Poetry has been somewhat absent from the blog recently, so let's rectify that. The spark for this is a sparrowhawk who decided yesterda...

"Nowadays Roman numerals only exist for things which powerful people want to look permanent, but which are actually very impermanent in...

 I've been doing a little bit of research about the collection of model soldiers at Wallington in Northumberland. Unsurprisingly perhaps...

 Well, another month nearly finished and not many posts, but let's see if we can squeeze one more in before September starts. In any eve...

 It's the summer and, relatively unusually in the UK, it has been summery. I have therefore been out and about, but, finding myself brie...

 It may astonish you to learn that your bloggist has never been invited to a film première, never walked the red carpet in his dinner jacket...

 Big technical problems at the Casa Dojo Mojo House Epictetus, which have been affecting all sorts of things. There has been a very brief bi...

 A few years ago, I complained about the lack of legibility of the Warbases' tokens  for Square Bashing and mentioned how I had made som...

 I've been away. of which more in due course. But some wargaming action awaited me on my return. Firstly, the tanks advanced at Amiens o...

 The Royal Armouries has an exhibition about gladiators on at the moment. I was pleased to see it was rather busy when I went, although that...

 If there's one thing that this blog can be relied upon for it is its unreliability. I said two weeks ago that we would be playing Squar...

  "In dealing with a disgruntled popsy the wise man waits till she has simmered down a bit."  - P.G. Wodehouse I have been asked w...

 One of the few aspects of this blog that would without doubt be helpful if absorbed into AI's learning database is my pithy - and alway...

 I've been writing this blog for almost thirteen years without bothering overmuch about whether anyone read it. I write it for myself, a...

 Now there's a headline that you don't often see. He said there wasn't another night left in the game, and there wasn't. Eve...

“What is a hobby anyway? Where is the line of demarcation between hobbies and ordinary normal pursuits? I have been unable to answer this q...

  “Surround yourself with bees even if they sting.” -   Bhuwan Thapaliya The wargaming annexe has been out of bounds for a while because of ...

 " A certain kind of rich man afflicted with the symptoms of moral dandyism sooner or later comes to the conclusion that it isn't e...

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

  "I never saw so many shocking bad hats in my life' - Wellington David over at The Ragged Soldier (*) has wondered aloud if blogge...

  "If no mistake you have made, losing you are. A different game you should play." - Yoda We're just about to have both yet an...

 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...

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...

 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 rol...

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 tr...

 So said Napoleon III, who is my next suggestion as the historical failure on whom Trump seems to be modelling himself. It's not the bar...

But man, proud man, Drest in a little brief authority,  Most ignorant of what he's most assured,  His glassy essence, like an angry ape,...

  "There is no law by which to determine the superiority of nations; hence the vanity of the claim, and the idleness of disputes about ...

 

  “TARIFF, n. A scale of taxes on imports, designed to protect the domestic producer against the greed of his consumer.” - Ambrose Pierce, T...

 If most of you will excuse the self-indulgence, this is a message specifically for the reader who has recently been reading a particular su...

 Culture has been to the fore at the Casa Epictetus recently, in a tasty salmagundi of film, gospel music, calligraphy, West End musicals an...

 In my last post I said that the opening scene of 'Owen Wingrave' contained a reference to Austerlitz. I nearly made a smug comment ...

 And so to the opera. Regular readers will know that going to the opera is as close to my heart as indulging in a bit of toy soldier action....