Something old, something new

Memoir '44 online

It's been a quiet few days on the wargaming front - though curiously enough I've actually played more games of late then I have in quite a while. The problem however is that none of those games have involved moving toy soldiers around a table. I've been playing Days of Wonder's rather excellent online version of Richard Borg's Memoir '44. It's a cracking game and has all the virtues of the tabletop version.

There are two issues that playing this game raises.

1. Despite the fact that Memoir '44 is a very simple game, I have discovered that we have been getting some of the rules wrong since the game came out. I was very surprised by this. It did also put me to thinking that if a comparatively large player pool can get the rules wrong consistently for years, what hope is there for more complicated games?

2. Due to the vagaries of the online system, I find myself playing the baddies about 40% of the time. I do not find this as upsetting as when I play tabletop games. The deindividualising effect of the internet, perhaps?

In short, I recommend this game. The initial download is only 40 megabytes and the first twenty games or so are free. After that it works out at approximately 6 cents per game.

The other wargaming news is that the latest and it would appear the last issue of The Classic Wargamer's Journal has arrived. I really liked the journal and it was good while it lasted, but it seemed unlikely that a chap with Phil Olley's talents and the not inconsiderable demands placed on his time would be able to continue with a project like this.

That said, it was a great read while it lasted and I'm sorry that I won't see any more of Daryl Haselton's magnificent collection (those moustaches, my word!). I think Phil took the right course in calling a halt on a high note. It would have been shabby to let such a nice project fizzle out.

Which is not to say that the Journal may not be revived, but I doubt it somehow.

All that remains to be said is that Mr Olley's characterisation of me as twisted is a vile calumny, so base that it could only be uttered by a pragmatical canting Scotsman without the wit to see that my patience and forbearance in the face of Gorman's continual provocation is nothing less than Saintly.

In other news - the Spanish expansion for Command&Colours: Napoleonics has been delayed until November due to a problem with the printers in China. In the words of Gorman, "This may be the greatest crime ever committed by global communism."