Friday night Bill, Mark, Steve and I played a game of Rebels and Patriots. The American and British “rebels” had 4 green Militia Units, a Rogers Rangers small unit , 2 Mohawk Indian small units, and 3 small units of Mountain Men. The French “patriots” consisted of two units of marines, 4 units of Coureur des bois and a large fierce Huron Indian unit.

We drew cards for our Leaders character and “feared” which causes a defeated enemy unit to test with a -1. Mark, my French compatirot was a “Ballroom Darling’ who was qyuick on his feet allowing his units a +3 inches once per game. Steve drew a”Aggressive” allowing him to re-roll one failed to hit die. Bill? Well Bill drew the “Drunkard” card. which he unsuccessfully tries to live up to all game!

On the right French marines move through the wooded hills. On the left the American green troops plod slowly through the snow.

The French Marines.

Coureur des bois move unhindered through the forest on the French right. In four of the woods there was a cave, Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, no one rolled the six required to awaken a hibernating giant bear. Drats!

More Coureur des bois and the Huron raiding party move towards the small stream.

Some long range shooting was exchanged with only minor casualties. The French Coureur des bois’ marksmanship easily out ranged the Mohawk skirmishers, causing them to retreat into the forest.

A total of four “FUBARS” or double ones were rolled throughout the game, with units retreating, but no “Brown Trousers”!

Hurons and Coureur des bois cross the river. Steve’s Mountain men evaded the Indian charge taking two Huron casualities as they retired.

On the French left units were failing to activate on a regular basis whilst Bill’s Rangers were continue to roll FUBARS! The result was NOTHING completely nothing. As the stalemate continued for several turns.

Eventually the Mohawks inflicted several casualities on the Mark’s Coureur des bois.

Almost, and I say almost, the Marines have crossed the hill-line to descend into the river valley.

The Hurons charge, and the Mountain Men fail to evade causing them to retreat. The subsequent Huron pursuit wiped them out. The Hurons were now vulnerable located right in the middle of Steve,s forces with 36 shooting dice to come there way!

You guessed it they failed to activate and the Indians charge a first and then a second American militia unit wiping both out.

The Hurons collecting scalps!

The situation on the American right (Bill’s troops).

Coureur des bois and Bill’s Mohawks trade ineffective shots.

Still the Marines plod forward. must be all those “escargot” they have eaten!

With the American right flank defeated, Roger and his contingent retired back to their fort so that her could write up the tale of a glorious victory in his memoires.

A great game was had by all.

The highlight was me pouring the wine into Bill’s glass and being surprised as to why an almost full bottle was not emitting any wine. Much to everyone’s hilarity, including mine, I had failed to take out the cork! It seems that not only the bottle was almost “full”!

I already have three of these but you can never have enough snipers can you!

These three came in a blister pack for about tuppence halfpenny back in the day, and were great value in a 40k Catachan army!

“Catachan (pronounced Cat-a-CHAN) is the most infamous Imperial Death World in the galaxy. It is located in the Ultima Segmentum and is covered in dense jungle.

The planet’s entire ecosystem seems consciously hostile to all foreign life. Each and every element of the native flora and fauna of the planet represents a real danger to any Human.

Catachan’s only valuable resource is its people, who by virtue of being born on the harshest world in the Imperium are invariably tough and cunning. It is home to the renowned Catachan Jungle Fighters regiments of the Astra Militarum.” Warhammer 40k Fandom

Great to also have these finally completed.

Boy oh boy can this guy fight!

According to Warhammer 40k Wiki Nork Neddog “is a legend in his own lifetime, an Ogryn whose fighting abilities as an Astra Militarum soldier are almost as astonishing as mental development that can only be called precocious for one of his subspecies. Due to his unusual mental acuity, he quickly came to the attention of the Commissars of the Imperial Guard and Nork soon found himself placed on special duties. Nork’s reputation for loyalty is unsurpassed and his skills as an Ogryn Bodyguard have been in high demand by Imperial officers across the galaxy.

Though unquestioningly loyal, Nork is no leader. Throughout his long career, he has guarded officers with remarkable military acumen, tactical genius and an innate understanding of the Astra Militarum war machine. Unfortunately, none of this has ever rubbed off on the hulking Ogryn. His singular duty demands all of his attention, and has done for the entirety of his illustrious service. In those rare instances when the subject of his protection is grievously wounded and unable to maintain their command, allied soldiers may appeal to Nork for orders — after all, he is typically the most decorated and experienced Veteran in a battalion. Such requests, however, are in vain. In Nork’s simple mind, he still has but one duty, and he will continue to protect the fallen officer until he is told to do otherwise. Fortunately, having an unconscious officer draped across his shoulder does little to hamper Nork’s ability to butcher the enemy.

Nork has saved the lives of well over one hundred officers, earning himself a chest-full of medals in the process. Dozens of war zones that would have descended into anarchy have instead seen the banners of Imperial victory raised high thanks to Nork’s constant, selfless heroism. During the brief periods of peace between deployments, Nork experiences chronic discomfort whenever compelled to accompany his latest master to a social function or parade drill. However, such embarrassments only encourage Nork to fight all the harder when he returns to the field of battle, determined to prove his worth and bask in the satisfying glow of being the Imperial Guard’s finest bodyguard.” Warhammer 40k Wiki

Another versatile figure that just needed some touch ups to finish. Certainly adds some punch to a guard HQ.

Maenoferren put me on to this book in a post back on 26th of September. I ordered the book straight away and over the last week have been reading it every night. The research and piecing together of information long discarded as meaningless or contradictory has lead to some ground breaking understanding of Viking life and culture.

Dr Cat Jarman, pictured above, is a bioarchaeologist and field archaeologist specialising in the Viking Age, Viking women, and Rapa Nui (Easter Island). 

“She uses forensic techniques like isotope analysis, carbon dating, and DNA analysis on human remains to untangle the experiences of past people from broader historical narratives.

Her book “River Kings”, about connections between Vikings in the west and the Silk Roads, will be published by HarperCollins in 2020.

Dr Jarman is an Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol and the director of the archaeological research unit Munin Archaeology.

She completed her PhD in Archaeology at the University of Bristol in December 2017, on the late 9th century Viking Great Army at Repton in Derbyshire. Her thesis research combined complex bioarchaeological and forensic analyses of Viking Age burials, including a mass grave of almost 300 individuals, alongside new excavations of the Viking winter camp and Early Medieval Monastery. This research formed the basis of the 2019 documentary “Britain’s Viking Graveyard” (Channel 4) / “The Lost Viking Army” (PBS/Nova).

Dr Jarman has also researched and published on the diet, resource use, and origins of the ancient populations of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). She now directs ongoing excavations at the Anglo-Saxon and Viking site of Repton and a newly discovered Viking winter camp at nearby Foremark. She also directs excavations of a Viking Age Rus fortified settlement at Vypovzyv in Ukraine.

She is an experienced public speaker and communicator, recently speaking at TEDxBath on the topic of archaeology, migration, and forensics. She frequently shares her expertise in the media (recent examples include New Scientist, New York Times, and BBC radio) and on podcasts (e.g. HistoryHit with Dan Snow) and her research has been covered by print and online news outlets internationally.

Dr Jarman has contributed to numerous TV documentaries as both an on-screen expert and historical consultant, including programmes for the BBC, Channel 4, History, Discovery, and more.

Currently, she is a senior adviser on academic content development for the new museum of the Viking Age at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo. She is also a research fellow at the Cultural Heritage Institute, Royal Agricultural University. In addition, Cat was recently elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.” From her publishers website

Cat Jarman re-examined a small carnelian bead found in the site of Repton and uses this to trace the most likely journey it might of taken from its origin in India or Baghdad through the Viking world to England.

Previously we have studied the bones and teeth of Viking remains to assess diet, injuries and the like, but Jarman went one step further and has used DNA analysis, isotope analysis and radiocarbon dating of these finds to show a far greater migration pattern than we had thought previously.

Using the Isotope analysis of the bones and teeth we gain a new understanding of the movement and trade in the Viking world between Britain and as far as Gujarat, India, where the carnelian bead may have begun its journey.

I really like the way Jarman begins each chapter by explaining the object(s) she is going to discuss and highlights the issues that she and others have in interpreting the evidence. In fact on page 21 she states “The graves we find are multifaceted: we have no way of knowing whether those items even belonged to the deceased or whether they were gifts placed there by the mourners. They may not even reflect much about the person’s life… The dead do not bury themselves.” (21) Jarman then uses the previous information we have, any new information gleaned by her research and also any myths or unreliable evidence to come to a “tentative” conclusion.

Her discussions on death and the ritual practices surrounding it and on the role of women in Viking society are excellent.

This has been the single most enjoyable and enlightening book I have read this year and I thoroughly recommend it to you. At under AU$20.00 it is a bargain!

Our mate Bucko put us on to this game and he has also been indoctrinating the PIGS guys as well.

Adds a whole new meaning to “Telephone to Glory” doesn’t it!

The Game

The players are trying to stop randomly drawn villains from destroying Gotham city. As in the various episodes of the animated series the game is played out in “Acts” (like in 7TV game if you are familiar with the Crooked Dice offering). Each act becomes progressively harder as the “movie” reaches its final climax.

To win the game you have to survive all four acts, stop a substantial part of the city from being destroyed and making sure a certain amount of citizens are not hurt in the process.

Sounds simple doesn’t it, and from a rules perspective it is quite easy to learn. To win you need lots of luck, good strategy, and all players working cooperatively to succeed. Very quickly things begin to go awry and you start to find the game is very difficult to win.

The game is quick to play and normally takes about an hour to lose, oops I meant complete!

Setting Up The Game

The game takes a bit to set up but not more than most games these days so I do not have any issues with this. We play the Pandemic series of games a lot and it takes about the same set-up time as those.

Quality of Game Components

The artwork components of the game are excellent and reflect the animated movies. The card are great but a little thin and I will need to laminate these for protection. The board game is a 3D thick paper set of multi story building which are a bit naff and could do with improvement. The quality one gets in card buildings in games these days is far superior. I will eventually replace mine with mdf 6mm buildings and a streetscape base which I will have a multiple uses for.

The figures are excellent and are the equivalent of the “Zombicide” figures if you are familiar with them. They will look great painted.

The box art is your normal standard quality, but nothing to rave about and provides enough storage for the gamer, even when the buildings are made up, if you slip them inside each other.

Overall the game components provide a great visual appeal that matches the theme, and the 3D effect is a cool idea despite the buildings qualities.

Rules Ease of Use.

The rulebook is your standard comic style set of rules with a glossy finish and in full colour. I class the rules as easy to learn but the game a difficult one to succeed in, and hard to master. The rules are well laid out but could do with a better index.

Is it fun to play?

This is a cooperative game and as such creates a lot of interaction with the other players. Each Act gradually increases the tension and difficulty and adds to the enjoyment. SWMBO and I loved our first game so much I ordered the game and expansion the same night. Amazon were great and the parcel arrived within twenty four hours.

Verdict

This is a great game to play even if you are not a fan of Batman or the Animated Series. SWMBO doesn’t like Batman movies or anything animated but loves this game and also our miniatures version of the game.

The price was cheap with the game and the expansion coming to around AU$100.00.

I really enjoy it, despite its difficulty, which only adds to the enjoyment when you finally defeat those dastardly villains with a

I haven’t used my Catachan figures for years and these three have been around partially finished for at least five years. I thought it was about time they were “tarted up” and reunited with their brethren!

Finally Brothers Severus, Ignagtious and Benedict are completed. These are quite suitable for, not only 40k, but also a number of pulp and Sci-Fi games systems.

The Scorpions are one of my all time favourite bands, especially some of their early “hard rock” repertoire, but I am not talking about that type of scorpions today.

I am really happy how these plastic toy insect scorpions have turned out. I will use them for my Egyptian Silver Bayonet campaign that is almost written.

Incidently the lead singer of the German hard rockers Scorpions, Klaus Meine, has revealed he changed the lyrics of Wind of Change because he no longer wanted to “romanticise Russia” with his chart-topping perestroika power ballad, after Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine.

“To sing Wind of Change as we have always sung it, that’s not something I could imagine any more,” Klaus Meine told Die Zeit. “It simply isn’t right to romanticise Russia with lyrics like: ‘I follow the Moskva / Down to Gorky Park … Let your balalaika sing’”.

Instead, he said, his band had decided to change the words to their most famous song during their ongoing US and European tour, which opened in Las Vegas on 26 March, a month after the start of the invasion.

The revised lyrics, projected on to a screen behind the band now say: “Now listen to my heart / It says Ukrainia / Waiting for the wind to change.”

Thanks to Maenoferren for this little vingette:

It maybe just the week I have had, but somehow, as I was putting these pics together, they invoked the sadness of the loss of a once great creature. Maenoferren, I hope I have done your gift justice!

I was going to use this as scatter terrain, but I think it deserves a place of honour on the shelf, and not be soiled or awoken by the noise and tramping of little toy soldiers.

Requiem aeternam placere deus det illi

Or should I say Czech that. Two Plastic soldier variants of the Czech 38T light tank. Following on from yesterday, just a bit of work on some vehicles that just required those final touches.

A Marder and a 38T tank. For a previous post on other similar vehicles see Hello Marder, hello…….

These will also join my German assets for “What a Tanker”.

Valet Joyce May Smith

Mum passed away peacefully in her sleep this morning. Although not unexpected it is still a shock when it happens.

Joyce, Mum, grew up in a working class family and raised her three siblings when her mother died when she was only eight. We always said of her you can take the girl out of Collingwood (the suburb she lived in) but you cannot take Collingwood out of the girl.

My sister and I were always spoilt because of her humble and poor beginnings and in fact my children used to call her Nana Claus, which she delighted in, because of the car load of gifts she always came with.

She was generous of spirit, and called a spade a shovel as you never were in doubt of what she was thinking.

I have certainly inherited her stubbornness but also her resilience and determination.

Mum I love you very much and will always miss you and have you in my heart.

After 50years of living alone you are now with Dad. Rest peacefully.

Sorry guys & girls I just needed to say something.

I have a weeks posts scheduled so you will still hear from me each day but I may not be replying to yours, although it will probably be a welcome distraction.