Where Seagulls Dare

 This was a game in the style of a dodgy war film and owes much to Ian Drury's 2005 game The Guns Of Toblerone (I ran it again in 2012 - link) .  WSD was set on a small island off the coast of southern France but filmed for reasons of economy on the Yorkshire coast - hence the name!  I'll not say too much at this point as I've been asked to run it at COW.

The mission involved sabotaging some German secret weapons. The cast er, I mean players were all given individual briefings and then had to select their equipment before being parachuted onto the island.  Meanwhile I set out the high quality terrain and elements of the garrison.

Being a properly rubbish old film, there was of course a Gestapo presence.

entertainingly the players spent several minutes speculating about the location of the
German secret weapons facility.  Then someone
took the time to look properly at the table...

a further cliche was the mountain-top castle.  I built the 'mountain' by draping a sheet over a table...

the German airfield soon attracted the team's attention

the garrison  - of course - included an obviously American postwar tank wearing big black crosses

One of many exciting incidents was the ambush on a mountain road next to the scary ravine.

A most entertaining game which the players entered into with good grace, and which produced several incidents and outcomes beyond my wildest imaginings!

3D Demags - Sdkfz 250 variants

I painted up these models a couple of weeks ago. They are resin 3D prints, in 1/50 scale to fit in with my Solido Sdkfz 251 fleet. 
 

The print quality is quite astonishing. I painted over my usual black undercoat. Decals were added from stock. 

Ageing Hips

While tarting up the batch of helicopters I got to thinking about the history of some of the toys. This Mi-8 ‘Hip’ (one of a trio) is a genuine Cold War veteran - bought ‘pre-loved’ in 1984, it has seen plenty of action. In games set everywhere from Norway to Lebanon, played in Dundee, Sheffield, Cambridge and Northamptonshire.

As PHW commented, “We are lucky we have these friends who have been with us in so many of our incarnations.”  Wise words indeed. 

Flight stands

Sorting out the recent batch of Cold War aircraft revealed something of a shortage of stands.  I set to work to make more, using two layers of mdf, drilled to accommodate a piece of steel rod.  The mdf was then dressed up with paint and flock.