The Weekly Sitrep....Number 1

As ever in Chateau Crook the weekend has been a busy one. To begin with my daughter and my grandson were home for the weekend and as it is close of November the 5th we headed out to a local firework display on Saturday evening. It was great fun albeit rather chilly - especially when you had to wait around 45 minutes in an open field for it to start. It was good fun though and my grandson loved it.

SWMBO and I made three separate shopping trips over the course of Saturday and Sunday which included the Christmas drink shop. As a result of a special discount (as well as her 20% staff discount we hustled up a dozen bottles of wine of various sorts at rather less than half price - for the nth time I am really pleased that my good lady wife works for M and S!

Sunday afternoon was spent on some gaming related items including the first dry brush on the WW2 ships for my North Atlantic project. I was able to tackle all the ships at this first stage with the second next weekend. I always like this part of the painting at the dry brushing really ‘pops’ the outline of the model. The next step will be the highlighting followed by the decks. As mentioned before the plan is to have these ready by the end of the year at the latest. I also have some forty-odd destroyers to go with the first batch but as these are not essential for the Bismarck operation there is no immediate rush to get them done. 

The two styles of basing under consideration. That on the left will give a closer ‘Kurz and Allison’ look although that on the right looks better.

The other task I undertook was to see what the Spencer Smith ACW figures looked like on the bases. I have been exchanging emails with Bob Cordery about the merits of using his basing system as opposed to what I originally intended using. The standard base I am using is 2” by 1” and originally I was going to have two figures on such a base. My entire infantry organisation was arranged around this so, for example, I could field a 4 strength point unit of four bases each with 2 figures making 8 in total. This in turn means that I will have 6 sub units from my planned 48 figure regiment. So far so good but, the figures look a little too spread out for what I am planning.

When you look at the battle scenes depicted in the Kurz and Allison prints the infantry are always deployed virtually shoulder to shoulder. This is what clinched the decision for me - as well as wanting a uniformity of approach in respect of basing (my Arab revolt collection will have the infantry based in 3s) - and so I shall be using 3 figures rather than 2.

The work station viewed from the kitchen. Lined up are the Germans in the top row with the Royal Navy underneath.

The view from the lounge. 

I figured it was probably about time that I revealed my new, lounge-based work station which has made a huge difference to what I can do and when I can do it. The location is far better than in the loft and also the benefit of being near a radiator, a fridge and the downstairs bathroom!

On a separate matter I have decided that from here on in I shall be writing a weekly summary of what has been going on in my world and so this is the first edition of the Weekly Sitrep. Naturally I will be reporting anything else that happens on an as and when basis.

I hope you like it.