Stuff...

Well my second book is finished, one little talk done and another postponed. My studies are well underway so I have a little time on my hands. Unlike many people however, I am still working so not as much time as I'd like. I have been quite productive. What have you been up to? I hear you chorus. Well; this: 

I have been dabbling in WW2 for a while now- a friend expressed an interest in wargaming the Western Desert campaigns and though he has disappeared I am still chipping away at it. This is a
 Panzerbüchse 41 - an anti-tank weapon used widely by the Deutches Afrika Korps and not widely available in 1:72. Mine is a spare from the Plastic Soldier Company SDKFZ 250 kit which comes with a whole range of useful bits. I stuck some wheels on it from my spares box - they are a little big but I think they look OK. The crew are, I think, Matchbox and Italeri.

This I was less pleased with. The Strelets 8th Army Heavy Weapons set - I couldn't get the feeder to line up properly and had to hack it about somewhat only to realise that I had him on the wrong side the second attempt looked better but I still think both Airfix and Matchbox did a better job. Deep mould lines I couldn't get rid of and it was all a bit indistinct. 
The rest of the set isn't much better - they include a PIAT for some reason but no 2" mortar and the 'Boys' Anti-Tank rifle man has a peculiar curve to him so he won't lie flat...
Next up:

So I have been roped into giving a lecture on General Mack so I have been reading about the battles of the French Revolutionary Wars (again!) which in turn lead to some Austrians.... Italeri- huge but nicely done- had to do a head-swap on the officer as he comes with a helmet.

Big Battalions! You may have picked up from my last battle report that I was becoming discontented with my games. I pondered this and I think it may be that I am not getting enough troops on the table. The core of my rules are Volley & Bayonet which were designed to fight big battles so I thought perhaps they just don't cut it for smaller encounters? I read online that the designers had had the same idea and just changed the scale. So the smallest unit instead of being a brigade becomes a battalion- some changes to the groundscale etc and off you go. 'Good' I thought no new rules required...BUT more painting!
Unbelievably it turns out that I don't have enough French line infantry - You must be kidding!?- I have been at this for 30 years!!
So a mammoth project was launched to get the regiments up to strength. 
Problem 1 - the game is intended to be the next in my sequence of 1809 battles (see earlier posts) but no-one really makes suitable figure in 1:72 so a compromise is called for. The old Esci and Italeri had waistcoats so will use those but as for new stock I don't have any left so 1812 pattern troops will have to suffice.

First up HaT - hmm - not keen on these - pain in backside to get the separate backpacks to glue on (and stay on) and they are bit stumpy...

Zvezda! Wow! Lovely figures... BUT - you only get six in a box AND you have to stick them together (the result is quite fragile) AND they come on a great big thick individual base that you stick the figures onto with little pegs. The bases are too thick and too wide to fit with my basing scheme - way too much agro - not doing that again either!

My hands down favourites - Waterloo 1815 - nice, slender, figures; well sculpted, cleanly cast. no hassle - painted up well... There are now quite a few of these...

Tune in next time to see what I do with them.