20 Questions... For Ray & Fran

I 'ummed and arred' over doing this quiz thingy... Some of it is already on my Blogger profile anyway so no surprises for those who've checked it out, perhaps...

There's also the risk of giving an answer to question 11 that will probably get me into more bother on the domestic front than its worth...

Trouble with these kind of things, is many of my answers would vary, depending on the mood I am in or what has recently inspired or motivated me... (no I'm not schizophrenic, who said that, the other Scott, Oh OK).... so all answers are likely to be couched with 'ifs, buts and maybes'...

For what its worth... here goes...

1. Favourite Wargaming period and why?

Originally it would have been anything Dark Age/Medieval & Fantasy LOTR - I love the in your face hack and slash of it all, and the MiddleEarth setting really floats my boat.... Recently WWII has had most of my attention, and its hard not to watch docs about that guy with the moustache...

2. Next period, money no object? 

I generally don't find money an issue, especially with the amount of good quality plastics available. Its more an issue of time to get it all painted ! But if you want a definitive answer - I look forward to plonking down on the table a completed 28mm British Napoleonic Army.

3. Favourite 5 films? 

Oh heck where to start... there's so many and again mood dependant.

1. Lord of the Rings trilogy - this was a stand out cinematic moment for me, that I doubt will ever be beaten for experience. (perhaps by the Hobbit?)

2. Favourite War - a) WWII - Saving Private Ryan - close seconds; A Bridge too Far, Cross of Iron.
                              b) other periods - Braveheart, Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven all notable too.
                              c) Classics - Zulu, Waterloo

3. Favourite SciFi - Aliens II. Raised the horror of the first movie to a battle setting and frantic pace has you on edge of your seat till the end

4. Favourite Comedy - Pink Panther series, especially 'Strikes Again'. 'Dogma' cracks me up too, and I had a recent laugh out loud moment watching 'The Guard' on the plane home from Fiji, goodness knows what the poor lass sitting beside me thought of it all... Oh, mustn't forget Fish called Wanda! Wonderful.

5. Favourite Horror - Dracula (Gary Oldman) - Stellar performance, and brought a classic story up with a modern production version retelling of the tale.

4. Favourite 5 TV series? 

Generally I am not one to sit and watch TV. These days where I compete with the wife and kids for TV time, I put on SKYs History Channel. Some shows I have enjoyed in the past:

1. Black Adder - always enjoyable in all its forms, and has been fun to share with my young son thanks to having it on DVD.

2. Band Of Brothers - Really enjoyed this, wish they'd do a British side of the story. I'd love to see the action around Villers Bocage with Wittmann!

3. I used to quite enjoy Star Trek Next Generation, mostly for a certain counsellor... The stories weren't bad either. I gave up on Star Trek with Voyager (couldn't stand the female Captain) and Deep Space 9 was just like 'Coronation Street in space', pah!

4. M*A*S*H - for laughs...

5. Kenny Everetts TV show on the Beeb... wonderful viewing for a teenager ;-)


5. Favourite book and author? 

Again, Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. Just for the sheer scope of the tale, and epic battle of good verses evil, with little or no grey areas. Orcs are bad - simple!
I also love Terry Pratchett's DiskWorld.
And as a standout solitary book that always has me laughing no matter how many times I pick it up, Good Omens, by Pratchett & Gaiman.


6. Greatest General? Can’t count yourself!!

To be honest I am not scholarly enough to really pick them apart. They have been so many greats throughout history both modern and ancient.
Ancients - Probably Alexander, as he conquered such a large area. But I have a tough time reconciling the alleged homosexuality (that's a very odd thing to have in a military man!)
Big gap then to the Duke of Marlbrough, at Blenheim.
After that, Boney or Wellington? Boney gets a good rep, but Wellington beat him so who's better?
WWII; Rommel had a great rep as a battlefield commander, but he has come under criticism too. There were other good German commanders who may have been able to standout more had not Hitler kept meddling...
I don't rate Monty - he only won if he massively outnumbered his opponent and had all his logistics in order too, and as for taking Caen on d-day +1 or whatever, ha! He only got it when he'd flattened it with bombers and killed untold french civilians doing so...
I think my choice has to be - Patton. Just for being ballsy, getting the job done with his no nonsense approach.

7. Favourite Wargames rules? 

Easy - Black Powder/Hail Caesar, hands down.
WWII - Flames of War.
GASLIGHT & Empire of the Dead look a lot of fun too
LOTR SBG & Legends of the High Seas for fun skirmishing.

8. Favourite Sport and team?
 
Despite being a Brit, I've never enjoyed the traditional sports; soccer, cricket, nor rugby now I'm in NZ. As a kid my first foreign holiday was to the USA, and first major city visited was Miami. When channel 4 started showing NFL with Nicky Horne, I was already into American Football, from my dads early influence (he loved the 10 minutes we got of the superbowl each year on Grandstand - remember that?)
So that has been it ever since; American Football (NFL) 'Gridiron' - Miami Dolphins
I love the tactical set piece plays with a clear structured offense and defense (this is bound to appeal to wargamer), combined with the amazing athleticism of the star players. 


9. If you had a only use once time machine, when and where would you go?

I would head back to biblical times, perhaps be a fly on the wall to Moses, and just see if the head of God did poke through the clouds and talk to him. Just to see if he exists, or have millions of people been kidding themselves for last 2000+ years as I suspect!


 10. Last meal on Death Row? 

Assuming I wasn't so panicked into being unable to eat...

Start with a tower of alternating pieces of black-pudding and bacon drizzled over with a honey mustard sauce. Followed by a well done Porterhouse steak with all the trimmings, a good glass bottle of red wine,  and a classic English pud; something like sticky toffee pudding and custard. Cheeseboard, with a good blue cheese, and tawny port.

Then I'll probably barf all over the guard... ;-)

11. Fantasy relationship and why?

Oh heck, I'm going to pay for it, if a certain person reads this. I live with the proverbial 'green monster', though she assures me she is not so bad these days...

OK, well I always prefer the 'dusky maidens' over the blonde bombshells... and this is a Fantasy, so I guess I have to pick a suitable actress. There are several that catch the eye, but I think the one that perhaps stands out is, Rosario Dawson. Pretty face and nice figure. What more can I say...

12. If your life were a movie, who would play you? 

Aw, that's a tough one... I have been likened to Val Kilmer and Daniel Day Louis in the past, by friends, when I was younger, fitter and had more hair, though I never saw the connection myself!

These days it would have to be a middle-aged grumpy - I'll let you offer suggestions

13. Favourite Comic Superhero? 

I must admit I have never really been big on the whole superhero thing... I suppose the recent incarnation of Batman with Christian Bale was pretty cool, and I found Wolverine pretty cool too in  X-men.

14. Favourite Military quote?

I have already been beaten to the punch for this one by Fran, but it has to be:

“The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.” ; Patton - wonderfully done by George C Scott, in the movie, Patton.

Another one I found rather amusing was the banter from the film Waterloo; Cannons go boom and Wellington's General says, "My God Sir, I've lost my leg!" , to which Wellington replied "My God Sir, so you have!" This probably doesn't count as a quote, but its a memorable piece of movie theatre...

15. Historical destination to visit?

To be honest, any European castle. They're all amazing, and they're the only things I miss since moving to New Zealand. 

16. Biggest Wargaming regret? 

This is a tough one to answer, but it would probably be how much money I wasted on GW games and products, especially 40K, where they endlessly changed the rules and codex's, and like a mug I lapped it up and bought the next incarnation, consigning tons of models to the scrap heap. And they're still doing it. It amazes me people still buy and their stuff and play their games now as there's so many better competitors and games out there!

17. Favourite Fantasy job?

Anything where I can go and sack bureaucrats - those people who sit happily in their ivory towers making rules for the rest of us. Get a proper job, at 'the coal face', before you make up any of your stupid rules. Oh and if that includes shooting auditors, then so much the better!

18. Favourite Song, Top 5?

Oh heck this is tough too. I have quite an eclectic music collection, enjoying pop, rock, heavy rock, heavy metal, blues, classical, all depending on the mood.... What I can't stand is a lot modern stuff like Rap, hip hop, stuff like that, not a fan of thrash metal either, or jazz... Some of the best tracks I have found are often those that perhaps go a bit unnoticed from albums, especially the 'soft rock ballads' performed by some of the heavy rock, heavy metal bands... I'll offer you a few of those, and other stuff I like:

1. WASP - Hold on to my heart

2. Whitesnake - Is this love?

3. KISS - Who wants to be lonely

4. ZZ Top - La Grange

5. Ozzy Osbourne - So Tired

19. Favourite Wargaming Moment?

I'd have to say hanging on for a win, 'by my bleeding fingernails', in a recent game from my CTA FoW tournament, against Russell Briant's T34/85 horde in the Cauldron mission. In checking out the army lists before the tournament started, his was the one I dreaded getting drawn against, and didn't I damn well get it in the worst mission too! 

20. The miserable Git question, what upsets you?

Everything, I am the proverbial Grumpy old 'middle-aged' man! And a pessimist too!
Whats currently annoying me the most...Captcha on blog comments - please turn it off!