Here's for a better week

A new dawn and let's hope a better week with no hidden surprises.

I now have time on my hands again of an evening and am looking at my Bolt Action terrain again, my friend Colin at Charlie Foxtrot Models threw a few little out buildings in with my last order and I duly painted them up as forgotten and unloved garden sheds etc. I decided this was not enough and they needed some basing, having some plasticard lying around I set too, nothing too over the top, simply a base of sharp sand, painted in Flat Earth and drybrushed Gold Brown and Dark Sand, a little concoction courtesy of Matt at Wargames Table, and a smattering of Late Summer Grass. A little more was required of course so out came the grass tufts and a few things from the odd pile, oil drum, tyre, barrel and sack. I am going to put all my houses on bases and want to do a couple of garden bases to fit at the back or side but for this I need to get to a show and pick up some 'veg' and anything else you might find in a garden, barrow, bicycle etc. I have looked online but not found anything I like yet.

My son and a friend are coming over and up for a weekend of wargaming, it was supposed to be the week after when the missus was away but the two of them got it wrong and there isn't a court in the land which would listen to their side of the story, so this weekend it is.

I am introducing Dave to the American Civil War with Johnny Reb rules on the Saturday, I have chosen the battle of Cool Springs, it is a Confederate attack on a Union bridgehead across the Shenandoah River in 1864. The game is big enough to be aesthetically pleasing but not too big that we will not finish it in one sitting nor is it too big to overwhelm a new player, they will be Rebs and I will be the good guys. If we finish this between banter and beer then I have a three way Dead Man's Hand game waiting in the wings.

Believe it or not on the Sunday it is Dave's turn to be the teacher and he is introducing, wait for it, Warhammer Ancient Battles! You will probably know that this was a phenomenally successful set of rules which now that I know more about it, most of my War and Conquest mates are ex-WAB players, I am sorry I missed. The game imploded with the introduction of the Second Version which was universally dismissed and the community disappeared almost overnight, hence the birth of Clash of Empires and War and Conquest which have never caught on to the same degree.

Anyway Dave has gone back to WAB and with his unbounded enthusiasm is trying to once again build up a core of players and is trying to organise a tournament in August next year, if you are interested look here. So, in the spirit of tit for tat and curiosity he will play my son on Sunday morning and me after I serve up a full Scottish breakfast, defibrillator standing by. My son is using his Carolingians as Western Franks, I will have Romano-British Civitates and Dave is bringing Scots-Irish, Dave has never beat an Anderson before so he is looking forward to it. My army will be typical, a core of household troops, backed up by militia with a small unit of cavalry and one or two skirmish units.

Although WAC is my rule choice for my Dark Age and Ancient battles it will be interesting to play its parent system and especially against Dave, roll on the weekend.