Well here I am. Today was the 11th anniversary of my relatively mild heart attack and I'm in better health now than I was before it. Part of me thinks its time to let it go but part of me still thinks its a good idea to remember.
Anyway, despite Covid, its been a good year with almost as many non-solo games as usual except that they were all video-chat games. I expect a few local games by fall.
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| Today's game came to me from Delaware, USA: MacDuff in the Not Quite Seven Years War. (Oh alright, Rob and I fought to a draw. A small game with big figures, somehow that's become my favourite style. How did that happen?) |
The original idea was to use this annual post to look at what I plan to focus on over the next year but rather oddly for me, I'm quite happy to just keep doing what I'm doing and to continue pimping up my troops and terrain, adding a few bits and pieces here and there. At least I think I have now accepted my new preference for smaller armies of larger toy soldiers as a regular feature, with the occasional bigger battle with smaller, model figures to remind me that I was once a serious historical wargamer at times.
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| It was the end of June, nine years ago that I first started thinking about using 54mm figures in units of 4 infantry and 3 cavalry on a 4" hex. Apparently it still seems like a good idea to me. |
OK, enough babbling, on to the game waiting on the table!
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| The counter attack! |
>A small game with big figures, somehow that's become my favourite style. How did that happen?
ReplyDelete...Far-sightedness and late-onset Parkinson's both rerequiring larger figures? Thanks be to Allah that dementia and Alzheimer's is staved off for a few more years(!).
Well the big figures came in 30yrs ago when the eyes still worked and I'm still happy with 20mm so something else is at play there. The small table started as a temporary measure to make room and now I suspect its partly a convenience for an old lazy guy and partly the haiku like challenge.
DeleteCongratulations for ticking off another year on the old ticker. Year #9 since my big event was in July.
ReplyDeleteHere's to many more years for both of us!
DeleteGlad your still about posting pics of toy soldiers , Cheers Tony
ReplyDeleteThanks Tony, me too!
Delete‘A small game with big figures’ - Amen to that!
ReplyDeleteHere is to continued good health and much dice rolling and pondering rules and casting and pondering and pondering and either winning or losing, as it doesn’t matter :-)
Another year of gaming and going forward, congratulations!
ReplyDeleteNice pictures, well done!
ReplyDeleteRoss Mac,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your anniversary … and here’s to many, many more!
Small games with large figures … perhaps that is something that I should consider as I get older, but present,u I’m concentration on small games with small (15mm and 20mm) figures.
All the best,
Bob
Its a good time of life to stick with what you've got.
DeleteRoss,
ReplyDeleteIt is great your 11 years ahead of your heart attack and doing well- yes, it is important to remember how things were back then. I'm just over a year since open heart surgery- quadruple bypass- things are not perfect- may see the Cardio people soon...most days I do not do anything -tend to sleep a lot and do nothing strenuous- my heart beats rather hard which concerns me- it comes and goes...anyways I'm very glad your well there Ross and enjoying your Toy Soldiers to the max. Hopefully one day I can build my model railway. Regards. KEV.
You'll get there Kev, meanwhile enjoy the dreamin and imagining.
DeleteThanks Ross for the Well Wishes.
DeleteDelighted that you are still with us and better than before. I only differ with you on your claim that you were _once_ a serious wargamer.
ReplyDeleteMike, that's because you didn't know me then. Deadly serious competition player, picky about uniform details and accuracy and on and on. I'm much happier and less serious now.
DeleteYou had relaxed a bit by the time I first met you in the mid-/late-‘90’s. :D
DeleteHeck he'd relaxed by the time I started gaming with him in 1980! The uniform accuracy and wanting to get historical accuracy i remember, but always balanced by figure availability and rules playability.
DeleteYeah, Nova Scotia gamers were a good influence on me. Then there was that Austerlitz game we ran at Dal when I had that brilliant but disasterous plan that instead of artificial c&c restrictions, we'd put all the veteran players on the French side and the rookies on the Austro Russian side without even explaining. Luckily I've had plenty of practice at learning from my mistakes.
DeleteCongrats on the Milestone Ross.
ReplyDeleteNot so much remember, as reflect on the impact of it?
ReplyDeleteAnd celebrate where I am now really, a bit of "lest we forget" to it.
Delete"continue pimping up my troops and terrain, adding a few bits and pieces here and there."
ReplyDeleteSounds to me like a sound annual plan to me! And an appropriate occasion to pause to appreciate the things that are good.
Just so!
ReplyDeleteSounds good all around! Here's to continued good health! Your games, minis, terrain, all look great and fun.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your 11th! May there be many more. As for the small battles with large figures, I say "Huzzah!" When I think of all the scales I painted/gamed with, the larger scales always seem to be the most fun. I look forward to your continued musings, photos, and ideas as related in your blog!
ReplyDeleteHurrah!…
ReplyDeleteHere’s to many more years of playing with shiny toy soldiers…
All the best. Aly