Christmas catch-up

 

I had originally intended posting this some weeks ago but real life has meant that I now have an accidental festive edition.

I have been collecting some reading for the mid-winter. Looking forward to getting to grips with these. At first glance Blood and Ruins looks to be outstanding.

I have seen Brazen Chariots discussed elsehwere in blogland. I bought it and read it in one go. For an old book (slightly younger than me) I'm surprised that I hadn't come across it before. Nevertheless, a real eye opener from a command and control point of view. Much of the activity involving buggering about on a compass bearing until you find something to shoot at. Not something you will see reflected in Flames of War.

As foreseen in my last post, I have finally finished the Hs126 and tidied up the Stukas. I have also refurbished my one and only Bf109.

I have really enjoyed painting these and can't wait to start on the Brits next.

Well, it is time for festivities including Norm's very excellent annual Christmas post tomorrow. So, on that note, Happy Christmas one and all!

More Zvezda airforce

 

Room for a run up here!

Shakey Hans!

Multiple projects causing severe confusion about what to do next. So, time to finish off some aircraft. Two Stukas today. Perhaps the HS126 tomorrow.

Then, oh dear, a Blenheim, a Battle, a Tempest MKIV (Revell) and a U2 and a LAGG 3. That might be a plane too far. Let's see.

Stout Hearts still stout!

This is a really good review of Stout Hearts from Moe. That is, good in terms of understanding the game and having fun playing it. This gives me a nice warm feeling which is rare at my age.

Haviing found that I have at least 20 odd projects on the go I have realised that perhaps I should just myself organised and get on with one or two of them. The catch is which two?

New free stuff!

 

Battle Card: This is a series of simple one page/postcard 10 minute solo games by David "Undaunted" Thompson. The series is announced on BGG and it will cover a wide range of WW2 stratgic subjects. What is neat is that there is a pnp of Market Garden (illustrated above) on BGG which is well worth a download. 

There is also a web based mini-app (whatever that may be!) to play with. 

Cry Havoc: Some of you may remember Cry Havoc from the distant past. I lost track of my original copy some years ago. However, there is a thriving community of Havoc gamers (and its many expansions) and they have many projects underway. The news is that there is a pnp introductory game covering Robin Hood and his merry men. Sherwood can be found here. Time for some nostalgic man to man combat!

Take that hill!

 

I find myself bogged down in a basing fiasco so I have been looking for some diversionary activity. I came across this recently, a professional version of Phil Sabin's Take That Hill! This is available from UK Fight Club as a PnP game here. I haven't got past admiring it yet but hope to give it a whirl shortly.

Now that is what I call basing!

I got a couple of Vospers off the front cover of WI this month. They will go very nicely with some E Boats that I have saved up. However, I came across this starange little video on Twitter which demonstrates a significant step forward in basing small boats!

The picture is a still from the video, I recomend taking a look via the following link:

 https://twitter.com/n26edd3Pt24U3Hk/status/1679096947137978369?s=20

Phew, that was close!

 

A bit of recent light reading but all three books contain a phew that was close moment.

1983 by Taylor Downing covers the period leading up to the nearly fatal 1983 Able Archer exercise. Having lived through the period it was interesting to be reminded of the key events. 1983 was a close one, driven by mutual suspicion, lack of understanding and bad intelligence. Hold that thought.

Putin's Wars by the well kown Mark Galeotti takes us from Chechnya through Georgia to the current war in Ukraine. Very helpful to see the long running ideological thread through Russian foreign policy in their "near abroad". Good also on the Russian military modernisation programme. Everyone thought it was great until it went into action last year. 

The book goes up to June 2022. Western intelligence was great, Russian intelligence was poor. The Russian military has been hollowed out by corruption. The Ukrainians have done great things. A pity that the west expected Ukraine to collapse in three days, even with their intelligence assets. A major failure on the part of the Russia and Ukraine "experts".  

It is possible that our "phew that was close moment" has not yet been decided. Let's see what happens with that nuclear power station!

The last one is White Sun War by Mick Ryan. A future war story of a failed Chinese attempt to take Taiwan. An interesting, almost science fiction, forward look. Featuring autonomous unmanned ground vehicles which play a big role. Also interesting to see possible future Space Force capabilities. In the book the west wins by a nose after a significant "phew that was close moment".

All good and recommended. Sometimes I reflect on Francis Fukuyama's book about the end of history. I think we need to have a really good look round and understand that history continues and, as usual, in a very dangerous way. 

Hexes, we got hexes!

 

This is a great photo from oldSarges Wargame and Model blog. Old Sarge has done a great job creating a 3D hex grid for a 1/285 scale game of Squad leader. This is for a Pegasus bridge scenario. There are loads more pics on his blog and I recommend you take a look.

Not to be outdone (it goes without saying that Old Sarge has massively out done me!), I have got some hexes as well!

Just as an example, these are 80mm side to side. They are 2mm deep so I'm painting using undiluted acrylics which unfortunately leaves brush marks. Not a problem from three feet away but just irritating.

This will be my 3D battlescape for 2, 6 and 10mm OHW battles. Looking forward to getting this finished. Really, how long does it take to paint this stuff? The answer is far too long. I shall persevere. 

Before it goes!

 

I wandered into Tescos the other day and saw that they had moved their book stand. I checked it out and this paperback caught my eye. 

I have The White Army by Deniken and also Mr Figes' A People's Tragedy. Alas, Mr Figes must await a rainy day before I attempt it as it is a bit hefty. However, i suspect this one by Antony Beevor will be an easier read. The other thing is that, instead of £10.99 this one was £4.50 with the club card. Worth having a look as the offer ends on 18 June!