Reporting for duty
Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2021 1:07 pm
Fellow officers,
Allow me to introduce myself. I am a new recruit from far-off Scotland, joining you in your efforts to crush the rebellion.
It can't be denied that a fairly high number of Scots have joined the armies of the seditious south. I feel sorry for them in their misguided action. They have confused a voluntary union of proud States for the greater good with the absorption of their native country by the much-larger neighbour to the south of the British Isles, which came about because of bad investments by a few rich men. Rest assured that I will treat them with no greater leniency than any other rebel (I do not honour them with the use of a capital 'R').
To show the seriousness with which I view my task, I have forsworn strong liquor until the confederacy is soundly defeated. This will I hope have the added advantage of protecting me from nefarious fellows who might try to intoxicate me as a naive cadet and relieve me of my appealingly new uniform and equipment.
I could scarcely credit it when I heard rumours that fellow officers in our noble cause would try to take advantage of new recruits, perhaps away from home for the first time, by plying them with noxious brews and stripping them of any item of value. Do we really want our officers to go about like a regiment of Jackson's Valley Army, adorned in rags and with bare feet? If it be true that there are such officers within our ranks, then my pledge of sobriety will I trust spare me the indignity of falling into their clutches.
My interest in the period began with 1/72 scale plastic soldiers, many years ago. I later toyed with the idea of 5mm figures but they didn't appeal. I had a spell in the late 70s/ early 80s with Avalon Hill and West End Games covering Gettysburg, Shiloh, South Mountain, Chickamauga, my favourite being Lee Vs Grant.
Then other things took precedence for a few years...
We were thinking about buying a PC in the late 1990s, and I started going into computer game shops to see what was available...to my delight I soon saw the Battleground series, and picked up Bull Run, Antietam, Shiloh, Gettysburg and Chickamauga at budget prices. Wargaming was back! I went a bit crazy, with titles like Age of Sail, Silent Hunter, European Air War, Eastern and Western Front, Napoleon in Russia, Waterloo etc. Later these mixed in with RPGs, FPS and TPS titles, and I'm currently enjoying riding the range in Red Dead Redemption 2. For a boy brought up in a time when the main TV channel showed a Western movie at prime time on Saturday evening, the game is a real treat.
The Battleground games didn't work on later pcs, so disappeared for a while; then I picked up a bundle on gog.com and tried them again, but I found the zoom pretty poor, the units were tiny, they reminded me of the 5mm troops from the 70s, and it was hard to feel involved.
I had scanned the JTS site a few times over the years, but was reluctant to take the plunge and shell out again, not knowing for sure what the graphics would be like. However, after reading a bio of Frederick the Great last year, I got really interested in the Seven Years War and took the plunge with the JTS game. Graphics better, I'd still like more zoom and bigger text, but that was it, I had a splurge in the December sale and picked up Renaissance, French-Indian Wars, Mexican-American Wars, Austerlitz and Wagram, and Shenandoah and Peninsula. There will be more to come. I'm keen to try Overland, to recreate Lee Vs Grant without having to find space to leave the board and counters lying about for weeks.
Well, that about covers the basics. Apologies if I have gone on at excessive length. I'm enjoying my induction with Lieutenant General Eichelberger, and hope to partake in many enjoyable encounters in the coming years.
<salutes>
Allow me to introduce myself. I am a new recruit from far-off Scotland, joining you in your efforts to crush the rebellion.
It can't be denied that a fairly high number of Scots have joined the armies of the seditious south. I feel sorry for them in their misguided action. They have confused a voluntary union of proud States for the greater good with the absorption of their native country by the much-larger neighbour to the south of the British Isles, which came about because of bad investments by a few rich men. Rest assured that I will treat them with no greater leniency than any other rebel (I do not honour them with the use of a capital 'R').
To show the seriousness with which I view my task, I have forsworn strong liquor until the confederacy is soundly defeated. This will I hope have the added advantage of protecting me from nefarious fellows who might try to intoxicate me as a naive cadet and relieve me of my appealingly new uniform and equipment.
I could scarcely credit it when I heard rumours that fellow officers in our noble cause would try to take advantage of new recruits, perhaps away from home for the first time, by plying them with noxious brews and stripping them of any item of value. Do we really want our officers to go about like a regiment of Jackson's Valley Army, adorned in rags and with bare feet? If it be true that there are such officers within our ranks, then my pledge of sobriety will I trust spare me the indignity of falling into their clutches.
My interest in the period began with 1/72 scale plastic soldiers, many years ago. I later toyed with the idea of 5mm figures but they didn't appeal. I had a spell in the late 70s/ early 80s with Avalon Hill and West End Games covering Gettysburg, Shiloh, South Mountain, Chickamauga, my favourite being Lee Vs Grant.
Then other things took precedence for a few years...
We were thinking about buying a PC in the late 1990s, and I started going into computer game shops to see what was available...to my delight I soon saw the Battleground series, and picked up Bull Run, Antietam, Shiloh, Gettysburg and Chickamauga at budget prices. Wargaming was back! I went a bit crazy, with titles like Age of Sail, Silent Hunter, European Air War, Eastern and Western Front, Napoleon in Russia, Waterloo etc. Later these mixed in with RPGs, FPS and TPS titles, and I'm currently enjoying riding the range in Red Dead Redemption 2. For a boy brought up in a time when the main TV channel showed a Western movie at prime time on Saturday evening, the game is a real treat.
The Battleground games didn't work on later pcs, so disappeared for a while; then I picked up a bundle on gog.com and tried them again, but I found the zoom pretty poor, the units were tiny, they reminded me of the 5mm troops from the 70s, and it was hard to feel involved.
I had scanned the JTS site a few times over the years, but was reluctant to take the plunge and shell out again, not knowing for sure what the graphics would be like. However, after reading a bio of Frederick the Great last year, I got really interested in the Seven Years War and took the plunge with the JTS game. Graphics better, I'd still like more zoom and bigger text, but that was it, I had a splurge in the December sale and picked up Renaissance, French-Indian Wars, Mexican-American Wars, Austerlitz and Wagram, and Shenandoah and Peninsula. There will be more to come. I'm keen to try Overland, to recreate Lee Vs Grant without having to find space to leave the board and counters lying about for weeks.
Well, that about covers the basics. Apologies if I have gone on at excessive length. I'm enjoying my induction with Lieutenant General Eichelberger, and hope to partake in many enjoyable encounters in the coming years.
<salutes>