Under the Weather

     "So, where were you?" the voice on the telephone asked. Andy called to kid me about my absence from the Hamilton Road Games Group on Saturday. Temperatures of -8C, 15cm of snow, and my condition of feeling lousy kept me away from the club. Still the gaming went on. My son, Robby hosted DJ and Tyler for a Disposable Heroes game in our front room. Americans and Canadians vs. Germans on the big table. Tyler wanted to try out his design for the 1st Special Service Force (the "Devil's Brigade" or the "Black Devils"), the mixed American/Canadian unit that surprised everyone in the Italian Theatre. DJ likes his armoured infantry battalion. Robby tried Germans for a change, but ended up on the short end of the stick. He did have a good time, he told me. ... and DJ bought lunch!
     Me, I was asleep in the family room, my body wracked with... yeah, I don't care either. I'm fine today.
On to the photos!



The Pzkw. IV and 251 halftrack nose into the town square.



DJ's M3 halftrack carry Tyler's M1 infantry into the town square.
The cooperated a lot.



DJ's Sherman and infantry but Tyler's HMG.




DJ's halftracks take cover beside the big church. He uses the Quad .50
mount as his command track. Someday he won't and we're all going to hide.



Canadian troops in a house with a removable roof. DJ served with the
Royal Regiment of Canada during his service time in Germany and Cyprus.

Tyler's Forcemen hitch a ride on DJ's Churchill.
Looks like a float in the Rose Parade.



Robby's Hetzer and infantry troops. Since the game took place at our house,
 all the terrain came from our storage. Some days I'm amazed at what we've got.





















     According to Robby, they beat him badly, but everybody enjoyed themselves which is what really counts. DJ and Tyler may have cooperated more than the rules permit, but what of it? Everybody enjoyed the game. I think that troops mounted in vehicle need to have the vehicles remain close by rather than serving as "battle buses" for other un-mounted troops, but I wasn't there to rain on their parade. Here is a good example of how players agreeing on something not so kosher according to the rules makes the game run smooth. If everybody agrees, why not? The rule writers won't come to confiscate the rules; we paid for 'em, they're our's. That how it works.
     I think that the next big thing at the club will be a War of 1812 "mission game". Robby and I are working on some new random encounters. We need a change from the bear-and-brigands encounters we've been doing. (I personally would love to introduce aliens and other weird stuff, but I won't. That for another day with the Pulp fiction game.) Next week, probably more WWII.
     On another tack, here's a photo of Robby in his WWI gear as a medical orderly attached to the PPCLI (Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry) for the WWI education day last fall. Our reenacting group works with a larger WWI group to put on an education day for a number of local schools. The students come to the site and are taken through a number of stations in which they find out about gas warfare, tunneling, women on the home front, close-order drill, grenade throwing, and other topics. The sites are run by reenactors in period uniforms. {I wish I had the chance to learn history this way... but NO! I had to read books and listen to lectures!} Anyway, here's our boy in full gear.