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! :)

Grey dicetray

I was not completely happy with my first dicetray so

I made another upgraded version eventhough making

the first was a big step forward in comparison having

none. This one is grey and heavy but also use the 

free-space inside to store dices and other things.

The core is made of chipboard with a grey paint.

The outer measurements are 240x330x100mm.

The red plastic is left overs from a package and is very

good to soften when rolling the dices and gives a 

good feeling! :) 

Dicetray in oak

 One very common "problem" playing tabletop-games or by all

means any game using dices are that they can slip away under

furniture or simply getting lost.

To prevent this I have made a very simple dice-tray made

of oak-veneer and a core of mdf.

The dice-tray measure 100mm high, 270mm wide and 220mm deep.

When finished I got second thoughts about the vulnerable

corners and I will probably add 4 L-shaped corners made of

pine. If I go for clear-coat on these corners or White is

not decided. What is not visible on the Pictures are that I

have also added selfadhesive felt under the tray for a more

smooth feeling but also to shelter my tables when playing

games.

Japanese mortars and soviets

 On the web-page Flames of war - Sweden I stumbled over

some nice soviet bits and figures together with a medium

japanes 86/94mm mortar platoon(4) and hard-hitting 160mm 

soviet mortar (4 pcs, platoon).

In the buy I also got some 76mm soviet zis-artillery

and a single T-70 light and fast tank.

Some usable soviet gun-service and tank-riders together

with infantry equipped with ppsh-41.

At first I hoped to use the artillery to my finnish

force as conquered goods but it was not allowed so it

will be a addition to my Soviet partisans instead.

My japanese force will be much more deadly with the

mortars and I already have some light anti-tank-artillery

to give extra support.

The soviet 120mm will be spot on to be used in late-war

scenarios. All models in the 15mm-scale for the game

Flames of war.

Nebelwerfers and softskins

 This will be my first VERY delayed report 2024 about my hobby.

Because of my very hectic life with work and family my

hobby is now limited to collect models and plan future

projects. This report is first about buying some very 

useful mobile rocketlaunchers with gunservice. 

The german WW2-battery of 4 models show the very power-

ful 15cm Panzerwerfer 42 auf Sf (SdKfz 4/1). 

They combine both strength and mobility and will be very 

useful on the gaming-table.

Next up is heavy german transport Sd Kfz 7 (8-ton) tractor

that was used during the war to tow 88mm-guns and

15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 18. Very useful also to recover

tanks that were broken at the front.

I also bought some german softskins: a kubelwagen-jeep and

two Horch 180 type 1a for transporting light artillery and

personel.

Finally I also bought 3 more lend-lease US M3-halftracks

to move my soviet infantry and artillery.

Not to forget I bought US tankers that will be converted

and bits in metal to repair some of my fragile 3d-printed

models in resin. All in the 15mm-scale to the game Flames

of war.

Trenches and scenery 15mm

New within carpentry and interior design and top of 

this all to do with the family and everyday life has limited

my hobby-time a great deal, nevertheless in my mind I am

always thinking creative. :)

Last week my friend Patrick sent me a package with soft

models made to resemble trenches in the 15mm-scale.

They look very nice but I will need a lot of them in my

future scenarios. To make more I will probably make some

additional strongholds and when finished I will buy some

rubber to make moulds of my own.Making own moulds has

been a goal for a long time and now I got the final push.

I already have some rubber in a package that I bought 2012 

but I am not sure if this still can be used!?

I also got a very nice barn that is a gift from my friend.

Patrick only use models and figures in the 20mm-scale and

then the barn will not fit but for me it is happy days.

Nice details and also a good paintjob. Thankyou very much

Patrick. :)

A very nice package

A couple of weeks ago a very nice package arrived to

my doorstep in the village were I live.

I talked to my friend Mikael that one of my 3d-printed

finnish Stugs hade broken its cannon-barrel due to bad

handling by the postal-office and wanted to help

sending me two new stug-barrels but he also added

some "extras". The package was filled with goodies. :)

I opened and found a company of Bretonnians knights

to WHFB. Some needs some fixing but no big thing.

I also found furniture to be used together with RPG

and traditional miniature-gaming and scenery.

All the finds above will be painted before gaming!

Last but not least some extra tuft for the basing.

In my next report I will also write about to sets of WW2-

15mm-figures that Mikael also sent me.

I finish this report with a big thankyou very much Mikael!

To be continued!

Hetzer, T-26, SU-122, and SU-76i

 One model that was missing in my collection to

play late WW2 was the legendary german tank

Hetzer. Along the STUG III, Ferdinand the Hetzer

was among the top 3-tanks that was a very feared

opponent on the battlefield.

One of these models will be modyfied with a 

open hatch and a tank-commander.

Next is a small but famous tank from the soviets,

T-26. This tank was first used against the finns

during the winter-war but reused when conquered.

I have 3d-printed 3 of each to be used by both sides.

The third model is the SU-122 that was very useful

on the battlefield as a bunkerbuster or close-support

to the infantry.

Last but not least is the SU-76i. This model is to

be used together with 2 other models as a complete

unit. The SU-76i is a modified german panzer III

with a superstructure and a russian gun used by

the soviets against their enemies.

Sad but true the cannon was very fragile and broken

during the delivery but no problem for me and I will

use a metal-thread into a drilled hole for replacement.

All model is printed by ADM/Madabout3d that I will

send a big thankyou for very good service.