More Tea

One of the small distributors I deal with carries a lot of interesting imports. In their list was Bewley's Irish Breakfast Tea. This was a nice addition and helped round out my rather pedestrian selection of Tetley and Red Rose.

It started selling like crazy. People coming in and asking anxiously "Have you got any Bewley's in yet?" Sadly the rep only comes in every 4 to 6 weeks and there are only 6 boxes in a case. I brought in two cases; one for an anxious woman and another for the shelf. Here I am thinking that the 'Bewley's woman' is the only one buying it and the other case will sit. Nope. Sold out over the weekend!

So I bring in FOUR cases. Gone. But not before I was able to buy a box for myself to see what the fuss was about. It's a nice, strong full bodied black tea. Just the way I like it.

This weekend Patrick came over to play and he likes to buy things for people. He brought me a box of tea:

 This is also very good and the way I like it; full bodied and strong enough to soothe anxious nerves during the Blitz or help generals during disasterous battles.



The fact that it is fair trade, rainforest friendly and organic just makes even better.

Reading

In between studying for my WPC102 (Written Performance Check aka a 'test') and my PPC102 (Practical Performance Check i.e. I have to give a lesson- my PowerPoint on the CF Role in the UN and NATO is going to be stellar!) I have been reading a few books loaned to me by a friend.

Both are from the Stackpole Military History Series.

First up was Goodwood by Ian Dagleish. An interesting study of a controversial battle which I had heard of before but didn't know much about. The attempt to force a corps of three armoured divisions through a narrow gap in the minefields and overrun the German defences after a paralyzing bombardment was bold and had some initial success, but eventually reinforced the lesson that tanks need infantry up close to help clear those pesky anti-tank guns out of hiding.

He gets very detailed in his analysis and the book provides a wealth of scenario ideas for company level actions.

After that I started Armoured Guardsmen, the diary of a troop commander in the Coldstream Guards from Normandy to the Rhine. It is a fascinating and well written account from the commander's seat of a Sherman tank. His view of the Goodwood battle was quite interesting to read after the bigger picture provided by the previous book. But the small details of the friction of war and how it can effect things (like his radio operator is wounded and how having a good Operator makes life so much calmer for a Troop cmdr) makes me more understanding when the cards don't fall the way I'd like when playing I Ain't Been Shot Mum!

Both books are highly recommended and also reinforce my pressing need for some orchards and walled Norman farms for my 15mm games.

Back to Borden!

It's being a frightfully busy winter so far.

I started my OTC (Occupational Training Course) last weekend. I've been looking forward to it since my Basic ended really. It's tiring and eats up my days off, but I enjoy the experience and the people (OK I admit it, putting on the uniform hasn't gotten old yet either and we're in combats most of the time). The BOTC course just taught me how to walk, talk and look like an Army officer. This course is for my MOSID (Military Occupational Structure Identification) of Cadet Instructor; so it's three weekends of methods of instruction, different learning styles and adolescent development. I have 4 really dynamic instructors teaching us all this. The Senior Instructor is a corporate trainer, another is a Special Ed teacher and at least one of the other two is also a teacher.

But once I've completed the course I'll be eligible for commissioning and that skinny little OCdt bar will fatten up to a 2Lt's bar!

At the same time I have started organizing Hotlead, my annual miniature wargaming convention. So far, so good. After only three weeks I've got almost 2 dozen games listed (keep checking the website, they should be getting posted this weekend) and 5 dealers. I have vague promises for almost 2 dozen more games and a Warhammer 40K tournament, but they haven't sent me enough details to post yet.

This year we're having a War of 1812 theme, so there are a lot of horse and musket games, but we've also got a good selection of ancients, WW2 and a couple of naval games too.

On top of all this I've been trying to pursue a job lead. The potential employer wants to talk to me, but is awfully busy so we're trying to set something up for a Sunday when I'm not in Borden and he's not away (like this weekend). Hopefully we can make something work this week.

So last night was the first time I picked up my paint brushes in over a week and trying to schedule any games in the Basement o' Rabbits will probably have to wait a month until my course is over.

Fallschirmjaeger 2nd Platoon

Like I said earlier, after being inspired by I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! I indulged myself by finishing a second platoon of Fallschirmjaeger from my Christmas miracle army.

Three 10 figure rifle sections, each with 2 MG42 teams. Plus 2 extra figures to bring the first platoon up to full strength. I also did three more Big Men on round washers. '21' and '22' are for 2 Platoon and the third one is labeled '02' in case I need a Company 2 i/c.

They're all old Battlefront. I quite enjoyed painting them up. Since my troops have a large number of the Stg44 assault rifle I painted them in a late war NW Europe camo scheme, whereas with Brian's FJ I mixed in a lot of tan Mediterranean camo pattern.

Trees!

Ever since admiring Der Alte Fritz's winter terrain I've wanted to do the same.

I asked my friend Dan, who lives in a larger city, and has time off at Christmas, to use his deal-hunting mojo for me in the post-Christmas sales. He found some of those 'Christmas Village' tree sets for me at a Micheal's (a big box chain craft and art supply store) near him. You can see Dan's winter terrain in this old game report on the Mad Padre's Wargame Blog.

Bag o'trees

I had seen a couple of these at my local Canadian Tire (a big hardware & housewares chain) before Christmas for around $15-16.

Contents of one bag

 Dan found them on sale for about $6.00 a bag. He got me all the remaining stock in the store.

Size comparisons with 15mm figures (L) and 28mm figure (R)

Each bag has trees ranging from 2.5 inches (x10), 4 inches (x6), 6 inches (x3) and 9 inches (x2). The three smaller sizes will certainly be useful for 15mm battles.

126 trees!

Dan got me 6 bags. 126 trees all told. I'm thinking the Russian Front. I'm thinking Goths and Romans fighting in the snow. I'm thinking the Battle of Nancy (5 January 1477). I'm thinking the Battle of Leuthen (5 December 1757). Oh yeah. We got snow.

Now I just need a white fleece for the ground and a few bare limbed deciduous trees and I can check off another item on my list.

Happy 2012! So far, so good...

This year I think I want to carry on with my plan from last year, but focus on the terrain more as well as pushing various projects forward as the mood strikes. But in addition to No New Periods! No New Scales! I'm going to add No New Armies! Because I have all this early war German kit and the thought of painting up some 1940s French (mmmm.... Forged in Battle) or 1941 Russians (the Old Glory T26s intrigue me and the PSC infantry and T34s look tasty) really appeals. But I must resist.

And if I want a break from my 15mm SYW or WW2 there's lots of lovely 28mm Napoleonics and Romans waiting for me.

Besides, I need to put my efforts into terrain.

Here's my old 25mm Medieval village, made over 20 years ago:

You can tell they've been fought over quite a bit over the years. They're kinda rough, no details or highlighting and definitely looking a bit worn. Although the fortified farm has a certain charm still.

But on the New Year's weekend I painted up these resin buildings which I picked up for $20 at the Hotlead Bring and Buy. I had them black undercoated and then put them in a box and never got back to them for ages:

Big house back

Big house front

Old barn and cottage

Bit of an improvement eh?

The thatching was a challenge to paint, but I'm pleased with how it came out.

Some of my Medieval troops check out the new accommodations.

And I think they will look good when I finally get some Napoleonics painted up and ready to play too. Now I just need to add a few more!

Reading the newest edition of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! and then playing with Lorenzo on the weekend also inspired me to push ahead on a second rifle platoon for my Fallschirmjaeger. They're nearing completion and will bring that army up to three platoons (2 rifle, 1 MMG) which will fit into most of the starter scenarios in the rules and give them enough strength to take the offensive once in a while.

2011 in Review

Well it's New Year's Eve and time to be all retrospective.
Here's what I posted at the start of the year:

So here's what I'd like to do this year:
1. get enough 15mm SYW Austrians done to have a viable inhouse opponent for my Prussian army.
2. play with said SYW armies!
3. get another platoon of Fallschirmjaeger done
4. finally play a game with said FJ!!
5. finish the last few units of German armour.
6. push other periods forward too by moving some more Colonial, VSF and Medieval troops from the unpainted to the painted box.
7. play some ancients. Too much to hope that I'll get any more legions done, but if I start playing the period again maybe the enthusiasm will strike.

A modest check mark beside 1 & 2, since I did get enough Austrians done to be able to play a game with them. But the Austrians need more troops to be able to take the field without the earthworks.

Item 3 is a late starter; inspired by reading v.3 of I Ain't Been Shot Mum! I got a second platoon of FJ scraped, primed and last night gave them their black undercoat. I had hoped to piggy back them with Brian's FJ, but his commission turned out to be big enough without adding another rifle platoon to it. But thanks to that game in August with my nephew, I do get to put a big check mark beside point 4!

If we don't count the last packs of Opelblitzes and halftracks, and the two Sdkfz234 ACs a friend gifted me, then #5 is a big check mark. (And I don't see myself getting any more.... maybe...)

No action on point 6. Kept getting distracted by other things like commission jobs and Romans.

Big surprise on point 7 with Hail Caesar. My ancient armies saw a lot of the table this year.

Not too much progress on terrain either. I did get my big trestle bridge built and have found 2nd hand pieces to make a blown up version. The SYW earthworks were a big addition too. But I still need some fake fur fields, more bridges, and individual trees for orchards.

Warlord Games threw temptation in my way and unhorsed my pious determination to maintain No new Scales! No new Periods! this year by getting me started on 28mm Romans and Napoleonics.

Some pretty good progress on commission work this year, and I managed to stay pretty close to my carefully thought out plan:

Obviously interspersing commission work with my own projects and breaking up big commissions into smaller lots has been successful.

Job wise things have stalled at the Buy Food. The Boss is nice enough, and the pay is OK, but it's not enough to get ahead, and I've gone as far as I think I'm able to there. I have begun networking and applying to other jobs. My other job as a COATS (Cadet Organization Administration and Training Service) Officer with the Army has finally taken off and the extra income from going on courses has been a big help this fall, even if it has cut into painting and gaming and writing time.

My blog posts are up by about 30% this year over last. Having my own camera at long last has helped with that.

Game-wise I don't think I'm any further ahead this year. I'm going to change my routine and try scheduling games for Friday evenings instead of Saturday evenings now and the occasional weekend afternoon. If I can change jobs and free up my weekends from retail slavery then that will help a lot.

Speaking of which, I'm off this afternoon to test drive I Ain't Been Shot Mum v.3 with Lorenzo and his Russian army. Talk to you later!