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MrsWargamer -> We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (2/28/2021 4:16:13 PM)

I'd likely play wargames more than once a week if I had the FTF opponent nearby like I did 40 years ago.

But, I also love other things.

Some things, you don't really do as an 'activity' but just as a way to spend cash. So my buying Barbies isn't the same as buying models or reading books, or role gaming.

I'm trying to revive my love of model trains. Ok, not revive the love of them, trying to revive being able to play with them. It's looking good so far. Moved the 4 foot high 12 inch deep bookcases into the back room. I have 7 of the things. In a room that offers me a 10-foot by 7-foot space. The idea being, run the train in an oval with the bookcases as a support. Not that making a base would be hard, but why make something if you don't need to eh.

Out of the blue, I got a great offer for some President's Choice train sets. If you have not seen them, they are pretty good. I already have one. Poof, instant collection. The train layout though is a secondary function of the real purpose for the layout as a whole. I want to build a hyper-real-looking town.

So I have numerous hobbies. I like to cross-stitch, and I like woodworking. One is easier to do in the living room than the other :) I like to bake, and well, guess where my woodworking tools are stored :) In the kitchen of all places. But the balcony is off the kitchen.

Given a choice, I'd rather spend ALL of my spare time surrounded by lumber and the smell of sawdust. I'm a cabinetmaker originally. More than anything else. I'd like to have my hobby table where I made my models, out there in the woodshop. I'd probably sit out there and play my wargames when not making something. My shop would be my 'place'. Where I played my music loud (like I once used to do).

But life is change (don't I know it). I rarely get to hear the sound of my tools now. I read romance novels more than I write them. I build models because it's easy to do so. Don't always get to paint them. But I love to assemble them. I role game with my teddy bears these days. They don't argue over the rules and don't fudge their dice rolls. It's refreshing :) But I likely sound a bit 'odd' talking to them. Oh well, I sounded odd when I gamed with humans too.

So when not wargaming, what is your relaxing time filled with?



warspite1 -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (2/28/2021 4:33:16 PM)

Very simple tastes really. I love Football (Tottenham Hotspur), F1 Motor Racing (Lewis and George Russell at the moment (and Lando Norris if he gets his head down and applies himself). I love reading history - military history in particular and the Second World War in particular in particular. I love listening to music - all kinds. I like watching good series - crime drama, thrillers, that sort of thing.

But most of all I enjoy being dad to my (not longer so) little warspites.



AbwehrX -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (2/28/2021 7:39:35 PM)

Music. My collection is massive & spans over a hundred years. [:D]



Kuokkanen -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (2/28/2021 7:58:49 PM)

Anime & manga



ETF -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (2/28/2021 8:11:05 PM)

Sorry what is manga again?



RFalvo69 -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (2/28/2021 8:50:37 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: ETF

Sorry what is manga again?

Japanese comic books (anime are animated movies and series).



DeepBlack -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/1/2021 12:23:10 AM)

Like many kids, I would create and fly paper airplanes.
Many different kinds and shapes. Some with working
flaps, some with penciled-on details: cockpit windows,
pilot's head, rivets, roundels, cannon housings etc.

One day as I was testing a plane, an invisible updraft
passed near and trapped my plane. I stared in stupefaction
as it circled higher and higher, becoming a tiny speck way
up in the sky.

I raced along after it, leaping ditches and jumping barbed
wire fences. Eventually it came to rest in pasture maybe
a half kilometer away.

I remember walking home slowly out of breath, holding the
plane aloft in triumph, as if it were the head of a vanquished
foe.

I suppose you could say I enjoy flights of fancy.



RangerJoe -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/1/2021 12:30:20 AM)

I think about how to use certain body parts . . . [;)]



Gilmer -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/1/2021 12:43:39 AM)

College Football (American). Roll Tide, baby!! We just won another NC!!! We're the flagship of college football!!! And I really love reading.



Orm -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/1/2021 5:52:46 AM)

Is it still a hobby when you do not do it any longer?

I like roleplaying, but I do not really do it any more. I plan my super campaign. And I plan on altering a roleplaying game, rather than creating an entire new system. But, at the moment, it never leaves the planning stage because I keep thinking that there is no point to write it down since it will never get played.

I like card games where you co-operate to beat the game.

I like board games.

I still read a lot. But not as much as I would like.

And I like to play a wide variety of computer games. And watching TV-series.

And I like sleeping. Although, at times, sleeping seems like a complete waste of time.

I also like to watch football. But, at the moment, that is a no-no as well. And even if that wasn't a no-no then it wouldn't happen as much anyway because I find it to expensive. I used to watch icehockey as well but they killed that long time ago for me. They made it way to expensive for the product they delivered.

I liked watching American Football. But many matches was in the middle of the night so I couldn't watch it as much as I liked. So when they put it behind a separate paywall I was out. I do not mind paying for what I want to watch. But the cost should be reasonable when compared to what I get.




wodin -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/1/2021 9:33:15 AM)

Reading WW1 and WW2 books. Listening to audiobooks. Collecting action figures\toy soldiers etc. Reading Graphic Novels. Flying WW1 planes in Wings Over Flanders Fields. Other non wargame digital games. The watching the odd film and TV series. Listening to music from around '65 to '72, usually sixties garage, folk or psychedelic upto early prog that still has psych influence, krautrock and space rock (first Hawkwind albums upto and including Space Ritual). I have 294 albums on my PC with probably only two or three not falling into above category. I doubt anyone can say the name of all the albums shown below. Huge kudos if you can!



[image]local://upfiles/9005/1955D039829C4049A67C0B77A3573C21.jpg[/image]



pkpowers -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/1/2021 9:55:39 AM)

Listening to music from around '65 to '72, usually sixties garage, folk or psychedelic upto early prog that still has psych influence, krautrock and space rock (first Hawkwind albums upto and including Space Ritual). I have 294 albums on my PC with probably only two or three not falling into above category. I doubt anyone can say the name of all the albums shown below. Huge kudos if you can!


excellent collection !!! I see the top album of all time(dark side of the moon) ; and wow, 13th floor elevators !



wodin -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/1/2021 10:33:45 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: pkpowers

Listening to music from around '65 to '72, usually sixties garage, folk or psychedelic upto early prog that still has psych influence, krautrock and space rock (first Hawkwind albums upto and including Space Ritual). I have 294 albums on my PC with probably only two or three not falling into above category. I doubt anyone can say the name of all the albums shown below. Huge kudos if you can!


excellent collection !!! I see the top album of all time(dark side of the moon) ; and wow, 13th floor elevators !


Well spotted:) You know your stuff! If you like 13th Floor then check out the artist Golden Dawn and their album Power Plant. Also Cold Sun - Dark Shadows



USSAmerica -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/1/2021 6:21:25 PM)

I'm also a model railroader. N scale and Chessie System are my preferences, but I have a bit of older O scale Lionel stuff from when I was a kid and from my dad. Building a house this year that will have a bonus room over the garage for my future railroad empire.

I also love triathlons and cycling in particular. More sedentary hobbies are reading fantasy and sci-fi and watching movies. I'm a big ice hockey fan and watch as many of my Carolina Hurricanes' games as I can, going to the games when I can afford it (non-pandemic times).



Zovs -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/1/2021 6:44:15 PM)

Playing electric guitar, longer then I have played war games (by 2 years).



TheGrayMouser -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/1/2021 11:20:41 PM)

*picking things up and putting them down
*sampling the finest (and highest alcohol content)stouts, IPA's and other brown liquors.
*discovering "new" music I like that is not -10 to 10 years older than me.



RFalvo69 -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/2/2021 12:53:09 PM)

Let's consider wargaming and military history as a given. [:)]

I don't like following sports, except for three events: the FIFA World Cup, the Soccer European Cup and the Olympics. Many, many years ago I was a supporter of Juventus F.C. - but mostly because I'm a supporter of athletes I like and back then a lot of them played for Juventus. Then, since the mid-'90s, my interest for soccer waned and never returned. I do have a maxi-screen in my restaurant, as anyone else in my line of work has, because it is either that or when there is an important soccer match we can keep the doors closed.

Supporting the "Azzurri" at the World or European Cup is, of course, totally another matter. Yet, I'm uninterested even when Italian teams play in European competitions. I just don't have my heart in it anymore.

Same with Formula One. Today it just bores me.

I love ghost and horror stories in any medium and I still play the Call of Cthulhu RPG with a group of friends. Finding good horror movies is not easy but I recently liked The Conjuring 1 & 2, Hereditary, The Witch, Midsommar and some unexpected gems like Unfriended, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Last Shift and Grave Encounters (the latter seems a quick cash-grab in the found footage/Paranormal Activity genre, but it is actually both a satire of it and a movie full of its own interesting ideas).

In horror literature I like more the classics (Lovecraft, R.E. Howard, Arthur Machen, Clark Ashton Smith, M.R. James...) Modern authors, from King onwards, are often hit-and-miss - and when you digest a tome like "Insomnia" over a few weeks only to arrive at that ending... hours of my life I'll never get back.

And in videogames I'm always hoping for the next scarefest. Resident Evil, sadly, lost his way (they tell me that RE 7 is worth a try, however). Thankfully we got Outlast (truly one of the scariest game ever [X(]), Alien: Isolation (played three times - the last one with mods that make the Alien even more scary), Amnesia: the Dark Descent and The Forest. There are some "lovecraftian" games, like The Sinking City, but, sadly, they do lack the fear factor.

I still wonder where the creativity once seen in titles like Silent Hill 1 and (exp.) 2 went. Death Stranding, BTW, defeated me one third in. It is not a game, it is work [:@]

I, of course, do like cooking and experimenting with new recipes. This, however, overlaps with work, and thus it isn't strictly "an hobby".

What else? Hmmm... I don't know if it can be considered an hobby, but when I'm a tourist I do walk all day. I'm not interested in "All Paris in three days on a coach!" I stay there one week and walk everywhere. My wife hates me. She likes to walk too, but my legs are longer than hers and, for some reason, we always end up with her grabbing my arm and stopping me cold while panting. This happened when we started dating, more than 25 years ago, and still happens today. Male insensitivity, I guess.

Lost hobbies: photography. A few years ago, after squeezing what a Lumix could do to the limit, I took the plunge and bought a Canon Eos 5D Mark IV + 50mm lens. And then... I... dunno... stumbled. Too many options, too many things to learn, not enough time to go out there, experiment and learn... a fiasco [:(] Now my basically still brand new equipment is gathering dust somewhere. My only consolation is that my eldest daughter is taking a photography class with a cheap Nikon, so maybe one day it will be hers.



MrsWargamer -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/2/2021 1:14:36 PM)

Define 'horror' as you see it?

One of the 'scariest' films I have seen in recent years, is the 4 films under the name Insidious. I found them to have shock scenes and just plain unnerving scenes. Some parts can even be a bit triggering and might make some uncomfortable.



jmlima -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/2/2021 2:18:18 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: RFalvo69

Then, since the mid-'90s, my interest for soccer waned and never returned. ...


Same here. I think at the moment clubs started rotating entire squads in and out between seasons and started addressing their supporters as 'customers' they lost me.



RFalvo69 -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/2/2021 2:25:02 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: MrsWargamer

Define 'horror' as you see it?

The beauty of horror and supernatural stories is that they don't have a "rule": either they work or they don't. They don't even need to be scary. One of my favoured novels ever, "The Terror" by Arthur Machen, is not scary at all. Bad things happen, sure, but what involved me was the mystery itself, the description of WWI England and the unique story structure (Machen upends the classic "Bad things that start in one place and then invade the World" with a story that begins with "something" involving the whole of the British Isles in 1916, and then scaling down to the events happening in a county and ending with what happened in a single, isolated farm).

My first exposition to this kind of tales was when I was 14. An old anthology from the '60s, belonging to an uncle, creatively titled "Storie di Fantasmi" (Ghost Stories). The book collected some of the best works from some of the best writers in the field (and not strictly about ghosts). "The Call of Cthulhu" by Lovecraft was cool to the 14 years old me, but not really scary - except that later the book hit you with "The Color Out of Space", something that gave me (coloured) nightmares for months. "Qui Est Iste Qui Venit" by M.R. James was another "sleeping with the lamp turned on for months" hit (one of the pinnacles of the classic ghost story, with a ghost literally appearing as waving rags), but the much acclaimed "The Monkey's Pawn" by Jacobs was, to me, both boring and predictable. And so on.

Regarding movies, I forgot to mention "The Babadook", a great, great movie (to be clear: one of the best I saw in any genre) which works both as a horror story and as a tale about a nervous breakdown - but that to me isn't scary at all. "Shutter" OTOH (the original Thai movie, not the remake) doesn't pretend to be deep about life, but it is as scary as hell.

And I still like a lot the original Blair Witch Project for both how ballsy the idea was back then, and the worldbuilding of the "lore" surrounding the Witch (I was amazed to discover that the directors had invented everything about the legend - I was sure that they had, at least partially, based their plot on already existing folktales).
quote:


One of the 'scariest' films I have seen in recent years, is the 4 films under the name Insidious. I found them to have shock scenes and just plain unnerving scenes. Some parts can even be a bit triggering and might make some uncomfortable.

True (when the devil appeared "just like that" I almost had an heart attack [:D]). And, talking about uncomfortable movies, "Sinister" too was very unnerving.



Randomizer -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/2/2021 2:28:22 PM)

This sums me up pretty well,

-C

[image]local://upfiles/29576/3FD583E48038430BA66277255B47CB4E.jpg[/image]



bomccarthy -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/2/2021 9:05:55 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: RFalvo69


quote:

ORIGINAL: MrsWargamer

Define 'horror' as you see it?

Regarding movies, I forgot to mention "The Babadook", a great, great movie (to be clear: one of the best I saw in any genre) which works both as a horror story and as a tale about a nervous breakdown - but that to me isn't scary at all. "Shutter" OTOH (the original Thai movie, not the remake) doesn't pretend to be deep about life, but it is as scary as hell.

And I still like a lot the original Blair Witch Project for both how ballsy the idea was back then, and the worldbuilding of the "lore" surrounding the Witch (I was amazed to discover that the directors had invented everything about the legend - I was sure that they had, at least partially, based their plot on already existing folktales).
quote:


One of the 'scariest' films I have seen in recent years, is the 4 films under the name Insidious. I found them to have shock scenes and just plain unnerving scenes. Some parts can even be a bit triggering and might make some uncomfortable.

True (when the devil appeared "just like that" I almost had an heart attack [:D]). And, talking about uncomfortable movies, "Sinister" too was very unnerving.


Some of the best filmed horror stories in recent years are the streamed miniseries, like The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor. 6-10 hours gives plenty of room for story development. Just as good are the "regular" series, including Penny Dreadful (I liked both series) and even Stranger Things. And then there are the plain fun stuff, like Wynona Earp, Van Helsing (the series), and Warrior Nun. I'm not much for zombies anymore and the whole Southern Vampire thing got tired.



RFalvo69 -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/2/2021 10:16:41 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: bomccarthy
Some of the best filmed horror stories in recent years are the streamed miniseries, like The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor. 6-10 hours gives plenty of room for story development. Just as good are the "regular" series, including Penny Dreadful (I liked both series) and even Stranger Things. And then there are the plain fun stuff, like Wynona Earp, Van Helsing (the series), and Warrior Nun. I'm not much for zombies anymore and the whole Southern Vampire thing got tired.

I liked Hill House, but I like almost everything Mike Flanagan does ("Oculus", "Absentia", "Hush"...) However I found Bly Manor a bit "meh", and "The Shining" part of Doctor Sleep totally didn't work for me.

Penny Dreadful was uniformly great! Stranger Things... the first season was just perfect, but I feel that the second was not as good and the third one, IMHO, was awful. I agree that zombie movies should have had their finest hour with "Shaun of the Dead" and then just die (the books by Max Brooks are both great, however).

Of course I liked both The Ring and the original Japanese, Ringu. "Dark Water", by the same director, was another good Japanese psychological horror, and "Kairo", by Kioshi Kurosawa, was both a very intellectual reflection on the state of Japanese youth and a wall to wall scarefest (with some of the most chilling ghosts I ever saw on a screen). J/Asian-horror became really a thing in the early 2000s and they produced some real gems. Today, not anymore...



jday305 -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/2/2021 10:22:27 PM)

Reading alternate history, woodworking, gardening and hunting keep me busy



Eambar -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/3/2021 5:40:52 AM)

Raising 6 and 10 year old boys when I'm over 50 (yeah I started late) keeps me pretty well occupied, but it's not a hobby!

I've been around rugby union most of my life, either as a player, a junior coach or a manager. Taking a break this year as my older son wants to have a go at soccer.

I like hiking, dream is to do the Pacific Crest Trail (Canada to Mexico) in the USA and the Bi-Centennial trail here in Australia. These days I'm limited to about 4km in one hit, or the endurance/patience level of a 6yo. Along with the hiking is camping, and I try and get the boys out when I can. Take us back to nature, and we always go unplugged.

Try and get out on my motorcycle when I can, at some point over the past 10 years riding it went from a transportation method to a hobby. I seem to polish the bike more than ride it these days.

My 10 yo is taking some interest in my board game collection and we're starting to get into some of the easier games. I was his age when I first played Panzer Leader so I hope to get him into that or similar over the next year. He's shown some interest in Twilight Struggle so that may be the breakthrough game for him. It's hard to compete against the electronic distractions.

Hobbies I want to get back into one day: photography and scuba diving. I too have a collection of Nikon DLSRs and lenses gathering dust, and haven't been on a dive for about 8 years.

Cheers






MrsWargamer -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/3/2021 2:44:10 PM)

If you like hiking, I counter propose you consider hiking the Laurentians/Appalachians on the east coast. Not quite the Rockies, but the beauty is not diminished.



sanch -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/5/2021 2:58:20 AM)

Programming! Even retired, I'm still a nerd. But now I get to program the things I've always wanted to do.

My latest creation - I took a German map from 1936 and pasted it on top of some elevation data ...
[image][/image]


[image]local://upfiles/14503/7D174AE041FA4DC099ADC9951B74C974.jpg[/image]



sanch -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/5/2021 3:00:54 AM)

Here's a closer view of the Monschau area. The elevations are not exaggerated - this is how rugged the area actually is. On the first day of the Battle of the Bulge, elements of the German 272nd VG Division were supposed to come off the hill to the upper right and take the town of Monschau.



sanch -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/5/2021 3:02:12 AM)

(try again ...)


[image]local://upfiles/14503/7314416D5B004B898EF76BB4CC4C891B.jpg[/image]



Don60420 -> RE: We are all wargamers here (duh :) ) what is your other hobby(ies) (3/5/2021 12:40:23 PM)

Writing on my blogs and reading, usually history.



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