AWI production has ground to a halt this week because I’ve run out of bloomin’ 3x3 mdf bases. Doh. Bit of a cock up on the stores front it seems. Fortunately my usually empty diary was filled with a giddy social whirl, which included:
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| Yet another AWI refight of Hubbardton - this time using Tricorne C&C rules |
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| Plus the almost inevitable win by these lads. Is it possible to achieve a British victory I wonder? Three different rule sets would seem to imply not. |
The arrival of «my son the doctor» (has to be said in a potentially offensive Jewish manner - for which I apologise in advance) and his lovely wife. He reaffirmed our old family tradition of him turning up, stripping the fridge, drinking all my favourite pop, then thrashing me horribly in a face to face game using troops that I’ve just spent many months painting. Ruddy smart ass kid. I blame the parents. Oh wait…
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| My son the doctor rolls up the centre of my line with his light bobs. My loss was so sudden, violent and complete that I somehow neglected to take too many pictures for posterity. |
Being France I also had to suffer the agony of La fête des voisines, an annual social occasion in which the inhabitants of our hamlet gather to eat drink and be Mary (I might have got the last bit wrong). Two of the oldest members of the settlement never turn up since twenty years ago they ended up shooting each others cars over a land dispute that’s still not settled. Also not present was the Pradeix strangler - but that’s a story for another day.
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| The inhabitants of Pradeix lieu dit Saint Dizier Leyrenne, sans strangler. I’m on the right, three parts of the table down, next to the shaven headed fruit of my loins. Ughh. |
You’ll be pleased to know that despite becoming fearsomely drunk, as an antidote to my crippling social anxiety, I behaved myself well and even sat through twenty minutes of Shamanic drumming by the yurt folks, without comment.
I’ll give myself another pat on the back for that, I think.
Toodleooh for now.
Looks like a grand time all round, despite your son the doctor not having the manners to let you win. My son does the same but its even worse as he’s not smart enough to be a doctor. I agree with you on the parents.
ReplyDeleteTerrain and figures look splendid by the way.
Chris/Nundanket
Well I used to blame Maggie Thatcher for everything but I don’t think even she can take the rap for my utterly ruthless offspring. Lol. He suggested that I destroy every tenth man in my defending regiments - for letting me down. Good job it’ll probably be another two years before I’m subjected to a further drubbing.
DeleteSeems like it's pretty standard throughout the blogs I follow for offspring to regularly beat their fathers on the tabletop. I am sure if I can convince my own to play against me, they will do likewise, though mostly due to me being a bit of a rubbish tabletop general, in general. :)
ReplyDelete20 minutes of shamanic drumming sounds like utter torture. Extra chops for withstanding that experience in silence. Even more chops for being so good whilst under the influence!
Hello Dai, the shamanic drumming was more perplexing than torture to be honest. No one really new how to react - it was totally unscripted and unexpected. My regular French neighbours were as puzzled as I was and it ended as suddenly as it started. Nice folk the yurt people but a tad bizarre sometimes.
DeleteGreat post JBM, the Fete looks good. The only time i saw my dad properly drunk was in France on a family holiday circa 1976. We were on a group tour in Brittany, hosted by local communities at each new stop and he made the mistake of wearing a kilt. (Other Scots on the trip warned him it was a mistake.....). It started on the walk through town to the venue, with local youth forcing free drinks on him as we passed various auberges, with cries of Vive Ecossais etc...and continued to the point where, late in the sit down meal at the Hotel de Ville, he and the chef de cuisine were toasting each other with calvados every few minutes! My mum made him go for a walk for an hour or two on the way back to our camper van!
ReplyDeleteMy son isn't interested in toy soldiers...he is a builder and has real hobbies..like fishing, hunting, rugby league and drinking alcohol!
Yeah they still love a jock alright. The bloke at the far end of the table is from Glasgow and was visiting his holiday home. Very nice guy and popular with the neighbours despite not living here permanently. Never saw my old fella drunk come to think of it. Both of my boys were into gaming from an early age, but they’re both too busy with young families and careers to indulge too often.
DeleteWe've all done the thing where we've reached for the endless supply of bases only to find the supply has ended...
ReplyDeleteYeah, but is your son a REAL doctor or one of those fake PhD kinds? PhDs are only like 3/4s a doctor.
My daughter is 10 and not really interested in games anymore. never showed an interest in miniatures. My oldest son is 5 and does like to play games which is good; and he'll likely be a miniature wargamer or at least indulge in one with his old man. And even if he beat me all the time it'd be all right. Least we spent time together. "Cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon, little boy blue and the man in the moon. When you comin' home son? I don't know when..." 😀
Sorry Stew my fat fingers deleted your post so I’ve reconstituted it this way. My son is a real doctor unlike my wife whose only a PhD fakeroo. I don’t mind him beating me on the few occasions we get to do a bit of wargaming, but does it have to be every damned time and such a comprehensive roughing up. Never give a sucker an even break. I taught him well, the ruthless little oik.
DeleteHmm. Seems the same outcome whenever I play either of you!
DeleteLooks like a grand communal feast, JBM! You look right at home with your foreign neighbors. Running out of bases is a real pain. Still, lack of bases does not prevent me from forging on with the painting until reinforcements arrive.
ReplyDeleteHi Jon, it shouldn’t stop me either, and given how long it takes for any order to arrive à chez moi, I’ll probably end up ploughing on with things in the near future, bases or not.
DeleteA pain running out of bases, but luckily for me I use a mix of plastic and mdf, so famous last words I'm well stocked at present (note to self to check plastic stock in garage!). Fortunately for me neither of my kids showed any interest in wargaming, so I don't have to suffer defeat at their hands, but my friends more than make up for it;).
ReplyDeleteYurt drumming? No thankyou and well done for putting up with it in silence. Shooting up cars sounds rather like Inner City London to me rather than rural France! Looks like you all had a nice time though:).
We did Steve, using best quality cognac as a social lubricant! As to the shooting - it’s the Wild West out here. Our nearest Gendarmerie is about 20k away. A lot goes on without the authorities ever finding out.
DeleteBad luck on the battle with the offspring JBM! Maybe invest in some loaded dice for next time 😂
ReplyDeleteIf your neighbors can politely put up with 20 minutes of Shamanic drumming they must be awesome - so well done on choosing the right area!
Hey Ben, loaded dice might be necessary next time, good thinking. As to the drumming, the upside is that my chakras are now completely aligned. Lol.
DeleteYup! Getting wiped out by your offspring… been there, seen it, done it, never got the T-shirt , done it again…and again….and again…
ReplyDeleteI liked to thing it was they are young and haven’t used up all their dice luck… it turns out it’s me… I’m a crap general 😂
Lovely looking toys though…
I knew someone who bought a Shamanic drumming album to listen to when they did their yoga…
It turned out it was a high energy shamanic trance dance album…. 200 million beats per minute is not as relaxing as you think it might be😳
I quite liked it 😂
All the best. Aly
Painting pictures with words there Aly. The thought of you « dancing » to shamanic trance music has just blown my mind, lol.
DeleteMy daughter has certainly beaten me and her boyfriend in wargames, it's still always fun! Sounds like a good communal event, even with the drumming!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Hi Iain, the fête was okay actually and a lot less stressful than I thought it was going to be. The cognac helped, but probably played a part in my appalling generalship later in the day. Lol.
DeletePoor planning running out of bases shame on you 😁 Now you’ve also set rabbits running as I’m questioning myself about basing. My little guys are on 40x20 bases but yours look nice. Hmmm decisions although I don’t fancy rebasing hundreds of 10mm. By the way I have some spare 10mm if you want any? Give me a shout and I will work out what I have and you can have them for the postage.
ReplyDeleteHi Graham, cheers for the offer but the resolution to my problem is due to arrive tomorrow in the shape of a small warbases order. Order value £10.00, import tax and delivery and additional €15,00. Mmmm. Should have moved to the east of England lead belt. Lol. Thanks again for the offer. Maybe there should be a charity set up for gamers in distress?
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