Sunday, September 15, 2013

Baseball cards and a collector's legacy

My stepfather passed away this past Friday. He was an avid baseball and film lover and had amassed a huge collection of sports memorabilia and famous movie star autographs over his life.

As I go through his collection I realize how meticulous he was and also how much he collected not for profit but mostly for the love of the hobby. Much like my comic book collection which I know won't ever amount to much he collected many autographs and signed baseballs. He did not however get many of them certified which is a hard thing to pass on to other collectors. Along with sports related material his film posters and framed pictures are quite a sight to behold.

Don't get me wrong there are many hidden gems in his collection (which is a bedroom sized vast amount) but the true gems are things like the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid autographed photo that will hang proudly in my spare bedroom for years to come now. Going through his unsorted and stored cards and pictures is something I want to do to finish what he started. He was midway through organizing and storing his things in player specific binders when he simply lost the energy to get through all the things in that spare room he had. The collection is vast and will span many months over the course of a year to sort and store properly but it is the fun of seeing what he had that will propel me forward. Plus I know he would have wanted it that way in the end. Someone needs to take care of his things. My mother also needs the room to get some living space. She can breathe easier and store more things if I keep that collection he had under check and get it properly stored.

It will be a monumental task do not get me wrong. Besides cards and autographs there are decades old magazines, signed baseballs and much more. Below are a few things I found in the first batch. Over the next few months I will post more.







Monday, September 9, 2013

Gaming last week

Not much time to blog last week due to the sheer amount of gaming and football I ended up playing and watching.

Games played last week were:

  • Sword of Rome 
  • Napoleon at Leipzig 
  • A lot of Total War: Rome 2 on the PC 
  • Bloody April on Vassal 
  • Panzer 

I liked Sword of Rome but it had a very odd rulebook that was hard to wrap my head around at first. It is still setup and I am going to attempt to finish some of the game solitaire. We messed up a lot of rules so I need to go back and try a few things again.

As for Bloody April the game is long but very intense. My RAF patrols continue their missions and one flight is attempting to get home now in low cloud cover after taking pictures of the enemy trenchlines.

Napoleon at Leipzig was all about moving the first day. This game will be continued next Wednesday and shots are bound to fly.

Panzer was fun and I ended up winning the basic intro scenario. I inflicted a lot of damage on the Germans and the way the game fluctuates is very interesting. Overall not a bad week for gaming. My time will be slowing down this week due to work and the new football season but I will ramp it up in October.

Total War 2 is a huge step up from the old ones. I like that the battles are a slower pace now and I have time to actually react as the melee units fight it out. A lot of fun.

You can view all the screenshots of the past week here on my Google + Community Page:


Monday, September 2, 2013

GMT's Panzer: first game

Well Panzer ended up being fun. Only the basic game so far. First scenario. In one turn I took out 3 Panzer IV's and my for once superior die rolling really put a hurting on my German opponents plans. Still the subtleties of the command structure and the pure brain power required to outfox your opponent make this game different each time. You really have to think ahead. We didn't finish the game but learned a great deal.

Not sure I want to move to the advanced rules quite yet as I am afraid it will sap the fun out of the game. But soon. I have to get some artillery and mortars and the like into the game.

The command system can be deep. Not only is initiative random (can be modified by quality of troops) but then even if you win you can pick who is first or second player further throwing someone's plans into disarray. Thank goodness for OP FIRE and things like that. Spotting was a little weird at first but we got it figured out.

I would like to see a more programmed approach to the game but I guess you could sprinkle in advanced rules here and there. The first advanced scenario adds foot units and towed weapons.

I was going to sell it initially but since I like it I will keep it and possibly add expansions to collect all the vehicles.