Graveyard of the Hanomag 251's

The first thing to clearly state is that this is not my "spare box" (see below):

So it's not really a continuation of Tim Gow's, Pauls and Al's "this is my spares box" conversation. Rather it is the wreckage wrought from 'nimble little fingers'. Yes, my youngest son has grown another two inches since the "Wirblewind Affair" and has now discovered my German half track and armoured car drawer (see below for the extra damage). I think he'll be an Allied player as he seems to restrict his destructive tenancies to the German forces.

Note how the crew have been carefully "plucked" from their berths with sniper like precision, something I wish I could emulate (as I seem to be aging and losing the 'finer' control just as my children are gaining better and better control, my eldest son's (7) karate is really cool to watch). Of interest, apart from the basic 251/1 and 251/10 (At 37mm Commander's HT) are the Engineering (top) and the 75mm HE (far left) and AT (far right) variants.  

The damage limitation parties have been out and accessed the situation with the conclusion that it could have been far, far worse. I am merely a light AAMG down. The crews have been removed and I am using the opportunity to slip into the kits some SHQ 'seated' Panzer Grenadiers. The bits have been pushed, coerced and nudged back together. I have joined Al in the "don't like weak axle" brigade and Milliput'ed the wheels on solid underneath.

JagdPanzer IV repair: The anti-tank capability of an 18 month year old

A commando style raid was launched on Daddy's "Panzer IV" tray, resulting in a 'coup' for the 'special forces' operative (see below):

The hands of an eighteen month old child proved more deadly to this late war 20mm German JagdPanzer  IV than any action to date on a wargames table from a 85mm Soviet anti-tank guns or Sherman 75's. A team of expert repair workers (aka me, in a team of one) were brought in to attempt to repair the damage:

The operation reached a tense moment with the attachment of a metal pin into the broken limb (see above):

With nurses mopping the brow of the surgeon a hole was drilled in the "pig's head" mantle (see above). Superglue time and the reconstruction was complete (see below):

And the guilty culprit, got off scot free, with giggles and cuddles to mummy. There is a certain "full circle" element to all this one of my first posts to Geordie's Big Battles was showing off my 'recently' painted (in 2009) JagdPanzer IV company (in Command Decision terms) as wargame ready:

Early Photo of JagdPanzer IV Company
Better Shot of JagdPanzer IV Company

This is back in 2009. To my eternal shame I have still not "decalled" them to finish them off properly or even had them out on a wargames table proper! Maybe my youngest son was just trying to tell me something after all, using the vocabulary available to him ("All gone" is his latest phrase).

Missing "Necron" Located

Necron unit NW-0012 (Necron Warrior #12) turned up unexpectedly during a "man cave" clear-out session. He (or rather it) appeared from behind a stack of shelving (yes in bits, two to be precise). Obviously NW-0012 had been blown there by the Space Marine high explosive that "killed it" ( .. we all know it was a five year old trooper/recruit that did it):

The unit was reactivated (boy does it look angry) and has successfully joined up with its parent unit:

The said Necron unit is hiding in a "secure and safe bunker" from the Ultra Marine menace (now a six and a half years old veteran model crusher. I lock my kit up when he comes round to play!)

Lost Wirblewind Found

There is a lot to be said for lateral thinking and a late night Friday night-cap of Hoegaarden beer.

(Note: It's powerful stuff so I just have "one" these days as a treat. I remember in my youth staring down at a circle of lemon floating in this Belgian wheat beer thinking it was harmless stuff, I'll have another and what the heck another for the road. Next day waking up my bed wondering where did the elephant go that sat on my head last the night? It has a kick to it, but I digress.)

I was thinking if my youngest did "file the Wirblewind" (see previous post) as part of one of his "learning games" it was not a certainty that the "bin" was used, looking around the room my eye was drawn to his clothing chest of drawers. He likes to put things in them from the back, I wonder ...

Not in the bottom drawer, but sure enough the middle draw was housing an under-coated  black, 1/72 ESCI Wirblewind as well a collection of stylish young man's (under 2's) jumpers. All I have to do now is paint it before he really does puts it in the bin!

:)

A happy ending to a horror story

One of my Wirblewind's is missing: Collateral losses

Incident Report:

Bless the inquisitive nature of a small child, some fifteen months old (when the crime was committed). Returning home one evening I was greeted with the usual family pleasantries, all was as normal or so I thought. It was only later in the night did I discover that Daddy's play cupboard security had been breached. A minor case of a disgruntled dad and slightly amused mummy for the evening in BAFTA award winning mock consolation. Hmm.

You see things were rather a jumble in the 20mm section.In particular the "assembled and under-coated black" WIP tray. Hasagawa 20mm Churchill I and II's were scattered about and the Japanese Chi-Ho was rather Chi-Lo without a turret and Panzer IV tray was "upside down". (I could not bring myself to photograph the damage.)

However order was restored I thought the "damage" was limited to an unfortunate Churchill Mk I that was missing its 20mm main armament (some would say no real loss there then) and also something which could be replaced quite easily from the spares box. All was calm :)

However only recently did I discover there was a deeper missing "blank" where my Panther Battalion's (a very slow moving WIP wargaming project where I am still really assembling all the kits) AA platoon should have been. The neatness of the "pluck" was in stark contrast to the other mayhem. The search turned up nothing, so the Wirblewind (ESCI kit) is now posted MIA, but rather worryingly was the proximity of the crime scene to a waste basket.

Even more worryingly is that my youngest son (the felon/chief suspect) had a favourite game about a month ago called "putting things that were not supposed to go there in the bin". He was just copying what we did, that's part of learning after all. Shudder at the thought. Er, would my wife have spotted this treasure and plucked it from said bin, unlikely. So it is probably residing in a land-fill far, far away :(

Attack of the "Inquisitive Six Year Old Children"

Hmm, parenthood, I didn't read this in the manual. I returned home to a concerned wife (well she was hiding her humorous interpretation of the event under the mask of concern) who remarked that while she was on the phone my son had shown his "friends" my room. Alarm bells began to ring at once. I investigated and found that a furious fire-fight had taken place. Thankfully the "shiny decoys" (GW 40K) had done their job beautifully, soaking up the hits and saving the more valuable, or rather more serious, wargaming toys from collateral damage. After a detailed scan the "body count was":

• Two "Necron Warriors" down (after the action reports seems to suggest they were taken out by an energetic thumb action, one at the ankles and the other at the midriff, by expertise akin to a Space Marine Veteran)
• One "Necron Warrior" MIA (transponder not showing up on screen, it could be anywhere in the known universe, possibly abducted by a six year old blue eyed boy and now sitting in a bedroom next to a Power Ranger or Bakuman) 
• One "Necron Warrior" managed to evade capture and I undertook a successful SAR mission retrieving it from underneath/behind a set of draws
• Two "Necron Scarabs" were "de-based" from their stands
• A "Necron Destroyer" suffered the indignity of a broken stand
• Two "Guant-type" Tyranids were debased cleanly at the ankles 

Despite the protestations of my son saying "he liked them better that way", the superglue made its way from the toy medical kit. All apart from the MIA Necron have been restored to a semblance of their former glory. My wife thought it was "karma" payback on me (she was now giggling at me) for actions to my older brothers Subbuteo figures (when I was aged fifteen months old, some forty plus years ago and the damage was to six teams of the the then, "First Division"). Personally I just hope I can attain a maturity consistent with my age, rising above the obvious hurt and "forgive and forget". The alternative Would be a revenge commando-style sabotage mission on the next "school parent's evening" (aka "taking out" two specific art models from Year One's work; I hope I have sound 'Intell' and they are clearly labelled).

No photos as I found the sight of my dead/mutilated models too distressing, despite their obvious "media copy" value. This episode has renewed my philosophy of distributed series of "model-kit caches" to the vaults of friendly wargaming clubs in the area to avoid a nuclear "lose-it-all" incident. You cannot under estimate the destructive power of six year old boys once they have a taste for it! Thank goodness they were oblivious to the location of my 20mm WWII plastics ;)