Conrad Is Finally Getting Round To 'Crisis Point'
This is Richard's annual weekend where he puts on a series of games, usually focussed around the fictional Black Sea republic of Andreivia, which vaguely sits near Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Traditionally it has been a cross-roads where the Ottoman and Russian empires met and clashed, and the Ruffians have never entirely given up on adding it to their sphere of influence. More prosaically, this nation allows Richard to use all sorts of random kit not normally seen together. For Day One I was the Armenian Andreivian militia commander, along with Matt, facing Ruffian units who were trying to spot and neutralise our artillery. Art!
Two separate battlefields separated by impassable mountains, which are a feature of the Caucasus. The rules were 'Arc Of Fire' which I've not played since last year; I have a copy of the rules but could I find them to refresh my gin-addled memory? No I could not! Art?
Ruffian air support makes it's only effective attack of the game - one of their FAB glide-bombs went so astray it hit the other Andreivian game in the mid-1760s - and you can just see the Ruffian troops and my surviving militia shooting it out from house to house. I considered this to be a tactical victory on my part, as they'd gone to ground and stopped moving forwards, so they weren't going to either spot, capture or destroy my hidden howitzer.
Note the excellent terrain mats here, which give the appearance of a rocky landscape without having to really fill it with rocks, which look good but take ages to collect up afterwards. Also, the camo scheme on the VDV Su-24 was very effective and Andy (Andreivian Government forces) remarked on same at how it blended in.
It wouldn't be Crisis Point without an element of human drama, which in previous years had normally been provided by Conrad and his car. This time it was Mark, who got a call late Friday evening to say that his son (21) had been in a hit-and-run in Sheffield town centre. That took his 'Force On Force' game out of play on Saturday. The damage turned out to be a broken collar-bone with cuts and bruising, which is bad enough if a lot less than it might have been. Police are checking Bus Station cameras to see if they caught anything.
That's the FoF game as it occurred on Sunday. Art!
This is the other game being played on both days, thanks to Scousers Neil and Andy. As you can see, it's 6 mm scale (1/300 if we're being formal) and you have the Honourable Black Sea Trading Company troops at the starboard side, versus the Andreivian levies of the Kingdom of Andreivia. I'm afraid that, on both days, the HBSTC (with apologies to the East India Trading Company) got a proper shoeing, which Sunday event may be blamed on Conrad, who commanded half the force. The rules are 'Maurice', which I'd never heard of, written by Sam Mustafa, whose name is familiar. They are card-driven, a first for me, and you use your cards to either issue orders or carry out Events, so you get the dilemma of either having a unit move or saving a card for a future Event. Andy and Neil didn't bother with all the chrome that comes with the rules to streamline play, but Your Humble Scribe found them quite intuitive. Art!
The rules cover warfare in the horse-and-musket era, for about 100 years from 1680 up to 1790 and the emergence of Napoleonic warfare. If I were to get into these seriously then -
Maybe not.
Once again, the Dungworth Village Hall proved it's suitability for catering, and Conrad brought his cakes, which goes to show as a wargamer I'm one heck of a baker. Richard also introduced me to a variety of his family stew, which I may go and test once I've posted this.
Look What An Effort I Made!
It being Spring has meant flowers blooming, which is more usually the province of Wonder Wifey, who beautifies The Mansion's exterior with potted plants. Conrad, as we all know, possesses all the poetry of a bag of cement and considers flowers a pretty poor investment as they make for poor eating. Art!
That's the view down Tandle Hill Road now that the cherry trees are all in blossom. I had to take this photo now because they'll be bloomless in a couple of weeks at most, possibly earlier if we get stormy weather.
Missing Missing
That's cheating, because I meant 'Missing: The Other Side', of which I have just watched Season Two.
For those of you whom I haven't bored yet, MTOS is about Wook and Jang, who are able to see and interact with the spirits of the undiscovered dead. These spirits hang out in a location and 'move on' i.e. evapourate, if their body is discovered. Art!
There's an awful lot more to it than that, which I won't go into because you need to watch it yourself. 'Twould seem that there is indeed a Season 3, but nothing up on Netflix, which seems to be a couple of years behind the release dates. If it does appear expect Conrad to be briefly happy, or as happy as he gets, which is not much. I may have to go back and rewatch Episode 14 to see if they tie up all the loose ends or left a few for the next season.
This Is What I Am Talking About
Technically, 'typing' about. To what am I referring? O I thought you'd never ask! Art?
We touched on this when covering Dan Snow and his puncturing of military myths about the First Unpleasantness. Take a look at the starboard picture.
Well, for one thing, that photograph is, IIRC, of the Irish Guards during the Third Battle of Ypres, one of the most legendarily awful battles of the First Unpleasantness. What that title refers to is the Battle of the Somme, and specifically to the First Day. There were NOT 57,000 dead, that was the total casualty toll as finally worked out several days later. The death toll was actually 19,000, which is quite bad enough without witless editors mangling the facts.
Over on the "Great War Forum" there were a few speculative posts that the French army might have suffered more than 57,000 casualties in one of the opening battles of their frontier, but I don't know the actual outcome and would have to do more digging to let you know what's what.
Aha! Hang on, hang on -
The bloodiest single day for the French was August 22nd, 1914, where an estimated 27,000 French soldiers were killed. This marked the greatest single loss of life in French military history. The battle also resulted in 67,000 casualties on that day alone.
No further comment needed.
To Finish On A Lighter Note -
Which wouldn't be hard. Brian May, guitarist extraordinaire from Queen and the living image of Sir Isaac Newton, was being praised for his playing, and who was one of the people he modestly declaimed were far better than he was? Art!
When a player as accomplished as Brian tells you whom he holds in high regard, one pays attention. RIP Jeff, you'll be missed.
A relatively lighter note, perhaps.
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