A day for rest and recuperation … not quite!

Today being Thursday, I was not at work. It is the first chance I have had to spend some time resting and recuperating after the traffic accident I had two days ago, but events – as usual – conspired to prevent a complete day of doing nothing.

After taking my wife to work I had to do some of the weekly food shopping. This involved my driving to two separate shopping centres in order to get what was on the list that my wife had given me. I was, however, able to spend a few minutes in a branch of WH Smith, where I bought the latest issue of WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED and a book about the Spanish Civil War – Max Arthur’s THE REAL BAND OF BROTHERS – FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS FROM THE LAST BRITISH SURVIVORS OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR.

This is the first issue (No. 260) of the re-vamped WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED. Besides being much thicker, it seems to have undergone a complete transformation. Despite concerns that it would contain nothing but articles about Battlefront’s FLAMES OF WAR, it contains an eclectic range of articles that cover figure painting, several different historical periods, wargame show reports, and product reviews. I bought this issue to see what the ‘new’ magazine would be like; I will probably continue to buy it as long as it maintains its present balance of articles.

The book is a very different kettle of fish altogether. There are very few British survivors of those who took part in the Spanish Civil War, and there numbers are dwindling. In fact one of the people featured in the book – Jack Jones – died recently. These are their reminiscences, and I look forward to reading this book over the next week or so. I have had a long-term interest in the Spanish Civil War, and although I may not have shared all the political views of many who went to fight in Spain against Fascism, I can respect the fact that they were willing to lay down their lives for what they believed in.

When I got home from shopping, the post had arrived, including a copy of a set of rules set to me by Ogrefencer. They are entitled VOLLEY FIRE! and were written by Nick Bouette in association with Irregular Miniatures. They are designed to be used with a square gridded playing surface, and I am looking forward to reading through them later this evening.