"The Seagull has Landed!"

William was going to join us in our weekly games for the next two weeks as it is the School Easter Holiday period. Of course that means only one period can feature on the tabletop battlefield here in GHQ this week. You guessed it of course, WWII! I decided on a pale imitation of a well known Michael Caine film with our game title giving a nod to the source, "The Seagull has Landed!" Set some weeks after a successful German landing under Operation Zeelöwe on the south coast Prime Minister Winston Churchill is visiting the works of Josiah Robinson & Son 'somewhere in the north of England' to view progress on a much anticipated secret weapon! Unfortunately some turncoat has betrayed this information to the Gestapo and a hurried raid has been put together under the direction of von Brecher with the objective of capturing Winston and stealing or eliminating the secret weapon and its inventor Professor Braenstawm...

The table layout showing both the Works in the distance and the Landing Zone of the strike force of Fallskrimjägers. And an AI generated topographical map Phil provided for me ~

Josiah Robinson & Son, the Empire Works, site of Top Secret weapon development overseen by Professor Braenstawm, the genius of his age ~

Winston giving his now customary greeting to the locals, just out of shot! While the Bishop of Matabeleland, enjoying a sabbatical, blesses local clergy and laity outside St Olaf's, all blissfully unaware of the drama about to unfold ~

On to the action via the now all too familiar anotated photomontage ~

"The Seagull has Landed!" Fallskrimjägers and Gestapo agents debus from their glider. Each squad can be placed 6" from the landing point, but then a throw of the Random Direction dice for each squad sees three back in the glider, yet to emerge.

Following on from the German deployment overseen by William and Phil, Captain Bykleigh deploys his Home Guard to defend the Works from attack while awaiting support from a column of Regulars. Will theybarrive in time or will the German reserves beat them to it?

The Fallskrimjägers make good progress in Turn 2, the run of the dice favouring the Germans.

By Turn 3 the Gestapo agents are also nearing the outskirts of the town, taking up positions along the hedge line.

To counter such a move a Home Guard Recce squad were peddling like fury to reach the hedge line first. They reach their goal but can they hold?

The remaining Squads await the oncoming Fallskrimjägers ready to give them a hot welcome!

A brisk firefight develops between the Recce Squad and the Gestapo agents. The outnumbered Home Guard are in a tight spot and see Pins Building up though initial losses are slight.

Unexpected rough going through a water meadow slows the advance of the enemy buying time for the Regulars to arrive, hopefully...

The supporting Smith Gun opens fire on the Fallskrimjägers as they struggle through the water meadows. Losses are so slight they might be firing onions!

The barrage fails to register any hits as the Gestapo cross the main road to assault the Recce Squad, but Pin markers may halt their advance.

The second Home Guard Squad dug in opposite the junction have taken four casualties. Their reduced firepower fails to stop the Fallskrimjägers moving on Bleak House Farm on their flank.

Mortar fire from both the 80 and 20mm mortars break the Home Guards' morale. The lone surviving Boy Scout runner makes for safety!

The Fallskrimjägers assault the Home Guard HQ position in Bleak House Farm. Bykleigh and his HQ are outnumbered and outclassed and inevitably succumb to their fate...

Von Brecher and his staff are caught under fire crossing the road! A Fubar results from a failed Order Test: they flee in Panic back into cover!

For a moment at least the crew of the Blacker Bombard have held up the enemy!

The loss of Bleak House Farm sees the flank of the Squad in St Olaf's threatened. They move to take up defensive positions! The situation is grave and no sign of those Regulars yet!

The Regulars finally have begun to arrive but the critical action is too far from their point of entry to be influenced quickly! So, like many an unsung hero before him, Professor Braenstawm moves forward in control of Tommy Adkins 01, covering the attempt to rush Winston to safety!

Taking advantage of the confusion caused by the surprise appearance of Tommy Adkins 01 Winston's car speeds away from the scene!

The escape route is threatened though by German reinforcements who have arrived just in the nick of time it seems!

Winston's driver is undettered, putting his foot down hard on the accelerator! The surprised Germans fail a test and unexpectedly stand aside allowing Winston to be whisked to safety!

In a final twist on the last Action Dice of the last Turn Professor Braenstawm is mortally wounded and Tommy Adkins 01 is captured to be hurried away to the Nazi scientists waiting with excited anticipation back in Berlin...

"They told us the British were retreating. They didn't tell us they left their monsters behind to guard the gates." — Recovered diary of an unknown Obergefreiter.

An Honourable draw to end the game. Winston is rushed away but Tommy Adkins 01 has been captured and Professor Braenstawm mortally wounded it seems. Home Guard losses are heavy and the town must fall to the Germans, but can it be held as more Regulars arrive...?

Parts of William's WWII collection

I want to share a few pictures with you of some of William's WWII collection. He's our second grandson, you've probably seen him in the occasional picture in GHQ over the last 11 years. He's always enjoyed being in the gaming room and playing with grandad's toy soldiers, but in the last year or so he's moved on to making and painting aircraft, tanks and troops under the Bolt Action umbrella. I'd like to show you some of his work, remember he's only 11 so don't judge the odd error too harshly, our wonderful hobby needs the next generation of wargamers ~

British Paras using Warlord Games Bolt Action figures. 

Two Russian infantrymen in a bleak winter setting. I liked the understated white on their helmets.

German Fallskrimjägers, the "bad guys" as a younger William would have said.

Sherman Firefly tank.

German Panther. A very decent go at the camouflaged I thought.

A Sherman Easy Eight, like the others from Warlord Games Bolt Action stable.

Airfix Spitfire with D Day markings. I think he has nine different marks of Spitfire altogether!

Airfix Stuka dive bomber!

Airfix ME109. I hope you can find something you have liked and can say a few encouraging words for William. He was fully immersed in yesterday's WWII game in GHQ and is already looking forward to a game at Phil's next week. In the meantime he and his two friends are playing another game today. 

First base...

...of a new Early Saxon warband. There will be three bases making up the warband, when I've finished painting them that is! The figures are from 1st Corps and the 80x50mm base from, you guessed it, Warbases! 

As you may recall I have been having occasional problems with getting the hand & weapon pieces to stick to the figures. With that chasenning experience in mind I glued the shields on these before spray undercoating them! I'm pleased to say that they are firmly fixed on, less pleased to say I failed to consider how fiddly painting some parts of the figures would prove to be! I have managed to cope but do urge you not to look too closely!

The shield transfers are from LBMS, now owned by Victrix. They sell the sheets unpunched for other companies' figures but fully punched for their own. Strange that you might think, if you were less of a sceptic than I am. That aside the shield transfers do fit quite well so far, something that has not always proved to be the case with previous projects.

I have sent off for a further warband from 1st Corps, this time all the figures are Young Warriors standing with spears. I had hoped to add some Gripping Beast figures but in the end these worked out cheaper, and I am a wargamer after all. I've also added two sheets of shield transfers as they were available, so saving on P&P! As I said, I'm a wargamer after all...

A Gathering of Hosts?

It will be quite a while until I complete the Early Saxon Warband I'm currently working on as I'm awaiting my order of shield transfers from LBMS, so I thought that to keep me motivated and also give you a chance to see how the Age of Arthur project is developing I would show them to any interested passer by as a Gathering of the Hosts, small forces taking the field, joining with others to contest the fate of Britania. Firstly, of course, Arthur Pendragen, Dux Pendolorum, and his mottly assortment of Britons ~

Secondly, Cerdic and his hordes of pagan warriors ~

When I eventually complete the aforementioned Early Saxon Warband, currently enduring their time under the Brush of Doom,there will be just 6 Arthurian Heavy Cavalry figures for this project remaining in the Lead Pimple. While I may not have enough yet for a game using Hail Caesar, there are enough I'd hope for a bash using either Midgard or Neil Thomas' rules, as individual bases can stand in for units giving each player a larger army to command on the tabletop battlefield here in GHQ. Or as in the picture following warbands can be reduced from three to two bases, also giving a larger force to command ~

 In the meantime though its back to wielding the old Brush of Doom...and thinking about the next order of figures for the project of course.

Command figures added to Arthurian Pedyts

The two bases of Arthurian Pedyts I showed in the previous post are joined now by a six figure base including command figures to complete their battle line. The figures are once more from 1st Corp, the base from Warbases of course, and LBMS shield transfers from my packet of spares! Firstly, see them on their own ~

And then in the context of the completed battle line ~

In the meantime I've started on the next Early Saxon Warband, again using figures from 1st Corps, after all it was a no-brainer taking advantage of their sale pricing. Very good value for money I thought! In fact I'm finding it very tempting to just go ahead and order more from them and leave the noticably more expensive Footsore and Gripping Beast offerings until later in the year now.

Arthurian Pedyts

Back refreshed from a bracing but surprisingly dry break in the South Lakes area I've pressed on with more figures for the Age of Arthur project. First to pass under the Brush of Doom and muster into GHQ are two bases of Arthurian Pedyts. The figures are from 1st Corps supplemented by two officers, one from Wargames Foundry and the other from Gripping Beast - a spare Wolftails Warrior figure. The shield transfers are from my LBMS remainder packet, fitting some shields more convincingly than others it has to be said, and the bases from Warbases as usual. There remain six figures will populate the unit's command element, and are well underway as you read this, but have a look at these anyway ~

When I decided on a whim to build two small armies for the Age of Arthur I had in mind that rather than usual figures from the Wargames Foundry ranges I would try to utilise other manufacturers' products. So far I've ordered figures from 1st Corps and Gripping Beast as you've seen already. Remaining in the Lead Pimple for this project are three bases of Saxon warriors - 24 figures in all -and six mounted Arthurian heavy cavalry, so its time to consider what I might order next for the project, and who from of course! I'm considering either Crusader/Artizan Miniatures from North Star or Footsore for my next tranche, if value for money was the sole consideration it would most likely be those from North Star, but then I do like the figures from Footsore... more thought needed I believe, not to mention counting the coin deposited in the warchest, before any decision is reached.

Some Thoughts on Hobby Value for Money

I received this extract from the 1975 Minifig Catalogue recently from Paul. It shows the price of a single foot figure as 8p! For context this arose from a discussion Paul and I were having last month about the cost of wargames figures and the increasing spread of the Blister pack at the point of sale.

The Bank of England compound interest calculator below shows that the buying power of 8p in 1975 equates to 65p today. So why are we paying over £2.00 on average for a foot figure in 2026? After all, a 16p loaf of bread in 1975 equates to £1.20ish in 2026, which strangely is about right using the Bank's calculator!

Are overheads like staff wages, heating, lighting, advertising rates, business rates and taxes disproportionately affecting miniture figure businesses? Or do we suspect that we are being ripped off? Perhaps we are, but then again perhaps we are not? Other factors may be the root cause of the £2.00+ figure trend.

 Consider the rather basic style of said 1975 Minifigs figure. Certainly lacking in fine details compared to today's offerings? No doubt though easier to paint, an important consideration when dedicated hobby time is limited by real life demands! Equally the Minifigs example comes from what I would call the Lost Golden Age when most wargamers aspired to build an army rather than merely a small group of figures.

Modern figure offerings can be ridiculously over detailed for a wargames figure, perhaps reflecting the rise of the game in a box {see my point above}where a single figure is not ranked with 20 or 30 similar comrades. So its probably fair to say that sculpting costs will certainly have risen disproportionately to inflation, time is money after all and the labourer is worthy of his/her hire certainly. The truth about pricing and value for money probably lies somewhere between barely covering costs and being ripped off, with each of us choosing our opinion based on personal circumstances and experiences.

Rather than focus on an issue we can't determine without full access to the facts, I'd rather turn to look at why wargames figures may have got ever more finely detailed to the point where some fine bits can barely be seen, let alone painted with a size 0 brush! As an almost 76 year old who confesses to being merely an average painter, though with 50 plus years experience, I struggle with the detail on some figures but not on others. Thinking about that oddity it seems the bolder and clearer detail of a Dixon Miniatures figure for example is easier to process than a Perry Miniatures figure. In both cases the detail is there, but the clarity and style of sculpting differs. Of course many will say that one figure is blessed by in-scale detail while another will happily accept bolder detail on another. Figures seen in close up, firstly in magazines and then in the ever present Web pages, have played a part in driving forward ever more detailed figures and ever more complex and layered painting styles. But in real life figures are seen from gaming distance,  some 3-5 feet I'd guess for most. At those levels more detail and layered painting are lost I'd contend. Painting to collector's standard or to the pro painted label have a part to play in this ever more detailed drive, but do they do more harm than good to the aspirations of we average hobbyists?

Coming to my final point, the rise of 50 figure 'armies', with attendant rules such as Sharp Practice or Bolt Action, has certainly contributed to the ever more detailed figure sculpt. If figures do not need to sit in seried ranks with identical comrades then sculptors can make free with action designs and myriad extra details. After all, only 49 more to finish my army...

As we all know we are far from an homogeneous group in our wonderful hobby! 

Different views are probably inevitable, after all we don't all share the same hobby starting point, history or club/group set up. Perhaps as a geriatric-in-waiting wargamer trends in the hobby have left me a straggler? And we all know what sorry fate often awaited those folk... Anyway, sorry for rambling on, well done if you got this far without dropping off to sleep.