678 - Lots and Lots More Cruel Seas

Hullo All,

In my recent style of brevity, I shall keep this - uh - brief. I've played three games of Cruel Seas in the last week alone and this is - frankly - unprecedented. 

All three were versions of the same game - German S-Boats escorting armed merchantmen - and the best bit is that whilst the first and third were identical (played against Rossco and Mattenbury respectively), the second one was played between my daughters!

Yes, I finally caved and let them play one of my games. The nine-year-old played the Kriegsmarine against the six-year-old's Royal Navy, and the plucky Vospers wond the day by torpedoing the German merchantman to a watery doom. To their utter credit, both girls played with grace and patience and were as magnanimous in victory as they were graceful in defeat. My heart burst!

The forces and results (for anyone interested) were as follows (and yes, the second two games were indeed played on a sea of stars!):

Game 1 (Rossco): 
2x Armed Merchantmen; 2x S-38; 2x S-100
     Vs
3x Vospers MTB Type II; 1 Fairmile D
     Result = Kriegsmarine won.
  

Game 2 (Offspring): 
1 Armed Merchantmen; 1 S-38; 1 S-100
     Vs
3x Vospers MTB Type II
     Result = Royal Navy won.

Game 3 (Mattenbury): 
2x Armed Merchantmen; 2x S-38; 2x S-100
     Vs
3x Vospers MTB Type II; 1 Fairmile D
     Result = Royal Navy won.

TTFN,

- Proud Daddy Drax.

677 - 'Cruel Seas' Mast Storage Conversion

Evening All,

Just another quick update: I've solved the problem of stowing flimsy white metal masts for 'Cruel Seas' vessels, with help from my brand new brace of Fairmile D 'Dog Boats' (from Warlord Games):

As the mast slots snugly into a hole amidships, I've simply carved a recess into the base of the resin hull into which the mast may be placed. A simple length of tape (plastic tape here, but long-term, masking tape is more likely) then keeps the mast in place. 

Happy days.

And what will I do when I've got flags and pennants etc. Added to the mast? - Well, who knows? Maybe I'll just carve space for them too, eh?

Oh, and I also got a wee shout-out on the WS&S blog, here (link).

More ship goodness soon, I expect... 

...but fear not, Gentle Reader: I promise you I'll be back to 28mm again before too long!

Ta,

- Drax.

675 - On the Workbench at the Moment...

A bunch of Hail Caesar Vikings...

 ...some Cruel Seas card holders...

...and a fiddly ol' 1/350 model of HMS Eskimo:

That is all.

- Drax

674 - Cruel Seas Fast Boats Showcase

A few pretty pics, seeing as I had the light box out...

These are the ten boats from the starter set, and as Guy needed some at short notice for a demo game, he borrowed mine and we spent a very pleasant evening together painting them! I did the Brits (mais oui!) and Guy painted the S-Boats. 

The Brits:

...The Germans:

Things like pennants have yet to be done (and some of the German guns, I've realised) but otherwise, it was an evening VERY well spent!

 - Drax

673 - Cruel Seas... at the proper scale, this time!

Yup. Actually played Cruel Seas with the proper vessels in the proper scale. 

It was great fun: it looked fab and the plucky Brits won!
However, I'm knackered, and it's hard to tell a photostory with Cruel Seas, so here are some pics (The Vospers and S-Boats are mine; all others are Guy's):

Big thanks to Guy and David for the game. 

- Drax.

669 - 2018 Winter Challenge: British Paras! Days 33+

Alright, All?

Well, it's the last day of January and I have failed to make my challenge. 

However, being the generous person that I am, I have magnanimously decided to give myself a ten-day extension. This is because of four significant factors. 
1) I mentioned before the Bolt Action 'Desert Heroes' event up in County Durham, but I'd failed to take into account that it would wipe out three whole painting sessions;

This remains the last photo taken, but now, they ALL have almost all
of their khaki bits painted. That honestly doesn't leave much!

2) I utterly hadn't anticipated needing to both build and paint the Cruel Seas starter vessels - my pal needs them for a demo he's running this weekend. We worked on this together...but that;s something else for a future post! 

Terrible flash-pic: they look cracking in real life!

3) I also got the sudden commission to build this 28mm 4-Ground kit on a five-day turnaround. It's immense (7" tall; 12" wide), and ridiculously complicated: hundreds - quite literally hundreds - of those planks had to be individually stuck on:

4) Finally, Mrs Drax and I (and sadly now even Draxlette No.1) have all come down with - in my doctor's words - "a bad case of the flu." This is the first time in three days that I've even been able to look at a screen for this long! 

So...

The 2018(?) Winter Challenge continues...!

Watch this space.

- Drax.

668 - 2018 Winter Challenge: British Paras! Days 16-32

Evening, All!

This screen-grab of my latest Draxian Painting Chart(TM), shows which
Paras are built so far [pink] and which are currently being painted [blue].

Again, mixed fortunes in the interim with regard to to the hurried painting to completion of my 21st Independent Coy Paras. On the one hand, my red ('Crusted Sore!') arrived and - although the pics below won't do it justice - it's PERFECT...

...and on the other hand, THIS arrived,  

...so naturally I had to both build all the vessels and play a game of it. Two more nights gone, and totally worth it. More on this second naval skirmish in a future post.

Then I did manage to get some painting done. Whist still waiting for the Crusted Sore I painted everyone's flesh and even managed to complete the painting on my RAF Regiment PIAT team:

It's hard to tell, but the fellows below now have the red-brown camo patches:

...and then, THIS happened: I had to dig out my Sikh and Destroy army for an early-war desert-themed event hosted by the entirely excellent Vital Ground Wargames Group up in County Durham:

I had to repack these to get them into my carry-on

My end of the 24ft-long table during Turn 1. I had a blast,
but - inevitably - this is for a future blogpost.

(Note the new mug)

I'm pleased to announce that - even with too many evenings squandered on my poxy day-job work - I believe that I should be able to get the remaining tropers FINISHED in 5-6 days.

Do I have this long until the end of January (my arbitrary time limit)? - Yes. Just. But already, REAL LIFE is threatening those remaining days (note that I'm typing here - not painting!) so I may run over time. C'est la vie, eh?

So there. I may well manage it, but I'm not going to break myself trying, that's for sure!

TTFN,

- Drax.