Happy Blogday!

Happy 8th Blogday! I read that internet years are like dog years, so WwB is overdue a mid-life crisis. This is my 399th post.

This Blogday review is brought to you by the colour Batman.

Pow!

Last year, I pre-ordered the Batman: Gotham City Chronicles extravaganza. I cleared the decks before it arrived in May, so was able to dive into a busy painting schedule and got it all done. Yay me!

I quite enjoyed the research for this project.

I also had fun painting my15mm poilus and tanks for WW1.

The other bigger project this year was Pinkstone Fortress, which has produced some fun battle reports.

I've just returned from Japan, so the blog went quiet for a few weeks. I saw Tokugawa Ieyasu's shrine, which has a carving of boardgamers on the gateway:

I also visited the Tokyo-Edo museum, which has some stunning 1:30 dioramas.

What does the next year hold?

• More terrain
• More Batman
• More Blackstone Fortress
• A return to Lord of the Rings
• Dabbling in 3D printing
• Samurai?

I'm looking forwards to AHPC X and CanCon! It was an honour to be a minion for AHPC IX.

Anzac Day 2018- WW2 digger

This is one of my old OzMade 54mm figures I painted 15-20 years ago. He's carrying the Australian-designed 9mm Owen submachine-gun, and is kitted out for jungle warfare.

I added the helmet netting myself. I'm happy with the skin tones, but it could do with an overall wash to build depth and contrast, as well as better basing and foliage. (Not to mention fixing the chip on his collar...)

These evocative paintings by George Browning are of the 25th Infantry Brigade in the 1942 Kokoda Track campaign. I had the privilege of walking the Track in 2007- very hard to imagine doing it whilst being opposed.

That's me in the red.

Lest we forget.

All other pictures via the Australian War Memorial.

Barks in Japan- final thoughts

I had a great first trip to Japan. It was fairly easy to get around, the food was great, most people spoke some English (phew), the scenery was beautiful. In this final post on my trip, I thought I'd jot down a few notes on the scenery aspects of my visit, and illustrate with some photos. My views on the city may be useful for modern or near future cypberpunk, and my notes on the country will help me for sengoku era gaming.

City

Tokyo is a megacity, well over 10 million people. The infrastructure is very supportive. The buildings are at least three storeys as far as the eye can see, in every direction. Cars are compact, streets are narrow, bikes are everywhere. Underpasses are extensive. Vending machines are incredibly common, with less physical depth than I'm used to , and selling hot drinks as well! Pavement is scarcely existent outside of the city centres. Overhead telephone lines are a complete spider web (hard to replicate on the gaming table!). Private gardens are small and a luxury.

Can't see the edge of town from here!

Mount Fuji is behind the haze

View out to central Tokyo

Rooftops of Kyoto

Bullet trains (shinkansen) are my new favourite way of travel. Smooth, fast, lots of leg room, on-time to a fault, and no check-in or security like an airport. And so cool.

Shinji looks like he's grown a pair. Even Rei looks like she has a personality!

Country

The traditional gardens I visited were lovely- although ten-year old me wouldn't have been so appreciative! It takes a lot of effort to make them appear so natural, if you know what I mean. Winding paths, little ponds and streams with bridges or stepping stones (and koi), mossy ground. Stone lanterns are common. The torii gates have quite an orange component to their colouring, which is a vibrant contrast to the green surrounds. Cherry blossoms in spring, bright red maples in Autumn.

Edo castle grounds, Tokyo

Kinkaku-ji, Kyoto. I love those pine trees.

Katsura River, Kyoto

Fushimi Inari-taisha, Kyoto. A hillside path with thousands of torii

Shirakawa Minami-dori, Kyoto- the most beautiful street in Asia.

Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto

Takinomiya Shrine, tucked away in Kyoto

Ginkaku-ji, Kyoto

Ginkaku-ji, Kyoto

Koko-en, Himeji

Koko-en, Himeji

Can you tell I liked Kyoto?! I had a great little trip to Japan, but barely scratched the surface. I am looking forward to going again!

Mount Fuji from the shinkansen

Barks in Japan- hobby shops

In Japan I had a few days in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Hiroshima. In between being the tourist, I dropped in to hobby shops when the opportunity arose. This list is far from nuanced or exhaustive, it is purely where I happened upon.

Tokyo

Akihabara

Akihabara is a central suburb known for electronic gadgetry. It has a strong nerd/ geek culture. I found a nine floor building (Akihabara Radiokaikan), and every floor was a different nerd heaven. Especially if you're into CCGs or large display figurines.

Yellow Submarine

YS is a chain of gaming stores across Japan. The bulk of their business is CCGs, but they do have boardgames. On the 6th (?7th) floor of the Radiokaikan building is a big YS store, with a large gundam and scale model focus. It had some boardgames as well. There were some beautiful scale models on display.

Girls und panzer?

Shinjuku

Shinjuku is another major suburb of Tokyo, with the world's busiest railway station. It also houses the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, where you can take a free lift to the observation level on the 45th floor for views across Tokyo.

If it was a clear day, Mount Fuji would be in the distance!

Yellow Submarine

There was a YS in Shinjuku- much smaller then the Akihabara one. It had a few boardgames.

Tokyu Hands

Tokyu Hands is a department/ variety chain store, where you can get just about any household good, hardware, stationery, kitchen utensil, luggage, etc. I went to their flagship store in Shinjuku, and found a few boardgames. It is next to a good bookstore, Kinokuniya.

Kyoto

Yellow Submarine

Another YS in Kyoto- again, mostly CCGs with a small selection of boardgames. I think it had a paltry amount of GW stuff as well.

Entrance to YS Kyoto, on the 4th floor

Bunkyodo Hobby

This is a basement hobby store focussing on scale modelling, and had a very good range of stuff.

Hiroshima and Kure

Yellow Submarine

The last YS! Again, CCGs, some boardgames and a tiny amount of GW. Quite a few 1:144 planes.

Cleverland

I think it was called Cleverland, but it was on the 4th floor of the Futabatosho Giga Hondori store, barely a block from the YS. A good selection of model railway (N-scale) and scale modelling/ gundam stuff. This display case nicely summarises the miniature situation in Japan- lovely scale models, castles, and mecha and girls in mecha.

Malta Hobby

On the walk to and from the Kure naval museums, you'll go past Malta Hobby, which is a scale model store packed with teetering piles of plastic kits.

General notes

• Many 'hobby shops' solely exist for collectable card games.

• Gundam, 1:144 and N-scale railway models are a big thing (no pun intended)

• Scale modelling is also a serious thing

• There is a small Japanese board game industry, but I found it hard to work out what was worthwhile for a non-Japanese gamer. I may have to delve deeper into BoardGameGeek.

• Many Japanese editions of European and North American games exist

• Collectable large figurines are a big thing. Especially if they're schoolgirls with ginormous weapons.

This scenery range is cool if you're into kaiju

or Evangelion

Loot

I was very restrained- I got a gundam marker pen for 180 yen, and a Japanese edition of Sushi Go.

Next time- final thoughts and more pictures.