Unboxing or Hurrah from the Homeguard

 My Homeguard chaps are delighted with a parcel that arrived from Brian C today-

Excellent transport for both the Homeguard not to mention my VBCW forces. Thanks Brian most kind indeed!

Pictures etc

 

The garden railway halt was blown over with broken glass blown across the line ( all two feet of it) from tea light holders. Interesting to see what the model engineers do…

Two large visitors to the bird feeder yesterday who managed to eat at the same time.

I am enjoying painting these Bloody Miniatures ECW figures, they are such lovely sculpts. 

Today is/was my wedding anniversary and some of my family are coming round for haggis , neaps and tattles etc, should be fun.

After the storm etc

Thursday saw meeting my middle daughter for a wee trip to South Queensferry, including her swim in the Forth!

This was followed by lunch and coffee in Dune bakery https://www.dunebakery.com/

Yesterday was a day at home as the Storm raged and raged it did. All fine here in the Duchy but other friends had roof ripped off and trees falling in their garden.

Neighbour’s fence damaged badly unfortunately.

Trees down in the centre of Dunfermline.

Much of yesterday was spent painting, listening to music, these German Mountain troops.

Been briefly uptown for supplies but hopefully in for the rest of the day as it is rather wet here.
 

Gone West, yesterday

 Yesterday saw me through to Glasgow for my course-

Very foggy from the bus crossing the Forth at Kincardine.

An enjoyable bracing walk ended up with views of the uni shrouded in mist.

Most enjoyable al fresco lunch taken walking in Kelvingrove park.

My intention was to make directly for the Dutch painting section, but it didn’t turn out like that.

Got distracted by this and photographing it for daughter number three who would be fascinated by it.

Time then spent at the Harry Clarke window, which I love. Oh well next time…

Para, para dice, with apologies to Coldplay.

 Set this up to play in the coming days…

https://manoftinblogtwo.wordpress.com/2024/12/31/para-shots-the-home-guard-training-game-wargame-in-a-matchbox-wip/

Tidy

 I have cleared this-

The winter backdrop and white cloth have  been popped away and l am thinking of setting up a game but what…

Homeguard helmet etc

 When watching Pathe news the other day l took this still-

It shows a Homeguardsman in a painted helmet. Never seen this before. Any one got more details?

Yesterday saw me in Falkirk yesterday for The Battle of Falkirk Conference day out. En route saw these-

Standing stones not that far out of Dunfermline and the wonderful Kelpies below.

More pictures and comments anon. Here is the esteemed author of this blog trying 18th century swords and replicas for comparative weight etc.

Thanks to Ronnie for getting the tickets , lifts , company and taking the photo just above. A grand day out indeed !

Friday

 

Cannae again but sides swopped, this time I commanded the Romans

Cavalry melee with some success for the Romans.

My Spanish had successfully crossed the river but now my flank was menaced by Numidian light cavalry.

A view of the battlefield from behind Carthaginian lines.

The Spanish crossed and advancing.

The start of the game.

The game ended when I lost the generals of both my commands in the same turn! I conceded almost gracefully.

On my return an eBay purchase was waiting for me-

I had got a job lot of post boxes and phone boxes, including two unmade for use with the Homeguard.

Here is a phone boxes with 28mm figure, doesn’t look too bad to me . Post boxes were a tad on the tall side btw.

Go West etc

 This week has seen me battling a leg infection as well more interesting things happening-

Sunday saw me in Edinburgh and appreciating this beautiful Nativity Scene.

A parcel arrived and it came with this card which was a hit with the family, not to mention a fascinating book.

My new art history course began in the West. A lovely sunny Glasgow. This term I am looking at 17th Century Dutch art.

Fascinating graffiti in the Kelvingrove area.

The Smith gun arrived on Wednesday , earlier than expected.

It is a lovely model but l struggled to put it together lacking the dexterity initially as well as covering my fingers in superglue. What a faff but got there eventually!

The completed model and crew( full of character) undercoated ready for painting…

Home

 Due to recent freezing conditions l have spent quite a bit of time at home and painting figures whilst listening to podcasts. I listen to a variety of, history, hobby , theology and sport mainly. I find it a good way of catching up with things whilst taking the figures forward. The fifteenth century Germans were laid aside and I have been working on the Homeguard figures recently purchased-

They have moved forward very nicely and hopefully will be ready to take to the table in the coming weeks.

I even have some bicycle mounted Homeguard too, which are fun.

I’ve been reading round the subject too which has been fun. I heartily recommend both books. I succumbed on Friday and ordered a Smith gun in 28mm. Found this enjoyable video on the Smith gun-

https://youtu.be/cJj4NxOrcds

Well worth a watch.

Currently my Homeguard chaps have the odd matchbox car ( VBCW  leftovers) but l am wondering if they deserve something else. Thoughts?

My German paratrooper HQ and support weapons are currently on the painting table and proceeding a pace too. I have added the suspicions look Wargames Foundry nun to their ranks as a nod to the fears of the time. Wondering if the Germans could do with a tank or some Brandenbergers. Thoughts?

A bolt from the blue.

 So yesterday we tried Bolt Action second edition. I noticed on the rules I had bought them in 2017. They had lain on the shelf , occasionally looked at ( esp the Seelowe Suplement) since then. We had felt the need to try something else for a VBCW as Went the Day Well is quirky ,popular but not quite hitting the spot for my opponents. I am a fan but can see the issues folk have it. Anyway over Christmas l looked out the order dice RC had given me yonks ago, ordered another set and read the rules. This was supplemented by very helpful videos on You Tube. The battlefield was set up and off we went.

It was just a training exercise so l won’t go on much about the game save to say it went really well. The order dice didn’t clutter the table and the red dice l used to mark pins worked fine.

We had the odd disagreement about interpretation of the rules but all in all it proceeded well. It was fun, which is half the battle in my eyes. It gave a reasonable result.

All in all it was a hit with the three of us. The playsheets l had printed off were most useful. One of our number went home and bought a set of the rules on kindle, he has been won over

All in all a good day’s gaming. We will try them again in a couple of weeks. I know that many don’t rate the rules for many reasons. I know they aren’t serious like “ Chain of Command “ etc but they delivered for us a platoon level experience that we enjoyed. That’s good enough for me , for now.

Out and In

 This brave fellow has stood guard outside through freezing nights as low as minus seven!

Indoors l have just set up the dining room table for a Bolt Action 2nd edition game to try the rules out for aVBCW. Just learning them myself l will hopefully be able to enthuse my visitors today-

Reference sheets are printed, bits and bobs gathered so we will see how it goes…

On Wednesday as my daughter had just come off night shift ( once in a blue moon occurrence) l went off for much of the day in order to let her have a quiet house. I got the bus to Perth. Sadly the museum/art gallery was closed but l enjoyed my trip.