January Digest #4

Building a Display

On the hunt for some 1:24 minis to add to my proposed display. Jumped onto ETSY tonight and scoured the site for likely options. Found something close to what I had in mind - a photographer. 3D printing of course. Still looking for other "everyday folks". 

Went back to the original retailer of the figurines I am using to go with the Peterbilt 359 truck. Noticed the group has been split up and are now sold individually which makes perfect business sense. The Australian distributors for this overseas brand however aren't selling much of the stock. 

Annoying as to why they still list stock that's already SOLD OUT. Make no bloody sense to be honest. 

While I was viewing the manufacturer's site I checked out their other figure scales - 1:32 and 1:35. Liking their range, limited as they are. Spotted the same Indian pairing (1: 32) that I acquired some years back and assembled for something to do. 

Their vehicle range is also limited to 1:72 and 1:35.

To be honest, been considering moving up in scale and moving to smaller numbers of figures to assemble and paint. I am so over armies and tabletop wargaming - apart from admiring the painting skill. Not a fan of game politics and attitudes. Upscaling has been on my mind for several months now. Probably since I completed the Borodino Project. Completing this Peterbilt 359 and accompanying figures might just be the kickstart that's needed. Fingers and toes crossed.

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Not Good News

My grandson who was gifted a gridiron football scholarship to the US late last year is now back in Oz. He squandered this golden opportunity to get a head start in life. Disappointed is not how I'd describe the gift he was given and unbelievably threw away. He's now back home, back to square one. Too late he realised what he had tossed away. But it's his life. And he has to live with the consequences of his actions. Hard lesson to learn if indeed he understands (doubt it though). 

He will never get another chance like the one presented. Not unless he knuckles down salvage something from the past six months. It's a new year. And as such always a new start. So I wish him well. Hope springs eternal as they say.

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World of Rortships

WG being sneaky as per usual. Noticed the ship drop rates for the Gift and Mega crates had reset today. I had been keeping tabs because I suspected this was happening during the Christmas event. Confirmed it today. I was only 4 Mega crates shy of a "guaranteed ship drop". With Gift crates, it was 66. Logging out, I popped into the crate page to check as per usual to see if WG was up to its usual tricks. 

Sure enough, they had reset back to 15 and 100 respectively. WTF!

Sneaky, WG. Bloody sneaky. 

Nothing in the event information explains why or how this has come about. Not that I was expecting honesty from them, but at least an explanation for the reset would have been appreciated. All that goodwill earned during the 10th year celebration last year down the gurgler as far as I'm concerned. Not that there was much anyway to begin with.

Been grinding my Japanese Seasoned commander, Mr Suzuki, on the supership Satsuma. Currently, he's at 19 skill points. Expect he will be 20 points and halfway to 21 points by the end of this month. All thanks to the Red and Blue bonuses earned during Christmas.

Satsuma was one of two superships I played when they first made their appearance several years ago (I believe) when WG released them as test ships. The other was Hannover. Slow familiarising myself with the Japanese supership. Slow as heck. But maneouvrable if you don't go full speed. I tend to operate at Half or Three Quarter full speed which makes it surprisingly easier to handle. But if reversing or starting from Stop, good luck. 

Not nearly as potent as Patrie (strong ship) or Ushakov (Soviet bias). Certainly better than Devastation. 

I like how the forward and stern batteries operate independently of another which means you can take on two separate targets at the same time. Which is useful in CQB situations, especially against opposing super battleships as I found myself in a few games. 

Good at dealing damage with its AP at an enemy supership superstructure. If not presenting broadside, then aim for the superstructure if they approach you angled. Of course, keep yourself angled in against them because they can still hurt you if attentive. If they're positioned between angled and broadside (like 40 or 45 degrees), aim for the bow tip and you will score good damage on the superstructure.

Cruisers and Destroyers can be easily one-shotted whenever they expose broadside. If able, get them to launch their torps early because, believe it or not, you can dodge them. One of the pleasures playing a supership is one-shotting an enemy carrier. Petty I know but quite enjoyable. 

Have a cursory glance at the Dev Blog article covering Update 15.0 (activating tomorrow). Only interested in the addition of the new Commonwealth Unique commander John Augustine Collins. That he's Australian is a bonus. As a Kiwi, he's ANZAC so this addition is totally acceptable. According to a YT streamer I follow, he's strong. Anyway, he's available through a new event but the real plus is that the collection - standard and premium crates - will be made available permanently through the Armoury in Update 15.8 (September?). No rush then to play through the 60 steps to obtain this dude, unlike the misery I suffered when missing out on the Dutch Unique commander Conrad Helfrich during the 250 US Navy celebrations last year. 

Lol. The game continue to razzle dazzle. Now it is rewarding you with more fake awards. Sort of like FIFA awarding the orange taco a participation peace medal for hosting the 2026 World Cup. Speaking of empty awards, Distinguish Service Awards - wow, what a mouthful - will now be a thing. For playing Randoms only. Elongated explanation that only matters for those happy to participate. Good luck. 

Blog mentions something about new ships, a new European battleship line. Expecting at least one to be the new Libertad or Valparaiso which would be a WG thing nowadays.

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World of Pixelships

Goods news, I guess. Asymmetrics, the one mode I do enjoy (and extremely popular with the community), will be staying until June (Update 15.5). Seems it's staying for some reason. Haven't figured out why. Certainly not because the community have clamoured for its stay: WG have never listened to us unless there was some finanical benefit for the company. Stay is not permanent however, but a six month stay is better than no battle mode. 

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World of Bemusedships

Update 15.0 kicked in today. The new European battleship line is now available through Early Access. It's only a partial release of the tech tree line however which is the standard ploy - see what they squeeze out of unsuspecting players. 

And what's available is a selection starting from Tier IV all the way up to Tier X BUT these ships are behind a paywall. Tiers I to III won't be available until the entire line is released for free grinding in a few months time.

That Early Access paywall is conveniently located within two locations - the Armoury and in the current latest Battle Pass event. 

This year, however, and unlike previous years, I will actually wait for when this lines comes out of Early Access. Then I will grind FOR FREE.

As such, avoiding paying for these ships in Early Access. Was lucky when I clicked on the FREE bundle activated today and got the Tier IV Turkish battleship Yavuz.

Played its specified missions (three in total). Nearly all the games played were with several other Yavus. Funny gun layout. The usual fore and aft battery layout. However the two midship batteries are offset from one another and facing fore and aft respectively. Which is odd to me. Had trouble adjusting to this setup in-game. Dispersion was all over the place at times at varying ranges which proved frustrating. It has singular torps (both sides) which took some time to utilise properly.

This ship is sailing under the European banner but is Turkish in origin. Weird enough ship that probably suits being Tier IV. 

The Australian Unique commander is now available through the latest Collection. 60 tiles to complete the Collection and earn him. I will wait for the collection release into the Armoury in Update 15.8 because, as per usual, Early Access to him means spending money when if you're just patient and wait, you will earn him for coal.

Was planning to quit this year. Changed my mind. 

Was then planning to wean myself off daily play and settle for weekly at least. Changed my mind again. 

Now settling for (1) just collecting any and all FREE rewards whenever I log in, (2) from now on pick and choose what events to actively involve myself in, not just the next "best thing" from WG, (3) generally take it easy while building up stockpiles resources, ie casual playing, and (4) go for as many Research Bureau ships as I can get using accumulated resources.  

There were loads of battleship players waiting in Asymmetric but hardly any cruiser or destroyer players. Usual situation these days. Took me a while before I could get a final game in Mecklenburg. 

Did well enough too. Had help initially from a very supportive Hawaii. After lurking behind an island while a friendly teammate Izumo died I decided to emulate a bullish Pommern and emerged to charge boldly into the fray and took on a Monarch, Allende, Vladivostok, and Hawke at the same time. 

Very useful manoeuvrability, selective use of torps, and convenient citadel strikes meant I was able to survive the melee while contributing to the demise of the above ships. Sadly the Hawaii was sunk just as victory was reached. 

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January Digest #3

Bucket List Item #1 for 2026

Pulled out the unfinished Peterbilt rig. Looked at it. Then quietly, conveniently, put it aside for a moment. Then drew a large heavy sigh. Here we go again, I said to myself...! 

There will be some dilly-dallying back-and-forth happening before I finally get something done. Priority will be painting something followed by moments of assmbly. However, I'm in two minds at the moment because of what I've been able to unearth through internet research about doing this rig.

(1) Stripes were a more common thing than logos. If they tended to do logos, then they were more likely large scale abstract designs like stars and bars that splayed from the initial straight lines of the striping. Peterbilts were, and are, workhorses so I gathered so it made more sense that any outward appearance would reflect the functional use of the truck rather than an artistic declaration of any kind. Unless you are a restorer or collector of kind.

And I am starting to lean towards stripes but in a different design than the colours originally chosen. Maybe stay with the notion of expanding as the stripes race toward the cab area in a more expressive manner. Or not. It comes down to willingness to try.

(2) The 50's lady logo design suits what I would consider a personal expression of the trucker. And it remained strongly a motivation for tackling the truck in the first place. 

As a fan of the forties or fifties glamour ladies artwork adorning war planes, so common with many Allied bombers from that era. Maybe this is a transference of what I admired then onto a working truck? I don't know but I've had reservations since my initial enthusiasm regarding the design. Choosing the rear of the cab to display seemed fitting because it was the largest and most logical "blank canvas" space available. 

On the bonnet or front of the cab might work but then the design would need to fit. But it would have been a pointless spot on the bonnet top while the side of the cab would require a closer physical inspection to appreciate the artwork done. And in a moving vehicle, that's kind of difficult.

(3) Originally I had this idea of a female mechanic in a swimsuit working on the rig in some woodyard. But it's just not working for me as a concept. However, as a photo shoot opportunity it sounds more plausible especially when I can assemble a photo shoot crew as well.

Yet a strong visual image persists within my mind of a street scene where there is an alley, a bend, and a group of bystanders watching someone work on the rig. A street scene therefore. Or a workshop area. Haven't really fixed on a final decision, and not likely to while there is still much more need before reaching this final stage.

Above is just a preliminary debate over ideas that have persisted over the intervening years. And I really want to finish this project this year. 

Took some state of the project as it currently stands photos to get me going.

 

Decal design printed out on A4 copy paper. Thought about using transfer paper but as I don't have much, I'd rather use it for my jet planes than this rig. Painting her would be a challenging but not impossible. Having spent a fair time painting miniatures both modelling and artisitically, it's not an issue whatsoever. 

Not sure about the stars design to be honest, ie. I can't remember what the original plan was for them. But more than likely, I will change or abandon them altogether.

Work done already on the cab outer (airbrushed) and interior. It is roughly done with lots of more finer detail required. Although it does look adequate enough for now once the cab is placed atop. 

Hand painted the console a mahogany colour. And went with the retro light yellow dashboard and cherry red interior. Dark leather seating and steering wheel cover.

Prior to abandoning this, I spotted the engine exposed on an Internet image for this vehicle. And simply copied the colour scheme, detailed a couple of items, and then applied a black wash for shadow effect. Definitely loads more work needed to finish this off.

Here is the real problem. This WAS going to be a mechanic working on the rig. But trouble assembling the figurine (came in pieces) coupled with frustration assembling her, followed by a crap paint job afterwards, proved to be the moment when I gave up on this all those years ago. 

Now, looking at the image, it's workable. No doubt thanks to the simple presentation and use of effective lighting. 

But as pointed out above the idea of a stripped down female mechanic working on a Peterbilt is a bit of a stretch. But as a model shoot for a 60s style magazine it is, however, more than acceptable. I do have several other female figures in a various other attire that can also join in posing alongside the rig once it's properly finished and assembled. And I will need to locate a photo shoot group of models in the same scale to complete the scene. 

Thus is the first review of this project. Hopefully it won't be the last. Cheers.

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January Digest #2

21st Century Music

Little known rapper from NZ. First heard many years ago by accident via YT's algorithmn. The video was Runnin' which featured in the FIFA 2014 game. He's not mainstream hiphop but he's done okay for a South Auckland boy. He's 278 whereas I'm 274; same area but still rivals. 

Totally different generation too but the same background and upbringing. 

Now this is the kind of hip hop I do enjoy - lyrical, flow, homage to musical roots, poetical, grounded in real life. Anything and everything produced by him is seriously worth listening to, often more than once. Not that fake gangsta shite or flashy bling bling crud. Nor the usual hollow mainstream or mindless tribal crap. Just excellent solid hip hop. 

David Dallas

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Puzzles Galore

Worked out there's probably three ways to solving a jigsaw. 

Approach one is the one I've adopted throughout. I take time to first separate all the tiles into their shape classes - no nodes, one node, two nodes, three nodes, four nodes. There is also a variation of the two nodes class where the nodes are opposite one another. Every tile fits into one of these five node categories. Every border tile goes into the sixth category. Then I begin by completing the border: you can simply hit B to reveal all the border tiles, and off you go. After that, it's just patience and persistence. 

Approach two is more intuitive and disorganised. Simply pick a section or feature that appeals to you and concentrate on completing that. Not a fan of this part because it would be both slow and disorganised. Have to have a plan otherwise it's just randomised chaos. Whimsical. 

Approach three is more a variation of Approach 1 whereby instead of classifying them into tile categories you opt for colour or area (as in sky or water) groupings. It is. after all, just a matter of preference and how you approach the puzzle is just that - personal preference. 

I'm sure there are other approaches I hadn't considered yet. But these are just three basic ones that occurred to me while working on these puzzles. 

As seen above, I am over half done. Made an initial start on this 800 puzzle several days ago but left it to finish the other one (previous post). Returned to it tonight and have made very good rapid progress. Done the sky and distant mountains as well as most of the water foreground. Working completing the rest of water before calling a night and dawn. Expect to have it done when I return to it later on today. 

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Pretty looking Jigsaw Puzzle finished

Completed another puzzle today. Started it yesterday. Either I'm getting better at it or else the puzzle wasn't as challenging as the first one. 

Liked the scene shown above but realised as soon as I started that the colour contrasts make it fairly straightforward when placing tiles. And there's just enough fine detail to make good guesses as to which goes where and so on. I am wondering if they use colour saturation on the images because it looks it.

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Third Super Jigsaw Puzzle Completed in a week

Chicago skyline is a bit more challenging than the last puzzle because there are less contrasting colours as with the previous puzzle. The background image can be distracting. You can adjust the background colour to a colour that is slightly different from the main colours of the puzzle which includes lots of grey, black, gold, and sand.

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Doing cities now. This puzzle is of a favourite city of mine. Venice. Did a watercolour study some time ago. Fairly easy completing this which surprised me. Expected it a bit more challenging like the Chicago puzzle (above) but I was mistaken. Managed to complete it in a few hours which was even more suprising.

This time I used approach three which was split into specific groups such as border, sky, canal, buildings. Seemed to work like a breeze. The background image wasn't as distracting as with the Chicago puzzle because I was able to distinguish the required shapes better (came up as a muted shade of green) without having to turn it off and on constantly. 

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World of Snoreships

January is a slow month for WG with nothing events thrown at the unsuspecting and gullible. They are still flogging the Santa crates until February: must have been a slow Christmas for them. Just finishing off the Dockyard event's remaining missions (two left) for the steel, and for something to do while completing the slow commander upskill grind.

Word of caution: If chasing a steel ship, be mindful they're only available through Golden crates which have a 10% chance of dropping. And a separate drop rate applies to Golden crate which is guarantees a ship drop upon opening the tenth Golden crate. 

While a Mega will drop a ship on the 15th and a Gift will drop at the 100th, there is absolutely no guarantee you will get a Golden crate on that drop. And if you do, you better hope it's your tenth Golden crate which will guarantee your goal of a steel ship. That's if you already have every listed ship available this Christmas. Otherwise, you will receive one of the listed Christmas ships. 

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World of Boreships

When it comes down to a choice between gambling and most likely getting nothing for the effort or having a decent home-cooked meal, it's a no-brainer. Stomach will always win out. 

Played Zao again today. Really love this ship despite its weak armour. On the Sunset Isles map, spawned in the middle. Sailed up to the cap. Teammates hung back (to be expected) leaving me to "yolo" against a Napoli and a Montana. Signed my death warrant but didn't care. Chose to sail between the two vessels and loosed off my torps at both, two sets at each. Eight apiece. Did considerable damage to both but no sinking before dying. However, did enough to enable my teammates to finish off both damaged ships easily.  

Lesson here: Never rely on your teammates in WOWS unless you really know them personally or they're clan mates. Ever. If they cooperate with you, fine. Contribute. But never ever go into a game thinking they have your back. And, always fire torps in a wide spread.

Satsuma is bloody slow maneouvring at times. Don't go thinking she's nifty because she ain't. A snail is a better dancer. Extremely slow to get any movement forward or backward  from a stop. Turning is okay at low speed which is useful. Sometimes. 

But don't EVER charge into a melee unless you know what you're doing. A couple of days back, I was deulling against a Patrie and a Piemonte. Failed to finish off the Italian supercruiser after a couple of punishing salvoes. Allowed it to retreat behind the Patrie and recover. Was more concerned about the Patrie threat. So while I played chasey around a large island against the French super ship, I was keeping one eye out for the torpedoes I knew would be coming my way. Unfortunately I blundered by sailing into the island I was using for cover. Too slow, I was a sitting duck for the torpedoes that took me out. Cursed my luck. Cursed the Satsuma for taking forever to reverse. 

Lesson here: finish off the kill. Worry about the Patrie after dealing to the Piemonte first.

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World of Yawnships

Mecklenburg in Asymmetrics is not the popular broken Libertad. But it has torps, good secondaries and sixteen 12" guns. More than enough to tackle being swarmed by menacing lower tied ships...up to a point. Suffered just two defeats from over a dozen games played in this fun battle mode. 

However I began the day with Guilio Cesare in a couple of games in Co-op before switching up and staying with Mecklenburg in Asymmetrics for the duration in order to earn the 2600 ribbons needed (battleship only) as part of the Dockyard event mission. Much quicker to achieve this in Asymmetrics than in Co-Op.

In the first defeat just myself and a Stalingrad were left after the rest of our team died. We had cleared our flank then moved into the centre. But there were just too many enemy ships. No point in charging in so we hung back using island cover and picking off our targets who gladly charged at us. We managed to survive intact when the Defeat finally sounded. Failed to cap once while combating the enemy who scored their victory off two caps.

In the second Defeat, team except for a U-4501 died quickly. Myself included although I was the last to go (apart from the sub). I was on the left flank with a Takahashi which hung back and we both got overwhelmed by about six or seven enemies. The sub "held" the centre and simply survived until the end. I was unable to do much while alive and had positioned myself badly - too far out in the open and capped too early and was therefore subjected to heavy focus fires from the opposition. Our right flank was held by two ships of one was the G. Kurfurst. I don't know the identity of the other ship but it died early leaving the GK to battle valiantly on its own until taken out. By then it was just myself and the sub. 

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January 2026 Digest #1

World of Warships

Slept through much of last night's new year's eve celebration due to being dog tired for some reason. Perhaps a lurking lurgy that won't die a 2025 death. Anyway, happy festivus for 2026. 

With that out of the way, doing a slow grind to complete the final two phases in order to claim the Dockyard Event reward - the Tier IX French premium battleship Roussillon - and complete the last of 2025 obligations. No rush (as in complete all the mission tasks in one day as I would normally do) to finish this event now.

Looking to enjoying my freedom from the "salt mines" hereafter. Lol. 

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Slowly going through the various mission task in order to complete the Dockyard Event and grab the last ship for 2025 - Roussillon. 

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Today I had a good day of grinding. Finished the Dockyard Event and earned this...

Played this ship twice. Ran her with Philippe Auboyneau. Worth it? Not qualified to state yeah or nay with any conviction or authority. 

First game I sailed into a melee storm and got taken out by a Hipper that refused to die and which took all my focus to the detriment of what was happening around me. Disappointed because I expected more from the guns. Either that or else Hipper is stronger than I initially thought. 

Second game, I had better luck but all I kept thinking during play was the recollection by someone commenting on the value of this ship that this reward was a Tier VIII Alsace hull with different guns. Thing is I can't remember who or what this ship dealt to in this second game. All I can recall is that it was a better performance than the first effort. 

And 2025 is now done.

Mainz is a really good ship. Played its cruiser's mission in no time at all (Dockyard Event) which was great whereas previously it would always take a while. And thus I finished the Dockyard Event fasyer than usual and thus able to collect the reward (image above). 

I am liking it as a cruiser a lot since acquiring it in the Christmas drop. In fact, it's now my favourite cruiser. Good accurate guns. Great HP - firestarter. AP also good - easily citadels broadsided cruisers and even battleships. Torps are a joy. Emboldens one to sail right up to a full health battleship, loose off two runs of torpedoes, and watch the ship die. Plus you still have the second set on the opposite side. 

Did not bother with the three rentals and the space-age missile warfare battle mode. Not my thing unless they create a separate game mode like Asymmetric and restrict it to those super ships being constantly dealt to us. I'd rather play Eagle Leader by DVG (boardgame) nowadys to be honest. Much more entertaining game and without the bs.

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Jigsaw Puzzles

Part way through an 800-piece puzzle started the other day. Taking longer than originally envisaged. 

A good thing about this game is that any tile will lock in place if placed correctly. Sometimes it's incidental as can be seen below by the various isolated pieces scattered throughout. Other times it's a calculated guess (as with the figures on the bridge or seated at the pond or the tree branches against the sky drop). 

This particular image puzzle is interesting and challenging because of the many subtle colour shifts. 

Easy to get sidetracked/distracted by the many options popping up. Focus can, and does, wander at times and it requires effort to stay focused on the task. 

This is where I am at after two intense and long day sessions.

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Finally finished after another three days at it. Challenging throughout because of the colours and the tile size. And the brilliant colours of the final puzzle image as shown below are muted during play (as seen in the previous post above) which can be misleading. Example the bright purple on the left side of the stone bridge is not that bright when searching for the correct tile. But despite this minor problem, I managed to muddle my way through. 

Also had another problem completing the puzzle. Game said I hadn't placed all the tiles even though visually this was a contradiction. Somehow sorted it out after returning and checking that every tile had been properly placed. Had this problem before on a smaller 200 tile puzzle I had to restart. At the time, I hadn't figured out the problem. But persevered this time. And got the acknowledgement I was after. 

Now I have enough accumulated game points to access the 1500 tile puzzles. Scoring is based on the number of puzzles completed and their value. So a 40 tile puzzle is worth 40 points, and so on. 

But first I am going to do one more 800 puzzle which I started at the same time I did the above jigsaw. This time it's seems a little easier...I hope. 

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Miles

Stepson and his girlfriend visited for the new year. While here they took snaps of our latest family addition and hilariously dressed him up using an AI app. 

Meet Miles Brando, auditioning for the lead role in the remake of the 1954 classic On The Waterfront.

He's also auditioning for the Michael J. Fox role when they finally remake the 1987 hit comedy The Secret of My Success. His stage name for this audition is Miles J. Woof. 

December Digest #9

World of Warships

Unusual day. Logged in and collected the daily reward. Expecting nada as per usual but got this instead...

Yeah, that's right. I got a ship. A free ship. From a supercontainer. In six years of playing this game, I've only ever gotten one, maybe two ships, from a supercontainer drop in total. Now this unexpected win makes it three. Suggestion to WG: change the name from supercontainer to extremely rare gambling chance container. Makes better sense because there's nothing super about winning a handful of economic bonuses.

Fortunately I took a quick screenshot because I started having connection problems. Logged out then back in. No problems thereafter. Upskilled my Satsuma skipper to 14-points after playing four games, one of which was a rare Draw (first game where I had connection problems). 

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Today is New Year's Eve. Playing this game daily for the past few years has become such a daily routine, much like eating breakfast or doing the daily ablutions, that there will be a massive hole in my life when I start weaning myself off this habit. Significant day so it would seem on the surface. But not really. 

Earned my 700+ ships. Now what? 

Not sure. See what the new year brings. Got nearly two years of premium time left to me. Can't see beyond that free time. I may seem concerned at the direction this game continues to tread on the surface but I have no real say other than to continue playing. Or stop. 

Change for the sake of change isn't always a beneficial thing. 

Satsuma captain now 15 point.

And a happy new year.

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Super Jigsaw Puzzle

Enjoyed yesterday's puzzle so much that I went looking for more and found Super Jigsaw Puzzle: Generations. Also for free. Downloaded it and went straight into the 800 piece set. There is the 1500 set but you have to earn points to unlock those. So jumped into the smaller sets to earn the points for the larger games.

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Who'd thought I needed jigsaw puzzles at this point in my life. But it is very relaxing to me. Time-consuming? Yes. Patience inducing? Of course. It actually orders my thinking process. Once you realise that and embrace it, the puzzles themselves become easy to deal with. Irrespective of their complexities. And the only you're competing with is yourself. What greater challenge is there outside of competitive play?

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December Digest #8

World of Warships

Ran ships which have no XP earned. Some included ships with new skippers transferred in. A fair few are premiums that are either from Santa crates or earned previously but never played until now - Shinonome B, S-1, Deutschland, Graf Spee, Arkhangelsk, Scheer, Royal Sovereign, Gambia, Mainz B, Graf Zeppelin, Champagne, Suzuya, Musashi, Cambridge, Neustrashimy, Kozma Minin, Manteuffel, F. Gonzaga, Los Andes, Taihang, Lepanto, Jager, Le Havre. The last is my latest acquisition - a Steel Fleet ship.

More tomorrow...

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World of Warships

Played Kushiro, Aki, Hakuryu, Khabarovsk, Smolensk, Andalucia, Valparaiso, Sibir, Hildenbrand, Inchoen, Ragnar, La Pampa. Also acquired the halfway reward for Chapter 2, Event Pass: Tier VII Pan-Asian cruiser Lanzhou. 

May run all the carriers and subs in my port fleet tomorrow just for a change of pace.

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World of Warships - Christmas Eve 2025

Today (Christmas Eve) played Mecklenburg, Irian, Flint, Devastation, Jean Bart, Prins van Oranje, Lanzhou, Satsuma. Nearly all have a Seasoned commander as skipper. Except for the two superships, the others are premiums. 

Nearly everyone who have them are raving about how powerful Hawaii and Bremen are. It might matter to me if I had either one but I don't so I really don't care how well they outperform others of their ilk.  Am I likely to get lucky in getting one before this Update ends? No. I have more chance winning the lottery, to be honest. So I'm going to buy a ticket instead. 

Merry Christmas and a safe New Year.

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World of Warships - Christmas Day 2025

A repeat of yesterday's grind with some modifications. Same ships. Multiple grinds. Upskilled them to the next level. Will continue to repeat this process till the end of the month/year.

Noticed something odd the other day. Was checking the drop rate on Santa Gift crates. It was around 80+. But the following day, after earning over fourteen Gift crates, the count had reset to 100. Odd so I thought but then I dismissed it as a glitch. Not worth raising the issue because I'm never going to grab another 100 Gift crates anyway between now and the end of the Update. 

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World of Warships

Boxing Day edition and a long grind to finish the next Dockyard event mission. Played the usual suspects: Mecklenburg, Irian, Flint, Devastation, Jean Bart, Prins van Oranje, Satsuma, Okhotnik, Z-39, Valparaiso.

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World of Warships

Enjoyable grind today. Played Satsuma exclusively for the Voyage tokens and daily coal crates. Ended up earning the Event Pass rewards too which was a bonus.

Best game in Satsuma. Even though it was Co-Op and only I was playing, I had fun dodging the other superships out to get me on the Shatter map. Ended with a good win after it looked like we were going to lose because the Bots had decimated the rest of my team and had capped twice already. 

Bot teammates chose to die quickly leaving me to salvage something in a super slow supership. Not easy but used the islands to good advantage. Spawned in the middle and stayed around there. Took out four enemy ships to win the game. 

Satsuma's 510mm guns smack hard. Took just two salvoes to destroy a Novosibirsk. Made sure to stay bow in as I played cat-and-mouse with a Devastation and Patrie. Took out the enemy CV United States which was niggling me with its dive bombers and torpedo bombers as I weaved in and out using the island cover to max advantage. 

I was most worried facing the Patrie which was slightly healthier than me. But one of my Bot teammates helped out by sinking it before dying. I would have struggled taking it Eagle and Devastation on simultaneously. 

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Super Jigsaw Puzzle - Cities

After the grind, jumped into relax mode and spent a pleasant afternoon playing Super Crossword Puzzle: Cities. Interesting game that I've had for a number of years but haven't touched yet...until last night. Not my usual kind of game for sure. Began playing it last night. Started out with the simple 20 and 40 pieces set. After "practising" I then switched up to the 200 piece jigsaw before finally settling on the 400 piece game. 

Spent a few relaxing hours today doing St Petersburg. Really relaxing for some reason. And I don't mind the time spent. 

If you like to relax in a methodical sort of way, I can recommend this. Actually calming. The game has a place below the image board for all the pieces (found out about it half way through today's puzzle). Seven trays in total. One tray for the different tile grouping (sky, water, buildings, etc.) that can be switched by clicking on the appropriate tray. Keeps the clutter down as well as organised 

After several easy hours, I had completed it. Already did New York last night. Now on the hunt for other similar games on Steam. Want the really big ones - the 1000 tiles. Or more. 

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Modelling - Planning Ahead

Planning to revisit an unfinished modelling project - the Peterbilt 1/25 model truck. Intention is to paint the original decal design. Then I want to display it on a dioramic stand. Plan on taking my time with the paint job and display stand. First major painting and modelling task for 2026. 

Found the original post. Did not realise it's over four years old. The colour scheme and design will be more or less similar to the original test design shown below. The challenge, however, will be hand painting the lovely lady on the cab back. It's the kind of mad challenge I just enjoy because it takes me out of my tiny comfort zone. And one can always improve on one's skills with such challenges. 

Of course there will be other challenges associated with this project such as creating the backdrop for this rig to be displayed. I've always had the image fixed in my mind. Creating it though will definitely be a real challenge given I'm no good at such things to begin with. Especially not having the tools, skills or equipment to tackle such a project will prove a handicap but not entirely obstruct efforts. But life's been very droll of late, and 2026 will be a new year.

Not going to change the plan all that much because the aim is to build and paint the rig. The challenge therefore will be the display part of this new project. 

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Chris Rea

Learned he has just passed away. One of my many favourites from the 80s. On the Beach, Josephine, Driving Home for Christmas, Let's Dance, Fool if you think it's over, Road to Hell, I can hear your heartbeat...and so on. Rest easy, mate...

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Chris Rea - Driving Home For Christmas (1986)

Rest easy mate....a swag of hits. Influential to me.