Strategy & Tactics Magazine # 287

 

No doubt most of us started off playing board games. I was no exception.  My dad was bitten hard by the Avalon Hill wargaming bug in the late '50's.  Many is the time I was drafted for duty as cannon fodder in Tactics II when I would have rather been outdoors playing baseball.  But some of Dad's enthusiams eventually rubbed off on me. 

Up until the last few years, I continued the occasional board game purchase when I really have no opponents or can't muster the enthusiasm to actually set things up and have a go at playing a two-player game in ad hoc solitaire fashion.  For instance, I have a beautiful game Age of Conan with all the pieces still in plastic bags.  That was about the last as I wised up and stopped buying games that I have little probability of actually playing. But, this upcoming issue of S&T has really piqued my interest. 

Why ? Solitiare !  This will be S&T's second version some may recall the old Flight of the Goeben in S&T #21. It was subsequently released as an SPI board game in 1970.  This new game looks quite enticing:

The thought of being able to have another go at the enthralling story of the Goeben in solitaire mode makes it look as if I'll have to break my self-imposed ban on buying more board games. Also there could be some WW1 Mediterranean campaign potential in this map, as well as the possibility of playing out the battles with ship models.

Still plugging away at the Deetail knights. I took a short vacation this earlier this week so painting time has been a bit limited.

Tradition Knights - 54mm

It's past time to put something new up here. I finished the paper model T-72 but haven't gotten around to  photographing it yet. I wanted to make a few outdoor shots but it's been pretty soggy out there for the last week or so.  Anyway, as no doubt blog followers here are probably used to the abrupt changes in subject matter, on to something completely different.

I enjoy painting 54mm knights.  Over the years, I've collected them off and on and probably have enough to start thinking about some 54mm skirmish gaming with them. Rules recommendations, anyone ?  They are mostly plastic but also some metal figures are in the mix.  These Tradition kits are nice and less expensive than most. The foot knights are rather static, hence not so good for gaming purposes, but I do like this one.  I've been experimenting with polishing the metal with steel wool and leaving it unpainted.

The mounted figures look to me to be more appealing on account of their more animated poses.  Here's Thomas de Beauchamp, the Earl of Warwick. The Atelier Interactive acrylic paints work nicely on these, the color is definitely more vibrant than the wargames paints. The Tradition figures make for an easy paint job on account of the raised heraldry. 

Tradition's painting guide

I'm working on repainting some Britains Deetail knights at the moment and should have pictures before long, as well as of the T-72.