A Sandbox

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. 

A nice quiet afternoon here so I devoted it to some finishing off of terrain.  viva la revolution! A park dedicated to a hero of Dos Amos' revolutionary past.  a garage of some sort. I might add a car or pick up truck plus some signage.  Next up will be an airport terminal, looking suitably seedy and workaday along with some Cuban infantry and no doubt I'll buy something at Joy of Six.  We took the scenic route across the Bole Hills park on our way to vote in our pleasant corner of Sheffield on Thursday.