Drive on Frankfurt

I pulled out this game this weekend to play. Truely a relic of the 80s...

First impressions: It's trying to be the Central Front Series on a bit larger scale. The map graphics are ghastly in that early 80s style (Redmond A. Simonson, it's NOT). Also, the order of battle for NATO is somewhat questionable (TWO US cavalry companies to cover the border? What happened to the others? Go on leave to Paris?) and the rules are a bit ambiguous in places.

Drive on Frankfurt also attempts to use a flexible impulse system based on command activation. What's interesting is this is the first game I've seen that really attempts to integrate the effects of ECM into the game so that command, and in turn your ability to move units, can be dramitically affected by jamming.

Follow-up:

I've been trying to soldier through the first turn of Drive on Frankfurt but no joy. The system is an interesting one but it's just a tad too cumbersome and especially in terms of multi-unit attacks. The rules are a bit unclear on this point since they seem to emphasize individual movement of each unit or stack in an activated group. If you move one unit, you need to keep track of it's expended movement while moving a second unit up to also attack the same defender. Then you have to make sure that each unit has enough movement points to pay for the appropriate attack (there's three levels of attack: assault, deliberate and hasty). Finally, if the attackers succeed, they then get to use their unexpended movement to advance further. This is way too much to keep in your head.

The artillery rules are also a bit ponderous with a separate "bombardment" phase and THEN being able to use bombardment during an activation phase. Then there's the spotter rules. A bit too tactical in my book.

This system definately needed some refining and compared to the Central Front Series, Drive on Frankfurt is a distant second.

Back To Max...

Since Max got the weekend off, I decided it was time to get back into the swing of things Monday, starting with my weekly lesson (I took Monday off from work to "recover" from Ft. MacArthur).

I started with the usual warm-up and it was interesting. With the corrective shoeing, Max seems to have become more energenic lately so where before it was a struggle to keep Max in a trot or to go into a canter, I know have to hold Max back from immediately launching into the canter. I do a lot of sitting trot exercises to train Max to realize that I don't always want speed but it takes some reminding when I first start to ride him.

Next, we had some issues with the left lead canter- like earlier this year, Max is refusing to go into the left lead canter and I've had some fights with him to include bucking. Eventually he'll do it but it seems that he explodes into the canter on the left lead. My trainer says that he's using his hindquarters more. There's no signs of injury or soreness but it's curious.

We worked hard through the lesson and Max began to become more relaxed and compliant as we proceeded. We also worked on a lot of leg yields at the sitting trot and began work on moving on the forehand. Moving on the forehand is pretty tricky because I tend to leg too hard and dig in with the spur but with practice, this should improve. My trainer also recommends that I don't practice a lot of these because it tends to frustrate Max if I do these for too long- better to do fewer but more correct movements than a lot of poor ones. I also don't take too many steps- just a little at a time. This is sort of like when I was training on side passes- it took awhile but Max seems to have learned it (along with me).

Well, that's all for now...

Fort MacArthur Event

Here's a couple pictures from a recent timeline event that took place at Ft. MacArthur in San Pedro last weekend. Max definately got the weekend off!

Me in my US 1912 cotton uniform. I'm actually comfortable for a change!

My compadre Seph in his British Lancashire Fusiliers impression. More to follow!

Babes from the Turn of the Century

By today's standards Evelyn Nesbit would probably be considered quite boring but back around 1901 she was quite notorious:

For more, go HERE.

And Now Something From The Cold War...

I'd forgotten about this one but re-discovered it while surfing YouTube:



"Nikita" was quite the looker!

Summer is Here Again

June has been a pretty sucky month for riding, with me getting a cold and all and the shoer taking his time getting out to replace Max's VERY worn out shoes. However, with June behind us now, the shoer having finally making a belated appearance on the 4th of July and me feeling much better, it's time to get back into the swing of things.

Today, Max and I went on a nice three-hour trail ride to the Ponds. We deliberately chose our trail so we were in the shade most of the way and we got started about 10 am. My trail companion was riding Blue, one of the most lazy but loveable lunk of a horse- for a Standardbred who used to race, he has got to be be one of the slowest and most lazy horses! :-)

The ride was relxing and for the most part without incident. The only glitch is when we took one trail accross a creek with dubious footing- a few logs and the like. Blue went through with no problem but Max had some serious doubts. I even got off and tried to led Max accross by hand but he wasn't having any of it. I finally decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to push things and work on it another day. Everytime I get into a hurry, some sort of disaster occurs and it's understandable from Max's point of view why the crossing looked bad. It would have been a different matter if there wasn't the tangle of logs and vegetation. As things turn out, it was the wrong trail anyway, so my companion had to backtrack.

We even did some trotting although I had to be careful to duck low-lying branches and the like. Max was game and he didn't want to ge left behind. Eventually, we wound up at the Pond. At the Pond, we came accross someone with a 6-month old Standard Poodle- he was a sweet dog but Max was dubious of the whole thing- after the dog incident where my wife got dumped off Max because someone released a dog that got right under him (and naturally spooked him). Since then, Max is a bit skeptical of all dogs. Fortunately, nothing bad happened and it helped that my companion's dog came along with us for the ride (he's a real mellow terrier mix)- after awhile, Max got used to his running around.

I'm not sure what Max made of the deep water at the Pond- we wern't too adventurous but Max seemed to be a bit suspicious of everything for a bit. It might have been the dog, who knows.

We then backtracked the way we came and eventually made our way back home. Overall, it was a nice way to get back into things with all the heat and such.

Sinai

I recently pulled out this old SPI game after a 30-year hiatus. Interesting system. Sure, it's a little dated but it does an excellent job of presenting the strategic/operational problems facing both sides. In the game I'm been playing solitaire (seems to be the only way these days), I've played 9 turns and while the Egyptians have made some progress in pushing accross the Suez Canal and even reaching the Milita Pass, it's still pretty much of a stalemate.

The Golan Heights has been a see-saw battle with little progress made on either side (it looks like a traffic jam). The bloodless CRT is a bit strange but it can get bloody if the attacks can be set up properly.

The thing that really makes things difficult is that the combat factors are doubled on the defense (and quadrupled when within 2 hexes of a sam battery) and especially in defending against an incursion accross the Suez Canal. Still an interesting game even after 35 years (it was published in 1973).