Smells Like Teen Spirit - Cover, In Latin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbEKIW3pUUk&list=RDPbEKIW3pUUk&start_radio=1

Brilliant!

Charity Shop Find - Airfix 1/72 Models

Obviously from somebody's loft clearout some old Airfix kits, I came across these in a "charity shop" and acquired them (see below, these have that Tunisian feel to them, ready to fight teh retreating Afrika Korp!): 

Representing those not good, but better than before Allied mid-war tanks!

Tunnel Rats - Purple Haze, Stand Alone Game

I was so glad that I snapped up the Purple Haze Vietnam boardgame (I got it from Zatu Games as I was too late for the Kickstarter) as it appears to be now sold out everywhere. There is a queue of people waiting around the block for the second print run to come in. On hearing this, on impulse I looked around for the four extensions, but the only one I found still available was "Tunnel Rats". This a more stand alone game based around the US efforts against the likes of The Tunnels of Chu Chi. It appealed (see below, it is as "good" as it "looks"): 

On a "whim" (shiny thing) I got it and I am so glad I did. Atmospheric Vietnam, excellent, but with the format of a Dungeon Hack in cooperative play. Three "rats" explore the complex and for once there is not the overwhelming potential of US firepower to get you out of jail, but rather both sides are armed with knife and pistol - but even using the latter pistol is very dangerous underground (see below, the byzantine tunnel complex unfolds as the "rats" explore): 

Please see: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/431208/purple-haze-tunnel-rats for more game mechanism details.

I my eyes the game is designed to play on your nerves, as in jangle them, it builds up tension. It is not so much the dangers of combat but rather the thought of ending your days entombed under the Vietnam soil because "you never got out" in time. You play against a diminishing deck that represents your mental stamina, being a "Though bastard" (TB). The TB cards are spent as you progress down and backout of the complex. Complete your mission before the claustrophobic horror gets you! Clever mechanisms abound.

Highly recommended. There are three missions in teh game, but you will play each numerous times before they "dry out" and there is much scope to design your own or run as the DM with "rat" friends searching the complex. 

Fokker D XXI Progress - Assembled

Hitting the ground running as the PM 2 model was a neat and quick assembly (see below, few parts and a plastic that takes well to ploy cement, it posed no problems going together):  

I have chosen to go for the Dutch version, but will either have to freehand or source some decals (bizarrely the kit came with Czechoslovakian instead of Dutch ones). Base coat needed first.

Interesting Statistic - Increased Hits? Are these just "Bot Reads" from AI Crawlers?

Hello .. this is interesting .. I have not posted in a while, but the last two of my post were "read" in the mid-hundreds? When I was posting regularly I got less than that (under a hundred reads within the few days of posting) - I thought I had maybe 50 readers from my couple of hundred subscribers. So I am thinking these reads are probably AI Bot Crawlers surfing the Internet and Blog-Sphere, scooping up everything and everything for Gen AI Chatbot Models!

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks for the comments (see in comments tab) I am in agreement with everybody here. The Bots are doing it. Interestingly this post only generated a quarter of the hits the one either side did. Perhaps it was because of the lack of images or are the AI Bots "dissing me"?  

And what is the discussion at work this morning: AI Bot Driven Web Crawler activity! It sucks! Two webinars already on the subject. I think you will see some industry kickback soon, as it is useless web traffic. They are generating is obscene amounts of hits - and remember you have to burn power for those those back-end servers. So much for watching your C02 footprint "Big Tech"! "Permission based only" crawlers [maybe even charging the Bots] is probably coming next, along with fines for non-compliance! Money talks! 

Late Birthday Present to Myself - 1/72 Fokker D-XXI (PM Model)

It is rude to go into a model shop and not buy something. I had to look hard but I chose this for jut under £9 (see below, an interesting early flying machine that did not survive its contact with the Luftwaffe [in Dutch and Danish service] but lasted longer in service with the Finnish Air Force fighting the Soviet Union): 

I am tempted to do it in Finnish colours but my 1/72 Dutch army will miss it! NoteL In which case I will need the Dutch Orange Triangle war markings!  

Minden Games - Torpedo Raiders Game

An excellent game to have to hand for any road trip or overnight stay (see below, a solitaire WW2 Torpedo Raiders): 

All you need is a Standard Deck of Cards, D6 and a pen and paper, Long journeys will fly by. Took off in a Swordfish to attack the Italian Fleet at Taranto. Excellent fun! 

11 Swordfish attacked

2 Shot Down

3 Italian BBs Sunk or Beached (3 x 4 VP = 12 VPs)

1 Italian BB Damaged (1 VP) 

13 VPs for a Decisive British Victory