3rd Man in the Kebab House

Linda: "Well, I guess it's getting late. Thank you for such a wonderful evening".

John: "Yes, I enjoyed myself too.... maybe....no, you're right, I have to be available for ops tomorrow...."

Linda: "Ops?"

John:  Leaning forward to finish his drink, responding nonchalantly. "Operation".

Linda: "I, I thought you were an Estate Agent, did I get that wrong? Are you telling me you are some kind of doctor?"

John: Sitting back heavily in his seat and let's out a sigh. No, I....well I guess the cat's out of the bag. I shouldn't really say. Official Secrets and all that....

Linda: "Say what?"

John: "I was warned about this. In the training. Beautiful woman. Lovely evening. Alcohol. But I've had such a great time and you, well, are such a great reason to be alive..... the Kebab House.

Linda: "What about it? Were you involved"

John: Hangs head. "It was rough. God I need to talk to someone. Look this is completely confidential I shouldn't be telling you this and you must promise that you don't tell anyone. But I really need to talk about it with someone who can understand".

Linda: "Yes, Yes...."

John: "My name is not really John. It's a cover. My real name is Simon. I am in the Territorial SAS and well, with the regulars being so stretched with the war in Wales I am called on to do my bit".

Linda: Gasp "Simon"

John/Simon: "We were called in to do the Kebab House job. Did you see it on the Telly? (she nods),The guys in black gear and masks (nods again).  I was the 3rd man in the Kebab House. Maybe you saw me? Flashlight on my right hip. It's my trademark".

Linda: "Oh my God! I didn't realise. Yes. Yes I remember seeing you. My poor thing...... you were so brave. Oh it must have been horrible. Look Simon, perhaps, if you want to and you won't get into trouble, I'll get us a nightcap......"

More Conversions.....

As I had the mobile handy, some of last weekend's conversions still on the workbench. First, my Para commanders. The figure I'm holding is a Britannia BAOR platoon leader with head replaced  from a spare Liberation mini and given a hood from Green Stuff. The two commanders on the cutting mat are both Liberation helmet command with heads nicked from beret toting riflemen.

Next up, the Taff Guards GPMG conversion on an MJ Figures Tom. The GPMG came from a Britannia half figure that's included with their open top FV432.

Update: Unfortunately, they are part of a large number of figures sent to Mark Hickman in Dorset to be painted which were never returned.

I cut off the GPMG at the wrists of the doner figure, leaving the hands holding the weapon. Then cut the SLR off the MJ recipient at the wrists, leaving the butt tucked into the arm. The dry run produced an almost perfect fit. Once glued, I applied a 'sleeve' of Green Stuff to hide the join of the GPMG breech and new butt. Now build up the cuff and forearm of the left arm. Done! Easy way to fill a gap in the TOE and create a nicely dramatic figure to boot.

Cheers
Mark
 

Something Wicked This Way Comes

OK, I admit.... I took out the Elheim Patrolling Infantry Section with every intention of lopping their heads off.  Only, I find myself quite absent mindedly placing them into arrowhead formation on the dining table. And in that moment an image is conjured up of a modern production of Shakespeare, set in 1979. Well if they can do it to Coriolanus...

Result, I decided to re-role my remaining CP Models (TQD Castings) 1/72 British Army Falklands War SAS into Shakespearean military rebels with new heads taken from various Liberation Miniatures.

And then to Platoon 20. Here's 'Big Man', a serious Glaswegian player for the coming 'Scottish Play'. Which reminds me to order the figs tonight. His original head, wearing glasses, is now on the advancing SLR armed civvie in the background.

Back to the production line.....

Cheers
Mark

Cracking On!

 

 The Maroon Machine

Wargaming is a tonic for the soul. Official! This has been one of my most productive weekends this year if not more, and as a consequence I feel relaxed and ready to take on the office again come Monday morning (in about 4 1/2 hours time now).

The Fun Stuff:

Cleaned, prepped and based 16 Welsh Guards, largely based on MJ Figures but with a couple of ex-Hotspur thrown in for command. The Guards include a number of conversions to British Army cold weather caps taken from ex-Hotspur Operation Corporate figs. One private underwent a delicate conversion to a GPMG gunner, using the GPMG surgically prised from a half figure supplied with Britannia Miniatures open back FV432.

I really do like these MJ Figures Falkland War Toms. I can't make up my mind whether my second force of Paras (well, technically my fourth), should be made up from MJ or continue with Rolf's square jawed heroes?

I'm keeping the beret heads from the Welsh Guard conversions above (with more in the pipeline) to replace the helmets on a pack of Elheim's Cold War British Army on Patrol . Might even do a like for like swap on some MJ Toms, giving them helmets to pad out the Taff Guards when required.

FYI, I found that the helmets taken from spare Britannia BAOR figures are cracking when added to both MJ Figures and ex-Hotspur Operation Corporate figures. Will be interesting to see if the helmets from Elheim's Cold War Brits will look as good.

Cleaned a pack worth each of ex-Hotspur Operation Corporate SAS/SBS and M&AWC. The head on the kneeling SBS figure with Sterling was shot, so I cut that off and placed him in the conversion bin till I have decied what to do with him. The standing figure firing a Sterling has all the hallmarks of being a great  personality figure for Welsh Guards hero of Abergavenny, Butch Squires. So he's been popped to one side as he really needs a woolly hat for authenticity.

Whilst talking of heroes, found a perfect match for Garri Wyn, from a CP Models Falklands era SAS 'command' figure with a new head from a suitable Platoon 20 figure. More on creating both these Winter of '79 Welsh heroes in due course.

Other M&AWC figures had their M16s removed in prep for replacing with SLRs to boost my ex-Hotspur Royal Marine platoon. 

Turned some Platoon 20 Male Armed Civilians into urban rebel command with berets and helmets which nicely contrast with their normal civilian urban attire.

Cut up some spare Britannia BAOR command figures and the best of Rolf's FalkcomH in helmets to give them berets taken from suitable Liberation Minis to create Para command figures. I know Rolf's brought out a pack but these are here in my hand right now.

The Interesting Stuff:

Established a core of 12 figure urban armed civvies during the week. All taken from Liberation Miniatures' URBMELT packs that I already owned, so I added a few helmets taken from other figures.

Created a five figure Union Steward cadre -  two AK47s, two SLR, Sterling - including two conversions. These are to enhance the core armed civvies when necessary. And finally a five figure Tooting Popular Front cadre (excluding Wolfie and Ken) mostly armed with SLRs. Well I felt Wolfie needed some dedicated minions.

That left some civvy bodies with AK47 left over. I have a crazy plan for these but that will have to wait till the Christmas Break. I've offered the remaining URBMELT figures to Maff, who has been working on a uniformed Clash Action Front cadre. 

 The Boring Stuff: 

Actually, not too boring. Watched Dan Snow on TV use satellite imagery to uncover the Roman Empire whilst prepping 20+ Britannia BAOR figures and cleaning up the bases on about the same number of Liberation Minis in berets. Just in case I go down the route of using them as Para reinforcements. Barely noticed the effort. From a prep point of view, Rolf's figures are a dream as far as cleaning up is concerned. To all intents and purposes free of mould seams and flash. All you need to do is file the base flat and you are done in most cases. 
  
And that was my weekend. Fully immersed in miniatures and Winter of '79. But not so much so that I couldn't enjoy being at home with H. too.


Cheers
Mark  

Out of the cold but still winter in '79

Free Taff Mobile Commando

Thought I'd share some good news from work as it helps to pay for the hobby. My principal project has been validated and signed off as a success by the Project Board. Phew! Built from the ground up, yourHR is a pay and personnel portal offering employee self service and online pay initially, but with plans to be truly transformational.

The culmination of two years standing behind my vision, five months of intense development, three months rollout and pilot. Tackling issues on a daily basis, of which the technical were the easiest to overcome. I'm delighted, proud, and not a little relieved after putting so much of myself into this project. In part because  it gave me a real focus for returning to work after my neurological episode last year. In part because I believed in what I was trying to accomplish. The pay-off for me is that it's given me my confidence back and has proved to my worst critic, myself, that I can do this stuff.

The 'Valley Boyos'

No respite for the wicked or chance for a breather yet. It doesn't just stop of course. I'm testing the next module due for rollout in January, whilst we are building two others and designing yet another. And I have to juggle this with all the reports that are generated by the end of a pilot and planning for the challenges ahead.

All that to say that I've not had the energy left to write creatively when I got home this week and probably not for another week to come. The upside is that I spent a couple of nights ratifying my Winter of '79 figures collection, which will allow me to get more done. I made that bold step to say to myself that just because I have a figure doesn't mean it has to be painted. Some will go into reserve, some syphoned off for Maff whilst the remainder of the also rans will be relegated to eBay.

Well, not quite all the also rans. I've been busy converting figures too. Once I was able to say to myself, right, these figures are keepers, some of the left overs became conversion fodder, losing heads and weapons to fill gaps, ring the changes or give that additional Winter of '79 character to other minis. It is strangely therapeutic lopping heads off and during the course of the day at work I find myself looking forward to doing more conversions when I get home.

 S&S Models Workbench!

click for larger picture

Another bit of good news this week is seeing what's coming from Shaun at S&S Models in the New Year. I have to laugh as only a week or so ago I was thinking that I was more or less at the end of laying out cash on Winter of '79 and now I have to build a bigger vehicle park! I mean, how can I resist that Mark I Ferret or those Scorpion/Scimitar CVR(T). You just can't have enough Scimitars in my book. Though I do have a soft spot for the Scorpion too. At last there's a mean looking FFR Land Rover in 20mm and I know that Maff will get that open back as a Taff gun wagon. Really looking forward to all of these. You can see more photos on Shaun's photobucket gallery here.

The Cold War will be big next year.

Cheers
Mark
  

Free Taff Teaser

We're upping the game at Winter of '79. Here are the Free Taff Fly-Halfs, part of a full 15 man team that joined my collection last week from another ardent Winter of '79 fan.

These miniatures are taken from Rolfie's Falklands era SAS types. Perfect as Boathouse Hooligans, Free Taff rebels or auxiliaries of any political colour, as long as it's DPM. Inspired, it's time to wield an X-acto  knife and convert a spare pack of unpainted SAS right from M16s to SLRs and Sterlings.

Cheers
Mark

Radio Check Over.....

Been plagued by Interweb woes all week. The head of steam we built up imploded out of sheer bloody frustration with Google.

Despite Google and a very intermittent broadband connection, several things have come together this week in unexpected synchronicity which will lead to major developments on the Winter of '79 front in the new year.  

Though plans to concentrate on my finishing my Winter of '79 collection throughout December and the Christmas/New Year break are suddenly at risk, as I've  stumbled upon Gary Cooper in For Whom the Bell Tolls showing on TV. You know, I haven't seen this film in 30 plus years and possibly because I can appreciate it more now, especially their attempts to make uniforms and tanks look as close as possible, it's reviving my Spanish Civil War mojo. But must focus. So semi-serious plans to do a Bastogne mini-campaign from the 16th Dec using Axis&Allies miniatures rules with our 15mm collection have bitten the dust too. Well, maybe. ;-) 

...Still plenty of time till the 16th!


And finally, a big Thank You to everyone who Liebster'ed  us here at Winter of 79. 

Cheers
Mark