I only popped out for a cheeky pint……

I promised Andy that I’d post something before the second anniversary of having not posted anything – this is primarily because he threatened to post something on here himself which I’d find less than complementary. I’m afraid to say that for a website administrator, Andy has very dubious morals.

Anyway, what have I been up to, I hear you both ask?

I’m going to breeze over 2022. I did lots of stuff, but yet another year of retirement bliss was somewhat blighted by a rather serious inflammation of my left eye. It may have been caused by a foreign body thrown up by the Dremel, but my money is on it having been caused by over exposure to Super Glue fumes. I’m being very careful with that stuff now! It took nearly three months to clear up and don’t want to go through that again.

So here we go with a quick rundown of the main events in the first half of 2023 (cue the music)………

In January, Pemps (Mark P) and Dave B attended my Shed for a late 17thC naval landing and romp around a desert island. The scenario had a few flaws, but we all had a good time. I was particularly amused by the difficulty Dave had with landing one of his troop barges…….all he had to do was not roll a ‘6’, how difficult is that? Very, apparently. He more than made up for it later though – curses. Pemps on the other hand sprang from his boats like a salty seadog and proceeded to manoeuvre me out of my village stronghold with barely a shot fired. Double curses.

At this point the landing was unopposed save for the two shore batteries in the coastal forts.

I’ve no idea what was happening here. It was a proper pell mell battle.

In February I visited my mate Old John for a huge game using his Ottomans and Poles. Lots and lots of Winged Hussars (I gather Lee Gramson is currently painting still more of them for John).

I should mention my visit to the Sikorski Museum in March. It’s a must see in my opinion as there’s stuff in there going back to the siege of Vienna and the Napoleonic Wars. A small museum but a truly amazing experience (guided tours only, I believe).

Also in March, Gary P hosted another splendid ‘DissCon’ in his ‘shed’. An 18thC bash which I believe was loosely based upon the battle of Minden, but don’t quote me on that. Gary is a wonderful host and is good enough to let us play with his huge and very lovely collection, only a tiny part of which is on the table.

Moving briskly on to April…….

Passing through the churchyard of St Nicholas’ Church in Chiswick I paid my respects at the final resting place of Frederick Hitch VC, he of Rorke’s Drift fame. What a very splendid memorial.

And I visited our Henry in his Loftwaffe for an early WWII game. Sadly, my piccies are rubbish and don’t do justice to either the terrain or the toys. Thank you Henry.

Also in April (busy month!) was the annual Ayton weekend. Several games were played, the first being a shiny Napoleonic bash, the high point for me was when my French chaps chased the British fellows off their ridge……mwahahahahahahah……………

And I must show Dave H and Peeler (another Mark P) looking very stiff upper lipped and ‘unconcerned’ by Jezza and my tribal onslaught. And rightly so…..because getting closer to the outpost’s defences just made us easier targets. Very cunning.

I’m sure I took some photographs of my visit to Pemps’ shed over three days in May, but I can’t find any of them. It may be that they all came out a bit blurred…….which is entirely possible. From my memory of events, vague though they may be, Pemps was a wonderful host and put on several splendid games. And now I recall that Tim H also made an appearance for the What a Cowboy day. Thank you both.

Moving on to June, where this post must, at last, end………..

Over the weekend of the Wild Geese annual event at Kenilworth, Tim H and I put on several games using our late 19thC shiny 42mm toys. We had a wonderful weekend. And here’s yet another rubbish photograph.

I’ll try not to leave it too long before I tackle the events of the second half of 2023.

Iain