Gaming on the Beach

The kids summer break has started and the wife and I decided to get things going by taking them to the beach. The weather has been particularly good lately but the forecast was a little changeable so we packed for every eventuality. Consequently the boot of the car was packed with every imaginable item we might need for a day out.... except my bag and more importantly my current book. I didn't realise my mistake until we reached our destination and started to unpack. Needless to say I was annoyed with myself for forgetting my bag and for a while I felt slightly panicky when I realised I had the whole day before me with nothing to read.

Of course it wasn't a complete disaster, I did intend on spending part of the day playing with the kids, making sandcastles and beach combing, but I couldn't keep that up for 8 hours! I thought "Pull yourself together lad" (My internal voice sounded remarkably like Nigel green as Colour Sergeant Bourne from the 1964 film Zulu), "This is an opportunity not a disaster".

The beach combing netted me several small shells and stones to use as basing material on my models and a small quantity of fine grained sand which I'm now in the process of drying thoroughly. Beach sand is irregular and varied and I think it makes much better basing sand than anything bought in a shop. I hasten to add I'm not suggesting you go out and raid the beach until it ceases to exist, particularly if its a protected coastline.

After foraging for material we sat down to make sandcastles which was a great opportunity to slip a little history talk into the conversation. I'm a firm beliver in the principle that the first and most important teacher of a child should be the parents. Of course I havn't told the kids this, so when they think were just chatting about stuff they are actually getting extra lessons from their old man (sneaky, but effective). I don't think I'm being controversial in this matter as my wife is a Primary School teacher and she agrees with me.

After the history lesson we had a wargame on the beach. This followed the age old principle of building opposing sandcastles and then knocking them down with stones thrown turn by turn. It seems my aim isn't as good as that of my 5 year old and my castle was soon in ruins and sueing for peace.

Bit by bit the whole day passed by and we had had a great time. My wife made me chuckle when she made a comment about me managing to get through a whole day without my "toy soldiers". Little did she know.

Panzer Lehr - My Army

I've finished a couple of painting projects and expanded my Panzer Lehr Panzerkompanie. It's taken a while to get this far but I am happy with the shape of the Company I'm putting together. Here's a view of the complete company as it stands now.

Starting from the front is my Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier Platoon. In the second row in the centre is the Tiger II (Konigstiger) and to the right is a StuG G Platoon and to the left the Company HQ Panthers. Behind them is the new Panther Platoon and to the right of them in the third row is the Panzer IV Platoon. At the back are a couple of Opel Maultier.

The company has been expanded with the addition of a new Panther Platoon pictured below. 

I've also completed a Tiger tank, just because the model was calling to me! I will add a Schwere Panzer Platoon to the company at some point but for now this Tiger is all I have. It's not officially part of the army list but I had to paint it anyway.

Incidentally I was struck by the size difference between the Tiger and the much smaller Panzer IV. I've seen both tanks in museums but never side by side. Here's a comparison shot showing the Panzer IV, the Panther and the Tiger II. 

Now that this lot are completed I have one other project to concentrate on before deciding what my next FOW unit will be. I have some 88's to paint and I'm about to order some Sherman's for my other army. Choices choices! 

War & Peace Show 2010

Another weekend, another military history show. This time it was the largest of its type in the UK, the War & Peace show at the Hop Farm in Kent. This event is massive and runs for five days every July with its climax at the weekend with some of the biggest re-enactment battles on UK soil. I only had a day free unfortunately but  I made sure I visited all the bits I wanted, and made myself a promise to set aside two or three days next year.

As usual I took a load of pictures and after much editing, cropping and touching up here is my selection.



There were quite a few unusual vehicles at the show that I've not seen before outside a museum. However one thing that was missing from most of the vehicles on display was information. Some vehicles had details and histories for visitors to read but many didn't. If your not an expert (and I'm not) its very hard to find out what each vehicle is. Some of my captions are blank (and others possibly wrong) so if you can fill in the gaps, or correct me, that would be great.

Big Picture :

This picture was taken on Friday at the War & Peace Show in Kent. I'm still working on all my pictures but should have them ready to post by tomorrow. In the meantime this is a general shot showing part of the German encampment area at the show. 

Dust was a big problem this year and seemed to get into everything. I spent a large part of the day cleaning my camera. Mind you it was better than the year when the site was 6 inches deep in mud!

Keep an eye out tomorrow for the rest of my pictures.