Battle of Almanza 1707-2007 reenactment video

 I just wish I knew enough Spanish to understand what they are shouting for orders

      I found this interesting, particularly for the example of firing by rank and how very open the formation was when executing it.  Almanza was the battle in eastern Spain that pretty much doomed the cause of the Hapsburg pretender to the throne. The uniforms are interesting, I wish I had seen this earlier on; I would certainly have wanted that purple and red unit (seen in the background of the above picture) in my collection!

Airfix HS 123 in 1/72 scale

     I have added a second game at Spartacon this year, I will be running a big 1/72 scale armor game set in southern Russia in the summer of 1942. In reviewing my stock of German ground support aircraft I found that I was rather short-handed. To remedy this I dug deep into the "this was once an important project" pile and recovered an MPC copy of the redoubtable 1970 vintage Airfix Henschel HS 123. I had three of these kits but had never opened the box (confession time, they have been in that project pile since 1984, yes, upwards of thirty years) so could only guess what the model looked like or how well it had been molded. Having built a few of MPC's other products in the past I was prepared to be disappointed.....

     To my surprise and delight it was perfectly molded and cleanly cast, with excellent surface detail and superb fit. It took less than twenty minutes to build the model and just over an hour to paint it. The only unimpressive feature was the decals which were rather thick. If I had a bottle of Solvaset around this would have been less of a problem. Anyway, I now have a nice little addition to my German airforce and have added an airplane to yearly out put.

 

the model was dream to put together, only small seams at the wing-root

Now I'm in Trouble

The main thing stopping me from building the new Cruel Seas models was the fact that the models are big enough for the crew to be visible but they don't come with them, that and I would have to paint them........

     Then I saw this:

     And they come pre-painted........

Year In Review, late Addition Update

 

I got roped into running another game at Spartacon and needed to add some air support

      No, I'm not trying to bring you the highlights of a year in the hobby in one simple post. I am just looking back at what I have managed to get completed over the course of the last year. I promised myself that I wouldn't buy more figures than I managed to paint, in this I have been largely successful as my purchases have been minimal.

      Unfortunately so has my figure output.

      One of the advantages of blogging is that it forms a record of painted figures and purchased figures. In looking back over the years worth of posts I see that I have managed to complete 84 mounted figures, 82 foot figures, two tanks and seven large terrain pieces or models. Not a particularly stunning output. I added a 1/72 Henschel HS 123 just today (20DEC18)

 

of all the things I made this year this is the one I like the best

it worked out as planned and got me motivated to build the rest of my Dark Ages stuff

 

these are the ones I am least pleased with; I look at them and wonder what I was thinking?

wrong period, wrong scale......as gaming toys they are OK but I don't game ACW!

Of Course I Fell For It!

 

free stuff that isn't really free, OK, I'm a sucker

      You have to hand it to Warlord, they are pretty good at marketing. They bring out Cruel Seas, a new rule-set and the attached models and then they give away just enough of the models to get your attention. I mean, I was going to buy the magazine anyways but then I noticed that you get a choice of the British MTBs OR the German E-boats. Obvious answer; buy both copies! So I did, Warlord wins big time but from my point of view I got $36.00US worth of product for $18.00US of cost and I can give the spare magazine to one of my wargaming buddies. The real question now is; Was it worth it?