans in Britain version of Pony Wars. There's not much point in doing more - although I have a lot unpainted - until that gets played again, which in turn depends upon the acquisition of some more Hexon terrain.
• I have most recently had a focus on markers. I upgraded all my numbers, added more letters, made some generic disruption/OOC markers and am just completing some ammunition chits to replace the beads we've been using for To the Strongest!. I got the idea for the ammo counters from the Tin Soldiering On blog, the author which tells me that he got it from one of Donald Featherstone's books. That, needless to say, is good enough for me. However, I'm all markered out. 

 I suspect that the next games in the wargames annexe at Casa Epictetus will be to try out the new expansion to C&C Napoleonics, which, as far as I'm aware, hasn't arrived in the UK yet. I certainly don't need any more figures to play that, so a painting project doesn't have any time or other constraints; although cheapness would be preferable, not because I'm poor, but because I am mean. While I am thinking about it here's some Grateful Dead. I can't remember if I've already posted this, but if I have then so what.

Beyond the horizon

James and I concluded the latest Seven Years war game last night, it ending as expected in a good kicking for the Russians. If anything the initiative was even  more skewed in favour of the Prussians than it had been the previous week, but it was nevertheless and enjoyable game. In fact, on the wings the Prussian cavalry was completely destroyed. Unfortunately this was because there was too much Russian infantry on the right and not enough in the centre and that was where the game was lost. The new morale rules worked well I think, and the charge restrictions on Cossacks meant that I used them in a different way, only lost one unit of them and yet they still caused a fair amount of disruption.

Indeed James asserted that the rules (provisionally entitled 'Where Troubles Melt Like Lemon Drops') were now pretty much finished. This should be treated with a certain amount of scepticism, especially as it was followed by some suggestions regarding cavalry opportunity charges. The rules favour the Prussians, which is reasonable enough, but in order to make a decent game of it this has to be compensated for by scenario design. At its crudest this means giving the Russians more units, but exactly how many more is more of an art than a science. It maybe that, given that their strategy seemed to be simply to try to hang around long enough until Frederick's army got fed up and went away, that they should be allowed a number of 'free' unit losses not countable against Major Morale. Also, it would seem to me that any scenario should not require them to actually do anything. The previous game we played fell down because they needed to switch units around in reaction to a flank attack, and they couldn't. In this game my deployment was too much to one side of the town and I could never bring the units back across.

On a different subject you may remember that a couple of years ago James and I got into some heated discussions about the length of day at the equator. This was particularly pointless as this is a very well understood phenomenon, has been for thousands of years, and it could be demonstrably proved which one of us (i.e. me) was right. You'll be pleased to know that we have moved on to a new and somewhat upgraded topic to argue about when we should be turning cards and rolling dice: gravitation as explained by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. This is also completely pointless as, let's be honest, neither of us has the faintest idea what we are talking about; didn't stop us though.

In the Middle of Something

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” - Epicurus

Nuns fret not

Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room
And hermits are contented with their cells;

And students with their pensive citadels;

Maids at the wheel, the weaver at his loom,

Sit blithe and happy; bees that soar for bloom,

High as the highest Peak of Furness-fells,

Will murmur by the hour in foxglove bells:

In truth the prison, into which we doom

Ourselves, no prison is: and hence for me,

In sundry moods, ’twas pastime to be bound

Within the Sonnet’s scanty plot of ground;

Pleased if some Souls (for such there needs must be)

Who have felt the weight of too much liberty,

Should find brief solace there, as I have found.

                                                - William Wordsworth

The New Rock & Roll

I have been to a talk on the Battle of Towton given by Chris Murphy of the Towton Battlefield Society. It was informative and entertaining, and in particular was very strong on the context and personalities. Murphy is given to a colourful turn of phrase and I was taken both with his assertion that the Wars of the Roses is the new Rock & Roll and that Edward IV was Elvis. I was less convinced by the idea of Henry VI as Stephen Fry, but one can't have everything. He included a special section on local notable John, 9th Baron Clifford (the 'Flower of Craven' or ' Butcher Clifford' according to one's taste). Otley wasn't actually on Clifford's land, being owned by the Archdiocese of York, but he was the nearest big cheese. There is one obvious problem with focussing on the Flower/Butcher in a talk on Towton; as discussed on this very blog quite recently he died the day before. It probably didn't matter because the majority of the packed out hall - the sight of which prompted the bon mot about Rock & Roll - appeared to have only come to get away from Storm Desmond which was raging outside. As with the previous year's talk on Richard III - also a sell out, although against a background of snow that time - their grasp of what was going on appeared to be slim. There were no actively racist questions this time, but the first one to be asked, after two hours of bigging up the events of Palm Sunday 1461, "Isn't it true that the 28,000 casualties are a huge exaggeration, that it's all myth and that it wasn't a very important battle after all?" was unsurprisingly met with a curt "No!". In fact it is only modesty that prevents me from pointing out that for the second year running the only sensible question was asked by me.

The storm had abated sufficiently today for the annual Victorian Fayre; indeed it was about 15˚C warmer than last year when the reindeer were the only things looking at all comfortable. It's a big event with the entire centre of the town closed off and interesting to see how my great grandparents would have celebrated the time of year. I entered into the spirit of things by having a samosa.

The weekend also included a bit of old Rock & Roll with an excellent gig by Steve Phillips and the Rough Diamonds. Phillips, a long time friend and sometime bandmate of Mark Knopfler, is really a blues musician - his set included the usual list of McTell, Broonzy, Jefferson, Johnson, Waters, Wolf plus a couple of obscure Dylan covers - but he opened with Heartbreak Hotel, first made famous by that son of York, Edward Plantagenet.

More SYW playtesting

And back to wargaming. James has posted extensively on his blog about the current game which is testing some rule changes. I thought that it was a most enjoyable night, despite things not going completely according to plan for the Russians. As discussed before, Piquet isn't to everyone's taste, but I really like it. Specifically, I just love the fact that if we played exactly the same scenario again it would inevitably develop in a completely different way even if both sides started with the same plan.  We (for which read James) are always tinkering with the rules, but I don't see that as a problem. The objective is not a simulation, but rather a good game in which the flow of the battle develops in a way that seems historically appropriate; the trick is to get the two objectives - enjoyability and verisimilitude - in balance. Anyway, here are a few thoughts to supplement James' report:

• James had determined the forces and terrain, but otherwise this was a scratch game. Naturally none of us could remember exactly how one did that in Piquet, but we busked it through. I would, I think, make one small amendment to the process we followed: I would allow switching of qualities of units of the same type within the same command after they have all been rolled for. This is purely a game thing; it just gives one the possibility to partially ameliorate bad dice rolling.
• My original intention had been to rush my troops into the town along the road, taking advantage of the extra Infantry Move in the Open card that I had drawn during the morale set up; that's why they were in column. It didn't work because of the way the cards fell, but then again, on a different day, it could have been a masterstroke. To repeat myself, it's that unpredictability that makes me enjoy the game so much.
• On the plus side, my other unit of grenadiers in the centre did make it across the river and in to the town. They had originally rolled up as unknown quality, but when first into action the re-roll made them superior - a purple bead. Coupled with their commander having also rolled up purple means they will be very hard to dislodge; indeed they have already recovered all losses incurred so far.
• I think the morale challenge rules are working well so far. I hadn't thought through the effect mechanism that in Piquet allows one to pay a chip to re-roll a morale dice for the cost of a chip, but I think that the approach that we ended up with is the right one. There isn't any great logic to the original rule, but I think it adds a moment of choice to the game so I'd be loath to lose it.
• Prognosis? Not good for the Russians, apart from anything else my infantry is pretty poor. quality. I could do with winning the initiative and then turning Artillery Reload and Cavalry Move as my first two cards.

A personal view

I have known quite a number of MPs over the years; for obvious reasons most of them Labour. In fact the only past or present Tory MP that I think I have ever spoken to is former cabinet minister Jim Prior with whom I had dinner in Abu Dhabi some twenty years ago. The reason behind our separate visits has recently returned with a vengeance, indeed there was an extremely inaccurate article about the whole affair in the Guardian last week. Pretty much everything they wrote was wrong, except for the inescapable fact that innocent civilians are being killed by British made weapons.

Anyway, I digress. I was going to write about the fact that I have liked a great many Labour MPs as people; you will recall that I have previously mentioned a couple that I didn't care much for. I knew Ruth Cadbury, newly elected in Brentford & Isleworth, many years ago and I'm sure she'll be a fine MP. The late Alan Keen, MP for Feltham & Heston, was a warm. personable man and I liked him more each time that I met him. Martin Salter, MP for Reading West until he stood down in 2010, is somewhat of a hero of mine and was one of the few who came out of the expenses episode looking better than before. And Neil Kinnock was every bit as gregarious and good company as you would imagine.

But, the politician for whom I had the most time by far after meeting them in person is man-of-the-moment Hilary Benn. Now clearly he and I take a different view on the issue being debated yesterday, but that doesn't alter my high opinion of him. All politicians are self-selected to be comfortable dealing with people, but I think we all know that much of the interaction is false and superficial. I always found Mr Benn genuine in his concern for the problems and well-being of others and, a rare trait this, keen to hear what they had to say and learn from their experience, rather than assuming - as so many senior figures in both politics and business do - that he knew the answers already. In my own case this was most pronounced during the horse meat scandal (as well as being a merchant of death my varied career has seen me as Head of UK Finance for a major global food company) when he sought out my opinions and asked very pertinent questions in what was clearly a serious effort to understand the realities of the logistics of the industry. Any elephants among my readers will recall that I have already blogged on this subject and so I am also happy to report that when I quoted Marx at him, he didn't make the sign of the cross and run away, but instead noted down the reference and, I am fairly sure, went and looked it up afterwards.

So, Hilary Benn is a lovely and engaging chap, but before you start thinking he's somehow too saintly to cut it as a politician let me point out that he was also responsible for the most outrageous and blatant stitch-up that I have seen in four decades of internal Labour Party politics. And that, believe you me, is some achievement.

An expert speaks

"The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honour." - T.E. Lawrence

The Norway of the Year

I have given up fighting against doing a round-up of boardgames played on a monthly basis monthly so here's November's:

6 Nimmt!: Random at first, but there is depth once one starts to try to second guess the other players.

7 Wonders: At the risk of repeating myself, I really enjoy this, but am absolutely useless at it. And I always seem to end up with the hanging gardens of Babylon.

Between Two Cities: I'm not entirely sure the extent to which there is actually a game here. The group is keen (actually 'keen' might be stretching it) to try the 'left' variant of the rules which is rumoured to improve things.

The Bloody Inn: Another competitive innkeeper game, and certainly better than Polterfass. I'm developing a taste for games where each resource - in this case cards - could be used in multiple ways, but where only one can be chosen.

Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Secrets: This was the first time that I'd played this expansion. I'm not sure that it adds anything to what is a very good game to start with. It seemed to me that the obvious strategy now was to collect swans, so I did and won handily.

Codenames: This is rapidly moving towards becoming the game that I have played the most. It's a very amusing game whatever the mix within the teams, but not having much in common with other players is a real handicap to winning; and yes that is a reference to me being much older than everyone else. We also tried a variant using the cards from Dixit. It was better than Dixit, but not an improvement on Codenames. I wouldn't bother again.

Elysium: I was glad to see this back on the table. It's a good game that had got lost because of the temptations of the shiny and new.

Game of Trains: This has very little - in fact nothing - to do with trains. Instead it's an abstract, card sorting game and much to my taste.

The Grizzled: That rarity, a cooperative game that I like. Players are French soldiers in the trenches of WW1 (although the theme isn't terribly deep) and must together complete a missions and survive to the end of the war. We lost miserably, and I saw no real prospect of ever winning, but I'd be delighted to play again and be proved wrong.

Guillotine: When played last month this normally reliable filler fell completely flat.

Hanabi: n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-nineteen

Isle of Skye: Good game, with the variable victory conditions really adding to replayability. One of this month's games represented what was, I think, the first time I'd played it with four people. It made it harder to see what tiles were up for sale, but otherwise didn't slow it down too much. The winning strategy seems to be to concentrate on end-game scoring (especially with scrolls within completed areas) rather than scoring heavily each round. I suppose what I'm really saying is that I think that the catch up mechanism is a bit too strong so one may as well take advantage of it by lagging behind during the game and saving one's powder for the end.

Jenga: Seriously, Jenga, and very good it was too

The Manhattan Project: Enjoyable worker placement game on the soft and fluffy theme of developing weapons of mass destruction. I suspect that the winning strategy is always no aircraft, uranium only and will only fail when confronted by irrationally aggressive players.

Power Grid: I'd never played this before and for some reason had it in mind that it was a really heavy and complex game. In fact whilst it is on the long side it's fairly straightforward. It's an accounting game - I won, tied in fact - but very well designed and rewarding of sensible investment decisions. Despite enjoying it I don't think I'll play again; it's too much like the day job.

Skull: Always good

Survive: Escape from Atlantis!: There is such great pleasure to be had in sinking someone's boat with a sea monster. This is best played showing no mercy.

Ticket to Ride: Europe: This is such a good game, often and unfairly overlooked because it's a bit old now, and it's trains etc etc.

Titan Race: My companions kept finding parallels with Mario Kart but as I've never played any games on a games console at all, ever I can't comment. It's not up to much as a board game.

Wars are poor chisels

“Tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.”- Aeschylus

 

Robert Kennedy would have been ninety last month. He famously quoted different words from Aeschylus, his favourite poet - the politicians of today, as I have mentioned before, don't have quite the same heft as those of my youth - when extemporaneously delivering a eulogy to Martin Luther King Jr.; words that would appear on his own tomb a tragically short time afterwards. He also played a key, behind the scenes, role in averting war during the Cuban missile crisis.

I would hope that MPs from all parties will bear in mind his words and actions whilst discharging their responsibilities.

"Are we like the God of the Old Testament, that we in Washington can decide which cities, towns, and hamlets in Vietnam will be destroyed? Do we have to accept that? I don't think we do. I think we can do something about it. "

"We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of all. We must admit in ourselves that our own children’s future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled nor enriched by hatred or revenge."

"I think back to what Camus wrote about the fact that perhaps this world is a world in which children suffer, but we can lessen the number of suffering children, and if you do not do this, then who will do this?"

                      - Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy