May 2024 review
May is over and while you might not have seen much activity on the blog, there was a lot going on. The first half was dominated by finishing the Road to CONflict, to be able to host a demo table of post apocalyptic tank war at CONflict 2024. And while you can see further coverage among others on Team Würfelkrieg, I'll give you a series on how I prepared the tanks and scatter terrain for our tank battle table.
Well, that explains why the first half of May wasn't that active on the blog, but why was the second half? Only two days after CONflict I went for a two weeks holiday towards Scotland, primarely for the Highlands and the wifi in our AirBnb wasn't that great, that I could finish the drafts I prepared. Because the pictures are edited and the articles are "just" missing the proper texts.
White Dwarf Trio – August til October 2021
Catching up with the last three issues of White Dwarf, #467 August, #468 September and #469 October 2021. I do have an subscription, but due to the move and some hickups with the post, I got replacements for 467 and 468 in form of the regular copies.
In the August issue, #467, the overall focus was heavy on the new edition of Age of Sigmar, covering Kruleboyz and updated Stormcasts. However, the issue has some interesting conversions, that I like to point out. First of all, this impressive combination of the Mega-Gargant and the Canis Rex Knight Preceptor. A very fitting use of the shield and helmet, to make a huge Bretonnian Knight.
October 2021 review
Halloween is over and we've reached November. In this month, we've covered the Nexus Syphon and plastic Gunfighters as reviews.
Beyond that, I've been taking further care of my stock and preparing articles. A few things that I scanned, along with getting rid of boxes and packaging. On top of that, I am working on a motorpool article - similar to the US American post - covering the British in North Africa. I have prepared some Rubicon kits, on which I will go in detail this month (they're already built, the pictures are taken, just missing the text). I picked up the Sd.Kfz. 7/1 build again, as well as another captured vehicle for either the British or Germans in North Africa.
June review
Managed to get some things going in June. Some new and final arrivals to my collection.
I am a huge fan of the work of Paul Hicks, and one of rarer miniatures (besides the event miniatures he sculpted) is this set of British Napoleonic soldiers, strongly influenced by Sean Bean in Sharpe. After looking for a trader in Europe and trying to get these second hand - but with no results for over almost a year, I decided to order directly with Brigade Games. Shipping wasn't cheap at 28 USD (for a total of ~50 USD worth of miniatures), but went incredibly fast, as these arrived within 10 days - incl. going through customs.
This isn't going to be some mass combat, but really a small skirmish setup around Sharpe's Rifles. So after looking at Osprey Games' Chosen Men, but putting that aside for it being far too large, as it is more like Saga at 40+ miniatures and not what I had in mind for the small battles, I went with Song of Drums & Shakos by Ganesha Games. Tabletop Stories has a review on the rule set. And if you're already there, give their Mecha-Spin off of What a tanker a go.
February 2021 review
February is over and I'm still waiting for the arrival of my UK packages ... because it is still post-brexit chaos.
White Dwarf 458 – November 2020
With a bit of delay (and unfortunately skipping issue #457) the November issue of White Dwarf arrived.
Games Workshop covered a brief look into the issue on Warhammer Community. And this issue covers quite a lot of nice goodies. You get a Warcry character card, a flying ace for Aeronautica, a new Starplayer for Blood Bowl, a Stratagem card for Titanicus, Tactic card for Necromunda, a code for 40k Combat card and Talisman RPG flyer. On top of that there is a double sided poster, with a game plan for a LotR wizard duell and A3 poster of the new White Dwarf Space Marine chapter the Tome Keepers.
Looking back on August 2020
I ordered Knightmare Miniatures retro-style miniatures through Battlefield Berlin in April and after a lot of reminding and pushing, they finally managed to send the few casts to Berlin and it was quickly forwarded to me. I am aware of the situation in Spain and that it is niché, but seriously, 4 months and that amount of pro-activity necessary ... annoying.
The few models will be added to my greater Realm of Chaos collection, along with the bat swarms by Reaper and Masquerade to be included in the small undead warband.
White Dwarf #453 April 2020
While some of you may already the #454 issue, the April issue of White Dwarf arrived here last week. Due to the corona post hick-ups my subscription copy was lost, but the Games Workshop customer service took care of it, and send a replacement on its way.
Therefore we have the regular cover of White Dwarf #453 April 2020 (yet the month stated has to be taken rather loosely, as Grombrindal explains over here).
White Dwarf #452 March 2020
Earlier this week the March issue (number 452) of White Dwarf arrived. This is the subscription cover, showing a a full artwork scene between the Space Wolves and Thousand Sons lead by Magnus the Red, created by Jaime Martinez.
The regular cover by Kai Lim shows a Space Wolf riding a giant wolf.
Weekender – Home Office Week 1
So, the first week of social distancing is over. I swapped the coffee at work for a cup at home, and on friday we even had a virtual after hours drink. Where we used the infrastructure that was used for dailies, stand-ups and other meetings, for a beverage of your choice and some off-work chat. Working longer than a day or two from home was a bit strange at first, due to the lack of personal interaction, but thanks to my amazing colleagues and employer it went very well.
A side effect was that I gained an hour a day, that I wasn't commuting, and was spend on having breakfast / dinner with my family. And due to the fact, that most of my friends were in similar situations, most had already setup the facilities to work from home / participate in video calls, so we came together in the evenings for a chat and some virtual wargaming gathering a bit more often than usual.