Well, we had a good run. I was far more active when I had more time, but for some years I have had a job (mirabile dictu! - that's Latin for "remarkable to recount") and been a member of a gaming club, both of which have absorbed (and continue to take up) a lot of my time.
I'm an intermittent user of Instagram, where you can generally see small metal or plastic things covered in paint, not me covered in an ill-fitting bikini, as seems to be the style. No judgement, mind. I just don't fancy my chances in a bikini. Anyway: https://www.instagram.com/pvandewaal/
What am I up to these days when it comes to gaming?
- 28 mm Stargrave is a regular feature. I have far too many of Northstar's plastic kits to ever field them all!
- 28 mm and 1/72 Black Powder Napoleonics is a surprising feature here. I have long been grumpy about IGO-UGO games (and we've recently begun modifying BP to address this deficiency - perceived defeiciency?). However, it has the merit of simplicity...most of the time. Every couple of turns there's an absolutely baffling rules question that cannot be resolved by referring to the rulebook, causing us to roll a die or me, as umpire, to proclaim the ol' Verbum Dei (Latin for word of God) from atop Mount Ararat or wherever is more convenient. Shako 2 has also shown up a bit. How did these things happen? Well, I had a load of 1/72 minis from the '90s, and then we had a Pandemic just when some friends were supposed to be visiting, so I bought some Austrians and painted them so we could play online. The rest, as the cliché goes, is history.
- Remembering to translate Latin for people. Theory of Mind is worth a gander. Pre-autism diagnosis I used to assume folks'd know what I meant. In parallel, many people did assume (and many still do) that I know what they mean and vice-versa. It's cost me a few friendships, that. But isn't that life? Is that really gaming, though, Pete? Mm, well, let's say that clarity of communication has been a problem for commanders throughout history, thereby pretending to have answered the question, despite not doing so.
- I have a bunch of ACW stuff in my plans. Altar of Freedom by Greg of Little Wars TV fame has seen a run-out in 6 mm. Black Powder's ACW variant, Glory, Hallelujah! will see a 15 mm campaign shortly, I hope. Sharp Practice is bound for some 28 mm ACW and Napoleonic adventures.
- A truly crazy assortment of RPGs has pushed its way into my life. Since joining the club of which I am part, a truly adorable band of the sweetest people has clasped me to its heart. There have been piratical swashbucklings, dungeoneering and dragooning, adopting polar owlbears, vanquishing attic (not Attic, i.e. Athenian) ghosts, and many, many more. That Lovecraft fellow still cannot - IMO - write worth a dam, but other people can read him into a state where he's entertaining. The Lunar Empire is something of which I was formerly unaware, but which is now surprisingly visceral in my noggin!
Please do drop us a line on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1722201707792309 - if you fancy popping along of a Thursday to a spot in Congleton in south Cheshire (and arguably north Staffordshire). While we are mad, we are also pleasing company. :)
