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Entry # 19 December 10th 1915

In Ergines, a very small village about 3 miles from Ailly-Ht-Clougher. It was here I spent my second Xmas in the army and  the first on Active Service. When Xmas id arrive we had a "bonne" time. And although our table was in an out-house it contained everything one could wish for at home. Our training was still attended to here. We stopped here almost a moth. Moving on in January. 
 

Full Thrust

Sometimes when I want to play a game like space ship combat its just that, space ship combat, any set from the over 50 I have. And sometimes it is a specific set of rules. I don't just want to play any space ship combat game. Once in while a game becomes the definition of the type, like Dungeons and Dragons does for Role Playing. For me that game is Full Thrust. Introduced to me back over 20 years ago it was the go to game for space combat from across the pond in England. Easy to learn and with a fun buckets of dice combat mechanic it proved popular here as well. But the shine came off the diamond a little while after. There were balance issues with the construction system. It could be min/maxed without some guidelines. And the implied setting was near future so the ship building system couldn't do Star Trek or Star wars very well. The Fleet Books revisions helped with some of the short comings. The scale of the game was task force sized (about 6-10 ships) and I wanted to put larger fleets on the table. So the game was shelved and I went on to other things. But recently I have had a craving to play it again. Returning to it I see that some new versions have popped up on the net.

The original creator Jon Tuffley has a rule book that brings the basic game up to date called
Full Thrust Remixed  the plain vanilla version.

A group of Australian gamers wrote their own version update with permission of the author
Full Thrust Cross Dimensions  a few added spices.

And also a dedicated group of tinkerers again with the OK of the original writer have theirs
Full Trust Continuum   or the bat crap crazy with add everything and the kitchen sink edition.

And another group of gamers with their own take on the everything added update.
Full Thrust Warlords  

Full Thrust, so there may be some better, but I don't think there are any more popular.

Don't worry this will all make sense soon

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Entry # 18 November 28th 1915


We left for Ailly-Ht-Clougher. This was a fairly decent sized town. and we had a pleasant time with the 12th Bde. Including a few route marches around the surrounding country, which was fine. It was here I took up my duties of Cyclist and consequently saw a good party of the country. We remained here for 12 days, leaving on the 10th of December.   

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Entry # 17 November 27th 1915


We left for Francequeville. We stopped there one night. But it was the night of my life. The cold was intense and I had no blanket. Besides being billeted in a barn, or two walls and half a roof to be exact. We lit a fire, and around this we sat praying for "Reveille" and trying to keep ourselves warm. However morning came and we were not at all sorry.

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Entry #16 November 5th 1915


Arrived at Hallloy-Perois, a very small village. Our time here was mostly devoted to Bde. days. 

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Entry #15 November 3rd 1915

We left once more for Beauval, but only stopped for 2 days. Left again on the 5th.

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Entry #14 November 2nd 1915

Back in rest camp at Coulin, where we had a "lightning bath". Sleeping in tents for the night.