Active April to Slow May

Not much as been happening hobby-wise since the Nerd Fest convention. Between finishing school and home life, I've very little other than prime some figures. Most of what I've been doing is cleaning. I've probably mentioned this before, but my wife ordered a major cleaning frenzy. We have too much junk. Of course, when I tell her I am taking this or that to the Salvation Army, I get from her, "No-no-no! We need to keep that!" Ugh! Most of the stuff is either junk she bought at a garage sale, or clothes (her's, my daughter's, or my son's). One moment its get rid of it all, the next is must not part it. We have a big community next Saturday and I hope we can sell of a bunch of stuff.

I was pretty good about spending up to about the last two, or three weeks ago. Here's a few things I got. I apologize for the crappy pictures. Adobe Photoshop spoiled me. MS Paint is worthless.

First up, Battle Cry board game.

I've read so many things through other blogs about this system. My gaming buddy Will, was going to hold a nano-convention at this house this weekend, and I thought that would be a good excuse to buy it. A friend of his had some old SPI games that I was itching to play again, but it fell through for this weekend. At least this gives me time to learn how to play it.

Next, The Kaiser's Battlefleet: German Capital Ships 1871-1918 by Aidan Dodson.

I've always like ship drawings and lately, I've been building up a library of these various sorts of books. I had a lot of Amazon.com points on my credit card, so I thought, why not? The drawings are a little small, so they lack a lot of the detail such as ship's boats. For ship making purposes, that is a help, What it has is fewer of are the top views. Otherwise, it looks like a good book.

Third, is The Fred Jane Naval War Game (1906) including the Royal Navy's Wargaming Rules (1921).

This is one of John Curry's History of Wargaming Project books. This might be another "fun" sort of game to play at Nerd Fest, or Will's gaming convention (if or when he has it). After reading Curry's chapter in the book below, I might also get his reprinting of Fletcher Pratt's rules. I have a copy, but there is some expanded material based on Pratt's and others' unpublished notes concerning the game.

Last is Zones of Control: Perspectives on Wargaming edited by Pat Harrigan and Matthew Kirschenbaum.

From what I've read so far, its pretty interesting. Being a history buff, the chapters on gaming history are very enlightening. The sections of the book are divided up into specific topics, but its not always clear why a particular chapter is in a particular section. Some of the chapters read a little more like promotions of an author's game. I also noticed that a number of the authors are seem a little condescending when it comes to miniature gaming. Its a little hypocritical to look down on miniature gaming but then essentially confess that Advanced Squad Leader and some others are basically miniature games!  Nonetheless, its a good book and worth the read. Its a scholarly publication, but its not as dense as Phillip Sabin's Simulating War, which is a good book but a tougher read.