Die Autos

I wanted to title this post Das Auto and see how many visitors I got thinking that it was about Volkswagens, but I think Die Autos is grammatically correct, since there was more than one.

Got to the wargames club last night hoping for a good scrap.   It was racing cars instead.   Len had ordered a German game, Das Motorosportspiel, via ebay and as far as I could tell he got a map in a tube and six quite nice little racing cars.  The rules were in German and there was a translation which left us scratching our heads a bit.


but as far as we could tell, each player gets to role three dice.  Two of the dice are normal d6 and 1 is a D6 that only goes from 1 to 3.   Players can decide how many dice they will roll ahead of time, and they can adjust each die by flipping it over.   You can’t go through a turn with a die whose number is higher than the number printed on the map beside each turn, or bad things happen.

We played the game collectively, working together to decide the best use of the dice.  However, the game comes with a sand timer that gives each player only 30 seconds to adjust their dice and plot their move before making it.  That would be fun, I suppose.  We got through the game without making zoom zoom noises.
I know there are other car boardgames out there, such as GMT’s Thunder Alley.   I am a little meh about race cars, and get enough driving on my commute to work each day, but es war amusing, ich dense.  If it was more of a Europgame, each driver would have had to collect sets of tires, motor oils and carparts and sponsorships in order to develop their garages. It would also have been better if the cars each mounted a machine gun.
Blessings to your driving!
MP+

Why My Big Brother Is Still My Hero

That’s my big brother, the Mad Colonel, in the green shirt, looking like he’s not really enjoying the fact that he’s riding in an EFFING T34/85 TANK, FOR GOD’S SAKES!

My brother volunteers at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, and took part in their Tank Weekend last weekend, which I sadly missed.  As you can well understand, I am sure, he is still my hero.

Two Weird War Scientists (Mad Or Otherwise)

These two 28mm figures are part of my slowly expanding but yet to be used Weird War Two collection.  The Nazi chap is a Pulp Figures mini from Bob Murch, and the carrot-top civvie is by Artizan.

The sinister fellow in the lab coat is Herr Dokktor Bruno Jaegermeister, head of research for the sinister, occult dominated portion of the SS that specializes in sinister, occult matters.   Perhaps he helps the SS Vampyrs to animate corpses, or he works with the Wulffentruppen on breeding better monsters - he'll be useful in either capacity.   Almost certainly he had a dodgy academic transcript but then denounced his supervisor as a cosmopolitan Jew, stole his research notes, and then made a name for himself promoting the superiority of Aryan genes.   In other words, a total cad.   He will be a high value target for S Commando.

The fellow in the nice cardigan is Dr. Hamish Montfort McGonnigle, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Science and Professor of Science at the University of Edinburgh, who is now the head of research for Project Alice, Britain's secret line of defence against the darkest forces stirring in the Reich.   He's smart, cantankerous, and a hardheaded believer in good science, empiricism and skepticism.   He may find himself forced to accept the existence of some strange things before it's all over.

 
Dr. Jagermeister has a bit of a secret base starting to come together.   I've assembled one of the two MDF quonset huts I got from Sarissa.  I am thinking of painting it in Germany yellow (dunkelgelb) with a camo pattern, as presumably a secret base needs to be hidden from the air.  To the right is a Sarissa MDF searchlight and generator, which could also be used as a death ray projector, I suppose.   Behind that are some resin crates from 6 Squared, since a secret base needs some sinister shipments to secretly stockpile (see what I did there?).

I have some 1/48 scale vehicles for the Nazi secret base thanks to my chum James, and some more Sarissa scenery to add to it.  A backkburner project, but it's slowly coming together.

These figures bring my 2016 totals to:

28mm:  Foot Figures: 56; Mounted Figures: 5; Buildings: 2; Terrain Features: 4

6mm:  Mounted figures:  36;  Buildings:  2

Can I Afford My Dream Army?

The latest edition of Foreign Affairs magazine is currently in my Professional Development reading queue, meaning that it is on my desk, rapidly getting buried under other work.   I thought the cover illustration was quite clever.  All of us, I am sure, have done the same thing in hobby stores, whether real or virtual.

The first article in this issue notes that the US spends three times as much on defense as its nearest competitor (China) and amounts for one third of global expenditures.   Fortunately the same drive to outspend our hobby opponents doesn't apply to us - does it?

MP+

Meanwhile, in the Elven Woodland Realm, or, Paint Me Like Your French Elves

It’s Saturday evening and my sermon for tomorrow is finished.   Time to go take some pictures of naked ladies.

Yeah, that didn’t sound very good, did it?   Better not let my bishop know about this post. 

These figures are by Wargames Foundry, from their Elfen Collection series.  These figures were OOP when I ordered them last winter, but the very kind Diane Ansell of Wargames Foundry found some blisters from that range for me.   Since then, I noticed that they are now available again as single figures on Foundry’s Warmonger Miniatures page, here.  I liked this line when it first came out, it had a sort of strangeness and classical fantasy vibe to it that  reminded me equally of the Pre-Raphaelites and old school swords and sorcery artists like Boris Vallejo.

 

One might think that these figures would have been easy to paint, but in fact they were anything but, and it was quite intimidating trying to get the skin (so much skin!) right.  I used a base of Citadel Cadian Flesh, a wash of Army Painter soft tone, and then successive layers of watered down Cadian Flesh mixed with Citadel Elfen Flesh, and a final coat of Elfen flesh by itself.  I notice that the archer on the left has a quiver, but not the lady on the right.  The old Foundry line also included a mix of cherubs, sprites, butterflies and other odd beasts, hence the little fellow by the archer on the left.

More challenging flesh to paint.  

So what am I going to do with these figures, you may ask?    My goal is to use them to augment an elven army that I am slowly building.   They may be a somewhat fanciful force to oppose Isengard’s incursions into Fangorn forest, or they may be a subset of the armies of Lorien, perhaps a special forces unit known as Galadriel’s Grrrlz?    Here are the ten figures I have done so far.  A small start to a Dragon Rampant war band, though I think they may pay penalties for lack of armour protection.

 

More figures waiting to be painted, thanks to Diane’s help.

I suppose I could flesh these out (no pun intended) with additional figures from other fantasy lines, including these war maiden archers from Casting Room that could be painted up as elves - any suggestions for other lines that might complement these figures?

These figures bring my 2016 totals to:

28mm:  Foot Figures: 54; Mounted Figures: 5; Buildings: 2; Terrain Features: 4

6mm:  Mounted figures:  36;  Buildings:  2

We're Back ..With A Small Trove of ACW Boardgames

Hello and welcome back to this sadly neglected blog, which I am tempted to rename Dragon Dormant.  Since I returned from La Belle Province de Poutine, all has been well, but busy.  Madame Padre celebrated her third post-chemotherapy bloodtest with very good results, and has decided to celebrate with a new bicycle and a more active lifestyle, so bravo to her.   

There has been a little painting and a little gaming, so some updates coming.  One of the most exciting things to happen lately was this small pile of out of print American Civil War (with one Mexican War title thrown in) cardboard counter type boardgames that came my way.   A friend at the local club was helping to sell off the collection of a gamer friend who had passed away.  I am sorry I didn’t know this fellow, as I think we would have gotten along well.

Three of these titles are from the GMT Games series, Richard Berg’s Great Battles of the American Civil War.  Red Badge of Courage covers First and Second Bull Run, Three Days of Gettysburg was GMT”s answer to Terrible Swift Sword, and Gringo used the GBACW system to treat some Mexican War battles.   I am very fond of the GBACW system, it lives at that Grand Tactical sweet spot for me.   The two titles on the left came from late in Avalon Hill’s existence, from their Great Campaigns of the ACW series, designed by Joe Balkoski, and offer a more operational/strategic scale of treatment.    Finally, at the right is a Clash of Arms game on the Seven Days - I haven’t yet opened the box so know nothing about it.

Below is the seventh game, Lee Vs Grant, another Balkoski GCAWC design, on one of my favourite campaigns, the 1864 Wilderness campaign.   It is currently set up in a quiet corner of the chaplain school library at work, and I am slowly figuring it out on my lunch breaks.

 

 

I know that these games will cut into my painting time, but it can’t be helped, hex and counter games have a large claim on my heart.  If you have played any of these titles, please let me know what you thought of them - your comments may influence which one I take on first.

Finally, because it’s too amazing to pass up without comment, here’s a What If article imagining WW2 German and Japanese battleships at war, because …. battleships. 

Blessings to your die rolls!

MP+