A Weird Month

This month's release of Konflikt '47 has sparked a wave of Weird WW2 enthusiasm around the Hobby, no more so than in my Man Cave.  Naturally, my box of alternative, super science and straight up strange WW2 stuff needs expanding despite being rather weighted towards the unpainted/unassembled side of things...

New Weird WW2 Shiny

Thus far I have a German PanzerGrenadier styled force, a Russian Mech force (NIB) and I think could bring my British Airborne (here) into the post 45 environment by adding a few extra goodies too, like some automaton 'bots, Combat Chaplain, a Druid for some supernatural support, or even some Dalek "allies!"  Inspiration for the upcoming AHPC perhaps...

If you are a WWW2 guy, you may be interested in this new FB group here, which is Manufacturer/rules/scale agnostic and just a bunch of guys sharing their pics and other inspirational WWW2 goodness to get you in the mood.

A quick visit to Germany

Overlooking Bonn and the Rhein River - lovely vistas

Not many would travel 28 hrs for a week and then fly 28 hrs back again, but for the right people you don't think twice.  My wife and I did just that to link up with 9 other families for a War College mini-reunion.  A brilliant time was had by all and while the fantastic meats, cheeses and endless rivers of beer didn't do my waistline any good it made the world of difference to my morale.

While there we did a few interesting side trips:

Drachenfels Castle, overlooking the Rhein River outside Bonn

Franco Prussian War Monument at Drachenfels

Kaiser Wilhelm I, King of Prussia 1876.

German Artillery dated 1658 (at a different castle)

German Eagle detail on the barrel

The beautifully scenic Berg Eltz dates back from the 13th century

View down onto the outer defences which guard the river ford.  Note the pile of cannon balls stored in the courtyard

Armoury

The magnificent Cologne Cathedral took 60 years to build and was one of the only structures to survive WW2

..and was the scene of a Sherman v Panther v Pershing tank duel on 6 March 1945 (read more here)

Me at the spot where the Panther was knocked out

Roman Gateway dating back to 50AD at the founding of the city as the colony of Aggripinensium.

The gate overshadowed by the Cathedral: fantastic history

"Well obviously the roads - they go without saying don't they!"

Sadly, there was no time to hook up with Stefan in (relatively) nearby Dusseldorf.  Sorry mate, but thanks for the tip on the Alt Bier!  Yes I enjoyed it - but was there any doubt? :-)

When in doubt - go native!

Online Writing Assignment

My daughter has started a cooperative writing assignment at University - I was telling her about this old email and thought I would share it here in case others hadn't seen it.  Nor sure how 'real' this is, but its still good...

• 
  The professor told his class one day: "Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back, also sending another copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back-and-forth.
  
  Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of the e-mails and anything you wish to say must be written in the e-mail. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached."
  
  The following was actually turned in by two of his English students:
  Rebecca and Gary.
  
  THE STORY:
  
  (first paragraph by Rebecca)
  
  At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked chamomile.
  But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.
  
  (second paragraph by Gary)
  
  Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. "A.S. Harris to Geostation 17," he said into his transgalactic communicator. " Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far..." But before he could sign off a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship's cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the ####pit.
  
  (Rebecca)
  
  He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4. "Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel," Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspaper to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. "Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered wistfully.
  
  (Gary)
  
  Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian mothership launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dimwitted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the Unilateral Aerospace disarmament Treaty through the congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of the treaty the Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet.
  With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid Laurie.
  
  (Rebecca)
  
  This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic semi-literate adolescent.
  
  (Gary)
  
  Yeah? Well, my writing partner is a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium. " Oh, shall I have
  
  chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of F--KING TEA??? Oh no, what am I to do? I'm such an air headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle Steele novels!"
  
  (Rebecca)
  Arsehole.
  
  (Gary)
  B*tch.
  
  (Rebecca)
  F**K YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!!
  
  (Gary)
  In your dreams, Ho. Go drink some tea.
  
  (TEACHER )
  A+ - I really liked this one.