A BIG thank you.

I want to say Thank you to Edwin. During the Analogue Hobbies painting challenge ( Link )I won a prize. Now I do not normally win anything so I was very excited to have won a prize.  The prize was with ( LINK ) Diplomatist Books.

I did a very brief email exchange with Edwin and he posted everything I wanted the day after. Now being Dyslexic I am in no way the fastest/best reader. (I was tested and found to have a reading speed of a 12 year old... and yet the comprehension of a post graduate. Yeah go figure! So I selected 2 books that I knew would have some pictures and that from experience I thought I would manage. Yeah boo hoo me! Ahh poor baby!)


So two Osprey books in the raid series. The first selected was a WW2 title about a raid on a Japanese prisoner of war camp. This I knew would be just my cup of tea.

The second book was set just after the Vietnam war about the rescue of the crew of a US cargo ship in the same area of the world. Again something I knew I would be interested in and thought I would enjoy.

So far I have only skimmed through each book looking at the pictures and examining any maps but I am confident that I shall enjoy them both.

But we are not yet finished Edwin Included a third book free of charge which is in the same series and while not something I would have selected looks like it may end up being the best of the three. It is the 1804 raid on Barbary Pirates to release Christian prisoners. Again something I know nothing about, but I can already see a game developing from this stand point.

Again I have skimmed but not read. While these are classed as second-hand I am told (by Edwin) that they were old stock from shops that have now ceased trading. So they are as new in condition and by far in better condition than I expected.

So a big thanks for supplying the prize. An additional thanks for such good service and a second ADDITIONAL thanks for supplying an extra book. I really am very grateful. If you want to also check his blog you may do so (HERE)

Japanese Sniper Assets (PBI)

Well I have finished my first assets.  In PBI snipers are Assets and the Japanese you will not be surprised have the opportunity to get more than 1 sniper. So for now I have made 2. I will need to increase this number and may eve go as high as 4. For now 2 is enough.

So today is 2 sniper stands for ww2 Japanese army (Or  Marine). Only 4 figures but I hope to have the first platoon finished by the weekend.

The chance to get 1 or 2 or even 3 Japanese snipers in PBI is quite high. It depends on rolling well and being brave.  The Japanese in Pacific Island wars have a dice pool of 15 for a sniper.  You may select as many dice up to that score but the score or pool of dice is diminished each turn by the number you select. If any of the dice roll a "6" then the sniper would turn up for the rest of the game.  So with 15 dice in the pool it is VERY likely that at least 1 sniper will arrive.

The figures are by Battlefront and are 15mm in size.

Thanks for looking and with luck a whole platoon before Sunday.

All the best Clint

Two more, but Oh my!

Yes 2 more figures finished. I cannot say I am happy with the lady and I might re-paint the face. Her clothes are OK but the face is a shocker.

The man though is Ok am quite happy with him. Again No idea who makes these figures they are just 2 random figures  that were laying about and needing a coat (or 2) of paint.

Both 28mm and I think different makes but I do not know.

I do have a few more stands of Japanese finished for next time. But I thought these two might just break up the Pacific flavour and scale.

All the best Clint

Scott M8 HMC 15mm

One of the wonderful things about the wargames club is that if any of us find something that we cannot use but we know another can we are happy to donate for the cause. In September Graham picked up a Battlefront M8 Scott HMC. He was hoping to use it for the British but the more he looked into it the more he realised that the British never used them. (The Canadians did). So knowing I have an American force he very kindly donated it to me. If you do not know the M8 (Scott) here is a link to the Wiki. (LINK)

A reasonably quick repaint later (with his permission|) here is my M8 Scott. I imagine it seeing service with my US troops mostly against the Japanese in the Pacific but also possibly against the Germans in North West Europe.

In Europe the Howitzer Motor Carriage (HMC) would not be a very potent threat as the German tanks would be able to chew through the armour with most of their guns. In the Pacific However I do see it being Far more powerful. As the Japanese tended to have smaller guns on their tanks penetrating the (wafer thin) armour would be more of an issue. In addition the howitzer would be a very potent gun for bunker busting or even tank hunting. Ok the gun is a 75mm Howitzer so not all that large but able to fire High explosive AND smoke (white Phosphorous) .  The Phosphorous rounds were for making smoke and not the same as used in Vietnam before anyone gets ideas above their station. While they may kill an individual it would need to be a direct hit or if they had a breathing difficulty, not a jungle clearing weapon of mass destruction.

That is it for this sunny Sunday. more again soon.
All the best Clint

And once again Thanks Graham.