Plane Crazy

        A near-brush with Covid and the resulting upsetting of my schedule left me with precious little time for hobby stuff over the last couple of weeks. The odd hours that I had I spent finishing up a few aircraft models for various wargaming applications. First I finished up the airliners for the Cold War in Africa  games that R.U.P. has been running, then I built and painted a couple of Korean War U.S. Navy models for a friend of mine. These all were a refreshing change from slogging through dozens of soldiers (an effort that I will soon return to) as they are all one-off projects and a subject matter that I haven't dealt with in years (.......er, decades).

       First we return to some anonymous African airport circa 1965;

 

an old WW2 workhorse

 soldiering on in the service of the mythical Tatesavy United Airline

Stocking up for the Holidays with Bastion Games, Opening Black Friday 27NOV20!

       My good friend, Tom from Texas, is going to fulfill a life-long dream of opening a mega hobby shop/wargaming store this coming Black Friday. Long in the making (no thanks to Covid-19!) but well worth the wait! Located on the northwest corner of Woodward Avenue and Long Lake, Bastion Games will bring a top-flight hobby store to northwest Metro Detroit. The shop will stock Games Workshop, Star Wars (all varieties) Reaper, and Dungeons and Dragons as well as a host of other product-lines. The address is 43239 Woodward Ave., Bloomfield Hills MI 48302. The phone number is 248 499 6888 and the website is Bastion Gaming

           A stand-out feature is the availability of complete, fully painted armies that are available for sale. This shop also features a massive gaming hall and three smaller private rooms for specific themed games. Gamers wishing to try out new rules or armies can contact the store about having a game set up to play with their friends. Access to the store's large selection of ready-painted armies and extensive terrain collection makes it possible to run that campaign or mega-game that always seemed impossible. 

        I got a chance to take a sneak-peek as they were putting the final touches on. Let's take a look!

Gaming Update 20NOV20 UPDATED!!!!!!

We will be gaming at my house on Saturday November 21st at 7 p.m.

Be there

28mm Late Roman Cataphracts by Gripping Beast

       As if I needed more figures to paint! Finishing out their Late Roman collectrion GB has brought out some lovely Late Roman Cataphracts (although, with tiny changes, these would easily serve in a LOT of other armies!). Let's take a look ....

 

 the front of the box, nice artwork

Rules Review; Blood and Valor

 

       I had heard great things about Blood and Plunder (a rules for the Pirate era from the same publisher) but, having a different set that I was quite happy with, had never played them. When I saw that Firelock Games was bringing out a set for the Great War era I was interested and picked up a copy shortly after they appeared at Michigan Toy Soldier.

Gaming Update 14NOV20 Edition

 Gaming at my place  on 14NOV20 at 1900hrs

Not sure what we will be playing, maybe some Great War stuff in honor of Veterans Day

Happy Veterans's Day

 A great big Thank-You to all who have served to keep out great nation free. 

I honor your service and sacrifice.

God Bless you all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE USMC

 UNCLE SAM'S MISGUIDED CHILDREN ARE HAVING A BIRTHDAY TODAY

 

THEY ARE LOOKING PRETTY GOOD FOR A UNIT THAT IS 245 YEARS OLD!

LET US RAISE A GLASS TO THE ALWAYS FAITHFUL!

THANK YOU TO ALL THAT SERVED!

Gaming Update

 Gaming will take place at my place on Friday  OCT6 NOV6 at 1900hrs, and again on Saturday OCT7  NOV7 at 1900hrs.

Be there or be reviled!

Airport Uganda 1967, building unusual "terrain" items

       R.U.P. has been building his African Cold War collection for over a decade now, it has expanded to include the Arab-Israeli Wars and some other odds and ends. Over the years I have been happy to lend my modest talents to his efforts so when he came to me about building a airliner for one of his scenarios I was glad to lend a hand. Furthermore I had an old "dusty project" in The Vault to add to the effort. R.U.P.  provided an Atlantis model of a Boeing 727 while I ferreted around in The Vault and located an old Monogram DC-3 kit. These would provide eye-candy for a scenario involving an airport. I had been intending to use the DC-3 as my transport for my AK-47 Republic army (which it will still be able to do as it will be painted in the colors of a mythical airline) but it will look great sitting on the tarmac next to the sleek jet airliner. 

       As I am an impatient man I decided to build the kits "in tandem" so I could work on one while waiting for things to dry on the other. This is a trick I learned a while back when I was mass-building 112 1/72 scale T-34 tanks for my Fall of Berlin game.

 

the kits, an Atlantis 727 at 1/94 scale and a Monogram DC-3 at 1/90th

Photo Survey, Old Fort Jackson Savannah GA

 

 

the overhead shot , courtesy Google Earth

       Having visited Savannah half a dozen times over the years it escapes me as to how I managed to have missed a visit to Old Fort Jackson so far. I decided to set that oversight right as I was in the South and would be passing near Savannah on my way back to dreary Michigan. Located just east of Historic Old Savannah the fort is a National Historic Site that is run and maintained by the Coastal Heritage Society  who also run several other museums in the Savannah area (all of which are well worth a visit).  If you are planning on attending do try to visit between October and may as the summers in Savannah are absolutely brutal.

New to nobody but me, Pegasus Great War French Infantry

 

 

the front of the box

 

       At the request of The Housemartin I went looking for figures to represent the French in Madagascar at the time of Operation Ironclad. After examining options he picked the Pegasus WW1 French infantry set. To make enough troops to fill out his OOB I would need two boxes (there being forty figures in each box). I ordered these through Michigan Toy Soldier and had them in hand within the week. These figures are cast in a medium soft brown plastic that took detail very well. The figures display almost no flash and very little by way of mold lines. The only thing that gives me any reservation is that several of the figures are cast in multiple parts and will require gluing together, having dealt with Pegasus kits in the past I anticipate no problems but it does add an additional bit of work that the old Airfix and Revell kits did not demand.