Where Have I Been, Disgruntled Fusilier, and the Junior General Rules

Mein Gott it seems like a long time since I've posted.  I'd love to tell you all that the reason is I've been so busy gaming, painting, and building terrain that there has been no time for blogging!  That, of course, would be a lie.

The truth is work, life, and family have been taking up the majority of my time lately.  Between my crazy job, and my childrens' activities, I come home exhausted.  I am absolutely, 100% certain that many of you out there can relate.  The truth is I am GLAD to have those "problems" (for one thing my job funds my hobbies).  The sad part is, it's taken me almost 4 months to paint up 3 15mm SS Platoons. 

We're getting there - 1 squad at a time.  So please bear with us.

Anyways, you didn't come here to listen to my first-world, western society problems.  that's why we have Meme Bear. 

Here's an interesting question for you tech folks out there.  My "handle" on BLogger used to be my name until I commented on someone's blog and Blogger, via my phone, asked for my profile name.  I typed in "Disgruntled Fusilier" (an old Blog Handle of mine) and now BLogger thinks that's my name for everything.  I have no idea how to change it but here we are.

So if you are lucky enough to see a comment from the "Disgruntled Fusilier" on your blog, you'll know it was me.  Again, I have no idea how to change it.

By the way, this was also my handle on "The Miniatures Page."  Funny story - I almost created an account there with the awesome and clever name of "NOTthedisgruntledfusilier" thinking that would definitely throw BA off my scent.  Pretty clever I know. I never went through with it.

Final point of the evening.  The Junior General.

Front page of the Junior General Website - Used Without Their Permission

Some of you may have heard of this site.  I have known about it for years and it used to be a real inspiration for me especially when I was in Iraq and had access to good internet but no gaming (read the Little Round Top and Saratoga battle reports and you'll know what I mean about wargaming inspiration).  If it's not on your blog links, it should be!  It's a treasure trove of resources, rules, and paper minis (paper minis aren't my thing but rules ARE my thing).

List of some of the rules on the site

After my "less is more" kick recently, I got to thinking about the Junior General site and how I always wanted to try these convention-esque rules out.  They seem to be a perfect companion to the ONE HOUR WARGAMES scenarios and with very slight modifications, would make a nice, quick-play and satisfying game for a Friday evening. 

Specifically talking about the ancients through late black powder era stable of rules that are on the site.  They may even go Neil Thomas one-better through the late gunpowder period with a few easy modification.  I tried out a quick ACW bash with a few units and it was great fun.  The rules themselves are simple and easy enough to grasp (written for 6th graders).

My modifications involved tweaking the ranges and instead of removing bases, I turned to the tried and true "strength point" method and removed a strength point and a firing die.  This seemed to work pretty well.

My recommendation is you check them out.  Simple?  Yes.  But elegant and clever.  The melee system worked pretty well, also.  I think with some mods, they could be very much fun to kick around with a big battle.   Dont take my word for it - go check out Little Round Top!

Little Round Top Fight