Because I Love You

Every December in the UK one is obliged by law to listen to the music of Slade for a minimum period each day. To enable readers to hit their quota, here is Noddy Holder performing an acoustic version of 'Coz I Luv You':

The original of this was released before the big bouncy woman was even born.

'Cause many years from now there will be new sensations

I wanted to draw to your attention the comments section on a recent post, in which there is speculation as to what Edmund Blunden, the war poet, would have made of Noddy Holder, the shouty chap from the Black Country with the sideburns and the mirrored hat. Perhaps, if he did indeed watch the Christmas 1973 edition of Top of the Pops (and given how few channels there were in those days, I think we can assume that he would have) he may possibly have recalled these words of his own:

"And some are sparkling, laughing, singing,
Young, heroic, mild;
And some incurable, twisted,
Shrieking, dumb, defiled."

Or perhaps not. In any event, I hope you've all noted the spooky synchronicity that, among the very same pop highlights of the year, he would also have seen the Suzi Quatro performance that I posted yesterday.

And were I ever to direct a film of Blunden's life in a Baz Luhrmann musical stylie - which I hope we can agree is not the strangest idea ever to appear in this blog - then I would depict him sitting in the trenches singing this song, which sadly he never got to hear, having died before it was released:

And some are sparkling, laughing, singing,/Young, heroic, mild;/And some incurable, twisted,/Shrieking, dumb, defiled. - See more at: http://www.poetryarchive.org/poet/edmund-blunden#sthash.4UB6R1qV.dpuf

And some are sparkling, laughing, singing,/Young, heroic, mild;/And some incurable, twisted,/Shrieking, dumb, defiled. - See more at: http://www.poetryarchive.org/poet/edmund-blunden#sthash.4UB6R1qV.dpuf

And some are sparkling, laughing, singing,/Young, heroic, mild;/And some incurable, twisted,/Shrieking, dumb, defiled. - See more at: http://www.poetryarchive.org/poet/edmund-blunden#sthash.4UB6R1qV.dpuf

Mama Weer All Crazee Now

Wargamers are generally regarded as fat, unwashed blokes with beards and no interpersonal skills. And that's just by other wargamers. God only knows what the general public would think of us if they became aware of our existence. But, I am proud to be able to report that one man is single-handedly leading the way in showing that wargamers aren't at all dull and boring.

James Roach

Last evening in James 'Olicanalad' Roach's legendary wargames room we played a game diagonally across the table. That's right, you heard me; corner to corner - and we didn't care! Rock and roll or what?

The game itself (Novara 1513 - full details available as usual on James's Olicanalad's blog - was very enjoyable; not least because I won. I did it the hard way with my large pike block taking for ever to get into the action, As so often happens one of my units - in this case some innocuous looking skirmish shot - swept all before them and then fought a unit of French Gendarmes to a standstill. I don't think there is any doubt however that my triumph was mainly due to Peter Jackson throwing some of the worst dice it has ever been my privilege and pleasure to watch from the other side of the table. My own dice throwing was nothing to write home about, but if your opponent rolls a one then a two will do.

So, is wargaming 'on the bias' the way forwards? Just possibly. If we can move on from cubic dice to embrace the other Platonic solids  then why not? I have the highest hopes for a table based on the principle of the moebius strip; it would definitely increase the likelihood of flank marches succeeding.