What has Santa brought this year?

Lots of prezzies actually!

When you get to my age the risk of ending up with nothing more interesting than socks and shirts at Christmas is very high. Lets face it, men only get new clothes at Christmas and that's because our loved ones have had enough of the old ones they gave us last time. Hey ho!

This years cunning plan has involved buying my own presents and then, very carefully, not looking at them until Christmas Day. I pretty much succeeded and was very pleased with what I had got for myself.

First off, a nice selection of Zvezda tanks. A clear indication that I'm pondering Arras again.

I stocked up at my new very nice games store.....

I can see myself getting into difficulties here. It is a nice new shop on an industrial estate with a good selection of Zvezda, PSC and Vallejo (my priority purchases) plus a wide range of other miniatures and rules. It also has a nice games area and a huge warehouse out the back which can be used for tournaments. The people who own the enterprise have an interest in FoW and they have already run one large tournament here. I'll be back (once I have saved up some money!).

I also got some books...

Black Ops and Honours of War are pretty much de rigueur at the moment. Ordered but not yet delivered is Lion Rampant. I have a couple of the earlier Osprey wargames rules which I wasn't over impressed with but I'm living in hope that one of these turns out to be brilliant.

What is brilliant is Brains and Bullets. Probably the most insightful analysis of modern tactical issues I have ever read. In fact, I sat down with this on Christmas Day and have just finished it. Simply stunning. Read this alongside Sidney Jary's 18 Platoon then design a tactical game that reflects real life. That's some challenge but one I'll ponder as something for next year (oh dear that sounds like a big job!).