Absent Friends

 It has been a tough year for the cadre of my lifelong gaming group.

In early March, we suffered the sudden loss of Mike Haynes. I first met Mike in the fall of 1972. He was a year ahead of me in high school and a member of the Dartmouth High Wargaming Club. It was actually Mike who pointed me toward my first real job at age 16, stepping into the role his brother left behind when moving on to bigger things. As the years went on, life naturally got in the way—careers and family pushed wargaming to the backseat. Fortunately, we reconnected later in life and rediscovered the shared joy of pushing counters and moving figures across the tabletop.

Mike and Paul - Figures Paul's ECW army

Back in the 1970s and 80s, local high school clubs combined forces with university groups to create an ad-hoc gaming community: the Halifax-Dartmouth Wargaming League. Through that league, I built friendships that have lasted to this day, including one with Paul Smith. Paul was four years older and attending King’s College in Halifax at the time. After getting married and commencing a career in law enforcement in Ottawa, he quickly returned to Halifax and rejoined our circle.

Paul was a natural leader in our group. Over the years, the Halifax-Dartmouth Wargaming League morphed into the Atlantic Simulation Society—and the fact that the group was reborn over a dozen years ago was entirely due to Paul. He even got our association's Golf and T-Shirts printed.

The gang August 2015 Halifax NS L-R
Mike-Paul-Ross Mac - Mel Neily - Myself - Les

In the 70s Mike and Paul  traveled to an early Origins convention and came back raving about a massive new monster game: Drang Nach Osten. Over the years, both DNO and SPI’s Terrible Swift Sword took over my living room, staying set up for months at a time. Mike and Paul were fixtures during those marathons, plotting strategies usually on the same side of the board. In the late 1970s Mike introduced the local gaming community to Traveller, which he purchased at Origins.

Blitzkieg Commander - Mike, Paul, Les and Ross Mac

Eventually, distance and time loosened our routine once again—until the internet made it easy to re-establish those ties.

The gang at CanGames 2013 L-R
Mike - Paul -Joseph - Myself -Stuart - Steve

By the late 1990s, I had relocated to Montreal, Mike was in Ottawa, and Paul had settled on Nova Scotia’s South Shore. In 2013, the stars aligned and four of us descended on Ottawa for CanGames, all crashing in Paul’s son’s one-bedroom apartment. That weekend set a new precedent: meeting up in Ottawa for CanGames became standard practice, and it rekindled a regular online gaming session.

Gaming with Paul and Les - Dragon's Rampant 2023

Since then, we’ve met up in person whenever possible, while spending long, cold Saturday winter nights playing Civilization III, Civ V, and Civ VI on Steam. With Skype running in the background so we could kibitz and catch up while we played, it became our anchored social ritual. Whenever I visited Nova Scotia, I was always welcomed at Paul and Catherine's, where we'd naturally get some gaming in.

Catherine, Stuart and Paul - CanGames 2018

In 2024, Paul and Catherine decided to relocate to Ottawa to be closer to their children and grandchildren. It was the weekend of the move—the house was sold, and the final logistics were underway—when Paul was admitted to the hospital. Something was wrong.

I received a text message one morning from Catherine, followed by a call from Paul the next day. He was gravely ill and had been given two to three months to live. Unsure if he could physically manage the move to Ottawa given the level of care required, they arranged to stay temporarily with Catherine's brother in Liverpool. Paul asked me to come down for a week.

PanzerGruppe Guderian - End of turn 6

After coordinating with Catherine, a date was set, and I got to spend precious time with my longtime friend. We squeezed in one final game of PanzerGruppe Guderian and watched a lot of British murder mysteries. Soon after, Paul received the medical clearance to travel to Ottawa. He passed away just two weeks later.

The Time Tripper Team - CanGames 2019
The core of the Saturday night CIV VI Player Group

I feel fortunate that I had that final week to sit with him. While his passing lacked the sudden shock of Mike's, the loss cuts just as deep. In a painfully short span of time, our Saturday night Civ VI gaming circle has dropped from four players down to just two.

Last weekend, I spent time with Paul's family. His ashes came home on Friday, and they will be spread in Mahone Bay next summer—a spot he truly loved. Stories were shared, old photos were flipped through, and memories were re-lived. Catherine is still in the process of unpacking what was meant to be their final home together. I was deeply honoured to be invited to stand with them as they celebrated the life of a husband, father, grandfather, and—in my case—lifelong friend.

Tonight, I will raise a glass to both Mike and Paul, and to all absent friends.

Rocky Terrain Completed

I finally wrapped up work on these rocky terrain pieces! To give a better sense of scale, I threw in a Sherman tank—perfect for Flames of War or general 15mm WWII wargaming. 

It was part of a recent deal.  I traded off some 25/28mm Bolt Action figures that were just sitting around gathering dust. In return, I scored a nice batch of 15mm figures that I hope to do some skirmish games with.

Terrain WIPs

For last Sunday afternoon's paint-and-chat session, I decided to tackle some rocky terrain pieces. A couple of months ago, Graham handed me a ziplock bag filled with wood bark, and I had some leftover 115mm x 90mm oval artillery bases perfect for the foundation.

Wood bark - rough terrain

After letting the glue dry, I slathered on my favorite Vallejo Earth Texture paste. I plan to leave the natural look of the bark as-is, but I'll add tufts and flocking to complete the scene. They’re going to make great line-of-sight obstacles for 15mm games. A bit small for 25mm IMO

Of course, as with any completed project comes the classic challenge: storage. While hunting for a suitable container, I stumbled across a box that fit the new rocky outcrops perfectly. Inside were some "magic" mushroom miniatures I painted over 30 years ago while sitting at my kitchen table in Halifax. I’m pretty sure today is the very first time they’ve ever faced a camera lens!

Mushroom Forest - Resin Pieces

The other forgotten treasure I unearthed was a GF9 Crystal Forest set. This set will fit right in as terrain for either Space 1889 or my18mm HOTT Barsoomian army. To bring the stand to life, I used a package and a half of Gamer’s Grass Alien Fire tufts to spruce it up.

GF9 - Crystal Forest with Alien Fire Weeds - Mars or Barsoom

All in all, a very successful afternoon at the hobby workbench.

Battle of San Millán-Osma 8 June 1813

Saturday afternoon at the Abyss, a 10 turn game of General d'Armee 2 played out in just under 5 hours.

The game was put on by John (john de terre neuve - check his blog) and Graham. Details of the scenario from John are found below.

Anglo-Portuguese (Attackers): Played by William and Michel. French (Defenders): Commanded by Myriam and myself. John and Graham were the Gamemasters. 

View of the table after Turn 4 arrival of Montfort's Brigade is the corner.

The layout of the terrain naturally split the battlefield into two distinct flanks, which worked out perfectly. A huge thanks to our game masters, John and Graham, who each took charge of a flank. Their expert guidance kept the game flowing without any noticeable delays or controversies. Both William and Myriam were complete newcomers playing their first game of GdA2. This was my third match, the last taking place over a year ago.

Stolen directly from John notes, " The Battle of San Millán-Osma  8 June 1813 was a sharp Allied advance-guard action fought during the campaign leading directly to the decisive Battle of Battle of Vitoria. It took place in northern Spain around the villages of San Millán and Osma as the army of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington pushed eastward against the retreating French under Honoré Charles Reille and Bertrand Clausel.

Map stolen from the GMs files

Wellington’s army was advancing in several columns through difficult mountainous terrain in an attempt to outflank the French and cut their communications. On 18 June, Allied forces struck two separated French positions:

At San Millán, the Light Division under Charles Alten attacked elements of Clausel’s corps. The British light infantry and riflemen aggressively pushed the French out of the village after hard fighting in narrow streets and broken ground. The French withdrew after suffering significant casualties and confusion.

At Osma, to the northeast, part of Thomas Graham’s column engaged French troops covering the road network. Fighting here was less intense but added pressure on the French flank and rear. "

Pinoteau's Brigade trying to blunt the Allied Advance

View of the Allied forces bearing down on Espejo

William ponders his next move. Graham looks on.

Michel ignores the ref's advice and prepares to throw red dice.

WIP 10mm Republican Roman Army Part 2

 Finished basing the troops. I ran out of steel 20x40mm bases and had to improvise. I had some plastic bases hanging about that I cut down to size. So here are the Hastatii with Pilum and Shield.

Hastatii with Pilum and Shield.

And the Cavalry based and flocked. 

WIP 10mm Republican Roman Army

Getting a 10mm Republican Roman army based and ready is a great way to stay ahead of the club arms race, especially since 10mm provides fantastic rank-and-file mass on the table without requiring a massive playing area. I commenced to base the army that I received early in the spring, brough to life by Old Guard Painters. The figures being Pendraken Republican Roman Army Pack.

Partial - Pendraken Republican Roman Army Pack.

The more I look at the figures, the more I am thinking it might just be an ADLG army to play with.

Wargames Rules for Armoured Warfare At Company and Battalion Level 1925 to 1950

The various WRG rulesets were a mainstay of my gaming experience from the mid 1970s through the 1990s. Too many hours were wasted away playing the WRG WW2 rules with our 6mm microarmour armies. I still have the troops but have only played a couple of times in the last three decades.

Based upon the recommendations of two gaming buddies from out east I picked up the 2025 revamped version of the Wargames Rules for Armoured Warfare At Company and Battalion Level 1925 to 1950. Printed on demand by Lulu. I have also lucked into a collection of 15mm WW2 minis. I hope  to try to entice some of the local Montreal gamers to give this a shot

War of the Ring

 I haven't posted in a while. I was on a trip to Halifax for 5 weeks and returned to Montreal last Monday evening. Yesterday I was out for a four player game of War of the Ring. We try to meet on the first Friday of each month for a game, but life has a habit of getting in the way.

Stan and Mike won the game. We started playing at 1PM and ended with a Dark Lord military victory at 6PM. It was the first time I played since before COVID. The Ringbearer was in Mordor but only on the 2nd rung of the track, when the shadow fell on Matt and myself.