I am back

Hello all!
Time has passed for a long time since I was active on this blog but it has been for a very good reason.

In October 2024 I worked very hard both at work and in private and my body crashed...

I got herniated disc between 6-7 and this affected very much in my daily life. The nerves were 

not functioning properly because the bones grinded them apart because the substance between was 

simply not there anymore. My right hand was hurting and the two longest fingers where numb,

the neck, back and right arm was in constant pain. I couldn´t work or sit by a computer nor sleep and

only after a lot of medicine the situation improved slightly.

In August 2025 I was operated and the surgeon was very good. Only thing he warned me about was

that because of the cut is made in my frontal neck under my chin it could affect my speech and give

me a "whiskey-voice" but I told him that if the rest could be cured it was no problem and   my wife

also like the music of Barry White. :)

On the x-ray-pictures you can see the device that is now at place and firmly attached to the bones using

screws ( I feel a tight bond to the monster of  Frankenstein) :)

I am very greatful for the operation and life is getting better and better. I am also looking forward

publish new reports about my hobby.

Flames of war - Halmstad game-tournament, May 2024

Early May this year I attended to one of the bigger and nicer

events in my opinion, Flames of war - game tournament!

The tournament was situated in a very nice building in the

center of Halmstad near the Nissan-river.

The house was built in 1912 and has the very best character

in my taste (architectural details, spacious and big windows

and not least parquet floors made of solid oak.

On top of all of this written above the persons that organized

the tournament were all very inviting and I felt more than 

welcome as a newbie-player from the countryside. :) 

At arrival we was briefed about the rules and also how

to play and which person to face in the game.

The tournament also handed out prices to the winners of

the game but also i the class, best painted models/figures.

Very nice tournament that will be held once again in 

august this year at same location.

For more information visit "Flames of war Sweden" on

Facebook. 

Next report will be published about my two games at this

tournament. To be continued!

  

Some 1:32 plastic for my son

On  a secondhand-market online I found a package

of medieval knights, cowboys and indians and Airfix

US infantry(WW2) and British 8th army(WW2).

My son that is only 4 years old needed som more

figures to play with and I thought that this could be

a nice addition to his first "buy" of silver-knights and

riders. All figures are in the 1:32-scale.

This is a nostalgia-report and I remember my first 

buy myself when my father bought med german

and russian infantry on bulk (cheap Airfix-copies

made in Hong kong).These figures was in 1:72-

scale and not so pretty but I played with them as much

as I could in this age. When I got those figures I also

remember that all military-related toys in Sweden were

forbidden to buy (1970-ies). A lot of memories come 

back to me when I watch these pictures and I hope that 

it also gives you outthere som memories also. :)

Civilization 1 - Nostalgia find

 Two weeks ago I was about to make maintenance-service on of our cars and

drove to a nearby village about 30km away from our home.

Because my wife has the other car I was stuck in this village until the

service was done but this was certainly not a problem because the sun

was shining and a break in the hectic everyday-life was more than welcome.

I started the break with a swedish fika and after that I Went for a walk

in the city-center and visited the local second-hand-shop runned by the

Church. The second-hand-shop was one of the largest Iever visited and

in 3 floors. I didn´t have any expectations and was very happy when I

found the computer-game Civilization 1 in original package from the

1980-ies. It was in good condition and nothing was missing and the price

was even better, 4 Euros! (on the internet I have found prices from 100 and

even 400 Euros for this game but the most expensive are also sealed)

The only backside is that this game is designated for Mac but nevertheless

I am very happy with this find because in my childhood I really loved this

game.

The game for those that don´t know is a turnbased game that gives you the

role of simulating a king or a ruler of a growing country/civilization

and it involves science, economy, culture, building and military.

I like this games very much because it is never monotonous and eventhough

the graphics are very basic and never live up to todays standards I also

like the artistic design.

You start with a black map and your first units explore and then the map

reveal land,islands, rivers and oceans.

In my growing Collection I have Civ 1-5 but also Test of time(not on picture).

The last Civilization 6 and don´t know that much about but I will for sure

buy me a copy of this in the future.

Last but least on my visit to the shop I bought a book about calligraphy

and one book about how to read drawings.

I also found another computergame named Napoleon - total war, two tin-soldiers

and a BIG medieval siege-tower. The tower is not in the right scale for 28mm

but will be used in big fantasy-battles anyway. :)

To share my joy of this/these finds I give you a:"what´s in the box".

Enjoy! :)

Smart and cheap storage for miniatures - updated

During this summer my collection of miniatures 

and models has been growing even more since

I posted my last report about how to store these:

https://huggochslagsmart-and-cheap-miniature-storage.html

I have found out that IKEA sell "big" cardboard boxes

that has the measurements inside to perfect fit

my homemade cheap green cardboard-trays.

The IKEA-box is named Pappis and cost about

2 Euros each. Very good storage indeed and 

allows me to be able to pile my green-cardboard-

trays 3 layers high. To lift my piled green card-

trays easy I use A3-sheets of paper but I will

probably ugrade these to permanent laces or

small strings that are firmly attached underneath.

This solution will be a very good way to store all

of my miniatures and models both 15mm and 28mm.

Napoleon at war - The 100 days

A small dream of mine has been to start playing big battles 

on the gaming table in the Napoleonic era.

I took the final step when my friend Stephen introduced me 

to the tabletop-game : Napoleon at war - 

The hundred days, from exile to Waterloo.

Thankyou very much Stephen for the introduction!

The game-developer is Man at War Miniatures Games.

The originally game-developer has sold all their copyright to this 

Swiss company: 

https://www.ciboslittledudes.com/collections/books-miscelanea

I like both the look of the game and the game-engine and is easy 

to get an overview how to play and to build up an army.

In the rule-book there are army-lists for the french, british and

preussians but I have also managed to get hold on extra lists 

describing austrians and swedes.

Some play large games using metal-figures but I couldn´t resist 

two large and very cheap bargains of plastic soldiers in the 

scale 1/72 (20mm).

These two collections cover infantry(a lot), artillery and cavalry 

and belongs to France, Britain/Scotland, Preussia, Austria and 

Russia.

All miniatures are injected plastic and fairly soft and maybe you 

think that this is not a bargain at all but I got an advise from my 

friend Philip to make a mix of pva and paint to strengthen the 

details that point out.

I will write more about my big collection of Napoleonic-figures in 

my future reports. I will also write more about how to make these 

figures more durable after getting the "lick of paint".

The pictures showing figures are all from the games own range in 

18mm metal.

Vive la République, vive la France! :)