looking back :: 2006 troops now moved on

 These troops have since left my service, by becoming mercenaries and raising the cash I needed at the time.

these Prince August castings French Chasseurs
served in many battles, likely also the Eylau one,
and have since been sold off to raise needed funds

there was a period of time where I had a set of troops
on consignment at ABC Bookstore in Courtenay
at one point a grandfather bought a bunch of the British ones
then in 2011, Norman left a note
for me and I helped finish off the boy's collection that
Christmas, doing my Santa duty.

Shipping and duties

 The mercantile actions across the border from Canada into the USA continue to have friction.

In the past I have had limited challenges with sending my toys into the USA, now things have certainly changed.

In order to ship to USA you must first use an app to pay the duties, obtain a QR code to share with Canada Post (or any other shipper) to prove the duties have been paid.

screen shot from the duties system

I managed to get this all done for a BOPPERS shipment I have put out today.

I was incentivized by new information from Bob Murch Pulp Figures, that he put out this morning.

Bob Murch's information that was
put out on the morning of August 14, 2026

 
Edit at 17:34 pdt:

more from Bob Murch only 13 minutes ago

The crazy continues and will persist to mess around with our hobby activities, may you find a simple way past it all soon.

looking back 2006 tabletop preparations for 200th anniversary games

 The plan had been set, I was going to attempt a tabletop game in connection with each of the coming 200th anniversary Napoleonic battles.

I had done Austerlitz with Kelly Jones in 2005, and that had set me on the path to attempting this.

this attitude would permeate my hobby time for the next decade

there was a good 'core element' to my Napoleonic troops at this point
yet few 1806 Prussians ... yet 

the first games would have to be using my
grass paper mat, early version of base stands
and the hills 'on top'

loads of practice runs were done

all to help me teach games better and faster

I was also growing my collection at the same time

many of these early battles have little or no notes

though the future metal base stand system could be seen
coming into existence even at this stage
the magnets were becoming frustrating

I also knew that I could not do Jena, as I did not have
the Emperor (yet), nor the troops to simulate that battle
anyway I saw Auerstadt as far more interesting a battle ...

Now, the next game timing issue ... I knew I wanted to do Eylau at the next Dak-Kon convention in 2007 ... and I did not have enough minis to do it ... yet.

Convention fun from the near past Dak Kon 17 : Zombie!

 The DakKon Convention was mostly about role-playing and card games (Magic mostly)

I had often attempted to bring in all sorts of other games to liven up the mix.

This time round was no different.

pre-game setup

The organizers had hoped to do a bunch of warhammer 40K, I think it was a tournament?
Sadly there were few entrants and a lot of time the upper floor was empty - made for a challenge to get new players to take a look at anything in such an empty space.

Understandable that the format changed in a year later the event had a new name and was all about costuming and sci-fi and fantasy fan fun.

this was to be the last Dak-Kon in 2012

The convention things went really quiet after a dud of a run, then more tries at it until the 2020 unpleasantness.

There have been a couple of fan events, mostly centered around costuming?  

Since the local tabletop minis games scene has been more interested in 40K I have not been involved.
Great that the Nanaimo crew (that we did the Leipzig game a couple of months ago) has some activity that interests me - considering it is a 90 minute drive one way, there must be some actual interest or I could not convince myself to use the resources to go.

Now there are two game stores in the city, each one has mostly a 40K minis focus, and some MTG, one has permitted the tabletop minis game (last November) and the other might be convinced ... though once I get my table done I can foresee less interest in any travel unless it is for a really good game.

an Arcadian throwback :: Star Trek Role-Playing

 I have been into Role-Playing games since at least 1978.  And Star Trek fan since I can remember.

It was wonderful to combine them in the early 2000s with a keen Game Master partner (there were 2 GMs) one 'on the planet' the other 'on the ship' (or other place) where the Player Characters could interact with the two of us as part of the story line.  We settled on one of the GMs as the Captain of the ship, that way we could somewhat direct the story - though never too much as there was always the 'other GM (me)' to keep the plot moving or to switch up the issue if the Captain GM got too far of track, and likewise the Captain GM could advance the story when the other GM was occupied elsewhere.

the First Officer

the First Officer's Log
from the guild website

Eventually, that Captain GM got posted away and we moved up the First Officer to Captain, gaming along a bit more, I think it was maybe 2009 (?) that the SFB game ended (I'm not fully certain as the players might have continued after I departed).  We moved in 2005, so it made continuing the game harder over time since I had to travel further to get to any games and many of the players family situations had become more complex.  As with all games things, time to focus on them is always at a premium.

backwards view :: 2005 De Bellis Antiquitatis TOURNAMENT

 I was feeling despondent that my 15mm Rise of Rome game system was either going to have to get sold off or given away, as I could not see them getting onto the tabletop any time soon.  

Rather than sell it all in a huff, I decided to run one more tournament, as I had in the late 1990s, and give away an army and a camp, then see if that could generate some interest in doing more.

it was a full 6 player setup

making full use of my 1'x1' terrain tiles
in the tournament mode

my best Roman Army ended up in the championship game

though I do not recall if it won or not

DBA did get played a few more times, the boards and armies were eventually sold off, though not for 7-8 years.

backwards view :: 2005 Napoleonic games & my early tabletop

 I had been gaming for many years before starting the blog, mostly RPGs, however the Napoleonic era had caught my attention, after attempting some ancient Roman stuff (with DBA) and some fantasy things (with HOtT), so in my form I had decided to see if I could find some more players by doing some game promotions.

One of them was at the Courtenay Recreation Center, a day of Napoleonic Games:

there were tabletop miniatures games

and a gigantic Eagle Games board game
of Napoleon in Europe

 I was able to turn out in my Napoleonic ADC Uniform for the event, and we even did a few pictures outside with it, one that came out nicely.

I was determined to try one last time to get interest into the ancient Romans, with a tournament!