So I purchased my first corgi die cast model in 1:50 scale. Im not going completely in that direction...just happened to see a bargain for less than the kitsets are being sold for!!  

   It needs weathering and detailing...but this pic shows it straight out of the box, and i thought that shows how good they are!

   I will do another post soon showing size comparisons to 1/56 etc. 

  Enjoy your weekend! Dan

Hi All! As promised and thanks to the technological wizardry of Rex (!), our new battle report is up on our Valhalla Games youtube channel.

This one is based around Op. Slapstick & the advance north from the landings at the  Taranto port by the Brit paratroopers of 156 Para Bn, 1st Airborne Div....and meeting their arch adversaries 1st Fallschirmjager.

So, almost midway in January....Rex and I can BOTH honestly say we haven't been in 'Hobby Hibernation'...Rather we have only just come up for Air!!

I spent 3 weeks at Rex's place in Australia with him and his lovely family. We do admit we were lucky enough to get some real hobby time in also; both playing some games ( and taking vids of some battle reports  for our youtube channel , which are in post production now! ), and getting in some serious painting after hours too when all throughout the house, not a creature was stirring. Not even a mouse. Or a snake.

Rex had done a fantastic job of getting a new player into the game and excited, and it was a pleasure for me to meet Ash. as Rex played him in his first game, i had the job of advising Ash where required on tips for his first game. I must say- he didn't need much advising! apparently Ash plays a lot of tactical and strategy games online, and i believe chess too..it showed. He has a good mind for small unit tactics and will become a formidable opponent. He has a penchant for rolling 6s to hit too!! 

​Welcome indeed to the hobby, Ash. looking forward to playing you on my next visit and also seeing your armys progress as you build and paint it.

   I have started my new year finishing off my tropical FJ and therefore clearing my desk. Athough im still in progress there, im already looking ahead to a new army, as you can check out on our youtube channel here;

https://www.youtube.com/.......

I had a really enjoyable game of another game; Kings of War, with my nephew, Daniel. I really really enjoyed it and having both him and his dad (Rex ) explain it. You may not realise, but warhammer fantasy was a huge huge driver for me getting back into wargaming at the end of the 90's. I really missed fantasy armies ranked up majestically, and all the thought that goes into maneouver and the challenge of doing so in ranked units that Kings of war reminded me of.​

Anyways, heres looking forward to another year of getting to share this hobby with you, hopefully a chance to share it with my son and friends of mine in Ireland.

Also, i get to share the hobby and creating our content on this site, our channel and podcast with my brother, Rex. I had a moment where i was being an intolerable cranky-ass off camera in one of our filmed battle reports that was initially crap, but after apologising (for that- AND the fact it was caused by my setting of a gruelling schedule of hobby prep and recording that made this self-inflicted!) it was a timely reminder of all the stuff in our podcast episode one of why i play wargames. That went on to be one of the most memorable games we've ever played...and we got it on camera for you to enjoy one day soon. hope we captured and bottled that feeling for you.

Happy new hobby year!

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

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
  

​One wonders what paint scheme lies under this one, and what stories it might tell....

Taken at Omaka Aviation Museum, Blenheim, New Zealand. More photos and potential youtube vid to follow at a later date.

Well; the work was on Italian terrain in any case! I had a full weekend off and spent it tying up some loose ends and making progress on some tasks.

​These are 90% done now, and looking good to join their buddies in a future scenario. 

The modes are from the Charlie Foxtrot Pantile Buildings range. These ones being; Pantile Tower and Pantile Hermitage. as with previous models ive built from the range these were a great build and very satisfying as a minor craft project too if im honest! Its probably the sort of project a modeller could get the kids involved in too.

  I was quite suprised at actually how big the tower is, and i think it like the rest of the range represent good value!

  Tomorrow i should be receiving my Warlord/ Italeri Italian Church in the post. ...as listeners to the podcast will know, i have had reservations about the model due to its 1/72 actual scaling...BUT I have some plans to amend that after watching Kens youtube vid of the models build on 'The eccentric man ' youtube channel, and his subsequent assistance with some questions of mine.

   More info to come on that! meantime...ill just finish the hermitage door and the bell repaint, and these are table-ready! Hope you like the look of them too,

Hi All. So it was a long weekend here in New Zealand with our Labour weekend holiday this weekend. However; i spent a day and a half moving out of my current house...maybe ill share why in a week or so (!?!) but its because of working in a new location.

  That has meant my stuff is all in boxes this week so no ability to paint as that will require tearing everything apart..but what i DID get done was assembling some stuff. 

   Continuing with the theme of Primosole bridge in Sicily for more Bolt action scenarios, of course the story doesn't finish with the airborne forces fighting each other...the final scenario will feature the Durham Light Infantry and supporting British armour.  I had been thinking about this as we attended MOAB last month, and although one of the prizes left when it was my turn to choose a prize ( Thank you sponsors, Bryan and Andrew) was a Rubicon Sherman.. but i hadn't done my due diligence with research into which variant was present and yet something told me it wasn't the correct model i needed , so I put it back and got a fantastic Knights of Dice Jungle hut (MDF terrain) instead- thanks Viv & Team! 

  Anyway, my instincts were right, I needed the Mk3 ( diesel ) variant with small hatch & low bustle turret. These are the tanks that were used at the bridge by 3rd County of London Yeomanry ( 3 CLY-  " The Sharpshooters") in the battle. Rubicon make just such a variant;

 So, this is it! look at all those beautiful sprues...jam packed, right? NOPE!!!! Thats just the leftover bits after assembling the model i needed!!!! check this out;

​This taken into account i am REALLY impressed by the versatility of this kit!!! you can see all the same sprues in the background that were shown in the first pic- spare large hatch hull, high bustle turret and basically every main armament except the 75mm. By leaving the turret cupola unglued, and the upper hull just cliped into the lower hull, it opens the door to utilising these through being interchangeable..( although the colour schemes for the periods concerned will of course be various and undoubtedly different - but whos complaining here? Not me!!)

 I have yet to get online and check whether the extra armour about the bow MMG and other hatch 'bulge/protrusion' were present at the time of sicily '43. but thats a  2 second add before final clean up and painting;

​Here's the Sherman with the other two large things i knocked up this week...Why?!? because i reduced two boxes into the one carry case for tanks now for the move , haha! These two are the Warlord Tiger 1. Thoroughly enjoyed putting these together too. Note i have different things going on with the cupolas/pintle MMGs due to testing best ways for secure haulage to avoid breakages and also have 1 tank with a removable/interchangeable closed hatch and open hatch with panzer commander.

​lastly, ive been scrubbing the resin release agent off these bad boys!!...FJR and Brit Airborne casualties, and collapsed parachute canopys...all ready to paint up in my new digs!!

   Hope you all got something done this weekend..even if you didnt get a long one! :)

Rex, Daniel and I ( Dan) all went to MOAB for the 2 Day Bolt Action event, September  27th & 28th 2018.

This was Rex's first event and coincided with his Birthday also...a worthy reason to take part and for me to fly over and spend some time with the whole family prior. We ended up oddly taking a Fallshirmjager army each! One being themed around Normandy, and the other the battle of Primosole Bridge in Sicily.

We had a cracking time, 5 rounds of fun but tough fought games, on great terrain/tables and fantastic blokes who we played. Thank you to Bryan and Andrew as the  great TO's especially Bryan, who dealt with our early enquiry so i coukd ensure we had tickets and helped with local accomodation before buying the plane ticket over! 

Thanks To our opponents, their great armies, and all those who provided the tables and terrain we fought over!

We will be doing a Podcast on the event, so this is just an opportunity to post some accompanying photos! One or two are shared from the Australia/New Zealand Bolt action group page , so thanks and credit goes to the photographers for these.

  Enjoy the photos and Join us on our forthcoming podcast...Will we be fighting with Storming Eagles or Lame Ducks??...!! tune in soon and find out......!!

So ...I have been busy!! As promised its time to start revealing some of my project we've been working on.....Enjoy some pics of the Sicily projects progress

   Work so far has been around the beautiful Charlie Foxtrot Pantile buildings collection, some new walls suitable for Mediterranean battlefields and my first dabblings in teddy bear fur ( A.K.A; Muppet Pelts!)

   Work does continue, however...olive groves, vineyards and fruit orchards for a start! whew....! i will post a few behind the scenes how to's after MOAB is done and dusted! I hope you enjoy these few pics.

   PS...the next Valhalla Games Podcast will feature an important battle featuring some of this terrain.......!! watch this space!!

 So after a few hectic weeks where i was a lone worker in my work due to organised leave and then another team member having pneumonia (!) this week was finally back to 'normal' and I found some hobby time. Which is good..because this wednesday it will be 4 weeks til i fly to Australia to visit Rex and Family and then he and I and my nephew Daniel are going to MOAB in Sydney for the 2 day bolt action event! ( anyone wanting to know more should listen to the 2nd episode of our podcast, see link in older posts).

So: following our guide to preparation, hows Mine going??!!?Well..there are rumbles in the mediterranean..but that could be traced back to the Italians rations of Garlic eclairs.....

I have been working hard and now i have a truck, 88mm gun, SDKFZ 7 and recce Kubelwagon to weather and detail, and the Kubelwagon crew. I feel like i have now just got out of the red zone for time vs tasks !

Ideally i would like to do a display board, but i dont know how i would get that to Australia, so I may have to live without it this time!

  Where are the photos of them you ask?!? ...thats delayed for another task i given myself; getting a themed table worth of terrain together to take over for a themed game Rex and I will have, which will also be the subject of a podcast......once i have some more of the terrain finished i will take photos with it.

In the meantime, practice games continue....Had a 'blue on blue' game vs Germans last week, ( photo above) but this coming Thursday a game is set up to play Gordons Brits , i believe his army list is RM armour..? should be an interesting learning experience..

  Heres pics of Gordons army facing off against Nathans Italians next to us at last Thursdays meeting;

heres some more pics of the game between Dave and I . This one was key positions, 4 objectives. It probably could have been called 'key dice rolls' as there were so many fluffed rolls it was laughable! in the end it was probably who rolled less bad dice and i just finished off the better by a nose! another great game thanks Dave.

So, some future projects and some 'only got 4 weeks to go!' projects have /will arrive this week in mail drop. first up was this bargain buy; 

I got this zug on Trade me for only 75 NZD courier post included! Buy- rinse- repeat.

The next thing i have had to wait for from the UK....no hints will be given becasue youll have to wait and see!

....awww...OK Just one hint: 

Hi All! I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend?. If you are knocking around home doing some jobs maybe then don't forget to download the new episode 2 podcast ( details on last post) which will make those jobs fly by so you can get painting! ;)

Most weeks I attend the Christchurch Wargames Club here in New Zealand. where we play Thursdays and Sundays. I have a regular opponent, Dave and we get a game in almost every Thursday.

   Against all my club opponents we have a great time ( thanks guys!) but im enjoying learning different parts of the Rules simultaneously with Dave as we add a different unit type, play different scenarios etc and therefore encounter new rules regularly. 

  I thought I would share some Pics with you of a few of our games. The blossoming desert table terrain is mine, but the cracking Japanese village is Daves, im sure you will enjoy it as much as i do- Thanks to Dave for all his efforts constantly improving our gaming experience. 

  We also have an agreement we think is handy for those regular opponents while testing new units etc;  we feel free to proxy units of a respective size/type etc to test if we want to purchase them, and we also will play with unpainted models as we make painting progress as quick as we can. This helps get new units and therefore continued interest and challenges for each of us . 

   I hope you enjoy the photos! They arent supposed to be anything like a battle report, ill just do a summary by each batch.

1000 Pt. BRITISH AIRBORNE VS. JAPANESE

This game was Manhunt, I won roll off and chose attacker. I had performed really badly as the attacker for the previous 'confused fight' game wed played ( surrounded) where Dave had deservedly walloped me. and wanted to improve on that this time.

Click on "continue reading" below to see the rest of this post....

this is an Unboxing & size comparison of Offensive Miniatures and a work- in-progress Perry Miniatures 1/56 scale German Fallshirmjager, part of a Bolt action sicily themed FJR force im painting up!

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ANxHlE1MQM the video should also show below.