Looted vehicles??

First wargame in 6 weeks, and a welcome relief after 4 weeks of post earthquake inertia.

Andy, Adrian and I played a 40K, Andy and I commanded Orks against Adrian's Eldar. No photos, but one of those revelations from an occasional 40K player... Ork Looted Vehicles.

Took one wth a Boom gun.. is it just me or are these incredibly good value for the points? The game lasted 6 turns, and the Boom gun inflicted casualites in 4 out of the 5 turns it fired (in one case a LOT of casualties). Maybe I was just lucky?

Tonight, my first DBR game in 15 years, a condensed scale game with Keith... I'll take some photos, because my Royalists are feeling miffed that they haven't appeared on this blog yet... sorry boys!!!

100 years war???

Just thought this Larry Leadhead was priceless..

Odd ideas...

We have just unpacked a battery powered emergency or camping light. Lorraine had ordered it a few weeks before the big earthquake, and apparently it arrived at her work on the day of the quake. It has sat there for 3 weeks. We could have done with it when huddled around candles for 2 weeks.

So anyway, as we unpacked it in the glare of modern electrical lights (we got electricity back on a week ago.. woohoo), my first sense of excitement arose not with the lamp but with the packing around the lamp (odd I guess, but 40+ years as a 'gamer leaves scars!!).

While I'm not a regular WH40K 'gamer, I have an eye for material that can create scenery for the 40K table top, and this was it!!!

Proton accelerator? Imperial Guard research facility? I reckon that the usual treatment with a spray can, and a dry brush, with a few accessories, might do the trick. However I have a habit of acquiring this stuff, then throwing it out 5 years later.. watch this space.

Post 'quake reconstruction

Seems frivolous in the light of more recent events in Japan, but in Christchurch we are all still grappling with the job of reconstructing our lives, lives that will never be the same again, as lives have been lost, and the material fabric of our city has been torn apart. However for each of us there are small things that psychologically make a difference.

For me, after just under 4 weeks I finally got the courage to get into the 'games room and start the cleanup. So far so good. While boxes of figures had been turned every which way, the actiual damage appears to be far less than I'd feared.

Here is a look inside the box of Dwarves (GW 28mm for WFB).

This has been typical of the boxes. However the figures by and large have been in pretty good shape. I spent half an hour last night 'untangling' the 15mm Royalists. The only damage was a rider off a horse, two standards requiring regluing to their figures, and one figure broken off at the ankles. All have been repairable with a dose or two of superglue.

I feel able to face my hobby again. Now I just need to overcome the enormous sense of lethargy that at times overwhelms me, and play some games. One day at a time, one step at a time ...

The Great Adventure

In case anyone is trying to access my web site 'The Great Adventure', dedicated to World War 1 and the Great War Spearhead wargames rules, the site is unavailable at the moment as the server is off line following the Christchurch earthquake. I'll let everyone know when we are back up and running.
Thanks for your patience.

Rifleman Bowlby

As part time earthquake refugees we found oursleves at my Brother-in-Law's house for a shower one evening last week. They invited us to stay the night (an offer which we were quick to take up... life is pretty fraught in our part of the city right now, 13th day without power or water and all that) and so there I was with nothing to read.

In my Brother-in-Law's library was the book 'The Recollections of Rifleman Bowlby' by Alex Bowlby (1969 ISBN 0-304-35243-8). Bowlby was an interesting person, an English public school graduate who enlisted in and joined the Rifles just as they came out of the desert in 1943. He opted to remain a Rifleman, making fun of the officer selection process in order to remain in the ranks.

His story is that of a man who met many of the terrrors of war and yet seemed destined never to fire his rifle in anger as the Rifles fought their way through Italy. The book describes numerous 'actions' in which he was involved, including many fighting and recce patrols. It is interspersed with descriptions of numerous humorous incidents that occured long the way.

One of his biggest psychological scars appears to have been created when he was invalided back to a base hospital with illness, during which time his battalion was involved in an attack in which many of his best mates lost their lives. He concludes with chapter describing his return to Italy after the war as a man carrying his share of survivor guilt, and the cathartic effect of his almost accidental stumbling upon the graves of some of the men he had fought alongside, men who had lost their lives in the dreadful attack that he had missed.

The book is well written and entertaining (it isn't difficult to see in his real life narrative some elements that one would have thought could only have been invented for an Evelyn Waugh novel). Thoroughly recommended.

Shell shocked...

If you are breathing then you have most likely been aware of the catastrophic Christchurch earthquake. If you live in the city, then you will be feeling the effects of what has been a sustained 6 month barrage of 'quakes that began on 4 September 2010. The people are fragile  (myself included) as one aftershock after another hits us.

My own extended family has been fortunate to have suffered no death or injury in the most recent (22 February) 'quake that has truly devastated the city. But the nerves jangle, and every rumble, every creak of the house, sets you on edge. The rumbling is now more often from heavy trucks that remove the massive amounts of liquefaction from our own street (although as I write yet another aftershock has hit the city).

At 32 houses, our quiet cul-de-sac is tiny, yet a front end loader is now in its third day of shifting the huge amounts of silt that we have dug out from our properties. The loader driver guestimated 200-300 tonnes of silt in our street, and across the city they suggest 150000 tonnes of the stuff. It stinks!!!

The 'quake made quite a mess of the house and contents.

This was out pantry ...

And this is one view of the mayhem wrought in the 'games room.

Lorraine got in there and tidied a few things, but I haven't yet found the heart to take a look myself.

But at the same time at least we still have a habitable house. Too may have lost their houses, and too many lost their lives.

So we are  into our second week post 'quake, and in our area we are still without power, water, or sewer.... I can't help feeling a new found affinity for the civilians who suffered in devastated cities in World War 2 .. Our own suburban area is a mess, no services, military helicopters regularly circling overhead - periodicaly we need to assure ourselves that we aren't just sitting through a very bad movie.

We are all just a bit shell shocked I suspect.

If you feel that you can help our city, there is the opportunity to donate to the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal