28mm Ladder Bodging?

......thought I dreamed this idea and that it was unique, no such luck, far better people have done this but it's a good idea as I don't like scenery lying on the table as it can get damaged especially when you store it so after the holy trinity of lurker scratchbuilding/bodging (glue, green stuff and anger) I made these, the ladders are GW I believe.

Blogger is still acting up a little.

The bases are 30mm plastic.

May have to add to the lurker trinity of bodging and add swearing as these buggers didn't cooperate very well in standing at this angle

Action shots.

....more action shots.

Angry Movie Lurker Honest Review 41: Hanna (2011) (2 STARS).

Hanna (Ronan) is a teenage girl. Uniquely, she has the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a soldier; these come from being raised by her father (Bana), an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Finland. Living a life unlike any other teenager, her upbringing and training have been one and the same, all geared to making her the perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescence is a sharp one; sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys stealthily across Europe while eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative with secrets of her own (Ms. Blanchett). As she nears her ultimate target, Hanna faces startling revelations about her existence and unexpected questions about her humanity.

The reviews for this movie have been on the whole quite good so when I got the chance to see it I did and found the good reviews to be a pack of lies or I really don't understand movies but I do know what I like and this wasn't it.

It's a story of revenge and a girl with certain ruthless skills emergence into a world she knows nothing of other than what she has read or been told, the movie focuses a lot on scenery, colours, music and interaction with people she meets and broaden her childlike knowledge of the world, humanity and technology (and doesn't fight, destroy or kill). The camera work gets on your tits a bit with 360 degree revolving and upside down shots, stylised stuttered fighting at times, dodgy characters and acting, the music steps up a beat every time something is about to happen (provided by The Chemical Brothers who I usually like). Don't get me wrong it has some good moments and it's a movie about revenge (which is always a winner with me) and genetics but it's a bit too up it's own arse for me and quite terrible performances from Bana and Blanchett but Ronan plays Hanna quite well.

Not enough action, too much interaction and the movie left me cold and just not bothered. 

Who is William Black?

Received an email yesterday from Amazon.com to say William Black had sent me or I had won a Kindle novel of Infected by Scott Sigler, I was delighted as I like free stuff and just wanted to thank him. Now most bloggers use psudenoms and don't use their real names and that's not a problem, so if you're out there William thank you but it's unavailable to customers in the UK. I do have a kindle app and still haven't read a book this way yet but would like to, apologies for not knowing who you are and even greater apologies if I do know you and have had a brain fart.

Thanks for reading or helping and my name is Francis.

In Sigler's riveting horror thriller, alien seeds from outer space infect a number of unlucky humans, who develop some unusual symptoms—itchy, blue triangular growths on their skin—that eventually result in the carriers becoming screaming, homicidal maniacs. CIA agent Dew Phillips must find out why these formerly docile citizens are running amok, aided by Margaret Montoya, a Centers for Disease Control epidemiologist, who reported the first of the strange cases. One of the infected, former football player Perry Dawsey, doesn't take any crap from anybody, not even the aliens residing in his body. Sigler (Ancestor) leads the reader from one startling detail to the next—the creatures learn to speak (feed us we hungry); they grow little black eyes—until even hardened genre fans will find themselves whimpering at each new revelation. This terrifying page-turner could be the author's breakout book, fueled by an extensive online podcast campaign.

NEWS FLASH: Found him over at his blog, just didn't know his name, go over and check him out SciFiMedia

28mm Ronin.

What about this heat in the UK (28C yesterday and talking about 31C today, not good for a flame haired pale Irishman)), feels like I have a reservoir in my underwear, no air conditioning and takes me back to my days in the kitchens but anyway...........

A Ronin was a Samurai with no lord or master during the feudal period (1185-1868) of Japan. A samurai became masterless after the death or fall of his master, or after the loss of his master's favour or privilege.

The word Ronin literally means "wave man". The term originated in the Nara and Heian periods, when it referred to a serf who had fled or deserted his master's lands. It then came to be used for a samurai who had lost his master.

See here for a tale of the most famous Ronin  47 Ronin

The figures are mostly Old Glory I believe, the rest of my collection are Perry Miniatures, during the games my fellow rejects could not tell the difference between leaders and heroes and regular troops so I had to colour the bases so they stood out a little.

 

Inspiring Picture 24: Online Dating. (Slightly Rude)

........I suppose they have a point, if this offends I'm sorry but it's the way I am.

28mm Beasts of Burden.

.......perfect for supplies or loot and sometimes called Dobbin.

Blogger still acting up, either won't load the pictures or there is an error in saving (this was my fifth and last attempt, maybe it heard me unlike yesterday where it just was an arse ache and ignored me).

I believe they're all Foundry but I could be wrong.

Angry Movie Lurker Honest Review 40: Sword of Doom (1966) (4 STARS)

Ryunosuke is a sociopathic samurai without compassion or scruples. When he is scheduled for an exhibition match at his fencing school, the wife of his opponent begs Ryunosuke to throw the match, offering her own virtue in trade. Ryunosuke accepts her offer, but kills her husband in the match. Over time, Ryunosuke is pursued by the brother of the man he killed. The brother trains with the master fencer Shimada. In the meantime, however, Ryunosuke earns the enmity of the band of assassins he runs with, and it becomes a question of who shall face him in final conflict.


As I said before when I wargame a period in history I try and get some eye candy through movies of the period, some are easier to find than others and some period movies are less accurate than others.This is a great movie but a bloody grim movie about our anti-hero Ryunosuke who kills a man in a competition duel after his opponent learns that Ryunosuke slept with his wife, he kills more of his friends and escapes the town with his opponents ex-wife (who he treats terribly) joins a semi official police force that carry out murders ans assassinations for the Tokugawa Shogunate. 


The younger brother of the man killed in the duel at the beginning trains to fight our anti-hero and challenges him to a duel but in the meantime Ryunosuke confidence is shattered by a botched assassination attempd on a master swordsman Shimada Toranosuke (Toshire Mifune in an amazing scene of swordplay) and an attempt by his mistress to kill him. Anyway after all this and other things he rejoins the assassins and ends up in a haunted room and starts to see the ghosts of all his victims and starts lashing out at the rest of the assassins and we get 7 mins of amazing sword fighting that never really ends (if you get a chance to see it you will understand), there were supposed to be 2 more movies but they never happened. There is nothing to like about Ryonosuke at all and a grim, bleak movie awaits you but a magnificent movie for characters and action to watch especially if you love the Samurai period.

20mm Explosion Markers.

Explosion markers from Frontline Wargaming.

20mm figures from Elheim for size comparison.

Things that may make a Wargamer cry 1.

Walking up the garden last night from the Man Cave with a fair amount of resin to wash, had a problem with a gate and and possibly some duck, turkey and chicken faeces and a broom and the result is that British forces during Operation Sealion will be sorely lacking in armour and transport (should be able to salvage one or two pieces), not the first time for me (a mate of mine dropped a box of painted conquistador cavalry, never had the heart to replace them) or other wagamers I believe but still a kick in the crackers.

The moral, keep your eyes out for poultry shit and have yourselves a good weekend.

My 28mm Painted Portuguese Jesuits for Japan.

The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu, S.J., SJ, or SI) is a religious order of men called Jesuits, who follow the teachings of the . Jesuit and brothers—also sometimes known colloquially as "God's Marines" and as "The Company", this terminology because of founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background—are engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations on six continents reflecting the Formula of the Institute(principle) of the Society. They are known in the fields of education (schools, colleges, universities, seminaries, theological faculties), intellectual research, and cultural pursuits in addition to missionary work, giving retreats, hospital and parish ministry, promoting social justice and ecumenical dialogue.

The Society was founded by St. Ignatius who, after being wounded in battle, experienced a religious conversion and composed the Spiritual Exercises in order to help others to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ more closely. In 1534, Ignatius gathered six young men, including St. Francis Xavier and Bl. Pierre Favre, and together they professed vows of poverty and chastity, and then later, obedience, including a special vow of obedience to the Pope. Rule 13 of Ignatius' Rules for Thinking with the Church said: "That we may be altogether of the same mind and in conformity, if [the Church] shall have defined anything to be black who to our eyes appears to be white, we ought in like manner to pronounce it to be black."Ignatius' plan of the order's organization was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540 by the bull containing the Formula of the Institute. The opening lines of this founding document would declare that the Society of Jesus was founded to "strive especially for the propagation and defence of the faith and progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine. The Society participated in the Counter-Reformation and later in the implementation of the Second Vatican Council in the Catholic Church.

The Society of Jesus is consecrated under the patronage of Madonna Della Strada, a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it is led by a Superior General currently Adolfo Nicolás. The headquarters of the Society, its General Curia, is in Rome. The historic curia of St Ignatius is now part of the Collegio del Gesù attached to the Church of the Gesù, the Jesuit Mother Church.

Angry Movie Lurker Honest Review 39: The Mechanic 2011 (4 STARS)

Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham) is a 'mechanic' - an elite assassin with a strict code and unique talent for cleanly eliminating targets. It's a job that requires professional perfection and total detachment, and Bishop is the best in the business. But when his mentor and close friend Harry (Donald Sutherland) is murdered, Bishop is anything but detached. His next assignment is self-imposed - he wants those responsible dead. His mission grows complicated when Harry's son Steve (Ben Foster) approaches him with the same vengeful goal and a determination to learn Bishop's trade. Bishop has always acted alone but he can't turn his back on Harry's son. A methodical hit man takes an impulsive student deep into his world and a deadly partnership is born. But while in pursuit of their ultimate mark, deceptions threaten to surface and those hired to fix problems become problems themselves.


Meant to post this at the weekend but the internet was playing silly beggars and had all the good cards, this is a remake of the 1972 movie of the same title starring Charles Bronson and Jan Michael Vincent, I liked the original and the ending of the original but it's been a while since I've seen it (came out in 1972). I like Jason Statham and Ben Foster (damn good actor, 3:10 to Yuma, Pandorum...) and they do well here (that's why it got 4 stars, if you don't particularly like them then the movie is 3 STARS). The action is good, Statham is cool, collected and ruthless, Foster is the opposite, when the jobs are clean they are done well but when they go wrong or Foster is acting up they go badly wrong, the action is loud and quite good but for the purists out there the ending is different to the original which didn't bother me but may annoy some. Well worth a watch.


The original was quite unique at the time for having a 15 minute opening with no dialogue. Doesn't happen here as I don't think some people could take it now.

Armageddon by Max Hastings or the book that upset a Reject.

I love military history books and this one by Max Hastings ranks along Antony Beevor's WW2 books (Stalingrad, Berlin etc....., he is very uncompromising in his views of certain military failures like Market Garden, Zhukov's Oder crossing and the Ardennes Offensive, even that the allied soldier was a factor in why the war didn't end in 1944, criticism of Montgomery and Patton and Churchill aswell, the cautiousness of Allied generals viewed against Soviet generals who cared little for their men and had a lot of pressure placed on them from Stalin, there are lots more observations in no real order, the maps are not great either but this is minor compared to the writing and content. I loved the book for it's opinions and would recommend it to anybody with an interest in the last years of the war.

Now a couple of years ago I loaned this book to Ian (a fellow Reject) and I haven't seen it since (even after many enquiries as to it's whereabouts), it upset him that much the criticism of the allied soldier and Churchill especially in the last years of the war in the book, I believe he binned it or burnt it but only Ian knows? I mention this as I ended up buying the book again and love the effect it had on him and I believe some books do bring out the passion in people but he still owes me for the book.

Broadside 2011 Show Report and Pictures.

Apologies for lack of posting but internet connection at home is down for no apparent reason.

The rejects made a short journey yesterday to Broadside 2011  at Swallows Leisure Centre, Sittingbourne in Kent, the first year for the show. Set in a lovely centre (great pool and facilities, didn't take a picture of the pool area because I didn't want to end up on a register), the show was £3.00 (reasonable) to get in, the show itself was located in 2 halls within the centre which were easily accessible by a corridor running between them. The lighting in one hall was a killer (same as Cavalier, the anti glare type) and the other hall was fine with normal light.

The show was spacious, plenty of room for traders and customers, we were there around 0930hrs and left about 1200hrs, there was a steady trickle of visitors in this time, plenty of regulars but not that busy it appeared to me. It's the first year and shows need a bit of time to settle in but we enjoyed it, made a few purchases and yes we would go again next year, definitely worth a visit (it gets you out of the house and away from the SWMBO for a couple of hours anyway with the lads at the very least).

One fly in the ointment, I got stuck buying the boys bacon rolls from the leisure centre cafe, we ordered 3, they had only 2 left at 0940hrs, I ended up with a sausage roll (awful, awful, awful, I really wanted a nice bowl of salad but they didn't have any left either), the guys said there bacon rolls were lovely.

No bring and buy this year but I've heard probably next year.

Some normal poor pictures from the show in no particular order.

The lighting in the main hall, I think I'm developing a lighting fetish.

Crooked Dice &TV game......Empty at the beginning.

Not long before full steam ahead.

Frontline Wargaming, who do returns, nice unsmiling guy, I like him.

Gringo 40's, hope he did well.

Wide shot of hall.

Operation Sealion participation game.

These guys had their own shirts, we need to discuss this among the Rejects.

Great Crush The Kaiser terrain.

......again.

....and again.

Real Time Wargames boys I believe.

Plastic Soldier Review people where I bought the wrong item but not their fault.

 BigLee with a bag for his dice, we're worried about the big weirdo.

Postie (obligatory contractual shot) suffering from the weight of his wallet.

More lighting from the other hall, Ok , I have a lighting fetish.

Ray and Richard discussing the lighting. Weirdos!

I love games at the shows, who doesn't like eye candy but I really go for the traders and to buy stock or figures, is that the same for you?