The Armchair Dragoons Website - Well Worth a Visit

 https://www.armchairdragoons.com/

I have listened to their podcasts (they helped me through endless stints of DIY painting a large kitchen and for that I am forever grateful) and I am now a hooked and avid fan :) 

Lots of interesting unboxings on their web-site too (Fire Team caught my eye)!

Hoplite Stuff...

While rambling through the Web one day I found this: 

"We recreate and analyze historical hoplite warfare including the battle of Leuktra by using the awesome new steam game "Totally Accurate Battle Simulator"! Game Trailer: ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OuKjxAvD6w Alpha Sign-up: http://landfall.se/totally-accurate-b... For documentaries on classical antiquity check out this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list..."

https://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/awblog/the-value-of-simulating-ancient-battles/

So I decided to play about ... with a lot of 28mm hoplies and complete a set of Warlord Games 28mm hoplites I had hidden in a box .. the result was a lot of lining up of 28mm hoplites in various formations (see below, Spartan hoplites four deep - seen enfilade): 

A bunch of Greek (Spartan) boys in close shield wall self-protection mode (see below, seen head on - one long stretch of contiguous shields to pose and impenetrable wall  - this is the Mortal Gods size of forces, although no peltasts in sight): 

All my unpainted hoplites out on the table .. Athens (left) versus Sparta (right), with a few 'soft' slingers and 'peltasts' thrown in on the sides for goes measure - with an Athenian Strategos to the left hand side (see below, sorting out a dispute Ancient Greek style, Athens 4+ deep while Sparta is 3-4 deep): 

Now pool all these troops side by side (thinking Platea) and you have a eight rank deep mass of hoplites (see below, which gives a totally different perspective to a line of battle from than a four figure wide stand of hoplites in DBA .. one deep - moving this about is going to be a bit of a pain):  

Up close and personal - now that is going to be a very restricted view of the battle (see below, I also feared that they would fall over like dominoes - but they were quite solid and "locked together" - multi poses helping here):  

Next steps .. a spray can of primer and a bucket of dipping wash!

Avalanche Press: Great War at Sea System - War Plan Red

A funny thing happened when I was on the Leisure Games web-site looking for "Captain Sonar" - he says after running through a mere thirteen pages of War Games aka boardgames (some annoyingly with the "Out of Stock" sticker on them), "I/he" managed to find something else "I/he" was interested in (well several others to be fair). What were the chances of that?  In teh end it was a toss up between the ASL Starter Kit #3 (the one with the 88mm on the cover - the third one with the tanks was annoyingly "Out of Stock") and Avalanche Press' - War Plan Red .. and seeing as I had just put on a version of "War Plan Red" at CoW 2021 it was the winner (see below, a ziplock so slightly more affordable than boxed game so 

The other thing going against ASL Starter Kit #2 is that I have not as yet played ASL Starter Kit #1 (even though, quite sensibly, the ASL Starter Kits are games in their own right - not a modular expansion building on each other). This expands my collection of The Great War at Sea - Vol 1 and 2 (also including the Russo Jap War). 

To my knowledge they have other "US Plans" (War Plan Black [versus a successful WWI Germany and an expanded HSF], War Plan Crimson [US Invasion of Canada and a naval war on the Great Lakes] - not sure if they did the War Plan(s) Orange-Rainbow versus Japan) however the one I am keeping my out for is the WWI Cruiser Warfare game when it is reprinted!

Phil Sabin's Wargame Website

 https://sites.google.com/view/sabinwargames/home

Lots of Good stuff there! Old favourites like Lost Battles, Simulating War (Fire and Movement), his air war stuff and newer games he has been working on!

Board Game Geek (BBG) discussion on Phil's "Horse and Musket" rules

Shut Up and Sit Down: Captain Sonar Review (Sub Game)

Just listen to this glorious review (18 minutes long but I could easily listen to more!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjo4iXyDPtw

That's is the way to do it!

I simply could not resist it so went out and bought it!

A different FaceBook Group on another Sub game?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/300547753802697

Interesting Website: Table Top History by Pete Pelligrino

Excellent website by a wargaming legend from the US Naval War College!

https://www.tabletophistory.net/

His simplified battle of Trafalgar - Age of Sail Battle rules can be found here: 

https://sites.google.com/view/battle-of-trafalgar/online-game/rules?authuser=0

Space Website: Physics or Orbital Space Engagements

Not quite Star Wars for sure!

https://aerospace.org/paper/physics-space-war-how-orbital-dynamics-constrain-space-space-engagements

New and Shiny from Airfix: Tiger and Sherman Firefly

At last Airfix have remade their Tiger Tank kit wit the "correct" bin bit at the back and it look beautiful. To add further to the appeal they have boxed it with a suitable opponent - the Sherman Firefly (see below, for once the box art does not deceive, the Tiger in the box also has a bin on it too):   

The Tiger sprue ()\see below, the sharp eyed will see two sets of tracks one simple the other complicated): 

In hushed reverence I started putting it together (see below, the pieces fit beautifully together .. gasp .. which I said several time during the making of this kit): 

The instructions themselves were also a work of art - clear and unambiguous (see below, the kit sort of started just building itself - akin to modern sets of Lego): 

Not a fast build kit but a clear and clean build kit that encouraged thoughtful assembly (see below, completed with the "Simple [four-piece] Track" system which just slotted over the spokes sweetly):

Spot the difference? (see below, the kit is so precision that I managed to assemble the second set of tracks - simply slot out the first (simple) set and pop over the twenty part tracks. Which was which in the previous photo and this? Am I messing with you .. (?) .. is there a difference at all?):   

Less photos perhaps, but an equally pleasant build the Sherman Firefly! I would now of course love to see the normal Sherman get a similar treatment (see below, although again there were two versions of the tracks I went for the simpler one piece casting, which tells a story of "quality" in itself - plus the Sherman layout does not lend itself to a "slot over" like the Tiger, you have to build one way or the other): 

Sigh, bucket list Tiger from Airfix done. Time for a cup of well earned tea me thinks!

Another Falkland's Book: Razor's Edge

Wow this one was an eye-opener - a British account that explored the South American psyche. Not particularly focusing on the naval, or air, giving fascinating details of the small unit actions - platoon and company detail of the land battles. The "unofficial" implies heavy hitting, carrying heavy political weight and criticism (see below, a flavour of the South American perspective is shown on the front cover):   

A real gem for detail and an alternative perspective. A good read to recommend!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Bicheno