Joy Division is a film that I stumbled across. Another site made reference to the combat scenes and equally the cold war spy thriller aspect intrigued me.
The story is told via flashbacks, so is somewhat disjointed and I need to watch it again to fully understand some of the spy elements and the betrayal/release scene. Late war German troops with Stg 44 assault rifles, Hitler Youth with Mp40's.
There is a fan tribute here that will give you a taste...
My used copy cost me £2.98 and at that price a bargain I feel.
Up until now I'd sorted my scenery - especially what I term "scatter" scenery into four rough periods:
a) Ancients, Dark Age and Medieval - when pretty much everything was expensive and had some value. (There was a separate box for Samurai stuff because of the cultural differences).
b) Pre Industrial - the era from the English Civil wars through to the Napoleonic wars. Some items have become substantially cheaper than in the earlier period but the full benefit of the industrial revolution and water and steam power and machines has yet to be felt.
c) Industrial - which loosely was when the benefits of the industrial revolution were felt by the people at large.
d) Science Fiction - the realm of the future and also the oddities like the Carnivorous plants etc.
Force on Force - and I now realise Post Apocalyptic - pushed things into a fifth grouping - namely modern. Look at the following items...
The sofa is probably good for the Victorian era onwards (so fits into Industrial) as do the Mattresses since the circular bits represent coil springs. "Wheelie Bin" - I would say 1990's onwards, although research on Wikepedia would put it at 1970 onwards in Western Europe...
1950's onwards. (The beer kegs came out of a model railway bargain bin - OK, so at OO/HO scale then a little tiny for 28mm but given that beer kegs come in all sorts of sizes, then perfectly acceptable).
So, I think we are going to have a new category, probably "Modern Era".
I see the Sofa as a hotel reject, with springs coming through the covers and now found outside a shanty hut having been "rescued" from the disposal lorry. As one of the Gripping Beast boys said, what it really needs is a couple of children sitting on it who are playing.
Whilst on Force on Force I've been looking at cheap scenery....
All three vehicles came from Poundland, and there's a few others already in the Force on Force Box. The Humvee is 5mm too long for true 1/56tj scale on my calculations. The Tractor - admittedly large although with a small seat I see as one of the new generation of "super tractors" - probably supplied by a kindly meaning but ill informed church/charity given African standards of maintenance and the cost of spare parts.
Having just done a bit of surfing then might be time to go back and see if I can get a couple more of hte minibuses for use as Taxis with a respray...
I’ve been shopping on books as
they say, reading and watching videos..
Firstly Osprey
apparently re-released some older titles, including Russia’s War in Afghanistan
(1986).It is clear from the text
that this was written whilst the war was ongoing (Russia withdrew in February
1989) and information (as is probably the case with anything involving the
modern Russian military) is somewhat patchy.From a modelling viewpoint then enough to paint
Russian troops.
The other Osprey to
drop though my letter box this month is Russian Security and Paramilitary Forces
since 1991.I ordered this
in advance of publication so it has only been out for a week or so, but it
looks like a good one on a first glance through.
The Book Depository
had abit of a sale (around 30-35%
off) Force on Force titles and I took the opportunity to get a couple more of
the expansions:
Day of the Rangers –
the cattle raid scenario in this is what I played at a convention that got me
first interested in Force on Force as a set of rules, whilst the movie Black
Hawk Down has long since been a favourite.
The other was Enduring
Freedom – The war in Afghanistan.
Of the others that
leaves the following which are of little interest except possibly the Vietnam
book, which having had the chance to look through and hear reviews on may be the
weakest of the various books:
Ambush Valley -
Vietnam –
Road to Bagdhad – Iraq
2003
Fallujah – Iraq 2004
Cold War gone Hot –
Mid 1980’s Cold War
I've only had the books a couple of days but have already been through Day of the Rangers listing the scenarios and figures needed. Often this comes down to a US Platoon of assorted composition but say 30-40 figures and lots and lots of Somalis, especially with the random Somali reinforcements rule. I think this may be a somewhat longer term project than I first thought, probably to provide some variety on the painting desk.
Which brings me to some videos I ended up watching....
Part 1 (of 3) sets the background to the French in Mali in 2013 and the "live action footage" starts at around 2 minute 30 seconds. All three parts are worth watching I felt and some of the scenes like the Malian soldiers relaxing and then in combat bring home that there - in the African context - then mixed camouflage uniforms and equipment are very much the order of the day.
And then this - Danish Soldiers fighting the Taliban...
Gutsy stuff to be running anywhere when there are bullets flying around, and the sound of the Squad Assault weapon opening up at 2 minutes in... Not hard to see why the Germans regarded the rest of the squad as ammunition carriers for the MG42.
Lastly, another book. £1 from our local Poundland (where everything is £1) - where the author brings home the reality of TOE lists which we gamers are so concerned with - he is charged with forming a platoon from scratch which never seems to be fully up to strength and gets the wanted and unwanted, never seems to have enough equipment to fully go round and ends up with some very grubby jobs..
