Coping Strategies with Game Hobbies

 “It is hardly possible to build anything if frustration, bitterness, and a mood of helplessness prevail.”

— Lech Walesa

I am resisting retreating from the world for a while, as I occasionally have when everything seems overwhelming; my usual euphemism for doing so is going to the “Hermitage on the Edge of Oblivion.” Much as I’d like to temporarily remove myself from social media and the madness of the world at large, I cannot. In the absence of actual day-to-day friends I see in person, online interaction remains my primary engagement with other relatively friendly humans (such as it is). So while maintaining awareness of the horrors unfolding in the news, I take the time to indulge in “self care” activities to maintain my ability to function daily and prevent my further descent into madness. Most of these relate to my activities in the adventure gaming hobby and peripheral interests. In outlining them here, I hope readers might find helpful strategies; if not an exact match, then some inspiration for similar pursuits offering temporary respite and renewal before braving the monstrous indifference and active misery our current reality forces upon us.

My OSS Guilty Pleasure Reading

 “A judicious mixture of rumor and deception, with truth as bait, to foster disunity and confusion.”

— William J. Donovan

Every so often I return to read a beloved novel, something to help distract me from the woes of this existence and provide some level of entertainment and, in some cases, further enlightenment. I return to Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in A Strange Land occasionally, despite its obsolete and often biased views of “future” society and other issues. I’ve read aloud J.RR. Tolkien’s The Hobbit numerous times to my son when he was of bedtime-story age. I make the pilgrimage of reading A Canticle for Leibowitz when the world seems teetering on (or careening over) the brink of madness. But I’ve never before mentioned my guilty pleasure, a series of novels about the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II: W.E.B. Griffin’s Men at War series. Given the stresses of the holiday season combined with <waves hand> everything else, well, it seemed about time to revisit the young heroes of the novels and lose myself in their rollicking if not terribly historically accurate escapades.

The Year Behind & the Year Ahead

 “Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”

— Charles Dickens

I’m not a fan of year-end summaries of top 10 this and top 10 that, the numerous people we admired who passed away, and a look back on a few positive highlights that never quite illuminate the darkness of what seems like a 10,000-day year of constant awfulness at various levels. I don’t care to innumerate my past achievements (usually because they don’t amount to much) or state my resolutions or other expectations for the coming year. But our society places meaning on year-end reflection on past and future, so I’ll indulge a little in looking back and forward on the few promising game-related bits that shone like bright pinpricks against the vast canvas of darkness.

The Joy of Paper Soldiers

 “A toy is seen both as a bauble and as an intellectual machine.”

— Brian Sutton-Smith

Ranks of paper minis march across
the Great Bridge to disperse rebels.

The yuletide holidays infuse the darkest time of the year with wonder and whimsy. Twinkling lights. Savory feasts and fantastic sweets. Solemn carols and joyous hymns lifting our hearts. The mystery of gifts adorned with brightly patterned wrapping paper and shiny ribbon curls...and the exhilaration at their ultimate revelation. I’ve written before about the yuletide season filled with fantasy, especially from a bookish, geeky gaming perspective. Toys, and particularly those tied to my interests like fantasy roleplaying games, board games, and yes, even wargames bring added joy and playfulness to the season. Among my recent favorites are Peter Dennis’ fantastic paper soldiers. Peter’s Paperboys have brought great joy to my gaming recently. Since first discovering them during the pandemic, they’ve enabled me to quickly explore new periods in history wargaming, provided an alternative to purchasing and painting metal and plastic figures, and helped me prepare visually appealing public history game demonstrations to educate the public and engage people in wargames, history, and learning. They serve as innovative and versatile alternatives to more expensive, more labor-intensive options fielding armies for miniature wargames.

A New Game Store in Town

 “Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend — or a meaningful day.”

— Dalai Lama

During the Thanksgiving holiday, as local merchants sought to promote business for the gift-giving season, my wife discovered a new game store in town. BrickHammer Hobbies apparently just opened that week and was still pulling things together, but took advantage of the crowds of holiday shoppers wandering Culpeper’s quaint main retail street that Thanksgiving weekend dominated by Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. I’m encouraged, of course, but wary; since moving to Culpeper 20 years ago (I still can’t believe it’s been that long), two other game stores have opened and met their inglorious demise...though we’ve recently had some gaming-adjacent stores open. I stopped by to check out BrickHammer Hobies and make a small purchase...and it started me thinking how I might support the store beyond simply being an occasional customer.

Beginner’s Intro to History Gaming

 “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.”

— Patrick Henry

Painting by Glenn Moore depicting
the British attack on the American
breastworks at the Battle of Great Bridge.

This past weekend I participated in the City of Chesapeake’s re-enactment for the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Great Bridge. Astute readers might recall I designed a very basic game — suitable for kids and newcomers to the adventure gaming hobby — for a smaller event in October commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Culpeper Minutemen mustering in response to the call to oppose British military action in the region of Hampton Roads. Some contacts I made there put me in touch with the Great Bridge event organizers...which resulted in my displaying and demonstrating my game and board at the re-enactment. I spent both days busy running many games, meeting some wonderful people, using the board to outline the battle, and discussing how one might explore history through games. On the drive home some of those discussions started me thinking (yet again) about good games newcomers might use to indulge their investigations into historical conflicts. One might follow a logical progression from entry-level battlegames to gridded-style games that can ultimately inspire even newcomers to devise their own historical simulations.

Holiday Game Gift Recommendations

We are well into the uncontrolled spiral into the holiday season. Plans for gatherings. Shopping and preparing for feasts. Hauling out the house and yard decorations (if we haven’t done so already). And the inevitable hand-wringing over finding gifts for people who matter in our lives. As the blog focuses on the adventure gaming hobby, I limit myself to recommending games that might engage people on readers’ gift lists. It’s been a while since I wrote a game-oriented holiday gift piece. “Holiday Gift Ideas for Non-Gamers & Kids” (2016) and “Themed Gaming Gift Ideas for Non-Gamers” (2017) still offer some solid advice; however, thanks to the nature of our capitalist markets and short attention spans, many titles on those lists have long since become out-of-print collectors items, though one can possibly find them on the secondary market. This year I offer a short list of quick ideas useful for those last-minute purchases and generally available at most game stores and even some larger retailers.