So, About Those Resolutions...

See previous post.

Haven't gotten any of 'em done. Been doing some reading, though.

An old classic.

Ordered this one off Ebay, received it today, and tore thru it (compact for all the info in there). A quick and easy read. I first encountered it on Man of Tin's blog and was intrigued by the simple rules included. The 18th-century ones are far too simple and brief, but the WWII and Ancient ones a touch more complex and interesting. The Ancient rules seem influenced by Tony Bath and nicely dovetail with the Ancient naval rules in Featherstone's Naval Wargames, one of my very favorites of his guides - put the two together and you could have a real campaign! Now that Paperboys has some WWII stuff, I am considering trying the WWII rules in the chapter as well. The rest of the book is pretty outdated. Even in the day I can't imagine that the instructions for molding and painting miniatures would have been all that useful, as they're hard to visualize. But then, I've been spoiled by heavily illustrated guides. There is almost nothing on terrain either, though the book does focus much more on the soldiers than on the "backdrop."

Found a classic old used bookstore in the next county - the sort with narrow aisles, towering dark shelves and that dusty-book smell. Picked up a Ballantine volume on the Messerschmitt 109 written by the prolific aviation author Martin Caidin, a curious pair of small volumes of "War Pictures by British Artists" printed in 1942, and a history of the Northwest Frontier published in 1908 - should be plenty of gaming inspiration in the latter! There were even some "propaganda-adventure" books for children as published during the war years - an entire series about a Women's Army Corps member, and another about a USN air-midshipman in the Everglades. Also an enormous (and tempting) French volume on the history of toy soldiers that included a bit by Featherstone about wargaming. I'll definitely go back.

The author was killed at Gallipolli.

I've also just borrowed Christopher Duffy's Fire and Stone, on siege warfare. His stuff is always good, but this is one I've overlooked. Today on Virtual Wargames Club someone mentioned it contains commentary on wargaming sieges, so I'll check it out.

Organizing/Labeling: Having observed some clear labels in use at my new workplace (we use them in place of stamps or preprinted titles on paperwork) I was leaning toward bringing printer label sheets in and doing that. But today during Virtual Wargames Club someone suggested a label-maker. I'll check tomorrow if the local office store has one I can play with before purchasing.

Monthly Solo Game: Er... well, I have tomorrow free, so I will try to do something. I am leaning toward the Mike Lambo ECW solo; I haven't tried making up the boards with Memoir '44 tiles yet, and that's one reason I bought the latter. Charge! won't work until I do some labeling, and while I thought of trying a Programmed Scenario with TSATF or Bundok and Bayonet, I'm out of practice with the former and have never played the latter. So they may not be the best way of "getting back in the groove."

Library Gaming: While I'm a children's librarian again, the population at my new branch turns out to be overwhelmingly preschool. So gaming won't happen - much. There are a few teens and a busy chess club, so I may try to fit in some gridded games. Not enough to run roleplaying games, though, unless we promote it, and I'm not in the Teen department anymore so that's not really my bailiwick anymore. I've run games before with elementary and middle-schoolers, but there's not enough kids of that age at any given time to play - although the branch actually owns several DnD volumes I'd like to make use of. There's also a "music club," so I get to play folksongs and talk about history on Fridays. In the meantime, I'm still building Paperboys - a US Colored regiment for display during Black History Month, and a 40mm figure of George Washington which might work as a craft for older kids for President's Day. In March will come paper suffragettes.

Painting: None at all. There are the 40K minis, and there are some French Resistance types that would fit in with my VBCW-ish collection. Just need to buckle down on those.

I find that it's the getting started I have the most difficulty with in doing a project - once I actually get off my butt and start, I become absorbed and can keep going for ages. Need to do that tomorrow. Good night, and hope your projects are going better than mine!