New Recruits

So half of the first platoon is done.

There's a few bits and bobs I will add later, like bushes, barbed wire and other paraphernalia; but I think I'll leave that until I have painted all the infantry. There's a bit of dry brushing also needs doing.

peace:)

The Ritalin Generation

The last time I played chess, I was hassled into it by this bloke I vaguely knew on a tea break at work. The game lasted about about five minutes, I lost and he had the pleasure of launching into an ignored soliloquy about the sort of boring stuff that people who play chess like to waffle on about.

Chess to me is like Mousetrap, it looks like it should be fun, and people who are into it are really into it but frankly it is dull.

But of course this makes me unintelligent, because chess is a sign of mental superiority like Stockhausen, Frida Kahlo  or labelling fat people as Obese.But here''s the thing that puzzles me, why is it that all these 'clever' people haven't noticed that chess is a game about politics?

Which makes me wonder why chess ever gets linked to wargames.

peace:)

Heroic Death of the Helena

I got down the club and managed to get in game General Quarters against Dean.

Cue Sombre Music...

In the Pacific the perfidious little men of the Japanese navy continue their aggression....

I was rather pleased as it is the first time I have managed to play since I bought the ships last year. The basic scenario was that the Japanese had to deliver supplies to one of the islands - the supplies were on the destroyers - and it was my duty as the Americans to stop them.

One of the things that I really should keep in mind for future games is not to launch torpedoes at target when the probability is they will hit an island.

The Japanese expressed much chagrin at the American radar, firing through the smoke screens laid by the destoryers.

The battle was evenly matched until someone on board the Helena left a porthole open in the boiler room, allowing two 5" shells to fly in, wreck the boiler room and leave the ship dead in the water and the target of a massed torpedo attack.

As the two sides got to close range, and the damage mounted, the Americans in desperation attempted to ram the Japanese to try and keep them away from the crippled Helena. But all to know avail, as the torpedoes struck home and the ship broke in two, Not that it stopped the dastardly Armoured Cruiser, Mogami, from firing on the wreckage.

The Americans lost two destroyers, and the Helena, and were forced to leave another destroyer to the mercy of the Japanese. The Japanese were roughly handled, but didn't lose any ships, this fact was kept from the American public.

I did enjoy the game and I was left thinking about what ships I could add. 

peace:)

Look Closely

So after a few false starts, I have finally got around to doing some work on my 6mm Russians.

Ok, 6mm is not the most photogenic of scales, but I think the pic demonstrates the Minibits dice holders and bases nicely. So far I have miliputed some detail onto the bases, and made a start on the painting.

This is an infantry platoon, with four sections. And it has caused me to have a slight rethink of my plans. Originally my idea was to focus on Kursk, but I am now leaning more toward the early war. The reality is that very little will actually change - other than it gives me an incentive to paint more infantry. And perhaps more importantly it means the Germans won't have Tigers, SS, all the stuff that puts me off WWII.

peace:)

Dead Air

And so Heelenhammer has gone.

Well maybe not gone, but as Dan and Wayne explained, at length, they will no longer be recording regularly. As someone who has listened from the beginning, with a period half way through when I got fed up with their smugness and didn't bother, I will kind of miss the show.

3 years is a long time for anyone to indulge in a hobby project, but there are plenty more that have managed it and continue to go from strength to strength.

A case in point being Bad Dice which has greatly benefited from going gaystyle - not that the show was bad before when the Ben's were doing it (it was even a little gaystyle then). But the inclusion of Gareth as the noob is a real breath of fresh air in a genre that seems to assume that everyone listening is as cheesy as the hosts, and enjoys being told what they are allowed to do with their toysoldiers.

Heelenhammer didn't go totally down this line in the way of say The 11th Company, but there was an element of Dan being the tournament- nazi to Wayne's hobby-nazi.

And after Spiersgate, Dan's stint on the committee of nonsense at the ETC, and a couple of off-the-cuff comments along the line of 'people don't understand me' (Dan's claims on the Black Sun to being a secret swearer when not subject to Apple's censor) it was hardly surprising that the podcast was going to dwindle to nothingness.

peace:)

Highly Recommended

The bits from Minibits arrived today, and I am very pleased with them.

I haven't managed to do any work on the 6mm project as I have been to the zoo.

peace:)

C&D

I have grown used to history being described as fluff.

But I was a little taken aback to notice it being called Open Source.

No doubt the latter day Robin Hood's of the internet think it is, but the numerous film makers, authors, artists and historians that provide the fluff would disagree that they have in anyway waived the rights to their intellectual property.

Which raises an interesting question.

What if Henschel, or Porsche, or Vickers, or Chrysler, sought to enforce their copyright and trademarks and force the makers of miniatures to license representation of their models?

peace:)

Excitement Building

Bases ordered, dice holders ordered...

Need to go to the model railway shop for some scenic bits and pieces.

Come on Mr Postman, I want the models...

peace:)