If you are a wargamer that games WWI, II or later and you live in Australia you *need* to go to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra at least once, I went for the first time a couple of weeks ago and was blown away here is part 1 of my photos Air-power.

Click on the image for the supersized version.

Because Dan will complain if I don't add the detail of what each of these are so he can count the rivets Ill come back and do that when I have time. In the meantime enjoy and let me know if you want more (or less).

Bolt action "The Western Desert" Contents:
 

Warlord is teasing "The Longest Day" a new D-Day themed Bolt Action "battle set" which looks like it may be US only(?) including buildings and miniatures.

Update , now listed here:  https://www.warlordgames.com/the-longest-day/

Details:
"The longest day; Normandy, 6 June 1944. The Allies undertake the largest and most ambitious amphibious landings in history to return the fight to western Europe.
Re-create the turning point of the war, that allowed the Allies to gain a foothold in Europe and which was to set the stage for the Axis downfall."

This set contains:

• 2x LCVP landing craft
• 1x AT/Flak bunker
• 1x Coastal Defence bunker
• 2x German Pak 40 ATG (for inside the bunkers)
• Craters/shell holes
• 1x Duplex Drive Sherman with lowered screens
• 32x plastic US Infantry
• 16x plastic German Grenadiers
• 2x MG 42 MMG teams
• 4x US Army casualties
• 2x US Engineers carrying Bangalore torpedoes
• 2x MMG sandbag emplacements
• Set of battlefield accessories
• 2m of barbed wire

We have heard about this before on various podcasts, its now listed on at least one site for pre-order...

The Blurb: 

​A new evolution of the Bolt Action wargaming rules, focusing on small-scale, man-to-man skirmishes, raids, and patrol encounters.

Throughout World War II, small-scale missions had--or could have had--a crucial impact upon the outcomes of battles, operations, and even entire theaters of conflict. From sabotaging hydroelectric plants in Norway and assassination attempts against Rommel in North Africa, to the defense of Pavlov's House at Stalingrad and covert landings in the Pacific and Normandy, Bolt Action: Raiders focuses on these desperate and hard-fought battles.

With rules based on the classic Bolt Action system, Raiders provides everything needed to recreate these critical operations--scenarios, rules for both special forces and regular troops, and a new campaign system that adds a narrative element to games. Watch your squad grow from green recruits to hardened veterans, gaining skills and abilities as they gain experience. Requiring only a handful of miniatures per side, Raiders is both an exciting new way to play Bolt Action and a perfect starting point for new players.​

The blurb:

"Campaign rules and scenarios for the Battle of Stalingrad, bringing the most infamous battle of the Eastern Front to the award-winning Bolt Action series.

One of the most infamous and decisive battles of the Second World War, Stalingrad was a turning point of the Eastern Front, showing that the German juggernaut was not invincible. This new Campaign Book for Bolt Action allows players to refight the fierce Battle of Stalingrad, including the actions within the city itself and those of the surrounding area, the encirclement and attempted relief and breakout. New, linked scenarios, rules, troop types, and Theater Selectors provide plenty of options for both novice and veteran players alike."

Tank at the Australian war memorial, along with ME. One of about 6 zillion photos from my visit. Centurion Tank Number 169053.

Spicy Spice-rack/shot-glass holder (also useful for painting miniatures)

A few people have asked after the last Valhallagames podcast on miniature painting workflow about my home made Spicy-Spice-rack/shot-glass holder (AKA miniatures painting holder). Here are couple of quick photos.
Note the rare earth magnets glued into the 25mm dowel. I glue my minis on steel washers, (now you know why). But the other end of the dowel has a 25mm Velcro "dot" so if I do have minis on plastic [only] bases I can still work with those by adding another valcro dot to the bottom of the mini.

Listen to the podcast for the full detail if you are interested. Hope that's useful.

​In this episode Rex and Dan discuss painting work-flow we each describe how we go about the process and share any tips. Beginning miniature wargame painters will get loads out of this episode and if you're a veteran painter you might even find a gem or two. We also chat about the results of last month's "Reasonable hobby challenge".

Show-notes are located here while you are there we hope you will give us some feedback (tell us where we are going wrong :-)) and perhaps send us photos of your best paint job.

Subscribe to us in your favorite podcast app by searching for valhallagames or click on the image below to play in the web player.

Friday photo: Nazis having fun, I find it interesting, that I find this photo disturbing. I think perhaps we like our Nazis *fully* evil, if they weren't what dos that say about all of us and what we are capable of.

 Photo from our latest game and video report (here)

Full res image here

 With 3 minutes to spare (based on Australian time) I have [mostly] finished my "reasonable hobby goal".

This is the first vehicle weathering that I have ever done and Dan has rightly identified that I was procrastinating. In the last podcast Dan challenged me to have it finished by 17 March the results are below. First time with oil panel tinting, weathering, streaking, and pigments.

Details to follow but for now I hope you like it as much as I do.

Before and after:

Peter West From Bolt action Australia already gave us the scoop on this but listed now with an image and blurb, due October 2019:

Bolt Action: Campaign: Mariana & Palau Islands
The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, also known as Operation Forager, was intended to facilitate the recapture of the Philippines and to provide bases for the bombing of the Japanese mainland. This new Campaign Book for Bolt Action allows players to refight the fierce battles of Saipan, Peleliu, Guam, and many others. With new, linked scenarios, rules, troop types, and Theater Selectors provide plenty of options for both novice and veteran players alike.

As discussed in our last podcast [here], my project for 2020 (yes 2020 and I need to start now to make sure I gets done in time!) is a large number of some really nice scratch built Western France WWII buildings, however this technique would work for any era historical or fantasy. Before I clear the hobby desk for more pressing projects I wanted to share with you the small amount of progress I have made so far.
 
All the cool kids are making really nice buildings using clay over foam core that has been sculpted for the appropriate texture and I thought I would try may hand at that with/without subsequent duplication by casting in resin. To that end I have made a small test piece and explained the steps below.

Step I:

In the image below (1) I have rolled out some Das air dry clay to about 2mm thick and then stuck it to a scrap piece of foam core board with PVA glue.

Thing I learned in step I:

• Use Das clay not the random stuff you find at you closest art or junk store. My non branded clay all cracked within 24 hours
• Don't use too much PVA "just in case". A thin, even smear holds a lot better then what you might think.

Step II:
I used two different methods of sculpting some rough bricks, I have heard that people use both methods. Method A (2 in the image below) was a very rough try with a wooden cooking skewer (essentially a large wooden toothpick) immediately while the clay was still wet. Method B (3 in the image below) after 24 hours the clay was very dry (it's hot here currently) and the light, somewhat pathetic, scratches were made with a light duty craft knife and metal ruler.

Things I learned in step II:

• If you want a decently deep brick line without having to press REALLY hard then do it when its wet.
  

• Consider waiting a couple of hours? (testing required)
• If you do it when its wet it will leave some ridges. However they can easily be scraped off later

I made the brick engravings various sizes to try to work out what would look reasonable size-wise against the 28mm minis (not necessarily to scale). After thinking about final usage and working in with other configurations such as damaged walls with piles of bricks alongside I decided to purchase some precast bricks and look at what size they were. They have now arrived and a couple of sample bricks are shown in 4 and 5 below.

As a couple of final shots below show I have roughed up a design for single building frontage and compared everything to a 28mm Warlord games plastic miniature for scale.

This project is officially on the back burner now but it has been an encouraging start.

In theme with Budapest campaign release this week, a more sombre "Why we fight" photo.

My reasonable hobby goal from the last podcast (here) was to weather & complete my Panzer IV tank by 17 March, may not seam like a big job but this is the first vehicle that I will have ever weathered with oils, and pigments so its a big jump off. So, with 12 days to go here is a picture of what I have achieved so far...

​Comment (and subscribe to this post) below for updates.

The new Bolt Action Fortress Budapest Supplement is out now, I don't know anything abut this region and wasn't planning to purchase this book. 

However..., 15 min into this podcast interviewing Bryan Cook the author (and part of a team?) I have ordered. Another one to look forwrad to. :-)

In this episode Rex and Dan discuss the recent Christmas break and the resulting all-you-can-eat wargaming fiesta. We also present the first part of our multi-part series on terrain where we begin a deep dive into the topic and look at the "basis" of wargaming tables, playing surfaces and play mats.

Show notes will be appearing at *link-to-follow-shortly* and while you are here we hope you will give us some feedback and perhaps send us photos of your best wargaming terrain build you can do that here: https://www.valhallagames.net/index.php/contact

Search and subscribe in your favorite podcast app or listen via the web player below.

British 8th army infantry paint guide, draft version in case your interested. I don't claim to be the best painter but if this helps someone you are welcome. Get it here

Relatively easy terrain project, basically free unlimited Normandy houses & a great project for the kids. Start to get your D-Day/operation Overlord action going now.

Well done Dan Buman (and http://www.davesgames.net/)