My heart lies in Africa....

Oh Cheryl where are you?

I'm afraid this bit of complete arsing about was brought on by my finding out that the Kenyan operation against Al-Shabaab in southern Somalia in 2012 was named Linda Nchi. Thinking that this Linda might be related to Beyonce I found this amusing. Not so funny when you find out that it really means "Protecting the country" in English. The KDF operation was, happily, very successful. 

However, in Gonzonia when they name operations after a girl they have only one girl in mind.....Cheryl Miller!  Yes, the GDF have a long history of taking their operational names from the classic TV programme Daktari, filmed in Gonzonia in the 1960s, and starring all time top actress Cheryl Miller.

As we will see during 2016, the GDF recent actions have included Operation Elephant. 

Operation Clarence, I'd be cross eyed too if she was sitting on top of me!

And, of course, Operation Cheryl. If I can stop mucking about long enough to get on with some painting, Op. CHERYL 16 is first up and involves US forces assisting the GDF to rescue UN hostages from their El-Kebab captors.

Obviously, Cheryl was the first girl I fell in love with and you can see why!

Midwinter update....

Weather hot but the news is cool!

I haven't posted for a while due to pressures of the day job. However, I have not stopped thinking about stuff which will now have to go on the list for next year. So, a nice opportunity before Christmas to get my thoughts in order. 

1. Battlefield Hobbies: This is a new wargames store and gaming facility(?). I came across their Facebook page by accident via PBIcandy. A new wargames store is always pretty rare. What's even more rare is that this one is situated only a short walk from my house in Daventry. Simply unbelievable. Judging by the clientele in the photo I'll fit right in. I'll check it out tomorrow and will do a short write up. I'll even take some photos.

2. Airfix Battles: This project is continuing to surprise me. I see that Benthamfish is now engaged in the game design process. You can check his blog here! This looks like it might be very good indeed. 

3. Aurelian: A new game from Sam Mustafa. This looks like Blucher with ancients. The BGG entry reads like this:

Aurelian is a tabletop game about the Crisis of the Third Century, the period during which the Roman empire nearly disintegrated in constant civil war and foreign invasions.Players take one of four roles: a Roman, Germanic, Sarmatian, or Persian commander. Any number of players can conduct a campaign, in which each type of army has a different set of victory conditions. While holding off Rome's many enemies, the Roman players are also trying to defeat each other and ultimately become (and remain!) emperor.Aurelian can be played with miniatures, or with "unit tiles" on any flat surface, much in the same manner as Blücher's unit cards. The centerpiece of the game is the campaign, in which each player manages the fortunes of his character and faction, much in the manner of the campaigns in Maurice and Longstreet. 

Sounds good. I have this vague idea that PSC have been mentioned in connection with this project but can't seem to find the reference.

4. Neil Thomas' Modern Rules: Well, not quite. Brian Cowan has just published his interpretation of Neil Thomas' second world war rules on the AMW Yahoo Group. Brian has done a great job. The rules include army lists for Vietnam, Yom Kippur, Falklands, Cold War Europe, Modern wars in Afghanistan etc. Well worth a look.

5. Nordic Weasel: Well I'm a dedicated Weasel fan. I'm not sure that sounds good, but it is. The Fivecore series rolls on with this really tempting collection of additional and optional rules. Available for very little ($3.99) from the Wargames Vault. Also on my Weasel list are Laserstorm (sci-fi) and War Story (a narrative based game). This is great stuff, mainly because it is very simple (just like me) and completely interchangeable. My Somewhere in Africa game will use all three levels of Fivecore (skirmish, company and brigade). Looking forward to it next year.

Also, the Polemos GNW rules are now re-released by Baccus and also on the Vault for not much. Something else for Santa to sort out (actually that means I have to pay for it and my wife says, "Happy Christmas").

6. Horse and Musket: This is the Hold the Line adaptation in development by Sean Chick. The rules are now available on BGG as well as a Vassal module so you can get to it now. No news about a publisher yet but its definitely on my list when it comes out.

7. Ideas: Yep, still having some. Thankfully, other people come up with them and I play with them. Two important things so far this month:

• Kaptain Kobold has done some more work on his OHW ECW rules. These are very interesting and I may re-visit my ECW hex based interpretation as a result. Dashing cavalry anyone?
• Combat model for Tannenberg: I have really been struggling with this. I've got a map and OBs and a good idea about time and space. However, the combat model is just missing and I have not been able to get excited about it. Never fear, someone else has had a good idea and I'll just nick it. This idea comes from my chum Norm and his published game Anzio. More on this next year but its a real relief that I have finally got to grips with it.

Unfortunately, its back to work now with a lot to do before Christmas. Hopefully I'll post again before the big day. Cheers.

Morvalonga.....

its a cool country!

Given my Somewhere in Africa adventure I was overcome with joy to find the fully realised country of Morvalonga. Check this out here.

Here are the Pink Panthers...

The Leopard Girls....

The Tarzan people....

It is clear that Gonzonia has some competition. Well done the Inch High Club!

Somewhere in Africa again....

Things are a foot!

Given the events this weekend I am not feeling cheery and to a large extent feel morally compromised by my current project. I nearly decided not to post this and leave it for another day. The problem with leaving what people refer to as a decent interval is that it implies that if you give it long enough everyone forgets. I'm not comfortable with that as a response.

My response is to carry on with my project but in a responsible and informed manner. I recommend the Institute for the Study of War as a good place to start. 

I have been working on updating some cheap toys that my children no longer play with. The fact they are HMMWVs and pretty much 1/72 scale is great. Here we have one in US desert livery and two in the unique Gonzonia Defence Forces (GSF) tiger camouflage. I'm sure I have seen that somewhere before but can't quite place it.

I'll be using these with FiveCore Company Command rules, converted to hexes of course! That is next on my list.

Somewhere in Africa .....

Stuff is occurring!

"The US Carried Out 674 Military Operations in Africa Last Year. Did You Hear About Any of Them? The US military publicly insists its presence in Africa is negligible. Is that why they call it an American “battlefield” behind closed doors?" Nick Turse

"Headquartered on Caserma Ederle in Vicenza, Italy, U.S. Army Africa, in concert with national and international partners, conducts sustained security engagement with African land forces to promote peace, stability, and security in Africa. As directed, it can deploy as a contingency headquarters in support of crisis response.

The 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, the "Dagger Brigade", is being aligned with AFRICOM." Wikipedia

"Despite this massive increase in missions and a similar swelling of bases, personnel, and funding, the picture painted last month before the Senate Armed Services Committee by AFRICOM chief General David Rodriguez was startlingly bleak. For all the American efforts across Africa, Rodriguez offered a vision of a continent in crisis, imperiled from East to West by militant groups that have developed, grown in strength, or increased their deadly reach in the face of US counterterrorism efforts."

You can't always believe what you read....

".....“Trans-regional terrorists and criminal networks continue to adapt and expand aggressively,” Rodriguez told committee members. “El-Kebab has broadened its operations to conduct, or attempt to conduct, asymmetric attacks against Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, and especially Gonzonia.....” Despite the grim outcomes since the American military began “pivoting” to Africa after 9/11, the United States recently signed an agreement designed to keep its troops based on the continent until almost mid-century."  Edited highlights of the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing

Sometimes you can believe some of it....

"Sam Pa is believed to be the head of the 88 Queensway Group and numerous subsidiary companies that operate mining and resource concessions in a number of countries notably across Africa. Pa has also been the subject of controversy, allegedly propping up Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF regime in Zimbabwe and securing business contacts on the back of a coup d'état in Madagascar and civil unrest in Guinea." Wikipedia

"The future of a secretive Hong Kong-based business network at the heart of China’s advance into Africa has been thrown into doubt after reports that its frontman, a jet-setting tycoon with seven names and ties to the intelligence services, has been caught up in a Communist party investigation.

Sam Pa, as the bespectacled tycoon is best known, was detained at a hotel in Beijing on October 8, according to a report in Caixin magazine and a person familiar with the matter. Mr Pa, who has cultivated relationships with dictators from Harare to Pyongyang in pursuit of deals in resources and infrastructure worth billions of dollars, could not be reached on his usual phone numbers."  FT.com

Africa is one of my pet subjects, although Ukraine, Syria and Iraq, not to leave out Afghanistan and the rest, are critical in current world affairs, Africa is continually overlooked. It contains a nuclear power and one of the world's most populous but modern and growing countries which could well become a real power (Nigeria that is). It also has the capacity to descend into the abyss: Rwanda, Dofar, Congo, Angola, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, the list is endless. Sadly, there are plenty of people to help it go there.

You may think it strange that I plan to game it. I will game this one because I care about it. It seems straightforward to me. AK47 allows us to play with fantasy African factions. The truth is stranger than that. I have a feeling we are off to Gonzonia for an adventure dot dot dot! 

Painting....

Its, er, quite difficult!

I have been trying to do some painting over the past few weeks. Time has been tight. Last weekend I managed to sit down and pick up a paint brush but, before I could splodge any paint about, I had another urgent job to do. Never mind, I believe it is character building.

The painting bit is difficult. I'm tackling my US troops for a "Somewhere in Africa" adventure using FiveCore Company Command. What I have in mind is something like these US Marines from Iraq in 2003. 

These are Italeri US Infantry of the 90s. Top row typical squaddies and bottom row cool looking command types.

So far:

• Warm soapy water wash
• Vinegar bath
• Diluted PVA undercoat
• Spray of FoW Khaki (Vallejo 988)
• First coat of dark sand (Vallejo 847)

Everything was great until I used the spray can. I didn't test it first and it came out as an awful dribble of thick globules (sorry that doesn't sound good). Basically this landed some big blobs of think paint all over the sprue which I had to brush down quickly. I then reverted to a light diluted undercoat of the same paint from a Vallejo bottle.

I'm hoping to progress these guys quickly so I can move on to the baddies, a gruesome lot of Caesar Modern Militia.

Painting...

and not by numbers!

I have decided to do something practical and get some painting done. This might give me a bit of a break from the rules shenanigans and also a bit of a break from thinking!

First up, a nice water colour painting. Not by me but my eldest daughter. Something to celebrate and inspire me to get my finger out.

Next up, can you tell what it is yet? I'm not sure we are allowed to say that anymore but....

Well, here are some 1990s US troops, some M113s (Airfix) and some HMVWWs (from Toys R Us). Possibly something dodgy will be occurring somewhere in Africa. My interest has been generated by some real world stuff, check out this Huffington Post article on US involvement in Africa. Lots of hyperbole but then also check out this great US Army Africa website. Anyone might think its pure fantasy, well what do I know.

Rules? Well I'm not doing them from scratch. AK47 (original) always springs to mind for this sort of stuff but then I also really fancy FiveCore Company Command. Lets see what happens!