Merry Christmas One and All

Family, friends, good food and good drink…no need for therapy today

A New Christmas CD Brings Out a Flood of Teenage Memories

If you are British and of a certain age with a certain taste in music, then you likely had a Nick Lowe LP or two.

I'm not really a Brit, OK half my DNA and my birth certificate are British but I've been west of the pond for 46 years.  However, I grew up in Halifax NS, a city that has always had ties with the UK and in the late 70s I was able to go to England quite often to get to know my dad.

So many memories wrapped up in this. I first woke up to new music that wasn't on the radio in 1978 and Nick Lowe was on my playlist a lot. The song was heavy on the family bonfire sing-a-long playlist. His new Christmas album is "Quality Street", a brand of chocolates that was always present at family gatherings. And Letterman's morning show had a direct impact on my attendance in first year English class…

Nick Lowe on Letterman

Analogue Hobbies Challenge

So once again I've signed myself up for Curt's Painting Challenge.  Hopefully, I do better this year than the complete fizzle I achieved last year (I don't wanna talk about it….).  I've given myself a modest target of 500 points, with the following plans in hand.

1. War of 1812 British/Canadian and US armies using Perry and Victrix plastics including some kit bashing head swaps and modeller's licence (and maybe some red wine).
2. WW2 Naval odds and sods - 1:1200 planes and a few 1:2400 ships.
3. El Cid era odds and sods 28mm.
4. Other Naval (more to be revealed).

The start date for the Challenge is tomorrow (Dec 15th)….but the start date for me will be some what later (a week or two likely).  I could be jealous of those who are able to jump right in on the 15th but will try and placate myself with the lie that I have more of a life than they do.  Actually what i do have is two University classes writing final exams this week coming (the 17th and the 18th) and a daughter returning from her first year away at University.

So fellow challenges (sp?) - while you're happily painting away think of me slaving away at 130 first year STATs papers and have a glass of red wine for me. 

Remembering the Halifax Explosion

My grandmother was a high school student in downtown Halifax that day.  She was saved because her school was protected by the near by Citadel Hill which deflected the blast above the school

Vintage Halifax Photos

Photos of Our Recent Convoy Action

British Convoy en route to the Med.  Stacey nicely convoyed gluten free provisions visible in the background.

Convoy from down low

The might of the Italian Navy at sea!!

Fortified by wine, Stacey plots his move.

The fleets converge (I'm not sure why either side tried to close so much, but who am I to argue)

There's a gonna be a fight here partner.

Sylvain mulls over his options and his wine.

Smoke - a dastardly British trick!

Getting closer while Sylvain gets closer to the snacks.

The sea is really rolling at this angle.

Red arrows mark the British torpedoes - red smoke from the Trento signals a hit!  I'm not sure of the wisdom of the DD captain who turned back towards his own fish trails.

Same scene from above.

Italian Attack on A British Convoy

It's been a long time since I put on a miniatures game mostly due to REAL LIFE imposing it's ugly head on my important business.  Well last night I brought out my 1:2400 WW2 ships and we fought a convoy action.  And I have to say that my rustiness showed - but we did get a good if much bloodier game than I expected.

Sylvain took the Royal Navy side and was assigned a small convoy of 5 merchantmen escorted by;

• HMS Carlisle an old WW1 cruiser refitted with 4" AA guns
• HMS Manxman the fast minelayer/AA cruiser/fast transport/jack of all trades
• 3 H class destroyers
• 3 Hunt class destroyer escorts
• Readers with keen memories might recognize this as the covering force that Curt used when we fought our larger convoy action against the Kriegsmarine.
• Originally I had intended to have a covering force of 4 RN cruisers and 6 DDs (3 Tribal and 3 J class) to play the part of the cavalry and arrive part way through the action.  However this was downsized to 2 cruisers on sober second sight when I starting laying the ships out on the table and these never made it on table.

Stacey took the Italian Side with the following forces

• the cruisers Gorizia, Trento  (both 8") and Bande Nere (6")
• 3 Soldati class DDs
• 3 Navagatori class DDSs
• Again readers might recognize this force as being approximately 1/2 of the forces from the Savos Island games.  
• Once again, the other half of the Savos Island RMI forces were intended to be on table but got downsized on reflection.

The RN arrived on the east end of the table and were intercepted by the Italians from their Northwest.  The convoy had to get across the table to exit on the west edge.  The RMI were given orders not to take serious damage, and couldn't follow off the west edge for fear of land based air on Malta.

Rules were of course GQIII and despite my rustiness, the lads made a good fight of it.  In the end the two sides closed far too close with the Italians trashing most of the escort at the cost of hull damage to 2 cruisers and several destroyers.  At this point I ruled that both sides would retreat, the convoy back to the east to fall back on the distant escort and the raiders to nurse the cruisers back to home ports.

Photos to follow…oh yes the action included a collision between two cruisers and an intention ramming attempt.

The Defeat of the Auld Enemy

I should have posted this last week.  Readers will be glad to hear that my wife took the initiative to dispatch the cabbage while I was at work and the cabbage rolls were in the oven when I came home.

The cabbage rolls were delicious and no actuaries or wargamers were injured in the process.