I decided to try repairing my old reliable Samsung camera. I got a new LCD unit from "t web" and started to try and open the case. This took a while but in the end I succeeded. Flushed with success I then proceeded to remove the damaged unit, and everything was going rather well. Sadly at that point my usual luck returned and I couldn't get the new LCD screen to fit the old bracket. In trying to do so I managed to dismantle the new screen unit, so I'm back to square 1. Ah Well
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Friday, 17 October 2014
American Lard
I just picked up the latest release from The Two Fat Lardies, 29 Lets Go! Link
They call this a "Pint Sized" campaign for Chain of Command, but in the words of the old Trophy Bitter TV Ad, this is a pint that thinks its a quart!
It costs £3.50 as a pdf download, and for that you get 32 pages, not one of them a filler.
29 Let's Go covers the sometimes halting and nervous advance of the US 29th Infantry Division in the immediate days after D-Day, and the dogged defence of the German opponents the 352nd Infantry Division.
You get a 15 page introduction to the historical events and background, including some excellent maps, plus a campaign setting based on the "ladder" system The Lardies published in their supplement to Chain Of Command "The Sharp End".
The campaign itself involves 5 balanced scenarios, linked directly or indirectly to each other, with a fair likelihood of some of them being needed to be run more than once to get to the campaign outcome - I wont say more as it could spoil the campaign for the players, but there is a lot more than 5 games there. Both sides have background showing their organisation, plus the two unique platoon profiles used in the campaign.
Unlike the previous campaign in "The Sharp End" which involved the British attack on Maltot (which if you are interested I played through and reported on in earlier posts) this campaign has a lot more options to include some tanks.
All in all this is a great buy, and while it is part of the CoC system it is easily adaptable to other WW2 infantry rules such as Bolt Action or Rules of Engagement.
Anyone interested in the actions this campaign set represents could do a lot worse than look out for a copy of "Beyond the Beachhead" by Joseph Balkoski, a great and balanced read.
ps - I'm told this is called a "Pint Sized" campaign because it is the price of a pint in Richards local. I can safely say if he is ever in Hartlepool I will buy him a pint in The Rat Race as a reward. Hopefully this is the first of many using this format - stunningly good value,
It costs £3.50 as a pdf download, and for that you get 32 pages, not one of them a filler.
29 Let's Go covers the sometimes halting and nervous advance of the US 29th Infantry Division in the immediate days after D-Day, and the dogged defence of the German opponents the 352nd Infantry Division.
You get a 15 page introduction to the historical events and background, including some excellent maps, plus a campaign setting based on the "ladder" system The Lardies published in their supplement to Chain Of Command "The Sharp End".
The campaign itself involves 5 balanced scenarios, linked directly or indirectly to each other, with a fair likelihood of some of them being needed to be run more than once to get to the campaign outcome - I wont say more as it could spoil the campaign for the players, but there is a lot more than 5 games there. Both sides have background showing their organisation, plus the two unique platoon profiles used in the campaign.
Unlike the previous campaign in "The Sharp End" which involved the British attack on Maltot (which if you are interested I played through and reported on in earlier posts) this campaign has a lot more options to include some tanks.
All in all this is a great buy, and while it is part of the CoC system it is easily adaptable to other WW2 infantry rules such as Bolt Action or Rules of Engagement.
Anyone interested in the actions this campaign set represents could do a lot worse than look out for a copy of "Beyond the Beachhead" by Joseph Balkoski, a great and balanced read.
ps - I'm told this is called a "Pint Sized" campaign because it is the price of a pint in Richards local. I can safely say if he is ever in Hartlepool I will buy him a pint in The Rat Race as a reward. Hopefully this is the first of many using this format - stunningly good value,
Monday, 13 October 2014
Crustie Heavy Support
My "Gruntz" Crusties from GZG needed a bit of heavy support. The problem is the heavy mecha from GZG looks a bit weedy to my eye - particularly the bottom half - see pic.
However some time ago I saw a pic posted on an internet board of a conversion using the torso, arms and legs of the GZG Mech with some donated legs from another model. I shamelessly pinched this idea, so without further time wasting here is my new Crusty Heavy Mech
The bottom is a repurposed and reposed plastic Mech from EM-4 Miniatures plastic Mechs - £2.55 for 5! with the arms and torso from a GZG Crustie Mech. I'm rather pleased with it
However some time ago I saw a pic posted on an internet board of a conversion using the torso, arms and legs of the GZG Mech with some donated legs from another model. I shamelessly pinched this idea, so without further time wasting here is my new Crusty Heavy Mech
The Sheik and his Uninvited Guests
Terry, that nice bloke who has helped keep my car on the road by buying painted figures from me at regular intervals has asked me for one last project. He picked up some rather nice US Special Forces from Khurasan Miniatures and asked me to paint them. I choked a bit and then said "yes - I can't paint anywhere near as good as the stuff on the site but I don't mind giving it a try".
A little later a packet duly arrived - 8 Seal Types and a pack including a terrorist leader figure, hostage and guards. I was not at first enamoured with any of them (except the hostage figure) as they looked a bit flat and two dimensional. Here was my first mistake - I underestimated the US Special Forces!
I undercoated them, and then my new Dropzone Commander Resistance army arrived through the post. Seal Team Six was put aside while there was a frenzy of DZC. When I returned, disaster - one of the Seals was missing! Clearly one of them had seen Sole Survivor and decided to do a Mark Wahlberg impression. Tearing my hair out I scoured the room, but to no avail. Finally I decided there was no option, so at 5:18pm GMT I placed an order for a replacement with Khurasan back in the Good Ol US of A. At 8:18pm Wahlberg reappeared - he had been hiding behind some Battlefront WW2\Fire & Fury stat cards, but on hearing reinforcements were on the way, he reappeared.
Now the team was reunited I got down to painting the Seals, and was happy to say my initial reaction was miss-placed. Up close these are rather nice figures, with lots of detail and nice posing - with the possible exception of the sniper who I would have preferred either kneeling or prone. I put "Zero Dark 30" on the DVD player and did some research. At the end I was rather pleased with the results - I thought the subtle use of different colours on the khaki background hinted at the digital camo teh Seals were wearing in the film, so I sprayed them down with my standard Army Painter matt varnish and called it a night.
Next day I was tearing my hair out again. All that beautiful (to me anyway) and subtle brush work seemed to have merged overnight into a sort of dull brown fuzz! I was not pleased, but there was not a lot I could do about it. Looking at them now, theyre ok, but not as nice as before the varnish - Damn!
The Terrorist and his guards were however a pleasure to paint, and again once painted they looked rather good.
So there you go - all getting packed up and ready to ship to Terry. I strongly recommend on Khurasan btw, particularly some of their Modern and Sci Fi Stuff, and as I found out, shipping from the US to the UK was not that expensive.
A little later a packet duly arrived - 8 Seal Types and a pack including a terrorist leader figure, hostage and guards. I was not at first enamoured with any of them (except the hostage figure) as they looked a bit flat and two dimensional. Here was my first mistake - I underestimated the US Special Forces!
I undercoated them, and then my new Dropzone Commander Resistance army arrived through the post. Seal Team Six was put aside while there was a frenzy of DZC. When I returned, disaster - one of the Seals was missing! Clearly one of them had seen Sole Survivor and decided to do a Mark Wahlberg impression. Tearing my hair out I scoured the room, but to no avail. Finally I decided there was no option, so at 5:18pm GMT I placed an order for a replacement with Khurasan back in the Good Ol US of A. At 8:18pm Wahlberg reappeared - he had been hiding behind some Battlefront WW2\Fire & Fury stat cards, but on hearing reinforcements were on the way, he reappeared.
Now the team was reunited I got down to painting the Seals, and was happy to say my initial reaction was miss-placed. Up close these are rather nice figures, with lots of detail and nice posing - with the possible exception of the sniper who I would have preferred either kneeling or prone. I put "Zero Dark 30" on the DVD player and did some research. At the end I was rather pleased with the results - I thought the subtle use of different colours on the khaki background hinted at the digital camo teh Seals were wearing in the film, so I sprayed them down with my standard Army Painter matt varnish and called it a night.
Next day I was tearing my hair out again. All that beautiful (to me anyway) and subtle brush work seemed to have merged overnight into a sort of dull brown fuzz! I was not pleased, but there was not a lot I could do about it. Looking at them now, theyre ok, but not as nice as before the varnish - Damn!
The Terrorist and his guards were however a pleasure to paint, and again once painted they looked rather good.
So there you go - all getting packed up and ready to ship to Terry. I strongly recommend on Khurasan btw, particularly some of their Modern and Sci Fi Stuff, and as I found out, shipping from the US to the UK was not that expensive.
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