Dealing with OOOH Shiney! syndrome in 5 simple steps

We wargamers are often accused of suffering from the so-called Ooooh Shiny! syndrome; we see something interesting in a movie or on the web and bang! there you have a new project. If you don't watch out you'll be up to your neck in unfinished projects in no time. 

People are often a bit worrysome about that, but let's be honest: we can't do anything about it anyway! So let's embrace it as a fun part of our hobby and try to live with it as good as possible. So below you will find 5 Simple Steps  to deal with this: a tried and proven method in Casa Pijlie. This is experience talking! 😉 And pay attention: buying things doesn't happen until step 3!

Step 1: Go deep!

Long before I buy anything I always try to go deep and find out as much as possible about a project. When it is historical, there is often a mass of books, movies and documentaries to be found and enjoyed. Be it fantasy, I go to books and movies and it helps to re-watch movies. Or to Google similar stuff. That makes you ponder things, grow ideas and become enthusiastic and inspired. And no cash has been spent so far, or it has been on books.....

Step 2: Then go wide!

Think about the kind of scenarios one could play. Or campaigns. And with whom. Think about the terrain you might need for the project. Ask around if anyone would like to start this project too. Wargaming is, after all, a social hobby and one needs opponents in any case. Starting a project with other people enhances the odds that you might realize something. And that something will usually be bigger than you would be able to do on your own. 

Not unimportant: can you combine it with another ongoing or finished project? Especially in the first case you will prevent earlier projects to fade from memory. They might be a great jump-off point for that new and even more enjoyable project!

Step 3: Go for minimal completeness

The important word in this title is "minimal". Ask yourself what you would need to make this project a building, painting and playing experience (assuming you like all that, of course) that you can enjoy and look forward to completing? If you can build a nice army with 5 units, you don't have to buy enough figures to make 15! Create a triple wish list with a minimal, an expanded and a final list of things you would like to have. 

Doing this in cooperation with other people obviously reduces the investments in time and money and increases the possibilities. And you can motivate each other to work on it, exchange experiences and results and help each other. Look if you have projects that you really don't (or can't) do anything with anymore and sell things from those to finance new projects. Your old stuff ends up with people who  will enjoy it and this also reduces the costs of a new project.

And only now will you start buying stuff J

Step 4: Start working on the smallest possible next game

I always like to start with constructing the smallest possible first game from the start to finish. No more. No less. With small steps you often cover large distances. 

That "minimal completeness" will help you here. When you have limited yourself to those 5 units, it will not be so intimidating to paint them. And that in turn helps to keep your motivation afloat. Building on existing parts of your collection obviously speeds this up, but even if you do have to start from scratch, it's still nice to know that you will be able to play as soon as those first units are finished. And if that first game is a lot of fun (and of course we'll assume that by then) that will provide motivation to build and paint more things.

When you've gone through your first "minimal" list completely and still like it, now is the time to expand your purchases. Paint a unit, buy or build a new piece of terrain, write a new scenario that you may need specific things for. This way your project grows as long as you enjoy it. And if ever it is really blocked by something else, then at least you will have it finished so far. And start again at step 1!

Step 5: Don't do Deadlines

This seems to be the last step, but actually this is extremely important for all the aforementioned steps. This is a hobby, not a job. There is no need to deliver a performance. It just has to be fun. A project can't fail either. It can stall for a shorter or longer period of time for all kinds of reasons. But it doesn't matter for how long it does so. If you do it right, there are really only shorter or longer running game projects, which always end up being completed or will get merged into a new one. 

See step 1. Have fun.

 

 

Thoughts on writing a game scenario, illustrated by examples

This blog features a lot of game scenarios from my hand and to be frank I do consider writing them one of the most enjoyable aspects of my hobby. It combines all kinds of fictional and historical background with a creative process and -if it works out well- a good gaming experience as a reward at the end. But then it struck me that I never actually wrote about writing them. So here is my attempt to make good on that. It will probably be a dynamic piece-under-construction, as I add thoughts over time. We'll see. 

What does a good wargame scenario make? 

Well, at least in my not-at-all-humble opinion it must: 

• be interesting enough to read (because why look at it in the first place)
• offer a challenge to all playing sides, demanding skill to win, as well as perhaps a bit of luck
• offer a range of conflicting choices and decisions (let's call them dilemmas) that the players need to make in order to win
• be able of being won in several different ways. The more the better. 
• make clear what must be achieved to win it
• have been thoroughly tested

You might note that rules do not feature in this. That is because one should be able to play a good scenario with  different rules with only minor adaptations. So the scenario must eventually have a connection to a ruleset to be played, but this is just a finishing touch.

Piquing the interest

A scenarios being a good read helps taking in the information and remembering it better, as well as getting involved in -and inspired by- the scenario. Apart from the fact that it has to be well-written, I think offering a copeable amount of context (the famous "fluff") helps to get the reader interested. Challenges become more alive when you know it is about the Spartans needing to stand against a host of Persians at the Hot Gates for at least 6 turns than when reading that the winner needs to score 5 Victory points. A good scenario needs a Story. And if you can't think of one yourself, never fear/ History and Fiction are teeming with good stories. 

I am a sucker for a good narrative. And I am not ashamed to admit it. 

Example part 1: 

Let's say there is a rebellion or civil war somewhere. On a planet, in some country or province, depending on your favorite background. The President/Governor/Grand Dictator of this area is en route to some important political event when his plane crashes near Rebel-controlled territory. Miraculously he survives but is stranded in very inhospitable terrain (jungle, hostile cityscape, whatever) with only his bodyguard for protection, as the plane's crew has been killed. His distress call has gotten help on the move, but also drew the attention of the rebels, intent on capturing him! 

Rise to the Challenge

In order to be interesting to play, a scenario needs to be hard to win. This is scaleable of course, depending on the purpose that the scenario is expected to serve. Introductory scenarios can be relatively uncomplicated when then need to familiarize the players with rules, for instance.  But the outcome may not be a given in any case.

There are many challenges in history that can feature in a game scenario: winning or defending ground, making a stand for a certain amount of time or covering a minimum distance in a certain amount of time, defending, destroying or capturing an objective, which may or may not be portable et cetera. 

It is however very important that the achievements the players have to aim for are also actually possible. If a player needs to cross the table in 5 turns, his troops should be able to actually do that. So it pays to take measurements of the table and comparing them with the realistic speed of the units before settling on the number of turns in that Victory condition. Don't forget to factor in extra time because of inevitable hostile resistance, since his troops will face opposition and this will delay them. 

The possibilities are endless, but whatever the objective; the obstacles between the player and his victory make the challenge. 

Obstacles may be symmetric, offering equal risk and opportunity to all sides. Two similar armies facing off over an empty plain is the best known example of that, albeit not a very interesting one. 

However, they may also be asymmetric. This lack of symmetry may be in means, like inexperienced troops versus elite troops or one side being outnumbered, or in terrain, where one side defends a strong position which the other side needs to take, or in time, where one side may expect reinforcements within a certain period or an objective will only be there for a limited amount of time. 

Whatever the case, all sides need to encounter surmountable obstacles. Preferably multiple ones, as these contribute to the next essential part of a good scenario: the dilemmas. 

Conversely, obstacles should actually BE obstacles. I once played a Battle of Fredericksburg battle game where the Northern troops were able to leave cover, storm the hill AND cross the wall in one turn, without the Southerners even having the chance to fire at them once. This way the obstacle that defined the battle wasn't even an obstacle. 

Example part 2: 

The challenge here may be twofold. First of course there will be a race between the players (one playing the Rebels, one playing the Special Operations Team that comes to rescue the Prez). But besides that the terrain must also pose problems. The SOT can not land anywhere near the crashed plane, so will have to land at a distance and move on foot to their target. Only a few spots on the table can be used as a Landing Zone, all several turns away from the crash site. 

The Rebels may be less trained and less well armed than the SOT, but they are many! Starting their move off table they too must race to reach the crash site and capture their target. The SOT's expertise and firepower will be their challenge, just as their numbers will be the SOT's challenge. Rebels will have starting forces but also reinforcements, rolled for on a table each turn. 

Lastly, while the Rebels may be less trained, they might have combat vehicles on the ground, lethal to the lightly armed SOT. On the other hand, the SOT might have a gunship hovering the area, being able to take out Rebel vehicles that do not use the abundant cover prudently enough. 

The Choice

Just like a scenario should present the players with some obstacles, so should each obstacle present the players with a choice. Preferably from more than two options. This way, the course of the game will be unpredictable, it will be re-playable when you lose it the first time and you can deploy your resources tailored to the approach you have decided upon. Will your SWAT team enter through the front door guns blazing? Or will they attack from multiple directions? Or will they smoke out the bankrobbers with teargas and engage them in the street? 

All this is of paramount importance to avoid that great threat to any enjoyable game scenario: railroading. Railroading is forbidden. Never road rail. Let me explain. 

You will know that you have been railroaded when you ponder your options to tackle an obstacle and you come to the conclusion there is just the one. Not just one that seems better than the others but just one. This will leave you without a choice. Your moves have been predetermined for you and all that is left is to time them well and roll dice. This bodes ill for an interesting game. 

The same thing might happen (someone pointed out to me recently) when your choice must be based entirely on chance, like the arrival of reinforcements without which you will lose. When you can't influence their arrival and can't plan for it either (since they might never arrive if you don't roll a 6 or something) this actually doesn't give you a choice at all. 

So in designing a scenario you will have to enable multiple routes to the objective. And multiple ways to counter them. They don't have to be equally promising, but they should all be possible under the right circumstances. 

Example part 3:

Both sides need to decide where to start. Sides will nominate their initial starting points unaware of those of the enemy. But once the game is on its way the Rebels may choose the starting points for their reinforcenements freely. The Rebels must choose between speed, eliminating the gunship or a combination of both. The SOT must choose between speed to and from the crash site or defending the crash site with the gunship's help. And will they leave their shuttle craft on the ground where it is readily available but only at that point while vulnerable to ground attacks or in the air, knowing it might be vulnerable to Rebel AA fire and will take longer to reach the LZ for the pickup, but can reach any LZ? 

Victory conditions

While this may seem rather obvious, I have read scenarios that could -for example- be won by "taking the enemy ground", whatever that might mean. 

Describe specifically what must be done to be considered the winner. You might make a list of possible  achievements and award Victory Points to each, but my favourite solution is simply a clear description. Drive all enemy forces from the Fort. Save all the hostages. Blow up the radio-antenna, then escape with at most 30% losses. Hold the pass for at least 6 turns. Things like that. So the players know what to aim and plan for. 

Example part 4: 

The winner must capture the Prez and escort him off the table in any way possible. If he dies, the game is a draw (if perhaps a moral victory for the Rebels). 

If the ruleset you use does not have rules for capture, make up some. Like the Prez will surender when his bodyguard is dead, Rebels have him cornered and under fire and no friendly forces are within line of sight.    

And then test it to bits! 

The best test players are the malignant ones. The people that will want to take advantage of any loophole in the scenario and exploit them in order to win. Any given scenario will take two to three games at least to sort out the defects. Or more when the scenario is a more complex one.

Only when players have genuinely tried to break the scenario at least a few times and it still yields an interesting game, only then is it a good scenario. 

Photo setup

I got questions how I took my pictures. Nothing fancy I am afraid. They are taken with a Samsung Galaxy A8 smartphone and my normal picture setup. This usually is a small diorama background I made specifically for that purpose or a sheet of grey wallpaper sloping up towards the background. 

Lighting is provided by daylight if I have it or my painting lamp. Using the lamp top-down takes care of most shadows since the lamp tube is circular and lights the object from all sides. 

I NEVER use flashlight because the shadows are hideous and it destroys all colour. 

The phone's software takes care of most of the rest. There are two zoom options. When photographing a row of figures you have to account for the fact that the strong curve of this small lens distorts the image at short range. Because of that, figures that you have positioned to look into the lens actually seem to turn away from it. So it is better to take the picture at a bit more distance. 

The software has some simple white range adjustments as well, but that part of the technique is better explained elsewhere. And by other, more knowledgeable people 😁

Proxxon Styrofoam cutter first tryout

The very best for 2020 to you all!

My Christmas gift for myself was a Proxxon Styrofoam cutter and some Greenstuffworld rolling pins. The latter have still to arrive, but the cutter arrived right on New Year's Eve! So of course on this first day of 2020 I had to play with it somewhat. 

First tried some freehand stuff. Templates and a few add-ons will come in handy. Not so easy to do. 

Then I tried my hand at some small furniture and a few Jersey Barriers. 

And of course they had to be painted as well....

Making small terrain is remarkably easy and quick this way. Can't wait for the Greenstuffworld package to come in so I can start on buildings and such! 

Homo Ludens: why should we play?

Some years ago I watched six Dutch philosophers discuss play (like in games) on television. Apart from the fact that this was one of those curious TV programmes that wouldn't have needed TV imaging to be interesting (it was all dialogue with hardly any supporting visuals) it jarred something in me. What was my fundamental motive for playing?

Some classics were touched upon. German philosopher Schiller wrote  that "man only plays when he is in the fullest sense of the word a human being, and he is only fully a human being when he plays”. Schiller certainly took his playing seriously. He stated that only in play Man could unite his normally paradoxal aspects, like reason and nature, formal and sensual drive, freedom and necessity, passion and duty, sense and form. Only in play Man could be unfragmented and truly whole.

The Dutch historian and cultural theorist Johan Huizinga identified play as having 5 essential characteristics:

1. Play is freedom.
2. Play is not “ordinary” or “real” life.
3. Play is distinct from “ordinary” life both as to locality and duration.
4. Play creates order, is order. Play demands order absolute and supreme.
5. Play is connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained from it.

While this is perhaps a bit too profound for me, I can acknowledge that play enables you to exercise your personality in its purest form, minimally inhibited by reality, practical considerations and social conventions. It is, after all, only play. Playing is indeed freedom supreme.

This is probably why we usually associate play with children and childhood. The inhibitions mentioned above weigh probably least for children who have not yet learned that a lot of things are impossible and fantasy is not real, like most adults know and believe. This is, we were told, why children play instinctively, imitating adult life as they view it, learning to be adults on the way, by stepping outside the real world into a fantasy that can exist anywhere at any time.

This seems to conflict with Huizinga's 4th characteristic as I tend to see freedom and order as opposite phenomena. Nevertheless I cannot deny we often encounter rules during play for the first time in our lives, when at a young age it is explained to us that we cannot pick up a football, kick a hockey ball or move 20 squares on the game board if we only rolled a 2. Not even when we would like to. That is not how the game is played, dear.

Still, even within the confines of these, often simple, rules we can still pretend to be merciless achievers, crush our enemies, see them driven before us and hear the lamentations of their... wait, where was I ?

Oh yes, living out fantasies. We can live out our fantasies outside the real, ordinary world and be the personae we would probably like to be if we could get away with it in real life. It would not surprise me if we would develop our character while playing as well. Making alliances, learning tactical and strategic skills and -last but certainly not least-  discovering the possibility of cheating are all very useful things to take with you on life's twisting, winding roads.

Adults usually do not play anymore. They do sports. Completely different as I am sure you will see. I had a dispute with a collegue of mine once who considered my wargaming hobby childish but thought nothing of running around on a field dressed in shorts hitting a ball with a stick. The same difference as fas as I am concerned. He really did not see sports as a form of playing, nor did he play hockey to become "unfragmented". He needed it to unwind and work on his condition. What's in a name, after all? And surely his sportsgame is as separated from ordinary life as is a cowboy-and-indian game played by 8-year olds.

No profit may be gained from it, states Huizinga. I struggled with that one. Nevertheless, losing a game may not gain you anything, it usually does not risk anything either.  So perhaps Huizinga means that victory may be a winner's only gain.

In any case, we do learn our children the importance of winning through play. While happiness, health and material well-being are important things in life, it does not hurt to be a winner to get to these prizes. So it is a useful trick to teach to your kids. However, since every game needs a winner, the other players will inevitably be losers. But that is allright dear, since it is only a game. Wait a minute: it is important to win during play, but when the game is over, winning is a trifle? This paradox is a concept most children find frustrating and bewildering.  Most counter it by not playing anymore, throwing the gameboard through the room or start again to win next time. Even while knowing that every game will have at least one loser and this might well be you. Adults in this situation tend to rationalize.

Still here is where I think the most fundamental lesson to be learned from playing is hidden. And that is that effort enables success, but only bears a relative relation to it. It is certainly no guarantee. Not a very modern way of looking at things I think. Some like to believe that success is a choice, failure a fault and every achievement - or lack thereof- a personal responsibilty one is immediately accountable for. But no matter what the skills, luck or capabilities of the player are, he will eventually lose at some point.

Playing teaches us that failure, learning from failure and improving oneself is an essential and unavoidable part of life and actually conditional for achieving anything at all. The essential and crucial attraction of playing is that this can occur without any serious consequences to yourself. Unlike real-life "games" where people get hurt by failures...

So people, let's play.

As often as we can.

Better wargames on grounds of Terrain....

“The strategy for employing the military is this: There is dispersive terrain, light terrain, contentious terrain, traversable terrain, focal terrain, heavy terrain, entrapping terrain, and fatal terrain.”

-Sun Tzu –

Even back in the day good old Sun-Tzu had some interesting things to say about the ways terrain could work for you in a battle. And unsurprisingly history is dotted with examples where terrain played a crucial and determining role in the outcome of battles and wars. This should teach wargamers something valuable: terrain can enhance your games!

I will not go into the visual aspect of terrain (i.e. how to make your gaming table look better) as rows of books have already been devoted to that. Instead, I will address terrain as a means to make your game more interesting!

It goes downhill from here on.…
While terrain may serve as an objective, we can do so much more with it. Instead, let’s place a hill. Instantly lines of sight change as a large obstacle blocks them. 

Movement is hampered as moving uphill might slow figures down. And especially if an enemy has already settled on top of it climbing the hill is particularly unattractive, as this enemy defends high ground (+2 Attack roll or something). Suddenly simply moving across the table has become something to reconsider.

Speed limits and dead ends
Rivers, steep cliffs and walls might simply block movement and force troops in other directions. A swamp might slow movement down to a crawl while not offering any particular cover, yet offering the enemy ample time to shoot at your poor mud-sloggers. Then again, should the enemy use it to secure his flanks, or to hide behind? Spicy dilemmas abound!

Terrain might discriminate between troops. While infantry may cross woods relatively easy cavalry cannot enter woods at all as anyone who has ever been swiped off his horse by a low tree branch can testify! This causes more tactical considerations.

Terrain might offer benefits, as troops might move faster over roads than they would through a field. This of course channels your troops along certain predictable routes. It offers you the -always interesting- choice between speed and surprise.

All this of course serves to make the intellectual challenge of a game more interesting. Even without writing detailed game scenarios a pitched battle (allegedly the most played type of wargame ever!) can be made very complex by placing some woods, hills and marshes.

Good terrain rules!
Should you rules contain no specific terrain rules, I suggest by all means make them yourself!
Let’s look at a corn field. Or rather: through it. You can’t, at least not very far. So field of view in a cornfield would not be blocked, but severely limited. This should influence the chance to hit someone walking in a cornfield with a ranged weapon, as a target that is far enough away might just as well stand behind a wall.

On the other hand, unlike a wall a cornfield offers zero protection against ranged weapons once someone has drawn a bead on you. Explosions in a cornfield will hurt the target just like it would in an open field.  So a cornfield would influence a to Hit roll, just like a wall would, but not a Save (if your rules know such a thing) unlike a wall unable to stop the projectiles hurled at you. 

This would offer a more interesting variety of terrain rules than say: terrain is either Difficult (Movement penalty and cover) or not. That way it will actually become both useful as well as pretty to invest in some good crops on the table!

There’s something moving over there….
While terrain is usually static, it does not need to be. Smoke and fog might float across the table creating a moving blockade for view. (Sky)ships can really be moving pieces of terrain from which figures shoot or fight. A moving bridge is a very simple example.

There is only a fine line between figures and moving terrain. Stampeding herds of cattle are little more than moving terrain creating dangers for your little soldiers. Shambling zombies moving on “automated” movement- and reaction rules are actually terrain that can move as well as fight! 

“Get to the choppa!”
So simply by choosing and placing terrain, we can direct or at least influence movement of troops, create dilemmas and choices and create an interesting game scenarios without actually having to write one.

One of the most successful games I ever played is a simple VTOL evacuation mission where the 

Rescuers have to pick up the Objective before the Hunters capture it. The Objective must be collected and escorted to a landing zone and evacuated by air from a landing spot at least a foot wide. There are several such spots on the table, all several turns of movement away from the Objective. That’s all. So far the scenario has always been lost or won by a hair’s width.

I hope I have inspired you to make more use of terrain. Not only does it look better than a green sheet with a lonely tree, but it makes for better games as well!

Design a wargame in an afternoon!

Over the last years I made quite a few demo games based in some way on a thrilling scene from a movie or a book. These make great participation games because they are very recognizable and even players without any wargaming experience easily connect to them. 

Urged by some friends I finally decided to try my hands on a workshop aimed at designing such a game. So on a scorching hot Saturday we gathered in my FLGS Subcultures (whose subterranean abodes were pleasantly cool!) to see if we could create a playable wargame in just one afternoon. 

I had decided on a scene from the -much maligned but nevertheless quite entertaining- movie King Arthur. The movie had a lot of "historical" pretensions most of which are quite silly but does have a few memorable scenes , the best of which is arguable the battle on the frozen lake below. 

I picked the scene primarily because I liked it and always wanted to play it on a tabletop, but also because I owned suitable figures and the terrain was extremely simple. Just a frozen lake hemmed in between shorelines and cliffs. That way we could concentrate on designing the game without having to spend much time on building an elaborate table. 

So we started out at 12:00 with some cardboard and other odds and ends to build the table and no idea whether or not this would work.

We started with watching the scene on a laptop and recording all the things that made the scene thrilling and exiting. Was it the suspense of the cracking ice, or the shooting? Or actually the great horde of Saxons so clearly outnumbering Arthur and Guinevere and his knights? Whatever the case, the things that struck us most would have to be incorporated in the rules.

Finally we agreed on a number of aspects that the game would have to have. The ice would have to be untrustworthy. The more people were on it, the more likely it would be that it collapsed. Arthur and his crew would have to be deadly shots just like in the movie. Saxons hit by arrows would cause their neighboring figures to cringe away from them, thus making it possible for the Arthur player to bunch them together on the ice. Saxons would have archers too. Ice could be damaged with axes and weakened in this way. Movement, shooting, fighting and command were all very straightforward. Knights hit on a 3+, Saxons on a 5+. Moves were 6+d6 and you had to move all the way because of the slippery ice. We decided on d6s for everything just to keep things simple. Limited command range would oblige the Saxon to keep his force together somewhat.

We divided the ice first in 20x20 (too big!) then in 15x15cm squares and gave them values. The more to the middle you moved, the weaker the ice became. The weakest ice square was 25. When figures stood on it, you had to roll below the difference of Ice value minus number of troops with 3d6. So 20 Saxons standing on a 30 point ice square would require a 9 or less to keep standing.

At this point, around 13:30, we built a first prototype of the table and played the first test. It was time to kill our darlings, as this is the time when you discover which of your fancy ideas actually work! If it doesn't, it will have to go! Here we changed the playing sequence to:

- Saxons check for command (15cm command range gives a 3+, outside required a 5+)
- Saxons move (or not)

- Arthur moves
- Arthur shoots or fights
- Saxons shoot or fight
- test for breaking ice

Other minor adaptations were made. For example, we originally used different weights for heavily and less heavily armed troops, but it was too cumbersome and required too much counting and calculating. Out it went!

There was much pondering and discussion and we quickly started a second test to try out the innovations. Now the game ran much better, more fluent and with great suspense. We discovered that hacking on the ice to weaken it was a viable, but dangerous tactic for Arthur.

There was discussion whether the ice was too strong or not, but with Arthur going at it with axes, the chance to break it was still quite real.

Playing time was about an hour, so that was good.

So after the second test we decided to Beta-test it! We built a new table that looked a bit better and invited two people from the shop to play. So at 16:00 hours we had our first real game! 

The players went at it with a vengeance. The Saxon player decided to split her force to reduce pressure on the ice and trusted on the dice to get her troops forward.

The Arthurian player adopted the tactic of shooting the Saxon archers as much as possible with her two long-range bows and using her other knights to weaken the ice.

It turned out to be a surprising and still exiting game! The Saxon player rolled incredible command rolls so her troops managed to cross the ice even while split up. Arthur severely weakened the ice en-route but lost most of his men to Saxon arrows. Mid-game 10 Saxons went through the ice and died, but the rest managed to get through.

In the end even Guinevere succumbed to Saxon arrows and Arthur decided on a final gamble. He threw himself forward and attacked the ice square on which the Saxon leader was standing. With a mighty blow from Excalibur the ice cracked and Arthur, the Saxon leader and all Saxons on the square went into the deep!

Just one, leaderless group of Saxons remained. Would they -hesitant and unsure as they were- be able to overtake the refugees? Who knows? Maybe this was the time to invent a rule about a draw?

It was great to do this. Producing a playable game in an afternoon was a great ambition and it was marvelous to see it succeeding!

Of course this isn't a full wargame and was only made possible by the limited scope we adopted but  it was a fine achievement nonetheless! Even the final game yielded suggestions for improvement: less sturdy ice, random ice strengths and ice strengths hidden below overturned counters that only reveal the true strength of the ice when you have to test it for breaking.

We could also really go on a roll in making the table. Plastic ice squares that can be lifted off the table, revealing black water below, cliffs and shoreline lining the lake, winter style basing for the figures et cetera all make this table much better looking and would actually make a great participation game! Who knows? One of us might still build it one day....

Many, many thanks to Tim, Niels, and Edwin without whose enthusiastic and open-minded involvement this would never have been possible, to Edwin's Lady and Nicky for playtesting and of course to Subcultures for hosting us in the first place!

When in Rome....

As we promised both of our children a trip to a major European city as a reward for their final highschool exams this year it was our son's turn. Having become enamored with Rome last year his choice was of course to go there again. So last week we took off for the center of the civilized world, the City of the Poets etc etc. Taking off we left the dismal Dutch weather behind us and traded it for classic Italian blue skies and sun. 

 Here a view from the train that took us from the airport into the heart of Rome.

Losing no time, we left our baggage in the hotel and took off for the Colosseum. So I was standing there thinking: "Yes it is rather big up close" until I spotted the tiny human figures walking around on the second ring and realized I wasn't that close at all....

Inside it looked even bigger. Climbing to the second and third ring the building kept growing in scale. It was awe-inspiring and you can only imagine what kind of impression it must have made on visitors from far parts of the Empire some 1800 years ago. That so much is even still standing defies understanding. Yes, it is a tourist trap and yes, it is crawling with obnoxious salespeople but my God it is IMPRESSIVE!

So to counter all this awe and historical perspective I bought a silly hat and even sillier sunglasses....

Next we visited the Forum and walked for hours among the ruins and flowers through the Forum and on the Palatine Hill.

Poppies growing on 20 centuries of marble

The temple of Saturn

The Arch of Septimius Severus, raised to commemorate victories over the Parthians. 

The Capitol on Capitol Hill (the original one). 

For some reason we always ended our walks here on the stairs overlooking Trajan's Column, eating icecream bought from this nameless gellateria. I heartily recommend it, for the delicious gellatti as well as the beautiful smile of the lady that serves it. 

Next day we visited the Spanish Stairs. Keats died somewhere on the right I believe. We burned a candle for a lost friend at the church on top of the stairs. 

We walked to the nearby Trevi Fountain. Anita was out of town but dozens of tourists milled around. It kept striking us how small the historic center of Rome actually is. You keep forgetting that because there is such a massive amount of beautiful things to see. The Pantheon for one. The interior is breathtaking and because I saw no way to adequately photographing it, i made a short video. 

Take your daily icecream, son. It'll put hair on your chest. 

Here Bernini's statues on the Piazza Navona display their distaste of the building across the street, built by one of Bernini's many enemies. 

Insanely expensive lead soldiers. GW can learn a lot from Italians, I tell you that. 

The Piazza Navona. Nowhere tastes overpriced Espresso better. 

Next day it was of to Tiber Island and Trastevere. Below some ancient marine monument has been encorporated into the newer buildings. If you learn to look for those, you see it a lot. It is impressive to realize that the ancient Roman ruins that often tower over the modern buildings originally where even higher and bigger than today. Rome must truly have been one of the wonders of the world, never to be seen again. 

Remnants of the ancient Roman bridge to Trastevere. One arch has braved the centuries and still spans part of the river.

Vacanza Romane

Climbing Capitol Hill towards the statue of Hadrian (I think)

At night the visitors of the Trevi fountain multiply and there is much taking of pictures and throwing of coins, which allegedly guarantees that you will return to Rome one day and is a lot more healthy than the old tradition, which was to drink from the fountain....

Next day it was off to the Vatican Museum and the St Peter. 

The Emperor Hadrian. I visited his Wall two years ago, so I thought it fit to include his state here.

Inside the Vatican. There is so much to see here that you can spend a week doing it. And then some. 

Remarkable painting displaying Aquaman riding a horse at the far right. 

A little boy running across the lawn at the Vatican garden (which was forbidden) and his mom sitting peacefully in the sun and not standing up to get him (because that is forbidden). A guard was present the whole time and busy telephoning with someone. All was well. 

Michalangelo's double Spiral Steps

St. Peter. Everybody is welcome in this heart of the Roman Catholic church. And unfortunately everybody showed up, because the line reached all around St. Peter's Square. We didn't get to see the Pieta this time. But we tossed currency into the Trevi, so we will be back! 

The surroundings of the church are even more crowded with beggars and salesmen than usual. Obviously no one has driven the merchants from the temple since Jesus did it. The Roman attitude was well summed up in the words I heard uttered by a Roman visitor exiting a church while passing the customary beggar sitting in the porch: "Ci saranno sempre poveri" (There will always be poor; Matthew 26:11)). He gave no alms...

A very impressive piece of medieval fortressing is the Castel San Angelo. Originally the Mausoleum of Hadrian it was later reinforced with medieval walls and fortresses and even more later with early bastions and cannon. The view from the top terrace is spectacular and there turned out to be a restaurant as well as a First World War exposition in the museum. Well worth the visit!

Below the Roman masonry (marble long since stripped away) and on top of that the Medieval fortress.

The Voldemort monument

Some shifty Italian character that claimed to be related to me..

A colonial heirloom directing the traffic.

Skullz

The view from the Villa Borghese. Beautiful! 

The Biggles Monument. 

Hadrian's column. Even prettier than  Trajan's. 

 The road home. But we will be back.