We tried again the rules Gary wrote for a Toy Soldier battle to honor a fallen comrade, Dick Larsen. We've gamed with Dick since the '60s, and he died last year. So, these are figures he painted, and Gary has written a simple set of rules that encompass the "Toy Soldier" theme. As you might expect of a child's game, units only retreat, they are not lost. They keep coming back to fight. We are thinking Tchaikovsky's "March of the Toy Soldiers" from the Nutcracker Suite should be playing in the background while this game is played. Look at the pictures, and you will find that everyone who is mounted is mounted on a "hobby horse" with wheels. We had a good run through the rules and only made a few minor changes in preparing this battle for the convention it will be run at the Enfilade Convention on Labor Day weekend.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or Happy Holidays, which ever floats your boat, to all my friends on the RubinReport channel!
We went to a rental in Easter Washington to celebrate our 51st Anniversary. Bottom line is that we had a good time. Highlights: Beautiful place and views. Access to a very nice stream on a private beach. Coming home, about 11:15am, when we were passing Keechelus Lake (just below the summit of Snoqualmie Pass), we heard what I at first throught was a very loud truck overtaking us, but could not see it in my mirrors. But looking out the left window of the car I saw what I think was an F-18 flying about 50' above our altitude, (or about 150' above the lake level) around 50 yards off to my left! This was followed by two more of the same type planes rolling just like in the video you see of them to make their turns. Total of three of them following the terrain. Cool!!! I haven't seen them in real life doing that, but it is so impressive. Lowlights of the trip, A-Frame house with the bed shoved against the wall is very hard on a tall person who is on the wall side, and Janet fell ...
