So, I've finished my challenge. Im really happy with what ive achieved actually... Hope its been mildly entertaining for you also? 

For those of you who are playing along at home (or just want to laugh at my folly!!). Updates are in BOLD

Tropical FJ for our book's " How to paint tropical Fallschirmjager" video, linked to our you tube page- DONE!!!

British M7 Priest SPG -DONE

5 x D&D Characters- DONE

1x goat, 2 x Cows, 1 mule, 1 German shepherd, teddy bear DONE

2 sheep, 2 Geese, 4 chickens on bases- DONE

FJ and pack mule

Para chaplain and chaplain -In Progress

5 dak infantry vehicle mounted

1 British airborne morris- DONE

SIX(!! Yes ive doubled the original number for insanity check purposes) British airborne jeeps ( various patterns & manufacturers)-DONE!

2 Airborne jeep trailers - DONE

20 Airborne jeep crew- DONE

4 x Brit airborne containers DONE

2 parachute canopies on ground DONE

Sdkfz 10/4 captured by British airborne DONE

British airborne 6 pounder DONE

British airborne Tetrarch tank- DONE

1 skaven engineer

12 skaven stormvermin

10 empire huntsmen

1 empire Hellstorm rocket battery and crew

1 empire musician/bear mascot

5 empire outriders

4 x Luftwaffe tropical ground crew

German marder III gun and crew- In progress

German schwimmwagon x 3- DONE

Assemble and paint UNIC P107 half track- IN progress

Lorraine Shlepper- In progress

Repair SS tank rider MG42 DONE

Vampire counts roadshrine

Mussolini and Skorzeny

Greater Demon of Khorne

German Vampire officer

27 Offensive,empress and westwind German Battle of Berlin 'last levy' DONE

Repair ruined keep, broken masonry DONE

3 x SW Landspeeders

Arjac rockfist

Njarl Stormcaller termi and power armour

SW Iron Priest on foot and mounted torso

Murderfang

18 Bloodclaws

SW HQ landraider

SW Rhino

2 x lascannon longfangs

12 plastic FJ- In Progress.

6 westwind FJ with P/Fausts DONE

6 SS pioneers DONE

7Luftwaffe Field Regt 88 crew. DONE

2 x Hungarian infantry

Soviet flag at Reichstag vignette

4 x metal offensive FJ

One thing i noticed is that I painted ZERO fantasy of Sci fi that was on the list, apart from the D&D characters. I think thats very indicative of where my main effort is at the moment, and very telling that i added many more NEW models to the list that were historical rather than painting the sci fi and fantasy on the existing list. oh well! Whatever makes one happy i guess, no point painting when its a chore, you have to be in the mood to be motivated to paint whats in front of you, or choose another project!

​I have shot a video update of my last months progress and it's up on our channel HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWQLUHpY82Y&t=5s

I hope your hobby projects are going well? Let us know what youve been up to! 

Regards, Dan 

So after around a year of no new podcasts- we are back!! Our new episode can be found by following the links in the previous blog post. Tune in and Enjoy it.

Meanwhile, here are some photos to help you picture what we are discussing, especially in regard to the tables we've played on each game. Rex may even edit this by adding a few in here himself. Hope you enjoy the podcast and these help! 

Note that any references to 'My ' game are meaning 'Dan's', that should save confusion here for you. 

​As if by magic, the Bratwurst gods showed us a sign on the motorway on the way to the venue...the message; "Eat Brats for lunch, dudes"...

Saturday; Game 1 

​My (Dans) Table for Game 1...note after the roll off I was given the opposite side to the view shown here. Underneath is a pic of James' army. Note the super-cool objective markers discussed on the podcast!

​So after visiting Rex ( more info on that in forthcoming blog posts, Podcast and Youtube content !!), on the way out of the country I visited the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney. Not only is the building amazing and full of fantastic (if heavily orientated toward the clothes-horse type of ladies & gentleman) shops, but its home to Hobbyco ( a great model and hobby store) that I DID know about, but I found this gem of a store that I DIDNT know existed. Here's a link to the online store, and for those of you in NSW that may want to visit, be aware they are moving premises soon apparently and will update their address accordingly on the site;

http://toysoldiers.com.au/

 And what a store! Beautifully sculpted, painted and classily presented toy soldiers and display scenic pieces, with many of them displayed in dioramas. I was aware of companies such as King and Country and Thomas Gunn that make these, but I was unaware of many of the other brands on display. The scale seems to be pretty consistent at 1:30 scale, described by some toy soldier sites and collectors as ' within the 1:32 scale family', which places them around 54mm and again within the family of size of your old Britains toy soldiers and Matchbox/Airfix 1:32  plastics...oh, and what a joy to see!!! 

  Each is a work of art within itself, basically a small statuette or vignette if a group. the painting of them is excellent, and the price they command is hefty yet strangely tempting...almost like that old Schweppes advertisement; "reassuringly expensive"! Some of the scenic items are scalable such as palm trees etc i noted, as its very hard to find a great palm tree for 28mm.

  I will go on to do a photo dump below- enjoy!

   It did make me wonder though- why will people pay a fortune for these toy soldiers, yet baulk at and attempt to drive down the price of even the most beautifully painted army of miniatures painted to the highest standard...if they were displayed and sold like this in a high end store...would they sell as pieces of art rather than treated with relative contempt by potential purchasers? I have plenty of thoughts on the matter- maybe its a future podcast-or- Youtube vid- worthy subject. Your opinions readers?

So here's an update on where I am up to on my 'Around my wargames room in 80 days' Self challenge...  

In preparing for the MOAB convention in Sydney, I decided my theme would be; whatever will get the most stuff ticked off my list, while including something awesome and historical....AHA!! that'll be British 6th Airborne Div Recce troop in Normandy along with captured Sdkfz 10/4!!! ( See below for historical image). 

Of course, some of this project isn't even ON my list- But time to get it added so I can tick it off!! 

This project has been threatening to become reality with all the random cheap Recce jeeps and commonwealth jeeps I' ve been picking up here and there the past 2 years. Plus, it became reality when I bought a Rubicon Sdkfz 10, and was fortunate enough to win Rubicon's facebook page banner competition for August. When I asked for one of the cheapest kits they make ( the flak 30 that completes the 10/4 construction) , I'm pretty sure they took pity on me as a complete lunatic and immediately succumbed to my suggestion that they might (please!) have airborne crew sprues from a commonwealth jeep available at the factory somewhere...and VOILA!! all the kits and parts required to make this historical build! Thank you so much Rubicon Models, you rock.

Also done in this pic are offensive miniatures' parachute drop containers, some animals for farm terrain dressin.

Note that the winter cam Tiger I tanks were NOT done by me... I picked up these two tanks at a steal on Trade Me. Robert is the name of the gentleman who did these, and he's started up a website selling commission painted miniatures and terrain. Here's his website , go take a look;

https://www.sharpmilitarymodels.com

I might take some pics of them for another post. Anyway, they were getting a shot of matt varnish over the decals when everything else was getting theirs done. 

 Heres the list updated with what i have completed and in progress for those of you who are playing along at home ( or just want to laugh at my folly). Updates are in BOLD;

Tropical FJ for our book's " How to paint tropical Fallschirmjager" video, linked to our you tube page- DONE!!!

British M7 Priest SPG -IN PROGRESS- Being detailed and weathered

5 x D&D Characters- DONE

1x goat, 2 x Cows, 1 mule, 1 German shepherd, teddy bear

2 sheep, 2 Geese, 4 chickens on bases- DONE

FJ and pack mule

Para chaplain and chaplain

5 dak infantry vehicle mounted

1 British airborne morris- IN PROGRESS, basecoated, camo underway 

SIX(!! Yes ive doubled the original number for insanity check purposes) British airborne jeeps ( various patterns & manufacturers)-DONE!

2 Airborne jeep  trailers - IN PROGRESS, basecoated

20 Airborne jeep crew- DONE

 4 x Brit airborne containers DONE

2 parachute canopies on ground DONE

1 skaven engineer

12 skaven stormvermin

10 empire huntsmen

1 empire Hellstorm rocket battery and crew

1 empire musician/bear mascot

5 empire outriders

4 x Luftwaffe tropical ground crew

German marder III gun and crew

German schwimmwagon x 3

Assemble and paint UNIC P107 half track

Lorraine Shlepper 

Repair SS tank rider MG42 DONE

Vampire counts roadshrine

Mussolini and Skorzeny

Greater Demon of Khorne

German Vampire officer

27 Offensive,empress and westwind German Battle of Berlin 'last levy' DONE

Repair ruined keep, broken masonry DONE

3 x SW Landspeeders

Arjac rockfist

Njarl Stormcaller termi and power armour

SW Iron Priest on foot and mounted torso

Murderfang

18 Bloodclaws

SW HQ landraider

SW Rhino

2 x lascannon longfangs

12 plastic FJ

6 westwind FJ with P/Fausts DONE

6 SS pioneers DONE

7Luftwaffe Field Regt 88 crew. DONE

2 x Hungarian infantry

Soviet flag at Reichstag vignette

4 x metal offensive FJ

​So thats it..1 calendar month to go. With me heading over to Rexs place in order for us to to attend MOAB in Sydney, I  will need to make decisions on what to take to continue the challenge from over there. There is a chance that in fact nothing will go with me due to space constraints ( after all...why would i want to miss out on a bargain from the bring and buy at MOAB that i never knew i needed, simply for lack of room in airplane baggage??!!) although I might fit in a few minis and then add them to the list for my troubles! 

Ill update again at the end of october with how I finished up my challenge..wish me luck! If anyone else takes up the challenge in your own 80 day window you choose, we'd be interested to hear and see how youve got on! 

Regards, Dan. 

So, on looking around my wargames room's display shelves after unpacking some carry cases full of miniatures I have come to the conclusion that 'out of sight is out of mind' truly is a thing, especially with those wargamers who have a  strong collector's streak!

I have oodles of projects still to be finished, but I'm concentrating on whats sitting on the shelves undercoated , or assembled etc. 

Its a mix of historical ( mostly WW2) stuff, with a good sprinkling of 40k and Warhammer fantasy battle ( not that god awful Age of Sigmar though!) thrown in for good measure! Didn't know I was into other stuff? I  have quite considerable 40k and Fantasy armies actually! I will drop a pic below. 

I also had  a great haul on Trade me which is our version of 'gumtree' or other local/national buy and sell page type website...picked up a whole haul of die cast vehicles ( pic shown below) for $11 New Zealand! After looking at the pic i figured I couldn't lose...either the schwimmwagons were the correct size and everything else was about 1:72 or 1:100 scale. or everything else was the correct size ( unlikely!) and they were too big...turned out the first statement was true...and what a match!! see the other pic of the comparison with a completed Rubicon model below-perfect!!! Excuse the grainy photos, as the first was a screenshot from the website and the other was taken just now at night. YUCK ..but you get the idea.

Anyways...im setting myself a challenge; see how much of the stuff on my shelves i can paint around my wargames room  in eighty days. I was going to start this immediately before the army decided to send me away for  the best part of a month, so I only got three days in ( having painted the first model on the list below which was filmed for a video on you tube- check it out), but I'm continuing the challenge from tomorrow minus those 3 days, so 77 days from now means...27th of October. Thats my finish date.

  I know i wont get it all done...as with many of the challenges I set myself I will try to 'shoot for the moon, land among the stars!' and see what i can actually manage!! 

Heres the list of stuff that needs to be painted:

 Tropical  FJ for our book's  " How to paint tropical Fallschirmjager" video, linked to our you tube page- DONE!!!

British  M7 Priest SPG

5 x D&D Characters

1x goat, 2 x Cows, 1 mule, 1 German shepherd, teddy bear

FJ and pack mule

Para chaplain and chaplain

5 dak infantry vehicle mounted

1 British airborne morris 

3 British airborne jeeps ( various patterns & 2 trailers)

12 British airborne vehicle crew.

4 x Brit airborne containers

2 parachute canopies on ground

1 skaven engineer

12 skaven stormvermin

10 empire huntsmen

1 empire Hellstorm rocket battery and crew

1 empire musician/bear mascot

5 empire outriders

4 x Luftwaffe tropical ground crew

German marder III gun and crew

German schwimmwagon x 3 

Assemble and paint UNIC P107 half track

Lorraine Shlepper

Repair SS tank rider MG42

Vampire counts roadshrine

Mussolini and Skorzeny

Greater Demon of Khorne

German Vampire officer

27 Offensive,empress and westwind German Battle of Berlin 'last levy'

Repair ruined keep, broken masonry

3 x SW Landspeeders

Arjac rockfist

Njarl Stormcaller termi and power armour

SW Iron Priest on foot and mounted torso

Murderfang

18 Bloodclaws

SW HQ landraider

SW Rhino

2 x lascannon longfangs

12 plastic FJ

6 westwind FJ with P/Fausts

6 SS pioneers

7Luftwaffe Field Regt 88 crew.

2 x Hungarian infantry

Soviet flag at Reichstag vignette

4 x metal offensive FJ

So thats what im going to be up to everyone...wish me luck, ill post updates as I go.

Talk soon, Dan 

 Something to play after the book goes to print tomorrow

New list builder app from Warlord games announced today full details in the YouTube video below. Hopefully valhallagames can get early access and give you feedback. It would be REALLY great to have a mobile friendly list builder solution for Bolt Action.

​One does whatever is required to get the figures onto the table... 

This is the result of hoteliers thinking that their guests all want "mood" lighting and not proper lights anywhere in their rooms ...except the bathroom apparently! 

  That and neighbouring guests snoring so loudly that I firstly couldn't get to sleep and then second; woke up at 0520.

  And yes...although I'm away for work who DOESN'T take figures and paint away with them??!!?? The answer is , of course; the wargamers who look back and wish they'd spent a couple of hours in their hotel bathrooms painting last night and this morning.

  And YES of course it turns out  I'd left a couple of colours at home that i wish I'd brought with me- its traditional for the guerilla painter! But its great to be getting layers on and making some progress while sensibly leaving the areas I wanted to leave for my painting hobby  light/magnifying glass such as faces etc. 

   Apologies ...but now you'll understand and hopefully forgive me for the poor lighting and slightly blurry images!

  Stay classy, Dunedin colorblind  Hedgehog bathroom-painting collective. 

Dan 

I have recorded an interview with Pat Smith the author of the "Setting the scene" series of books and https://wargamingwithsilverwhistle.blogspot.com/

Coming soon!

​The No surrender Event was held a couple of weeks ago here in Christchurch, New Zealand. 

We have this event and my ( Dan) games as a feature in our next podcast, to be released soon to ( firstly) our Patrons via Patreon. Then soon afterward as a general release on your favourite podcast app and afterward, our Youtube channel. Check it out! If you are interested in receiving content such as this early and would like to help support us please feel free to click on the link on our homepage and check out our Patreon.

  Heres the pics to follow along with the podcast to find out whats going on...i better not spoil the results or fun here!! ;) 

​Game 3 vs a veteran Japanese Infantry army ..back on the Tunisian table.

And Finally...Back to the Tunisian table for the final game vs Regular British Late -war infantry...

So thats it everyone...tune in to the podcast for results and details! Thanks and we look forward to us joining us then. Dan.

Next podcast less than a week away... "Freeze frame" all about miniature photography plus the usual chit chat about hobby and products.

​Well, the holiday period is a memory of a long time ago in a galaxy far far away for all of us now! Remember holidays?!..me neither.

However, as followers will note, I decided to make a crazy commitment to paint 12 seperate sets of models in my "Twelve days of Xmas " blogpost i did immediately before Christmas. How did I do?!!?....

Well; I failed. 

BUT; Did I ? in the post-new years resolution semi apocalyptic wasteland of Mid February, where guess many people are regrettably feeling down- I actually dont! Why? because i set a massive bold target that was always going to be a big ask. With the ethos that anything worth doing is worth overdoing, i threw myself into the task and achieved WAAAAAY more than i possibly would have if i hadnt made a public announcement of crazy intent!!

Between travelling to a seperate piece of the country, enjoying family time over the holidays  and then getting deployed to an exercise mid/late Jan i was hamstrung for carting large pieces of terrain and tanks on my paint list away. But, excuses aside, i feel like i 'shot for the moon and landed among the stars' anyway with the quantity i did get done. so without further ado heres what i got done;

Hope you agree and maybe you can relate or you might find it helpful to take another look at some of your projects you feel you 'Failed' at yourself and see them in a more positive light...remember its fun not life or death, and if you had a great holiday but ALSO suprised yourself with better productivity due to the challenge, then its got to be good for you! so i AM planning to do the "12 days of xmas " challenge again next xmas- whos with me??!!?

Regards, Dan.

Something completely different, zero dollar secret Santa

Dan's Scatter terrain-o-rama for WWII Chain of Command & Bolt Action on YouTube:

Dans scatter terrain build comes to fruition!

Manufacturers links: 

Anyscale Models; https://www.anyscalemodels.com/
Charlie Foxtrot; https://www.charliefoxtrotmodels.com/...
Supreme Littleness Designs; http://www.supremelittleness.co.uk/sl... 

Thanks for watching! Please "like' if you enjoyed it and consider subscribing and telling others about our channel. Regards, Rex & Dan.

A listing of Bolt Action Podcasts is now on the static part of our web site click here or on the image below:

 75 years anniversary, Op. Market Garden....

In the quest to play something different and offer a chance for my regulat gaming buddy Dave to get a game with his Pike & Shotte , we moved from my FJ playing his IJA in bolt action last week to Me playing Royalists in a game of English Civil War ( ECW) Pike & Shotte this week. It was fun to be doing something different and learning ( well-sort of , despite Dave being a good teacher haha!) A new game. 

It was good to find out that P&S is  very similar to Black Powder , a game i intend on purchasing and playing properly in the future...but a little disconcerting that i played it as poorly as a drunk stick insect conducting the 'Last night of the proms"!! 

  However; another positive thing was how great Daves armies looked ranked up..made me long for that Warhammer Empire army on the table...it certainly whet the appetite and nice that my suspicion i missed ranked unit movements and bonuses such as  flank attacks etc having gravitas in regards to combat, etc etc. Bodes well for my Black Powder purchase in the future. 

  Thanks Dave, Thanks for having two armies ready to go, and bringing all the gear to play including period scenery of your own!! It felt great to help someone play a ruleset no one has helped him play before..a good feeling for any of us to have that reciprocal social contract fulfilled for sure.

​Stop press, I think there are a couple of corrections I need to make. File offline for the moment.​

I don't know if anyone else finds the Bolt Action Artillery complicated, its not bad when its just aimed at a squad of guys but once its aimed at a vehicle and if that vehicle has troops inside it starts to get complicated pretty quickly.

I have made up a one page flowchart. I think it's right (might be wishful thinking!) but if anyone has corrections please let me know and I will amend it for everyone's use. Consider this one Version 1!

Hope it's helpful and doesn't just confuse you more :-)

The PDF download is at the link here

This new facebook page is open now:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/boltactioncampaign/

Looks interesting, the blurb:
"Warlord Games presents a 3 month long web-based campaign that draws on three of our major game systems: Bolt Action, Blood Red Skies & Cruel Seas. Based on the actual events in the run-up to Operation Neptune and on to the liberation of Paris. This campaign will be driven partly by the narrative of this historical event, and you, the gamer!
More details are to follow! Keep an eye out for our official D-Day campaign website (launching soon!), with information on how to sign up and much more!"

 Photo from our latest game and video report (here)

Full res image here