Queen Maebh the Merciless

Cat three is named after the mythical queen of Connaught from the Irish epic Táin Bó Cúailnge. She is a contradiction in many ways. She's the menace of the other two cats, an absolute imp of mischief with me, but she cowers under my bed upstairs when visitors come.

I've always had a fondness for Manx cats. Rhiannon—even though she's my sweet pea—is more of a bobtail than a true Manx. I could be slighting her, but she doesn't show much Manx traits other than a short tail. Maebh is definitely a Manx. 

I saw her when she came in at PAWS in Lynnwood where I volunteered. She was part of a group of cats that came in from Mississippi to alleviate shelter crowding in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. She was huddled in the back of her cage looking at me with her big green eyes in a way that was apprehensive but not scared. 

Her torbie coat and "rumpy riser" tail made her irresistable to me. I weighed the options of adopting a third cat for a day or so and when I came back to the shelter she was gone. I  asked what happened and the staff told me she had been adopted. I felt a bit relieved that fate had intervened to make my decision for me.

A few weeks later, I was browsing the PAWS website when I spotted her in the list of cats available for adoption. I left work early that day to get to the shelter and sure enough, those familiar green eyes were staring at me again from the back of the cage. It turns out that she hadn't been adopted, just sent for foster care after a bout of URI. Now I thought fate had handed the decision back to me and I didn't hesitate. Since it was too late to adopt that night, I had the shelter reserve her for me for next day. I visited with her in a small room where she hid under a chair and remained cautious and passive while I tried to pet her. Not sure how she would be at home or if she would get along with the other cats, I adopted her and hoped for the best.

She mewled a bit on the way home, but wasn't at all like Rhiannon when I brought her home. With two cats already, I decided I would first see how she did with the others before adopting the isolation and slow introduction method. To my surprise, she popped out of the carrier as if she were a different cat. Toward Grendel and Rhiannon she was bold and cheeky--even toward me she showed a new disposition of acceptance. She and Grendel became instant friends.

Rhiannon was another story. Fussbudget and ailurophobe to the last, Rhiannon hissed, growled, and grumbled at Maebh every time she got near. Maebh, for her part, wanted to "play" with her new big sister. Rhiannon was less than pleased and I spent a lot of time separating them and soothing Rhiannon. Even now, after two years, Rhiannon is still fussy when Maebh gets to close. Still there are times when the fireworks are on hold.

Maebh is a playful 5-year old with a penchant for getting into things. She loves playing with dice and I have a lot of dice, though fewer now than before I got her. I find dice in the corners and under furniture—along with other things. Maebh showed a tendency from the start for what I call "poo hockey." This sport consists of pulling dessicated bits of cat poo out of the litter box and batting them around the house. She is also a terror to the cat toys.

She's very vocal and often goes off into another place in the house to loudly meow to me until I come to get her or, more often, I meow back and she comes running. She has a distinctive walk, which is all the more unique because of her nubbin tail and nether fluffery. One of her nicknames is Miss Mavis Fluffybottom.

She loves to pick play fights with Grendel who weighs almost three times as much as she does and they often scamper through the house together. (Often in the night, to my chagrin.) Where Grendel lays, Maebh lays too.

This doesn't stop her from biting his ears as they snuggle until, usually, he runs away from her just to get some peace. At times, however, he stands his ground and plants a big paw on her head until she emits a mournful "waaaaaaaaah" sound that expresses less a fear of his firm hand than a frustration at being foiled in her mischief. She also follows me aroung and is fascinated by what I do.

She often jumps up on top of the cupboards to watch me work in the kitchen.

She's turned out to be a great addition to the house and is the instant love of visitors, despite keeping her distance from all (except one). When I have guests, she and Rhiannon start the evening hiding together—one of their only bonding experiences. As the evening wears on, Rhiannon may venture down to see the strangers, but Maebh strays no farther than the stairs where she rolls on her back and makes odd sounds to attract my attention. If any stranger approaches, she scoots back under the bed.

Now she's family. On any morning that I can sleep in, I get up and feed the cats at 5:00 (or 4:00 during daylight savings) and go back to bed. By the time I get up again at 8:00 or later, I've got all three up there with me.

There are even other times when you can find them all in a bundle.

The Panthers are burning

Yesterday, our little group played another game of Kampfgruppe Commander (KGC). I created the scenario and provided almost all of the 15mm figures and models, being most happy to get my long-in-production Panther Ds into a game (you could still smell the dullcote). The scenario was a revision of something I tried last month with a smaller number of players. We've played several very large games of KGC over the last few years with up to two divisions on a side. The tendency of large games is to collapse under their own weight. When every player has too many formations to control, it just gets bogged down with complex interactions. KGC is highly reactive in the way it's played and when too many things are happening to your formations simultaneously it's overwhelming. 

I envisioned smaller games with players running no more than two formations and used the scenarios from Avalon Hill's PanzerBlitz as inspiration. I've loved PanzerBlitz since I first played it at the tender age of 10, when it had just been released. I've thought many times about adapting the 12 PanzerBlitz "situations" to scenarios using Command Decision or KGC because the representational scale is the same. However, there are some snags in this plan as I'll post in a later blog. I used Situation 11 for this scenario, which represents the 9th SS' attempt to relieve the First Panzer Army at Buchach in Poland as part of the battle of the Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket in March 1944.

I had to fudge a bit with the forces involved because all those Panthers would be overkill against a bunch of T-34s—even T-34/85s. I decided to give the Russians back-up from a regiment of SU-85s (also freshly painted for the game) and SU-152s and reduce to German armored force to a reduced battalion of Panzer IVs and a kampgruppe comprising two reduced companies of Panther Ds and a reduced company of Tiger Is. I also expanded the German infantry to two battalions instead of one and eliminated the StuG IIIs.

The Russians—run by Ken Kissling, Mark Serafin, and Dave Redding—began the game hidden with their probable positions indicated by markers. The infantry and T-34/85s were set up on the table at start but the SU-85s and SU-152s were varaibles. On a 50/50 chance, one formation could be deployed on board in lieu of already-placed dummy markers or, failing the roll, would enter on turn 2. The other group would arrive on a turn indicated by the roll of an average (2-3-3-4-4-5) die. 

Steve Puffenberger, John Kennedy, and I were the Germans. Steve ran the Panzer IVs on the far left of our attack, John ran one of the panzergrenadier battalions (with half-tracks) and I ran the panzer kampfgruppe (starting with two small Panther companies) and the other panzergrenadier battalion.

The Germans moved first and entered with all their forces on turn 1, except that the Tiger company was kept off until a turn indicated by a roll of two average dice. I rolled two fives, so we didn't see the Tigers until the game was nearly over.

The table was 6' x 10' with the Germans attacking from a narrow end. The Russians were set up anywhere back from 24" from the German entry point.

Steve made first contact when the 45L66 AT gun supporting Dave's infantry battalion ambushed the Panzer IVs inflicting loss. Meanwhile, John advanced against the village where Dave's infantry lay in wait.

Panzergrenadiers attack a Russian-held village

On my side of the table, I ran my Panthers out in the blithe assumption that I was invincible—which would be true if I were being attacked from the front, but I opened myself to ambush from Mark's SU-85s firing at my weaker side armor. He inflicted a hit on me, but my return fire inflicted more damage on him and routed him away.  My other Panther company was also ambushed by the second company of Mark's SU-85 regiment, this time with greater loss to me because the hits came against my (comparatively) flimsy side armor, but I was able to turn to the SU-85s and drive them off.

SU-85s ambush the Panthers

I advanced one panzergrenadier company toward the woods where the first SU-85 company had been. There were still markers there and I wanted to be sure there were no nasty surprises. The woods, as it turned out, were lousy with cossacks—or rather, with submachinegunners. I went in for close assault and after the first round of combat, Mark chose to run away.

Panthers and panzergrenadiers advance on the German left

They look like they mean business, but…

I advanced the other two panzergrenadier companies towards the village to my front. At this point, I came under very effective artillery fire and had one company rout with loss. I also retired one of my Panther companies in order to attempt to recover my losses incurred in Mark's ambush. Now I had a bit of a shambles with almost half my force licking their wounds.

Meanwhile, Mark took his surviving SU-85 company around to the other side of the table to face off Steve's Panzer IVs. Outmatched, and having already lost one company, Steve took refuge in some woods and traded shots.

After several turns, John succeeded in driving out Dave's Russians from the village. However, he took a lot of losses and had to spend a few more turns recovering.

Germans overrun a village

Finally getting my units in order, I was able to resume my advance against suspected Russian positions to my front. 

The Panthers return to the attack

Having learned nothing from my ambush experience, I continued to push on aggressively with my Panther companies. I overran a couple suspected positions that turned out to be dummies. However, I finally encountered hidden infantry that ambushed me and wiped out one of my Panther companies for good and inflicted more loss to the second, which I pulled back.

Sensing blood, Mark moved out one of his T-34/85 companies in an attempt to finish off my Panthers, but I withdrew and he chose not to follow. Even badly wounded, the Panthers were a force to be reckoned with. I dug-in my panzergrenadiers, who had to stand a few turns of artillery and mortar fire, and retreated my remaining Panther company to recover my losses.

With another T-34/85 company ensconced in an orchard, Mark opened up on Steve's Panzer IVs, but failed to do significant damage.

T-34/85s in the orchard

John, once he'd reformed and recovered losses, moved up to the edge of a large field and prepared to move forward against the Russian center. The Russian SU-152s entered the game and Ken ran them across the river and into support to the left of the T-34/85s holding a village atop a large hill.

SU-152s fording a river

However, as Ken turned his SU-152s against John's panzergrenadiers, Steve got a good shot on their flank and sent them running back for cover. I moved my panzergrenadiers forward and called in mortars and artillery on Ken's infantry, forcing them to retire with loss.

On turn 10, the Tigers finally came up. I'd recovered losses from my Panther company and from the panzergrenadiers. With the Tigers in play, I attempted one more attack. 

The Russians in front of me were still unspotted, so I ran up a panzergrenadier company to spot the T-34s I knew were lurking there. As I crawled the unit up to within sighting distance, I was ambushed by infantry and badly mauled. However, I had spotted the T-34s and the Panthers and Tigers could open up next turn or force the T-34s to retire.

Tigers and Panthers in the final assault

By this time, the Russians had withdrawn to the center of the table. Most of their previously engaged infantry was taking cover behind the village held by Marks T-34/85s. But it was too late. I intended that the Germans would need to drive up to the river on the opposite edge of the table in 12 turns in order to win. Barely halfway there and with losses, they didn't meet their objective. The Russians were hurt, too, but not as much. They still had most of their tank strength, but any attempt by them to go toe-to-toe with the Panthers and Tigers would be disastrous.

The highwater mark of the German advance: a lone panzergrenadier stand outside a heavily defended village

As with every game of KGC we play, there were a few house rules. One thing I did was to reduce the HE fire effect of tanks. There has always been an alarming tendency for tanks to sit back and shoot infantry out of towns. With the fire effect reduced by 2 at all range bands (minimum of 1), the tanks don't have much effect, even though it never really came up in the game.

I also reduced the ability of artillery FOs to call fire on targets that are outside the engagement range of the formation their batteries support. It's also been prevalent in our games for FOs to call fire on units half-way across the table. In this game I pushed out the distance a bit more than the engagement range to a standard 24". That seems to work, although apart from my last losses from ambush at the village, all the losses to my panzergrenadiers came from mortar and artilley fire.

I think the PanzerBlitz experiment worked well. Despite a lot of "Oh crap! We're doomed" from one side or the other at various points in the game, it was well balanced. I think I was too aggressive with the Panthers and learned—again—about the need for infantry support for the tanks, which is especially galling giving the superior quality of the German tank-infantry cooperation. I'm now looking at possibilities for Situations 7 and 8.

Once more unto the black hole, dear friends! Once more...

This Saturday, Bill Stewart and Mitch Berdinka hosted a 28mm Napoleonics game at The Panzer Depot in Kirkland, WA. This is the third time since November that I've played Napoleonics, which my friend Kevin Smyth calls "the black hole of wargaming" because of its profound ability to suck into its maw the entirety of your hobby experience. I am feeling the pull—but I resist.

The rules we used were 2nd edition General de Brigade from Partizan Press. The figures were mostly supplied by Bill Stewart, although as word got out that the game was to be played, it became a kind of bring-and-play with people volunteering a few of their own units to the mix.

We wound up with two French ligne brigades (each of three battalions), one French légère brigade, a brigade of Polish lancers and hussars supported by a Polish foot battalion, an 8-gun foot battery, and a four gun horse battery. 

French légère in column

Opposing this were three british foot brigades (three battalions each), a foot battery, and brigade of heavy dragoons supported by a horse battery.

Redcoats in line supported by 9-pounders

Most of us were brand new to the rules. Mitch had run a game of the Battle of Maida a few years back using 15mm figures, which was my only experience (and his, too, I think). Even so, the exposure I had gave me some clue to how to use my troops most effectively.

I ran one of the French ligne brigades. As the game began. my brigade had assault orders, while the rest of the French had advance orders. I formed up my battalions in column, screened by skirmishers, and headed full speed at les goddams to my front. Being in column naturally attracted the attention of the British guns. No artillerist can resist a dense mass target. My right-hand battalion took some punishment in its advance for a few turns until they moved out of the battery's arc of fire. My left-hand battalion also took some losses due to very effective British musket fire.

Just before contact, the columns are exposed to British muskets

On my right, Bill Stewart's ligne brigade advanced in line with skirmishers forward against the British guns. On the extreme right, the légère skirmished across a stream against the British leftmost brigade. 

French and British skirmishers exchange fire as more French move up to assault across the bridge.

On my left, Mitch ran the cavalry, Poles, and the horse battery. As I assaulted with my brigade, Mitch ran his cavalry against the British dragoons. However, his charge was blasted by the British horse battery and he was forced to halt unformed. Since the Dragoons had countercharged, he might have been doomed, but the Rosbifs failed their morale check to charge home and they halted unformed as well. Meanwhile, Mitch ran the Poles up against the British horse battery, but got sent running back after a "whiff of grapeshot."

After advancing for a few turns, I finally came within charge range of two British battalions. Ken Kissling, who commanded these battalions, had ignored the Wellingtonian art of "making war sitting on his ass" and advanced against me. When I charged, he chose to countercharge me instead of shooting me (hopefully) to bits as I came in. I was able to get 2:1 odds against his left-hand battalion and was even up against his right-hand one. The dice favored me, barely. I pushed back his right-hand battalion, following up to remain locked in combat, and forced the left-hand one to retreat. 

A little worse for wear after enduring the British fire last turn, les fantassins come to grips with the Rosbifs

My mêlée victory left me unformed, which required a turn of rallying before I could advance against the British again. Once reformed, I charged my center battalion against Ken's right-hand battalion, which was locked in the third turn of ineffectual combat with my left-hand battalion. This charge did the trick and threw back les goddams. With my right-hand battalion, I charged again against his left-hand battalion, which had since recovered morale and reformed. They didn't stand it and routed away before contact. When attempting to recover morale next turn, they failed again and ran off the table. At this point, I reformed my troops and regrouped for the last push against the redcoats. 

With 30% losses to the flanking battalions, the brigade reforms for its last assault

Meanwhile, on my left the opposing cavalry brigades were at it again. Once again, the French failed to charge home, but the British dragoons countercharged successfully and routed the French horse. Unfortunately, the dragoons rolled badly for their pursuit check and wound up being blown—unformed and no pursuit.

The clash of cavalry—just before a bad French loss

Also, on my right, Bill's brigade had advanced to the foot of the hill where the British foot battery and two battalions stood. His skirmishers were taking a steady toll and he had nearly shot away one of the British gun crews.

The French pressing the British center

In the final charge, my left-hand battalion failed its morale check to charge home, but the center battalion was enough to do the trick. The British battalion was unformed and retreated, so its ability to make a stand was pretty feeble. It had significant minuses in mêlée due to its losses and status, so there was no contest. My right-hand battalion went forward to chase off the last of the British skirmishers. The result was a big hole in the British line. I was in position to turn my battalions toward the British center and support Bill's assault.

The last assault

At this point, after about 3.5 hours of play, we called the game.

Responses to the rules were mixed. Like any rules, they have their, sometimes irksome, idiosyncrasies, but overall, I liked them and I hope to play again. This is the style of gaming I like. The dice can vary widely, but with 2D6 as the standard die roll for everything, there is an averaging built in that mitigates extreme differences without preventing them in rare circumstances.

After scouring the Web for manufacturers of 28mm Napoleonics, I've cooled off and won't be painting any figures soon. I have far too many other irons in the fire. However, somewhere I have a few blister packs of Foundry French cuirassiers. Maybe I will paint a squadron or two…

Holiday gaming

After a long time of being snowed in, I finally got out and about as of Monday. The snow is still clumped in some areas around beautiful Lynnwood, although to the south, it's much clearer. I live in what's called the "Convergence Zone." This means that whenever the weather is crappy in the Pacific Northwest, it's even crappier in the CZ.

Monday was DANG (Dave's Annual Naval Game). Not me Dave, but the other Dave, Dave Schueler. Dave has been running DANG for several years now and I've made it to most of them. It's a biggish event with about six to eight players and a lavish spread of food. Most years it's been a kind of mini naval campaign that generates several actions. This year's event was a single modern naval action set hypothetically in disputed waters between Australia and Indonesia. We used the Harpoon naval rules. I played on the Aussie side and for several turns had the only viable RANS ship in the area. Fortunately, it was an Adelaide class FFG, HMAS Newcastle. The Adelaide is was Oz calls a Perry class frigate. It has a single missile launcher that is capable of dealing a lot of misery in a short time. Only four Harpoons, but a world of SM2s and smaller AA missiles. The Harpoons are the ship-killers, but I had the most effect with the SM2s firing in an anti-ship rôle. 

In the opening phase of the game, the Aussies had to evacuate crews for three oil rigs and get the evacuation force off the board. I'm not sure what the Indonesians needed to do, but they didn't do it in any case. All the crews were evacuated, though we lost a rig tender that had been attempting to evacuate the crew of one rig. The Newcastle shot up two Indonesian gunboats and an Indonesian frigate without loss to itself. It also survived a bombing pass by a flight of Indonesian F-5s taking down one of the attacking aircraft. From there, it proceeded to carry out mission orders to destroy all oil rigs in the area (ours and theirs) and shell a shore installation. At this point, its charmed life ran out--but not before a little more charm came its way.

By attacking the northernmost Indonesian rigs with gunfire, I strayed well out of support range of the three Adelaide class frigates that made up the Australian response force. The Indonesians had their own response force of gunboats and corvettes that popped onto our radar screens just before they started launching volleys of Harpoon and Exocet missiles. I lucked out for one turn when the Indonesian missiles locked onto my escort, the gunboat HMAS Bathurst, and a nearby oil rig that I was attacking with gunfire. Both were utterly destroyed without effect on the Newcastle. Then the shrimp hit the barbie. The next Indonesian salvo was 16 missiles. I managed to decoy or shoot down several, but the several others that got through finished me off with *boom* to spare.

The only thing that spared Newcastle from overwhelming overkill was the presence of my other ship, HMAS Sydney. I sailed north at full speed and caught a salvo from the other batch of Indonesian ships. I was able to get off an opportunity shot of four Harpoons and five SM2s at the Indonesians, but their hits on me were crippling. I managed to sink a corvette and damage another ship, but my sensors were knocked out, so my missiles were out of action. Another small salvo came in and I was sure it was curtains for the Sydney. However, the lovely Phalanx defense system has its own radar and came in to decoy and shoot down every missile in the salvo. That was the last shot for the Indonesians. Out of missiles and with two unscathed Adelaide class FFGs heading toward them, the Indonesians turned around and ran for home waters. The game was declared an Aussie win, but at the cost of one frigate lost and one heavily damaged.

Today, Dave came over and we indulged ourselves with some boardgames. I love boardgames, but I get little opportunity to play. I have several new ones that I was hoping to try.

Game 1 was Texas Glory from Columbia Games. I played the Texians and Dave was Santa Anna and his minions. It's a bit overwhelming to see a juggernaut of Mexicans coming on, but the key to Texian victory is to hold on--or get really lucky and catch "The Napoleon of the West" with his pants down. I lost the Alamo (thanks for tryin' Davey), but I held on at Goliad. The Mexicans were now storming into central Tejas with their bloodlust up, burning towns and committing depredations all the way. Texas Glory uses cards to determine what you can move each turn and some of the cards represent "events" such as the ability to launch a surprise attack or send Comanches at your opponent. I had Sam Houston and a force of good troops, including the New Orleans Grays and a strong unit of riflemen, at the town of Victoria and I had the "Deguello" card to play. The card let me fight to the finish. (Normally, a combat is ended after three rounds, the attacker having to retire if any defenders are left.) My hope was to strike out and eliminate one group of Mexicans. As luck would have it, his nibs the generalissimo/el presidente was there in person. After four rounds of combat, the Mexican force was eliminated and Santa Anna lost, an instant win for the Texians.

Games 2 and 3 were Conflict of Heroes by Academy Games. This is a sort of Eurogame meets Squad Leader. The system is very interesting. It lacks the detail--the excruciating detail--of Advanced Squad Leader, but the play is challenging and focuses a lot more on how you use command resources. You start each turn with a set number of command points and for each unit you activate you get seven unit action points. You use any combination of action points and/or command points to do things with units like fire, move, and rally. That's the simple description. Dave and I both liked the game, so I hope to have more opportunities to play. We played the first two scenarios. I played Russians in scenario one and lost, Dave played Russians in scenario two and lost. I'm not sure if that's a theme that's developing.

Game 4 was Command & Colors: Ancients by GMT Games. We played the Gaugamela scenario from expansion 1 and I was the Macedonians (Alexander) by random choice. I was a little worried about the horde of Persians facing me. However, they were mostly light troops and I had Al and his Companion cavalry on my side. Dave played aggressively and ran his heavier troops out in front of his light troops. This gave me a big advantage in ranged fire with my light troops. He succeeded in eliminating one of my units, but I had a lot of good rolls and was able to do a lot of damage. I think he may have eliminated another unit, so the game ended 7-2 in my favor. We played a few games of Command & Colors earlier and I've come to like the system a lot. It's simple and has enough flavor to be interesting as often as you play it. I have all the expansions now, so I've got around 80 scenarios to play.

This coming Saturday is Drumbeat III. This is a newish event hosted by a long-term NHMGS member (and many-times president) Dick Larsen. It's a one-day miniature gaming event in Seattle. As the "III" might suggest, it's the third year Dick has hosted this. I'll be running a Field of Glory game and, I hope, playing in a General Quarters III naval game in the Morning. So, I still have more holiday gaming ahead.

It's the Snowpocalypse!

So, I've been snowed in since Thursday afternoon when the latest episode of our snowstorm hit. Here in the Puget Sound area, it just doesn't snow on a regular basis. In the 17 years that I've lived here, most winters go by without a single day of snow and the years when it does snow, it's usually just a light frosting that melts by midday.

It's quite a shock to be dealing with this for more than a week. The region isn't equipped to deal with heavy and long-term snowfall, so everything just stops, except for the few crazies on the road who think their Subaru is an Arctic tractor. The snow hit last Saturday evening and has been falling intermittently ever since. Monday through Wednesday were three days of slight warming that gave way to a snowfall starting Thursday afternoon that remained pretty steady through Sunday.

I am snowbound. Like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. That turned out well.


Evil snowy buildup on the back veranda and hummingbird feeder

My beloved Nissan 350z is a total wanker in the snow. I see my neighbors hopefully digging out their SUVs and AWD vehicles only to have them slip and spin uphill out of the townhome complex wherein Stately Chez Dave is located. The Z couldn't even make it out of the garage.


Digging out the family car--NOT a tradition in Lynnwood

I took advantage of barely drivable conditions earlier in the week to stock up on food, so I don't have to contend with my cats over which of us will eat the other. I am, however, jonesing for a latté and the nearest Starbuck's is too far to walk to. Which is ironic because in the mail that arrived sometime on Friday or Saturday (which I didn't bother going out to pick up until Sunday), I got a Starbuck's gift card that sits here taunting me.

Weather conditions look iffy for the next week. I worked at home all last week and continue so today and tomorrow. Starting Wednesday, I'm off until Jan 5. At this point I don't know when I'll be able to leave the house. I'm almost down to surviving on canned soups and chili. Of course, I have Fritos to go with the chili, so it's not that dismal...

The cats are holding up well. They're indoors all the time anyway, so having me snowbound just gives them more opportunity to pester and annoy me as they demand my obedience to their every whim.


"I don't care if it's snowing, Dave. Go out and get the freakin' marshmallows before the fire dies down!"

I have plans for the holidays--some already dashed, others doubtful. I can stay at home and read or paint. Mostly I post on Facebook about how much I hate the snow.

Rhiannon, my sweet pea

Rhiannon is the second of my cats. I adopted her in August, 2006, two weeks after I adopted Grendel. I didn't really start out with the intention of getting another cat. I just thought that Grendel needed a companion to hang with when I was away at work every day. I've always wanted a Manx cat and while Rhiannon isn't a Manx (at least I'm pretty sure she's not), but she does have a stubby bobtail. At the shelter, she was listed as a domestic shorthair (that's cat-speak for mutt). Two things stood out about her: the wee, stubby tail and her sweet nature. Her manner was a bit shy, but she purred up a storm when I was with her in the shelter and figured I had to have her. 

The first surprise came when the shelter staff brought her up from the kennel area. I brought my own carrier and they put her in it while I was at the front desk paying the adoption fees and filling out paperwork. When the shelter worker emerged with my cat, the look on his face was just short of horror and the carrier in his hand shook like it held a wildcat. After he set it on the counter, I had to hold the carrier to keep it from vibrating off the edge. Inside, Rhiannon (still named Coco then) was turning and turning in circles backwards and emitting angry growls. The staff looked so embarassed and someone asked me, before they ran my credit card, if I was really sure I wanted her. I figured that despite this performance, she was still the cat I met in the visitor room. I paid my fee and took her home. Still, all the way home, she turned and turned in the carrier and if I could translate cat, the things she must have said might make even me blush. She only calmed down once I parked the car in from of the house and took her in.

Once home, I thought she'd calm down a bit. Grendel was very curious about the new family member and I thought I'd try to introduce them by a coup de main rather than the slow, gradual introduction method of isolation and limited contact. I set the carrier on the living room floor. Grendel sniffied at the cage door and, from inside, Rhiannon sniffed back. I opened the door to the carrier and out she popped. For barely a second, the two cats stood nose to nose in amity: a touching, tender scene.

Then fireworks.

Rhiannon, I discovered, doesn't like cats. She hissed, growled, swatted, and ran upstairs with Grendel in hot pursuit. So much for the coup de main method of cat introduction. She ran to the bedroom and under my bed, so I got Grendel out, shut Rhiannon in, and let her chill for a while.

When I came back about a half hour later, she was still under the bed. I figured that trying to coax her out would have the opposite effect, so I just got up on the bed and sat there for a while. In time, I heard a rustling below and from one side of the bed, Rhiannon floated up like a fairy and landed on the bed. She came up to me purring and head-butted and rubbed her face against my hands. She was back the the sweet kitty I knew from the shelter. I left her again for a while. When I came back, she was sleeping and only awoke when I took her picture.

It took about two weeks of isolation with chaperoned visits to get her to stop going crazy every time Grendel came near. Even then, there were moments when Rhiannon would react badly to Grendel's intentions. It didn't stop them from adventuring together.

On day about a month after I brought her home, I was working in my den and noticed an absence of cats. They're always hanging around me wherever I go in the house, so it was odd that they weren't there. I looked out in the hall and on the windowsill above the stairs: no one. Curious, I went downstairs and looked around without sighting them. Now I was really perplexed. I looked behind and under the furniture and in the cupboards. I looked down in the entryway. I went back upstairs and looked in the rooms. By now, I was starting to worry that they had gotten out of the house somehow. They're inside-only cats and I fear that if they were outside they might get scared, confused, lost--or eaten by coyotes. However, I couldn't see any way they would have got out, so I continued to scour the house calling out to them the whole time.

I have three large bookshelves on the main floor of the townhouse. They're six feet tall and I have a lot of pictures and bric-a-brac on top. Finally, en route back down from searching again upstairs, I glanced at the top of the shelves to see two green eyes peering out at me from between some pictures. About a foot away, I discerned a large black and white lump crouched behind some other pictures.

The little furballs had been hiding from me and probably laughing at my antics, if cats can laugh. Despite my annoyance at being made a fool of by critters with brains no bigger than a walnut, I was happy to see them conspire together. It was a good indication that Rhiannon was getting over her cat hatred--at least her hatred of Grendel. By Christmas of 2006, they seemed thick as thieves.

(The introduction of Maebh to the house was a return to trauma and drama, but that's another story.)

She remains the sweetest of my cats--sweet to me, that is. She's always the one who likes to snuggle with me when I'm reading or watching TV. She likes to head butt me when she wants to be petted. There are times when I'm working on my computer, a position not conducive to cat snuggling, when Rhiannon will paw at me to abandon my work and sit somewhere where she can snuggle. At these times she also employs an insistent meowwwwrl that's somewhere between imploring and commanding. She especially uses this vocal skill when it's breakfast time and I have the temerity to want to sleep past 3:00 AM, hence her nickname "Mrs. Grumble."

Somewhere west of the Rhine

Two weekends ago, we played a game of Kampfgruppe Commander that was rescehduled after and earlier delay (thereby preempting my plans to play Field of Glory). Mark Serafin put together a scenario set in France in 1944 where the German forces are in retreat while an American command attempts to cut off their escape routes.

The Germans set up a covering force in hidden positions on board. The American forces started on turn one with a scouting force probing for the German positions, to be followed by stronger forces on subsequent turns. Each turn, someone from each side drew a chit (poker chips with labels) that indicated what comes on board that turn. The options varied widely. Some chits were blank, others were unexciting. 

In the Germans' case, the chits were often for retreating forces like field kitchens, supply wagons, etc. Some combat units were available, but their mission was to retreat unless the German players could pass a test that called them into the fight.

German forces in retreat

The American scouting force performed somewhat dismally. I blame myself and my penchant for rolling 10s in this game. 10s are bad in Kampfgruppe Commander. 10s are never good. I roll many 10s. In scouting, a 10 means not only have you not found the enemy, but you just won't. Ever. This failure meant that for most of the early turns, the Americans learned about the German presence in the good ol' fashioned way: they got shot at.

]

"Do you see any Germans?" 

"Nope. You?" 

"Uhn-uhn."

The American forces that came on as a result of chit draws were mostly battalion-level units. For the Germans, the chits draws mostly produced the aforementioned field kitchens, supply wagons, and mobile brothels. This disparity gave the Americans an opportunity to drive hard against the initial German positions and before long the German lines looked like a mini version of the Falaise pocket.

American armored forces attack the lower end of the German pocket

American infantry supported by tanks advances on the other side of the pocket

In response, the Germans moved a Fallschirmjäger battalion down from the top end of the pocket to attack the American flank.

Fallschirmjäger taking up poisitions against the American right flank

However, American infantry moved in to counter the threat.

American infantry moves into position to counter the German move

The Germans forces in the pocket died hard. Fearing destruction, they Germans voluntarily routed some units back, but this proved to be a mistake as American forces attacking other parts of the pocket easily destroyed the routed forces.

As things looked bleaker and bleaker for the Germans, they finally got a good combat unit in the chit draw. Using these forces in a local counterattack, they recaptured a town and forced back, with loss, the American light tank company of M-24s., which were no match for the German Panzer IVh tanks. The Shermans, which had started up to cut off the road where Germans forces were entering, had to be recalled to counter the new threat.

Shermans, supported by an AT gun,  dueling with the Panzer IVs

Meanwhile, the rest of the American combined arms force advanced to cut off one of the German reinforcement roads and survived an infantry counterattack to hold a vital position. The Americans counterattacked to regain the lost town, and the Panzer IVs got knocked about, but not yet entirely destroyed. It was time to call the game.

The central positions at the end of the game

American units in position to cut off German reinforcements

The Americans didn't have a clear victory. They had cut off one reinforcement road, but had not reached the bridge where the Germans were exiting their forces. To get there, the Americans would have a hard fight taking the town in front of the bridge and anything could happen. The Germans mostly got lousy chit draws, but that could change; there were good units that hadn't been drawn. The Americans were pretty lucky in their chit draws and still had the possibility of getting tank destroyers, artillery, and aircraft.

It was a good scenario. The Germans made a decent stand against superior American forces. We especially liked the chit draw as a means of determining reinforcements. We expect to see chit happen in our future scenarios.