Well life has slowed a bit and I can put pen to paper. For those curious, Gary, my caster had a stroke and so production of Thistle and Rose figures has been stopped for six months. Hopefully production will start again in April.

I have been dragged kicking and screaming backing into the world of hats and ties. (My youngest goes to school next year and we felt interaction with people other than his father would do him good. Perhaps he will learn the correct way to greet people is not to growl at them, lower his head and charge...) I am at a United States Marine Air base (Cherry Point, NC). It is real strange looking at these kids who cannot shave and realizing they are Marines. So the Fish private life is in turmoil. But what else is new and who cares.

I received papal dispensation (read spousal permission) to attend Fall In partially to compensate that in 1999 I will not be able to make either Cold Wars or Historicon...a first. So I left the coast of North Carolina and drove up to Gettysburg making it in around nine hours.

My trip I am sure was more pleasant than the men that had done it 135 years ago. I will have to ask Bruce Taylor and see if he remembers. I got in Thursday night and Friday got up to play in the WRG 7th mini tournament. I had an Anglo Irish army and succeeded in getting two 2-1's. My opponents did not want to fight as the match-ups were bad. Scott MacDonald kindly took pity on me and did not require that I play the third round. The only thing I can remember about the two games is that they were painfully slow. A common problem in ancient tournament gaming. [Ed. Not so in MW!]

One of the big reasons for my wanting to go to Gettysburg was to learn Terry's new rules as sadly after 14 years of playing ancients, my interest is waning. I started with WRG 6th and many moons ago in the underground hangar at Lanham, MD told Kruse Smith; I don t care which system (the choice was 6th or 7th) but pick one and stay with it. I think Holder is the only other troglodyte left from that era and when I remember my favorite games several against him come to the fore... but they were 12 years ago.

Now why is my interest fading? I think for several reasons, some personal and some not. All kidding aside, one is age. I go to conventions to have fun, not engage in a marathon from 8 AM to midnight. If I play I cannot socialize and visit with old friends. And am dead tired when I get home. The older I get the more I value the fun and the more draining the grind.

2] The universal nature of the ancient market. Today there are so many armies and army lists. I cannot help but think many are at best poorly researched and some seem... imaginative. And while one could debate the relative merits of this expansion, it has allowed so many choices that armies can be tooled/customized to the degree that they have no personality. Sort of like my son's Design Your Own Hot Wheels computer program. While this might be a great positive to some, it takes the fun out of it to me.

Because in the past everyone who showed up with the Seleucids or Japanese could be taunted for playing killer armies today there are x number of armies that really are variants on the killer armies.

3] My inability to play on a regular basis. It takes me one game to get back in stride. But not playing on a regular basis allows one to step back and see how rote our end of the hobby has become. Which leads to

4] The mechanical routine many games have devolved into.

5] The apparent lack of new blood willing to take on their share of the crap work. Heck it is still Scott Dickson, Scott Holder, Larry Essick and Terry Gore doing the yeoman's work. And there are other reasons but I have beaten this horse too long as it is.

I successfully meet Gore and crew and we go back to the Hotel and immediately go to sleep. I hate to say it but I remember when Taylor,Gore, Fish and Abrahms; TGFA stood for Thank God For Alcohol. Now TGFA stands for Tired Guys Feeling Ancient.

We get up the next morning and move out to the battlefield. People if you haven't been there...GO. It is almost a religious experience. Unless you are with the Three AmiGos; (Taylor, Abrahms, and Gore.)

All were amazed at the scope and the "oh SH**" factor that the terrain brings home. From Sickle's position one can imagine their view of the battle. Their position given the ground makes sense. Someone has to plug the hole this ground creates in an otherwise perfect defensive line. And they have clear fields of fire, loads of troops (some local boys who probably know the terrain in their sleep) and several lines of stuff to their front.

They would have heard the battle coming towards them form their right. Then flashes through the trees. Then the warbling Rebel Yell and men erupting out of the tree line.

For the Southern boys they would see a line of troops, then a battery stuck way the heck out in front and another line of troops behind that. All up hill. They push the Union troops aside to find another line behind a stone wall. Catching their breath on they come driving the Union troops from the wall. You can see in you minds eye men hunkering down for safety behind the wall and being driven forward yet again. For on the top of the hill is yet another line of infantry and a supporting battery. Once more! and up they go into the cannons driving them off the ridge and glorious victory.

Then the Oh SH** factor. The Southerners discover they have only taken the preliminary hill. Little Round Top, like a half buried basketball awaits them across broken ground. With little respite, down they go... into history. For you cynics that question the intelligence of the people from Rochester, NY I should point out the troops from Rochester held the high ground at Little Round Top [Ed. Patrick O'Rorke's 140th N.Y.]. So I think the Rochester crowd should assault it next time while we throw things at them. What do you all think eh? For you whiners that say the table edge should not be the end of the world look at the ground leading to Little Round Top. There is a definite edge of the World atmosphere. Anyway I was deeply impressed by the trip and intend to do it again. Ironically I looked at Mitch's car and mine parked side by side; his had Massachusetts tags, mine North Carolina. Back we went to the convention for the Goremeister to teach his errant friend and colleague Ancient Warfare.

First general impressions. I liked the quick set up and the unit size. I also HIGHLY RECOMMEND placing a small unit discription tag behind each unit. I really liked the movement. None of the petty details of other systems. The best part of Terry's system is the paper, scissor, stone aspect of movement as not all units may be issued orders. So for the beginner or the old pro, the set up and movement get top scores.

Next we play. I am playing one of the two groups I hate playing. The first is women. I always lose to them because I know men are not supposed to commit acts of violence against women. Second are early teens or younger. I always lose to them because they have no concept of the laws of probability.

I am playing a young man named Jud who has the good fortune to have Dennis Leventhal on his right flank. Dennis apparently has been around as long as I but our paths never crossed. He will be the voice of reason to young Jud's rashness. Jud lets his 16 figure skirmishing light horse unit stand. I charge it with two identical units of my own. I need to preface this with a warning statement. I was to have one of my legendary cold streaks. I rolled 20-30 1's in a row. [Ed. I do believe that this a wee bit of an exageration, though jamie did have an abysmal run…and his CiC would not consent to allow him to use the "Calling on the Gods Roll" which would have saved his a…..]

My opponent meanwhile has the opposite with a similiar string of a 6's. Terry's rules have two sets of dice rolls per combat. Actually this would seem to be good on paper as it should reduce the random factors. But when I am playing anything is possible. Of course I end up with the 1 in 36 to the upteenth power. And this left a bad feel for this part of the rules. [Ed. Jamie really does have this problem with 16 year olds…].

Part 2 of A Damaged Mind