The axe falls (on some projects)

Not on my head, fortunately.

Atm I have a 2 weekly visit from Heleen, a professional clean up coach. For 3 hours we go through everything, trash what is trash, set aside what can be sold, save what can be saved for the future. I'm a broken man after those 3 hours, but on average we take out a garbage bag of waste (paper, plastic, broken stuff etc), fill 2-3 cases with sellable stuff and save 1-2 cases of stuff that I want to sort again at a later date.

It's nice to have someone do the physical work that I'm currently not up to, I'm usually beat 30 minutes in and that is just by sitting on a chair and telling her "trash, sell or keep"! The shit I saved up in 20 years, dear Lord....

Also, I'll be axing more stuff. Starting Iran-Iraq in 15mm was ....stupid. Yes, you can get a lot of stuff very easy in 15mm, but at cost. I think I have sunk about 200 or more into it by now, but I'm killing it. I would have to fund and paint both sides on my own as none of my friends have an interest. Well, when it is all painted, but God knows how long that would take. Ages in my current state. SELL

We decided 1/300 would be the right scale to play Northag in. Then I realised that even the cheap brand of micro armour is 75 cents for a tank now, so I'm hunting for cheap used stuff, which is proving to be rather unsuccesful. Also no idea yet what basing standards we are looking at, so atm I just ordered about 10 quid worth of bits to see if I can still convert these guys into something decent.

I ordered the Cruel Seas rulebook. IF we are going to play this, it will most likely be in 1/600 and 1/700 as that fits our budgets. Still a big IF. For now, just work with card cut outs.

For 2019, I'm joining a 1/3000 Cold War naval event. As far as I know I have a ton of ships for that so it would be just a matter of painting them. We need to work out the what and when details first.

Also for 2019 is the Road to Berlin campaign in 20mm. Or in the case of my Germans, retreat to Berlin. Not sure how much I can manage for that with my hands, but I will do my best.

 Anyhow, for 2019 (and as always, take this with a grain of salt) ....

High Priority
- 20mm Late War Germans
- Enough 20mm Vietcong porters for a scenario I am working on.
- 20 minutes a day Challenge is a damn smart idea
- 20mm Partisans/Volkssturm
- Scenery
- 6mm testers
- Sell shit
- Get in more pratice with the airbrush

Medium Priority
- Kill Team
- 20mm Russians
- 20mm TW2K
- Wrecks
- 20mm Firebase
- Civillians/Refugees

Low Priority
- 15mm Sci-Fi
- 20mm Taliban
- Any desert stuff
- Gaslands

Of course, being tired and in pain all the time will work against me, but surely......20 minutes a day......must be something I can manage.

Partisan Maxim rework 99% ready

I picked up some Grubby Tanks MMG VC teams in a pre order at Crisis, only to realise they are firing antiquated Maxims <sigh>. But waste not, want not, so a quick filing, headswap and very little GS later we have this.....

Option 2 of the Partisan MG Team, the Maxim. Not sure if that is meant to be the wheeled shielded version, but being Partisans I'm assuming they are not very high up on the MG food chain, so this old banger should do them nicely. Tbh I'm not sure what gun it actually is supposed to be....the tripod is reversed (most likely to help casting), it had the flash hider of a Vickers but not the cover or other bits....so a bit of a mish mash of guns....I guess? Made a condensor can, added some lead wire for the tube. Need to file off the sight and replace it with some upright brass wire. Als do some trials with some thicker paper to make the fabric  ammo bands. His head is from the German crew of the Greek Caique pack, it comes with 3 useful generic figures, 2 with beards....which are perfect for my Partisans. The last gun I need to convert is the MG-34 and then all 3 options are available.

Getting sidetracked, as usual, I also picked up the Britannia Vietnam Firebase Command bunker. Then sawed and sanded off 1/3rd of the resin. As I really dislike lift oof roofs for most buildings, I sanded the sides of that as well and have now glued it down with expoxy to make sure it stays on, and will fix the seam  sandbag at a time. For a Britannia resin piece, the bubble holes aren't as bad as usual which was a pleasant surprise!

I've orderd 400 resin barrels for this project as to make the Firebase like I want it. The bunker will have a row of them surround it, as well as some plus sandbags in front of the door (that I also enlarged). I'm trying to find a iron lattice tower with the right dimensions to function as the antenna, but dumping 25 quid incl shipping for a single H0 is a bit rich, so I guess off to China I go?

I'm not going for the red dust allover you see in parts of Vietnam....when needs be, this one will have to double as a rebel bunker or whatever I feel like. Same for the defensive works. In the end I have a finite amount of room here.

Not much else to say.....tried a new sandy yello on the Grot tank and having a good long think about it. These wrists are not doing me any favours and even typing for more then a few minutes at a time turns my hands into claws. So I just sit here, do some sculpting, sort some stuff for sale.

Oh, Crisis was a blast, sale went reasonably ok, some stuff just did not shift while others that have been for sale for ages were snapped up quickly. But going to a show kills me. I have very little stamina left, everything hurts all the time, ad it was very hard to focus when I finally packed the lot back in the car and went for a stroll around the show to see what was there....which was a lot! I hope next year I will be able to visit it and enjoy it a bit more. Who knows. I might even be in less pain.

You call that a mining laser? THIS is a mining laser!

I received 2 Sentinels in the mail today, 1 to match to my old Forgeworld Load Lifter kit, and one to upgrade with a mining laser.

The man portable mining laser is a tad weedy though for a Sentinel, so.....

 

Looks like a match made in heaven.

 

This will do quite nicely :)

Harry? Harry?

Harry got some paint. Lots more to do, I can't paint a lot as it just hurts too damned much.

Slow but steady.

Battle in Holland - My trip to Rotterdam and the NNG

 Yes, it is the Netherlands, I know.....

Visited the No Name Gamers in Rotterdam this sunday, and fought 2 300 pt battles with my Germans. One vs British Para's in a meeting engagement, and one defending the (Son) bridge against US Para's.

Jeez, para's are tough nuts to crack.

My list was a Grenadeer platoon with Panzerfausts, MG-42 and a static MG-42. A FHQ for additional BR and Officer (not that I ever lacked orders due to rolling high for them every single time), a inexperienced Panzer IV G, a SdKfz10 with 20mm (represented by my T-70 with mounted 20mm from my Kursk forces) and a roadblock (Stalled ambulance). 2 snipers as Recce and a timed Nebelstrike. Not much, I know, but with 2 nackered wrists I can't do a whole lot of painting.

Had a minor Loss vs Marcs para's as we fumbled through the rules (Marcs first time I think, and I have not gamed BG in 2 years or more, so....). But it was a friendly and fun game, as is always the case with BG.

My 20mm FlaK either never spotted or hit anything. My Panzer IV died to a rogue Typhoon having done nothing substantial. My 2 snipers provided stellar work harassing the paras. Even managed to hit a paratrooper...that saved. Tough nuts. Running across the field with my troops just attracted a lot of fire (as they should, prime targets) and pinned me down in the fields. It ended in a stalemate after his 6 Pounder holed my FlaK and Marc won on BR. 

Had a win against Rogiers US Airborne. I asked to defend the bridge without reading the scenario first. I had assumed to be able to set up just in front of the canal....not 3/4 across the board! Oops. Of course, the 10 foxholles were filled with my HMG, a sniper and a single unit, all concentrated in front of the house with the Ambulance set up as a roadbloack. The rest of my forces centered around the back house and the bridge...near the objectives. Of course all of my MG teams turned out to be reserves....so there went half my firepower. Rogier got a bit hamstrung by shitty reserve rolls, a Nebelwerfer strike destroyed the jeep that had capyured the final objective....and my Panzer IV rolled in and took it. We gamed on for a bit (plenty of time left) and I was getting hammered by US artillery. Me wasting my Ambushes by not using them did not help much either. 

It was great to be gaming again, even if it killed me. Driving for over an hour just to get there might not mean much to you in the USA, but it does here and in my current condition it is a nightmare. Driving to Crisis next month will be fun. Anyhow, a day well spent with fun games and fun players.

I'll leave you with this pic of my FHQ Beetle hiding behind a house. There should be more gaming next year :)

Rust in peace, Part 1

I rustcoated a lot of stuff and made my own washes today to speed up things.

Grabbed the old derelict steam tractor and went to work. Still lots to do.

Tarp needs to be done as well, and muck on it, and then plant high grass everywhere.

Tank? Tankette? Oildrum with a gun? Bit crap tbh...

Harry needs a ride. Or a bit of scenery.

Grot Tank. Ok, that is being a bit generous, calling it a tank. Even calling it a tankette feels generous!