Games: Flames of War

I really don't know why I've waited so long to post something about one of my favourite hobbies...

I play a miniature game called Flames of War. It is a World War 2 game played with metal and resin 15mm miniatures. (For the uninitiated, 15mm refers to the scale size of a human figure, so a soldier stands 15mm tall.) I started collecting the miniatures (and trying to find someone to play) about four years ago.

I really like this game because it plays quickly while staying true to how combat was conducted during the war. Certainly it does not handle all of the details of World War 2 battles in depth, but it does well enough that I can't be bothered nitpicking any perceived shortcomings.

It is played at the platoon-level, which means a force is created from several platoons to create a company for the battle. Depending on what kind of force you chose (armoured, mechanized infantry, infantry or reconnaissance) a company will start with two to eight or more platoons. You can field a company from any nation involved in the war based on organizational lists for creating your company.

There is all kinds of equipment to choose from throughout the conflict, so battles are generally fought according to the era. The first era was the Mid-War period of 1942-1943 that concentrated on the Mediterranean and East Fronts. For the last couple of years the focus has been on the Late War period of 1944 onward with most of the new supplemental material concentrating on the summer of 1944.

Personally, I have miniatures (not all assembled and painted) for mid-war and late war Germans, Russians and Americans. I'm slowly trying to build up my completed armies, but it is slow going sometime with the other things I enjoy doing. Running and outdoor stuff takes up more time in the summer, so after the move this fall will be prime time for going hard with more miniatures to complete.

In September I am running a Flames of War tourney at the Fallcon game convention, so right now I'm busy with making terrain. I'm also trying to get some more finished minis for some demos at The Sentry Box.

I'll try to post some pictures of my games in the future.

Life: The End (of August) is Near!

The end of August has certainly snuck up on me. The car registration is due. Our last backcountry trip of 2008 is this long weekend. We bought ourselves a new bed that has to wait another week and a half to get delivered. And we found ourselves a new place to live in Calgary, but won't get to move in until the end of October at the latest.

The hot weekend weather for most of the month has made training runs on the weekend hard to take sometimes. About the only thing I could do that would make it tolerable was to slow right down to a fast walk. I also haven't been putting on as many miles leading up to Lost Soul since I have either been feeling very run down and tired, or I haven't had a particularly great time scheduling training runs with all the other stuff we've managed to do this month.

The next couple of nights are dedicated to tidying up before this weekend and getting the gear packed for another trip out to Kananaskis. The one thing that would appear to be lacking for this trip is the heat and snow pack. I don't know if this is pushing our luck, but we will drive out after work on Friday to pack 8km into Forks CG that night. The next day will be a little easier with the climb to Turbine Canyon, and then Monday will require us to hike out all the way. I am looking forward to a few good nights sleep though.

It would seem this weekend is to be about the best sleep I will get until the new bed arrives. We had our doubts about the bed surviving the move from Edmonton last year, but when test driving new beds turned into a purchase it was all too apparent how bad the bed had become. We are both eagerly awaiting the delivery day.

Last weekend was our practice move now that we found a new place here in Calgary. Aerin's Parental Units moved out of the house into a townhouse condo further west in Edmonton on Sunday. As one of the designated "strong, young men" I got to have all the fun with the heavy appliances. In the end things went pretty smoothly and we were done in about five hours. My back was kind of stiff, but it's been good since.

Which leads me to mention that I must be getting old since I managed to tweak my back somehow the weekend after the long weekend this month. I was cutting up styrene sheet for miniatures terrain when I stood up and had a bad muscle spasm in my back. It was the same spot where I had trouble last fall, but the dying bed has countered the exercising and stretching that would help it out more. So things are stable, and I hope getting better when my back gets better support from the new bed.

That's it for now. It's time to clean up and start packing. Cheers!

Outdoor: Waterton Pictures

Well I have had a few really crappy nights sleep due to some back problems. The back isn't so much the problem I think as th bed I have to sleep in at night. So after much delay, here are some photos of our trip to Waterton.

Looking back towards Waterton Lake from the trail to Crypt Lake.

Hell-roaring Falls on Crypt Lake trail.

Burnt Rock Falls on Crypt Lake trail.

Entrance to tunnel that leads up to Crypt Lake. The metal ladder is about 6 feet tall. The tunnel is significantly shorter.

Crypt Falls.

This is where Crypt Lake flows out of the rock about 20 meters before it turns into Crypt Falls.

Wall Lake as you emerge from the trail.

Some of the exposed ice at the base of the wall at Wall Lake, Akamina Provincial Park, BC.

Outdoor: Waterton National Park

Aerin and I spent five days in Waterton last weekend. I wanted to share some of our backcountry adventures first, so I'll talk about the regular tourist things we did in another post. I will post photos when I get the chance.

Friday was our first outing to Crypt Lake. After getting onto the ferry across the lake to Crypt Landing, we began our hike up the trail. Unfortunately this didn't last long as Aerin began having blister trouble from her boots. While they weren't a problem last year, the boots have been causing problems this year, and the fix we tried for this trip didn't take. So about an hour into the hike Aerin decided it was better to save her feet than carry on to the top in pain and ruin the rest of her weekend. She sent me to the top with orders to take lots of pictures.

I took off to the top to complete my mission and return as quickly as I could to Aerin as she waited at the docks. The hanging valley Crypt Lake is in was lots of fun to get to with it's tunnel crawl and exposed trail access. It's certainly a very pretty cirque lake, but I didn't enjoy it as much without Aerin to see it too. With my mission completed I turned around and started the rapid running descent to the dock. All told it was about 2:30 to get to the lake and about 1:15 to make the run back.

Friday night we ran into friends we knew were going to be in Waterton. (There were lots that we didn't know about too. Yeah Grant MacEwan Mountain Club!) The next morning the four of us headed up to Wall Lake on the BC side of the border for a look at another beautiful lake. This was preceeded by some emergency shoe shopping for Aerin, but she made good time despite some soreness due to not quite blisters of the previous day.

We encountered a pair of male mule deer on the way up with beautiful antlers. They were still in their velvet. Another doe wandered the area when we got to the lake finally.

Wall Lake itself is most impressive for the towering wall of stone around the back side of the lake. It's quite a sight to see the glacier remenants around the lake too. There was some recent chunks that have separated along the western end that were all blue-green in tinge. In some places even older clear ice with the same blue-green tinge showed through under the newer snow. It was really neat to realize that some of that ice could be thousands of years old.

Sunday was trail running day. I had to go solo on this one, but it turned out to be a short trip. My plan was to do the Snowshoe-Blakiston loop from Red Rock Canyon, but bad weather rolled in just short of the Snowshoe back country campground. Facing heavy rain, lightning, high winds and the uncertainty of whether it would continue or not, I decided to turn around.

This brings me to the interesting part of this aborted trail run - a cinnamon black bear and her two cubs. One the way up I was coming down a hill when I noticed her on the level a little ways down. I started talking and making some noise, and she lead her cubs into the woods off the trail and went around me.

Once I turned around to return to the trailhead I figured I'd likely run into her again, but I'd set my Garmin with her position when I met her on the way up. I started paying particular attention as I got close to that spot, and about a kilometer later noticed her ahead of me just off the trail. I backed off and made noise, and soon saw one of the cubs coming down a tree. While this was happening I explored the option of going off trail, but the undergrowth and footing was darned near as dangerous as a bear in the wet conditions. So with much caution and making noise I moved up to see what was happening. Luckily she and the cubs had moved up to a wider part of the trail, the cubs were no where in sight (but likely up a new tree), and she was busy ripping apart a log a little further up the slope. She lifted her head the one time when she head and saw me, but went back to ripping apart the log. I slipped by with as much space as possible to spare, and she didn't even look at me again. After that it was a quick run the rest of the way.

And that was basically it. We checked out Cameron Falls in town on Monday before doing the loop at the buffalo paddock, and then it was on to Fort MacLeod and the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump site.

Overall it was a great trip that both of us enjoyed since I hadn't been to the park in almost 20 years and Aerin had never been.

Life: Waterton Vacation and Stuff

On Monday we got back from a five-day vacation to Waterton National Park. It was great to get out to the mountains again, but the morons that can't follow park rules, and the staff that wouldn't enforce them, were driving us nuts by the time we left on Monday.

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of time right now to go into all the details, but I will when I get some free time. Right now Aerin and I are busy taking care of a few home matters before we maybe head to Jasper this weekend so I can run Skyline Trail.

Lots to do...