Allsorts of everything....and a lot of nothing

I have come to the end of the overtime for the moment. (Yippee!) Which means I should be able to get more Hobby/wargames stuff finished. At present I have a lot started and waiting to take some paint, but not so much that I have anything to show today. I do however have lots of things to talk about, so in no particular order I shall start with the figures I acquired from Tim (Frontline/IT Miniatures yesterday http://www.frontlinewargaming.co.uk/ ) As you will recall the Rainham club will be putting on a WW1 East Africa Game at BROADSIDE next year (2013). As it will be a skirmish game I will probably only need 50 figures or less for both sides. So I collected a single IT miniatures pack of German Asakari. This will provide all the figures I will need for the German force. I must admit that I have never really looked at the figures before, having only a passing interest in WW1. The pack of 24 figures contains a nice mix of poses from marching to kneeling firing. 2 of the figures are European officer types while the other 22 are African Asakaris. For German Asakari my reading has revealed this to be the right ratio. Obviously on campaign this might change but on paper it is correct. I found all the figures well sculpted and nicely proportioned. There was absolutely no flash and very minimal molding lines so you can't say fairer than that. Overall I am very pleased with the figures and they have already been primed and shall go to paint today (once I have done some housework, which I have been putting off!).

I will briefly mention yesterdays club. I only attended for an hour and did not roll any dice, as I had a shift to do Sunday night and really wanted to erase my "sleep debt!" The guys, even Graham and Peter, played Saga, Graham used my Vikings seen to the right (against Dave's Normans). I can make no comments about any games as I was just not present but one person (Kev) has emailed me and said it went well. I will talk to Kev on Tuesday so I will no doubt hear more then.

While at the club I did propose a WW2 mini campaign using Operation Squad rules (OS). The campaign is to be set outside of Caen in June 1944. Each player will act as a squad leader and manipulate a single squad of figures. The two forces will be Germans and British Commonwealth troops. I will paint the lot ready to go in 2 weeks time. (Sometimes I need/like a tight deadline!). Not a single club member offered any dissent about the campaign idea (OK Tim did but only jokingly because everyone else seemed up for it.) Only Tim and Relfie expressed a preference to which side they would like to be, both selecting Germans. Peter wanted Americans, as he did not want to be responsible for any British casualties. However this time out there will be no U.S Troops so I suspect he will choose to be Commonwealth. Most players will take the rank of Sergent, some however will be Lieutenants. These "lucky" few will of course get greater responsibilities and of course be able to issue orders to there subordinates. How there troops decide to carry these orders out remains to be seen. The first job each lieutenant will be given will be to decide which squads under their command receive any additional equipment. I know one of the younger players will seek command but as I feel he will want all the extras for his squad and leave his fellows with a bare pittance, if anything at all I am reluctant to put him forward as an officer. Although the evil side of me thinks it would be a very good idea to let him be in charge! I shall divulge more of this as I get it written down, and finalised. As at this step I do not want to give the players too much insight into the campaign. You will note for example that no exact units have been specified, as one of the early scenarios will be to capture a prisoner to determine the force and disposition of said force that they face. I am at present preparing a starter pack for each side, so they will have background and some knowledge of what assents they might be able to call upon. I will say however that the German squads cost 400 points each, while the commonwealth squads a mere 235 points each. therefore expect the Germans to be up against it from the start.

Elsewhere on the paining table I have Apaches',  Mechs, Zombie Hunters and Napoleonic ships. So I may have to start finishing a few things off soon. Thanks for reading. Have a good couple of days and I will post on the blog again on Wednesday. All the best Clint