Wondering if anyone has a favorite designer out there?

I ordered France '40 last year. I fell in love with the components and the design of the game. I also have enjoyed several plays thus far, all solo. I am not sure how much can be attributed to GMT and how much to Mark Simonitch but I immediately pre-ordered his other titles through GMT. I was able to get a shrink-wrapped copy of The Caucasus…

I saw a news piece on CBS Sunday Morning Show about practice and athletic success. Some have theorized that people, if they spend 10,000 hours practicing, can become accomplished at an activity.

So, if we apply that to war gaming...how many of us consider ourselves experts/accomplished because of our time in? Despite the protestations of my spouse I have not spent the requisite amount of time (but would love to try!).

So I was wondering, does anyone ever get motivated to play a game based on weather? Whenever it snows I want to watch Battleground or the Band of Brothers episodes about Bastogne. As a consequence now I want to break out a Bulge title (wish I had Ardennes 44 right now) and play in front of a window while the snow comes down.

A question for one and all. I was just entering another title read in my book journal as I began another year of the record. I have been keeping this journal since 1991 when I was discharged from the Marines. I have faithfully recorded books read in a year for 23 years so far. I was struck with the thought of doing something similar for my military games.

Does anyone keep a journal of games completed or just played? How does that look? Is it better to NOT have a record of time spent…