IHMN - Inspector Johnsons Casebook - History Comes to Life

It’s been a while dear friends however once again I present to you, in glorious Victoriana colour the return of the ineffaceable Inspector Johnson.

The action begins on page 48.

simplebooklet.com

Westwind Kubelwagen

This follows on from my last post as I’ve managed to put together my Westwind Kubelwagens. These models are also from their Berlin or Bust range and were purchased at the same time as my Opel Blitz’s. They retail at £12 however with the 25% sale came in at £9. Now they are 1/60 and as such look a tiny bit small however the really cool thing is that they retail at £12…………. for two!

So I’m a happy chappy. They don’t come with crew which means I’ll have to acquire some or do a little kitbashing with the Perry plastics to see what I can come up with. Also there’s no pintel MG34 however I have some left over from my late war Heer so I can add one on no problem.

So with the addition of the Sdkfz 222 (which is borrowed with the caveat that I paint it) I now have a Bolt Action 1000 pts Afrika Korp motorised patrol and all for the princely sum of:

Perry DAK - £18

Transports - £48

Sdkfz - £16 (borrowed, so free!!!)

Total - £82

I think once I have some crew in them they won’t look so tiny. I’m also tempted to mount both the Kubels and the Opels on bases primarily to protect them from inadvertent damage to wheels etc.

Not too shabby!

Westwind Opel Blitz

I’m sure that many of you, like me have a number of projects on the go at any one time (unless you are Grant who is busy pursuing the life of a minimalist wargamer over on his blog), and thus often find it hard to finish them to any satisfiable degree. Like some of you I enjoy a deadline as it makes complete a project, or at the very least bring it to a conclusion.

I’ve had my Afrika Korps sat in my lead pile (plastic) for some time and recently agreed to enter into a friendly one day Bolt Action Tournament on the 2nd of February. So now I have my deadline I’m busy beavering away on my figures as I hate fielding half painted armies (although I do on occasion).

Now one of the important things to bear in mind is that I am not a “Tournament Player”. I don’t make uber competitive armies nor do I ever make it into the top 5 (or top 20 to be honest). My whole aim in entering tournaments is to cram a good days gaming in and see some nice armies (and thus get inpired!).

Anyway to cut a long story short I decided on a DAK patrol on the basis that it will look cool. So everyone mounted. Damn, that means buying vehicles which aren’t cheap. Perusing the available models there was the Warlord Games options (trucks a-go-go and half tracks in plastic), 1/48 Italeri Opel Blitz, eBob Opel Blitz from their Stalag Luft game and Westwinds Berlin or Bust Range.

I opted for the Westwind for a couple of reasons;

1. I missed out on the Warlord Xmas sale and as such all their trucks were (and still are) out of stock.
2. The 1/48 is probably a little large in comparison to my Perry DAK
3. The eBob model is lovely however I’ve heard reports its fiddly and I’m short on time
4. Westwind had a sale (25% off) and I’m a cheapskate!

So my trucks arrived the other day and I promptly began assembly. They were nicely boxed in blister packs and laid everything out to make sure I had all the bits (which I did). Luckily they’re a mix of metal and resin so not many bits to put together.

There are a couple of niggles that may annoy an inexperienced hobbyist. There’s a couple of significant air bubbles in the canvas cover just behind the drivers cab.

This seems to be on all three trucks. Also there’s a big resin lug on both the cab and the trailer body that need filing/sawing/chipping to get the truck to fit together.

And the rear wheels are a little tall for the fitting and as consequence all the mud guards needed filing across the top to fit under the truck body.

That being said once built up they look nice alongside the Perry plastics and scale up well. The blisters states that they’re 28mm models however the website refers to them as 1/60 and therefore they may look small compared to the more chunky Warlord, Artizan or Black Tree ranges. They would definitely look a little weird along side 1/48 kits from Tamiya etc.

I’ve included a comparison pic of one them with a Perry DAK and a Warlord Sdkfz 222 which all look fine together.

And here's a couple of pics of actual Opel Blitz trucks to give an idea of how they compare to troopers.

Next up are the Kubelwagens!

Tank Movie!

I may be a little late getting to the party on this one however I thought I’d post a pic of every treadheads favourite Tiger on the set of Fury, the upcoming Brad Pitt World War 2 movie currently being filmed in sleepy old England. It would seem that Bovington has agreed to supply said Tigger to the studio (for megabucks one would assume) to add a realism to the movie.

Below is an extract from Wikipedia on the history of Tiger 131.

Tiger 131

On 21 April 1943, a Tiger I of the 504th German heavy tank battalion, with turret number 131, was captured on a hill called Djebel Djaffa in Tunisia. A 6-pounder solid shot from aChurchill tank of the British 48th Royal Tank Regiment hit the Tiger's gun barrel and ricocheted into its turret ring, jamming its traverse and wounding the commander. The crew bailed out and the tank was captured. After repairs, the tank was sent to England for a thorough inspection.

The captured tank was officially handed over to the Bovington Tank Museum by the British Ministry of Supply on 25 September 1951. In June 1990, the tank was removed from display at the museum and work began on its restoration. This was carried out both by the museum and the Army Base Repair Organisation and involved an almost complete disassembly of the tank. The Maybach HL230 engine from the museum's Tiger II was installed (the Tiger's original Maybach HL210 had been sectioned for display), along with a modern fire-suppressant system in the engine compartment. In December 2003, Tiger 131 returned to the museum, restored and in running condition.

There are more pics here and if you scroll down you’ll see what looks to be the profile of a Panther as well. From what I’ve read so far it is a fictional story however it seems they are using a large amount of WW2 AFV’s. Purely from a wargamers visual experience I’m quite excited about this!

Bloody DAK (Help!)

A short post that's a bit of a whine really. Started on my Perry DAK box last night, they're all built up, nice poses and quite characterful. Started on the paint job, undercoat of US uniform spray and then a light over spray of sand.

A few dry brushes later of various light sand/green shades and I have to say they look.....................bloody awful.

Have you ever had the moment in the middle of a painting project when you just want to throw them all out the window? I had a nice colour scheme in my head and thought to myself "this will be a nice little project this week". But no, I'm now at the stage where I'm desperately trying to rescue them and hopefully get them to a playable level by the end of the month.

I'd post pics but I don't want to inflict them on you yet. Much discussion with the guys at the club tonight I think.

Watch this space!

Oh - anyone got any painting recommendations for DAK vehicles? 

Westwind Productions Sale

I guess the title is a dead giveaway however Westwind are having a sale. Now its not on everything, particularly both EOTD and Forged in Battle are excluded (darn), however Berlin or Bust is included and the savings are pretty darn good = 25% off.

So I’ve ordered my vehicles for my DAK motorised column for the upcoming Bolt Action day in Manchester. My list is rubbish so I won’t do very well however it’s the force I want to collect and once complete I’ll start my 2nd NZEF to oppose them. I’ve always wanted play out some games in North Africa and this will satisfy my skirmish scale gaming itch.

Head on over to Westwind for a great deal. 

Dino Wrangling in Darkest Africa - AAR

A more traditional AAR this one as it does not contribute to Inspector Johnson’s story arc however it does feature his brother, Lt Col. Johnson and was a trial outing of my Dino Wrangling rules for IHMN. Luckily I had a willing opponent in Geraint who is pretty good at pulling rules together himself and was happy to cast a careful eye at my scribblings!

Oh and here's a link to download the rules from Google Drive

The premise of last nights game was one of capturing some mythical beasts in the “Lost World” and returning them to London for the masses to marvel at. Being a little short of cash and in between missions the Lt Colonel was happy to accept the contract and ventured into the jungle with his trusty troops and a few native guides to try and attempt to wrangle a few of these creatures. Needless to say it was not without hiccup as the so called “Lord of the Jungle” Tarzan had other ideas - namely to guide the beasts to safety and away from the questionable intentions of Her Majesty’s Empire.

As per my draft rules we deployed on opposing board edges and then radomised the Dino’s entry points (we only used three Dino’s for the game). Unfortunately they all appeared on the same short board edge! Tarzan had kept his small force together in the center of his deployment (Tarzan, Great Ape, Shaman and four Natives) whereas I had split mine into three groups covering the full width of the board (Lt Col & two Natives, three Natives in the center & a Sergeant and two Riflemen on the flank).

The game began and immediately I had a problem as the Hunterosaur moved through cover towards my Riflemen (the Hunterosaur ignores cover penalties and moves 9”). In the draft rules Dino’s move randomly unless there is a wrangler within 6” at which point they move towards them. With the Hunterosaur being so fast through terrain I would be foolish to enter the woods to try wrangle it. Seeing that the Dino’s were all on the far side of the board the Lt Colonel and his natives hightailed it across the board as fast as possible. However Tarzan had other ideas, sending his natives to wrangle the Angryosaur whose random movement sent it through the woods towards him, whilst he and the Great Ape ran straight forwards to intercept the Lt Col and natives.

As things developed we both learned that Dino’s are hard (that’s hard with a capital “oh my god its just eaten someone”!) with the Angryosaur using its very angry “Rarrrrr” to reduce the shoot value of Tarzans natives thereby reducing their ability to wrangle it. However they did better than my rifles managing to get two lasso’s on the beast (leg and mouth). This meant that it was less effective at fighting (FV was halved) and could only move 6” towards the wrangle that had hooked its leg making it much more predictable. Geraint being the jammy player that he is managed pass his natives Pluck roll to disengage each time the Dino moved into contact (he’s hooked the leg remember!). Because I had written in that you roll for priority for the Dino’s just like any other player controlled model the Angryosaur was frequently moving and fighting before Geraint’s natives so those Pluck rolls to disengage were invaluable.

Meanwhile I pushed one of my Riflemen into the woods to try and tempt the Hunterosaur out thinking that I could disengage when it moved into contact with my Rifleman. But oh it was not to be as I fluffed the roll and then the thing gobbled him up in true Ray Harryhausen fashion.

So currently Tarzan and co have two lasso markers on the Angryosaur and I’m minus one Rifleman. If Tarzans other two natives can hook the beast he’ll have four markers and be able to drag it safely off the board. He’d only need one more Dino to win or alternatively just kill off my troops so I can’t get the requisite four lasso markers to capture one.

Then disaster struck! I used one of my natives as a tasty treat for the Hunterosaur (“ere, Zuma, go stand over there, we’ve got your back mate!) which obviously couldn’t resist and pounced out of the woods on the innocent young tribesman. It was at this point that we agreed that Dino’s should have the Terrifying rule (doh!) and therefore I duly took my Pluck test, which I failed and backed off, leaving the Hunterosaur standing in front of three eagerly waiting lasso’s. Roll the first dice, ooh a hit, roll on the Dino table, a ten………

The damn thing fell over, narrowly missed young Zuma and broke its neck!

Hurrah you might say however the aim of the game is Dino Wrangling not Dino killing. The Lt Colonel’s paymasters would not be happy with a dead Dino!

And while all this is going on Tarzan is trying to despatch my other natives, the Lt Colonel is having a bit of a disagreement with a Great Ape and Geraint’s natives are singularly failing to capture the Angryosaur to the point where, being jealous of the Hunterosaurs Ray Harryhausen audition it promptly scoffed one of the wranglers and his lasso (Dino Spaghetti!).

Its not looking good for either party at the moment. I decide to go interfere with Geraint’s natives while Tarzan is tied up with my natives. It was at this point that Geraint reminded me that there was a third Dino on the board, the Veggiesaur which had been happily wandering around eating trees and ignoring the mayhem. So I changed my original plan and headed in its general direction, luckily it obliged by ambling towards my rather flustered wranglers.

Geraint could see that his attempts with the Angryosaur were not really going to succeed and he managed to disengage his worried natives to then copy my plan and interfere with my attempts to capture the Veggieosaur. Then just to add insult to injury the Lt Colonel despatched the Great Ape with a rather callous pistol shot (quick call the RSPCA!) and headed over to intercept this new threat. Meanwhile Tarzan discovered that earlier in the day Jane had been cleaning the treehouse and mistakenly swapped his fighting knives for rubber spoons (he couldn’t hit for toffee!!).

Success was mine for the taking as I managed to hit with all four lasso’s on the Veggieosaur. The following turn it was just a case leading said captured beastie to my board edge.

Hurrah!

Errr….  until one of Geraints sneaky natives did what Tarzan had been unable to do all day and despatch one of my brave stalwarts of Her Majesty’s Empire, none other than Lt Colonel Johnson himself!

Rest assured dear readers her recuperates as we speak as it was only a flesh wound..*cough, cough*

All in all not a bad outing for my little Dino Wrangling rules, a few tweaks and some very obvious missing bits (terrifying!). I’ll try and get them drafted up and posted up here in the next few days once I’ve incorporated any other comments. The Draft is over on the Lead Adventurer Forum if you’d like a lookee!

Fences for IHMN

Another quick project completed over the Christmas break. It’s hard to find time over the holidays for hobby stuff, as you entertain young children during the day and crash out exhausted at night (not to say it isn’t fun!).

So inspired by http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/ and http://londonbymidnight.blogspot.co.uk/ I decided to bash out some fences to support my slowly growing VSF town. I think they came out rather well however I foolishly used superglue to glue them to the base and obviously this has clouded the clear plastic (doh!). Now if I hadn’t been in such a hurry I’d have used some contact adhesive to glue them down properly!

I may go back and redo them depending on how they look with my other terrain. They’re just a few bits of spare balsa wood with coffee stirrers as the frame (provides strength!). Gave the whole thing a watered down Vallejo black wash followed by Vallejo Heavy Sienna and Neutral Grey dry brush.

Ere, Sarge, do you think we gave him the slip?

2014 Resolutions and The Three Kings of the Lost World!

It’s the New Year and everyone seems to be blogging about their hobby resolutions. I have to say I’ve never been one to make (or keep) resolutions, they’re a nice idea however its so easy to lose focus as everyday life takes over. However I decided to make two this year:

1. Quit coffee (I drink to much and I’m sure its given me an ulcer!)
2. Do not buy any more figures until the lead/plastic pile is gone!

So how am I doing? Well it’s the 8th January and I am typing this blog post while sipping on a lovely cup of ……….coffee!

Arghhhh - yes I’ve failed however I’m trying to achieve this resolution by slowly weaning myself off the dreaded black stuff rather than cold turkey (its fairer on my family this way!).

So that’s my first resolution broken however I am winning on my second one……..NOT!

As many of you lovely blog readers do I follow a wide range of blogs, one of which is the rather splendid Colonel of Truths Miniature Issues who manages to do amazing things with bits of tat and bargain store buys. So inspired by this and whilst wandering through Boyes Department store in Ilkley (looking for a toy car I’d promised my youngest!) I picked up 3 plastic dinosaurs for £2.97 with the thought that they would make a rather characterful addition to our Darkest Africa games of IHMN.

Now as soon as I’d purchased the aforementioned I thought “oh no I’ve broken my resolution” and so with a guilty conscience I set to getting them gaming ready whilst said youngest offspring enjoyed his favourite movie (58 mins of Thomas King of the Railway!). Below is the result of my efforts!

These shall be gracing the table tonight when Lt Col Johnsons company attempts to wrangle the beasts whilst being attacked by that barbarian Tarzan and his native allies! An update shall follow!

Note: As they never hit the lead/plastic pile technically I didn’t breach the resolution *cough* honest!

The Desolation Of Smaug - I’ve Finally Seen It!

Unfortunately I was unable to go see this earlier in the month as more pressing concerns took precedence (work, Xmas pressies and moving house). So with a little sweet talking we managed to convince my mother in law to supervise the offspring whilst SWMBO and myself went for a quick adventure into the city. 

On arrival we purchased two tickets for the 1pm 2D showing (3D doesn’t agree with SWMBO) and filtered into the large darkened room. The reel started rolling and after 30 minutes for adverts (the tickets were £9 each, why do they need so many adverts?) the familiar music started.

So what did I think? I'm sure many of you have seen it by now, in fact lets be honest I really don’t think anyone reading this blog will be unfamiliar with the story so I won’t be giving anything away if I repeat any of the story. This picks up from where the last film finished, in fact it pretty much carries on immediately with the story. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, the imagery was awesome, the pace was spot on, the acting was….err…… not that great actually. Or am I doing a disservice to the actors when its probably not their fault. I think my main gripe is that there were many occasions where the actors looked like they were acting. I don’t want to know I'm watching a film and unfortunately I felt like I was all the way through. I wanted to be caught up in the tale and it simply wasn’t the case.

Martin Freeman didn't have many lines this time and as such seemed to be reacting to everyone else, there were quite a few obvious pauses after a line was delivered where there was no dialogue. A few of the dwarves had lines that were clunky and badly delivered, they looked like there were acting. Now this sounds like I'm picking at technicalities however after four forays into the lands of Middle Earth where I have been dragged in as soon as the movies started I'm sad to say that I felt like I was on the outside on this one. Now don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the film, I’ll be getting the DVD and watch it through many times, it may even grow on me however that first experience was not the one I wanted.

I also felt that the inclusion of Legolas was a little bit forced, much like the first Hobbit film using Elijah Wood and Ian Holm, it is noticeable that Orlando Bloom has aged. I did like the interplay with Legolas and Thranduil and I was concerned that the creation of Tauriel would feel wrong however I liked her character, she seemed natural.

On a positive note the film does not let up, the pace is constant with many action scenes and it seems that this time seeing it in 2D does not mean you miss out on the panorama shots that would look better in 3D HFR.

So all in all a good experience, a few niggles but overall I’m happy. Middle parts of a trilogy are always problematic, they don’t often seem like stories in their own right. The Two Towers works on its own, this struggles a little however I shall see it again and may change my mind.

Been offline due to festivities!

I guess everyone has been a little preoccupied over the last two weeks, some kind of religious festival I believe. Anyway this merriment did in fact manage to finagle it's way into my household, without I hasten to add the accompanying religious connotations.

So as we have two young children the Christmas period is very much about them, presents, stories about Santa etc and just generally very silly in a good way. Both SWMBO and myself agreed to not get presents for each other this year, which obviously means that she ignored this rule and got me something. Now I have an ever increasing lead and plastic mountain so she knows not to add to this as she has to deal with the spread of pending items. In fact she decided to take matters into her own hands. The two images below are before and after xmas pressie exchange. Please note that we have just moved house so I haven't had a painting area set up for ages.

I'm not sure how Santa got this oak writing desk down the chimney however I'm glad he did it without destroying anything or putting his back out. Finding a fat guy with a large beard lying on the floor in pain is not something I want my kids to see on Christmas morning, the rest of the year its not a problem as I'm often lying there in pain after throwing them in the air and playing horsey!