Pendraken Miniatures Forum

Welcome => Intro's and Welcomes => Topic started by: KeepCalmDoSums on 19 August 2020, 10:38:24 PM

Title: Hi from York
Post by: KeepCalmDoSums on 19 August 2020, 10:38:24 PM
Hello to the Forum from Andrew!

My nickname refers to my current occupation - maths tutor.  OK:  you can all hate me now, I don't care - like most of you, I hated maths at school, too.

I was in the Army (Int Corps) 1980-2003, then worked overseas as a security consultant, then in the prison system as a teacher until recently changing for private tutoring and specialising in young people with special educational needs.

Wargame-wise:  I broke my teeth as a young teenager on WRG WW2, OGRE/GEV and some RPGing (mostly Traveller and Gamma World).  My OGRE/GEV habit has remained but I "progressed" to Korps/Corps Commander which I actually used professionally, building up a huge 6mm collection.  I "downsized" to OnePageRules (OPR) and PC stuff after demob and am in the process of developing a WW2 operational-level system.  In reality, I will happily lose a game in any period in any scale using any rules so long as it's fun in good company and I don't need a month to study the rules first.

So... time for a change.  I like making scenery and prefer to play with figures - the visual effect is a great part of the attraction of wargaming.  I'm drawn to Steampunk and WW2 Eastern Front:  OPR would be great for Steampunk and someone pointed out that I had enjoyed a game of FWC so how about BKC?  I also want something very easy and solo-friendly and have been flirting with Bolt Action.  6mm is too fiddly so up a scale.  I'm a terrible skinflint so price is important, but so is visual appeal and availability.  I already have a couple of bags of Pendraken WW2 (given as a swap for some terrain bits and pieces) and sci-fi (moment of madness) and am really impressed by the detail - so it's a no-brainer.

Leon at Pendraken kindly answered an email question on figure suitability and so:  I'm in.  I shall be posting in the relevant sections for advice re: figures choice and maybe some Victorian sci-fi and Ostfront chat.  Looking forward to it all.

Finally:  my apologies for the length of this intro - come on:  I'm an academic.  Never use three or four words when a couple of thousand will easily do.
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Duke Speedy of Leighton on 19 August 2020, 10:58:20 PM
Hello and welcome
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: mmcv on 19 August 2020, 10:59:08 PM
Welcome Andrew, looking forward to seeing your projects take shape. You can always count on the forum dwellers to help you formulate your ideas and differentiate the good from the bad. There may be the odd sine of madness but sure it all adds up to a good time.

I hope to see a sequence of pictures of your work in the near future. I hope you don't find my welcome too derivative or obtuse but it was just a prime opportunity to drop in a few maths puns. Not all math puns are awful after all... Just sum.
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Duke Speedy of Leighton on 19 August 2020, 11:05:29 PM
That was just mean.
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Leon on 19 August 2020, 11:57:53 PM
Hi and welcome to the Forum!

8)
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: jimduncanuk on 20 August 2020, 12:33:35 AM
Lo
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: paulr on 20 August 2020, 12:36:15 AM
Welcome Andrew :-h

Not all of us hated maths at school ;)

Extremely well played MMCV ;D
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Scorpio_Rocks on 20 August 2020, 05:44:23 AM
Welcome aboard.

Good to see more Tykes on the forum :D
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Steve J on 20 August 2020, 06:25:58 AM
Welcome on board Andrew :(.

And well done Matt ;) :D
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Norm on 20 August 2020, 06:37:24 AM
Welcome Andrew, here is a very nice part of the internet.  Good to hear of the influence of Corps Commander, those soft backed rules of yesteryear have much to commend them and WRG WWII / GEV was also part of my gaming history.
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Lord Kermit of Birkenhead on 20 August 2020, 06:55:39 AM
Well things occasionally add up in here.  :P
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Techno on 20 August 2020, 07:04:44 AM
A very warm welcome, Andrew. :-h

Cheers - Phil
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: fsn on 20 August 2020, 07:11:49 AM
Good morning

Some of us a graduates in Applied Statistics (with Honours) and find it hard to integrate with the herd.

Yes, series of puns is a constant danger on the forum.

Right, WWII Eastern Front. What time period are you thinking? I must have a preference for the 1941 end, with T35s and KVs and BT7s rather than T34s. I don't own a T34 ... hmmm ... may have to remedy that.

 
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: fred. on 20 August 2020, 08:38:16 AM
Welcome onboard Andrew

I too liked maths at school.

Ostfront is well served with Pendraken models, so lots of gaming opportunity there.

Victorian Sci Fi is a bit more unusual in 10mm so it will be interesting to see what you come up with for that.
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Lord Kermit of Birkenhead on 20 August 2020, 09:59:30 AM
Quote from: fred. on 20 August 2020, 08:38:16 AM
Victorian Sci Fi is a bit more unusual in 10mm so it will be interesting to see what you come up with for that.

Well Phil is not busy, he can do it alongside the flying pigs, duck knights and wombles with AK's
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Techno on 20 August 2020, 10:41:57 AM
Quote from: ianrs54 on 20 August 2020, 09:59:30 AM
Well Phil is not busy,

If only you knew, Ian. ;D ;D ;D.

(When I had  the recent 'clear-up', I found a duck knight (true...genuinely)....no idea what scale it's supposed to be..which firm made it.... I guess it was something to do with Runequest.)

Do you want it, before it goes in the bin ?......I'll send it up to Leon, when I send a  container's worth of soldiers up to Pendraken Towers.

That's if I can ever find the damn thing again. X_X

Cheers - Phil


Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Lord Kermit of Birkenhead on 20 August 2020, 11:33:08 AM
No dont need it, remember 10mm is a tad large for me  :P
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Orcs on 20 August 2020, 11:39:48 AM
Welcome to the Lunatic asylum Andrew.

I will forgive you for being a math teacher, while I did not like maths at school I did have some very good a patient teachers of maths.  being an engineer, stuff has to hae a practicality to it and I could never see the point of Simultaneous equations, and have never found a use for them in real life.

The Forum is a wealth of knowledge enriched by a large amount of bamter, a little sarcasm. and a whole lot of silliness.


Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Ithoriel on 20 August 2020, 02:46:15 PM
Ostfront you say?

Then ....

Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome!
Fremde, etranger, stranger.
Gluklich zu sehen, je suis enchante,
Happy to see you, bleibe, reste, stay.

Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome
Im Das Forum, au Le Forum, to the Forum!

Here ... life is beautiful

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Chris Pringle on 20 August 2020, 04:23:37 PM
Greetings, fellow numerate!

You mention WW2 operational-level rules. Let me tantalise you by enthusing about Frank Chadwick and Glenn Kidd's long-promised but still as yet unpublished 'Breakthrough!' rules: 3 game turns per day (one of which is a night turn), 1" = 500m, base unit is a battalion on a 2"x2" base (though we use 2"x1"). AAR here:
https://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2019/06/operation-bluecoat-wilderness-in-bocage.html

Welcome to the forum and have fun!

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1412549408869331/
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: fred. on 20 August 2020, 08:06:44 PM
Those rules do sound interesting. I have toyed with doing market garden at this sort of scale, and you get a lot of it on a standard wargames table.
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: KeepCalmDoSums on 20 September 2020, 08:13:35 PM
Hi everyone and firstly:  apologies for my not answering your greetings in good time.  To say I've been distracted by recent events is to make a gross understatement, and wargaming has had to be put out of sight on the back burner.  Unfortunately, just before COVID I had (a) resigned one job with another "promised", and (b) dismantled all my current wargaming projects to make room for the new one.  Well:  that worked well, didn't it?

In some ways, the enforced break has served to focus my attention on what I really want from the hobby moving forward.  So it's an ill wind and all that, and I am definitely moving to from 6mm to 10mm and changing the genre(s).

Anyhoo...

Thank you to everyone who welcomed me and, again, my apologies for disappearing.  In particular:

Anyone making maths jokes:  keep 'em coming.  I always say there are 10 types of people in the world:  those that understand binary, and those that don't.

Scorpio Rock:  I'm originally from Manchester (when it was in Lancashire).  That's 29 Hawkeshead Road, Cheetham behind me in my pic - yes:  that's me.  Don't tell the locals - some of them have memories going back a lo-o-ong time.

Norm:  I still have a very soft spot for Corps/Korps Commander and OGRE/GEV is classic beer 'n' pretzels, even though I only realised recently that I've been playing it wrong for more than three decades.  Good grief.  Also:  I've played your WW2 hex game and it's a work of genius - thank you for making it available.  It makes a great solo game and easily works with large games on big tables, too.  The only mods I've made are (1) turn the "command" roll into a d10 with different success requirements for different quality units, and (2) grant one "automatic command" per company-sized combat group.

fsn:  I studied the Soviet Army "professionally" and ended up becoming a little obsessed, and more or less any eastern WW1/2/3 action grabs my interest.  If I have to choose, it's probably '42-'43 and alternate history.  I can speak enough Russian to swear convincingly, shout suitably patriotic slogans and burst into the Soviet National Anthem to celebrate victory.  I have also been told I have the tactical subtlety of a charging bull so commanding suicidal Russian All-Or-Nothing attacks or Not-One-Step-Back defences suits me down to the ground.

fred.:  VSF is an interesting genre for wargaming and all sorts of figures can be kitbashed into Selenites, Troglodytes, Cephelopods etc. and steam-/Sterling-powered vehicles.  I like the quality of Pendraken but may have to dip into Irregular for things like "characters".  Pendraken has more than enough variety for my WW2 project.  Now you come to mention it, Wombles with Martini-Henry rifles... mmmm...  Wimbledon Drift, anyone?

Orcs:  Patience is my middle name when it comes to people not "getting it" straight away - been there;  done that;  know what it feels like.

Ithoriel:  предпочитаю "привет!" - и не "остфронт" а "Великая Отечественная Bойна".  Вперёд! и ни шагу назад!

Chris Pringle:  I'm familiar with BBB.  My rules are different as I wanted the wargames board to look like a map table as seen by a Corps or Army Commander and "reads" like a historical battle report.  Unfortunately we're going to go hex board here, with battalions as individual elements and "tactical groups" of multiple units operating together.  I'll be looking for playtesters when the main body of rules is written up.

And on that note... 

Thanks again for the warm welcome and all the interesting posts in this forum;  I'm looking forward to taking an active part when normality, or whatever passes for it, resumes.
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: paulr on 20 September 2020, 08:55:36 PM
Welcome back :-h

Hopefully normality, or whatever passes for it, resumes soon
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Westmarcher on 20 September 2020, 09:06:50 PM
I like York.

p.s. Is it alright if I just call you Taras Bulba, for short?

(Hi and welcome, btw)
   :)
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Scorpio_Rocks on 20 September 2020, 10:41:30 PM
Quote from: KeepCalmDoSums on 20 September 2020, 08:13:35 PMScorpio Rock (Sic):  I'm originally from Manchester (when it was in Lancashire).  That's 29 Hawkeshead Road, Cheetham behind me in my pic - yes:  that's me.  Don't tell the locals - some of them have memories going back a lo-o-ong time.

Boo Hiss!
(at least you has the good sense to move to God's own county - so we will let you off :P )
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: Ithoriel on 20 September 2020, 10:48:31 PM
Quote from: Westmarcher on 20 September 2020, 09:06:50 PM
I like York.

p.s. Is it alright if I just call you Taras Bulba, for short?

(Hi and welcome, btw)
  :)

I like York too. Was going to go there this Spring but something happened ... don't remember what :D

You could call him KCDS. Though he might then sound like a K-Pop Band :)

There are two types of people in the world. Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.

I also tend to use Great Patriotic War rather than Eastern Front ... to the confusion of several of my friends.

"Death to the Fascist Vipers!" Wait! What am I saying? I was always one of the Germans in our Stalingrad to Kursk campaigns!
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: KeepCalmDoSums on 21 September 2020, 03:07:20 PM
Quote from: Ithoriel on 20 September 2020, 10:48:31 PM

There are two types of people in the world. Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.



;D  Good one!
Title: Re: Hi from York
Post by: DaveH on 04 October 2020, 05:43:46 PM
Belated welcome. I like Ogre/GEV too and have had my copies since the late 1970s.