Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

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...

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...

Well February has come and gone.  Apart from a week where I'd picked up a nasty cold (from having to sit with daft people at work that shouldn't have been in), it's been quite a good month with more hobby progress. Completed I've completed: A trio of Victrix Ancient Germans that I did as generic Dark Age warriors.  More of these here . Seven 20mm Second World War Red Army Assault Engineers.  These were really great Sgt.Major Miniatures figures that I completed quite quickly  Four 20mm Second World War German Grenadiers.  More Sgt.Major Miniatures sculpts you can see more of these and the Red Army here .  That's all my 20mm completed. Two 28mm Burrows & Badgers squirrels.  A lovely pair of miniatures, you can see more of them here . As I did in January, once I'd completed some figures I turned to terrain: I completed a couple of wooded areas for smaller scale games.  I'll post a step by step guide for these next month. In progress On the table ...

Introduction Budapest February 1945.  After a 100-day siege and three failed relief attempt, Obergruppenfuhrer Pfeffer-Wildenbruch of the IX. SS-Gebirgs Corps finally gives the order for the garrison to breakout.  It’s far too late and the breakout is an uncoordinated disaster with small pockets of men cut to pieces by the Red Army.  This is an action of one such group made up of nine survivors from the 22. SS-Freiwilligen Kavallerie-Division. Set up The game is played on a 3ft x 2ft game mat.  The area is full of rubble and debris created during the siege.  Six numbered hotspots have been placed on the table from which the Red Army forces will deploy.  The length of the game is 8 turns.   Full details of the forces, including the Insurgency Table used for the game can be found here . Starting position, SS at the bottom Turn 1 The SS cavalry move cautiously up, aware of the need not to attract any Red Army attention.  The SS cautiously m...