On April 22nd my house caught fire. I was at work at the time, and got a phone call from my frantic wife telling me the news. She had already gotten our special-needs daughter and the dog out of the house, but the cat could not be found. I rushed home to find the fire department there pouring water into our home. After a short time, one of the firefighters emerged carrying our smoky-cat, and deposited him into the much-relieved arms of our daughter. So we're all okay, thankfully.
Without going into too much detail, the fire started in the utility room where the dryer plugs in. The investigator thinks it shorted or was corroded inside the plug, and sparked. In any event, the utility room is right next to my office/man-cave/game-room, and I lost most of my wargame collection.
As we've been going through the process of clean-up and restoration, I posted a message to the DVG Games Facebook page thinking it would be a good start to get some ideas from the guys who follow the page there. My message asked what would be a good suggestion for the best solitaire game, as I'd had several DVG titles which were now lost, and I couldn't afford to replace them all at least until the insurance settles up.
Within minutes, Dan Verssen himself responded, offering condolences and offering to help. He said if I sent him my address in a private message or email, he would send me a couple DVG Games on him. Guys, this literally brought tears to my eyes.
Yesterday I received two games in the mail:
Field Commander: Rommel (Deluxe Edition)
Phantom Leader (Deluxe Edition)
Words cannot describe how decent and kind this is. I was only looking for a suggestion for a game, and doing this is going so far above and beyond... Dan is a stand-up guy. He made this old-wargamers world a little brighter, and now I have a couple games to help pass the time while our home is being repaired/rebuilt.
I had five DVG titles prior to the fire, and with these two getting me started, I will eventually replace them all and continue collecting DVG Games. Thanks again Dan - you have a very loyal and dedicated customer... and a friend... here in Columbus, Ohio.
Dale Stufflebeam
aka - Blakjack
rock on, Dale!
see you at Origins?
A feel-good story, indeed. Thanks for sharing, Blakjack.
Oh, and welcome to Grogheads (it's about damn time)! :coolsmiley:
Already got my pass for Origins Brant. We should definitely grab a brew or push some counters this year!
Yeah finally eh Martok? ;)
I'll be the guy in the Central Command in the D-Hall running around like the Tasmanian devil, only less productive :)
Well done to DVG!
Sorry to hear about the fire Blakjack, glad the family is safe-
but Dan Verssen's response- that is just terrific. :)
It's good to know that something positive can come out of something so crappy. Big kudos to Dan V for coming forward so quickly to make things a little better for you.
Glad to hear the fire wasn't a lot worse, Blakjack. And props to Dan V!
Big props to Dan and Glad some things were salvageable Blackjack, but most important no one was hurt.
PE
Quite a nice story.
My house burned down to the foundation when I was about 8 years old. Another one damaged nearly everything inside our home, again, when I was about 16. Sucks when all your stuff is toast. There was always a few people who helped and gave us handouts afterward.. some were strangers in the local area I had never met. I appreciated it greatly, even as a kid. So I enjoy hearing stories like this. O0
Glad your family is safe.
Kudos to DVG.