So here we are again or "The Return of the Seven Year Itch."

So seven years, one world spanning pandemic, at least two wars, one threat of invasion, one actual invasion and general political chaos across the globe, why bother?

Well for all those reasons. Facebook is useless, Twitter has imploded, Bluesky has justifiably become focussed on politics and AI generated crap is flooding Youtube.

We need to return to actual human gamer generated content. That and I want to write more.

So here's a taste of things to come:

"Beer Mat" terrain 

3d Printed 1/72 Cheap Normandy Project 

1/56 Early War / Sealion

Walmington on Bromley End, Bloodford - Homes for the Home Guard

As I slowly move through my lead pile of things Home Guard related, the realization set in that I would need terrain and a fair bit of it if I wanted to replicate Dad's Army, Went the Day Well or The Eagle Has Landed. I toyed with making up buildings out of foam core and other materials but practically, that wasn't a realistic option. With some Christmas money in hand, I went shopping. There are many good manufacturers out there with some very nice products in 28mm / 1/56. Some of the resin offerings were beautiful but expensive, and for many companies, their UK styled offerings were focused on terraced housing.

I decided to go with Sarissa primarily because of their very generous shipping terms and because they ship Royal Mail. (As mentioned in a previous post, courier companies like to gouge Canadians for customs fees). The order was placed and a few weeks later, my order arrived in my mailbox. It came in two separate packages, both properly marked as to contents and value and with no import fees payable - a double bonus.

First up is the L016 Stone Cottage.  This is  a pretty little kit with double walls allowing for the outer wall to lean in - see below and for prototypically thick windows and doors. The interior fireplace and flagged floor was an unexpected add on. A reasonable amount of stone detail is laser etched into the MDF but the effect was still too flat for my liking. At various points in the assembly, I used my Dremel tool to deepen the lines and add more texture. The material used by Sarissa is thick enough and robust enough that I was able to significantly improve the appearance especially around the chimney. I used a very small ball cutter to deepen the lines, followed by a grinding point to round the edges and a wire wheel to soften the effect over all. As always when working on MDF, proper breathing  protection against the dust is a must.

Godwin's Cottage

End view

Next is the N005 Small Shop. A basic two level building with removable roof and first floor, it is a great addition to the high street.

Sinistre and Sons Dry Goods

 The astute among you will notice that the front door and and window are reversed compared to the official version shown in the link above. This was intentional. Sarissa uses several standard sized components across different models in their ranges. On opening the shop flat pack, I was delighted to see that it included a wall section with a rather pretty arched door and window. Rather than use this at the back of the shop, I swapped it out with a standard wall and window section from the one of  the single story houses below. To keep the front and back doors in opposing corners, I reversed the shop window and put the door on the left. I like that the  replacement wall gives a barred window effect for what would be the shop stock room.

Anti-theft protection around the back

Which brings us to a pair of  N021 Single Story Houses. First is the stock version:

Foxglove Cottage

A simple little building that will make a good hiding place for a Vickers or an angry housewife with a brace of Molotovs. And the modified version:

The Irises

Swapping the walls gives me two versions of the same building while breaking up some of the same-iness common to MDF structures.

Last of the buildings is the N009 Small House. Another functional building that will blend in on the high street or act alone as a larger farmhouse.

Biggles' Farm

The last piece from Sarissa is the N048 Stone Bridge - Double Arch shown here with a Die Waffenkammer Neubaufahrzeug on its way to put the jackboot to an unsuspecting bucolic English village.

Bloodnok Bridge

It comes in several versions with up to three arches. I went with the double arch version for maximum flexibility. The ends and middle seem to be very stable as is, but I may add rare earth magnets to lock them together if required.  Size wise it is probably a little over scale width, but that is a positive for us wargamers.

With Warlord Sherman

The Sarissa products are quite a bit smaller than my Charlie Foxtrot pub but I don't think that will be a problem. The pub is a large piece for any table.

The Pub Next Door

 Laid out, I think I now have enough buildings for a rather exciting urban fight.

We are the only Germans in the Village!

Overall, I am happy with the results. The price was good and I was able to get some extra variety out of my purchase. There is a lot more work to do on painting, finishing and the roofs, but they're fine for play testing scenarios as is.

A week's work

I have been on a weeks holiday in part because family have been visiting. That doesn't mean I haven't found some time for a little painting and gluing down in the games room.

First up is some base work on my 20mm WWII plastics. Not much to see really, but when they were first done, it was more important to get them based rather than to get them based well, the immediate object being to give the finger to the black dog. They're still not perfect but they are good enough.

In the same theme, a long while back a friend  gave me some markings for the Canadian 4th Armoured Division. The Sherman was marked up as from the Governor General's Foot Guards - my old militia regiment, the M3 as the Lake Superior Regiment in keeping with the infantry. The Lake Sups were the Motor Regiment that worked closely with the armoured regiments of the 4th division.  I had the jeep kicking around so I remove the pintle mounted .50 and marked it as from the 15th Field Regiment - also from 4th Armoured div. It will be the ride for my FO. Many thanks to Richard for the transfers.

side view

front

rear

A couple of notes. The decals were a bit too big for the jeep and far too big for the rear of it and the front of the M3. The M3 is an M3 and not an M5 because that was what I had on hand. The Bren on the M3 is based on a photo of a Lake Sup vehicle. It was a bugger to attach and some creative use of super glue and baking soda was needed to make a solid mount. It passes the 3 foot test and that's all I need.   The stars are skewed intentionally - this was a period Canadianism - we are not always sure how to define ourselves but we know we are not Americans - no offence to those of that house.  The Sherman is the very old Airfix plastic kit - let's just say I felt a bit bad for putting such nice decals on it. Still, it also passes the 3 foot test. Once the decals were set up, I did some basic weathering with GW Nuln oil and earth shade purchased with a birthday gift certificate from my offspring. I am happy with the results - but the price....

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That's it for now - more to follow.

20 mm Conversions for Chain of Command

First, a couple of warnings. The photos are not great - the camera is old and I am no Karsh. Secondly, 20mm is my cheap and dirty scale to do North West Europe quickly and with a small investment. Efforts are focused on getting toys on the table rather than on painting and I am no great painter to begin with.  Finally, painting and basing is not entirely complete. For those that were supposed to be, I was unable to find matte spray so had to settle for eggshell. Even though the can was very thoroughly shaken eggshells are apparently shiny. Everything will get shot of proper matte in the future.

One of the practical problems one can face when playing low rated forces in Chain of Command is the need to provide support. When playing a Canadian Motor / Infantry Platoon in NWE or Italy and possibly facing Elite Fallschirmjaeger the need becomes urgent since up to 26 points of support might need to be provided. To address this I need to make up a few teams that don't appear in the usual boxes of 1/72 plastics.  For others, I just wasn't happy with the provided poses.

Flame and Bren

First up is a flame thrower centre with a Bren gunner on the right. The source figure is on the left.  For the Bren I just cut away the barrel of the Enfield and replaced it with the forepart of a Bren cut from another prone figure,  The flame gun is just a length of stretched sprue. Having looked more closely at the life buoy unit, I would use a Thompson figure next time as the grip looks better. 

Back of the life buoy

I cut away the existing backpack to make room for the iconic fuel tank. I had hoped to use a tiny rubber O ring for the tank but I was out, so I used a 1/72 wheel retaining bushing from the bits box instead. It is too square in cross section but will do for now.  The fuel line is thin solder.

PIAT to Bangalore wire cutting figure

Just a quick slice operation to remove the PIAT and Sten then a hole was drilled to take a length of brass rod cut to length.

Demolitions Unit

A simple swap of the original PIAT ammunition carrier on the right to a satchel charge on the left.  The satchel is two 25mm US small packs glued back to back. An earlier attempt used two full packs but was well over sized.

Polish Mine Detector (right)

Another simple conversion by cutting away the rifle and using plastic sprue. The detector unit is a part number tab from from a model kit that just happened to be the right size and shape. Though the back pack had most of the detail scraped off to look more like an electronics box, I felt that trying to make the headphones was a route to insanity. There should be a counterweight on the end of the pole but I have yet to find a good picture.

Medic and casualty

This is not much of a conversion as all I did was cut away the Sten (see below) and add a medic bag using another US small pack and a bit of flat dental floss to make the strap.  All but one of the pictures of Canadian Medics I found show the armband on the left arm. I felt though that it was more obvious on the right and was also much less of a pain to paint (and I do have one supporting reference).

Officer to Platoon Sergeant

The original figure is on the far left. As noted above I cut away the Sten from another of the casualty figures - it was a bit delicate slicing it off the leg without damage - a sharp #11 blade is required. It was then a simple process to trim away the pistol and swagger stick and glue the Sten in its place.

  

Forward Observer

Very minimal work here. The radio operator is a stock figure. The FO is a kneeling Vickers gunner with  a bit of thin brass sheet cut to size and inserted in a small slit to make a map.

Sniper Team

Even less work on this one. Just a bit of stretched sprue for a scope.  Yes I know it's too big, he traded some whiskey to an American for an unofficial civilian model.... 

2" mortar crews - Conversion left and out of the box right.

Revell made a rather good British infantry set with all sorts of useful poses, Stens and support weapons. Sadly it is now out of production. On the left is my attempt to put together a mortar team out of mostly Italeri/Esci bits. The mortar was made from a bit of brass rod. The mortar man's arms were trimmed and re-positioned to hold the tube. Both the mortar man and the loader were originally less than useful Esci Bren figures who donated their weapons to create more dynamic LMG gunners as noted above.

After making one of these, a package arrived from certain paint sniffing dog.  In it was the much sought after Revell set! The mortar team from this shown on the right.  While I am proud of my little conversion, the pre-made one was a darn sight easier to put together.  Thank you Dog!

Analogue Painting Challenge - the final tally

As I mentioned a long while back, I decided to participate in the Analogue Painting Challenge for 2015-16.  I set myself a goal of 500 points and wound up producing 675. I am quite proud of this and very much appreciate the kick in the pants it gave me to complete my Space 1889 painting.

Apart form Space 1889 and general VSF, I also managed to fit in some terrain for Chain of Command and a couple of vehicles for grunts.

The images following are a visual record of my production.

Lead

More Lead

Martian and Askari Artillery

Askari and more Artillery

Crocean Heavy Lancers

Hill Martian Lights

Guild Rifles

Hill Martian Light Cavalry

Grave Digger

The Mechanic

Gentleman

Lady in Green

Dapper Gent

Street tough

Not Preston Manning

Gentleman on the move

Anarchist Sniper

Barbed Wire

More Wire

The Black Beaks - Askari mounted

Hover APC Malta Pattern I

Hover APC Malta Pattern II

At times it took some pushing but on the whole, a good experience.  Thanks to Curt for running it.