Venting

Went uptown today. Amongst other business l wanted to speak to the supermarket company where I have my phone account about potentially upgrading and about a technical issue I had. One of my daughters was  there also as l wanted to ask about her phone too. To cut a long story short I was patronised, treated like an utter idiot and left with negative self esteem by the phone employee.It reminded me of the Two Ronnies (?) sketch where the chap goes into the Hifi shop, if you remember it. I am only just coming down from being made livid by the experience.

Skirmish at Lantern Waste

Inspired by this game https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2019/09/22/close-little-wars-game-8-of-2016/ and waiting in for the gas boiler to be serviced today, I set up this Close Wars game. The Northern wildmen have invaded from the North and the Narnian forces are making a final stand on the Lantern Waste. Here are some pictures from the game( which was great fun) with the second one  showing what happened just before the Narnians were swept from the table...

Mythical Earth- the baddies

As promised here are the Mythical Earth bad guys. They are still a work in progress and victim to my indecisiveness regarding basing. What you see is various attempts at basing and my general lack of coming to a consensus on this. Plain green , individual,element based, textured etc they stand testament to the ongoing work. So here are the figures. By the way what do you think re basing ?

A tale of two museums

Typing this on the train northwards. Saturday saw me at a fascinating conference on the Late Stuart Army at the National Army Museum. Great papers by engaging speakers. It was well organised and well conducted. However l could not say the same of the museum itself. The thematic displays were confusing and strangely presented. I was underwhelmed to say the least.
Yesterday l went to the Imperial War Museum ( l had been to neither museum in thirty years or so) and the opposite applied. Engaging,chronological and coherent,excellent presentation. The Holocaust section was superb and the model of part of a camp overwhelming. The silence of the people visiting was moving.
A really helpful volunteer told me about a ww1 field gun on display and we talked about context via the Airfix gun , horses and crew of of our youth. The visuals in the ww1 area were incredible.
A tale of two very different museums and an opportunity lost in my opinion. I would be interested to read what you think.

Prancing Pony Podcast

En route to London l am really enjoying listening to this

The Prancing Pony Podcasts are super. They cover all aspects of Tolkien. The are informative,entertaining and great fun. Highly recommended. Do give them a listen.

Mustering the forces of Gondor

The other day I left a comment on Rob Dean’s blog about his superb Mythical Earth figures. He replied asking how my collection was going. So as a response I thought I would post a few pictures of some of my Gondor troops.

Scouting about

Just a link to Mark’s blog and the project we are working on-
https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2019/09/17/boy-scouts-camping-and-quarter-staves-again/#comments
Do pop by and have a look. Don’t forget to leave a comment there or here and let us know what you think about it. Mark has unearthed some fascinating material which is just crying out to be used in a game. Your suggestions and ideas are most welcome.

Anyone going?

I am hopefully going to this, are you?

The Philatelic war of 1959

Decided to try out the rules from 54mm or Flight ( G Company aka Company Fire Lite by John Yorio) available here https://54mmorfight.blogspot.com/2019/09/g-company-updated-yes-already.html

The tank is by Dinky, Infantry and Cavalry homecasts (very kindly cast for me by Mark Man of Tin) from Holger Eriksson moulds  and heavy weapons from pound store figures. The scenario is from the little know intervention by Swedish troops in the Duchy of Tradgardland’s internal unrest over the succession of the new duke. I am just get used to the rules and hope to play through some further scenarios from this fascinating conflict.

Basing: your opinion sought.

My shiny toy soldiers in 54mm have been based in two different ways. The mountain troops have stones and foliage on their bases whilst the infantry have plain painted bases. Here is a photo of them-

The rationale was that the mountain troops basing was to reflect the steep terrain in which they fought. However l am wondering about adding some, although less, scenic material to the plain infantry bases. What do you think?

Some scenes of a Portable Wargame in 54mm

The Swiss troops from the Canton of Thun have mobilised to stop an invasion by Austro Hungarian mountain troops and other infantry.

Play testing Gentlemen Johnny’s War rules for the AWI

We didn’t really find “ Muskets and Tomahawks “ were working for us for the AWI. So we decided to try out the GJW by Philip Robinson and David Bickley. I tore them out of a magazine years ago ,kept them but never used them until today. So temporary card bases were prepared and we got started.

As with all new rules, even those  consisting of only two sides of A4 like these, it takes time to get to know them. After our game we felt they were better than M&T in terms of period flavour and mechanics. A enjoyable game was had and we will definitely play them again. Have any of you used them? How did they play for you?

Currently reading (1) and a moving find

Just back from a splendid trip to Cornwall for my middle daughter’s MA Authorial Illustration 2019 show. More about the trip later. Currently reading the following-

 While  I was in Cornwall I came across this moving memorial-

The Duke on tour

The Duke of Tradgardland is currently enjoying the delights of The English Riviera including this splendid Art Deco lido. A most enjoyable meeting was held with ummo di latte and The Volare Cantare Air Attaché has joined the company. More news soon.