(Hotch)kiss and tell - part 1

This ancient Heller kit has been hanging about for a few months, so earlier this week I took pity on it and set to work.

These Heller kits are getting on a bit but the mastering and moulding is on a par with contemporary Tamiya. The instruction sheet folds out to A4 size and is a model (sorry) or clarity.

The three legs of the MG tripod are separate parts and I wasn’t looking forward to the assembly but in the event it all went together very nicely.

Paintwork will follow - I’m planning a 1940 French overall khaki finish so these chaps may also see service in Spain. 

Jolly Green Giant - part 1

To accompany my brace of Skyraiders to war I have at last whipped out this implausibly large chopper.

To say it’s a basic kit would be slightly unjust as it’s hardly a new release. That said, I’m not looking for any more detail or complexity and at about £7 it’s hardly expensive!

Quelling the Commune - part 4

Back to Paris now for the final thrilling installment.

While Marshal MacMahon bravely has his photo taken at Fort Issy...

...his troops assault the first barricades.  Happily the defenders ran away from this one.  Note the engineers with a barrel of gunpowder poised to breach the wall.

Historically, when the first Government troops entered the city there were accusations of treachery. In the game this was replicated by one of the Commune players being banged up in jail for a couple of turns. 

It wasn't all so easy thought and casualties were high in some units.  As well as facing musketry and close range artillery, our brave chaps had to deal with snipers and infernal devices.  Not least the dreaded Petroleuses - women armed with incendiary devices - who attacked troops and burned buildings.

It can now be revealed that the Government's negotiations with the Prussians (whose army, it will be recalled, still encircled the city) had gone well and two regiments of elite Breton infantry had been sent by rail round to the north.  They appeared in the middle of day two and effected an unopposed entry to Paris.

Several of the Government units got rather lost in the urban sprawl - the apparently empty areas were assumed to be heavily built up.

Some of the mob made a fight of it, others fled.  Some rather annoyingly fled and then made a fight of it.

The great 'central redoubt' in front of the town hall.

By now (c1600hrs in real time) Republican columns were closing in on the centre from several directions and the end was no longer in doubt.

The players, apparently awaiting the firing squad.  Or more likely tea and buns.  From left - Graham, your humble correspondent, Mike, Anthony and Brian.  PW is safely behind the camera.  Well done to all!

Quelling the Commune - part 3

As night falls the defenders of Fort Issy remain confident...

...but overnight they are outflanked by Republican troops.

Soon the flag of freedom (or it might be brutal repression, depending on your point of view) flies proudly atop the fort's ramparts.

Republican forces near the city...

...where the criminal mob mans the walls.  They were an ill-assorted bunch of scruffy figures.

See what I mean?

Meanwhile, the Marshal maintained a dignified appearance.  Comfortably out of cannon shot...

Aside from the walls, the many barricades looked pretty formidable.  But hopefully the rabble would run off at the first whiff of grapeshot.