Administrivia

Posting will be sparse for a bit - multiple eye specialist appointments upcoming. Which will hopefully fix the problem :D

New Plastic Soldier Company 15mm German paras

And I quote:

15mm Late War German Fallschirmjaeger.

Company sized 15mm Late War German Fallschirmjaeger box set. Contains: 141 figures, including 3 x panzerschreck teams and panzerfausts. All you need to build a 3 platoon company (including company HQ).

Had I not already stockpiled a box of the Battlefront ones, I'd be grabbing these like a shot. 

Battle Report - 10-Aug-2015 - Sails of Glory

 Back to the club for the first time in a while, and a nice little game of Sails of Glory. We went for something a bit different this time - Andy took a French first-rater (the Orient), while Miles, Dave and I took a frigate each (the Terpsichore, the Meleager and the Iphigenia).

It.. could have gone better for the English. It probably would have gone a whole load better if we'd actually coordinated our battle plan, rather than sailing merrily up to the Orient as we felt like it. The Iphigenia was the first to go - I took only a partial broadside from the Orient, but pulled a really vicious set of chits from the B bag, and wound up with one hull box left and on fire....

Ouch... Iphigenia on the receiving end of a partial broadside

For those unfamiliar with the Advanced rules for SoG, the first thing that happens in a turn is you determine if the wind changes. Immediately after that you resolve continuing damage (before things like movement and crew repair actions!) - and guess what, if you're on fire you lose a hull box. Exit the Iphigenia, a charred and drifting hulk, sails and masts ablaze (and probably with her magazine gone).

Miles' captaincy of the Meleager didn't fare much better: the ship wound up caught in irons when the wind changed, and due to some less than inspired movement choices, she drifted onto a rocky island shore and foundered.

Which meant it was all up to Dave and the Terpsichore....

The Terpsichore getting hammered...

He did his best to pull of a piece of Bolitho-esque heroism, but it wasn't to be - almost managed a couple of rakes of the Orient, but in the end the first-rater's superior firepower did for him.

A fun game, with lessons learned - we may well try this scenario again next week!

Holiday reading... ok, listening

Given my current gaming addiction (Sails of Glory, in case you've been on holiday longer than I have) it may come as no surprise to learn what my holiday listening was.

My right eye is still not 100%, so instead of print (which also takes up valuable luggage space) or e-books, I've been using up Audble.com credits on the Alexander Kent "Richard Bolitho" series of Napoleonic-era naval books - the series is being read by British actor Michael Jayston, who brings just the right aura, and a wide range of accents, to the novels. I was kind of hoping to grab some good SoG scenario material out of them, but Bolitho is, of course, the hero of a book. and thus most of his victories come against odds ranging from the unfavourable to the impossible, so some tweaking will, I suspect, be required.

Good to dip in to them again - Jayston reads them very well, and they're a bunch of rattling good yarns.

Sails of Glory record game at Grncon

79 players. Sheesh!

Now, admittedly, I think it's a bit of a cheat, since it looks more like 20 4 player games end to end, but you can't fault Ares Games for trying....

RIP Les Munro - last surviving Dambuster pilot

Squadron Leader John Leslie Munro, CNZM, DSO, QSO, DFC, JP (5 April 1919 – 4 August 2015)

While Munro is famous as being the last surviving pilot from Operation Chastise, he was, ironically, one of those who failed to drop his mine, being hit by flak on the outward journey and losing all radio, which made the drop impossible.

He was later promoted to a flight leader role in 617, and took part in most of the raids in the early part of 1944 in which the squadron pretty much defined their rôle as a precision bombing force - he even led the squadron when Leonard Cheshire was on leave.

His passing leaves just two surviving Dambusters, "Johnny" Johnson (McCarthy's bomb aimer) and Fred Sutherland (Les Knight's front gunner). 

"Well, I'm back"

...from a very pleasant and largely computer-free two weeks in Branson MO and Orlando FL.

Hope everyone had fun without me...