Another Giveaway

I have been slack about referencing folk's giveaways. Dalauppror has a rather nice one going on now at: http://dalauppror.blogspot.com/2014/05/giveaway.html. Pop over and take a look. I think the minis that he has up for grabs are all 28mm. Stop on by this great blog and take a look. He has some very good AARs with pictures of fantastic terrain that has me very jealous.

Welcome

Everyone be nice, we have a new visitor here with us. He goes by the name of Ariel El vikingo dark. He has two blogs and a few other sites. Just as a warning for those of you viewing from work, he seems to have some sort of photography hobby that may not be entirely safe for work. The first is Ricky el vikingo dark and the second is similarly named Ricky el Vikingo. Please give him a warm welcome.

Painting

I did manage to finish my four Dark Age civilians and the ox cart. I think I need to water down my wash a bit as the figures came out as if they had rolled around in muck for a bit. Since they are dark age peasants, that does not bother me so much.

Next up to bat are my command and raiders for my Picts. Just a mere 24 figures to paint. Anyone want to bet how long that will take me? I managed to get the flesh painted on last night so I actually have made a decent start. I was surprised too.

I also just picked up an Old Glory/Command Decision pack of Afrika Korps Riflemen. This was a nifty little pack that will flesh out the platoon that I purchased. The painted platoon is all Flames of War. It has three squads of two LMG teams and an NCO and three riflemen. What it lacks for Chain of Command is an additional five riflemen per squad. They are also based for FOW. This is unfortunate as I will be rebasing them. The unfortunate part is the previous owner did a fantastic job of basing them. They look great but are just not what I need.

Missing Figures

Well, in getting my forces ready for Chain of Command, I am finding that I am having a tough time coming up with mine sweepers. I have one Soviet trooper with a metal detector looking thing but that is it. My DAK, British Desert, British BEF, Italians (Russia), Desert Italians, French and US (European) all lack such a mini. I found a FOW pack or two that have them but spending over $10 on a platoon just to get one figure is annoying. Does anyone have any in their spares that they would be willing to sell?

At a Snail's Pace

Painting

Yes, that is exactly how my painting is progressing. I managed to get an ox cart with two oxen and two pieces of baggage based as well as four dark age civilians on bases. Both need some paint and flock to finish them off. That should happen tonight unless I fall asleep again before I can get to it.

The Ba64 is done. I am happy with it but it came out darker than I expected. The ox cart still needs basing as I said before.

All of the pictures from my phone came out very dark. Not sure what was going on. Anyway this was the best shot of the revolting peasants. They came out very dirty looking which is not a bad thing. But that is what I have managed to accomplish so far.

In the Name of Roma

Wow, every time I mention it on the blog, I seem to make a sale within a day or so. Thank you folks. Now that I have mentioned this, I will have jinxed it (of course) but it seems worth the risk just to mention it again.

One interesting note is I have only managed to sell the Kindle version in the US and the UK. While the PDF has sold copies across the world or at least in may counties above the equator.

A Long Weekend

With the Memorial Day weekend just about to start, what does everyone have plans for. I am hoping for something quiet with the possibility of painting or something on that order.

Amazon & Kindle Version of In the Name of Roma and Terrain ideas

I just got in my first Royalty payment from Amazon for In The Name of Roma. It is enough to buy a small terrain item out of which will be very welcome. To those that purchased it, thank you. I would love it if someone could post a review or two out there. It was kind of exciting.

Now on to important things. For an eastern front game, if you had to choose, what would be the most important terrain item you would suggest having? Recently I have been fixated with having a rail station and tracks. I still have about four feet of track to finish painting. Some day I may even do it. But what else would you say is a necessity for an east front game? Specifically set in 1941. Any suggestions?

Picking up the Paints again

In the first time in well over a week, I am getting some work done on miniatures. I have been working on a pair of oxen and a Ba64 armored car. It feels good to get to finish something. I managed to get the oxen, a pair of peasants and the Ba-64 finished last night. I will base the Dark Age peasants tomorrow (maybe).

Miniatures

Well, when I last talked to you about my Picts, I believe I mentioned ordering some Sergeant Major Miniatures Pict Spearmen and a command pack. They were promptly delivered and were exactly what I wanted. I had small issues with a couple of the castings and mentioned it to the proprietor of Sgt Major and he immediately responded and dropped me replacement figures plus a half dozen more! Great service and much more than I expected.

The command pack from Sgt Major has two mounted fellows in identical poses, two horn blowers and two foot officer types. While they lack some of the dynamism of the Splintered Light line, they are good solid figures and will round out my Pict force rather nicely. Sgt Major has some nice chariots as well if I wanted to go that route for the officer and champion. I may pick them up along with their armored cavalry to give some extra support to my Picts.

Movie Review - The 9th Company

I have just started experiencing the wonders of Netflix. I now have a whole host of options available that I did not have before. One of them is some rather interesting foreign films that I really had no access to. I just finished watching the 9th Company. It is a Russian movie from 2005 or so about the Soviet war in Afghanistan and a battle for Hill 3234 in January of 1988.

I remember reading about the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980s. As a cold war kid, I remember reading articles in Soldier of Fortune magazine and the like extolling the virtues of the Muj and demonizing the Soviets as invaders. I remember sporadic news coverage of the war but that is about it. Now as an older and wiser (OK, we will just go with older) individual, this movie was interesting to see the other guy's perspective.

In looking through some articles on line, about the movie. The reviews were that it is credible but the big fight at the end, historically did not end as the movie portrays it. Historically, the Soviet VDV (Airborne troops) held the hill top and only lost 8 men killed. The movie less optimistic. So much so, that a Russian game developer decided to make a game about it featuring elements of the fight to provide a better representation of what happened.

The first almost half of the movie covers the troops enlistment to an airborne unit that is destined for Afghanistan. It is interesting to me that they go straight from civilians to an airborne unit to get basic training. The training, while not showing everything, struck me as odd as you never see the airborne troops jump from an airplane. It was either not that important to the script or possibly not all airborne troops are parachute qualified? The drill instructor to American eyes would seem brutal, but he seems honestly interested in preparing the young men for service in Afghanistan. There is one odd scene where one of the enlistees has a touching moment with the drill instructor that seems a bit out of the blue. I am guessing that there was more background to this scene that ended up on the cutting room floor at some point. Predictably the men form a tight bond and end up in the back end of nowhere. My question is, did the Soviets of the 1980s take raw recruits and put them directly to airborne units or was it closer to the American model where the soldier goes through basic then volunteers for airborne school?

Since I know no Russian (except for yes and no), I had to read the subtitles. This only drew me out of the movie on occasion. For the most part, it was easy to follow and has proven to be a good movie. Here is where my lack of knowledge of the Soviet army of the 1980s comes out. The soldiers seem almost universally sloppy in appearance and care for their equipment. Their gear seems slapped on and in disarray when they are moving about. That just seemed odd to me. Was this artistic license or did the Soviet soldier from an elite unit (were airborne troops actually elite in the Soviet system?) actually just carry their gear higgldy pigldy like that?

All in all, it was a good movie. I am not sure that it accurately depicts the tactics used by the Soviets to hold off an attack. Also it claimed that the army basically forgot about the men on the hill due to the pull out. Historically, the defenders were in constant contact with headquarters and received artillery support. Seems that Hollywood is not the only place to play fast and loose with facts as much as they can.

So, here is the important question, any other recommendations or suggestions that I should look for? This one almost made me want to paint Soviets to do Afghanistan.

Dux Brit Picts

I think I have mentioned before that I picked up the start of a Pict army from Mark a while back. I have 8 spearmen, four crossbowmen, four slingers, 8 casualties and a leader of some sort that I picked up from him. With the release of the Raiders supplement, I now know what I still need.

Since slingers are not really a part of the Pict force in Dux Brit, they will become part of an Irish force. I did have some Old Glory Picts that I have managed to paint. So here is my Pict Javelin men.

These feature my attempt at painting a plaid of some sort. I am not happy with it but I am not sure I can do any better. Next up is some Pict Cavalry.

Here I have the same plaid attempt as the javelins. I actually like these for some reason. One of them slid forward when I glued him to the saddle when I had my back turned. I thought of prying him up and reseating him but the effort will probably result in me repainting him to some degree. I figured I can live with it.

I also got some new miniatures in the mail. There are two packs of spearmen and a pack of command figures. Each spearman pack comes with 8 spearmen. I have three figures that appear to be advancing and five that are standing there with spears. In all four different casts in the pack. The command pack has two spearmen blowing horns, two mounted fellows with swords, a man standing holding a sword and bear handed fellow who is supposed to look commanding.

The command pack is perfect. It gives me exactly what I need for my Pict army. I can use it for either a mounted option where the champion and lord are mounted or dismounted. I have the other spearman who can serve as the second noble for my force. I already have these fellows on painting sticks and am ready to paint undercoat them this evening.

While I am at it, here are some pictures of other items that I have finished.

A single 6" section of rail road tracks.

A pair of Early Saxon mercenaries.

A pair of Zulu officers for my ever stalled Zulu project.

Loki has a giveaway

Loki is doing a neat giveaway. Take a look at his blog for more details: http://napoleonicwargamingadventures.blogspot.com/2014/05/weekly-round-up-04052014-400-posts-3rd.html.

His giveaway requires you to do a little sleuthing to find the answers to a few questions. The prizes are some really nicely painted figures. This one is worth checking out.

A Small Update and a Big Welcome.

Welcomes

A warm welcome to Paul Waechter from Dog of War . He has an interesting blog that covers a number of periods. I just started following his blog and he seems off to a great start.

Painting Updates

I got to work last night on a variety of things. My pot of Windsor and Newton ink arrived and I was able to coat my Pict Javelins and Cavalry with it.

I also have a first test piece of rail road track complete. I picked the road crossing. I think it is coming along alright.

In the picture you can see the tiny bit of Zulus that I have completed. The impi commander and sub unit commander are painted up and based now. I sorted through some more things to see what else I have left.

New Stuff

I placed an order with Sergeant Major Miniatures for the remaining Pict spearmen that I need. I also picked up the command pack as well. Looking through my Picts, this order should actually finish off what I need for them.

I have a couple of painted Early Saxons that I never got around to basing. I have the basing material applied to them today but they still need a bit of paint.

Next?

I want to get some more work done on my Dark Age civilians. Also I need to get the rest of the train track sorted out. I have a scenario idea for a "Sieze the rail station" scenario from the early war period.

In looking through my items that are Undone, I am thinking of working on the Old Glory/Command Decision Ba-64s that I have. Once that is done, I really need to get in a game.