So here's an update on where I am up to on my 'Around my wargames room in 80 days' Self challenge...  

In preparing for the MOAB convention in Sydney, I decided my theme would be; whatever will get the most stuff ticked off my list, while including something awesome and historical....AHA!! that'll be British 6th Airborne Div Recce troop in Normandy along with captured Sdkfz 10/4!!! ( See below for historical image). 

Of course, some of this project isn't even ON my list- But time to get it added so I can tick it off!! 

This project has been threatening to become reality with all the random cheap Recce jeeps and commonwealth jeeps I' ve been picking up here and there the past 2 years. Plus, it became reality when I bought a Rubicon Sdkfz 10, and was fortunate enough to win Rubicon's facebook page banner competition for August. When I asked for one of the cheapest kits they make ( the flak 30 that completes the 10/4 construction) , I'm pretty sure they took pity on me as a complete lunatic and immediately succumbed to my suggestion that they might (please!) have airborne crew sprues from a commonwealth jeep available at the factory somewhere...and VOILA!! all the kits and parts required to make this historical build! Thank you so much Rubicon Models, you rock.

Also done in this pic are offensive miniatures' parachute drop containers, some animals for farm terrain dressin.

Note that the winter cam Tiger I tanks were NOT done by me... I picked up these two tanks at a steal on Trade Me. Robert is the name of the gentleman who did these, and he's started up a website selling commission painted miniatures and terrain. Here's his website , go take a look;

https://www.sharpmilitarymodels.com

I might take some pics of them for another post. Anyway, they were getting a shot of matt varnish over the decals when everything else was getting theirs done. 

 Heres the list updated with what i have completed and in progress for those of you who are playing along at home ( or just want to laugh at my folly). Updates are in BOLD;

Tropical FJ for our book's " How to paint tropical Fallschirmjager" video, linked to our you tube page- DONE!!!

British M7 Priest SPG -IN PROGRESS- Being detailed and weathered

5 x D&D Characters- DONE

1x goat, 2 x Cows, 1 mule, 1 German shepherd, teddy bear

2 sheep, 2 Geese, 4 chickens on bases- DONE

FJ and pack mule

Para chaplain and chaplain

5 dak infantry vehicle mounted

1 British airborne morris- IN PROGRESS, basecoated, camo underway 

SIX(!! Yes ive doubled the original number for insanity check purposes) British airborne jeeps ( various patterns & manufacturers)-DONE!

2 Airborne jeep  trailers - IN PROGRESS, basecoated

20 Airborne jeep crew- DONE

 4 x Brit airborne containers DONE

2 parachute canopies on ground DONE

1 skaven engineer

12 skaven stormvermin

10 empire huntsmen

1 empire Hellstorm rocket battery and crew

1 empire musician/bear mascot

5 empire outriders

4 x Luftwaffe tropical ground crew

German marder III gun and crew

German schwimmwagon x 3

Assemble and paint UNIC P107 half track

Lorraine Shlepper 

Repair SS tank rider MG42 DONE

Vampire counts roadshrine

Mussolini and Skorzeny

Greater Demon of Khorne

German Vampire officer

27 Offensive,empress and westwind German Battle of Berlin 'last levy' DONE

Repair ruined keep, broken masonry DONE

3 x SW Landspeeders

Arjac rockfist

Njarl Stormcaller termi and power armour

SW Iron Priest on foot and mounted torso

Murderfang

18 Bloodclaws

SW HQ landraider

SW Rhino

2 x lascannon longfangs

12 plastic FJ

6 westwind FJ with P/Fausts DONE

6 SS pioneers DONE

7Luftwaffe Field Regt 88 crew. DONE

2 x Hungarian infantry

Soviet flag at Reichstag vignette

4 x metal offensive FJ

​So thats it..1 calendar month to go. With me heading over to Rexs place in order for us to to attend MOAB in Sydney, I  will need to make decisions on what to take to continue the challenge from over there. There is a chance that in fact nothing will go with me due to space constraints ( after all...why would i want to miss out on a bargain from the bring and buy at MOAB that i never knew i needed, simply for lack of room in airplane baggage??!!) although I might fit in a few minis and then add them to the list for my troubles! 

Ill update again at the end of october with how I finished up my challenge..wish me luck! If anyone else takes up the challenge in your own 80 day window you choose, we'd be interested to hear and see how youve got on! 

Regards, Dan. 

So, on looking around my wargames room's display shelves after unpacking some carry cases full of miniatures I have come to the conclusion that 'out of sight is out of mind' truly is a thing, especially with those wargamers who have a  strong collector's streak!

I have oodles of projects still to be finished, but I'm concentrating on whats sitting on the shelves undercoated , or assembled etc. 

Its a mix of historical ( mostly WW2) stuff, with a good sprinkling of 40k and Warhammer fantasy battle ( not that god awful Age of Sigmar though!) thrown in for good measure! Didn't know I was into other stuff? I  have quite considerable 40k and Fantasy armies actually! I will drop a pic below. 

I also had  a great haul on Trade me which is our version of 'gumtree' or other local/national buy and sell page type website...picked up a whole haul of die cast vehicles ( pic shown below) for $11 New Zealand! After looking at the pic i figured I couldn't lose...either the schwimmwagons were the correct size and everything else was about 1:72 or 1:100 scale. or everything else was the correct size ( unlikely!) and they were too big...turned out the first statement was true...and what a match!! see the other pic of the comparison with a completed Rubicon model below-perfect!!! Excuse the grainy photos, as the first was a screenshot from the website and the other was taken just now at night. YUCK ..but you get the idea.

Anyways...im setting myself a challenge; see how much of the stuff on my shelves i can paint around my wargames room  in eighty days. I was going to start this immediately before the army decided to send me away for  the best part of a month, so I only got three days in ( having painted the first model on the list below which was filmed for a video on you tube- check it out), but I'm continuing the challenge from tomorrow minus those 3 days, so 77 days from now means...27th of October. Thats my finish date.

  I know i wont get it all done...as with many of the challenges I set myself I will try to 'shoot for the moon, land among the stars!' and see what i can actually manage!! 

Heres the list of stuff that needs to be painted:

 Tropical  FJ for our book's  " How to paint tropical Fallschirmjager" video, linked to our you tube page- DONE!!!

British  M7 Priest SPG

5 x D&D Characters

1x goat, 2 x Cows, 1 mule, 1 German shepherd, teddy bear

FJ and pack mule

Para chaplain and chaplain

5 dak infantry vehicle mounted

1 British airborne morris 

3 British airborne jeeps ( various patterns & 2 trailers)

12 British airborne vehicle crew.

4 x Brit airborne containers

2 parachute canopies on ground

1 skaven engineer

12 skaven stormvermin

10 empire huntsmen

1 empire Hellstorm rocket battery and crew

1 empire musician/bear mascot

5 empire outriders

4 x Luftwaffe tropical ground crew

German marder III gun and crew

German schwimmwagon x 3 

Assemble and paint UNIC P107 half track

Lorraine Shlepper

Repair SS tank rider MG42

Vampire counts roadshrine

Mussolini and Skorzeny

Greater Demon of Khorne

German Vampire officer

27 Offensive,empress and westwind German Battle of Berlin 'last levy'

Repair ruined keep, broken masonry

3 x SW Landspeeders

Arjac rockfist

Njarl Stormcaller termi and power armour

SW Iron Priest on foot and mounted torso

Murderfang

18 Bloodclaws

SW HQ landraider

SW Rhino

2 x lascannon longfangs

12 plastic FJ

6 westwind FJ with P/Fausts

6 SS pioneers

7Luftwaffe Field Regt 88 crew.

2 x Hungarian infantry

Soviet flag at Reichstag vignette

4 x metal offensive FJ

So thats what im going to be up to everyone...wish me luck, ill post updates as I go.

Talk soon, Dan 

 Something to play after the book goes to print tomorrow

New list builder app from Warlord games announced today full details in the YouTube video below. Hopefully valhallagames can get early access and give you feedback. It would be REALLY great to have a mobile friendly list builder solution for Bolt Action.

​One does whatever is required to get the figures onto the table... 

This is the result of hoteliers thinking that their guests all want "mood" lighting and not proper lights anywhere in their rooms ...except the bathroom apparently! 

  That and neighbouring guests snoring so loudly that I firstly couldn't get to sleep and then second; woke up at 0520.

  And yes...although I'm away for work who DOESN'T take figures and paint away with them??!!?? The answer is , of course; the wargamers who look back and wish they'd spent a couple of hours in their hotel bathrooms painting last night and this morning.

  And YES of course it turns out  I'd left a couple of colours at home that i wish I'd brought with me- its traditional for the guerilla painter! But its great to be getting layers on and making some progress while sensibly leaving the areas I wanted to leave for my painting hobby  light/magnifying glass such as faces etc. 

   Apologies ...but now you'll understand and hopefully forgive me for the poor lighting and slightly blurry images!

  Stay classy, Dunedin colorblind  Hedgehog bathroom-painting collective. 

Dan 

I have recorded an interview with Pat Smith the author of the "Setting the scene" series of books and https://wargamingwithsilverwhistle.blogspot.com/

Coming soon!

​The No surrender Event was held a couple of weeks ago here in Christchurch, New Zealand. 

We have this event and my ( Dan) games as a feature in our next podcast, to be released soon to ( firstly) our Patrons via Patreon. Then soon afterward as a general release on your favourite podcast app and afterward, our Youtube channel. Check it out! If you are interested in receiving content such as this early and would like to help support us please feel free to click on the link on our homepage and check out our Patreon.

  Heres the pics to follow along with the podcast to find out whats going on...i better not spoil the results or fun here!! ;) 

​Game 3 vs a veteran Japanese Infantry army ..back on the Tunisian table.

And Finally...Back to the Tunisian table for the final game vs Regular British Late -war infantry...

So thats it everyone...tune in to the podcast for results and details! Thanks and we look forward to us joining us then. Dan.

Next podcast less than a week away... "Freeze frame" all about miniature photography plus the usual chit chat about hobby and products.

​Well, the holiday period is a memory of a long time ago in a galaxy far far away for all of us now! Remember holidays?!..me neither.

However, as followers will note, I decided to make a crazy commitment to paint 12 seperate sets of models in my "Twelve days of Xmas " blogpost i did immediately before Christmas. How did I do?!!?....

Well; I failed. 

BUT; Did I ? in the post-new years resolution semi apocalyptic wasteland of Mid February, where guess many people are regrettably feeling down- I actually dont! Why? because i set a massive bold target that was always going to be a big ask. With the ethos that anything worth doing is worth overdoing, i threw myself into the task and achieved WAAAAAY more than i possibly would have if i hadnt made a public announcement of crazy intent!!

Between travelling to a seperate piece of the country, enjoying family time over the holidays  and then getting deployed to an exercise mid/late Jan i was hamstrung for carting large pieces of terrain and tanks on my paint list away. But, excuses aside, i feel like i 'shot for the moon and landed among the stars' anyway with the quantity i did get done. so without further ado heres what i got done;

Hope you agree and maybe you can relate or you might find it helpful to take another look at some of your projects you feel you 'Failed' at yourself and see them in a more positive light...remember its fun not life or death, and if you had a great holiday but ALSO suprised yourself with better productivity due to the challenge, then its got to be good for you! so i AM planning to do the "12 days of xmas " challenge again next xmas- whos with me??!!?

Regards, Dan.

Something completely different, zero dollar secret Santa

Dan's Scatter terrain-o-rama for WWII Chain of Command & Bolt Action on YouTube:

Dans scatter terrain build comes to fruition!

Manufacturers links: 

Anyscale Models; https://www.anyscalemodels.com/
Charlie Foxtrot; https://www.charliefoxtrotmodels.com/...
Supreme Littleness Designs; http://www.supremelittleness.co.uk/sl... 

Thanks for watching! Please "like' if you enjoyed it and consider subscribing and telling others about our channel. Regards, Rex & Dan.

A listing of Bolt Action Podcasts is now on the static part of our web site click here or on the image below:

 75 years anniversary, Op. Market Garden....

In the quest to play something different and offer a chance for my regulat gaming buddy Dave to get a game with his Pike & Shotte , we moved from my FJ playing his IJA in bolt action last week to Me playing Royalists in a game of English Civil War ( ECW) Pike & Shotte this week. It was fun to be doing something different and learning ( well-sort of , despite Dave being a good teacher haha!) A new game. 

It was good to find out that P&S is  very similar to Black Powder , a game i intend on purchasing and playing properly in the future...but a little disconcerting that i played it as poorly as a drunk stick insect conducting the 'Last night of the proms"!! 

  However; another positive thing was how great Daves armies looked ranked up..made me long for that Warhammer Empire army on the table...it certainly whet the appetite and nice that my suspicion i missed ranked unit movements and bonuses such as  flank attacks etc having gravitas in regards to combat, etc etc. Bodes well for my Black Powder purchase in the future. 

  Thanks Dave, Thanks for having two armies ready to go, and bringing all the gear to play including period scenery of your own!! It felt great to help someone play a ruleset no one has helped him play before..a good feeling for any of us to have that reciprocal social contract fulfilled for sure.

​Stop press, I think there are a couple of corrections I need to make. File offline for the moment.​

I don't know if anyone else finds the Bolt Action Artillery complicated, its not bad when its just aimed at a squad of guys but once its aimed at a vehicle and if that vehicle has troops inside it starts to get complicated pretty quickly.

I have made up a one page flowchart. I think it's right (might be wishful thinking!) but if anyone has corrections please let me know and I will amend it for everyone's use. Consider this one Version 1!

Hope it's helpful and doesn't just confuse you more :-)

The PDF download is at the link here

This new facebook page is open now:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/boltactioncampaign/

Looks interesting, the blurb:
"Warlord Games presents a 3 month long web-based campaign that draws on three of our major game systems: Bolt Action, Blood Red Skies & Cruel Seas. Based on the actual events in the run-up to Operation Neptune and on to the liberation of Paris. This campaign will be driven partly by the narrative of this historical event, and you, the gamer!
More details are to follow! Keep an eye out for our official D-Day campaign website (launching soon!), with information on how to sign up and much more!"

 Photo from our latest game and video report (here)

Full res image here

Inspired to share by Brad Morrins "Cast Dice" podcast regarding chinese forces in bolt action, here is a nationalist poster i found tucked in a corner at the propaganda poster museum in Shanghai.

   It is worth noting that in Shanghai i couldnt find any museum with weapons , uniforms etc etc from the war....the nationalists have basically been expunged from history, and due to the coalition, my opinion is tackling how that worked for the war to be won caused too many headaches and questions...therefore simply not referencing that part of history started to be the norm.

   The main references i found were from the end of the struggle and the seizing of Shanghai by communist forces, in which the nationalists were referred to in every case as 'the enemy'. So much so, that i thought the pictures must have been the battle of shanghai vs the japanese at first until i rechecked the dates and detail of the pictures....

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

Squad of Tropical Fallschirmjager ( With breathmint reinforcements) stand easy on my shelf after varnishing. This is the last of the units i committed to finishing on our youtube channel on my channel update & plastic hoard vid....hooray!!

​Plus: 2 ponys and a peed mattress walked into a bar.......Oh wait. No....They got laid into the street as a barricade. (!!) I got this barricade finished also this evening also. 

   Its unfortunate the lighting was poor and the 'set up' for photo so poor, but heres another terrible shot focussing on the barricade  to see the barricade height and some more detail of horses markings etc.

 Painted Minis completed since Dec 15th, Dan;

28mm;

• 24 Italian Coastal Defense Division infantry ( Based by Rex- thank you!)
• 2x Italian heavy weapons teams
• 1x Italian Artillery piece incl. 3 crew and spotter
• 15 x German FJ in smocks
• 9 x German FJ Tropical fatigues

Terrain;

• 1x Italian Church
• 1x Stone Bridge
• 1.5 m2 of teddy bear fur hay and grass fields
• Painted ONLY; 1x medium (!) Hill ( Made by Rex)
• Painted ONLY; 1x small (!) Hill ( Made by Rex)
• 1x table worth of textured flexible rural roads
• 1 x street barricade ( ponys, mattress, crate & sandbags)

TABLE CLEARED READY FOR NEW TASKINGS!!

Dan​