First Update for 2021 And Some Exciting News

     Well, as is ever the case my regular update output has been notably irregular, which is surprising as I have kept busy, hobby-wise, since the last one in November which concerned my Stalingrad table build.    

     I have gamed over that particular terrain a few times after the initial one whilst I was self isolating as I had a brush with Covid 19 and, apart from a slight cold, I got off very lucky, very very lucky indeed. In my period of self isolating I managed a couple of solo games, which is where the header photo comes from, and will write up batreps on both of them soon.

    As I said I have been busy on the hobby front as I managed to finish off and start a couple more projects. 

In Her Majesty's Name

     With a new edition of In Her Majesty's Name being released I felt compelled to crack on with some lapsed projects. I have a half formed idea for some games set during the period of the Great Game betwixt Great Britain and Russia that involves the plucky British Grey Section who appeared in an update last May! (told you this project had lapsed!) Those boys and girls will be assisted out in Central Asia by these stout hearted Indian Army soldiers dressed in native garb!

Soldiers of the Raj go under cover. Figures by Artizan Designs

The complete detachment with two Foundry Afghans in the foreground

     On the Imperial Russian side we have the Okrahna who's local detachment is under the command of the White Baronessa....which is as far as I have got with the back story of any of these characters

Three of the main Okrahna characters...back stories WIP

     The Imperial Russian Navy are also going to appear with the assistance of an Imperial Russian Aero-gunship, crewed by these chaps

Captain and crew of the Imperial Russian Navy Aero-gunboat

The Imperial Russian Navy aero-gunboat 

    Now as nice as the aero-gunboat looks I felt it needed something more so I have bought some fixtures and fittings from North Star. Not all of these will grace the decks of the aero-gunboat as I plan on getting one for the Royal Navy too, though not the same kit, something disticntly different..

 Warlords of Erehwon/Thud & Blunder

      Another step forward in my WHFB Empire themed army for Warlords of Erehwon was my finishing of these lovely Front Rank War of the Roses mounted serjeants. This is a sloooooow build project and is following no definate plan other than they will appear in both of the games mentioned above at some point in the very exciting future

Bolt Action

     Plenty happening on the Bolt Action front starting with the addition of an M18 Hellcat to my US Cavalry Group. I have added a wrecked Bedford truck and a heap of Soviet casualties to my terrain collection and finished off a spare British M10 I have kicking about with the addition of a crew.

My late war Germans have receieved reinforcements in the shape of a 251/9 Stummel, a Horch heavy car and a Schwimmwagen

And on the theme of late war Germans I dug out my Hetzer and 251/23 recce half track and redid their camouflage in an ambush scheme

and for Normandy I have started a Panzer Lehr kamfgruppe; two 251/1Ds, a mortar 251 and a Panzer IV E...

and have treated myself to some of 21st Panzer Divisions oddities; a Geschutzwagen 39H(f) from Mad Bob Miniatures and two Unic P107 half tracks by Warlord Games. I am probably repeating myself here but I would like to use the Kampfgruppe Von Luck pint sized campaign by the Two Fat Lardies as the basis for a Bolt Action campaign and this is the next phase as I already have my British Airborne units for this campaign

two Warlord Games Unic P107 half tracks and more British
Airborne

VA 601 artillerie schlepper and light howitzer for 21st Pnz Div

Exciting News

     And so to my exciting news, pretty much all of my gaming projects have been put on hold at the moment as me and the missus have bought a new flat; one with many more rooms than our current flat and a garden with a garage. And as there is only me, Claire and our dog, Otto, I have been graciously granted my own hobby room and we, the missus and I, are to share the garage for our hobby pastimes (Otto gets the garden, the real reason for our move); wargaming for me, pottery and other crafts for Claire. 

A lucky dog and unwitting influencer

The majority of my terrain prior to departure to my
in-laws so that prospective flat buyers can see more
of the flat.

Estate agent views of the new hobby room

The hobby garage!!

     So with a big move in the offing I have decided to put my bigger projects to one side and to focus on smaller projects for the following reasons;

a) The garage needs electricity ran out to it as well as fitting out with lighting, insulation etc etc

b) The hobby room needs repainting, shelving putting up etc

c) Other stuff will probably need doing around the house but since I will be hiding in the hobby room who cares...I mean, we will need to get more electric sockets fitted, loft insulating, turf laid in the garden etc etc etc

     And so while we will be getting all of the above sorted and still going to work, walking the dog and all that day to day living jazz I won't be able to run games in the garage so what I plan to do is have a small, 3'x3' gaming table in the hobby room. And here I intend to play some skirmish games that have been on the back burner or on the shelf; amongst which are..

    My plan is to paint up the zombies and Walking Dead terrain for both games. Zona Alfa in particular is looking very attractive and, more importantly, doable

     Zona Alfa is a skirmish game set in a post apocalyptic Russia/Ukraine and is, as the cool kids say these days, miniature agnostic, and I managed to get my hands on a lot of Copplestone Castings Future Wars figures which will give me at least four gangs for playing Zona Alfa to start with, which will give me some solo skirmishing fun while the garage is being sorted. And I am really looking forward to getting them painted up, starting this Monday, using modern Russian and Ukrainian camouflage patterns for some of them. There are a lot of other really nice looking Coppletsone Casting Future Wars sets including Neo-Sov figures which would fit in wonderfully and are calling to me...

Citizen Militias

Road Warrior

Scavenger Heroes

Bio Chem squad

Assault Troopers

     So that's it for the moment; quite a bit done over the last few months and a whole, new, unexpected gaming venture ahead which I will be blogging about on a more regular basis. Especially as I have a few other mini projects in mind and I have a whole lot more room for terrain and a workspace where I can put more effort into.

Pip pip for the mo,

Jim Bob