Nuggets 332 and 333 have been posted

I’ve just returned from posting out the copies of NUGGETs 332 and 333 to the UK members of Wargame Developments. Those going to overseas members will be posted tomorrow at the local Post Office.

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, NUGGET 335 will be published soon, and once it has been printed, it will be posted out along with NUGGET 334.

The Portable American Civil Wargame book: Work has begun!

Some time ago, I mentioned that I hope to publish a PORTABLE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR book in the not too distant future. It will be a cooperative effort, with David Crook providing the naval wargame rules, Gary Sheffield the land warfare rules, and me acting as editor and compiler of the background information that the book will contain.

I had already prepared to template for the book's manuscript, and very recently David provided me with the draft of his rules. I am currently proof reading them as I add them to the manuscript, and this will take me a couple of days to do as I don't want to rush this. Once this is complete, the manuscript will be passed back to David for him to check.

I hope that I will receive Gary's contribution in the not too distant future, and once that has bee added to the manuscript, I will be able to add my bits.

The plan is to publish the book sometime around August or September this year, but the timescale is not fixed and may well stretch by a month or two. In the meantime, I will keep regular blog readers up to date with the progress I am making.

Nuggets 332, 333, and 334 have been printed!

Now that things are beginning to ease up (and I have had my second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine), I have been able to have the last three issues of THE NUGGET printed. I collected them from the printer yesterday, and I hope to put N332 and N333 into envelopes and post them out to members on Monday of next week. (I will post N334 out with the forthcoming N335, which should be with me in about a week's time.)

I know that members of Wargame Developments have been able to read these issues online and in PDF format, but for many, the printed copy is preferable. They have been patiently waiting for them to be printed so that they can hold them as they read them ... and hopefully their wait will soon be over.

15mm or 20mm ... so what is the answer?

I managed to get six of the 20mm-scale figures off their bases, and temporarily fixed them to a couple of 40mm x 20mm MDF bases. The results looked like this:

When compared to my existing 15mm-scale figures ...

... the results show that the 20mm-scale figures work quite well ... but, on reflection, I am beginning to come round to the view that I would be better sticking with 15mm-scale figures. I have a large number of them, and if I am going to have to think of downsizing at some point in the future*, they will be both easier to store (they would take up much less space) and to carry#.

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* Sue and I have been discussing moving to a bungalow or a house with only two floors, and since my operation, I have certainly found it more difficult to climb the stairs than I used to.

# If we do move, I expect that I might lose exclusive use of a room for wargaming. If this is the case, I may need to have to store the figures etc., in one room, and fight my wargames in another.

15mm or 20mm ... that is the question!

I really cannot make my mind up whether to persist with using 15mm-scale figures for my FUNNY LITTLE WAR/PORTABLE WARGAME project, or to switch over to 20mm-scale figures, of which I have a large number of suitable ones available.

To help me make up my mind, I have decided to renovate, varnish, and base one unit of 20mm-scale infantry (i.e. two bases, each with three figures) so that I can compare them with one of my 15mm-scale units. This should take me a few days, but once it is done, I should be in a much better position to make my final decision.

Why are there no Aspirins in the jungle?

I had my second dose of the Pfizer-BionTech vaccine yesterday, and was given an excellent piece of advice by the nurse who administered the injection. She told me to take two paracetamol tablets when I got home because the hospital had anecdotal evidence that doing so reduced your chances of developing side effects or reduced the impact of any side effects that did develop.

I did as she suggested ... and I have had no side effects at all.

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The title of this blog post refers to the terrible 'dad' joke that goes as follows:

'Why are there no Aspirins in the jungle?'

'Because the parrots eat 'em all!'

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This joke probably doesn't make a lot of sense to anyone in the United States, where paracetamol is usually referred to as acetaminophen or by the trade name Tylenol.

Time for my second jab

Later today I will be visiting University Hospital Lewisham for my second Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination. Once I have had that, and a week to ten days has passed, I should be about as well protected from catching the COVID-19 virus as I can be.

I doubt that this will result in any particular change in my daily routine, and I shall still be donning my face mask every time I go out, but at least I will feel a bit safer, and that is what really counts. Sue is due to have her second jab in a couple of weeks, and once she is fully vaccinated, we can look forward to going on a short cruise aboard P&O's MV Britannia.

P&O have introduced a series of protocols that they will be following once cruising resumes in the near future. These include:

• All ships will operate with a reduced number of passengers aboard.
• Proof of vaccination and the dates given will be required to be shown at the terminal prior to boarding.
• Pre-embarkation COVID-19 tests may be required and will be complimentary in the price of the holiday.
• Only those passengers who are going on organised excursions only using vetted operators will be allowed ashore, and the excursion operators will be subject to screening and guidance and temperature checks and/or health screening may be carried out prior to boarding the ship after time on shore.
• All ships will operate under enhanced sanitation measures. Appropriate social distancing will be enforced, alongside the mandatory wearing of face masks in certain areas of the ship. All guests will need to comply with this face mask policy in order to travel.
• The crew will wear face masks whenever they are in contact with passengers and in certain areas of the ship. They will also undergo a strict testing and quarantine regime as well as regular testing during their time on board.
• Passengers may be asked to pre-book a table in any of the the restaurants they wish to use, and all buffets and deck grills will be served by the waiting staff.
• Passengers will only be permitted to dine with other members of their household or travelling group, up to a maximum number allowed by government guidelines at the time of sailing.
• The restaurants and bars are being adapted so that social distancing can be maintained.
• Passengers may be asked to pre-book any entertainment that is taking place in one of the key venues.
• The onboard shops, spa, salon, gym, pools, casinos, and other activities will operate, but will be subject to the latest approved guidance to minimise contact. This will include a reduction in the number of passengers in each area and the maintenance of the highest levels of cleanliness at all times.
• Passengers may be asked to pre-booked appointment slots, and on-board shops may offer a pre-order service for products that can be collected or delivered to individual cabins.
• Certain activities or areas of the ship where social distancing will be difficult, may not be in operation.

All of these protocols have been put in place to reduce any chance of a COVID-19 outbreak occurring onboard during a cruise and are in line with the guidelines laid down by the UK Government and the UK Chamber of Shipping.

I must admit that the list of protocols is quite impressive, and Sue and I found them reassuring. I know that some regular cruisers have complained about them, and some of the protocols do seem to be a bit restrictive and draconian when compared to what we have been used to on previous cruises ... but if they help to keep passengers and crew from catching the virus and allow us to have a much-needed break away from home, they will be worth it.

An interesting find poses a question

Over recent weeks I have been slowly working on ways in which I can combine some aspects of FUNNY LITTLE WARS with my PORTABLE WARGAME, and so far, I have put together a 15mm-scale ARMY KHAKI from various previously unused figures I had in my collection. It was whilst I was looking for more figures that would be suitable for this project that I found some figures that I had completely forgotten about ... and this find has posed an interesting question; should I continue with this project in 15mm-scale, or should I use 20mm-scale figures?

The figures in question were acquired via the good offices of David Crook, and are a number of ready-painted Palestinian Campaign World War 1 figures made by TUMBLING DICE. The collection includes the following:

• Generic
• 2 Supply wagons, each with 2 horses
• 2 Pack mules
• Germans in tropical helmets
• 3 Mounted officers
• 2 Field guns, each with 3 crew
• 1 Limber with 4 horses and 2 mounted drivers
• 42 Infantry
• 1 Machine gun with 2 crew
• 1 Armoured car
• Germans in peaked cap with neck flaps
• 2 Officers on foot
• 1 Mortar and 2 crew
• 39 Infantry
• 2 Machine guns each with 2 crew
• British (?) in tropical helmets
• 21 Infantry
• Turks in Kabalak or Enveriye helmets
• 23 Infantry
• Turks in Fezes
• 23 Infantry
• 2 Machine guns, each with 3 crew

There are sufficient figures in the collection to create several small FLW/PW armies. They do not require much renovation work other than touching up the odd paint chip, and would, after a quick coat of varnish, be ready to base in a matter of days. There are few gaps in the collection, but filling them would not be too difficult or costly.

I am not quite sure what to do, and I am going to take a few days to think things over before deciding whether to sell this small collection on and to use the model to buy more 15mm-scale figures or to leave the existing 15mm-scale FLW/PW collection as it stands and to use these figures as the basis of my future FLW/PW collection.

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I have used some of these figures in a number of wargames (most especially the 'Long Live the Revolution! mini-campaign), and they featured in photographs in DEVELOPING THE PORTABLE WARGAME.

A testing time

My wife began to feel unwell on Thursday afternoon, and by the evening it was very clear that she was suffering some of the symptoms of COVID-19. Luckily, our local council has been very proactive when it comes to testing, and I was able to visit one of the walk in testing centres and collect two boxes of NHS rapid antigen test kits. (The test centre is located at Charlton Athletic Football Club's ground, The Valley, which is just over two miles away from our house.)

Once I had returned home, Sue took the test, and thirty minutes later it indicated a negative result ... which meant that whatever is wrong with her, it was highly probable that it isn't COVID-19. This was a great relief to us both, especially as I have an appointment on Monday for my second Pfizer-BioNTech jab, which I would have had to have cancelled.

What we cannot understand is how she has managed to pick up an infection in the first place. As we have effectively been in lockdown for months, never go out without wearing our facemasks, and very rarely go places on our own when we do venture outside, we just cannot figure out how she could have come into contact with anything that might make her ill.

She now seems to be on the mend, and with a bit of luck she will be fully recovered in a few day's time. I hope so, as I am relying on her to drive me to the hospital on Monday for my jab. I could drive myself, but as a there are reports that quite a few people who have the second Pfizer-BioNTech jab seem to suffer some sort of side effect, I'd rather that she drove, just in case. The alternative is to take a minicab there and back, but as it will be Easter Monday, I suspect that finding and/or booking a minicab might present a few problems.

Three months in ... and where did the time go?

Its is now the second day of April, and we are already three months into 2021 ... and one begins to wonder, where did all that time go?

Because the UK has been in lockdown for most of that time, those of us who are no longer working have had time to do loads of things, but looking back, I seemed to have little to show for three months of enforced idleness ... but on reflection, I have actually done more that I realised. Since January I have helped to organise VCOW2021 and over recent weeks I have been helping to set the wheels in motion to ensure that COW2021 takes place. Admittedly, COW2021 will be taking place under restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but this is a major advance of what happened last year, when we had to cancel COW2020.

In addition, I have:

• Tinkered with various versions of THE PORTABLE wargame, and begun planning the next book in the series, which will I hope will cover the American Civil War.
• Revived my interest in warfare at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and in particular I have read up about the various annual manoeuvres that took place in the UK and abroad.
• Helped to revive interest in FUNNY LITTLE WARS by renovating and basing some otherwise unused figures that I had in storage to form my ARMY KHAKI and encouraging their author to republish them.
• Been featured four times in the same issue of WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED.
• Developed some ideas for mini-campaigns that will use the Snakes & Ladders Campaign system/matrix.
• Written several book reviews and presented two online Masonic talks.

When I consider that this was done in the aftermath of my pre-Christmas surgery, and whilst I was recovering from its aftereffects, I don't think that I have actually wasted much time over the last three months.