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.

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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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