The Impact of Terrain in North Africa 1940-43

From Tobruk to Tunis: The Impact of Terrain on British operations and Doctrine in North Africa, 1940-43 is a new book by Neal Dando, published just recently by Helion & Co. The author/publisher states “This book focuses on the extent to which the physical terrain features across Egypt, Libya and Tunisia affected British operations throughout the campaign in North Africa during the Second World War. One main theme of the work analyses the terrain from the operational and tactical perspective and argues that the landscape features heavily influenced British operations and should now be considered alongside other standard military factors.

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Valdemar Miniatures

I was recently contacted by Valdemar Miniatures – and looking at their website they look to have a pretty stunning series of products. Including 3D Printed ships suitable for Viking Longships and small Medieval Cogs. They describe their figures as 25mm (1/72nd) so they may or may not be a tad smaller than other 28mm manufacturers like the Perrys, Foundry, Artizan, etc. However they produce two ranges of medieval figures, one which is their premium range, what they call “Museum Quality”. Continue reading “Valdemar Miniatures”

Italeri Church

Following on from my last post (Italeri Country House With Porch) the other model I picked up from Kieran’s cancelled commission project was the Church (Italeri Kit 6129). This includes an attached (custom made) cemetery and is an outstanding model (if somewhat large). Ther design makes this primarily suited to Northern Mediterranean areas (and Southern Europe), such as Spain, Italy, and Southern France, as well as possibly Croatia, Northern Bosnia, etc, and possibly Southern Austria and the like… Continue reading “Italeri Church”

Italeri Country House With Porch

Back at the start of 2013 I posted about my gaming buddy Kieran building some Italeri Kitsets for his WW2 Normandy Games – and that as he did such a great job I might need to get him to build the kits I have in my stockpile for me as well! Well he ended up building some on commission for another AWC member, who then subsequently decided to discontinue WW2 gaming in 20mm scale – and so those completed custom models have ended up in my collection – alleviating the onerous need for me to assemble my existing kits of them! Brilliant outcome if you ask me! The first of them is the Country House with Porch (Italeri Kit 6075). Continue reading “Italeri Country House With Porch”

Modelling New Zealand Bush

I was searching for information on scenic material (scatter and flock and such) and stumbled across this (NZ ‘TT’ 1:120 scale) New Zealand model railroad blog. It features some photos of Grant Morrell’s Kerosine Creek layout (in ‘S’ 3:16 Scale) from the Masterton Model Railway show in August 2011 – it absolutely creates the feel of NZ bush and minus the railway and vintage car would pretty much look how things were in the mid-late 19th Century in the areas of New Zealand that had been colonised and where bush had been cleared for grazing or early farmland.

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Warlord North American Buildings

To supplement my Perry Miniatures’ ACW Buildings I also have a couple of Warlord laser-cut MDF Settler’s Log Cabins – like the Perry buildings these are suitable for most North American eras from the French & Indian Wars & American Revolution through to the American Civil War and turn of the (20th) century – and at a stretch the 19th Century NZ Colonial Wars as well. Continue reading “Warlord North American Buildings”

Perry Miniatures ACW Buildings

These are some ‘in progress’ pictures of my 28mm Perry Miniatures’  North American Buildings – I’m hoping they will be useful for not just the ACW (American Civil War), but also for the American Old West & Indian Wars, some Colonial theatres, and even early 20th Century pulp periods. Included is a simple conversion of the Perry Store kit, into a small Blacksmith & Stables. The conversion and the kit assembly & painting/basing was done by my fellow gamer, Kieran Mahony (6mm Wargaming). I just need to now flock the bases and add all the micro detail… Continue reading “Perry Miniatures ACW Buildings”

Normandy Buildings

I recently caught up with my gaming buddy Kieran (6mm Wargaming), and he brought round his completed 1/72 scale Italeri European Building kitsets he has done for his 1944 Normandy terrain. Kieran’s been taking a break from Crossfire and playing a lot of Kampfgruppe Normandy and has been steadily working on his terrain and new 20mm (German & U.S.) armies for that theatre. The Italeri buildings are the Country HouseHouse With Porch, and the Stone House; and Kieran has gone to reasonable efforts to detail them with window shutters, walls & gates (some scratch built, some commercial), and other features – I think you’ll agree they’ve come out looking very good! I’ll be looking to achieve similar with my kits when I get around to them, and may have to talk Kieran into doing them for me since he’s done such a good job of his own! Continue reading “Normandy Buildings”

A Wonderful 28mm Château d’Hougoumont

I’ve recently been talking to Tony Won (a wargamer & historian in Belgium) about various things Dutch-Belgian and Hundred Days related – Tony is a bit of a Hundred Days expert with 30 years effort on the subject, but is also a wargamer who obviously has some very nice models in his collection.

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The Siborne “Small” Model

The Siborne “Small” Model shows the area around the Brussels-Wavre crossroads including the farm of La Haye Sainte where, during the second phase of the battle of Waterloo at 1.30pm to 2.30pm (Sunday 18 June 1815), Picton’s Division engaged the Divisions of Donzelot, Alix and Marcognet, while the farm itself was still held by the Kings German Legion. This is not to be confused with Siborne’s “Large” model which depicted the entire Waterloo battlefield.

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A Bit Of WW2 Wargaming & Some Nostalgia

Prepare to defend the bridge!
Prepare to defend the bridge!

A friend of mine recently sent me some pics of some of his WW2 Wargaming terrain – we used to wargame together in the 1980’s and early 1990’s and his stuff has been mainly in storage for the last 15 years – but he’s been cracking it out recently as well as starting to work on some new pieces.

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Is That A Real-Life Photo Or A Model?

Is that a photo of a real building or a model?
Is that a photo of a real building or a model?

Got pointed to the Country Gate (the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway in 009 scale) site today – or rather specifically the Making Buildings From Foamboard page featuring some absolutely fantastic model buildings and a great tutorial by Emmanuel Nouaillier; it’s all part of the site’s general tutorial on Realistic Model Buildings. There’s some great stuff here and well worth a look!

(County Gate is a narrow gauge model in 009 of a fictitious extension of the 2 foot narrow gauge Lynton and Barnstable Railway through the East Lyn Valley to Minehead in the UK).