The end is nigh ...

Well, the end of the year, anyway... and so it was a week of lighter games, the first a HotT with Jon, and the second the annual 'Snoopy's Christmas' games night hosted by Keith, in which we play games of Wings of War/Wings of Glory .. both evenings were enormous fun. 

The HotT game saw spiders vs pirates... the spiders were ever victorious

And then ....

Swirling dogfights ...

... and some balloon busting

The power of a book

My reading material has always been reasonably eclectic. Over this last week I completed reading Les Carlyon's work 'Gallipoli', an extensive and almost lyrical piece of historical writing which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I picked up a 2010 collection of poems by NZ'er Brian Turner (some beautiful work), and began reading that, and also looked around for another 'what next'. My eyes settled on this:

It's one of the few books from my childhood that I had chosen to keep. It was a Christmas gift from my parents (oops .. I mean, from Santa, of course), and I may have been around 10 years old ('ish) when I received it. I recall reading it numerous times as a youngster, and being inspired by it every time. Opening the pages and beginning this re-reading was much like meeting up once more with a long time friend with whom you hadn't met face to face for many years.

W.E. Johns has a lot to answer for, in my case. His inspiration went on to inspire a life long interest in World War 1, especially at a time when amongst our wargames colleagues it was definitely 'persona non grata', and also a lifelong fascination with WW1 aviation. I would read endlessly about WW1 aircraft, model them in plastic, and be attracted in some way shape or form with how to how to 'game aerial combat.

My parents were reasonably pacifist in their leanings, and I have often wondered if they realised how they were indirectly responsible for my interest in military history, an unintended consequence of their thoughtful gift-giving. My father was an avid model maker, although in wood and metal, not plastic, and his work also inspired the model maker in me.

More generally I find it fascinating to ponder where our inspiration comes from for our human interests in general, and our specific military/'gaming interests specifically. Something just fires in our imagination, doesn't it. To my parents, I have much to be grateful for.

Another morning at the office

It was a varied morning for the boys who war game at College.

Four of them fought across the skies above Germany in 1943, P51s trying to clear the skies of the ever present Fw190s in preparation for the arrival of the bomber waves.

Sadly the Fw 190s were piloted by some of the Reich's best, and the P51s were driven from the skies.

Meanwhile another two boys battled across a 40K table, Tau on Tau ...

The dominant them of the morning was laughter and fun. You can't ask more than that.
It was another Saturday morning at the office, but that's how we roll at College.

A little more Wings of Glory

Last Friday we reprised our previous Wings of Glory efforts. This time I was using my newly arrived purchases. The first gam saw the Hanriot D1 take to the air.. and I managed to  .. explode'.

In the second game my beloved Sopwith Triplane carried me skyward. I delightfully manoeuvrable wee beastie .. and I managed to explode a second time.

We then tried our hand at a WW2 game using Keith's aircraft. Another great game in which a number of subtle differences to the mechanisms made a very different game, faster and deadlier.

I piloted one of the Zeros

The opposition came in the shape of a couple of Wildcats

Yep, if you were one of the Wildcat pilots you'd be a little concerned to be in this position.

You can find a better write up, and some more great photos,. on Keith's blog.

Not sure if it needs to be said or not, but .. I have now ordered the WW2 version of the game as well, and some accompanying aircraft. Such is our hobby!!!