Welcome Back Muchachos!

Last year I was invited to do a demo at the Warlord Games Open Day. I'd done this for several years now and I was a bit "Midway Fatigued" so I decided to do something different. Almost simultaneously one of my favourite Youtube Channels - Showtime 112 did a couple of episodes on the "100 Hour War" and coincidentally Blue Falcon Hobbies sent me some decals as part of their Patreon scheme - so , why not?

I painted up some models, scratched together a scenario and took it to the Open Day, and it seemed to be well received. I took the scenario to a couple of other events, and it was fun, if a bit unbalanced. Then I put it away for a rainy day.

I'm aware I'm probably "on the spectrum" (no offence to those with a diagnosis, but anyone who goes into this hobby for anything more than a couple of years is ticking a box) . Part of my little problem is that I like to get custom foam cut storage and transport trays from Just Lasered. At some time a few years ago I had a bit of a moment when I started to plan my collection around the trays I would need so they would all be "right". I didn't have foam to store my 100 Hour War planes, but as I only had 8 this wasn't a problem. OK it irked me but .....

Then Spitting Image did "The Rest is Bulls*t" presented by a rubberised Harry Windsor and "Pads" - their version of Paddington Bear - except he's a coke addled South American drugs dealer. For some reason this got me thinking about the 100 Hour War again...  

So then the stars started to align, Rob started to paint jets for the Indo - Pak war, and asked me where I got my trays from and could I get some for him?  Roman Troyan (Planeprinter) also dropped a T-28 Trojan stl which happily filled a gap, so I printed a pair. Something went "click" and it was time to expand the 100 Hour War collection to something a bit more than a one scenario gig, and also to justify a foam tray. 

Sigh. I dived into the spares box and found a Corsair and Mustang. The Corsair wasn't quite right but what the hell, and the Mustang was a straight port over.

My plan is to do a "bathtub" campaign using some of the squadron rules from Wing Commander, with a bit of Flat Tops thrown in. Here are the two proposed sides

FAS El Salvador

2 TF F51 Mustang IIs

1 P51 Mustang

3 FD1 Corsairs

Facing them will be:

FAH Honduran

4 F4U Corsairs

2 T-28 Trojans

I'll also add a pair of Cessnas and DC3\C47s that can be used in scenarios by both sides as bombers etc.

I should add that my lighthearted approach to this should not be seen as derogatory of the real people involved. 

The Last German

Meet Hans

Hans is in theory the last German figure for my Volksgrenadiers for Chain of Command \ Bolt Action. I say last, because of course at some point I will "need" more, but this is the last of the planned additions. Hans is part of my Recce team - three guys with an MG42 and a Junior leader. They're an add on to an add on in that I can take a Sdkfz 250 /1 as a general transport or use it to carry a recce team. All is good.

Hans and his team

Unlike the bulk of the force these are from the Victrix Late War German Infantry set, rather than the Warlord Winter Germans. I thought as these guys were going to be attached from another unit a different style of model would be nice, and also it gave me a chance to try out the Victrix models in the flesh. I bought a single sprue from The Sprue Shop as I was only needing four guys.

On that note they're very nice models. Less "heroic" in proportion to the Warlord models, but still very nice and I'd certainly get more if I needed them, which I must keep reminding myself, I don't :-) . If I decide to do PanzerGrenadiers I'll use Victrix.

So another project "completed". Taking a break from WW2 painting before launching into the British who will be a matched army for the Volksgrenadiers, and there are still 28mm Napoleonic French and Austrians to finish, plus a Spanish Napoleonic army to start, so I'm not short of projects, but before I launch into those I have another little side project to finish involving football, or should I say Soccer? 

Hopefully next time Muchachos!