Butterfly

 I have changed my mind again, I am not doing a French early war army for WWII, instead I decided to add more Germans and cover the Eastern Front from 1941 to 1945. My forces at the moment are perfect for 1944/45 so a bit of work to be done, I have ordered a full platoon and an extra squad along with all the supports, mortars, MMG's, anti-tank rifles etc. from Crusader Miniatures. they were offering 20% off so I really had to get them now in order to save money. I am no expert but I think my Russian infantry will fit well from '41 until '45, just in case I need more I have pre-ordered two squads from Warlord, NKVD and Airborne due for release in February, so possibly all I need now is some Naval Infantry and Bob's my uncle or auntie or whatever he feels like on a given day.

 I will need vehicles and I have a small list for both the Germans and Russians which I shall start collecting after I have painted the infantry, I might even get the odd model before the troops are complete. On the one hand I am looking forward to this and on the other I wonder when in the name of the wee man will I get this lot on the table, I will have a lot of catching up to do.

I have also got my British battalion to take the place of the Hanovarians but I have not even opened the box yet to look at them. This is not entirely down to Covid as I am very busy with maps at the moment and am finding time for painting a luxury. I have almost completed my French battalion for the SYW and I suspect it will be getting varnished and based some time next week.

With all the excitement about Warlord's new ACW figures hitting Facebook, YouTube and the club I have been made to feel guilty about all my lovely Civil War figures languishing in their boxes. So I have decided to kick off a campaign in order to fight some battles here in Casa Anderson. I am using my own booklet on the Elkhorn Tavern Campaign from early 1861 in the West, this gives a start and end date so the campaign will not last forever. It can be played with five players, two Union and three for the Rebs, the players have to take on the roles of their characters as this campaign was plagued with large ego's from the start, this means some players may not have a starring role depending on how the campaign plays out so it can also be played with two. It is also interesting from the point of view of the armies concerned, both are overwhelmingly made up of raw recruits and many units have sub-standard weapons. The terrain is not good, the weather is atrocious and command and control of detached forces is incredibly difficult. The Federal forces have to throw the Rebels out of Missouri while the Confederates have to maintain a presence and inflict a defeat on the enemy which will see them retreat.

 I now take twenty minutes of exercise a day, OK I don't do this on the weekends but nonetheless I am making an effort. I did walk last Sunday as I was getting stir crazy, let's just say it was not wet but 'fresh'. As I neared my return mark who should come round the corner but Duncan in one of his jeeps, he hit the brakes and skidded a good 20 feet, he was going for petrol so I volunteered to accompany him and jumped in, he offered me gloves but hey I used to chase Russian warships in the North Atlantic, I was wrong, it was freezing. Nevertheless I enjoyed the drive and we stopped off to see the fabled Kettenkrad in a nearby village. I did see bits of it, it was covered in stuff in a small shed however Tony promised to get it out in the better weather. These guys gather stuff which just looks like junk to me, Tony has a couple of Jeeps and bits of jeeps, several of what I was told were engines, a large Soviet Communications van, the Kettenkrad and god knows what else in the other sheds.

I am now 68 and one month and in all that time I have never in my life bought a football top, some people are never out of football tops but not me. Now, in order to help out No.2 son I have a football top, what has Scotland got to do with football I hear you ask, no matter, in my heart there is a small nook way in the back in a dark recess which, despite years of misery still expects us to win, win something, anything.