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“Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmas time with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don’t quite know how to put our love into words” Harlen Miller What do you want in a Christmas stocking? If the answer is Sigourney Weaver c. Alien or Ghostbusters, I’m sure Ground Zero Games can provide something suitable from their Gentleman’s Collectables range. Remember all that flesh paint would cover the faces of a division of 6mm Napoleonics. If, on the other hand, you would prefer a genuine Crimean War balaclava helmet over-flowing with gaming goodies, what wargaming goodies would you wish for? Personally I encourage my wife to shower me with “endless unrestrained” gifts but trying to avoid “silly” (i.e. not gaming) gifts. My parents are notorious for eccentric gifts, but fortunately Amazon.com’s wish list can counter their worst excesses. So should I leave out a handy list of books? Well, no, the stack of unread books on my bedside table reached such epic proportions that my wife, in fear of being smothered by falling tomes in the middle of the night, insisted the tower be moved onto the floor by the bed. It now stands with three others in a miniaturised reconstruction of the Manhattan skyline (1/300 scale, or Dubai in 2mm). To add a further stack with Christmas volumes would ruin the effect. Toy soldiers then? Well, having seen the light and reduced my lead mountains to mere roches moutonnees I am unwilling to burden myself with project-less lead. Terrain? Already covered. In most scales. I have to worry when I can produce a range of North African villages in FOUR different scales. I only actually game in TWO. For me, this year’s gift of choice will be a English Civil War cavalry officer’s sword. Not a real one, a real fake hand crafted in the late C20th forgery. Why? Well, for the fun of it. I have half a mind to improve my physique, which is expanding awkwardly towards middle age. My local college offers sabre and foil classes, and cleaving into someone somehow appeals to me far more than looking puny and desperate at the gym. In my heart of hearts I know I am more Oliver Reed than d'Artagnan, but I’m a wargamer, I can dream. Recent writing has been limited to producing a scenario for this very website’s Countdown to Christmas Advent calender extravaganza. Lots of fun it was too. I will leave the announcement to Craig in due course, but I trust you will enjoy the trip… Matthew Hartley November 2009 |
