Tired, just reading

The last couple weeks have been exhausting. It's election season, so my schedule is wacky - different days, coming in early, staying late. We also had a huge Halloween program - successful as usual, but a lot of hard work building a haunted house. I've been coming home and not wanting to game. After tonight, I'll be working seven days straight. Even under normal circumstances, it takes a little gumption for me to set a game and get playing. Maybe that's why I lean towards reading.

I've been hoping to run my Battery Wagner scenario at work, mostly because the model I built is not in the best shape and I want to use it before I lose it. My office is shared and crowded with assorted books, crafts and supplies, so the model keeps getting tossed around. Unfortunately, I'm missing the minis I assembled for it. Not even sure whether they're at work or home - I'm keeping an eye out for the foam sandwich-box I placed them in. My best bet of finding them again is to re-assemble the army, of course... I have time if I decide to run the game in February for Black History Month. Or did I separate them by side and put them in smaller boxes? Can't remember.

I worked at running a game of Bundok and Bayonet but keep finding excuses to put it off. Not enough light; too many cats; not enough dice. I do want to get it done in part because next post is my hundredth and it would seem appropriate. We'll see. Instead, I'll inflict my bibliophilia on the reader.

• I own a copy of the US Navy Bluejackets' Manual, issue 1943. An original printing, with 1,100+ Bible-thin pages, stains, and the original owner's name stamped inside the cover (WEINER M). It is not the sort of book to read straight through, but I'm doing it. Unlike other wartime books I've handled, it's not dry and crumbly, and quite small enough to handle easily. Currently in the early pages, which focus on discipline. I find it interesting that they state (two years before Nuremberg): "It is possible for an order to be unlawful bt it is not lawful for you to refuse to obey such an order." They weasel around this by pointing out that being directed to "compound a felony" or perform a criminal act would be an "abomination" to the Navy and you wouldn't be charged in a court-martial if you refused... 

        The next section is on service schools and self-improvement, and ships' libraries are briefly    mentioned. There was even an interlibrary loan service by which books (generally educational ones) could be sent out to ships for use.

• Driving to and from work, I've re-listened to The Hobbit, one of my favorites. As the genesis of much of fantasy gaming, there is a lot of inspiration and pure atmosphere to be found in it. And, as a children's book, it is simply charming and engaging.
• Wargaming 19th Century Europe, 1815-1878, by Neil Thomas, is eye-opening. I haven't been that interested in his rules, but his overview of the period and well-considered reviews of battles are useful for someone who hasn't looked at it before. When it comes to the 19th century, I've always focused either on the American Civil War or the colonial aspects of European armies. So while I don't expect to play (though the suggestion of small tables is tempting) I've learned quite a bit. I can understand now the appeal, for example, of the wars in Italy to Jon Freitag at the Palouse Wargaming Journal. Even if I want to try playing, though, I haven't the right miniatures - the closest I've got are the Little Wars Paperboys, which can provide Franco-Prussian War figures more suited to skirmish.
• Right now listening to a 40K novel, Dark Imperium. I haven't played 40K in ages and have been a bit dismayed by the changes in lore, but the novel (which covers the return of a ten-millenia-dead icon of the story) helps a little. I've always been more interested in story than gameplay anyway, and some of the available fiction is good in its own right, with no apologies for it being tie-in fiction. I've been talking at work with one of the teens about the Warhammer and 40K worlds, as he plays some of the video games, and it's rekindled my interest, at least to the point of painting and modeling - if I can manage to get that done between everything else! I've even considered joining Games Workshop's library-and-school outreach program, if only to give myself an excuse to run more painting programs. I'd have to promote them more assiduously, though.
• Like Wolves on the Fold, by Mike Snook, is an excellent "sequel" to his book on Isandlwana. In fact, it's more like the second part of a duology, as much of it is actually given over to discussion of "leftover" elements of the Isandlwana story, and other aspects of the war, including a potted overview and a short traveller's guide to the battlefields. I've really enjoyed his writing and will look out for more of it. Like some of my favorite historical writing, it also makes me want to visit Zululand and see the battlefields.
• What else? A Squadron/Signal book on German heavy armored cars and another (reread) on railway artillery. Phillip Bradley's Battle for Shaggy Ridge, a rewrite of an earlier book but excellent, on an obscure battle in New Guinea which, given the terrain, would be fine inspiration for a skirmish campaign. (It also makes me want to look up obscure planes, like the CAC Boomerang and Vultee Vengeance, which saw useful service in this theater but almost nowhere else.)

For my next post, #100, I hope it'll be more interesting than a catalog (heh) of books. If there's anything you'd like to see in future, I could use the suggestions. Have a good weekend, and if you're American, a good Election Day.