Groundhog Month

No wargaming again this week solo or otherwise, the main reason being I have gone back to normal hours and only have a Thursday afternoon to myself, and weekends of course, although to be honest the footfall in the afternoons is pretty pitiful and I could probably manage a solo game. As usual there is confusion, despite notices, as to whether I am open or not, there is also a bi-annual rumour of the PO closing down completely from some demented local who knows more than I do seemingly.

Anyway for the past week I have been busy building my railway station from Sarissa, they have several but I went for one which I hoped looked generic and could be used both in the West and East. It turned out to be quite a large kit but went together without a hitch, I didn't want it to stand out as I said so went for muted colours, once finished it still looked rather plain and obviously needed some posters, so, Russian or French, or even perhaps German or Polish, I had to make my mind up, I went with French. I also thought that I would nevertheless make some station name plates in French and Russian, unless you get really close you cannot tell the writing is French, so from a table top view the station can be anywhere. The platform looked a bit bare so I put a couple of pieces on and will paint some more later, my friend Stuart who runs Magpie Designer very kindly offered to print some 3D suitcases for me so they will also be done later. All I need now is some ballast for the railway tracks, there is a foam one which would be perfect but I cannot source it anywhere as it is sold out, so keeping my eye on that for now, I really don't want the hassle of making my own.

The Paras are now organised, cleaned and primed and I should be getting to them tomorrow, especially if this dreadful weather continues, heavy rain, high winds and cold here, but that is actually normal here in July now, summer has come early for several years. As usual I looked at the Para organisation in Chain of Command and found it did not measure up to the actual organisation in the field, I always start with CoC as I find Bolt Action is not conducive to historical units, you can use them but have to ignore the books. The Para platoon for late war consists of three squads armed with 3 SMG's, six rifles (one a sniper), a Bren and one 2" smoke mortar. The mortar guy has an SMG and a cut down version of the 2" mortar, the sniper has a rifle with a scope and is more than likely a marksman rather than a real sniper, I believe the real snipers were held at Company level, I am not mocking the marksman just putting him in a wargaming context, I was a good shot but not a sniper by any means. I once pointed a rifle at my CO and got hit over the head with it as he frantically jumped aside and grabbed it, but that's another story. I read that not all squads took their mortar along so to save me several pounds I only went for two figures with the mortar, thinking that I could swap it out for the extra Bren, if I so need a third I can requisition a regular army one. The platoon HQ also had a reserve weapons pool, mine will have a Bren which can be given to any rifleman in a squad, now I have read that there may have been a PIAT here as well but I lean towards these being Company level weapons so support rather than integral. There are several ways I can deal with the marksman and I have decided that if he gets a 1 on rolling to hit he can roll again, that seems to be the simplest solution, the same could work in Bolt Action a reroll for a miss.

 The Paras will keep me busy for the next three to four weeks I think, WWII figures are not hard to paint although I am waiting for the bases from Warbases who have only just returned to work. Rubicon will be releasing their new PzIII kits near the end of the month, I have an idea to at least get the command tank version, I may also get the late version as these turn up in odd places during the fall of the Reich and even in Normandy in '44. After that probably another few SYW battalions.

I could have finished the station a day earlier but I was dragged to a garden centre, why do sane people have the urge to go to these places and spend a small fortune while being asked for £20 for a tea and scone. I just kept schtum for a quiet wife and set off, on the way we stopped in Lancaster and I nipped to my favourite sweet shop for my liquorice fix, duly waiting my turn at the door, two packets of Zoots, one Catherine Wheels, one Jelly Bellys and I was made. Things got better at the Garden Centre when I noticed a £1 range which has excellent Liquorice Comfits or Torpedoes, oh and the missus got some plants.

Not much going on on the entertainment front either at the moment, I have tried a few things but nothing which made me want to repeat the experience, apart from two, Money Heist and Kingdom. Money Heist is a Spanish production and is a bit different from your normal bank robbing movie and very clever with it. Yes I have a moan, the production is dubbed and a couple of the voices don't seem to fit the characters, but that is a minor complaint, I am now on Part 4.

Kingdom is a Korean zombie movie but set in what I guess is the 16thC, it is typical of Eastern movies, the acting and expressions in places a tad OTT and at times comical, but like a snake it has drawn me in and I cannot shake it. A perfect piece of nonsense for a night locked down.