15mm Modern Painted US Marine Humvees.

Some US Marine Humvees (they have a deep wading exhaust and intake unlike the army version seemingly) from Peter Pig, not too bad a model (a lot of mold lines), the crew figures are cast with their weapon, a mixture of .50 cal HMG's, Mark 19 grenade launchers and a TOW launcher.

Demo games for Wargames shows and no ass cracks, Cavalier 2012 part 2.

As I said yesterday the Rejects will be putting on a demo game at Broadside 2012 and we got a lot of advice from other gamers at the Cavalier 2012 show and some nice pictures, we're also getting polo shirts with our logo and names on them for the professional mercenary look (lots of XXXL's then)......

....we also want to be approachable (some of us will need lessons), know what we're talking about, have handouts, presentable (more about that down the page), good demo game eye candy terrain and figures and maybe even smiling (more lessons), it's about wargaming and making friends I hope and if you want to take a picture you can with maybe a sign saying that please do, BigLee said he got some smart ass comments from one table about the flash on his camera interrupting their game?

If you have any advice and have done this yourself please leave a comment as we're bloody amateurs and maybe out of our depth!

More pictures from Cavalier 2012....

This  WW2 game was from the Crawley Wargames Club and a more helpful bunch of guys you couldn't find, plenty of advice about the boards they use, figures, handouts and etiquette.....

This is a good idea and as Ray said he'e stealing it like all his ideas.....

Steve 1 (standing) and Steve 2 (apologies Steve 2 for back of head shot) but one thing he said about a demo game that stuck was appearance and ass cracks, nobody wants to approach a table and see 6 or 7 builders ass cracks and nobody willing to talk to them...... 

Ray posed for this.......

This was "The Storming of the Alamo", 6th of March 1836 from the Loughton Strike Force and this is the other type of demo game I believe which is played enthusiastically from beginning of the show until the end....

I went back several hours later and the action was getting tense as the walls had been reached.......there seemed to be a casualty figure for every single casualty caused!

One last thing and a favour, a friend of mine and Ray's has started a blog about modelling and wargaming, early stages and I will help him tweak things but he could do with a few followers over at Vinnies World, I'll make sure he follows back......:D

Cavalier 2012, the Lurker's point of view part 1.

Ray and BigLee have already done great posts about the Cavalier 2012 show with lots of lovely pictures, I will do my little bit now but more about demo gaming, Broadside 2012 and probably post it over two posts....

Postie paid for us in again (Thanks Dad......), within seconds of getting in I was tapped on the shoulder ( thought it was the law or a paternity case) and was introduced to a charming Frenchman called Stefan and a fellow blogger Dr. Willett's Workshop, great blog and a fabulously talented painter and a fellow immigrant......

This show for me was more about demo gaming (I was also short of funds unlike Ray with his seperate money rolls) and as the Rejects are putting on a demo ACW game at Broadside 2012 and we will be testing it on the Sunday after Salute 2012 show with some fellow foreign bloggers, some of the demo games we had seen before at other shows but a couple of the games stood out to me...

I did purchase a few bits like varnish and paints (the compulsory purchases), picked up some 15mm resin shanty towns from Ironclad Miniatures (one of them had a roof missing when I got home but I have emailed him and hope to get a reply and a roof soon), an M1A2 and Oshkosh truck from QRF, a ruined 15mm Humvee and Mercedes from Peter Pig (Ray bought the merc as he owed me money and he will paint it as well for his alter ego in the Franonia campaign) and a 15mm Huey from Flames of War (dictators need to make quick getaway's as well) although I'm fecking horrified at the amount of pieces in it.....

BigLee, Stefan, Postie (contractual shot) and Raaaayyyyyy!

Ray deciding which money roll to use to pay for his 15mm metal addiction...

Aerial view of hall, the show was well attended in my opinion.....

The bring and buy wasn't that well attended, I think people aren't selling at the moment and there wasn't much on offer I thought.....

Now onto what I thought was the best demo game and 28mm game at the show and put on by the Gravesend Gamers Guild, the WW1 game was defending the bridge at Obourg 23rd August 1914 and it was a visual treat with great info, great guys putting it on, good chat and a little history is never a bad thing, they had books, handouts and they even played a bit.....

Phil was saying he hates making scenery but loves painting figures and one of the guys at the club loves making scenery but hates painting figures and you can see where this is going, the scenery has a lot of other periods it could do for....

Phil, (Postie, he gets everywhere but he did know them) and Reece form the the Gravesend Gamers Guild, great guys and great demo game guys, we learned a lot from them....

The figures were a mixture of Great War Miniatures, Renegade and Scarab I believe......

Always a use for Hornby.......

This was a good point, stuff gets damaged at demo games and this took a while to repair by Phil and he wasn't happy, blood y great model though.....

....and the day ended under the golden arches with Postie paying again, there was a rumour Ray was going to pay but he was down to only one money roll by then.....

More pictures tomorrow of two other games and more good advice from the Crawley boys about demo games and no ass cracks????

Cavalier 2012 Show and Generation Kill Book.

The Rejects will be at Cavalier 2012 this Sunday and hope to see some fellow gamers and bloggers there, it's the first show we attend every year and it's a small but good show and we will do a few pictures and words next week!

Just finished this book (it only came out in 2004!) and it's a fantastic read of the authors time (rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright) with the US marines First Recon Battalion during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the insight into this elite unit within the marines (the details of their training is amazing), although the marine commander Major General James Mattis called them "cocky, obnoxious bastards".

What you get is a tale from Evan who was mistrusted at the beginning to say the least but gained their respect by riding in the lead humvee and sometimes reluctantly carrying a weapon, it's a tale of aggression, misuse of this unit, poorly supplied, sometimes poorly led but always ready for whatever came their way and looking out for each other but it's also a tale of sadness, no real overall plan, comradeship, lucky escapes, the death of civilians.......

The marines themselves are brutally honest in their opinions (some of them got into trouble later) and as aggressive as their Devil Dogs nickname (supposedly earned in 1918 from the Germans they fought at Bellau Wood during WW1 were they were called hounds from hell in German dispatches), they used to ambush each other at night whilst waiting to be deployed and nick each other with their combat knives on each others ribs.....

A great read and now to find the TV series.....

Angry Lurker Honest Movie Review 67: The Woman in Black 2012 (3 STARS).

Had to take a day off from blogging and work yesterday due to life and shenanigans.......

A grief stricken young lawyer (Radcliffe) with little choice heads to a remote village in the early part of the 20th century to sort out a deceased woman's estate to discover it's been terrorised by a vengeful ghost of a betrayed mother..........

Saw this Tuesday night for two reasons only because I was asked to and they were paying, this is not my sort of movie for cinema viewing but there was nothing else playing that we hadn't seen and would agree on.

This is a creepy movie and I heard that it was supposed to be quite scary with people screaming out loud in the cinemas and the opening scene is quite brilliantly done and sets the tone for the rest of the movie. A young lawyer who hasn't come to terms with the death of his young wife is given no choice but to head to the bleakest part of England to sort out the wills and sale of a house, the village is grim, the location is grim, the weather is grim and even the locals are grim.

Children have been dying in this village for years and mostly by their own hands and during his investigation of the house (incredible house and great grim location) we are thrust into a tale of betrayal, vengeance and the woman in black who Radcliffe sees and the story is set and running as he investigates the story behind the deaths.....

This is classic creepy and suspenseful stuff, close ups, chilling score, lighting, some genuinely good scares and shocks (there were some good screams from the female part of the audience but not the men obviously), it's got a short running time, worth a watch and the ending is grim but good enough once you think about it....

....did I say it was grim?  

What's better than one 15mm arms dealer but two 15mm arms dealers.....

....especially for a very frugal with the finances Dictator!

Inspired by one of Cage's better movies........figures from Peter Pig and Ural 4.5 ton truck also.