He’s got the look or at least he’s trying to get one

 Set up some battlefields today-

Felt cloth with trees, no demarcation of woods by areas of green felt . Trees with wooden bases , still unpainted.

Hex mat but used in non hex mode, trees on demarcated woods and hills. 

Infantry go ahead through the woods whilst tankettes advance on the flank…

Heavy machine gun dug in behind hedge, infantry skirt the woods whilst making for the rolling hills.

Not happy with the look yet but trying options…

A third force , work in progress

 My third force is coming along very nicely. They are depicted in a variety of uniforms, including helmets etc collected off the battlefield or bought otherwise. These include Ostmerk and Morava items. They represent militia probably from an agrarian national peasants political party.

Note antiquated cannon and a high incidence of lmg/hmg due to equipment been removed from a local army arsenal.

The big problem is coming up with a name. I had come up with Banat of Transflumen but realised it was a long winded name to say the least. I am still thinking…

Photos

 Friday saw me hosting a dark age skirmish here- 

P. continued to throw an inordinate amount of ones on d6 . As one who taught probability in primary school in maths ( using a throw d6  a hundred times experiment ) I just cannot believe how many ones he threw not to mention the number of fives and sixes l threw as opposed throws ! A fun game ensued.

Some splendid art on hoardings cinema Edinburgh-

Reading

 Interesting six page article in this month’s Wargames Illustrated on MLS-

I can resist everything but…

 Temptation in the form of Lemax figures and scenery was evident at the Garden Centre yesterday-

I managed to resist, so far…

A Third Force(2)

I have been reading around Romania a bit and looking at photos. Also found some footage-

https://streaming.britishpathe.com/hls-vod/flash/00000000/00076000/00076706.mp4.m3u8

https://streaming.britishpathe.com/hls-vod/MEDIA-4/archive/1VPZ/2008-10-20T000000Z_1_LVAET5LMTE8G1WP78JKEGMEHZPV1_RTRWNEV_F_KING-CAROL-II-OF-ROMANIA-INSPECTS-TROOPS.MP4.m3u8

Broke out the Funken books too. The WW1 volumes were a birthday present from my parents when I was around twelve or so . I eagerly anticipated these books I had asked for . The day of my birthday dawned and I had the flu. I very briefly opened the two volumes but wasn’t up to it. They lay beside my bed until I felt a little better in the days to come. This illustration was one of my favourites-

Will work further on the figures over the weekend…

A memorable journey

 

The book on the left I bought in 1988. It is volume one. This morning I bought the book on the right, volume two. I can’t believe it has taken me so long!

These are beautiful travel books which conjure up a lost world of interwar Europe. Norman Stone says of this one - A book so good you resent finishing it. High praise indeed. The first few pages, over coffee this morning, whisked me effortlessly through time and space to Holy Saturday 1934 , Esztergom, forty miles upstream from Budapest. 

Do give these a go, you certainly won’t regret it. Just right for someone working on Mark’s Little Soldiers and a mittel European imagination.