First Game of 2020

Went down to Brighton to celebrate my Godson Dylan's 18th birthday. He wanted to play a game of X-wing, and so his wish was granted. Much fun was had.

Dylan set up a three way game deploying: Scum & Villainy; Rebel/Resistance; Empire/First Order fleets.

After the first turn where Scum & Villainy mixed it up with the Rebel/Reistance before everybody remembered that the goal to winning was to pick up a package adrift in space.

So a race to the center began.

 

By the end of the game ships had been blown up. In the final turn Alix's Millennium Falcon, with Rey piloting got the token. It was then was promptly blown to smithereens, which meant the game was a draw.

A lot of fun, and next time Dylan has promised to set up an Epic scale battle with two big ships. I think my work as Godmother has turned out well with this one.

Russian Object 490 Boxer

I found this Russian Object 490 Boxer, Obyekt 490 Боксер, on YouTube, as one does when one is browsing.

  

This tank was a concept never put into production caught my attention for obvious reasons. It kind of reminds me of SJG's Doppelsoldner, and you may all remember my doodles for a cybertank I had back here,  Panzer Jäger Mark One – PJM1-M1.

And I've put out the bits I was working on to make a cybertank onto my workbench in the hope I will be inspired to start working on it again.

With these bits:

A Light Ahead

 

My Xmas present; an electronic microscope to see the smallest details.

 Well, what a year that was.

The least productive year I've had since I started this blog in August 2009. And I missed celebrating 10 years of blogging back in August too!

This has been down to a number of issues: pain in my joints, and the side-effects of medication, which has meant not being able to either hold a paintbrush in one hand or a miniature in the other at the same time.

If you want the full litany of problems of the last 10 years, go to my other blog for all the gribbly details.

Finally, I'm not one for making New Year resolutions, because by and large that's setting oneself up for failure, which can be useful if you "go large" and fail, but not so useful for a hobby that's just meant to be fun.

So let me wish everyone happy modeling and gaming for 2020, and I'll catch you all on the bounce.

Merry Christmas 2019

 

Where did December go? Actually, this year seems have rushed by me, and not for any good reasons, but enough of that.

Thank you all for following my blog.  Now it is the time to wish you all a Merry Christmas.

See you all in the New Year.

Super Small Heavy Gear Pics

Here are the photos I've found of the Heavy Gear Hunter.

 

If anyone has larger pictures, let me know.

Summer is Over; Winter is Coming

 

Well, where did the summer go?

Doing stuff, or trying to do stuff. Life has been a bit up and down. Been reading a bunch of stuff, and just as soon as I can get my finger out I will post what I've read on my other blog.

Hoping that the injection for my wrist, scheduled for October, means I can get back to model making. It is what it is. Meanwhile, sharing the above picture of a full-size replica ScopeDog next to the its designer Kunio Okawara, who is the man behind the greatest mecha designs in anime.

Summer is Here

  

 

And it is hot. Well, yesterday was, but today will be cooler. Still not doing much model-making because I've been out shooting arrows at straw butts. I like to think of this as one-to-one scale wargaming or perhaps LARPing might be a better description. Sure is fun when one gets an arrow in the gold.

Been rewatching a bunch of TV shows. The sort that  make for good RPG scenarios. Fringe is all about a team investigating "The Pattern" caused... well that would be spoilers. But mad/crazy science that carries one along, and a rich source for games.

Equally crazy/mad science is the time traveling show 12 Monkeys. Inspired by the movie, this show is a wild ride through the various time travel tropes that is inspired by great SF stories of the past. Well worth watching, and again ripe for a referee looking for plot twists.

And now we've started a rewatch of Primeval. Dinosaurs and hyper dimensional time portals. What's not to like?
   

CASDA 5136

   

Still work in progress; Espera, Downey, and Nguyen's APE suits.

Combat Armor Suit Detachment Alpha 5136

Captain Anthony Downey, detachment commander
Master Sergeant Campbell, operations and team sergeant
Staff Sergeant Morales, combat engineer
Sergeant Mary Lewis, communications
Sergeant Schmidt, medical
Sergeant First Class Frank Radoslovich, weapons

Chief Warrant Officer 1 Andrew McAdams, assistant detachment commander
Sergeant First Class Thomas Nguyen, assistant operations and intelligence
Staff Sergeant Julia King, combat engineer
Sergeant Miguel Sanchez, communications
Sergeant Daniel Robinson, medical
Staff Sergeant Juan Espera, weapons.

CASDA 5136, Combat Armor Suit Detachment Alpha, is my Green Beret Special Forces unit that appears in my second novel Strike Dog. As I was writing this piece up, I realized when I described CASDA 5136 in the book, that I had created a force that was doctrinally different to the Marine Corps Dogs.

I was just writing a cool action sequence for a character in a combat armour suit. But on reflection, it's clear to see that by describing the weapon loadouts I created a force that was functionally different to the one I described in Bad Dog.

That is what I would call, creatively serendipitous.

NB: Espera is the heavy weapons specialist, hence he carries the big recoilless rifle. Though fat lot of good it does him, but to say more would be spoilers.

   

Sharpe Watching

 

Still not been doing a lot of model making, because it makes my hands play up after a session, and I need to be able to write, which is not helped when I'm in pain.

However, I have done a little. In this case, modifying the barrel of the over-the-shoulder mount for one of my combat armour suits. I just need to do some painting to get it presentable.

So you can see we've rewatched the Sharpe TV series. The stories rollick along, and are good inspiration for ideas for my writing. Besides, Sean Bean is easy on the eye.

Napoleonics is so not my period. But, I will readily admit to really enjoying playing the game of Sharpe Practice from Too Fat Lardies.
   

Professional Wargaming

  

 

As you can all tell by the paucity of posts here I've not been doing much wargaming or model making. Let's just say I've been going through a rough patch health wise and leave it at that.

However, I have maintained my interest in all things wargaming, and read around for idea etc. and I came across these two articles about professional wargaming that I thought I would share.

Both articles are by Dr. James Lacey who is the Professor of Strategic Studies at the Marine Corps War College. I am now a fan and shall be following his work.

The first article is an overview of Wargaming in the Classroom. Be advised that there's a formatting issue with the pictures, but right-clicking on them to view will reveal the picture in the correct aspect ratio. It makes for a fascinating read and I learnt new stuff about the Peloponnesian War (though I don't wargame anything much prior to WW1 – No Tanks, No Thanks – being my motto, my wargaming roots are in Greek Hoplite warfare).

The second article was firmly in my bailiwick, being a piece on wargaming WW3, called Lessons from a Wargame. This article is about the use of commercial wargames and the things that they bring to teaching that professional wargames used by the military don't. So it makes for a fascinating read.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading these two articles as much as I did. Catch you all on the bounce.