Lockdown Week ............... whatever.

What's happened this Groundhog Week, not a lot, I finished the Road to Bremen campaign and didn't want to start a new one as Duncan the Pakman (geddit?) wanted to be introduced to modern wargaming as he hadn't done anything since he was a teenager. I decided Bolt Action would be better than Chain of Command so got mate Matt to put an army list together for Normandy Germans that Duncan could use, I took the British, the forces were around 1,000 as when I looked at the 1200 point armies I decided they were too big for an intro game and cut out a few units on either side.

I chose a simple scenario from the rule book where a briefcase full of important papers had been left in a jeep in no mans land and both sides wanted to retrieve them. I haven't played BA for a while, maybe since last year so might have got some rules wrong but I made a mental not to look them up later as I didn't want to spend most of the game buried in the rulebook and put Duncan off. I decided to take things easy and then about mid game make a run for the jeep from an orchard I had been hiding behind, I made a small foray on my far left with one squad and a Sherman, to find myself in a duel with a Puma and a Marder IIIM, as usually happens with my armour the Sherman came off worse and duly exploded after initially having the turret jam. Duncan meanwhile had taken possession of a large building directly overlooking the jeep, he was a bit cautious of trying to get to the jeep and the squad he did send was none too keen and even less keen as casualties and pin markers climbed.

I now advanced all my troops and was getting close to the objective, however time was up and as the Puma ran riot in my rear area and the Marder moved to cover the jeep it was obvious I was not going to get the papers back, but also the Germans despite their armour also would not be able to reach the jeep, a draw.

We also managed a lot of chatting while playing the game and one of Duncan's friends turned up to tell him he was going to work on an engine recovered from a Russian BRDM personnel carrier, I think I have that right. He is perhaps going to replace the engine with an electric one and then hire it out as an eco friendly war machine. Thankfully the wargame did not put him off and he will be back at Casa Anderson for more games in the future, his mate also promised to get the Kettenkrad up to Duncan's so I can have a spin in it at some point, result!

I had a really good day yesterday, mate Julian came all the way from Kendal to bring me a pot of white paint which I am in danger of running out of, so he gave me the paint and I gave him eight Perry Highlanders which he wanted to paint up, Julian is an excellent painter and I did not need the figures having ordered too many. We had a coffee and a chat over the table for the afternoons game while customers came in and stared. I then had the game and in the evening I had a Zoom 'Show and Tell' with the guys from the club for an hour or so which was good fun, a lot of busy wargamers and a lot of enthusiasm for various projects when this nonsense is done with.

If we do get down to a 1m social distance I would like to do more games here as my table is 9'x5' and Duncan and I were on opposite sides all afternoon so there would be no problem in upsetting anyone.

I am back to normal hours from Monday, a real shame as I have been enjoying my afternoons off due to the lockdown, every cloud etc. I have had my first map commission in since lockdown, the book is about the rebellions against Henry VIII in the West Country, there are 11 maps to be rendered. On the tray are the 88th Foot to be based so they should be complete tomorrow, then I have a SYW limber to do, a few hours worth and then some scatter terrain, an oil tank, water tank and a fountain. I also have on order a beautiful Russian Church from Scenic World and a small round, brick well, I don't need them but with a full Russian village why not a church?

Just had Rob from the club pop in to post a parcel from a PO with no queue, I gave him a discount and put the secret Postman's mark on his parcel.