Wednesday 31 October 2012

A little gem, Ford F-30s not Land Rovers

Alright all.
Here's something, hopefully of interest to anyone with an interest in the LRDG or British armoured regiment or just a passing interest in the early/mid war, i've just found on the Pathe site a film called desert advance, unfortunately it has no sound, however what it does have is footage of the LRDG (i assume G-Patrol, i've not spotted any markings, yet) mounting and driving Ford F-30 (not the erroneously titled Land Rovers, search fu is not strong with this one), also Mk IV A13 Mk 2s cruiser tanks titled Crusaders, there's also footage of what appears to be a Libyan/Egyptian desert town, it looks like Siwa, but with not enough experience? Please excuse my ignorance.
Hope this is of help, to any or all. Enjoy.
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/desert-advance-1

Saturday 13 October 2012

Desert Raiding tube aka Star Wars of Glory...

Well i popped into my LGS (local games store, aka Onslaught Games, Hove), i have a bit of time on my hands atm, i took voluntary redundancy two weeks ago as the company i worked for was taken over and streamlined (ehem) the workforce being reduced from 22 down to 4-6. And for too many reasons to list here i left the job i'd known for the last 14 years, i know what you're thinking, money :) hence another reason i went to visit Luke down at Onslaught. He's had the Battlefront Raiding tube down there for quite a while now and as i can't really justify buying more Flames toys (i've got enough to paint), i thought i could pick this up. So i wandered through the door, looking around for anything new, redundancy burning a hole in my pocket and then i saw it, Star Wars the miniature game!
 Roll back two weeks. The day after i accepted redundancy i'd been round my mate mikes for a stupendous game of Wings of War, it's 1917 (i think) messine ridge a last look before H-Hour, the aim of the game each side (3 Allied players, 2 German) to recce, photograph 3 different spots and then bomb one of two targets, i was to play my Great Grandad, he flew in WWI in the RFC starting out at lowly sergeant and by the time he retired (as a test pilot) Goup Captain John (Jack) 'oogie' Noakes (more on him at some stage, i'm hoping to do a blog, i need to get the info from my Gran). As it turned out, i managed to recce 2 spots my comrade the other whilst the third player duked it out with jerry, I then proceeded to fly off the german side of the map, this being my second game of Wings of War (Wings of Glory), manouvering and judging those distances not being my greatest skill. Got back in the photography plane, flew down managed to photo all three targets, realised i couldn't immelman in my bulky plane and managed to fly off the map just keeping my base on map, but by then jerry was on me, i was shot down with photo plates in hand in no mans land! It was about 1 in the morning by now, with nobody having completed their objectives, we decided to shoot it out. And with a last turn of my cards i managed to shoot jerry down as he got on my tail (this was what i wanted, as with a pair of twin vickers K on a pintel facing rear), i was hoping to chew him up, i did and with a final salute down he went. We won a war of attrition, however not as desperate as the below, 11,000 men disappered under the messine ridge as the Brits detonated the explosives below, according to some accounts the explosion was heard as far away as London.
'Game pics to follow'
 While we were having a break a pal told me that fantasy flight (wings of glory) were about (how i heard it, i need to clear my ears out) to release a version of wings based on Star Wars, i was, shall i say a little excited, so when i spotted it in the shop, i whipped his last copy off the shelf and also got an extra Y-Wing & Advaced Tie fighter (Darth Vader!). :) It resembles WoW which i'm very happy about, i love how simple WoW is, it makes for me, a fun game. You get a dial to select a manouver (rather than cards) you choose one at a time rather than the previous three cards, with pilot skills, shields, target lock and proton torpedos, a little different from WoW, hhhhmmmmm proton torpedos. But basically the same game all flying is on the same level, so no messing with height or 3D space...Here's to playing my first game.