Light at the End of the Tunnel

I've been silent on the blogging front for the last two weeks as gaming and painting has been interrupted by a severe case of real life - sickness and final exams coexisting in a tight space with a list of "honey dos".  We did get together at Curt's for two games of Formula De, and damn it if I didn't win the second race in Brazil on the last corner having trailed everyone else by 1/2 a lap for the whole game!

I spent Easter weekend deep praying at the shrine of the porcelain goddess with a nasty stomach bug.  We had to phone the butcher to tell them to sell our leg of lamb to another customer (sniff, sniff) and Easter dinner for me was plain eggs (and the first solid food I'd kept down for 2 days).    Back at work on  Monday I was almost un-wobbly when I walked into a nasty head cold.  That is fortunately mostly over but it was a stinker!

I had students writing exams on the 22nd and 24th and I'm in the home stretch on marking - with Spring and Summer semesters (when I have no classes) in sight!  I've lots of interesting stuff on plan for May and June, but I am going to be coy on that front for now.

Dardanelles Submarine Game

Last night we were at Sylvain's for two games.  The second was a Star Wars X-Wing game GMed by or host which was very enjoyable.  For the first game of the double header I put on Bob Cordery's Dardanelles Submarine game which can be found over at Bob's treasure trove of goodies his blog
Wargame Miscellany.  This game which was originally published in the 80s or 90s in a Wargames World annual (the yellow specials by Wargames Illustrated).

This game replicates the very successful attack by HMS/M B11 which avoided mines, patrol craft, gun batteries and hostile currents in a very enclosed space to torpedo the Turkish battleship Messudieh (see details over at Bob's site here).  It's a great little game and well worth the hour's diversion.

In our game, our intrepid adventurers wound their way through the hazards through a combination of good luck, good planning and bad umpiring (just kidding) to find them selves perfectly placed for an attack on their target.  The first torpedoes missed at close range, so the B11 lay low until nightfall so that they could reload the tubes and have at her again.  This time the first fish missed but the second struck home and sank the Messudieh.

Their return journey was far less arduous than the original's had been.  Historically, Messudieh open fired as she sank and B11's crash dive threw her compass off.  A nine hour blind crawl on dead reckoning followed.  When B11 finally surfaced, the oxygen was so low that her diesels wouldn't fire up!

More Shameless Pimping of Worthy Blogs

Ok, I am a sucker for potential free stuff, but these are great blogs so check them out if you haven't done so already.

Thoughts of A Depressive Diplomist  (love the title and the obit of the week)

Mad Padre Wargame I've gamed and drunk with him he's neither irate or crazy (well most of the time..).

War of 1812 US 13th Infantry

So I got these guys finished just in time for the final deadline for the 4th Analogue Painting Challenge.  These are 16 members of the US 13th Infantry from the War of 1812.  The are Victrix figures from the British Peninsula infantry boxes, with heads from the Victrix artillery box wearing the Belgic Shako.  Let's just say that the honeymoon is over with Victrix and I have deliberately not given any closeups of this unit.  I think that I've got bits from 3 different Victrix sets with torsos from the flank company box with left over arms from the centre company box.

For the 13th I gave them the regulation blue coat - the coats are blue but my lighting and camera skills give them a purples hue.  I have used the Belgic shako to represent the false fronted "Tombstone" shako adopted by the US regs in 1813.

Loki has mentioned the Fat Lady Singing.  Hopefully at our house Sadie (picture enclosed) will be singing- she's not over sized but certainly has some nice curves.  No Fat Ladies singing, only an out of shape middle aged dude bashing out Beatles songs on a guitar. 

Thanks for running the Challenge Curt.  Have a large glass of something strong - you've earned it.

Painting Challenge "Last Stand"

For the final themed round, we go with "Last Stand".  My entry is a 30s B-movie hero facing imminent doom at the end of the serial episode.   What is he facing, well that's up to the viewer's interpretation - but my wife has provided one version, to be revealed later .

The figure is (IIRC) another WI freebie in 28mm by Copplestone from his Back of Beyond range.  He's clearly an aviator (bi plane likely) with his sheepskin lined boots, jacket helmet and goggles.  To keep with the B-movie feel I painted him in neutrals and browns to get a sepia tone to the figure.  However, I used metallics for his revolver, belt buckle and google lenses.  The pure white scarf is likely a token from a lady.  Overall I am pretty pleased with the result.

So Lynne decided that my aviator's doom should not be left to the viewer's imagination and suggested that he face off with a giant rat, so I have which I've attempted to capture this on film.  Ardee the pack rat is a Folkmanis puppet.  His very sociable, and regularly chats my ear off.

Consumer Affairs and Mysteries of the Universe

Dave D had a recent post about his experience in buying war-games stuff online.  For Canadian gamers like me, the process gets more complex and well down right weird.

Here's a summary of recent experience.

• If I order books or figures through a Canadian dealer I get charged $15 shipping.  I've had similar experience through several shops.  I honestly believe that this is about what Canada Post charges based on my experience shipping parcels to family in Nova Scotia.  However, I do wish the shops would be clearer about shipping charges as often you don't see the final cost til after you've hit the Paypal approval button.  For example I had these charges on a box of Perry Plastic Napoleonics and a set of cards for Maurice.
• If I order more than £15 of figures through Caliver Books, they ship them post free anywhere Internationally including the wilds of the Canadian prairies.  No worries about transparency here as free is free and it says so right on their main webpage.  Really I don't think it's absolutely free as I suspect that they get to deduct the VAT, but hey it feels good.  They don't always have the stuff in stock, but they did ship my missing pack of Crusader Indians in good time.  Books are another matter however, and shipping costs are quite expensive.
• Or I can order direct from some manufacturers - with a major plug going to Perrys who get major bonus points on both transparency and speed of delivery.  They deduct the VAT and then charge me shipping.  The transparency here is amazing as once I log in to my Perry account they show all their prices net of VAT (£5.83 vs £7.00, a 1/6th savings).  They charge me shipping at about 25% but clearly state it.  It works out a little more than what Caliver charges, but I buy from the maker, there are no back order issues and it's like wicked fast dude.
• Here's a weird one.  I ordered the Black Powder "Last Argument of Kings" supplement from Warlord games, using their North American web store.  I got it for $21 US plus $3.50 US shipping (it was the 50% off sale), and again there was good transparency.  However, the book itself came from the UK, and came in good time.
• Otherwise buying from the US is generally not a lot of fun.  You get dinged on the exchange rate twice (UK -> US -> Canadian) and they charge full price on shipping (25%).  Plus in most cases they ship it in a box that is about 12 times as big as it has to be and Canada Customs nabs it and requires you to pay duty and PST/GST (or VAT equivalent).  UK stuff comes in appropriate sized boxes and really gets caught by the revenue man.

Pi Day - Tomorrow's Geek Fest

Looking forward to the math crafts….