A Sandbox

With the wife and children away at the East Coast for the bank holiday, I am using the time to get a summer holiday solo game in as well as undertake some DIY by painting the bathroom. Dropping and spilling a massive tin of paint in the shed was a good start...  However, I have begun the opening moves of the Dos Amos campaign. Using the rules laid out in the Programmed Wargames Scenarios book, the US 82nd are to follow a strategy of a twin pronged assault on the east and west coasts. They aim to capture the settlements at A6 (Carriafou) and F4 (At George) before moving to the main objective at G9, Mount Argyle. A small screening force will push to the bridge at E5.  The Cuban 'volunteers' are screening with patrols along A3, B3 who will not engage but shadow any Americans.  The first engagement was on Day 2. task Force Kroesen entered St George, where the combined forces of F3 and F4 were to fight a delaying action. I decided that the Cubans would be happy with dela

The summer holidays are progressing very nicely. Last week saw the family head north to Northumberland. A beautiful part of the country and with lots of castles to look at.  Drove past a convoy of about 6 of these Mastiff PPV's on the A1, near Catterick.  Bamburgh, or Bebbanberg, for The Last Kingdom fans, at sunset.  In the meantime, I have made progress on the Cubans for the Dos Amos campaign. Initial forces have been deployed on paper, as per the instructions for both Blue and Red forces in Programmed Wargames Scenarios. Thanks to the Olympics coverage, I have had plenty of painting sessions and over the past 2 days, have painted and flocked 18 infantry plus 10 assorted support weapons such as Sagger ATGW, HMGs etc. HQ and CO units will follow and if a plan by the wife and kids to have a day out with some friends comes to fruition on Friday, then I might get a game in.  Commission Figurines MDF walls, bought at Jo6 and all finished. 

I've started using the powers of the school holidays and putting the extra hours to good use. The sunny weather has helped in all the PVA washes and the like drying off too. First up is the Normandy Farmhouse I bought from 2D6 Wargaming. I wanted it to have a nice little formal garden, so it's been painted up as the chateau of a gentleman farmer on the up. Every expansive chateau has to start somewhere.  Next up was the Leven graveyard set I bought, along with some of the MDF walls I got from Commission Figurines.  plenty more to come, I hope! 

The holiday is nearly upon us although I have 2 more normal school days left.  However, I have started to make a dent in the projects on my cluttered paint station, added to by my Joy of Six purchases. Last night I caught up on 3 episodes of The Acolyte on Disney plus and painted the 2 H&R aircraft I bought last weekend. These are for my side project of the early war action between Italy and Britain in East Africa. There's an Osprey Campaign book due to be released on the subject in January 2025, so I'll be basing my campaign around that.  a Fiat CR42 and a Gloster Gladiator, ready for action in the skies of Somaliland. transfers really do bring the models to life.  The current roster for this campaign is shown below: I envisage it being an Autumn/Winter project. The models were bought on the strength of "they're cool, they were in theatre, I want them." I bought a pack of Heroics 8th Army infantry at JoS to get me started o

Another fine turnout for JoS, with another fine array of games to look at and be inspired by. I shall focus on our game, the 1948 invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union, as rediscovered by Richard Crawley of this parish. We have gamed this as part of Crisis Point which took place in Bradfield earlier this year and this game was to focus on several phases of the invasion with an emphasis on airborne operations.  Stary Boleslav sits on the river Elbe. The AA Battery can be seen behind its wire perimeter. An airfield with a QRF sits in the right of the picture.  Phase one was to be a small skirmish type affair, with a reinforced company-sized element of Soviet paras acting as pathfinders and moving to eliminate an AA battery on the outskirts of the town prior to the main drop taking place. The heaviest weapons were HMGs and mortars. The pathfinders first had to blow gaps in the wire before using Initiative actions (don't roll a 1, basically) to spike the guns. 

I've had this Leven piece for a while now and thought it would make a good provincial airport. I'll print off a suitable sign to add to the frontage.