My Father's War

 The Shropshires in a quiet moment at Anzio. This was my father's battalion so it is strange for me to know that he was somewhere very near when this photo was taken.

Another of the British Infantry battalions at Anzio - note the constant trench warfare.

The Factory - one of the few features and roads. This area was soaked in Brtitish and German blood.

The Breakout - my father was badly wounded on the breakout making a pointless diversionary attack so that General Mark Clark, one of the biggest arseholes ever to join the donkeys, could be photographed in Rome.

Cavalier 2012

Some pics from Cavalier 2012.

Rupert's Nazgul over London

From the New Statesman.


And so to Cavalier.

The question of the day. Do I take my credit cards?

Pz II

Ve haff ways.

A hell of a weapon for conquering the world.

Rabbit in the Snow

I took this just a couple of weeks ago.

So this is summer!

Summer has arrived on the North Kent Coast early today.Took Mrs John to see the birdies at Oare Marsh. I took a few shots on my elderly phone, not having a camera. The wee brown birds at the bottom pic are, I am informed, Golden Plovers still in their winter plumage. So now you know.

28ml Russian Army - PDF anyone?

 Rifle Section


Plastic Soldier have a superb deal on their plastic 28ml WWII Russian Army at the moment. £35 buys 57 infantry, 4 HMGs, 4 AT Rifles, 2 light & 2 heavy mortars, and 2 guns. These pics are from my own collection.

They would make a great 40K IG army on a budget. 28ml is slightly smaller than GW scale but the nutrition in Hive worlds is dire. :)

The figs are mostly one or two piece and are in the cheap and cheerful category. But a quick paint job with a dark wash give a very acceptable finish with minimum effort or skill.

Tank Riders

Command

Light support weapons

Heavy support weapons.

Tardis, then and now

More from the Dr Who exhibition in London

It struck me that the 60s/70s tardis represented a 'futuristic' design. The message was that this is how things will look in the future, along with aluminium miniskirts and flying cars. It's a 1970s high fi deck with the very latest in computer monitors - circa Apple II.

The current Tardis console reflects a more sophisticated view. It does not look like a showcase for the latest modern consumer items. We know the future is unknowable so we create an art statement with mixed elements of retro, modern electronics and the 'way out'. The future, we seem to say, will be messy, just like the past and the present.

Daleks Through the Ages

Did you know that Daleks are creationists?

Grandfather Nurgle Triumphant

Following up our last battle, Shaun's Imperial Guard called in the Black Templars to dislodge the Grandfather's finest. The Templars put in their attack and were slaughtered. Unit of the day were the Blight Drone Squadron which possess mobility and one hell of a firepower. They took out a Dreadnought and a squad of terminators. Plague marines are one tough hombres.

Sherman Tank

A 28 ml Sherman tank for my World war II skirmish games. It is based on a Corgi diecast model which had a truly rank camo scheme so I resprayed it with Tamiya olive (Tamiya spray paints are excellent) and repainted it. I added an ariel and cupola MG and dirted it up a lot with various layers from MIG, GW and Cote de Armes washes.

As an aside, in London rhyming slang a 'Sherm' was an American: Sherman tank = Yank.

Any chance of an upgrade?

Having just had the remains of a broken tooth drilled out, I think it is time I swapped my tatty old body for a new model.


Or how about this?

Duh!

US Marine Corps - A couple of cogs short of a gearbox.


These are the Scout Snipers. They apparently genuinely did not know that Germanic SS Runes - the white on black is a particularly effective touch - have a different meaning to people who have enjoyed even minimal levels of education.


Expect to see this pic heavily used by Russian/Iranian/Whatever anti-American propaganda.


Edit:

"The SS sig runes design was created in 1931 when Walter Heck, a Sturmführer in the SS, drew two reversed and inverted sig runes side by side and noticed the similarity to the initials of the SS. Heck sold the rights of the sig runes to the SS for 2.5 Reichsmarks, and the runes were quickly adopted as the insignia of the Schutzstaffel and became one of the most commonly used forms of SS unit insignia.^"  Wikipedia.


The sig rune predates the SS but was written vertically and apparently was a sky symbol (like the swastika). It was used in Himmler's Nazi mysticism (see Wiligut Runes) and was based on the "Armenean Runes" of 1902. It is not ancient like the swastika (despite claims of links to the Norse alphabet) but an invented German pagan symbol inextricably mixed up with Naziism and its progenitors.

John's Day Off

John's Day Off

Today was my day off from writing so I decided to take a short trip.

Blake 7

I have finished my Blake's 7 Federation team, Servalen, Travis & eight troopers.

Base decorations are always an issue. Do you make mini diaromas or keep the bases dark, simple and inconspicuous. Mini-diaromas look great but can be a bit wierd on the wargaming table, as the sceary follows the model around.

One solution is to give the 'heros' diaramas and utilise simple bases for the 'other ranks. I am not sure how I will decorate the trooper bases, probably follow the steam-punk motif, but it will be simple.

So this is Winter

The East wind has brought Winter to the Medway Towns. Apparently it's only going to last for today as it will be washed away in tonight's rain so the kids are out enjoying it while its there.

Rabbit also had a great time. he likes snow and will play in it for hours.

OK, just once more

I won't do this again but a map from Fox News appeared today in the Daily Mail in an article about Iran's alleged nuclear weapon.

Amusingly, no one at the Daily Mail seems to have noticed the problem. Obviously their 'journalists' have lunched well again.