Thanks GameDaddy!

We are indeed operating another WWII and Castles tour this May. With just 10 people (so far; we can only fit 15 in the small coach) it's like a Royal Visit. We can accommodate any combination of 3-5 people, either rooming with another gamer (to save the single room supplement; we have guy booked already needing a roommate) or 2 single roomers or 4 people in "twin" rooms (so called because there are two beds). It's at http://www.WargamerTour.com.



We have pretty well stomped out Belize at this point. We went the whole month of October which is about my longest vacation since I left Judges Guild and decompressed in the Northwest (which is where I had done Talus Cave research for JG). We stayed on the island of Ambergris Caye and went snorkeling in the beautiful waters of Ho Chan on the Barrier Reef. My friend Mark came down to go scuba diving. He's the historian/tour manager of the the WargamerTour. Didn't get inland to the twin towns on the Guatemalan border this time... that's a shame because I did like it there between hot spells which was about 10 months of the year. We'd switch to jeans in December because the temps dropped to the 70s.

It's not been so hot a summer here for the last month (earlier, in January a lot of 90° days) but now that it's been in the 80s we still get chilly when it drops to 75°! The part I really like in Uruguay is that it's not humid through most of the summer. Winter's another story but when the sun's out you don't need a coat unless if the Antarctic winds are blowing. The Amazon & I like it here in Atlantis!

We built a galpon (barn) here and a South African guy built an incredible Dutch style water system to drain the water when we realize that we'd found a spring in that spot. Now the tractor, mower and sprayer plus car are out of the sun and the rains. The trees are taking their time as far as I'm concerned. While they haven't bushed out like hoped for this the 3rd year of Sleep, Creep and Leap, I realized yesterday that some of their trunks have indeed grown from the 1/4" twigs to a beefy 3" diameter. We knew it would take 10 years to mature. We might have a crop of olives next year.

What will be remarkable about our Extra Virgin Oil (aside from not being cut with nasty bad-for-you oils by the mafia; so our secret ingredient is 100% olive oil!) is that we know that it has been years since the property was exposed to Glyphosate. Obviously the rest of the olive groves don't use Glyphosate ON the trees (because it would kill them!) but it is common around the world for weed control AROUND the trees. And who knows for sure if there are or aren't negative trade-offs with that? I know there are a lot of people who think Glyphosate is harmless and having lived 57 years in Central Illinois I tended to go along with that because that's how my bread was indirectly buttered. But I know of all sorts of people who have tried to grow things in soil that was exposed to Glyphosate years before and nothing will grow still. Now making ones soil infertile is bad enough but each of our bodies are full of, well, a witches brew of bacteria and stuff that it would be better if you did monkey with the millennia of what worked for us as humans. So Gaudium hill has taken a different approach and its been a lot of work pulling weeds by hand, mowing, weed whacking and we are even looking into a steam weeder! Hot water is only momentarily dangerous and then pretty benign.A number of the semi-crazy expats here are interested in the project. One said "you mean we can build something that might blow up? I'm in!"

Sounds like you have a lot of great travel planned! I am so glad that I have gotten to take the tours that I have through the years. An extra benefit is that I have I gotten to meet some great gamers around the world who I have kept up with. As time goes on these experiences are more valuable than things.

I had to think about what you meant w/r/t the Battle of the Beach! We were staying in a beach house at Aguas Dulces (Sweet Waters) on the Atlantic Ocean coast in the middle of eastern Uruguay. The game used the ruleset Nuts! and it was new to both Mark and I. So we struggled a bit with the "how to". It was intriguing because we felt like raw recruits in training... and the situation developed to be very challenging. I spent some time figuring out on the Nuts! forum what was the Best Practices approach to assaulting these house where the Germans were holed up. Back in the days of Tractics, we just sort of flung the toy solders in an didn't worry about losing them. Funny how as an old guy, we do "role play" in the sense that we really don't want to lose troops now.

I got kind of a reputation in several Command Decision for a careful player rarely losing any troops but then in one game a fluke happened where I managed to have half my force flee off the board! At the time I felt that they had done the right thing! I'd rather that then have them massacred.

Here are answers to your probing questions. Unfortunately there may not be much real campaign intel here. That was 40 years ago and a lot of it went

1. It was a fantasy game in the usual D&D style but using some Welsh overtones and a map that I had drawn of Wales for the campaign area. My interest in Wales comes from my Welsh surname and family oral tradition of our ancestor having come out of Wales with Henry the VII as "Blacksmith to the King" (indeed of all my tools I miss my dad's big anvil the most and pounding on and shaping metal for some particular purpose).

It turns out that we got some possible support for this story when National Geographic ran a story about the restoration of the Mary Rose, a ship that flipped to the annoyance of Henry VIII, who probably blamed his Armorers "brothers Owen who built this bastard" (the word for cannon) for making the cannons "too heavy" rather than his choice of "too many". Anyway they found those words cast on a cannon retrieved from the mud.

2. I sold the maps and materials while I was in Belize in 2013 and I think that there are a few photos either in the JG books or on line. I had drawn the map with those wonderful artistic markers that were so easy to find back then. Now that the average kid has a computer and color printer, those supplies have become hard to find—at least in Uruguay. I had to go into 10 stores including in the capital city before I found just the right color maker the other day to re-color some ID chits on my Mini Markers post on the blog... wargamecampaign.wordpress.com/2018/02/1 ... i-markers/.

3. We either called it Welsh campaign or, It was either phonetically Cumree, actually Cymru (which is Welsh for  for Wales). In just checking myself I heard a trilled R sound that I don't remember knowing about—so more like Cumr-r-r-ee.

I learned how to say Merry Christmas in Welsh this year! "Nadolig Llawen" pronounced Nadoughleeg Clowhen) (learning Welsh) How to say Merry Christmas in Welsh - YouTube  

My wizard's name in Bob's campaign was Llangewellen which I probably warped from the town of Llangollen and seen in the travel agency when looking at a Welsh map. I just looked in Google and instead of finding millions of results, Google has exactly one web find for Llangewellen, on Tapatalk.com, so the name does not exist elsewhere in nature and hasn't caught on! We never pronounced the L's properly but it would have been fun teaching the rest of the guys how, if only I had known myself!

4. No, Bob never played. He was busy with the Guild and really leaving JG was difficult for me—not his fault. But it took time for that loss to heal and it was a major life delight that we got back together again and spend time together. I did use some materials that we both had made but never got published (so far as I know) since some were originals and not copies. He would doodle lovely drawings of knights etc. There was a Tarquin Manor which was a knock-off I made of Tegel Manor.

5. No battles. It really started small and stayed very small.

6. Hmm. I can't remember if there was any Average Joe Monsters coming from central casting.

7. No recollection. Although there was a squonk magic item, Girdle of Giant Strength, that turned out to be a Girdle of Femininity that blew one player out of the tub. He said he didn't quit because of it. Maybe it was just a good time to waft away.

If I could just get him to write up some stuff here! His creative writing skills are off beyond Jupiter.

8. No connection. It mostly took place in southwest Wales near the town of Carmarthen (which is a real place) and Havorford West. [map at bottom] Oddly enough I am thinking of including a place around their in next year's WargamerTour. This year we have a tour staying in Wexford across the Irish Sea.

9. The two guys and one girl had a lot of fun "there". But then, I don't take credit for that creation. I just sort started the boulder rolling down the hill. True, I had all sorts of wonderful Judges Guild materials to use! Made more special by being the first off the press with the printers' thumbprints on them.

10. You know, I doubt that it was my campaign prep nor the D&D rules nor JG materials, but rather the magical interaction of the people involved. And finding that is rare and to be treasured.

Sorry there's really little here but my bombast.

I will see if I can dredge up some of this from one of the players and flesh this out on a page in my https://www.wargamecampaign.wordpress.com blog.

Wow! Thanks for following up on this! I was going to reply earlier, however was preoccupied this weekend with CincyCon, Cincinnati's gaming convention. I'll post links at the end of my post here to the AAR's for that show.

Yes, just as I thought, ...those original D&D gaming maps of Wales are awesome! Thank you for sharing! I just wish I hadn't put my original game stuff into storage when I was to be stationed in New Mexico by the Army, in 1983. I would have still had my original gaming maps if I had kept them close to me. I didn't think much of them at the time, but now, ...I realize they were quite literally the foundation for everything that has followed over the years.

It was because of Tolkien, that my fantasy world design philosophy is what it is. In that first part of Lord of the Rings, the part "Where Frodo began to fell restless, and the old paths seemed to well trodden. He looked at the maps, and wondered what lay beyond their edges: Maps made in the Shire mostly showed white spaces beyond the borders. He took to wandering further afield, and more often by himself; and Merry and his other friends watched him anxiously."

When they finally departed Frodo wondered if he would ever be back. One thing for sure, he was going on an adventure, just like his uncle, Bilbo. It was to be an epic adventure. Set in an enormous unbounded land shadowed by evil the entire way. It was easily six months from the time he departed the Shire until the Fellowship entered the door at Moria. It took two weeks to reach Rivendell, so at least two hundred miles. Middle Earth was large, so I always wanted to make my campaign worlds large as well, and then there was the Wilderlands, the first published campaign setting for D&D. Also very large.

I never thought I "needed" a big "world", however I always really enjoyed having a framework, and at least some idea of what the players would encounter, if they chose to travel or explore. Further, I always wanted to keep that option open for them. Plus, when I wasn't actively gaming, it was something I enjoyed working on very much. Having a new dungeon ready, a new adventure, or a castle with a wizard, a Dragons lair, or even an Inn.

...and of course, back then, I just couldn't afford the entire Wilderlands campaign setting. Until 1982, I never had enough spare money to even afford a subscription to the JG Journal. The singular unit price of adventures, dungeons, and campaign setting was, however, affordable, and thus in 1978 I came into the possession of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. By 1982 I did have the CSIO as well, and a couple of the other Wilderlands campaign settings as well. It wasn't until 2011 however until I picked up a full copy of The City State of the World Emperor, that I finally had the full JG Wilderlands Campaign setting, and it took me until last year, to track down and obtain all of the adventures that are set in the Wilderlands.

I would have liked to adventure in Wales. My first DM, had made a complete and accurate map of Spain, scaled to 5 miles to the hex, and that was where we adventured when I played instead of GMed, from 1977-1979, and that was a hybrid D&D/Gamma World campaign setting.

The European tour this year looks awesome! Of course, I would very much enjoy going on that as well, however the rest of my family would not share my enthusiasm for spending a couple of weeks just touring battlefields. Next year though, we'll be traveling to Europe and the Middle East, most likely in June. If you happened to have a tour going then, I would be very interested in perhaps joining that for a day or two, maybe to see Alesia, or the Ardennes. As it stands, We'll likely be in the Frankfurt area for a few days, and of course visit Berlin, and I have friends in Bavaria to visit, as well as in Austria. We would reside in a Castle overlooking the Danube for some of our vacation there, as well as a private guesthouse in the hills of Northern Austria up near the Czech border. I would be willing to flex my visitation schedule for an interesting historical tour. In Israel, well, the wife wants to see all the holy sites, especially Jerusalem, which is Ok in my book.  I do want to really see some of the Crusader Castles, as well as older Israeli settlements and fortifications including Megiddo, Tel Dan, Masada, and of course Gomorrah, which is visible from the Battlements of Masada down in the Dead Sea valley below. I'd also very much like to see the Roman settlement of Caesaria on the coast, and perhaps find the beach where Richard the Lionhearted landed with his army, and drove Saladin back to Damascus, ...at least for a time.

I just might be able to fit all of that into a month... ...maybe.

There's a guy with a shop pretty close to me, you might know him, ...Dale Kemper. He has absolutely the best collection of 1/2400 naval miniatures that I have ever seen, from pretty much ever era, right up to ultramodern, so if you need to add to your fleets just let me know, and I'll be happy to pickup some extra minis from him, and then ship them down to you. I'd totally trade for some Olive Oil from your Olive Gardens as well!

If we ever manage to meet up again, I would really enjoy playing D&D in a campaign set in Wales, or would also play some war games, especially if there is something you like playing. I'm still really partial to Squad Leader, Panzer Leader, and Wooden Ships & Iron Men, and would do 1/2400 naval battles too. Been wanting to setup and play SPI's Strategy I as well. So if we meet up again, ...some gaming, yes?

Here are the links for the CincyCon AAR from this last weekend, Take care & be well!

CincyCon - First Impressions
CincyCon 2018 -- Part One -- First Impressions -- Tamerthya

CincyCon - Games Being Played
CincyCon 2018 -- Part Two -- Games Being Played -- Tamerthya

CincyCon - Warhammer40k & Flames of War Tournaments
CincyCon 2018 -- Part Three -- Warhammer 40k & the Flames of War Tournament -- Tamerthya

CincyCon - Random Games at the Tables
CincyCon 2018 -- Part Four -- Random Games at the Tables -- Tamerthya

CincyCon - Saving the best For last
CincyCon 2018 -- Part Five -- Saving the Best for Last! -- Tamerthya

Some quick updates:

1. I have been busy as a beaver with a second travel company to work with on tour group design. Among them I have two wargamer tours in 2019: Weapons of World War II with D-Day optional add-on (75th anniversary year) with our very popular, feisty Irish guide, Ed Robinson & suave 007-style wargamer Mark Williams... in May. Then a Civil War in Kentucky coach tour with wargamer/professor Fred Christensen in September (just finalizing that next week)... Stevie Jay Travel | MILITARY HISTORY will have both tours listed soon.

2. I let my g-design.us domain expire and my 5 Judges Guild pages are not at Judges Guild -- Wargame Campaign

3. BY POPULAR DEMAND ...well, one guy asked*, I put up some JG swag (3) t-shirt styles at https://www.zazzle.com/judgesguild and they have a 20% off sale using the following coupon through Christmas day: DECEMBERZAZZ ...one can choose from many dark colors and now 3 logo colors too.



MERRY CHRISTMAS!

*I could not figure out how to make the Cafe Press logos on dark fabric work so I gave up on that and made a site through Zazzle. The logo on cafepress had a big white block where the background should have been transparent. With Zazzle there are 3 styles: traditional brown typeface, golden tan that might work with some darker fabrics and a Gold "Embossed" look that unfortunately is not made up actual Gold. The https://www.cafepress.com/judgesguild is still active with lots of stuff still.

PS I hope to add more styles but been too busy in my spare time in the Olive Grove for that.

Perhaps so, but since it was mechanical reproduction it may have just been due a lack of good taste or a warped idea of what would look right to me!

I don't remember that (and I DO remember various glitches to this day) so could be either of the explanations.

sauromatian wrote in Bill Owen Q&A:

I was thinking mainly of this cover:
https://www.acaeum.com/jg/ModPhotos/Wil ... II1st.html

The unicorn seems like it was meant to fit into the background landscape art, similar to the warrior on this cover:
https://www.acaeum.com/jg/ModPhotos/GuideCityState.html

Or maybe I've been reading too much into it?

RE WOHF: I don't really remember this 2nd booklet's cover but from what I can see the stairstep white space was probably where text was on this olden drawing. And I cut the text out and added the unicorn from other old art into that white space to give it more of a fantasy feel. I really liked this style of old art which one could buy giant clip books of back then (like $5 for 12x18" hundreds of pages) on the bargain table and thru a company called Dover I think.

RE CSIO: Indeed I remember the charging warrior that Bob drew and I added a zipatone for a shadow (plus the tone to replace the clock on the tower which seemed too 'modern'). I loved Rothenburg ab Tauber from a 1970 visit and got that from a travel brochure in the office. To me, at least, that street scene represented the City State. Now with charging tourists instead, it can still be seen as my wife and daughter did in 2000. What cemented it was the addition of the Hero On Pegasus though and by itself carried the JG look to this day.

The added warrior charging art didn't have quite the right tone but "good enough" back then since we launched into this venture with just the $200 I invested and no certainty that any of this business really made any sense. I have always had strong, mixed emotions about "too much" artwork and I won't plow that ground again here. Bob and I didn't agree on the 'art' aspect.

sauromatian wrote in Bill Owen Q&A:
Now I want to know what the text said - the history of RPGs demands it! (Actually, the demand comes our compulsive need to conduct eternal quests for arcane & pointless knowledge.)

It was probably blank already or some obscure poem by Farqhuar P Whistletop. Or an example story by Ambrose Bierce:

General H.H. Wotherspoon, president of the Army War College, has a pet rib-nosed baboon, an animal of uncommon intelligence but imperfectly beautiful. Returning to his apartment one evening, the General was surprised and pained to find Adam (for so the creature is named, the general being a Darwinian) sitting up for him and wearing his master's best uniform coat, epaulettes and all. "You confounded remote ancestor!" thundered the great strategist, "what do you mean by being out of bed after naps? -- and with my coat on!" Adam rose and with a reproachful look got down on all fours in the manner of his kind and, scuffling across the room to a table, returned with a visiting-card: General Barry had called and, judging by an empty champagne bottle and several cigar-stumps, had been hospitably entertained while waiting. The general apologized to his faithful progenitor and retired. The next day he met General Barry, who said: "Spoon, old man, when leaving you last evening I forgot to ask you about those excellent cigars. Where did you get them?" General Wotherspoon did not deign to reply, but walked away. "Pardon me, please," said Barry, moving after him; "I was joking of course. Why, I knew it was not you before I had been in the room fifteen minutes."
- The Devil's Dictionary

I should have know after Christmas sales on Zazzle! 40% off t-shirts with coupon code ZAZZDECSAVEZ

Sounds like Zazzle has frequent sales like Cafe Press did/does.

Sorry to hear about your travel business.  This pandemic is really taking a toll on small businesses, especially in the leisure and entertainment areas.

Looking forward to a revamping of Tractics and the Fast Rules!

Are you thinking about a Kickstarter for one or both?  It could give you some working capital, and some ideas on what people are most interested in seeing in the books.  I'd be fine with B&W, but you could have a couple of tiers - standard and deluxe edition.  Of course the Kickstarter versions could be limited editions as well.

That's great to hear about Tractics. Wargames often don't get the love that D&D does.

Bill Owen wrote in Bill Owen Q&A:The shutdown of much of travel has decimated my travel business.

It's been my theory all along that your real motivation for slowly making your way down to Antarctica is that you're mounting an expedition to discover the pre-human civilizations that once flourished there. The travel business is just a cover-up to prevent unwanted attention from Cthulhu cultists, right?