Armies on Parade

 Sorry it's been a while, but you wouldn't know it - I've actually played a couple of games for the first time in over 2 years!  Both were "introductory" Battlegroup WWII games so I won't be posting up any pics, but it was great to do a bit of painting, put the new table to the test, roll some dice and meet some new guys here in NZ.  New to me that is.

Before the games, and as I was sorting out stuff to put away into the display cabinet a lined up a few things to take some group photos. First up was my Soviets:

Still a few things to do here, and this doesn't include any unmade kits in the "stash".

Next up were the Brits:

Then the Americans:

Getting smaller and smaller.  Lastly the West Germans:

This really didn't seem like much in the West German department and I was scratching my head for a while as I put these in the cabinet - and went searching until I found all the missing vehicles.  No photo of them I'm afraid.

So that's the majority of my larger Cold War armies.  All in 20mm of course.  Still loads of work to do to finish them off.  Any questions, just let me know

Thanks

Richard

Games Room Update Part 3 & a Step Closer to Ticking Off an Item on My Wargaming Bucket List

 So - lots of good news on the Games Room front.  Firstly, and somewhat most importantly from the whole "Games Room" point-of-view, I now have a 10 ft x 6 ft table top.  Beautifully crafted by my Games Room go-to-guy, Lawrence, it fits perfectly on top of all my smaller storage cupboards.  Here it is in possibly not the greatest angle:

This angle better shows the cupboards underneath the table:

And finally, this shot sort-of shows the batten under the table that allows it to sit solidly on the cupboards:

Unfortunately this exercise proves I am not an engineer...  I drew a picture, with measurements for Lawrence to show him what I wanted, and I showed the battens being 6" from the table edge - allowing me to open the top drawer easily and access it contents.  Of course I failed to take into account the size of the batten, which probably added another 3 or 4 inches.  You can still pull open the drawers - it's just a bugger getting stuff out of them!

The tabletop is not moving an inch as along with the battens, the whole thing weighs a ton!

Anyway - still extremely chuffed with the tabletop.  And of course I had to try it out with the ultimate test, and an item on my wargaming bucket list.  Playing out all four maps from GDW's Third World War series.  I certainly had not planned for this... but it fits on the table top!

With plenty for all the other bits and bobs that are essential for the game.  Super satisfied with that I had to try out the maps from a couple of other recent purchases.

The map for "Red Storm: The Air War over Central Germany, 1987" fits easily.  The next one might be more of a challenge.

Here's all the maps for the latest version of Thin Red Line Games "1985: Deadly Northern Lights".  Its a monster, but fits very nicely on the table.  Again with plenty of room for the heaps of stuff that goes with this game.

One of my plans - not really a bucket list item, but a solid plan nonetheless, is to play Deadly Northern Lights, along with GDW's "Arctic Front" - seen here alone

and Strategy & Tactics Magazine's "Nordkapp"

Now I have the tabletop to do it, I just need an opponent!

Then, with the maps put back into their respective boxes/magazines, I whiled away an hour or two setting up the table for a "proper" wargame - just to see what it looked like:

Finally, the next bit of good news I had, was the arrival of my built to order Glass Display Cabinet.  Again made by Lawrence - it is a wonder to behold (in my eyes).

And did I mention he added LEDs for me!

I'm so in love with this cabinet.  Due to putting our house on the market a few years back, taking it off again, then putting it on again, selling, moving out, moving countries etc, its been about 5 years since I've been able to display my models and figures.

Now I finally have a place to do that - along with the embarrassing incentive of displaying unpainted models, will certainly push my painting along.  

Most of my "hobbytime" has to date been spent trying to put the garage in order.  Now I'm finally getting to the pointy end where all that is behind me and I'll have not excuses to keep putting off actually painting something and hopefully getting in an actual game.

Thanks

Richard