The Gladiator

I've finished reading Bomber Crew by John Sweetman and, as expected, it was a bit of a page turner.

It was well written and packed full of anecdotal detail, with some unbelievable examples of survival against the odds and some extraordinary acts of bravery on the part of the bomber crews. It baffles me that there is still no campaign medal for the veterans of RAF Bomber Command but I guess political considerations have put paid to recognition of their sacrifice.

Anyway, I'm now reading The Gladiator by Alan Baker as a bit of background for the Warhammer Gladiators project. I bought my copy in the local Oxfam bookshop for a couple of quid so, although it looks a bit popularist rather than academic, it should be worth the outlay in terms of potentially useful information. It's a quick read too, as I'm already a third of the way through it after one afternoon.

Half Year Review

I know it's not half way through the year in August but, in my way of thinking, the summer holidays mark the apex of the workbench calender, before the downwards slide into autumn. As a result, I usually take a look back at what I haven't achieved in the last seven months or so before predicting what I won't get done up to Xmas.

I've had a fairly inconsitent project completion rate so far this year but have made some decent inroads into the leadpile. The following have been tackled with varying success thus far:

• Rapid Fire! 5th Battalion Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry c1944 (20mm) - 80% complete 
• AK47 Dictatorship Army (15mm) - 40% complete
• Back of Beyond Expedition Army (28mm) - 100% complete (blimey!)
• Old West Railroad Train (28mm) - 100% complete
• Back of Beyond Bolshevik Armoured Train (28mm) - 60% complete
• Gladiators (28mm) - 10% complete

I'm pleased that the Back of Beyond army was completed but I'm less happy that the Rapid Fire and AK47 armies have, as a result, been sidelined for a few weeks (or months). My first priority, therefore, must be to clear them out of the way, if possible by October half term. The gladiators also need to be pushed along, as they are a quick project that shouldn't take up too much time.

After that, I'm thinking of a change of emphasis, having concentrated on land based forces for the last six months or so. I really need to tackle some naval or air projects of some sort, with the obvious candaidates being the stalled 1/600th scale MiG Alley! or 1/2400th scale Victorian Ironclads that have been consigned to the waiting list for far too long.

I'd also really like to finish the PITS project by adding the finishing touches to the Dervish army and then painting up a corresponding British or Egyptian force to match. This has been a project that I've invested in quite heavily but which has languished in a half completed state for a couple of years.

The 1/300th scale Iron Cow project is also waiting for a kick start as well! Whether I get any of this done really depends on workload and time availability from September onwards, neither of which are looking too generous at the moment. I will, however, try to get at least one big project completed by Xmas.

Atlantik Wall Forum

Whilst rambling around the web tryign to find information in coastal defences in Brittany, I came across this very comprehensive French language forum on all things to do with the Atlantic Wall:

http://atlantikwall.superforum.fr/forum

It is literally packed with reference material, photographs and site descriptions, so well worth a look even if your French (like mine) is a bit pants.

I need to persuade the wife to translate some blurb for me so that I can post the pictures of the sites that I've visited over the last couple of years, with a bit of written explanation to tie it all together.

Good stuff!

Warhammer Historical Gladiator [9]

I realise that my lack of progress with the gladiator painting must be pretty obvious by now but I haven't quite given up hope that I'll get them painted up by the end of the holidays. We've been very busy doing holiday things including bodyboarding, visiting snail farms and entertaining the relatives, so painting has been off the radar.

However, I have added a few extras to the leadpile having been only too aware of the lack of light infantry types in the current set up. I have ordered a pack of javelin armed skirmishers from the Crusader Miniatures Roman range, half of which I'll use as velites and the other half convert into noxii or sword-armed slaves.

These will help fill out the ranks and, when added to the Crusader condemned men pack that I've also ordered, will make it possible to run some larger scale scenarios. I think I'll leave it at that for the moment as I have more than enough figures to be getting on with. If I can, I'll try to make a start on the painting of the undercoated ones this week.

Atlantic Wall Beach Bunker

We went back to La Torche today to meet up with some neighbours, who were camping in the area for their holidays. I managed to slip away for an hour or so to walk along the beach and have a look at one of the command bunkers that are slowly slipping into the sea.

It reminded me of the bunkers that in saw in Jutland many years ago, which were also being stranded out to sea by the retreating sand dunes. I'm not sure the funky grafitti and groovy surf sculptures were quite what OKW High Command expected but at least someone appreciates a bit of Atlantic Wall concrete, if only as a blank canvas?

Warhammer Historical Gladiators [8]

A few more gladiators have been added to the pile, thanks to a bargain on ebay. I've won a Foundry pack for half the retail price so now have a good selection of extra types to add to the twelve that I've based up and undercoated. I'm particularly pleased that I'll now have a second Retiarius to fill out the ranks, together with a good selection of useful shields.

Bomber Crew

I ploughed my way through the Colin Thubron book over the last week or so and, while it was a very interesting read in a vaguely historical way, it was a little disappointing from a military history point of view. I had hoped for a little less travelogue and a little more historical depth but found that the latter was overwhelmed by the travel writer's over emphasis on people rather than places. Not that it wasn't worth reading, by the way.

As a result, I've decided to go for something in a military history vein for the next book, having started Bomber Crew by John Sweetman. It's very well written thus far and I think may be well worth it. If Richard Holmes found it 'compelling' it can't be half bad. Who knows, it may even re-invigorate my stalled Bag The Hun 2 project with some much needed enthusiasm.

Vauban Fort

Sorry for the temporary hiatus in posts but the router livebox wotsit jobby decided to go ppht! a couple of days ago, so no internet for the last forty eight hours or so. The lovely wife did her usual telephonic argy bargy which resulted in a new livebox gizmo and a restored connection to the interweb. She was about to crowbar up some paving slabs to chuck at the CRS but I managed to stop her in time.

Huzzah!

Anyway, in the interim, we've been moving around a bit, so no painting as yet on the 28mm gladiators. I'm hoping that the next couple of days will see some sort of progress but can't make any promises. So, to make up for my singular lack of wargaming headway, here are some photos of a rather good Vauban fort that we visited a couple of days ago in Camaret.

Enjoy.

A bit more of the Atlantic Wall

We went for a long range trip today, all the way to the Crozon Peninsula which is to the South of the naval port of Brest. As part of the return journey, we stopped off at the headland of Cap de la Chevre, where I found this rather interesting bit of the Atlantic Wall.

According to the inscription on the top of the observation bunker, it was where one of the commanders of Brest surrendered to the Americans in September 1944, presumably as he had nowhere left to go. It's a little bit of military history that I'm going to look into, assuming I can find some relevant background information on the net.

We also spent some time at the beach, where we found a pile of beach obstacle tetrahedrons all piled up under the cliff. I guess there were a load more underneath all the shingle and loose rocks that had tumbled off the cliff in the last sixty years or so, but the ones that I could see looked pretty impressive on their own.

Pirate Ship Bits

There's a new multipart magazine construction kit out in France from which you can build a sial training ship in 1/65th scale. The first issue contains a set of hull ribs and formers, some PVA glue and sand paper and a magazine. These are all nice but far more useful is the anchor, ship's wheel and bundle of strip wood planking that comes with it, all for the price of one euro.

http://www.altaya.fr/coleccionable/construisez-le-belem.html

I picked up three magazines this morning and will hoard the various bits for use in pirate ship construction at some point in the future. The stripwood itself is worth the price as it's useful for loads of things from a scratchbuilding point of view. I have three bundles each of thirty or so 6'' long strips, so enough to plank a decent sized ship if I wanted to.

Bargain!