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Sunday, June 27, 2021

Hot Times on the Palouse!

Rapeseed in bloom, late June
Photo taken on a morning ride
The Palouse and the entire West Coast are experiencing a heat wave of nearly unprecedented proportions.  Daytime temperatures are nearly 30 degrees above normal.  A look at the 10 day forecast is mind boiling.  Records will fall, for sure.  We will be frying eggs on sidewalks, I expect.

Spokane 10 Day Forecast
What does one do when the heat climbs to such extremes?  

For one, road cycling gets done in the morning before the temperatures rise.  Even yesterday by 07:30 when I went for the daily workout, the temperature was already above 70F.  Two hours later when I returned, the thermometer read 85F.    Today, I am heading out on the road even earlier. 

For another, I retreat indoors to the coolness provided by A/C. What better way to pass the time than having a game?  This is how I am spending a portion of my day.  Later this morning, I host a F2F game in the even cooler, basement game room.

On deck is a recreation of the ECW Battle of Montgomery, 1644.  There is more than one interpretation of how the forces were deployed for this battle.  I chose to interpret the deployments as shown in the diagram below:

Initial Dispositions

A battle report will likely show up in (over)due time.  Until then, stay cool!

60 comments:

  1. A hot day spent in the basement or a/c. Sounds like a plan! Good gaming!

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  2. Blimey, that's hot!

    Looking forward to the game write-up.

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    1. It sure is hot! Game first and then the writeup.

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  3. It is hot and sunny here i Scotland but nowhere near your temperatures. Montgomery is a battle that I have long wanted to do. I have the Helion book. One day pehaps but I look forward to reading your battle report

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    1. Cold and drizzly here in the east midlands. I've not played Montgomery (as JF now knows) but I just had a quick look in Brooks, and it seems quite an interesting proposition. Hoping the MNG will get to play this is a week or so.

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    2. David, at least here, it is a dry heat...

      I have the Helion book too but he does not specify the army deployments besides providing generalizations. That is frustrating.

      If you have long wanted to game Montgomery, perhaps tackling it remotely would scratch that itch?

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    3. Graham, I expect you will be threatened with playing this one in MNG in the very near future.

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    4. I would certainly be up for tackling it remotely. One of the wargames magazines had a good article, probably 20+ years ago, which I probably have somewhere but would not be easy to find

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  4. take care Jon. Your heatwave is even making BBC news. Somewhere called Multnomah has declared the heat "life-threatening" apparently. Keep the fluids up on the road and get safe back to the basement wargames room :)

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    1. Thank you, Anthony! The situation must seem dire if it makes the BBC. Multnomah County, Oregon is where Portland is situated. Eating animal protein is considered by many there to be "life-threatening" too. Since it rarely gets this hot in Western Oregon, many homes still do not have A/C so one must use caution in heat like this.

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  5. Even having spots of heat here in New England, but nothing so sustained or extreme as you are. I've always hated heat, so summer when it's hot is actually good game time, as far as I'm concerned (not just winter). Enjoy!

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    1. I don't mind the heat but this degree of heat is a bit much to ask one to tolerate. Gaming in the cool basement is a good way to combat the cruel, outdoors.

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  6. Stay cool and safe in those temperatures! Having lived in Nigeria I know how hot hot can be! I never used AC over there as it was too much of a shock working in a wood work factory with the sudden change in temperature. Keep the fluids up and out of the sun basically and cool off in the AC!

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    1. Steve, that is an interesting reason not to use A/C! How long did you live in Nigeria and why???

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    2. 5 years Jonathan. I was a VSO for 3 (like your Peace Corps) then 2 as an ex-pat. Looking back I used to play cricket in the hot season in similar temps to those you are having, but with the sun being rather stronger. At the end of a game you would see dried salt on your skin as you sweated so much trying to stay cool! Also the heat would combine with high humidity in the build up to the rains which was the real killer. I doubt I could cope with it now though.

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  7. That does indeed sound hot and your solution couldn't be a better one!

    Christopher

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    1. It is hot but I have a temporary solution. Good to hear from you Christopher!

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  8. An interesting battlefield terrain wise and more-so if troops were on the other side of the waterway , what rules will you be using?

    Those temperatures sound like part of a worrying trend.

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    1. The battle presents an interesting situation with unequally-sized forces and much different command capabilities. Rules in use will be some of my own doing.

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  9. We’re also suffering from boiling heat. This week temperature was up to 95 F (+35C) which is abnormal for our latitudes. The battlefield looks great, have a fun game in nice and cool place:)

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  10. An afternoon in a nice cool cave sounds perfect right about now ;)

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  11. Wow that's pretty warm, particularly for so early in the day. Here we are at the other end of the extreme...temps are laid to high 30's Fahrenheit ....on Thursday last week I had to scope a bit of frost off my windscreen before leaving for work. Julian and my Friday gaming group did this same battle using FK&P a few months ago, so look forward to seeing how your game went.

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    1. Very warm here, Keith! I need to go back and look at your Montgomery BatRep. Miller utilized Giglio for the scenario and I like they both got the deployments incorrect.

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  12. Oh, it's only today that we have a colder day in Poland ...
    It's been hell for the last week!

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  13. Gosh… that is indeed a bit on the warm side Jonathan…
    We are having typical British Summer weather at the moment…
    It’s grey…

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Very hot, Aly! Typical British summer weather is grey? That does not sound so inviting.

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  14. That is warm indeed but with such beautiful countryside I can see why you have to get out there.

    If you want the weather for your ECW game to match current summer conditions here in England....it's raining!

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    1. The old adage here is that summer does not truly begin until July 4. This year summer came several weeks early and came in like a lion.

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  15. Great looking ECW set up, Jonathan. As for the amazingly hot temperatures we're experiencing here in the Puget Sound area, just happy to say we just got central AC last installed last month. This was entirely due to my wife's prodding. Growing up in Hawaii, we never had AC, so thought it hot weather was something you could just adjust to. However, this would only work if the temperature changes were gradual. Not here in WA State! Just enjoying the AC.

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    1. Thanks, Dean! I am glad to see that you put in A/C before this heat wave struck. i know many do not have A/C in the Puget Sound because summer weather is typically mild. On this side of the state, most have A/C as necessity for the few weeks of heat in July and August.

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  16. Nice-looking game Jonathan and I'll look forward to the AAR. Cold here on the weekend, but I think I'd prefer that to you heatwave. At least it is dry heat, as you say.

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    1. Thanks, Lawrence. Depends upon how cold "cold" is!

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  17. We are looking forward to a report from the game. It's hot too! We save ourselves on the beaches of the Volga.

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    1. You are fortunate to be near cooling waters during hot days.

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  18. Like Lawrence I think I would like some heat at the moment as a polar blast sweeps up the country!

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    1. Not sure you would enjoy this level of heat. Yesterday afternoon outside felt like being in an oven.

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  19. Sounds like a fun game,I look forward to it! Nice and grey here and not too hot,looks a bit too extreme where you are,betteroff in a basement!
    Best Iain

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    1. The game was fun and history repeated itself. The weather is certainly tilting toward an extreme at present. Cool and grey sounds good.

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  20. Just back from a weeks leave, hot weather as we know is good for cycling 👍

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    1. Hope you enjoyed your time away. On hot temperatures, one can have too much of a good thing. It was 95F at 10:00am when I returned from cycling this morning. 95F at 10:00am!!!

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  21. Tell me about it! The heat here is unbearable and record highs. Really can’t even go outdoors after 10:00. My poor kids end up cooped up in the house all day and going stir crazy.
    You’re fortunate to have the man cave. I should look into getting one of those…😀

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    1. Fortunately we have AC and a basement. Without those escapes, the situation would be difficult. High tomorrow expected to hit 111F with 108F today. Yow!

      Can you send your kids to the pool to cool off?

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  22. Nice table. Good luck with the game!

    I'm glad I got out of Arizona, but Florida isn't much better...

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    1. Thanks! The northeastern part of Washington State should not get this hot.

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  23. A hot day indeed!

    Looking to to the battle report.

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  24. Heat? We know it not here in Darkest Rawnsley.

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  25. Looking good Jonathan, I don't mind heat but soon head for shade or indoors.

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    1. I don't mind 'normal' summer heat either but this heat wave is oppressive and a bit cruel.

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  26. That's hotter than here in Northern California! Yikes!

    The ECW set up looks very exciting! Eager to read that battle report!

    Rapeseed is a pretty sight whilst in bloom. Fields of bright yellow all over the place where I grew up. Just a shame about the revolting stench that stuff gives off when it's harvested!

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    1. Yeah, we set an ALL TIME HIGH on Tuesday. More of the same today.

      I ought to begin work on the BatRep for Montgomery. Perhaps when the office cools down later?

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  27. Stay cool, I look forwards to the battle report

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    1. Trying to stay cool although difficult on 107F heat. Hopefully, I can begin the BatRep for this action tonight.

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  28. You really did have some atoundlingly hot weather; it got hot here in New England, but just normal summer hot, low 90's. The past few days it's been rainy and unseasonably cool, high in the 60's!

    I've played Montgomery quite a few times; it was a playtest game for For King and Parliament.

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    1. Really hot, Peter! It has "cooled down" into the mid-90s now. I see no end in sight.

      On your Montgomery replays, did each manage to win the battle about half of the time?

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