DAK Sentries

I have finished these beauties from Artizan Designs. Afrika Korps sentries.

I really like them for two reasons. The first is the quality of the miniature which makes them very easy to paint and highlight and the second is the fact that they are not 'fully loaded' with every standard piece of equipment known to man.

I particularly like the guy with the roll neck jumper under his tunic and the holder of the Iron Cross. I painted them using three different base uniform colours to reflect the mismatched and battle worn clothing of these gritty experienced troops.   Really pleased with the way these have turned out.

Indian slang

Today I was dealing with a matter at work when I came across the Indian term of a 'Lakh' or in my case 6 Lakh.

I had no idea which currency Lakh related to or if indeed it was a currency at all. I am reasonably good on these and can normally spot the difference between a Dong and Canadian Tire Currency.

A spot of research on Wikipedia (as always cross checked with other more accurate  sources) shows that a Lakh is 'usually' deemed to equate to about 100,000. It seems that in days gone by it represented the  rvalue of the maximum number of Indian 100 Rupee notes that you could fit or stuff in, wait for it..... 'a small suitcase' !

That the size of the suitcase is not stated nor why someone thought it necessary to distinguish between a small or medium sized suitcase is now immaterial and I suppose that this is the Indian equivalent of a UK 'wad' of cash.

Nightmare weekend

I have spent most of this weekend in a car. Or more accurately I have spent most of the weekend driving it.

On Friday morning we drove down to Plymouth to collect Mk1 daughter, then returned on Saturday   only to collect Mk2 daughter and Boyfriend Ver2.2 before heading to Cambridge for a 50th Birthday party. This was made all the more entertaining by filling up at a petrol station whilst dressed as Tom Baker in full 1970's Dr Who garb.

My original choice of costume was to go as Frank'n'Furter, Tim Curry's character from the Rocky Horror Show but thus was vetoed not just by the family but also by Boyfriend Ver2.2 The fact that he is named Brad rather disappointed me to be honest.

A good night but we returned home to find we had acquired an additional shower in the kitchen. Cue the turning off of the mains water.  Have you seen the cost of plumbers over Bank Holidays? We can wait until tomorrow for Bob the Builder to turn up, I went in early and deloused at work

On Sunday night we were hit by Storm Katie. One of our trees lost a large limb which collapsed on the neighbours fence as well as destroying the washing line and posts. Not impressed.

Today we lost the Internet. The router has 'big problems' according to the nice lady from Bulgaria who handled the call on behalf of Sky. New router on the way, just the small issue of paying for it.
The fact that the weather was nice where she was did nothing to allay the 'Snapchat' withdrawal of my 13 year old.

On the upside I was therefore able to justify some retail therapy and bought some more figures without complaint from the War Dept. Furthermore my Osprey on Russian Crimean Uniforms arrive whilst I was at work.

Back to the paints tomorrow for the last DAK push

Khazi Game Photo's

Some close ups of the game in Khazi.

The market in full flow. Thugee's can be seen sizing up potential victims

This is the Post Office with Murkovs Ice Cream Van next to it. Due to an unfortunate typographical error and confusion with the I and the U on the QWERTY typewriter keyboard, the sign placed on the door by the Constabulary following the robbery indicates that ''This Post Office is Shit'

This is the local Police Station. Please note that detainees have ready access to a cell containing complimentary fresh air before they are brought into the station to confess their guilt when questioned.

Rick's Cafe American in close up. The Henri Mankini quartet can be seen pounding out some serious tunes. The sanitary facilities include the only flushing toilet in Khazi.

The death of Roberto Mankini. Hacked down for the sum of 3 Gold Coins

Unpleasantness at Khazi

The Khazi game was played at the end of last year. It was a preamble for some more 'normal' Bolt Action games set in the desert. The game was a mixture of role play and house rules, nothing sophisticated, just some fun.

Situation.

The  Axis and Allied commands are both seeking information from the occupants of the town that may help with the identification of the location of an ancient artifice. Both commands must enter the town and try and acquire as much information as they can. They have three agents each that can attempt to enter the town and interact with the locals.

The local Thugee's will interfere with any attempts by 'Foreigners' to enter the market. This may mean looting, robbing and murdering visitors.

Method

The Allies and Axis had randomly determined bags of gold with which they could use to bribe the locals. Success/failure was on the roll of a D6.  Each gold coin was an extra 'blip' on a dice roll. The number of coins used to bribe had to be declared before the dice were rolled.

Both sides were given prior notice and had the opportunity of being creative in 'making money' on the day. Innovation would be rewarded!

Each side had three agents who were sent in one at a time.

Rich as Head Thugee had to disrupt Allied and Axis activity, the more disruptive the better. He had some scripted characters and events and some activation requirements.

The Game

Craig sent a van full of Allied troops dressed up,as Germans. He pulled up behind the Post Office, climbed onto the roof, forced his way in and then proceeded to rob it. Clearly he had put the acquisition of gold coins ahead of intelligence.

He was lucky, complete surprise, no 1's and sack loads of Egyptian Pounds. His troops were dressed in German Uniforms so that if it all went wrong the Axis took the blame ! Sneaky.......

However I was not using Germans in the game at all. I sent in my Italians, the first of whom was Mr Murkov, purveyor of the finest Italian Ice Creams who drove straight to the Police Station in his ice cream van to apply for his All Day Refreshment Licence. Very fortunately the Chief of Police rolled a double 1 and not only was the licence granted to sell ice creams anywhere within the town, but the cost was only a dozen Tutti Frutti Specials for the local constabulary.

The game continued with both sides gaining intelligence with varying degrees of success although Rich did intervene and robbed Craig of some valuable coins.

Unknown to Craig the Post Office in Egypt was actually run by Italians so in kidnapping the postmaster he had unknowingly incapacitated my Secret Agent.

Tragedy struck when Rich's Thug was a little heavy handed in robbing the archaeologist 'Roberto Mankini' striking him a fatal blow.This tragic incident took place directly outside Rick's Place where Roberto's brother, Henri, was playing with his Jazz Band.

I can't say too much on the success or otherwise of the intelligence gathering as that is something that has yet to be played out, but a good night was had by all.

Khazi, your new holiday destination

Retrieved from an old railway station, here are some photographs of the less than picturesque destination of Khazi. A hotbed of vice and avarice, the role of Chief of Police at this market town attracts those who wish to line their pockets with huge wads of cash.

From a distance and viewed through the (currently) unpolluted feature known locally as 'The Pond, Khazi looks like a desert travellers ideal Oasis

The view of the main through road and market area. The Post Office is centre on the left, Ricks place is to the right and the Police Station is at the far end of the market. All the buildings were scratch built as were the market stalls

This is a side view of the town, the Oasis is to the right (off camera)

The Police Station is to the right, next to it is the Mosque

Another view of the town from the opposite side looking towards the Post Office

Flying Officer Lee

I like 'specials'. In particular I like them when they add something to the game. Not necessarily a character with special rules, more a special character. Rather like 'Welsh Dai' the shepherd who gets 'really annoyed' if one of his sheep is caught in the crossfire but otherwise plays no role and has no impact on a game,  vignettes and one off figures have the potential to add humour and chance.

Last year Warlord released a figure of Christopher Lee shortly after his death. Lee was a Flying  Officer in the Intelligence branch of the RAF and served in North Africa  (Including as a liaison officer with the SAS and the LRDG) and in Italy where he memorably served with the Ghurka Rifles at Monte Cassino.

There is lots of potential for scenarios here. Lee spoke Italian, French, Spanish and German fluently  as well as passable Swedish, Russian and Greek, meaning he could be placed in theatre almost anywhere in WW2 especially if you add in his known contact with the Ghurkas.

My FO Lee is now all painted and finished in Desert/Mediterranean kit. Just be cautious that he might turn into a Vampire if wounded!