Turning 29, again!

Is 40 the new 25? I turned 40 yesterday, and feel great. Mentally, I've finally reached my mid-to-late 20s. Maturity is catching up to me, no matter how hard I try to fight it off. I can understand why my dad was 40 when I, his only child, was born. I'll be even older, of course, when and if I ever become a parent.

I marked the occasion by taking the day off from work. I met up with Jazzy Joe in Queens for a couple of libations, and then did some shopping in Manhattan. I found the book I sought, Knight's Cross Panzers. This is the English translation of Hans Schäufler's history of Panzer Regiment 35, from the 4. Panzer Division, the most highly decorated German division in World War 2. The German edition, So lebten und so starben sie ("How we lived and died," or something close to that), was released in 1973, and I'm surprised it took until 2010 for a translation to appear. The book is full of personal accounts from veterans, both officers and enlisted men. The unit saw more than its share of combat on the Eastern Front, and the accounts seem extremely interesting at first glance. I think Knight's Cross Panzers will be similar to the veterans' histories of Tiger Tank Battalions 503 and 507, which give a human face to campaigns that are not well-known to English language readers.

For anyone interested in the 4. Panzer Division, there's plenty of additional material in existence. Joachim Neumann, a former artillery battalion commander in the division (and a holder of both the Knight's Cross and the German Cross in Gold), assembled a two-volume sort of divisional war diary, which is expensive and hard to find, but follows the unit day-to-day from the invasion of the USSR until the end of the war. This is probably too detailed for most readers, even if the German is easy to follow, even for untrained amateurs such as myself.

More useful for many, and now also hard to find, is a five-volume set by Polish Militaria, which includes an English text summary and photo captions. The archive of the 4. Panzer Division's official photographer ended up in Polish hands after the war, and around 550 of the most interesting photographs were published a decade ago via this set. Soon after, Concord in the USA put out a two-volume distillation of the Polish set, with 200 or so photos in total. This Concord duo, in particular, would make a good companion-piece for readers of Knight's Cross Panzers.

I'm sure it's obvious by now that my attention is constantly being pulled in many directions. On the way to meet Jazzy Joe, riding the NYC Subway, I read most of Red Pearls. This is Michael Moorcock's entry in Swords & Dark Magic, and his latest Elric story. I have a strange relationship with Moorcock, as I love his invention and creativity, but often dislike his writing. The Elric stories, especially the classic early ones from almost 50 years ago(!), are the only work of his I've ever truly enjoyed. Red Pearls is a fine addition to the canon, as it just goes about its business, without trying to mix in outside elements from Moorcock's Multiverse.

Still on the topic of Fantasy, I DMed again this past Saturday, and had what I consider a successful game. I wasn't perfect, but I managed to run several rather large fights without losing track of anyone, or anything. The players had fun in a very challenging adventure (ADAP 1-5: Menace of the Icy Spire), one that I much preferred to the module I was given for my first session. I believe I have been correct in my assessment that the most important thing for a beginning DM, in 4E, is solid preparation. I knew the material and had maps ready, and this made it all progress as smoothly as possible. (I trust all aspects of my DMing will improve with practice!)

Finally, for the Glen Cook fans, Amazon now has the blurb posted for Gilded Latten Bones, the forthcoming 13th volume of the Garrett, P.I. series. It reads as follows:

For Garrett, P.I., loyalty and love come a close second to survival... Garrett's attempt at domestic bliss with the fiery Tinnie Tate is sidetracked when he waylays a pair of home intruders and learns they've been paid by an unknown source to kidnap Tinnie. But as Garrett rushes to find out who is trying to push his buttons, his best friend is attacked. Now, Garrett has to track down both malefactors. Unless they're really one and the same-in which case Garrett might be next...

I hope that between its variety of topics, this post had a little something for everyone.!