New arrival

The stand-alone version of Shot, Steel and Stone arrived from Amazon today.

I've been experimenting with these rules for a few years, since they were first published as a chapter in Henry's The Wargaming Compendium. I hope they can become my rules of choice for using my 6mm scale Great Northern War collection.

Up to now usage has been limited because of (a) the inconvenience of using the rules from within Henry's brick-like book and (b) some uncertainty about the wording of the rules.

My considered assessment is that the rules will work fine if you get to learn them directly from Henry or from someone who's played with him at, say, the Ayton gaming weekends. Learning them in isolation from the rules-as-written is more of a challenge.

Fortunately, though, Henry has started a series of Youtube videos demonstrating the rules in use. Building on these, I've exchanged some messages with the author and taken on the unofficial role of "dumb user"; identifying confusing parts of the rules and trying to reword them as a way of resting my understanding. I figure if I can say "Here's an alternative wording, is that what you meant?" we might be able to arrive at a helpful FAQ document.

After we get Crisis Point out of the way I hope we can get the forces of Zheltarus, Yesilkara, Tservonsk, and Blåland onto the wargames table for a proper game.