Merry Xmas

First off, the two parts of Christmas Carnage '23, as recorded by Jim Johnson of Sitrep Podcast:

We did not have an end-of-year Regatta. Instead, we tore Das Krieg Haus apart.

No photos, sadly, because the result is indescribable. Basically, our landlady has learned that our wooden mezzanine - indeed everything of wood, including the tables - is unsafe unless built by competent and licensed builders, which they weren't. So we spent a busy Saturday disassembling the clubhouse into a stack of wood, to be removed to the dump, and several stacks of models and terrain, some of which have also been removed to the dump or intended for sale. The rent is also going up, to a bit over a thousand USD a month.

Until Das Krieg Haus was a thing, the club met in members' garages and living rooms, and there was no general storage space. If we have to go back to everyone carting their stuff around for games, there will be fewer games and fewer players at each. (South Florida is big, and driving around it is hell.) So a meeting was held, and some thought given to better organization and greater dues. The plan is to buy folding tables and deep metal shelves - possibly to even have open gaming at several smaller tables rather than the massive clashes we normally have.

I was "voluntold" as Librarian, for obvious reasons. Ah, well. If I have to do the job, I'm happier sorting game supplies and books than managing a department or branch, which is why as of tommorrow I'm transferring to another branch where my responsibilities will be (somewhat) less. More crowded, though - the branch has an open plan and the work area is under construction, so I won't be storing as much useful supplies there as I'd like. My supervisors have expressed willingness to let me run games for the kids, so we'll see how that goes. Most likely I will run them for appropriate historical anniversaries - the 180th of Olustee is coming up, and right in the middle of Black History Month, too.

I brought a complete Games Workshop "Warhammer Alliance" set with me and picked up a couple family board games - the DnD stuff will remain at my old branch for my interested coworkers to make use of. I'm undecided whether to get into the new edition, given Hasbro's poor reputation at present. Will probably pick up copies of the 5th edition starter sets if the local teens seem interested, but I still prefer simpler "one-page" games when I can run them. The catch is that building a regular group really requires "regular" rules that the players are at least passingly familiar with. So if I don't do DnD, Warhammer may work better if I can get away with using it.

A few of the games I'm bringing to my new branch.

I also took home a couple things from the club collection:

Some more foam hills. These are higher than
the ones I bought from Amazon. The more
the merrier for a Northwest Frontier game!

Foam "seascape" boards. My home table
can only handle six, but I got talked into
sixteen. Well, might use 'em at work too.

Finally, I've finished all the paper minis I need to run a Leuthen scenario. Will probably try that next weekend.

Center - paper heavy cavalry. Sides: Wofun troops and
paper commanders. Bottom: Paper Leuthen Church buildings.

Thanks for reading, this year and always. Here's hoping your gaming in the New Year is creative and fun. Best wishes!