Public Service Announcement

I realize I hadn't posted anything since the end of April, but I had a good reason to do so, as I was preparing for my last exam ever for my master's degree at law, which, unbelievably, I passed. I'm very happy, because I was way overdue, and occupied with a full-time job, to and from which I have to commute more than three hours overall. I'm also very grateful for my wife, without whom I would have lost my sanity.

Until I find a job in the field, and preferably closer to our home, I finally have some time for painting a few figures and working on the Hobby Boss Arizona. It's really relaxing, something I did sort of forget about. This also means that most likely there will be fresh activity on this blog.

Research on the MNF Bretagne that might be useful for somebody

Some of my readers might have followed the adventures with the 1/1000 scale waterline model of the Bretagne during Spring 2020 on this blog. That model was broken and thrown out to the trash, but the interest remained. The Bretagne-class, just like most dreadnoughts designed before or during WW1 and continuing to serve in WW2, are an interesting topic, and they are probably one of my favourite ships despite their obvious flaws.

A Xebec

After a while, we return to the naval engagements around the Northern Barfrican coast. This time, a nimble Tekirdagaç vessel, a three-masted Xebec sails into view. Although frail-looking, she packs a heavy broadside, and with her large lateen sails, she can out- and overrun most of the Allied shipping.

Meeple Warfare! - Ambush near the Sanctuary

I've written a set of rules adequately named 'One Page Meeple Warfare'. It's bloody. It's short. All in all, a modern classic. You can reach it from the Rules page of this blog.

In this scenario, the Green Kingdom's warriors, six in number, are escorting a holy man and his two servants to a remote sanctuary. Looking for a chance to provoke an all-out war, the Red Barbarians launch a raiding party to capture or slay them. 

OOB:

Green Kingdom: 2x Battle infantry, 2x Archers, 2x Light infantry, 2x Peasant/Rabble, 1x Healer

Red Barbarians: 3x Cavalry, 4x Archers, 4x Light infantry

Ponderings

You might have noticed that my hobby output has decreased over the past few months. This is due to a number of reasons: first, doing finals for my law degree, then purchasing a new home with my wife, then doing a complete re-decoration (imagine buying a used miniature with 13 layers of baked-on paint and trying to strip it, and now imagine that the figure is a bedroom and the 13 layers are wallpaper... some people you just can't do with). All in all, the hobby is kind of sidelined, but not at all forgotten, I just had to learn to manage my time better.

During the move, I got rid of almost all of my figure collection. The new flat is small and an acceptable storage facility is yet to be found. I currently own one of those large Ikea bureaus that can hold my tools and building materials, and I'll get some shelves later for my books. So it is time to gather things again, which is actually great. On the plus side, I've found my 1/72 WW1 collection that was stashed away.

Currently I'm trying to wargame on the cheap, so I kicked off my 1/1000 scale Trashy Fleets project again and built a Victorian pre-dreadnought battleship; also, the IJN Kongo had a bit of paint and post-move repairs done. Some cheap painted wooden blocks were purchased for gaming purposes, and I've tinkered some with my rules. Once published, I'll put up a notification here as well.

Thank you for keeping up in the meantime.

Public Service Announcement

The recent Google Drive security update messed up some of the links on the Rules page, making some older rules I made unavailable for public viewing. This was brought to my attention by someone requesting access to a document that was, to my knowledge, accessible without restriction.

I have now sorted this issue out, so all links to my rules should work properly. 

WIP - G-93 'Kontot Kombatot' Light Tank Platoon

Now that I had the prototype and did not need to think much on the specifications, it was easy to assemble two more G-93 tankettes for the Jazygian armed forces. This time, instead of corrugated cardboard, I used 2mm balsa wood and two types of cardstock (a thicker one for the undercarriage and thinner ones for the horizontal upper surfaces and rear, much alike real tanks). Due to their simple shape, they are rather easy to put together, and needed filling only in a few places.

The platoon of three vehicles is going to be the standard combat element of the Jazygian light tank arm. This can be any variant of the G-93, with the restriction that at least one vehicle must have anti-tank capability. There are enough spare parts to retrofit all vehicles with at least a hull-mounted 3pdr gun. 

You can see that two vehicles of this platoon are going to have some field modifications, either storage boxes, extra track links or sandbags to boast their fighting capability. The platoon can have two hardtop versions or two turreted vehicles. The latter models will also look a bit more rough - war with Roxolania looming, they are put together hurriedly.

There is a fourth vehicle in the making at the back of the picture, of which I will tell you more in a following post.

 

A Few New Rules

 I've added no less than three new rule booklets to the 'Rules' page of this blog. 

The first is Heart of Battle, a block wargame. I'm considering painting block armies because they can represent anything and take lesser space than figures, and I needed a simple game for them.

The second is One Page Meeple Warfare, which is basically a mayhem-type large skirmish game that is quite on the rules free side of things. I produced this to awake the feeling of old games I played, with only a handful of board game figures.

And the last is D6 Naval War, a derivative of the Inter Arma d8 Naval rules, which takes a unique aspect at modern war at sea, or at least that's what I hope.

Chilean Steel

Here's the next bit in my 1/2000 scratchbuilding venture, the pair of the Almirante Latorre class. Pretty handy ships, and the first British-built SDs completed after the Orions waaaaay before. Unfortunately I could only paint the straw of the deck with a glossy piece of Heller acrylic paint, so it's not completely to my taste, but at 1/2000, no one should really care.