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June 2025 hobby update

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Halfway through the year already, bloody hell has someone sped up time and not told me?  The hot weather this month means my painting time has been limited to early and late in the day. "Why's that?" I hear you ask.  Well my painting desk is in a South facing bedroom and it's hot as Beelezebub's balls in there, with paint drying instantly on the palette.  However, I have managed to progress on a few fronts.   The blog passed 100,000 views in June and shot up to over 103,000 by the end of the month.  I'm not sure if this is all genuine traffic (who knows how these things work), but my sincere thanks to everyone that's visited, and especially those that take the time to comment, either on the blog, TMP or Facebook.  It is very much appreciated and inspires me to keep waffling on.  The blog is just my hobby diary and as there's not any of the most popular subjects (American Civil War, Napoleonics, Warhammer 40K or NWE Second World War) I'm amazed tha...

Bandenbekampfung - Battlegroup Bagration AAR

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Introduction Belarus early June 1944.  As the Red Army prepares to launch Operation Bagration, partisan activity increases.  In retaliation the Germans launch a series of anti-partisan operations.  As part of a much wider action, a German Police unit moves into some woodland to check on an old logging camp which is suspected of being used to store partisan supplies.  At the same time a reinforced partisan force are there to secure their supplies for future operations.  Who will be the victors in this no-quarter given battle? This game of Battlegroup uses forces chosen from the Partisan Battlegroup and German Security Battlegroup from the Bagration supplement.   German Security Division Battlegroup:  One Police platoon of: Command team ( 5 men); three  squads each consisting of one rifle team (each 5 men) and one LMG team (each 3 men, upgraded to MG34s); one Alarm squad (SS) of 1 rifle team (5men) and I MG34 LMG team (3 men); one Fe...

The Clash at Kutzdorf - a Seven Years War AAR

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It was back in September 2023 since I last had The Seven Years War collection on the table ( here ).  Looking back I bemoaned that it had been two years since my first SYW game ( here ), and concluded by writing "I must get a larger game in which hopefully won't be another two years time".  Well it's not quite two years and I've finally played another game! For this game I followed The Clash at Kutzdorf scenario from the Honours of War rule book.  Austrians  - Dashing Commander-in-Chief commanding: Infantry brigade (Austrian) commanded by a Dependable Brigade Commander (BC) of 3 standard infantry battalions and 1 superior medium artillery battery; Infantry brigade (Hungarian) commanded by a Dependable BC of 3 standard infantry battalions and 1 superior medium artillery battery; Cavalry brigade commanded by a Dithering BC of 2 superior cavalry regiments. Prussians -  Dashing Commander-in-Chief commanding: Infantry brigade commanded by a Dashing BC of 4 ...

Verrotwood AAR 5 - The Hare of Yester

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Introduction  Spring has finally arrived in the Verrotwood.  After a brutally harsh winter where survival was their sole concern, the cultists of Wisentii and The Uncoiling of Beiysss are now ready to sally forth again. With Spring comes news that The Hare of Yester has been seen.  Both cults descend into the deep forest to seek the mysterious entity and fight for Favor and Power in the service of their dark deities.  The Hare of Yester appears in the Egg Hunt Encounter in The Village & the Hare  supplement by Mike Crutchett.  This is the fifth game of my Awakening Campaign.  The AARs for the other games are here ,  here ,  here  and here . Round 1 Round 1 starting positions. As the cultists move through the woods in search of eggs, The Hare of Yester stirs.  Activating on each of the three Event tokens in the bag, the crazed demi-God starts to move randomly about the forest.   At one point The Hare appears in SerpensL...