Come on Eileen!

I survived a week of sunny Dutch weather, a couple of trips to the beach, and living in a small bungalow. I can check that off my bucket list :P Pity my knee started to act up thursday-ish (all that soft sand) and my depression decided it would be a good time to rear it's ugly head again. So instead of me cuddling the kids, the kids were cuddling daddy to cheer him up. Helped a bit, it did. All in all we had fun though, we learned a few lessons for next time, and took a lot of pictures :)

Us having a drink at the restaurant next to Sea Life in Scheveningen. The kids loved seeing all the fish and other aquatic animals. Sadly, they had locked the door behind us when we wanted to continue the tour (granted, it was 17:30) so the girls never got to see the penguins or complete their booklet with a stamp for the last part and a free sticker. (We went back to the entrance after this but this too was closed shut.....a shame).

In the evenings Kim and I chatted while she was making a puzzle and I managed to blow trough 1 Gig of data in a week, keeping up to date with the world and everything. Just couldn't log into most places as I don't keep codes in my phone :D Did manage to find a nice kit for a few euros to go with my P-51, and no shipping costs either as my brother picked it up for me on the way over for a visit.

For a later date, but should be a fun build :)

I spent my evenings plus a afternoon on the beach reading this book, The Forgotten Battle.

I've always been interested in reading up about the war affecting my birthplace, Deurne, but the few local books that I had never mentioned much other then the occasional crash of bombers, and then troops liberating Deurne, and then not much else. This book has changed that. I now know that Deurne was very lucky in that the front lines during Market Garden were very fluid and only solidified again after the Germans had retreated to the Peel area (Deurne lies on the Eastern edge of the Peel area). Also, it was interesting to read about the particular hardships suffered by both sides during one of the most miserbale weather imaginable. I know the Peel area quite well, so reading about tanks having to drive single file to get anywhere, and almost immediately bogging down when they got off the road, and the many, many close assaults with Flailtanks and the dreaded Shu mines and many, many other little details. To my surprise I learned The Americans and the Btits both took turns in defending the area, with the Americans being a lot less professional then the British. New to me was that especially the Allies stole everything they could get their hands on, and the destruction of quite a few landmarks like castles and windmills by extensive use of artillery and fighter bomber support. Mind you, the Germans did that too.

Someday, I hope to use this book and a few others to write some Battlegroup scenario's for it, maybe even a small linked campaign.

And now some serious news. I've been getting worked up over this meeting for a while, but today I got to plead my case to the UWV for referral (at their cost) to Werkmans, a agency that specializes in finding fitting jobs for highre IQ autistic people. After a mere 10 minutes (I guess my enthusiasm did it?) he said they would approve it, but they would need a proposal from Werkmans in 2 weeks starting now, and that they would only fund it for 6 months max (new government rules just in effect)
and all of it has to be started before my physical exam somewhere end of October/mid November. Tomorrow I have another meeting with my psychiatrist (whom I will tell I want no more medication) and after that I will email and phone Werkmans to get the ball rolling. The rest of the week is cleared and I will do more cleaning and selling of stuff and resting my knee cause right now it really, really hurts.

Advanced Sniper Course, Dutch Royal Marines come out on top

From the Dutch Navy FB page:

Dutch Royal Marines Sergeant Jeroen and Corporal Bart took part in the Advanced Sniper Course from the 10th till the 16th of April, and for their performance received the Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal. The training took place at the 9-Mile Training Centre in Texas. There was fierce competition from the USMC, Rangers, FBI en SWAT. During this competition they had to use US gear and weapons (M40 chambered to 7.62mm). During the competition they were judged at firing from a helicoptre, psitol shoot, live stalking, angled shot and the performance during the final excercise.

The Dutch team was Best Team, the shooter and spotter both Best Shooter and Best Sniper.

Way to go guys!

Can't make my mind up: 1/600th period advice wanted

Over the last few years my interest in 1/600th has waxed and waned. Last year I gave up cause I can't paint the infantry figs (that is what I think anyway, if I can't paint 6mm then I surely can't paint 3mm infantry!) but lately I've been playing with tokens and markers for infantry and you know what, I'm ok with that. Knowing ones limitations and all that.

I'm doing this one purely for myself and solo play, and the joy of painting small scale. I just can't decide which period to go for, but I did narrow it down to 3 choices. They are:

• Iran-Iraq War. the sheer diversity of vehicles and the desert to moderate terrain. I have a long standing interest in the period and a extensive air game collection for it. CWC or Rapid Fire Moderns.

 

•  Copy my 20mm 1980's Dutch and make a opposing Russian Tank Division. Sell my 20mm Dutch. I want a Dutch army because I'm Dutch? CWC or Rapid Fire Moderns. 

• Copy my 20mm 1943-45 Germans and make a opposing Russian Tank Division. I will NOT sell my Germans! Battlegroup and BKC.

All periods have their merits. All 3 have a strong (long standing) interest. But atm I can only invest in one.

What would you do?

(Answers in the geste of Do what you like, pick the one most likely of succeeding, which you find most easy to paint are not liked.....I have 3 options for the reason that I like them all!)

Our King visits the 13th Light Brigade

Not something you are used of me, but next to wargaming I take great interest in our Dutch army (and our King...yes, I'm a Royalist), in particular the unit stationed at the Army base Oirschot, only a few miles from here. After years of neglect we are now in the position we can no longer train regularly with live ammunition due to costs after excessive cutbacks (like selling off ALL of our tanks....) <sigh> (Oddly enough I have 3 favorite units, 1 each from each of the branches of the armed forces. Navy - Anything named De Ruyter, Air Force - 322 Polly Grey Squadron and Army - 13th Light Brigade)

I modelled my 20mm Cold War army after a lot of pics taken there back then, and when there is a open Army day, once every 4 years I think it is, I make sure to visit (or do a wargames demo when I can). The 13th is currently transitioning from a Mechanised unit to a Motorised unit, and his Majesty came to inspect the troops and check up on the progress.

Now, while he is wearing a uniform he's no longer a soldier. He served, but after a 2013 change in our consitution members of the government cannot serve in our military at the same time, and he's head of the government. He has no rank, but a special Royal badge denoting his status. It's him on the right btw.

The Brigade "new style" falls in between the 11th Airmobile Brigade and the 43rd Mechanised Brigade, and being wheeled is faster and better able to respond in built up areas and over large distances. (and cheaper to run!) The CV90's will be replaced by Bushmasters, Mercedes Benz 280 CDI and a range of Boxers. They already have the Fennek and the Fuchs.

It will be interesting to see how these new changes will work out.

Operation Springcleaning revisited

Or would that be End-of-Summer cleaning?


Decided this week would be about clearing and selling and closing open cases, so started cleaning last night, and sorting out the first of my BFG stuff for sale online later that night. Also bagged a few trade items and got them ready for shipping, and finally sent out my 20mm sci-fi doors off to someone who wanted to try and cast them. More on that later.


It took me a good 30 minutes to find those items though....which is a good indicator I need to clean up. Which brings me to a discussion....no, more of a chat really with Kim after dinner. As some of you may know she's not a fan of the hobby, but condones it as long as it all has its place. During her stay in the hospital however stuff had drifted into the livingroom and even the bedroom. Also, in the attic stuff is piled to the roof. So, she'd been thinking. First, I need to get the stuff out of any room other then the hobby room and the attic (fair enough) and we need to find a solution for the mess in the attic. Kim was kind enough to explain slowly and with care that the girls will need their own room eventually. They maybe twins but even they have a limit how much they want to be together. So, we need a new master bedroom, so that will be the attic.So we need new storage space. The one I have in Tilburg is not suitable for me, she says, I need something minutes away, not 45 minutes. So we are going to look for a garage or storage box locally, preferably in our own neighbourhood. Then we can transport what we need from Tilburg to there and what we don't need in the attic there as well. From that point on my gaming stuff will only be in the hobby room and the storage unit. And the hobby room will be 100% mine.


A good 15 minute chat with no arguments about the hobby, just looking at what we can do and what we can afford, not trying to change my ways, or hers. I wish we had more of those!


Well, I cleaned the stuff from the bedroom (Necrons that are not selling, so I will give them away for free, and I removed the Scrabs from their bases and into paint stripper so I can base them as singles and add them to my droid army), listed the BFG stuff and 3/4 of it sold in under an hour, then traded a Su-7 for a MiG-29 for my Serbs and a stack of Skaven sprues for a lot of 5 helicopters (of which I only need 1 for Mogadishu, the rest is trade fodder) and bought a cheap 2nd hand unused decalsheet for the NF-5 which has Dutch squadron markings on it so I can finally do a NF-5A for my Cold War Dutch army.....maybe. (The F-5's I got are from Airfix and lack the typical wingtiptanks for the Dutch....I need to find them from somewhere or look for the old Esci/Italeri kit but that sells for a fortune :( )


Tonight I will be cleaning again (and removing the stuff from the living room), and listing more stuff. I will repeat that on Friday, I cancelled my trip to the club this week. I hope to have the entire floor cleaned by the end of the week so I can get cracking on my table, but there is a awfully lot of second hand stuff that needs to be sorted.


Next week I hope to get started on basing a lot of stuff and printing off some rosters so I can keep track of who goes where and what....got 28mm Germans and 20mm Russians and Taliban to base up, as well as some character and pilot figures for my mercenaries.


And then I need to find time to clean my desk and get started with laying the keel for my next Guild challenge, this time the theme is Ambulance (aka a vehicle that transports wounded) and I've selected to scratchbuild the USNS Mercy, a hospital ship, in 1/3000th so she can sail with a Cold War convoy. I'll either scratch her completely or refurbish a oil tanker from the Navwar spares box (like the real thing). While cleaning I also found another scratchbuilt ship from years ago, the barge carrier Julius Fučík , semi finished. I'll try and finish that too, its been worked on on and off since 2009 I think.


Lots of plans!

Focus Points

For the rest of the year, besides selling stuff, I wil focus on 20mm.

For my own sanity, I have a checklist.

W1. WW2 Germans (Early-Mid-Late)
W2. WW2 Russians (Early-Mid-Late)
W3. WW2 British (Late)

M1. Cold War Dutch Mechanised (1980-85)
M2. Cold War British Special Forces (1980-85)
M3. Cold War Soviets Recce (1980-85)
M4, Lebanese Civil War, various Militias
M5. Mogadishu, African Militia
M6. Yugoslavia Civil War, Serbians and Croats
M7. Taliban

SF1. Stalker Project
SF2. Modern Mercenaries

I've sold off Vietnam and I will not be doing Sci-Fi for a while.

Of my Projects, only W1 Mid-Late and M1 are in a gameable state and have opposition in this country to game with/against. W1 should be updated with another German Infantry platoon and more vehicles (loads in stock thanks to PSC). M1 has a fully painted vehicle fleet but the infantry is unpainted. I will not be working on these this year.

W1 will be updated when I have a game planned and need new kit. Most likely Late.
W2 will keep the focus on Late due to the number of T-34/85's based and built and converted and ready for paint.
W3, being 2 British Infantry platoons plus support was my project for the last half year, which sadly tanked due to my increased dosage. I've pushed these on towards 2015

M1 will be picked up in 2015, and I have to do test samples to get the vehicle paint right again. Hopefully, in 2015 SandS will release the YP-408 so I can motorise my infantry towards 1975-1980. A F-16 has been aquired for airsupport.
M2 my Special Forces haven't been toutched since 2011, but I have 2 more special Land Rovers ready to be painted, I just need crew. Also need to make debussed crew. For small Skirmish games.
M3 is a new project, I want to get a small Recce force done, nothing major, as 2 of my mates already have sizeable Soviet forces, and I want a few of my own. I'll probably start his year.
M4 Already did some work on these, I want to do generic stuff first that can cross over to Mogadishu before comitting to one or two militias. As there is no opposition here locally this is a skillz and fun project. (my opposition being in Ireland and Portugal)
M5 I will focus purely on the Africans so I can eventually do AK-74 with them as well. No local opposition so again Skillz and Fun.
M6 Several vehicles converted, I need to test out JNS green before I will commit. There are long term interested parties that probably won't commit till I have a decent force (and they paint much quicker then me) Skillz and Fun cause the opposition is in the USA!
M7 Taliban. 2 people I know have Modern Dutch I can fight against. I want to focus purely on Infantry, I have a bag of Liberation, when those are done I will order Elhiem. 2015

SF1. Really long term ans I don't even have rules for it, more a labour of love and excuse to expand The Junkyard.
SF2. Modern Mercenaries. Also meant for AK-74 but modelled after Blackwater. No opposition, Skillz and Fun.

The list looks rather extensive, but I will try and focus on one project plus 1 back up project a month. Everything has their own box or drawer, so after that period they are easily stored untill taken out again. Each month I will see what tickles my fancy and do that, that way I dont have to worry about getting bored.

I really don't want to be running 12 different projects on my table at once, so this is a better way. A bit OCD, I admit, but quite maneagable.

A extra plus is that I have most projects in stock, so I don't have to spend extra money on figures, instead saving money for future scenery expansion.

My first Shapeways order and a little story

I just made my first Shapeways order. I ordered 2 items from Brigade Models, a 1/300 water tower and 2 sets of 3 Power Pylons. More on that when they arrive, I'll do a little review then.

1/300 I hear you think? Yup. As some of you may know I'm currently unemployed and without a steady flow of cash it seems a hobby comes last, while it is badly needed to relieve stress. Since spending money on models is really a nono when you ain't got none, I've been turning my eye to my rather substantial collection over the last year and looked at what could be sold off and what kept. In this manner I want to fund what I need for big games and demos and get my priorities straight (hobby wise that is)

One of those priorities is to cut down Big Games to 1/300 and smaller from now on (with an exception for Irish Big Games). In that scale it is rather cheap, I have loads of stuff from earlier times left and it does not take up a lot of space. My 20mm forces will be cut down to skirmish level for starters (max 30 troops, some vehicles) with expansions only after they have proven themselves. 1/600 will refocus back on airgames only. The only vehicles I need for that will be targets and AA defences. My 1/3000 naval assets are in a bit of a limbo. I got tons, with lots painted, but no opposition yet and rather clueless how to game this solo.

All of my GW and other assorted 28mm was already on the choppingblock and this just sharpend the blade some more. And there is plenty of other odd stuff to get rid off, so funds should not be too much of a problem for the forseaable future. If I find enough buyers of course.

Anyway, I've started to copy my 1985 Dutch in 1/300 which is going rather well. Well, 1980 to be exact cause I don't have and can't afford yet the GHQ YPR-765 family so they are all mounted in YP-408 variants, and I'm having much fun converting them to the correct types. I'll propably paint most of the stuff in one go so you won't see them anytime soon.

What I am hitting myself over the over is the fact I sold off my Cold War Commander book 2 years ago, and now I need it again. There is a lesson in this kids, don't sell rulebooks!

If anyone has one spare and wants to get rid of it, let me know. If it is a bit tatty, not a problem for me. Open to all offers.