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Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Hat Wehrmacht Motorcyclists

I have been taking part in a 30 minute a day for 30 day challenge, I have decided to clear my work space of all unfinished projects before I place something new on it. That being said most are 28mm Napoleonics, a few Celts and some baggage. I recently purchased some HAT motorcyclists that required some work to look suitable for gaming. Unfortunately  they all seem to be Feldgendarmerie, so with a few changes, I wanted to move the miniatures into a more purposeful pose so I needed to sculpt new arms for them. Happy with the result, hope to undercoat this week and get painted next week, two for 39 and two for 44.


Cheers
Matt


Monday, October 1, 2018

Cold War Bundeswehr Kampfgruppe

Bundeswehr Kampfgruppe


I recently completed some more Bundeswehr from Elhiem miniatures. I am very pleased with the results, two more battalions to complete for my Bundeswehr kampfgruppe, along with support vehicles.




Cheers
Matt


Monday, July 2, 2018

New Beginnings

New Beginnings

I have been silent for some time as I have been busy changing my life for the last three years.
For many years I have been thinking and planning to start a business that relates to my wargaming, military modelling and military history hobby. I have tried painting miniatures, manufacturing miniatures and building armies and terrain to sell to fund my hobby. My normal job in construction of course really just funded my lifestyle, my hobby and interests. It was not until 24 months ago after returning to Australia from a holiday in Europe that a plan started to hatch. My wife and I were a little jaded about working 7 till 6pm in the corporate world of Sydney and looking forward we could not see much change in the next ten to fifteen years for us. 

So together we hatched a plan to move to Europe, looking for a different lifestyle and way to earn a living. We looked at what skills we had, and the finances available to start a business in our selected country. We looked at the UK, Germany and France. We settled on France as it offered the best options for us. We started our search for suitable locations throughout Normandy, Mayenne and Brittany.  

We had quite a list of requirements, a city or town that would meet our needs;  it needed to be within 1.5 hours of the Normandy beaches, with ancient, medieval and Renaissance chateaus close by. Good quality restaurants and local produce. Close to a  TGV line to Paris, motorways North, South, East, West and a international airport nearby, and not be too touristy. Amazingly we found such a place, finally we settled on Ville Mayenne, Pays de Loire as it offered the most potential for us, met all of our requirements as is very central.    

The house was the next challenge, we required a house that had at least 6 bedrooms, 3 reception rooms and all the conveniences within walking distance (i.e boulangerie, supermarket, cafes, shops and banks). We then selected a buying agent who gave us four options in Mayenne. I than flew to France to inspect the properties on our list,  two we eliminated early, one a little creepy, the other received an offer before we inspected. This left two properties. We then met with the Mayor to gauge his support for our venture, thankfully he was enthusiastic about our plans and gave us his full support for our enterprise. 

To qualify for a four year entrepreneurial visa, we were required to develop a solid business plan, prove we had invested quite a bit of money in France and had savings to live on while the business  grew to support us. 

We then found our ideal property thankfully our offer was excepted. We become the proud owners of L'Hotel de Herce in March 2018. The house is a "Maison Particular" built circa 1715 with a side carriage way, and a "cour de Honneur" entrance courtyard and private gardens, a 21 room three storey home, with three Grand Salons still with parquetry floors and panelled walls. 

We open as a Chambre de Hote (B & B) in August 2018, with three guest rooms.
The Grand salon on the second floor will become the "Salon de Guerre" (war room), where grand war gaming will be conducted in a gentlemanly manner. We will conduct military history tours of the various battlefields with a 1.5 hours, then return to game them on my table with my miniatures. We have our first event in October 2018, bookings will open very soon.

Book Here


L'hotel de Herce, Mayenne, France


Tuesday, February 20, 2018

"Banzai" a bolt action trial!

Decided to see what all the fuss is about and I played my first game of bolt action on the weekend, overall quite satisfied with the game, has a few quirks but happy to play with my mates if they are having a game. The mechanics  are quite easy, and I liked the random draw of the dice, although this I felt slowed the game down a little. The weapon ranges  I felt were off in comparison to the movement scales, with only long and short range for personal weapons, at times especially vehicles it felt a little to gamey with the ability of a vehicle to fire at multiple targets around it in range, it seemed to be a great advantage if you had multiple weapons, MG pintal, MG turrent, MG AA mount. the troop mechanics seemed to work quite well, and I did like the pinned idea for Morale, although my Japs ignored it when charging which was fun, but felt a little beer and pretzels. I will try it again but will not get overly excited and build a army I think. Th e japanese came away with a good win, with more than 60% of my hit dice hitting and killing in the last two turns, still could not kill the stuart tank! Pictures below, including some other games being played, some great painters and modellers out there!







 Other Bolt action game