What a Template

I feel I am a wee bit behind the times in that I have missed the opening flurry of games and comments about 'What A Tanker' from the Too Fat Lardies. That's what having a 4 day family wedding as well as health issues does to you.

In an effort to catch up I asked my good friend Martin at Warbases if he could make me a tank template to use in the game and a couple duly arrived in this mornings post.

The dice, which are a standard 12mm are my own but the red and green acrylic markers come with the template as well as a couple of name plates which if you used both sides gives you four varieties of tank types which should be enough to keep budding panzer aces going for a wee while.

The dials are of the 'twist' variety and should cover all the values required by the rules.

I understand that these were on sale at Carronade earlier this month so some of you may well be ahead of me on this one. I'm not sure what price they come at.

Now all I need to do is to cobble up some armour and scrabble up some mates for a game.

Ehm, maybe reading the rules will help!

Oh, and make some space on my table...

Hopefully someone will be offering a participation option of this game at Claymore. I hope to be there.

New Order

Having finished a commission for a friend I thought I would be a bit selfish and paint some figures for my self.

I already have several units of Teutonic Order knights.

All very clean and clinical in their white uniforms.

The infantry are fairly similar.

Even their missile troops are in white.

They need some colour and some allies.

Serbian cavalry, above and below.

Some Hungarian knights want to play too.

I just need to flock their bases, hopefully a bit more tidily than the Order.

Some Turcopoles came along too.

Here they are all together.

Now for some opponents.

BEF 1940

A friend asked me to do some bits and pieces for a BEF game in France 1940.

Here's how they turned out.

Two pounder anti-tank guns by ZVEZDA, nominally 1/100.

Nice enough little kit but the seated gunner was a real pain to place in his seat after everything was painted.

A trio of universal carriers (Mark 1 they tell me) which come three to a box by Plastic Soldier Company, 1/72 in scale.

A bit fiddly to build. I would do them a bit differently now that I've done three.

Sourced from the Ukraine these are British Mark VI light tanks. Again they are 1/72.

Worst model kit I have ever built and that's been for well over 50 years. The body panels mostly fit together but the bogies are an absolute nightmare. I hope never to build one of these again. There was no clear manufacturers name on their box but their web address implied Ace Models.

Beast from the East

Where I live we never get snow.

Well, not quite never but I did buy a snow shovel that last time it snowed here in 2010 and I never used it until today.

First thing after breakfast I shovelled a path to the wargames hut. Essential work.

By lunchtime I had also cleared the front garden path to make it easier to reach my car.

I cleared the car too but then it started snowing again.

After lunch I cleared the path to the wargames hut again, then the front garden path and then the car again.

Clearing the car again was deemed to be essential as I was due to meet my Consultant Urologist for a wee chat that afternoon but being weather wise we decided not to travel taking advice from TV, Radio and On-Line sources as well as family and neighbours who had been out on the roads already.

As it happened the Consultant phoned me at home and we discussed where we are.

It seems I am clear of cancer. I am still due to have some scans and some blood tests, just to be sure otherwise I am free to get on with the rest of my life. So, once this snow gets out the way I can get on with my hobby work in the wargames hut.

Meanwhile it is still snowing. I checked the car again.

Yup, I'll have to clear the car again but that can wait until tomorrow.

Apologies to my continental readers who are accustomed to dealing with metres of snow and not the piddly inch and a bit we have here. Like I said it never snows here.

February Stock Take

Remember those pesky Indians, no, not them riding round the wagons, these ones.

That's them all rebased and just needing some finishing touches.

They are now on 40x20mm MDF bases by Warbases. Three bases makes a unit for To The Strongest as I plan to use a 150mm grid. Must get the rest of the army based and then some opponents.

I have some universal carriers as a commission for a chum.

Just some detailing left to do, highlights and decals.

I've made up some bases from plasticard, plaster, gravel and sand. Paint will follow.

They were an incredibly fiddly build, far too many small parts so probably not designed for the wargames table.

I've started another commission for a friend.

There are quite a few of them.

Can you tell what they are yet?

They seem to take paint rather well.


How am I? That's a good question.


What do I have?

Only two doses of painkillers a day now and none of that opiate stuff.

A functioning bladder and bowel.

Residual pain around the surgery sites and a very tender left testicle.

A full nights sleep most nights without any fever issues.

Short (dabbling) sessions in the wargames hut but not very productive ones.


What do I not have?

Stamina. A 10 minute walk to get the morning paper leaves me exhausted till teatime.

Stamina. A half hour walk with my 18 month old grandson leaves me exhausted till later on the following day.

Appetite. I struggle to eat a full meal. I have gained 2 pounds in the last week so I'm only 1 stone 12 pounds underweight now. Eating a KitKat is a challenge. My legs are like sticks and I can see my ribs.

Permission to drive. Another couple of weeks yet. Even then I may not be strong enough to do an emergency stop.


What's ahead?

Another good question.

All the planning and scheduling I had in mind has gone. Everything I hoped that would take weeks will now take months.

Keep watching this space but no need to hurry back.

24 Days Later

24 days ago I had a few (several hundred) figures that looked like this.

 

They are Mauryan Indian archers in 10mm by Pendraken.

They are on custom made magnetised plasticard bases scaled for a set of rules in my head.

Today they look like this.

I also have a pile of rubble which will be filed under 'B'.

The figures are destined for the great rebasing queue. Their time is now as you may guess in a few minutes.

24 days ago I was just coming around in the recovery room feeling somewhat different, lighter, not a care in the world, nothing could be sweeter.

1 day later reality stepped into the argument. Where was that pain coming from? Why is the consultant saying I can go home?

Fortunately the ward staff nurse disagreed and it was another 3 days before I had the opportunity to count the 192 pot holes on the 7.1 mile trip home.

Life was not unreasonable for a cancer survivor, at least it felt not too bad.

Then, things went downhill.

I had an infection, perhaps two, producing no end of breathing problems, a fever, a sweat plague, constipation, depression, paranoia, a helluva sore left testicle, no appetite, no focus and probably a few more things I can no longer remember, ah, I remember now, an opiate overdose.

I am two stone underweight (28 pounds to those across the pond) but find eating a bit of a chore. I am on a lighter dose of painkillers, can shuffle from one end of the house to the other without almost falling over 2 or 3 times.

On the good side I can drink fluid and, woo hoo, pee which is what started off this adventure in the first place. Happy Days.

Where are we now?

Am not too sure but I spent more than an hour in the wargames hut this evening doing something not very important but at least something. Rebasing figures is mind numbingly boring but it is about as much I can manage today.

What will tomorrow bring?

Rest and Recuperation

I usually look like a bit like this.

More recently I have looked more like this.

I have a pic of some cutting detail but I have filed that away.

I had a word with my pal Archie but he didn't answer.

I did a bit of studying.

I think I have the proportions correct but my emphasis is wrong.

Check me out again in a week, or is it three weeks?