Picking up those brushes again.

Hi and welcome to the occasional mutterings of Dave Doc, a military modeller and some time gamer. Gaming and model making has given me a real education, History & Geography(obvious really), Artistry, Politics, Economics, Logistics, Project Management -you try building miniature armies without the last 3.

I will use the blog to record my creations & the odd occasion I actually do some gaming.

I have always been inspired by the aesthetic side of gaming. Playing on well constructed terrain using excellently painted units is always a joy.

Monday 30 June 2014

Wartorn Weekend - Scarborough

Its been a weekend of gaming  and general enjoyment over at the the annual weekend show in Scarborough.

We took the opportunity to run participation games - playing 6 in all , we were pretty busy. I have posted more pictures of the games over at the Blazing Dice blog.

Its always good to meet up with old friends in the hobby , and hopefully make some ones as well.

The sight and sound of the Vulcan bomber over South Bay was wonderful.- it sure emptied the hall when it turned up. (aircraft picture credits to fastolfrun on LAF)







I picked up some stash..more than intended , so some traders had a good day from me

 I picked the rest of the Scale 75 Paints from the nice people at Northumbrian Tin Soldier
 The usuall stock up from Andy and Jon at "Ainsty" - you cant have too many boxes and sacks can you.

 Some rather nice dice tray boxes from KR which helped to keep the table nice and tidy for photographs

 A naval game - because it was in the bargain price bin! and I felt sorry for it..

A signed copy of of the book "Scapegoat"  after listening to the authors presentation. This was a new area for the show this weekend - it has some potential i think , although perhaps may need to think about the time of the day , as i had to leave off umpiring for 45 mins to catch it.

Overall an excellent weekend was had

Monday 23 June 2014

Wartorn weekend approaches.

I am looking forward to the coming weekend with the annual trip over to Scarborough for the Wartorn show. Hopefully the weather will be kind as last year.

The weekend also sees Armed Forces weekend and various parades and flypasts. The Vulcan , The Red Arrows, and the Battle of Britain Memorial flight , always great to see and hear.





Its been all too hectic since getting back from hols with me feeling like a plate spinner..so my apologies on the lack of comments etc on the blog o sphere. Normal service shall resume shortly.







Unfortunately events have delayed work on the mine, and I don't want to rush it, so it won't be there this weekend.

I have however managed to source another display case for the man cave for the expansion of the gangster collection over the rest of the year.











Sunday 8 June 2014

Minecraft!

Work continues on the mine boards for Serenity










Each board is 18 inches square, there will be 5 in total, but just doing the 2 for now.



Working on glueing , pianting, wiring , routing the optical fibres for the lighting over the this week.






Friday 6 June 2014

Stan Hollis Memorial Fund - can you help?

http://www.stanleyehollisvcmemorial.co.uk/


Stanley E. Hollis VC 1912 - 1972

"The only serviceman to be awarded the Victoria Cross on D-Day June 6, 1944, for his actions at Gold Beach, La Rivière, The Mont Fleury Battery and Crépon, during the Normandy Invasion of Europe.
"An immensely brave and modest family man, born at Archibald Street, Middlesbrough, on September 21, 1912.
"A never-to-be-forgotten leader, protector and inspiration to his comrades."
© Mike Morgan, author of the authorised biography "D-Day Hero: CSM Stanley Hollis VC".


  
CSM Stanley E. Hollis of the Green Howards/Yorkshire Regiment was the only British serviceman to be awarded the Victoria Cross on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Sadly, his gallant actions are almost unrecognised in his home town of Middlesbrough. This Memorial Fund has been established to rectify the oversight and erect a suitable memorial.Can you help to make this a reality? Currently at £115,000 out of a target of £150,000 - Official site link



The Memorial


Artist's impression of the Stanley Hollis VC Memorial




Wednesday 4 June 2014

Partizan in the Park - "Bloody Cremona"

I had the opportunity to join Simon Miller for an outing of his Cremona game. It really did look marvelous.


The starting positions




The armies start to clash




 A big cavalry duff up. at which the 8 regiments on our side were hammered by the 3 opponents


The fight by the bridge - The Batavians kicked their opponents and head of across the bridge



Legions clash




The hand of god moves the Praetorians forward!

By the end of the game we had lost to the smaller force , but it did end up a lot closer than it looked like it was going to be.

We used Simon's own rules "To The Strongest" which are entirely card driven - they were pretty simple to pick up the basics.

A big thanks to Simon for his drive and enthusiasm to get his games to the show and the guys and girls playing the game - it was a laugh - just don't mention the double "aces"..

Monday 2 June 2014

Partizan "in the park" - part 1

Conveniently heading home from holiday coincided with passing near to Newark so I took the opportunity to attend this show for the first time. It seems the club had problems with the venue and had been moved out of the regular hall into tents in the grounds. At least the weather gods shone on the organisers. It seemd to work really well, and probably getting the best day of the year so far was a real bonus. It did get hot inside but once a few extra vents were opened it was bearable.Oh and the beer van...

Queuing in the sunshine!- that does not happen often...it seemed pretty busy until mid afternoon.

I took the opportunity to meet up with Simon Miller to play his great looking  Cremona game - more on this in post two.



It was good to meet up with a bunch of old friends - it was a very sociable day. So time for some pictures

Ian and kids in the dead wastes of Sid's Verdun game 

  

  

 The fantastic looking Zulu game



A delicous irony in the retreat from Moscow game - played on the hottest day so far!


 A some other eye candy










 Well done to Newark lads on keeping the show running - I was certainly very happy with day out..