Weather bad, food running low, morale rock bottom....

 Well it is raining, it is windy and it is grey, appropriate for most of our feelings at the moment. It is going to be a quiet day, I have been up painting stuff since about 0800 so it will be a long afternoon I think. I do have one thing to look forward to and that is a remote Bolt Action game with Phil Robinson tonight, I am looking forward to seeing how it plays out, I found War and Conquest to be easy to do remotely and if this is the same I might try a few if I can get some opposition. Nothing else to report so some ramblings below.

There is a new history of the Vikings out, written by a woman historian named Cat Jarman, from the reviews a refreshing take on the Northmen, no, it is not, it is about the Vikings I learned about and whose myths and raids caught my imagination as a young boy. Consigned to the dustbin along with the horned helmets are the legions of 'Shield-maidens'.

 A customer came in last week and mentioned that the last time he was in I had an American Civil War game on the table and that did the name Hotchkiss ring a bell, it drew a blank and I wondered if my ACW credentials had just flown out the window as I pride myself on my knowledge of this conflict. He then mentioned Jedidiah Hotchkiss and maps, the light came on, Jed Hotchkiss was a map maker for the Army of Northern Virginia and in especial Stonewall Jackson's commands, he also worked closely with Robert E. Lee. The Hotchkiss in front of me was a descendant of Jed Hotchkiss and was going, when allowed, to a family reunion at Gettysburg, his parting shot was another relative invented the Hotchkiss machine gun, an interesting morning for me.

 

 I started on my NKVD squad last week, these are really nice figures from Warlord Games, I was going to simply copy the colour scheme on the box until someone mentioned on Facebook about Border Guards, who were part of the NKVD having green helmets rather than blue, so my boys became Border Guards. I now have several things on the tray, I have started and almost finished the Soviet Airborne squad, again very nice figures with good action poses, these are being joined with the anti-tank dog teams and an ampulomet team. Blitzkreig rectified the armoured car problem and although I offered to send the wrong one back Paul kindly told me to keep it for the hassle it had caused, no hassle but a nice gesture. So I now have two armoured cars to paint and winging their way to me are a Marder III Ausf H, an Ig18 infantry gun and some artillery crew which I hope to use in my open topped vehicles. I still have a wishlist for 1941/42 vehicles for the Eastern Front, some tanks and transport for the Jerries and a BT tank of some sorts for the Russians.

 One parcel arrived the other day which I was not expecting and on opening found a nice gift from friend Rob Martin. Having decided not to do Hanoverian's and keep my SYW stuff to French and British I had a battalion spare, they 'deserted' to Rob and in return he sent me a lovely little vignette.