I understand that despite several problems arising from the use of AI by Amazon KPD to check my manuscript for plagiarism and copyright infringements, the Third Portable Wargame Compendium is now on sale with Amazon (in hardback and softback editions) and Wargame Vault (in PDF format).
The prices are:
The hardback, softback, and PDF editions are all over 135 pages long and are in full colour.
Although some of my regular blog readers are happy with my suggestion that I turn my 3 x 3 hex grid through ninety degrees so that the the corners rather than the face of the hexes were at the top edge of the grid, other are more resistant. I have therefore gone back to look at the original layout both without ...
... and with the full-size Reserve Areas added ...
... and then with half-sized Reserve Areas added to the centre column ...
... to see if the suggested use of half-hexes works with it. The result looked like this:
My first reaction was that the end result was rather ugly and ungainly, so I made few changes. I turned all the Reserve Areas into half-hexes and removed two half-hexes from the central column, thus:
I think that the end result looks far better and returned to a 3 x 3 grid arrangement, albeit that the central column is made up of two full-size and two half-size hexes.
I am not sure which of the two orientations (point of the hex to the top vs. flat side of the hex to the top) will work better than the other ... but it will give me something to think about over the next few days.
After I thought that I had finished writing this blog post, I was struck by the fact that in the section immediately above this paragraph, I was trying to compare two versions of a 3 x 3 hex grid that were not really comparable. I therefore altered the left-hand grid by reducing by one column in width. The end result looks like this ...
... and has the same number of green half-hexes as the right-hand grid.
Despite being smaller, I still think that it looks better than the alternative.
On Sunday 4th August, Talking Pictures TV showed one of my all-time favourite films, THINGS TO COME. The film was produced in 1936 by Alexander Korda for London Films and was written by H G Wells, who based the idea behind the film on his own 1933 book, THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME. The film's memorable soundtrack was written by Sir Arthur Bliss.
The film had a cast that included many stars of the British cinema, such as Raymond Massey, Edward Chapman, Sir Raiph Richardson, Margaretta Scott, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Maurice Braddell, Sophie Stewart, Derrick De Marney, and Ann Todd.
The first part of the film starts in 1940 and events take place in Everytown.
International tensions are rising and the country (it is unnamed but is very obviously Britain) is threatened by a foreign power. Without a warning, an air attack is made of on Everytown and this leads to immediate mobilisation. A full-scale World War breaks out and fighting soon reaches a stalemate. The war drags on for many years and by the 1960s, no one seems to be able to remember why they are fighting ... but the state of war has become part of normal life. (Prophetic shades of Orwell's continual state of war between the three great super states in his book 1984, perhaps?)
The fighting gradually peters out when a pandemic called the 'Wandering Sickness' breaks out. It isn't clear what caused the illness, but it is suggested that it is the result of some form of germ warfare that got out of control. The illness is very infectious, and can only be stopped by killing off anyone who is infected. In Everytown, a local warlord called Rudolf (AKA 'The Boss') ...
...imposes some sort of order.by doing this, and gradually the vestiges of 'civilisation' return.
Although some technology has survived – mostly military technology such as the ability to manufacture small arms and ammunition – society is almost medieval. There are some aircraft but there is no petrol for the engines, and 'T'he Boss decides to rectify the situation by seizing the coal and shale mines owned by the Hill People ... who one assumes are the Welsh. The coal and shale can then be processed into petrol, thus giving him a military advantage over his potential enemies.
The attack on the Hill People is successful ...
... and it was this scenario that I wargamed in 2010. However, before 'The Boss' can exploit this advantage, his regime is overthrown by an international organisation – Wings across the World – that is devoted to rebuilding a united and peaceful world society.
(I even went as far as to produce a short video about the scenario I used, and looking back at it, it wasn't a bad early attempt at creating a YouTube video. That said, the timing of the various sections of the video are a bit too quick for the watcher to read the captions and I really ought to try to remake it at some time.)
I first saw this film when I was a child, and it had a profound effect on me, and since then I have watched it many times. It was my first exposure to the idea of a dystopian future, and every since I have enjoyed reading books and watching films that fall into that genre.
I have created a pair of YouTube videos that tell the story of the Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich.
The first deals with the history of the original location of the museum – The Rotunda – and includes coverage of some of the larger exhibits that used to be on display.
This video can be found here.
A problem has arisen with the Third Portable Wargame Compendium.
I have just had a message from Amazon about the book. Apparently they think that it contains previously published material that may already be under copyright. I have got to resolve this within five days, otherwise they will withdraw it from publication.
Needless to say, I have no idea what the problem is as the Compendium is made up of articles provided by living authors who all created their own work. The only thing it might be is an illustration that has been used, so I will have to check everything and provide evidence of it being in the public domain. If it isn’t, I will have to remove it.
I have never had anything like this happen before and I suspect that an Amazon AI bot has found something that its programming considers plagiarism or copying of some sort, hence the message.
It looks as if I’m going to have a trying day today!
The final draft of Third Portable Wargame Compendium is being proofread and I hope that it will be published by next weekend.
The Third Compendium will include the following articles:
The following images show the first pages of each of the articles;
I've had some interesting feedback from Arthur1815, Mark Cordone, and Archduke Piccolo and I have been playing around with my hexed version of the 3 x 3 Fast Play Portable Wargame. In my last blog post, my hex grid layout looked like this:
My first change was to add a half-hex to each of the three hex rows (as suggested by Arthur1815) ...
... and this made the whole thing look better. (I think that the aesthetic side of wargaming is something that should not be ignored. I'm a great believer if something looks right, it probably is.)
I then divided each hex into two (again, as suggested by Arthur1815).
This immediately increases the number of grid areas.
I then changed the full-size Reserve Area grid areas to half-hex, which makes the whole thing far more aesthetically pleasing.
My 15mm Belle Époque armies are mounted on the following sized bases (width x depth):
The half-hex measures 10cm across and 5.8cm high ... so I can fit two single-base infantry and/or cavalry units or an artillery unit in each half-hex.
This means that the single-base infantry and cavalry unit can advance straight ahead or obliquely BUT the artillery unit may only advance obliquely.
It is worth noting that Archduke Piccolo is also looking at the use of half-hexes, and I thoroughly recommend that anyone who has found this blog spot interesting should read his recent blog post.
Yesterday, thanks to Zoom and the generosity of Tim Gow and the other Sheffield wargamers, I was able to spectate (and make 'useful' comments) whilst they fought a battle on the floor of Tapton Hall, Sheffield.
The battle was based on the Siege of the Alcázar, Toledo, during the opening weeks of the Spanish Civil War, and featured large numbers of 54mm figures and vehicles as well as several 1:72nd-scale aircraft.
In this battle, the Asturian miners managed to undermine the main gates of the fortress, but it was finally overrun after a full-blown assault by Republican militia. History does not record what happened to the defenders ... but the attackers were very aware that a Nationalist relief column was fast approaching and one suspects that they would soon have to retreat from their newly-captured prize.
Everyone seems to have thoroughly enjoyed themselves ... and I hope that I will be able to repeat the experience of being a distant observer when their next battle takes place.
After looking at the original layout of the hex grid that I featured in yesterday's blog post, ...
... I wondered what it might look like if I turned it through ninety degrees so that the the corners rather than the face of the hexes were at the top edge of the grid. These result looked like this:
The second version of the hex version of the 3 x 3 Fast Play Portable Wargame board.
The second version of the hex version of the 3 x 3 Fast Play Portable Wargame board with the Reserve Areas marked in light grey.
This version of the grid still has ten hexes (shown in green) with three hexes in each of the top and bottom rows and four hexes in the central row. This is the area over which the battle will take place and a further row of four hexes (shown in light grey) are placed at top and bottom edges of the grid to act as the Reserve Areas.
Aesthetically, I feel that this second version looks better than the first and I wonder whether this alignment of the hexes might be more suited to the sort of wargames that are fought using the 3 x 3 Fast Play Portable Wargame Rules. Unfortunately, for the moment I am unable to test this ... but the more I think about it, the more inclined I am to give it a try at the earliest opportunity.
One night recently I just could not get to sleep. The nerves in my right leg were constantly sending pulses of pain from the ankle to my knee and then back again. (I have been told by the Occupational Therapist that this is normal when one begins doing exercise after such a long time being immobile.)
I tried reading ... but just could not get comfortable. There was nothing on TV were watching at that time during the night and YouTube seemed to be overwhelmed with videos that I did not want to watch. In the end, I chose a recorded book (John le Carré's A SMALL TOWN IN GERMANY) to listen to and within a few minutes I had drifted off into sleep ... and then I began to dream!
Somewhat unusually for me, I actually remembered part of my dream when I woke up. It had been about discussing and playing a version of the Fast Play 3 x 3 Portable Wargame on a hex grid rather than a square one. I jotted this down on a notepad that I keep next to my bed ... and promptly forgot about it until yesterday.
Using MS Paint I created a suitable hex grid, and this is what it looks like:
Now, it has ten hexes (shown in green) with three hexes in each outer column and one four hexes in the central column. This is the area over which the battle will take place and a further row of three hexes (shown in light grey) are placed at either end to act as the Reserve Areas.
If I build such a hex grid using some of my Hexon II hexes, it will be approximately 60cm x 30cm, but if I leave off the Reserves Areas (which I know quite a few 3 x 3 Fast Play Portable Wargame players do) it will measure approximately 40cm x 30cm, which is approximately the size of an A3 sheet of paper.
I don't know if I will develop this concept any further, but if I have another dream about it, I may well do so!
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