Capitaine de frégate Josepe Aurèle Géroux had been pursuing the English frigate for several days now, but finally he had outthought his foe and was almost upon them. His command, the Dryade (a 36-gun Frigate of the Republic) was in fighting trim and spoiling for a fight, and he was himself known in the French Navy for his uncanny aim and the quality of his crew’s gunnery. It was also vital that the English vessel be caught, as it contained valuable intelligence on board and a person of great interest to The Directoire, it must not reach the safety of English waters! However as dawn approaches the Dryade has been shrouded in a thick sea fog, and the enemy vessel is lost from sight – but with the rising sun the fog burns off and the enemy is spotted… Continue reading “When The Fog Lifts”
Category: News / Resources / Reviews
Steven Zaloga Says Fury OK
Stumbled across an interview with Steven Zaloga (c/- Mad Padre Wargames Blog) and it’s discussion around the movie “Fury” and the performance of the Sherman (and Allied Armour in general) in North-West Europe 1944-1945. Zaloga criticises some of the accepted truisms on tank warfare in NW Europe (namely about the Sherman’s vulnerability and the claimed 5 to 1 ratio of how many Allied tanks it took to destroy one German tank) – he also cites a disproportionate reliance on British authors describing their experiences of Normandy, which obviously is not representative of the campaign as a whole (in Normandy Montgomery used his armour as a battering ram to (a) keep infantry casualties down, and (b) ensure German armour and other resources were continually drawn to the northern sector in preparation for the breakout in the centre & south). Continue reading “Steven Zaloga Says Fury OK”
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”
X-Wing Miniatures Game Community
There’s a new community blog about for fans of the (Star Wars) X-Wing game from Fantasy Flight Games. X-Wing Miniatures Game Community: Everything about our passion called X-Wing Miniatures Game from Fantasy Flight Publishing Inc. and promises to deliver fan support for X-Wing. Continue reading “X-Wing Miniatures Game Community”
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.
A Theft Most Foul
Many Wargamers may not have had to experience it – but recently in New Zealand a local wargamer had his entire Warhammer collection stolen from his car during a storm (along with his PC, Xbox, etc). Likely the thieves don’t know the value and took it as a peripheral to the Electronics and other gear – but if you are a NZ gamer and see some new Warhammer figures mysteriously appear or be offered for sale check out this blog to see if they look like part of the stolen collection, it has links to photos of the figures: Trouble in the Border Provinces. The original theft occurred about 2 weeks ago in Paraparaumu, near Wellington. Continue reading “A Theft Most Foul”
Don Featherstone Memorial Trophy
Today I received the following communique from Chris Scott: “This is to let you know that the first Don Featherstone Memorial Trophy was played for at an old-school style wargame of Gettysburg at the Wargames Holiday Centre, Basingstoke. It was part of a Donald Featherstone Tribute Weekend sponsored by Miniature Wargames Magazine and involved a hotel stopover and a splendid dinner. The game was competitive of course, but the whole thing was conducted in a very friendly manner with the emphasis upon playing for fun and enjoying the social side of the hobby.” Continue reading “Don Featherstone Memorial Trophy”
1866 And All That
1866 And All That is the blog of well known New Zealand Wargamer & Sculptor Mark Strachan. Mark has been involved in Historical wargaming since 1972. He is most well known as the sculptor behind many (or most) of the figures and/or models produced by the now defunct New Zealand wargaming manufacturer Military Miniatures (the business eventually ceased operating as Military Miniatures, but then morphed into the current Battlefront/Flames of War business). Many a New Zealand Wargamer has buildings, terrain (rivers, roads, scenery), or figures, designed by Mark in their collection. Continue reading “1866 And All That”
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”
Site Update
Apologies if you are visiting the site and having issues with the format – I am just in the process of changing over the theme to rectify issues with images and such not displaying correctly, and this may take me a day or two to complete. Please bear with me and if anything is inaccessible or not working please check back later in the week.
Update 19 March 2014: New format now in place and should be displaying correctly. Just need to finish tweaking the colours, etc, but site should be fully functional again. Please let me know if you find anything not working. Continue reading “Site Update”
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”