Hysterical Histories ... an intro ...

Introduction to Frankszonia
Hysterical Histories:
(start excerpted from a boring essay of the same title)

Connoisseurs of English history and literature will gleefully recall the text, “1066 and All That,” which was compiled by writers for “Punch” of all the English history “you could really remember.” Many of the sites, to which this is an unworthy contributor, are driven by the same whimsical response to the dreary history lessons (of the category so clearly recalled by the creator of the Harry Potter series) which are so often inflicted upon people by the educational establishment.
The difference between we creators of these fictional histories and other folks, however, is that we actually LIKE some things about history. The lurid and fascinating stories, the hardwood stage pageantry, and the opera buffet events which provide the real background to “real” history seem to us to provide an immeasurable toy box!
So we play, and we paint little toy soldiers and other characters, and we imagine our histories and current events, and we play. These games are not like chess for us. Chess players (and I am one) can get very serious and intense in their contests. There are wargamers who are intensely serious about their game and their subject matter, but in our realms, this is an enjoyable hobby with many aspects. The period known as “The Lace Wars” is actually a new area of study for me ... even though my Bachelor’s thesis had been on the art of fortification as practiced in this period. So, for me, I’ve been happily digging into a brand new toy box.

For the purveyors of this blog site, I am currently building armies of 15mm figures for playing with the rules “Koenig’s Krieg.” This rules set is difficult to obtain currently, as its creators and primary fans have been laboring over a new edition, but have had to delay publication. They have lives and this is a hobby. Few folks get rich from wargame rules. When you see a batch of cryptic letters and numbers in a post about the characters and forces engaged in one of my posts, those numbers will be intelligible to other players of Koenig’s Krieg ... and help me to keep track of my story line!

If you decide to inflict upon yourself the turgid philosophizing which the start of this bit generated ... take a gander at “An Essay” when I finally post it too.
Apologies for having written it, but since I had the headache, and misery loves company ....