An Update of Sorts

WW2 Projects Update:

Late War British:
I had hoped to attend the FOW NZ GT in Auckland this weekend, but unfortunately work requirements and the need for $$$ prevented me taking the trip up. Good thing too, I’m almost finished redoing my Cromwells from 7th Armoured Div to 11th Armd, and I’ve just got to get the bases finished on the Infantry after that.

Late War Fallschirmjäger: Organised and ready to be started once and for all. I’ve sorted out the mix of figures, Camo schemes and what supporting armour they’ll have available to them – a mix of Panthers, a Tiger IE and the usual Stug IIIs (albeit with Saukopf mantlets of which I prefer the look). I had pondered using my 4 Panzer III ausf Ms but I’ve deceided to use them for a Winter 43 project based on the very nice artwork on the Squadron Signal SS Armor in Action.

Early War BEF: Very slowly progressing now, although the basic uniforms and webbing are done for all the figures now, just the small arms, boots and flesh to be picked out. Once I get the full Infantry company out of the way I’ll be able to go to town on the Cruisers – The Matildas will probably wait a while as I’m still not sure on how far I want to go with Infantry tanks – I’ll probably end up needing a lot more Matilda Is and a few more Matilda IIs to obtain the look I’m after.

Other periods:
Ancients:
I’m hopefully getting hold of a second hand Freikorps Ancient British Chariot based force that will serve nicely as a counterpoint to my Spanish and Romans. Yes the Ancient British panzer division will ride again – there’s something about fielding 21 Chariots on the tabletop that appeals.

Napoleonics and ACW: I’m in the final stages of offloading my Napoleonics – they just weren’t getting used and I can put the money towards the move to Australia. I’ve not sorted out whether I’ll be angling for an ACW army in 15mm in partial trade but it does appeal, which will flesh out my existing ACW forces nicely. I’ve been helping troubleshoot (I wouldn’t call it playtesting – I’m that poor a gamer that I tend to break  most rules sets through my ineptitude) a locally written set of Grand tactical Napoleonics rules which are set above the level I’d normally enjoy but work really well – fast play but enough plausibility in results and flavour enough to suit. Of course it helps that Evan and Kelly have gone nuts with regard to painting some AB 18mms  – some of the nicest figures I’ve seen and the painting is worthy of the sculpts. I’m hoping to grab a few decent pics of a game in progress as it really does look rather good.

Boardgaming:
Very little activity these days, as between work hours and personal commitments I really don’t have the time or space to set up anything and the last thing I want to do is face an extended session on the PC after 8 hours at work.

So there you have it, very little actually getting done, and it’s unlikely to change between now and May 2008 when I should be ensconced in Aussie. Mostly I’ve been doing a little reading (mainly Lachoucque’s History of the Garde Imperiale) or watching some classic documentaries and series (The Beeb’s The Great War, Stalag 17, Colditz Story, Paths of Glory and The Wooden Horse come to mind).