Croup (There it is!) – with apologies to Tag Team

On By NuadaIn Blogging, Island Life, WAT, WW2

Note: for those reading this blog on email, the pictures are a little large. It may be easier to see this on the site itself: Croup

So it is well and truly the wet season on the island. A week of fog broken by endless rain. Some clearing in strong winds. Repeat.

7am in my neighbourhood, no murderers lurking but lots of foghorns going in the distance

The trees are turning and the temperature slowly cooling. My hobby room is poorly insulated, and though it has an electric heater, has been less welcoming. This has been compounded by the croup. Parenting isn’t something I mention much on this blog as I intend to keep the media presence of my family as low as possible until everyone is of age to make their own (responsible) choices. So you won’t see photos or hear much about the clan. Bellyaching, however, is fair game.

Misery loves company, and let me tell you, croup is misery. For those who haven’t experienced it, croup is an upper respiratory tract infection that in kids causes coughing attacks. It is worse at night and well, the coughing can be brutal as it is continuous and impairs getting oxygen into little bodies. As a parent, this means little sleep and much stress. I haven’t been able to do much game-related in a week of sickness. It seems as if we have turned a corner so there should be more posting shortly. Next up will be another RPG play report followed by some AARs.

I shall leave you with week-old pictures of a WAT action that Lucius and I played. The first few fights were Soviets vs Germans. Then we switched up and did Brits vs the same King Tiger and Panther combo. Note: A King Tiger and Panther vs 3 Achillies is a really fast, fun match, though Lucius may disagree. He had recently painted up the King Tiger and I don’t think it lasted longer than 3 rounds in any of the 4 games we played. After the first match my fingers failed and I have sadly no good pictures. So enjoy the first fatal outing of the King Tiger below:

The first battle – 2 x T34/85s, and lend lease Sherman vs a King Tiger and Panther
The battlefield (same as last week). Once again the Cigar Box Battle Mat looks more brown and grey than in real life. The tank tracks from the previous battles show up quite well. Lucius is grabbing dice that will fail him utterly. I liked those dice that day.
Lend-lease Sherman moving up
King Tiger from a T34. That is a big beast…
The lead T34/85 opens fire at the big German tank
And a second T34/85 joins in and ends it, firing past the Biergarten
The end of an unlucky cat
T34/85 tries to surprise the Panther. Great positioning but I had forgotten that the main gun was unloaded. The cat got away and…
Blew up my Sherman, which burns as the Panther races to a better position. My T34/85s are in the distance. One is behind the house line in the top of the picture
Checking sight lines – you can see the laser from the Panther trying to get a bead on one of my tanks
The end for the Panther. A great fun, and fast game using our house rules for WAT.

 

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