It's not that kind of doll!

My missus collects dolls. No, not that kind of dolls. Different dolls. This kind of dolls.

Today, her favourite company release a Halloween limited edition doll based on the Jack the Ripper mythology. He makes ME want to start collecting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SA5jGVU0K0&feature=youtu.be

And here he is!
http://www.ringdoll.com/product/RingSpecial/img/jack/040.jpg

Truly bad-ass giveaway!

Look at this. Just look at it!
It can be yours! No it can't , because it will be mine, but you get the point.

Go to Lokis blog http://napoleonicwargamingadventures.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/lokis-200-followers-competition.html and follow the instructions and one of us will get this wonderful mini. Better me than you!

Simo Häyhä by Baker Company, WIP 1

Simo Häyhä, known to the younger generation as The World's Greatest Camper.

He was the subject of the first figure to come out of the Baker Company Winter War Kickstarter and I have started painting him. Here is what you get. Simo himself, a base, a tree stump and some foliage.

Simo primed, tree stump attached and base primed. The plug on the bottom of the tree did not match the hole in the base very well so I just cut it clean off and superglued it.

Block paint and some high-lights applied. Next up, washes.

It's a really nice figure that can be painted to a nice level easily but that will also reward a really good paint job, not that it will get that from me, I have neither the skill nor the time to go all Dallimore on it.

A giveaways and some coasters

First one: a bunch of books about WW2. Thanks to my buddy Chris for letting me know.
The giveaway can be found here:
http://www.hittingonadouble1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/25000-hits-ww2-books-prize-draw.html
Go there and register you wish, but stay away from lot 3 because that is the one I want!


Also, it was a while back that I bought these but I just had to show them off:

Yes, they are beer coasters,or possibly tea coasters. Noting says His and Hers like a Sherman and a Tiger.

Ride to Ruin part 2, One small step for Grishnak

I had a little bit of spare time last night. I also had my hobby desk full of Italians in various stages of completion so no space to play around with the RtR minis, instead I decided to start painting the troops for RtR, that way I can get something done for this project each time I sit down.

First out is is Grishnak, the Goblin Wolf/Warg rider commander. Only block paint and a quick dry-brush so far, washes, touch-up and basing still to come.

Ride To Ruin!

For a while I have been reading a new set of rules from the Lard Approved stable called Ride To Ruin. Lard Approved means rules that are either based on the Lardy principles or written by someone in the Lard community with the assistance of the rest of the community in general and TooFatLardies as a company in particular.
These rules, written by Jeremy Short, are intended to be the next step up in scale from Dux Britanniarum and to also include magic, monsters and other fantasy aspects of battle. As I am already using Dux to play battles in Middle Earth, it was a perfect fit for me.

I intend to use my 28mm GW LOTR figures, mixed with the likes of Gripping Beast and Warlord, to play these games, but for play testing I need small figures that take up less room and can be quickly taken out and put away. Enter The Battle of Five Armies!

I've had the boxed set laying around for years but never got around to painting any of it. Today, that is a good thing. I can simply pick troops out of the box, stick them on bases and go, mixing and matching as needed.

I intend to start play testing with two very small armies just to get a feel for how movement and combat works and I will report here.
 Would YOU like to know more? As the rules are still in playtest version, you need to contact Jeremy via the Yahoo group for Ride To Ruin. http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/rtrplaytest/info

Tanks very much, Patrice!

This is yet another reason why I love war gaming:the people!

A while ago I took part in a group build on The Guild where I built a wrecked King Tiger. It turned out like this.

I am quite happy with it and would like to do more broken down tanks, but it pains me to pay full price for a model and then build it as broken. Suddenly I get an email from a gaming buddy. A friend of his, Patrice, has three Panthers that he has no further use for and they are mine at postage cost.
A few emails, 6 Euros and a week later, this drops in:

Suddenly, I have one for summer, one for winter and one for "sunk-halfway-in-a-Russian-swamp" at about a third of the cost of one new model.
A big thank you to all involved!

Next stretch goal:AA-trucks

We are five days from the end of the Winter War kickstarter and just £2000 away from the goal I have been most looking forward to, the truck with AA gun. For those who do not know, this is what it looks like.

And as you can tell from the pictures, we need a bunch of them!

These pictures are from the book "Striderna i Suomussalmi" (The fighting at Suomussalmi), written by Hjalmar Siilasvou who commanded the Finnish forces during the battle. It is published by Mendéns in Stockholm and printed in Helsinki in 1940. If anyone holds the rights to these pictures, let me know and I'll remove them.

And finally, the man himself, Hjalmar Siilasvou.