And no, I am not doing the Santa bit again this year, leastwise not unless there is a damned good reason as in some past years.

So, what’s happening on the wargaming front. Well, certainly no painting currenrly, none at all so far this August.

On 2 August I slipped out of Manila for a week to check out rental properties and some other matters in the province of Pampanga, where I intend to move later this year when the lease on the Makati apartment expires. This has been helped by the New Normal of Work From Home.

On 2 August 2020, the President announced that Metro Manila (including Makati), as well as the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan and Rizal, were being placed back under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine – more restrictive than the General Community Quarantine they had been under for the period previously.

It didn’t take an intellectual genius to figure that life here would be a lot more relaxed and it would be possible at least to go to the pub and watch some Rugby (both codes) and Aussie Rules over a burger and a beer under the easier quarantine restrictions here (random burger photos below with the ring-in hoagie).  I decided to wait out the extra quarantine here.

Mind you, we are required here when out of the home to wear both a mask and a face shield these days. The face shield presents its own problems but the atmospheric effects on the specs when getting out of an air conditioned car are foggy in the extreme.

Downside, no painting. Upside, recent rule purchases and books were digital so I have been working on that wonderful wargaming task … the planning session. I will admit up front, I am trying to keep the planning based around items that I currently have in the lead pile, but you know how well that goes.

So, one of the plans is to start playing Too Fat Lardies’ “What a Tanker” using 6mm. If that works well, I may look at the addition of some 6mm sets for Chain of Command as well, as I have a surfeit of 6mm armour and infantry.

I’ve also been considering some small scale naval, remembering that the area I have for gaming is little more than 2 foot square. I have some 1/2400 scale ships of the Napoleonic Period in the lead pile and they may just fit that area nicely.

I am also thinking on concentrating on finishing one of the 6mm DBA sets … maybe the Punic Wars set, although that may lead me into purchasing additional figures to introduce Pyrrhus of Epirus into that set.

In addition, I took advantage of some attractive pricing at Pen and Sword books to purchase a few eBooks. I’ll get around to reading them this trip as well. Come to think of it, I have a chunk of book editing to do as well as the day job.

First cab off the rank though, will be to finish the first force of 2mm figures, after which, maybe What a Tanker, which gives me an excuse to paint buildings and tanks.

And then there will be a 100 km move of residence in the middle of all this. Ah, plenty to do!