Sharp Practice Inspiration From Others

As mentioned, I am starting a SYW project based on the SP2 ruleset.  For inspiration and eye candy, I provide the following link from one of the Lardies on his own SYW themed Imagination project.

New Project SP2 and the SYW Kleine Krieg

As is normally the case, when I get busy with real life I spend my down time dreaming of new projects.  It's the old wargamer's paradox.  The desire to paint/game rarely coincides with the opportunity to do so!

After hopping about various proto-projects that died on the drafting table, I had a lit on a project that I might be able to stick with for a bit.  We'll test this theory over the summer and see if I got an attention span that last longer than a Trump policy declaration.  On the way my fight plan passed over 15mm Libya and Abyssinia in 1940, Scotland during the Nine Years War, the Indian Mutiny and AWI among others.

The plan uses the recently released updated rules set Sharp Practice 2 from the Two Fat Lardies.  I had PDFs of two of their WW2 rule sets and liked what I saw.  So I took advantage of their introductory bundle offers and plunked down my shekels.  The PDF looks great with the hard copy following by a much slower snail's route.

The best intro to SP2 is found with the videos in Lard-o-vision.  However, the rules are for small scale actions set in the black powder era - 1700-1870.  It uses a basic group of 6-8 figures which can represent a small group on a 1-1 scale or a company at about 1:5 scale.  There is an emphasis on personalities so that one can be Sharpe, Hornblower, Aubrey or who ever one wants.

So what will I do with SP2?  Well I've long wanted to game the SYW in Western Germany, between the French armies and "His Britannic Majesties Army in Germany".  HBMAIG was a collection of Hanoverian, Hessian, Brunswick and British forces led by a Prussian General.  The campaigns feature large scale actions (e.g. Minden) but also a whole string of little actions between light forces in the Kliene Krieg.  I think that SP2 will cover these very nicely.

Book Tour and Signing

The past week my better half and I did one of our infrequent fliers up the road to Saskatoon (a 2.5 hour drive each way).  Unlike our typical "god we need to get out of town" trips, this one came with a specific purpose.  One of our favourite authors Guy Gabriel Kay was at our favourite bookstore  for a reading and signing.

Kay is a Canadian fantasy writer who writes very very good books set in alternate worlds that close follow our own histories.  This are not slash and f*ck novels, but wonderful thought provoking books that are also great reads.  And yes there is some S&Fing in the process and tons of inspiration for any historical gamer.  The Lions of Al-Rassan (go read this book for El-Cid inspiration, it got me hooked!) for instance parallels el-Cid and Al Andalusia, Under Heaven mirrors Tang dynasty China etc.  His latest is Children of Earth and Sky is in a  Renaissance Venetian Empire themed setting.  It was published on May 10th, and Kay was doing his signing in Saskatoon two days later.  In a case of serendipity, I had a meeting set for the afternoon of 12th, but this was cancelled freeing me to take the day and to do the junket.

Kay was a very funny and interesting speaker and we now have a signed copy of his brand new book.  I am looking forward to reading it once my wife finishes it.

Silent on the Blog but Not Inactive!

Forgive me father it has been six weeks since my last posting.....

It's funny how one can blog in great spurts and then completely get off the habit for a while.  I had a big flurry of posts over the Winter tracking my activity in the Painting Challenge along with a few game reports.  The last one was dated March 31, as I posted the last of my Painting Challenge entries.
And then April hit...

April brought end of term, a series of term papers to mark, a business trip to Toronto and final exams.    And then my daughter returned home for the summer from University leading to another flurry of activity. Oh I am trying to get our garden in...

So while I've been battling an acute case of REAL LIFE, what else I have been up to?

• A reasonable amount of painting - some Great Italian Wars and more Seven Years War.
• Several game nights with our regular group, though not at it's top of form weekly rate due to my schedule.  IIRC there were two games of Zombicide, one of Zombicide Black Plague, a lost game of Black Powder Peninsula War battle and a game of the Eldritch Horror.
• Planning for a new project, more to follow.
• Lots of looking at rules, scenario books and uniforms guides