Executive Jet Deconstructed

After having received the Secret Saturdays Griffin Jet, it was put to work as a toy for Isabel. For better usage, I inserted the (all too easy to insert) handle underneath the body. Problem was, 20 minutes later the handle wouldn't come out!

Depite much wrangling it wouldn't budge. Of course, in this state in was unusable, but it seemed that further wrangling threatened to break the housing



As luck would have it, some of the screws holding the thing [yes, now I am referring to it in that manner!] together were deeply recessed but still to strong for my small screwdrivers to handle



A trip to the hardware store picked up a (rather expensive!) Irazola Philips-head screwdriver to take it apart



Even then though the I could see light at the end of the tunnel, I still couldn't extract the handle out of it!



So I did what any insane modeller would do at 11.45pm. I took it outside with a hammer and broke the attachment hanging onto the handle like a limpet mine!



Calmer now. A recess where the traitorous handle used to be



So, onto more meaningful modelling matters! The cockpit window was far too big for the 25mm models.



I decided to create a further division on the windscreen - cutting out a strip of plastic from an old blister pack



A bit more shaping, and then a bit of super glue to attach to a likely spot



Masking tape to protect all the areas which would remain windscreen after painting



Some silver undercoat to get thing ready for the painting



"Very nice and futuristic" my darling wife said; but I wasn't after a Silver Age jet...

Scorched Earth

As the Tet Offensive broke out, ad hoc arrangements were made to ferry troops to the worst hit areas. In one case trucks dropped their cargo loads on the side of the highway to pick up a company on the road.

When calmer heads prevailed, a Quartermaster Sergeant Major insisted the these crates, carrying 100 cases of LAWS be secured for immediate use in the defence of Saigon. Two Squads of infantry with their M113s head down to the fork in the highway to collect.



A cadre of Viet Cong which were heading to the junction to ambush passing American units discovered the crates and once they could hear the heavy tracks down the road, decided to hold out as long as they could and try to set the crates on fire or destroy them somehow



The second squad approaches along the northern fork. The detachment has been spooked already by the presence of mines and the infantry has disembarked and are alongside the trundling M113



On the southern fork, heavy undergrowth screens the 1st squad's advance



They fan out carefully after seeing activity near one of the crates



The ACAV guns ahead of the infantry, moving towards the first crate - it doesn't spot any activity though and Corporal Frost starts to get a bad feeling about this one



As one of the crates starts to smoulder the VC Bazooka team holds it fire, hoping for a better shot. In front of them, a VC sniper team are hidden behind the crate and are drawing a bead on the squad coming up the other fork



The second squad is moving in, but they spot a different group of VC on this side of the road, behind a paddy field wall



As that group of VC set fire to the crate, the Americans run for cover along the side of the road and open fire on the VC



The VC are forced to fall back - but the Cadre leader puts another flare into the crate for good measure!



The VC Bazooka team picks its moment and puts a round right through the M113's thin skin. Most of the crew bail out and hunker down behind the burning hulk



The second squad takes control of the crossroads - worried about their pals across the way, but determined to follow the mission through



Now, rushing to come to the aid of their M113 the GIs hump up the road trying to suppress the VC



Meanwhile the VC have withdrawn and the Bazooka man is trying to get a strike on the second APC



Second squad start to take sniper fire from somewhere and several of them go down along the verges



The second M113 opens fire on the VC sniper team, but only drives them back



Crafty Charlie is using the brewed up M113 as a screen for its flanking movement



By now the Viet Cong have set three of the crates on fire



The second vehicle takes a glancing hit from the Bazooka, knocking out a track



The GIs get into a fierce firefight with the VC pushing them out of the "supply dump"



The VC somehow get the chance to torch another crate



The Americans push on outflanking the VC and using the paddy field as solid cover



Securing two of the crates and taking control of the crossroads, though at a significant cost, the platoon settles down to wait for relief



The Viet Cong are happy with their day's work and withdraw into the jungle. The Americans are sure that they've wiped out a platoon, but as often happens find neither abandoned equipment nor bodies.



Pretty tense battle, though a solid victory for the Viet Cong in the end. I tried this again solo and things were much closer the second time around, the VC pinching victory by a nose, though none of their force made it unscathed.

Adieu 2011

So, as it seems to be the time of the year to do this sort of thing - here's a brief rundown on some memorable pieces of the year, with a peek into 2012.

Gaming Highlights

Devil Take the Hindmost


While the prospect of doing a game I'd previously done in 10mm in a different scale seemed foolish; I really enjoyed this. The 28mm stuff really drew people in when I ran it at Gaelcon and got enough interest to make me consider publishing the rules myself. With lots of potential for action without dinosaurs for some more straight-forward pulp-era adventures





Attack State Red


Wrote a handful of scenarios based on the fantastic book following the Royal Anglians in Afghanistan for the Trinity Gamers. They all went well, and I'm on hiatus for completing the full 10 scenarios I envisaged - probably for a return event next year. Of course some great company (and booze) helped make the experience enjoyable!





Old School redux


Went on a bit of an old school jaunt during the year - playing a version of Blasthof Bridge (using C&C Napoleonics), a reimagining of Sittangbad and staging one of Battlegames' Tabletop Teasers (both using Force on Force). More along those lines for the coming I hope






Blogs of the Year

Tiny Solitary Soldiers

Brilliantly realised gaming from a man who convinced me that solo is not a last resort. The painting's not half bad either.







20mm and then some...

Gunbird from The Guild finally bit the blogging bullet early in 2011 - it does not disappoint. His painting and scratchbuilding is just fantastic and his predeliction for wrecks and ruins is charming.











Cold War Hot Hot Hot

Richard's blog shows a single-mindedness that's frightening - his work, whether on vehicles or infantry is just inspiring.







Gaming Releases of the Year

Force on Force

This really covers all the Ambush Alley Games releases since the Osprey edition of Force on Force came out. From present-day Afghanistan to what-if Cold War the sourcebooks are very well put together, with 20 scenarios in most of them. Add Tomorrow's War to the mix and it really was Ambush Alley's year. My review, posted here in April was my most popular entry within a week and almost has a thousand views.






Command & Colours: Napoleonics

The long-awaited release of the latest addition to the Richard Borg Command & Colours stable was up to the usual high standard. Sometimes deceptively simply, intricacies continue to surprise and we're satisfied that the system is a standard bearer of the quick-play, results-oriented wargame.








Byzantium Models' Arabic Buildings

Byzantium released this well-stocked line of resin buildings in August - I'm desperately resisting picking them up as they look the business for my Afghanistan games...

This year seemed to be replete with first-rate wargames, avoiding Saga, but I did pick up I Ain't Been Shot Mum 3 from TooFatLardies and Kampgruppe Normandy from Warhammer Historical too - I may not play but they do look very good.

Projects in the Pipeline
In 2012, I'm keeping my new lead purchases to a minimum - and so all three of these projects are mostly already in the house.

Heymans and Yamada Security Force


A third force for my Novaya Sakha campaign, I'll be adding to the large powersuits and drones with some light vehicles, personnel and some suits! I'm planning to have these guys in action for Leprecon at the start of March. Vehicles from a variety of sources (GZG, Old Crow and Antenociti) and infantry from GZG's 25mm Stargrunt range.





African Warlords

The Guild's Big Game for 2012 is in August, so that's a pretty firm deadline for me. A large mechanised infantry force with supporting artillery and armour. Infantry by Liberation/RHModels and vehicles mostly by S&S at this stage.

Thunder on the Danube


Didn't I promise something for Austria 1809 last year? At least all I have to do here is just run the campaigns and the individual battles which occur. That shouldn't be too difficult, right?

The Thirty Years War (in 6mm - so says the electorate) will be strictly kept on the long finger until the end of the year.

(I'm not going even start on my discussion with the esteemable Conrad Kinch of our doing Waterloo in 2015...)





Great TV

In Treatment

This is probably as direct a drama as I watch - just two people in a room talking for 25 minutes. The show follows a psychotherapist and his patients week by week. A really nice touch is the scheduling, which puts a complete round of episodes on every week. We follow each patient with over 7 or 8 episodes so there's no quick-and-easy solutions to their problems (if at all). Inevitably this third season is also the last, unless plans to revive it in a different format come to fruition. Given similar discussions for Deadwood came to naught, I'm not holding my breath.

Game of Thrones

The big one for the year; I even plugged this as one to watch out for this time last year. HBO did not disappoint. Of course some fans were unhappy, and while I agree with some of their concerns, I thought that the acting was first rate. It's a feature of the medium that would upturn the carefully constructed Points of View of the novels, but in Viserys, Robert or Jaime we got to understand some of the more unappreciated (nay - hated!) characters of A Song of Ice and Fire.




Spooks

Series 10 brought the flagship BBC show to an end - what I really enjoyed about this year's outing was that all 6 episodes were bound together tightly into one plot, with only a couple of side cases to distract. As usual unforgiving high stakes are the order of the day, with some (un)healthy doses of realpolitik.






Books of the Year

Gunpowder and Galleys: Changing Technology and Mediterranean Warfare at Sea in the 16th Century

John Francis Guilmartin classic study of warfare in the Mediterranean has been updated with new research, but his thesis remains intact (even stronger actually).










War

Sebastian Junger's insightful work following an infantry platoon in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan (perhaps more familiar as the documentary Restrepo) is powerful because he gets very close to the men and yet is able to put their psychological state in some kind of context.








1809 Thunder on the Danube

This is only the first volume of Jack Gill's masterful account of Napoleon's 1809 campaign against Austria. Clear analysis combine with useful maps to make this the perfect companion for the aspiring wargamer.









So, there you go! Hope you have a good 2012, may your lead pile grow smaller (but not vanish altogether).