20 Questions of Deep Thought

Routine visitors of the Man Cave will have noticed my lack of recent updates here and visits to your own blogs.  I've been away playing with my new toy for the last six weeks or so, so its not a lack of interest - promise!

Anyhow, I saw that Ray and the Angry Lurker started up a '20 Questions' challenge, and I really enjoyed seeing all the replies out there.  So a little late it may be, but here are the responses from the Man Cave.

1. Favourite Wargaming Period and Why?

Like many gamers I love the flexibility of our hobby to try out ANY period I fancy.  I've played lots but my top genre would be have to be SF, in which I include VSF, Weird WW2 and Hard SF. Why?  Probably because I love the 'what if' factor and the infinite realms of possibility.  But of course I reserve the right to change that as fancy takes me :-)

2. Next Period, money no object?

To be honest my biggest impediment and limitation is time (though money is a close second!).  However, I have always loved the Feudal Medieval period and would love to have massed ranks of Knights, Men-at-Arms and Archers in 28mm to refight the battles both known, and unknown, of the Hundred Years War.  I'd have large, fortified towns to sack, banks of siege engines, mounted nobility with banner bearers, and the lesser known fighting companies of skirmishers.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;

Or close the wall up with our English dead!

                                                                 - Henry V

3. Favourite 5 Films?

In no particular order:
Aliens,
The Cruel Sea,
Zulu,
Henry V (the 1989 Kenneth Branagh version, although Brian Blessed as the Duke of Exeter in this film is my fav),
Patton.

4. Favourite 5 TV series?


Again in no particular order
Eureka - the whole family loves it, and I really like the way the Sheriff fixes problems the boffins cant - usually with just a bit of common sense and some guts.
Battlestar Galactica (Reimagined)
Stargate Atlantis - another family favourite
Fringe
Firefly



5. Favourite Book and Author

20,000 Leagues under the Sea, by Jules Verne.  I have four different editions.  About 5 years ago I went on a bit of a literary discovery tour and didn't read a novel written in the last 100 years.  I relented a bit in the end with some of H.G. Wells' later stuff, but overall Verne has always been my favourite.  Second place goes (narrowly) to Shakespeare's Macbeth.

6. Greatest General?

He may not have been the greatest but my personal favourite is General George S. Patton, Jr because I find his passion, commitment and dedication inspiring despite his personal faults (and he would be the first to admit that there were many!)   I made a pilgrimage to his grave about 10 years ago and it was very special to me.

For the most effective General overall I would go with Caesar I think.  A genius who understood not only tactics and strategy but also logistics, technology, politics, and social interactions.

Pic I took of Patton's Grave in Luxembourg

7. Favourite Wargames Rules

So very many come to mind but at the moment you would be unsurprised to hear me say it is:

I love the flexibility, depth (if you want it), fun, replayability and shear fun of this game.
And all the good times I've had sharing that with friends and the Lad of course.

8. Favourite Sport and Why?

Whatever my son is playing at the time, so it flicks between Aussie Rules, Cricket and Basketball.  Rugby of course and I like Ice Hockey too - love watching the games from the US and Canada on Foxtel.  The odd bit of Gridiron is known to be on my telly as well.

9. If you had a one use only time machine, when and where would you go?

Into the future to observe First Contact with an sentient Alien species.

10.  Last meal on Death Row?

Anything made by my Mistress of the Man Cave, she is an amazing cook and her roasts are superb!

11. Fantasy Relationship and Why?

I'm going to choose this to mean a non-intimate relationship, and choose to be Captain Nemo's first mate.  I would love to know the workings behind the Mystery Mariner.

12. If your life was a movie who would play you?

Who would I like to play me is probably different to who I would be more realistically portrayed by!
Perhaps Simon Pegg, of Shaun of the Undead fame.

13. Favourite Comic Superhero

I love the moralistic approach of Spiderman to do the best he can with his powers and take responsibility.

14. Favourite Military Quote

I have a notebook filled with them, and I add a couple every month.
One that always brings a smile to my face is:

"In victory, you deserve Champagne, 

In defeat, you need it"

                                              - Napoleon Bonaparte

15. Historical Destination to Visit.

To be honest I have done a whole bunch and appreciated them all for different reasons: Gallipoli, Normandy, Bastogne, Somme, Ypres, UK Borderlands, Waterloo, Troy, Rome, Pompeii, Gettysburg, Auschwitz, Belsen, Dachau, Colditz, Berlin, Agincourt, Crecy, the Pyramids of Giza, the Thai-Burma Railway, Nagasaki, Okinawa, Inchon, Panmunjon and the DMZ -its not a brag list, I just like travelling and my job helps me do that.

The place I would most like to go now is Antarctica - a scene of amazing leadership, heroism and perseverance in very different circumstances to those above.

16.  Biggest Wargaming Regret

Having to move away from new gaming friends every two years.

17. Favourite Fantasy Job

Starship Captain!
Which one would I be most like I wonder...

18. Favourite Song Top 5

I only need one: If your dad doesn't have a beard, you've got two Mums, by the Beards
See it here

19. Favourite Wargaming Moment

Best Gamer Dad moment was watching Right Stuff play his first games of Blood Bowl at CanCon and behaving well in both Victory and Defeat. Most personally satisfying would be Winning a Prize at the recent EucBowl, my first ever Tournament in any game system!

20. Miserable Git question, what upsets you?

People who disrespect themselves and others, lack loyalty or have no Honour.
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WoW - these questions were a lot tougher to answer than I would have thought!
Thanks for dropping by :-)