"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

A recent entry in the Boston 1775 blog points to another entry in 2008 where the author debunks the "one-third, one-third, one-third" analysis of the American colonists' loyalties during the Revolution.

Or, to be more accurate, the author points out that John Adams did, indeed, make the remark, but in reference to Americans' feelings towards the French Revolution, not towards their own.

Rev War reenactors (and others who talk to the public about American history) take note...

Good lord! I have no Vermont icon *and* no Rev War icon? What have I been doing all this time? :-) ( the rest of Friday )

Flitting around history, we now light on 18th century Philadelphia and a most amazing ball.( read on to see why Nothing Says 'Goodbye, Sir!' Like a Fancy-Dress Ball )

I ran a Rev War miniatures game at one of the local clubs and got quite good turn out--three French/American players plus a kibitzer and three, eventually rising to four British players. The British almost broke through the Allied lines, but we ran out of time before the last decisive couple of turns. The American reserves had arrived and were counterpunching effectively, so it's hard to be sure what would have happened.

Then I cam home, met redactrice and shy_kat and we went out to dinner at their favourite of my local restaurants (Samanthas). Which, sadly, had run out of the crab that was an integral part of the dishes they had been lusting after--but I think we still had a pretty darn good meal! Mel and I had variations of a Peruvian dish (onions and peppers and tomatoes sauteed, over chips, in a cilantroy sauce--hers had steak tips, mine had shrimp and scallops) and Chris had a zarazuela with clams, shrimp, fish, and ?pasta?. And we all split some ice cream for dessert, then came back here and played two games of Carcasonne: Hunters and Gatherers (Mel won one, Chris won the other).

A really nice day spent gaming with lots of friends! The onyol way it could have been better was if I had spent a couple of hours of it outside--the weather looked great--hiking or cycling. But, as my dad always used to say "You can't have curly hair and everything!" :-)

Another book on CD I enjoyed tremendously was Jospeh J. Ellis's American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic. I bought this out of desperation because I had a long car ride ahead of me and had forgotten to get another recorded book from the library. I was able to regift this at Christmas, but I might almost be tempted to buy a copy of the book itself at some point to refer to again in the future. ( Read more... )

What I spent my afternoon doing

Still needs a lot of work linking to other articles, but at least the utter tripe that was there before is improved 100%+.

A much-delayed account of our most recent Sharpe Practice game:
( Read more... )

I'm hosting a Revolutionary War miniatures wargame this Saturday. We have several players signed up, but there is certainly room for a few more players. You can command some of the plucky, numerous, but somewhat undisciplined Continentals, or a portion of the tough and battle-hardened (but slightly outnumbered) forces of the Crown. The rules are easy to learn, troops and terrain are provided.