April Digest #5

SurrounDead

ANZAC Day. Nothing unusual about tonight's session. Had a laugh when I saw that Jingles posted his SurrounDead playthrough the other night. He had killed off his character by somehow activating the supposed dud nuclear bomb. Really Jingles? Hilarious but most probable.

Been almost a month since my last expedition in the valley. Didn't quite make it to the Port to clear the zombies and kill off the Infestation there along with the Zombie bosses as I kept getting sidetracked along the way. But I did pick up a flatbed ute. 

Comes with a glitch however: the vehicle lights look on as the image shows. At night though when you hit "L" the car lights do switch on. And it's a lot lighter in weight than the usual Utility vehicle I use for zooming around the valley. Can dump the yellow car and just the flatbed to go shopping. 

Hear there's a heavily modified Utility which is an upgrade from your standard Utility but it's a rare spawn so not worth pursuing; if I come across it, I will grab it. Otherwise, I will continue to trot along with the vehicles I do have.

Priority has therefore been house keeping at the base. And prioritising the weapons arsenal. Deciding to get rid of the M249 because it wastes ammo faster than I can scavenge or buy. Going instead to focus on more higher powered rifles instead. I will use the XM250 instead: same rounds but bigger mag.

There are several gun stores whose location I know of (either accidentally discovered or consciously sought out) so I will raid those for now. Sell off any surplus to the traders. Build up the cash reserve.

The grenader launcher that fires the 40mm round is a rare item. I suspect it will be found with military compounds/bases and/or secret locations. It would make a handy addition to the current weapon loadout my character carries. 

Loading out each of the vehicles in my car pool. Storing everything in either Duffel or Coyote backpacks (storage space). Any leftover room in vehicle storage can be for useful/valuable items scavenged. I make sure to have extra fuel, repair kits, spare water, a food container filled with food supplies and water, a crowbar, a hatchet/axe, a pick, a tent, and a sleeping bag (for when you get caught out in the open at night - which does happen quite easily if exploring). 

Inventory on my character. I always take the best kit I can scavenge or buy. So, hard helmet and night vision mandatory with spare batteries. Respirator - military grade plus spare radiation filters. Of course, take loads and loads of radiation pills in your obligatory medical kit bag (more storage space).

I also take a small day bag for storage when out scavenging. I also have a lunch box packed to capacity with food and water. 

I prefer the tactical hatchet because its tree felling and melee brawler are doubly useful. I tried the katana but didn't warm to it. I rarely use the modified Glock with its 60-round magazine, instead utilising the rifle or LMG instead to deal with long-range foes.

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Today was another session full of distractions and side-trackings. Acquired three more vehicles. Maybe I should set up as a vehicle recovery trader, just like Walshy down at the bridge. Today's haul included a white golf cart not far from West Grove on the road to the port, a red jeep at Chester Lake, and the white RV with blue striping as I was returning from taking on an Infestation in a church in the far north.

The recently acquired RV allows me to sleep inside without needing a sleeping bag and/or tent shelter. Still keeping an eye out for that modified ute vehicle. 

Standing atop a vehicle is a posture I've adopted for 360 defence from zombies.

New thing discovered in this session as seen in the above two images. Whenever a creature is killed a white loot bag now appears at the spot of the kill. Discovered this is bonus meat that also goes with the normal cuts from the creature you've just killed. 

Tried to repair the roof of my base but the game does not make it that easy or straightforward like placing a tarp down or nailing temporary roof sheeting. It does not allow for horizontal alignment at sloping angles, as with a roof. It permits roof construction in modula form only which is at a set angle anyway. Nor does the game cater for other construction materials aside from wood which can be naturally sourced. So gib boards, sheet metal, terracotta roof tiles, and so on is perhaps outside the scope of this game.

Ran into the ice cream van clown-masked trader (third time only since playing this game) just as night was falling as I was returning to base towing the RV. Scored a few high-end items from him including a horde beacon which draws out waves of zombies. Apparently these carry better loot, so the wiki informs me. So it should be a fun time next time.

In the past I've been using grenades to force zombies to congregate. Then I toss more grenades and applied burst fire to finish off the job. Sometimes I change up by tossing a molotov, or three but it's messy and only useful in confined space as with bunkers and rooms.

The XM250 is an improvement on the M249. But I think that's because I've put better attachments on it as opposed to the other LMG. Semi and full auto that exhibit less recoil especially when firing three round bursts. Body shots preferable to head shots with this weapon on burst fire. Head shots work best when using single shot. 

Currently toting the Guardian rifle as my primary weapon, supported by the XM250. Swapped over from the Colonel's Revenge because the Guardian fires a 7.62 round as opposed to the Colonel's 5.56.

Remembered to check my skill level in this session and discovered I'm maxxed out on the skill tree. Still had plenty leftover skill points after I maxxed out. Wondering if there's scope for adding more opportunities for skill branching out, as with wanting to become a trader like Walshy or the Ice Cream van vendor which would be an interesting development within a multi-player game situation. 

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Monday's session saw me obtain a couple more vehicles - the ambulance and another truck (smaller than the big rig). Still on the hunt for that armoured utility but then learned it can be bought from Walshy for $20,000. The ice cream vendor trader also sells the grenade launcher for 40 credits. So been busy acquiring the required currency.

Ran into loads more bandits than usual. One lot I encountered just south of Walshy, on the other side of the bridge. Once I took them out (eventually), I investigated the vehicle they must have ambushed. It was a military supply truck. If you don't quit out of the game, you can always return to the truck daily to collect respawned loot. Handy to know. 

The Guardian handled itself well against the bandits. Found a Mosin Nagant. Historical bolt action rifle that's effective up to 100m. Does better damage than many of the weapons I have in my arsenal. But it has a 5 round mag which means it won't be as effective as those other weapons. But got one so going to test it out. 

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Went to the Airfield in today's session (Tuesday). Managed to take down to two Boss Zombies who were fortunately in the same spot - General Romez and The Bodyguard. Took out both from the airfield control tower using the Guardian rifle. 

The airfield occupies a large area. Today I was pressed for time so my priority was as much loot to sell for credit. Luck was on my side today for I managed to obtain enough credits (needed just 3 to make the 40 needed). As a result, I was able to buy the M249 Grenade launcher. Again I got lucky because the Ice Cream vendor trader had the launcher for sale. Earlier in the day when I first ran into him, it was not displayed. Figured, and hoped, it would be there when I returned later in the day. And it was so.

Intend to revisit in future sessions and properly hoover search to find more loot. Maybe discover some unique and valuable ones. Today I was in a hurry so just grabbed both weapons and ammo.

As per yesterday, more encounters with bandits. Fortunately for me, they're just three-four man bands. Yet to run into the large groups. Not been able to discover their base camps. 

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World of Warships

The Firepower X sequential bundle is interesting event. I don't mind paying for something when you also get freebies. And the resources and credits are always welcome. Pay for four bundles and grab the remaining twelve for free. Fair enough deal. BTW, I have all the Tier X ships being offered except for the submarine. Not too concern if it drops or not; all I'm really after are the resources - the Free XP, Elite Cmdr XP, credits, and coal.

Otherwise it was pleasant grinding session today (ANZAC Day). Leipzig had its day in the sun today performing really well. Graf Spee, not so much but that's fine; she has her good days too. The Kamikaze twins perform as per usual to expectations which is always decent to good. And it's always a relaxing day when you take the Okhotnik out for a jaunt.

In one of the grinds, someone was lauding his red camouflaged Warspite and then blasting (good-naturedly of course) about censoring Gilbert and Sullivan in chat. 

I personally don't mind G&S; I saw a totally enjoyable performance of Mikado at Sydney Opera House long ago. 

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Today (Sunday) was your typical rough grind. Rough as in making silly mistakes like poor decisions and positioning. It happens some days and varies in intensity and duration. That's WOWS for me. 

As a brawling cruiser, the Prins van Oranje sucks big time. She is potent in some regards but suffers from being quite sluggish in both movement and maneouvrability. She needs to be played to her strength which seems to be mid range. It fares better when there's room to manoeuvre so hiding behind an island might be perilous if caught in a crossfire. Use cover when needed but hang back; let the destroyers and others do their job first before throwing your hat into the fight circle. 

Same approach applies when playing the Graf Spee. As a brawler, conditions have to be ideal for her to be a top ranked brawler. But when does that happen in-game? Not often. Not consistently enough. Historically she's a pocket battleship so she straddles that gap between cruiser and battleship. She responds sluggishly so anticipation is your best ally when playing her in any brawling situation. Leipzig, by comparison, is a light cruiser and therefore more agile being more responsive to your keypad commands than the Graf Spee. 

Played to score the usual daily trio of coal crates and then upskilled two more commanders thanks to the Elite Commander XP windfall from the Firepower X sequential bundles. Just the last crate bundle left to acquire.

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Monday's grind was short and sweet. Played my Kitakaze captain on Kamikaze to grind AND to acquire the daily coal crates. He's on 20 points. Could easily have spent Free XP to elevate him to 21 points but have been saving Free XP for the Research Bureau exchange. 

Bought the last Firepower X sequential bundle (4 crates) and was happy to receive resources windfall. Overall I thought this package was good value and would not hesitate if something similar was foisted upon us again.

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Tuesday was a short sweet single ship session. Stayed long enough to grab the daily coal loot plus event pass bonus rewards.

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April Digest #4

World of Warships

Continued to grind my Flint captain and earn the daily Coal crates. 

Avoiding the NEW ship bundles like the plague. Figured it's much safer to simply start prepping for the Christmas/Santa crates. Along the way, pick up the odd NEW ship here and there according to how they're offered - FREE or EARN through play. Which, of course, applies to Event Pass, Dockyard events, and whatever other events WG throws our way. 

Saw someone had paid for one of the NEW ships being offered yesterday. The Turgut Reis appeared in a Co-Op game. Nothing unusually good about it from what I saw. I was in my Flint and it had spawned with me in the centre cap area. Didn't pay too much attention to it as I was dealing to the enemy before me. But it performed well enough. Not too sure about the hoopla over it, or regarding the other two NEW ships. 

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Dismissed more Tier X captains today. Few to remove from Germany, UK, France, Italy, and Pan-Asia however. Expect to complete the dismissals after tomorrow's grind. 

Friesland played to complete the 1,000 main battery hits ribbon task for the Dockyard event. Did it in four games. In the last game was grouped with a Smolensk and Preussen. We spawned on the right flank of the Greece map in the south. While I raced to the cap and duelled with the opposing DD, the Smolensk continued on its due north course. I figured it was trying to set up a crossfire situation as the enemy DD led its companion cruiser and battleship to the cap. The Preussen followed me and providing fire support as we tackled the remaining two enemy to our front. Our crossfire worked brilliantly though and we, as a team, quickly sunk our opponents and secured the cap without any problems. 

I then moved my focus fire on the centre cap where an enemy Kremlin and Preussen were contesting the space. Our Smolensk tried to repeat his crossfire endeavour, but was smacked into oblivion by the Kremlin and Preussen. I wondered if our Smolensk would have survived had he smoke like my Friesland. With our cruiser gone, myself and the Preussen were able to help the others knock out both enemy battleships.

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Finished off the last of the Tier Xs in today's (Monday) grind along with the last requisite Dockyard mission. Now it's just a continuation of captain upskilling. The bulk are at 17 points while the remainder are at higher levels.

I wonder how the Golden Week scam is travelling. Haven't seen any more NEW ships apart from a Shigure a while ago. That makes two so far since the event began. When such an event happens, and the ship is desired, you would usually see a fair few playing. Wondering if their marketing is working out globally?

Interesting discussion from one WOWS YT streamer tonight where someone emailed him asking which class was the least effective. The emailer believed it is battleships, and went to great lengths to explain why. Which initially upset the streamer who is a BB main. I didn't watch the entire video but kind of understood what the claimant was saying: BBs tend to hang back; slow reload makes it so. Unless they're brawling with support or tanked up with support, why would a BB sacrifice itself and die just as quickly as a DD who runs into a cap and is caught out unawares and dies within minutes. Makes sense therefore for a BB to hang back and rely on its ranged firepower to contribute. 

I don't play Randoms so I can't really confirm or refute the claim made as this is where the argument was centred in his email. In Co-Op I try to support whomever is game enough to close to contact whether in a destroyer, submarine, cruiser or battleship. 

There's a big difference playing an Oklahoma as opposed to a Viribus Unitis. 

The former is slow, very slow. In a YOLO race, she is the perpetual tortoise. Her 14" inch guns suffer from a much slower reload than her Austrian counterpart who also beats her by weight of fire - a salvo of twelve 12" can cause serious damage when they connect. 

I do prefer the Viribus to the Oklahoma because of her firepower and because she's more maneouvrable than the Oklahoma. Both ships are Tier V by the way. 

Compared to the effectiveness of say, a Fujin or an Okhotnik - both Tier V premium destroyers - it's obvious who's going to come out of such a close-range fight. The same applies to any Tier V cruisers, and not just premium. The tech tree line Japanese heavy cruiser Furutaka or light cruiser Agano can easily ambush either battleships and sail off on its merry way in search of its next victim.

And that probably supports the claim made by the emailer about battleships being ineffective when they switch up from "stay at back sniper" to "upfront brawler". However, in saying that, the usefulness of battleships does vary from tier to tier.

At Tier IX, for instance, the Pan-American battleship Valparaiso plays different to the German battleship Pommern if you should decide to brawl. Both are potent and very good brawlers, and are quite capable of mixing it up close. Valparaiso has her extraordinary heals and her effective secondaries while Pommern own long-range secondaries and torpedoes compliment her gunpower making for a foe to be wary of. Both demand a definite play style in order to get the maximum benefit. But the point made is you can actively support in a brawl - albeit with conditions - which proves they are useful. Certainly more so than their Tier V counterparts.

At the top end, perhaps that usefulness fluctuates and becomes a little less clearer because top tier in any class means just that, and the distinction between the quality and usefulness between classes become quite distinct. The destroyer Marceau, for instance, is a definite threat to any battleship regardless of nation. Likewise, the destroyer Shimakaze. And any decent Tier X cruiser will cause problems for any battleship foolish enough to leave its "at the back" post and decide to "mix it with the big boys". 

Conversely, a battleship at the back, can safely lob shells all day long knowing the enemy will have to close distance if it wants to pose any kind of threat. Then I guess the claimant is justified in stating that battleships are ineffective in the game as a result of this observation. But if a battleship is fulfilling it roles of provide firepower support, then the battleship is being useful in that regard. Which is a weak point to make when outweighed by the negatives against the many positives for the other classes. 

Personally I gravitate to being a battleship mains. My profile lists my top ship played in Co-Op is the Tier IX German battleship Pommern - a huge 1422 battles! Early in my playing days when I played both Randoms and Ranked, my top ship played were battleships, the Japanese Tier VIII battleship Amagi (85 battles) and the Japanese Tier VII battleship Nagato (31 battles) respectively. I always found battleships to be easier to play for some reason, despite their slow speed and slow reloads. Maybe I'm just a tortoise in mind and spirit. 

In saying that, however, I also enjoy playing both cruisers and destroyers. My recent posts harping on the joys of playing the Tier VII premier US cruiser Flint attest how I am becoming more and more familiar and comfortable with the cruiser class, learning their idiosyncracies and other peculiarities. And nonetheless still enjoying the experience despite their major weakness. 

I also had a couple of good sessions the other day playing the premium destroyers Siroco and K. Schonberg as part of my ongoing Commander upskilling program. With the commander upskill program, playing destroyers is, for the most part, fun and quick. You either die quick or you don't. 

Destroyers are fun but fragile. Cruisers are cool but crumple like paper. Battleships tend to be slow, blocky, and torpedo magnets.

In summing up, I just wanted to toss my 2 cents worth in reacting to this enquiry as if my own observations matter (they don't to be honest). The question raised stirred up some thoughts for me personally about the reasons I continue to play this online game. An involvement that's has surprisingly lasted as long as it has given my notoriously short attention span. 

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A short session today (Wednesday) given I wasn't in the mood for full grind from my commander upskill listing which is currently set at fifteen. Managed to upskill one of my 18-pt captains to 19-point level though so that was some sort of achievement. Still loads more captains to upskill to 21 point. Loads more. 

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Thursday is Dockyard-Event-release-next-mission-day. Completed three of the six mission tasks required to complete this chapter. Will finish off the remaining three between now and next Wednesday.

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Seven Years War

Continuing with my paper army project. Doing preliminary test samples of two nations to see if the idea is worth following through and devoting time and energy. 

For the Austrian infantry, I have settled on recreating the Puebla Brigade which was part of the left wing infantry under Colloredo. The units of the brigade include 

• IR 13 Moltke (1 bn)
• IR 8 Hildburghausen (2 bns)
• IR 3 Erzherzog Carl (2 bns)

The formation is a five battalion brigade. I will add artillery and cavalry (again a historical formation) to round out this "small" test sample army list. 

With the Prussians, I am also going with a historical formation from the Leuthen OOB. I have settled upon the Geist Brigade comprising 

• Forcade (Nr. 23)
• Alt-Braunschweig (Nr. 5) 
• Kleist Grenadiers (3 coys from Nr. 3 and 1 coy from Nr. 6)
• Schenckendorff Grenadiers (2 coys from Nr. 35 and 2 coys from Nr. 36)

Together this group constitutes a total of six battalions. Like the Austrians, there will be cavalry and artillery to round out this small force.

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Figure scaling is next. In my research I came across a prize-winning blogsite. The creator went with 1:10 scaling thus fielding large units. His SYW armies are 30mm scale and therefore they look very impressive on the tabletop. I delighted in staring at his gorgeously displayed units. I suspect he must be a fanboy of the late great Charles Grant - master of the large gloriously painted tabletop games.

I, on the other hand, am putting together a small paper list. Therefore the word "impressive" is not in my present vocabulary of inspiration. Nor should it belong there. I am, after weighing up the differences between 1:50 and 1:35, going with the latter choice. I thought about 1:50 but the units would look piddly to most purists and prudes.

Also there is enough room to show the different quantities between either side. The Prussians were better mobilised (with more than enough reserves) while the Austrians were less prepared and suffered shortages. The Dutch infantry units, for example, fielded less due to a lack of recruits and were therefore smaller in size and composition. 

Orientation might seem a small thing to many but to me it's a bugbear. The paper infantry I am downloading for printing are front-facing whereas the cavalry and artillery are profiled side-on. How to reconcile the two facings becomes a small problem when if fully deployed you are staring at your table from long end to long end (usual mode) then realising you need to move to the side of the table to check out your cavalry deployment. A skinny cavalryman remains a skinny cavalryman until you move yourself (un-Godlike) from your static post to properly identify the skinny-ness. 

One solution would be to base all the infantry side on to match their cavalry and artillery brethren-at-arms. Which means I can therefore only play the game from only one side of the table which is now the proper God position. A novel approach indeed that may not appeal to all other tabletop Gods. 

Reading Christopher Duffy's The Armies of Frederick the Great, 2nd edition, I found the anecdotal evidence that infantrymen sometimes dropped to the ground to evade the cavalry blade (p144) and managed to survive both amusing and intriguing. It occurred to me that this proved the exception rather than the norm. To include this in any rules might mean only if the unit AND commander were high quality was this possible. And still they had to pass a die roll test to succeed. 

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The cavalry formations I have selected for my sample armies are as follows:

Prussians

Going with Driesen's Left Wing cavalry, more precisely just two brigades from the entire wing. Driesen played a crucial part in the battle when his force intercepted and helped break up Luchessi's counter-attack on the exposed Prussian left flank.

Schmettau brigade (1st Line)

• Seydlitz Cuirassiers (5 sqn)
• Margraf Friedrich Cuirassiers (5 sqn)

Czettritz brigade (2nd Line)

• Normann Dragoons (5 sqn)
• Czettritz Dragoons (5 sqn)

Austrians

Given I've selected units from Driesen's Left Wing, it only makes sense to have them confront units from Luchessi's Right Wing who rode all the way over to confront Frederick's echelon attack and got destroyed by Driesen's counter-attack. Picking the entirety of Esterhazy Division (2nd line) for this task:

Daun brigade

• Graf Daun Dragoons (5 sqn)
• Herzog Wurttemburg Dragoons (5 sqn)

Trauttmansdorf brigade

• Serbelloni Cuirassiers (5 sqn)
• Anhalt-Zerbst Cuirassiers (5 sqn)

Artillery. I am going to include the battalion 3-pdr guns because they were an integral part of infantry organisation, for both sides, right up to the Napoleonic Wars. I haven't yet worked out rules for their inclusion and actions but their contribution might probably be as simple and convenient as a +1 to the battalion firing? Or something similar. 

Hope to WIP photos within the next few days, fingers crossed. 

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April Digest #3

English Civil War: Works-in-progress report

Continued on from last night. Some painting done but mostly this was a basing and flocking endeavour. Further detailing is definitely required on a couple of groups.

Finally finished the baggage train. Three carts - ammunition, food, water/wine, six donkeys, and two herders. Went with 90 long by 40 wide bases for the carts to fit but the donkey bases are 30 wide by 40 deep. 

Charles I and two couriers/aides. Noticed when I first received and reviewed the model that the top of Charles' head is missing. Other than that, he's done. Will use modelling putty to correct this defect. Some minor detailing also required for the two couriers/aides uniforms and equipment to finish them off.

Prince Rupert and a small unit of his Lifeguards (just two stands). Using cuirassiers (heavy armoured) for his Lifeguards which is deliberate on my part because these were spares that were ordered by mistake. And I had already allocated all the hat-wearing cavalrymen to other Royalist units. Will eventually correct this error when I eventually acquire more figures. For now, they're representative of the lifeguard status.

Prince Maurice and his own unit of Lifeguards. Also two stands. His lifeguards are lobster-pot wearers. Maurice has only light blue paint applied to certain areas so there is loads more detailing required to finish him off completely. No dog unfortunately.

Langley commands one of the Royalist wings. Also in need of final detailing. At least he's further along in completion to Maurice.

Not exactly the best effort but the figures are based and flocked. Really struggling to complete this project. But I refuse to give in or up. Just hope the campaign will be worth the effort. 

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Rulesets & Printers

On the hunt for an alternate to the SYW wargame rules I already have. Not much luck so far. Did find something from the Oathmark universe that was worth downloading for free.

Otherwise I did a test print run tonight of a SYW paper army unit after tweaking the original image files to suit the size I'm after which is roughly 15mm. 

I do have a copy of Nafziger's OOB listing for Leuthen for both Prussian and Austrian forces although I would also like a secondary reliable source for cross-reference.

Never done a paper army before so this is all-new for me. Sorting out paper model scale ratio. Table size will no doubt influence that scaling. Will produce a sample for review over the next few days.

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Aldi and toys

Was in an Aldi store today and happened across this. Grabbed one, a BMW M850i in 1:64 scale. Surprised by the fact that it's displaying models scaling between 1:48 and 1:64. Depends on the type of vehicle I guess. Loads more in the display as shown in the bottom photo. Only AUD 2.50 in this store. Saw possibilities for those playing post-apoc games like Gaslands. 

Aldi do these promotions from time to time. Always pays to keep one's eyes open when patrolling the centre aisles. Lol.

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Was in my local Aldi today. The model cars are almost gone (every Wednesday the centre aisle displays always change). Found this lot (minus the orange BMW) in the clearance bin. Hoping to try another Aldi to grab one more to complete my "pyramid" of cars.

PS: Scored one more. Pyramid complete.

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World of Warships

Another captain completed and removed from the upskilling grind. This time it was my Kremlin captain whom I have been playing on the Tier VII premium Poltava. Poltava is a hit-or-miss kind of ship, to be honest; today, it was more miss than hit. In the end, I got so disgruntled with my outcomes and stupid playing that I simply spent the ECXP I had to upskill the captain from 20 point to 21 points and returned him to Kremlin, which is a much better and super tanky ship. 

Also upskilled a few more captains. Able to do so because I finally paid the doubloons to unlock Level 2 on the Event Pass. Among the rewards I received was credit compensation for the Ise which is already in my port as well as the 3 million from one of the phases. With over 10 million in credits I was thus able to upskill five captains in total - three from 17 to 18 point, one from 18 to 19 point, and, of course, the Kremlin skipper.

To boost my ECXP accumulation I spent the credits from unlocking the Event Pass Level 2 on dismissing off the remaining Tier IX captains I wanted gone. These included those from Japan, USA, USSR, and Germany. All that's left now are the Tier X dismissals. Fortunately, there aren't that many. Then that's one more to-do item that can be checked off for this year. 

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Flint is easily my favourite Tier VII cruiser to play during this commander upskill grind. Guaranteed fire starter/HE spammer. Has smoke and torps to deter the enemy getting too close. Able to support friendly DDs capping. Can brawl when played smart AND if supported. Able to take on every class with confidence. Similar to the Atlanta in characteristics except for the lack of radar and less turrets. But twelve guns do a decent enough job. And she's accurate if the trajectory is high. Good for teaching you to aim off at close to mid-range.

New Golden Week deal in the Armoury. A three NEW ships deal for over AUD300 in total. These NEW ships can be obtained singly as well. Did not bother to investigate any further however. The event's figurehead is a fox. Apt creature for a slimeball deal. Saw one of these NEW ships in a game - it was a Tier VII Pan European battleship. Thought it was nothing remarkable. But it seems to becoming the norm with the game catering to torpedo battleships. Just waiting for battleships launching flying submarines to debut now. Historical ships are being shunted further and further to the back of the room. Sad. 

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Today I grabbed the last Seasoned commander left in the Armoury - Da Rong (10 pt) Pan-Asia.

Also dismissed USA and USSR commanders. 

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April Digest #2

World of Warships

New events commenced today. Two of significant importance - the ZH-1 Dockyard event, and the double Event Pass. Of the two, the former will be the focus for me because it's a new ship that looks interesting. 

With the Event Pass, only one ship is being offered (Level 2 unlocked though) for both events. I've already got the Ise so I am not interested in the latter event apart from collecting those useful resources. The final rewards are pathetic to be honest: permanent camo does absolutely nothing but WG seem to think it's of great value and are really trying to con-vince players of this. 

From the Nian Paradox event just ended, I managed to score several event commanders plus the following ships - Tempesta Nera, Kiberpankov, and Posterior Prior.

Daily logging in to the usual disruption of getting disconnected from the game. Lasts for a short while. I just persevere: log out, restart, get kicked off, log out, restart, get kicked out, etc. Does not happen with any other game. Just WOWS. Verified game file integrity via Steam. All okay. Rebooted internet connection. All fine. This temporary disruption only lasts for a short while. Updated my game driver (NVIDIA) as well, which explains why I have not seen the usual disconnect and then when I reconnect, notification to create a new WOWS account. That's something, but still doesn't explain why I am having this problem. Running out of likely causes however.

In-game, I've dismissed some more Tier IX captains and used the accumulated ECXP to elevate two more higher skilled commanders: one to 19 point and one to 18 point. Just got the major nations to go - Japan, USA, USSR, Germany, UKL, France, and Italy. Then it's just the Tier X commanders left to go; and there won't be many because most of my 21 point commanders reside here. 

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Today I dismissed those Tier IX Italian captains no longer needed. 

Paid for both packages in the Dockyard event (2 and 6 phases). Convenient because it saves on grind. Plus the rewards are useful. 

Finished the Fortitude Marathon event today. Crates for the most part yielded common Economic bonuses. Only the final three yielded resources of quantity and worth. 

Another new Common Mission event began today but it is not active for some reason. No explanation although it, on the surface, looks worthless. 12 Green Economic bonuses in total are the rewards spread over three mission tasks.

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Seems the new Common Mission has been removed. Mistake perhaps by WG in releasing it?

Dismissed those French Tier IX captains that needed dismissing.

Uneventful grinding session.

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It was the turn of the English Tier IX captains for dismissal. Another satisfyingly uneventful grind.

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Retro Rewind Video Store - Demo version

Got all nostalgic when I saw this demo game on Steam the other day. Looked to be fun. Something normal and ordinary yet engaging for once. No effing zombies. No effing monsters/creatures. Just a normal slice of life that is no more. 

Started playing it tonight. Level 7 is the limit (Harvest Festival day). Will I buy the game? Dunno. Yet.

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Played again today. Building up store credit so that when I do eventually buy the game, I will have a sizeable amount of finance behind me to make some improvements to the store. One important purchase though will be more porn from the back alley shady trader (every Tuesday and Thursday around 9pm). Seems it sells quite well. Lol. 

Not expecting this to be a long game. Pity. Would like to see if it moves into the DVD/Blu Ray age before finally selling out and the store becoming a Radiology clinic. 

Some of the customers got feisty when confronted with Late Fees. A few swore never to return after paying. A couple got angry and stormed out of the store, one even tossing her slushy onto the floor. Generally though most customers played the game and paid up. A couple gave excuses but owned up and accepted their fate. 

A glitch sometimes happens when returning change to the customer. SPACEBAR closes the till but sometimes all that happens is your character jumping in the air. Reposition oneself at the till and try again. Keep doing so until it closes. 

Shelving and videos can be stored out back on the counter top out back until needed.

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Childhood Memories

Nearly sixty years now since last I tasted these with fondness. Strong memories of Panikeke and Mum making them. Made some tonight for the first time since childhood. So excited. Variation to the recipe I grew up with but it worked out nonetheless. Sweeter and different (added mashed bananas and vanilla extract) than the plain mildly sweet ones of my youth. Had to restrain myself from pigging out as I was making them. Made a large batch. Plenty leftover, enough for breakfast. Excellent with strawberry jam hot. Wife tried them and was complimentary to my face. But then she disappeared to the bathroom shortly after. Lol. 

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Little Wars TV

Little Wars TV is a You Tube channel of dedicated US mature-aged gamers devoted to covering the (mainly) US tabletop wargaming scene. Decent enough channel so I thought at the time (couple of years ago) that I immediately subscribed. They have just released a video after several months absence. Interesting concept they're promoting - a free wargames library. Website due soon. Link to the YT video explaining their goal.

Sites that listed as free wargame websites tended to be few and often proved to be dead-ends. Links were broken or dead. Often the rules were found elsewhere released by another online entity who either required you to sign up to their mailing list or had put the ruleset behind a pay wall. 

Free rulesets like Canvas Eagle by Eric Hotz, a Canadian, I happened upon by accident. I was originally pursuing gaming mats that he also retailed at the time when I saw the link to his Blue Max/Canvas Eagles site. 

Another accidental find is a strange one to me because I could not believe they existed as they did. The Perfect Captain was a group of North American rules creators who flourished and were most active in the early 2000s. They produced a library of free wargame rules that were complete, well-researched, period/era specific, and, above all, playable. The curiosity for me was that the production quality and presentation of their rules. I founnd their site by chance when I stumbled upon one of their rulesets being discussed by a blogger of the time. One thing led to another, and I ended up striking gold.

Unfortunately you can no longer download these once free and abundant rulesets even though their website still displays their wares. 

My 15mm Ancient Greek/Spartan army, for example, was assembled for Hoplomachia, the Peloponnesian Wars ruleset. The appeal for me has been that the rules are period-specific. For example, the opening moves in the game require the Spartans to perform an animal sacrifice, and sing a paeon as they advance to battle. Details like that add colour to an otherwise bland wargame. I loved it. And I loved hand-painting the individual shields of the hoplites.

Russian Civil War anyone? Then Red Actions or Beyond The River Don will suit your needs with its modular map building. This enables one to construct a simple campaign with connections between maps that are game table size dependent on current tabletop outcome. My White Russian 20mm army is still seeking revenge on the Bolsheviks for blunting their winter advance. Perhaps the Czech Legion might prove helpful. We shall see. 

The main attraction of The Perfect Captain rulesets is they cover the periods I find personally interesting and worthy of wanting to wargame - the War of 1812, the entire Crusades, the English Civil War, the War of the Roses, the Peloponnesian Wars, the Russian Civil War, the wars of religion in Europe. 

But I've also had far many more misses than struck gold moments. More often than not these other free wargame rules barely measured up in terms of quality and completeness. Some were just bad.

Anyway I am looking forward to this new venture with an awakening of enthusiasm and excitement. Maybe I will find some "new ones" to fill my own library. 

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English Civil War: Slow Painting Progress

Returned to figure painting tonight. Realised I really don't have a painting formula, at least one that always works. It's all fly by the seat of my pants most times. Which probably would partly explain why I exercise a serious lack of motivation, interest and enthusiasm these days. By having a set painting formula, I can just switch off and automatically paint away.

Part of the baggage train. Painting the bases for flocking. 

Charles I and two of his couriers/aides. Some detailing done as well as base colouring for flocking.

Langley, commander of one of the Royalist wings. Some detailing work done and shade washing.

Rupert and his bodyguard. Base painting in preparation for flocking. Washing also done.

Two carts belonging to the baggage train. Secured wheels. A coat of wash applied after some correction and detailing done. Basing required. 

A light cavalry unit. ID unknown at the moment. Wash applied first-up.

Maurice and his bodyguards in early preliminary painting mode. Just a dark wash applied for now. Will continue tomorrow. 

Memo to self: seriously needing some new paint brush sets.

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A Paper Plan?

Going the paper army route for now. Got enough source material and ruleset to create a SYW paper army and refight the battle of Leuthen. Bringing it all together will be the fun part. 

Another likely paper army project will be specific factions of the Thirty Years War. In particular, I'm going with the Swedish first-up. But for now I am simply speculating and projecting. Still a whole lot of other uncompleted bucket list left.

April Digest #1

Online PC Games: Rapterra (the demo version)

Interesting game. Recommended by Flambass. Played the demo. Survived the three waves; the last one was massive compared to the first two, over six hundred dinos coming from all directions. Knowing where the three waves would arrive from though helped with the defensive preparations. Built my defensive walls in layers so the dinos would waste their attacks on them while I waited my opportunity to counterattack. It's an age-old tactic that, for me at least, worked really well. The poor critters never really stood a chance.  

Is it worth getting the game when it releases later this month? Probably. At least it ain't zombies.

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Played it again. Still fun. New dinos. Updates. Still awaiting full game release.

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World of Warships

Interesting session from today. Playing my 16 point captains, and had some interesting results early on including this 7-kill game. Few live players; those that existed seemed to die early leaving me to try and survive. Sad part though was that only myself and BOT scored kills in this game. Apathy or indifference seems prevalent in this game these days.

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Latest devblog has come out so I hear. Again, new ships are in the offing. And new events. Am I excited? No. Do I care? Not really. Example: the latest ship being offered, the Aberdeen, has a new mission where there are TWELVE mission tasks. Usually it's a lot less. Rewards are twelve individual crates (one per mission task) with the final reward the premium version of the same crate. All for a chance at the Aberdeen. 

Common Missions have always been linked to your playing on the server; you are therefore linked to this event whether you want to be involved or not. 

Of course, you can also jump into the Armoury, and buy loads of crates for the same chance at the prize. Cost you doubloons. Or cash. Is it worth it? Up to you, but I am not interested. Focus remains upskilling my set list of captains to 21 points. 

And reaching my set goal of ships; currently thirty shy. 

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Even though it's Co-Op and PvE, it makes you wonder why you bother at times. On the Strait map, spawned in the south west corner, enemy were in the south east corner. Axis of advance is East-West. Usual stuff. Ended up myself and one other player who was racing south from up north where there were still four active enemies. Didn't think too much at the time as I was trying to deal to the enemies in my sector. Managed to win out by which time I noticed the other had now joined me. Or so I thought. Thought it was going for the enemy carrier to our immediate east, and left it to it. Because the enemies from up north were now racing south to take us on I turned around to deal to their threat. Dealt to three of them when I noticed my compadre was shying away from taking on the carrier even though he had closed distance enough to launch torps (he was in a DD) while the enemy carrier had beached itself. The last enemy I had to face was a Laudon. Figured I had time so I turned away to help my comrade out who had by now retreated a safe distance from the enemy carrier. I was puzzled as to why it hadn't taken out the carrier. Took me three salvoes of gunfire to finish off the carrier. Ally was still alive so I turned back to take on the Laudon. Easily done. When I turned back however, I saw my teammate had died from the now sunken carrier rocket planes. I just shook my head in stunned surprise. After a few expletives, I moved on and joined a new game. 

This sort of behavious is now common daily. Can be discouraging sometimes.

The Heart of Oak (Fortitude Marathon) missions are only interesting from the viewpoint that each mission task generally dictates what specific ship/ship type to play. For example, one mission task may require scoring 2.5 million Potential Damage hits. Obvious choice therefore is play a ship that will be a shellfire magnet, one that can take the focus fire damage without dying too quickly. A cruiser with fast-firing guns and smoke or a battleship with a strong health pool and strong secondaries such as a brawler are ideal candidates. 

In another mission task requiring spotting quotas, playing a fast scout ship like a DD makes perfect sense. 

Base XP missions require playing a specific battle mode instead of a certain ship/ship type. Asymmetrics is well suited for this. That's if you don't want to play either Randoms or Ranked. Operations is also good for this but I prefer Asymmetrics.

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Saw news on the big changes coming to the game the other night. SLM was reviewing a video presentation from WG that briefly covered their move from Belarus to their new home in Belgrade and explained the loss of their original staff because of the relocation, and subsequent refounding of their company in their new business home. But the presentation interestingly covered the new changes several of which are supposedly huge such as heals for mid-tier cruisers.

To be honest, if they follow through on their claims then well done to them. I will still play the game regardless so they haven't lost me completely. 

New tech tree lines are coming such as French subs and Pan-American cruisers. Some changes to matchmaking such as making less unbalanced whenever double uptiered. Incorporating existing external mods into the game. New map. More changes to the visuals (if they're not already fantastic - their art department remains top tier for quality and consistency). Improved additions to Operations. Changes to Battle Pass. Return of Dockyard event after a short absence (huh?). And the continuation of extended events like the 10 year anniversary that proved very popular. Like the Bismarck '41 event. And the return of the cards event (Dunkirk evacuation event of last year). 

Overall, so some YT reviewers are pointing out, WG seem to be actually listening to its player base. And it does sound intriguing. Only time will tell how much so.

PS: Changes to Unique commanders concerning activating their talents. Didn't read it too closely so can't comment.

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Dismissed enough captains today and tonight (two separate sessions) to obtain enough ECXP to upskill a commander to 21 points. Upskilled my Elbing captain. 

Having fun playing the Dutch Tier X premium cruiser Prins van Oranje at the moment. It has some decent guns too. Put my Gouden Leeuw commander on him to grind. In the future I will most likely place Conrad Helfrich on the Oranje and grind him as his Unique skills should suit this type of cruiser. But if I should ever earn enough steel to grab the Willem de Eerste I will go that route. 

My commander upskill list is now no lower than 17 points. A couple are at 18 points and one is at 19 point.  

Playing ships like Viribus Unitis or Oklahoma is interesting in that you know they're old and slow as heck but they do smack big time. Especially one-shotting unwary cruisers exposing broadsides. Contrast that to playing more modern ships like Prinz E. Frederich and Poltava that often prove frustrating when they're bow-in or angled; they don't seem to have as much punch as the former two.

Siroco is an interesting DD. No smoke but the main battery reload booster is a fair enough trade-off. Not as potent as her higher-tiered sisters (Marceau and Kleber) but you can see the potential. Able to dodge incoming torps with relative ease. 

Flint is an excellent substitute to the more noted Atlanta. Lots of dakka for farming. Smoke, hydro, torps. High arcing trajectories however (like the Atlanta). Easily a favourite of mine at the moment while doing the grind. This, and the Narai. Still, they're cruisers, and cruisers are made of "explodium" as someone pointed out recently, so caution is always uppermost when confronting superior odds out in the open.

Example: On the Shatter map, in the PvO I spawned on the left in the south with a Pommern. We both angled in as we sailed to the cap making for the right side. Anyway, I paused at an island in front of the cap namely to protect myself from the two enemy ships sailing towards us - a Pommern and a Neptune. While I targeted the enemy Neptune who was skirting around a large island, my teammate sailed boldly into the cap circle to deal to the enemy Pommern. Or so I thought. Teammate unfortunately died as his enemy sunk him with torps. Teammate did loose off torps that struck, but not enough to sink the enemy.

Meanwhile I had managed to sink the Neptune and was now left with a simple decision - stay and fight the Pommern, a renowned brawler with fiersome secondaries, or flee. 

I hightailed it out of there while being focus fired both by the Pommern and enemy Buffalo and Yodo who were capturing in the centre cap. Quickly checked the map to see one teammate still hanging in there in the middle but he was obviously outnumbered four to one. 

My "tactical withdrawal" earned me respite as the Pommern sailed around an island. This break allowed me to continue sailing for the centre cap where I citadelled the Buffalo twice forcing it to seek cover behind an island. But I managed to sink a low-health Yodo who presented broadside. My twelve guns spoke forcefully. 

But things were looking dire as the enemy sank the lone friendly as well as capped the middle. An enemy Libertad on less than half health suddenly appeared to my front. Could not resist giving it some grief but couldn't quite finish him off as it too sailed behind island cover in time.

Meantime, the enemy Pommern re-emerged from around the island but was too slow to take me on as I now sailed toward the captured middle cap using islands to block any deadly gunfire. Aided by the two remaining teammates, a Daring and a Moskva, we retook the middle cap and then dealt to the remaining enemy ships, one by one.  

The Prins van Oranje performed really well in this game, so I thought. I didn't waste my health by charging straight in, opting instead to use as much island cover as much as possible (easy to do on the Shatter map). I took my opportunities when they presented themselves, and I profited from them. I can easily say the ship is not a frustrating experience, more good than bad. 

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Technical issues meant a short and disrupted session today. Becoming more and more frequent. In the past, disconnection was usually connected to WG notifying I can create a new account which is odd because I join the game through Steam. Anyway, I eventually logged out after getting tired of the disconnection, and returned after a short break in order to finish the daily loot coal crates. And complete a couple of Heart of Oak crates mission tasks.

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Seven Years War

A period I have an abiding interest in albeit without ever really committing to it as with other periods. My involvement include several false starts. Still haven't managed to finish my Battle of Hastenbeck project which I began years ago. Got part of the Anglo-Hanoverian list assembled which amounts to around one-third. Don't know when, or if, I'll ever complete the OOB listing. 

Tonight however I watched an engaging battleground visit and account of the Battle of Leuthen (Dec 1757) where Frederick the Great defeated an Austrian army of superior number. Really got me interested enough to want to drag out my SYW collection and stare at it longingly. Watching the battle review with actual location shots seriously impressed me enough to subscribe. Wondered how the Prussians were able to outflank the Austrians so easily, and the dude showed. What was amazing though was the explanation that the battleground fought upon was the training grounds of the Prussian army. What a stroke of luck by Freddie. 

Tempted to pull out my copy of Might and Reason by Sam Mustafa and read it through again. Keen to find other SYW rulesets I can use and modify for solo wargaming use.

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