Author: Nuada

Island Weather – A little more of Island Life

On By NuadaIn Island LifeLeave a comment

My earlier post that referenced the weather mentioned that we had had the last rain of the Spring and so could reasonably expect no more water from the sky until September. Well, luckily I was wrong (we have droughts in the Summer that lead to water restrictions etc). We had a very cool and wet June but now the heat is back. The grass is yellow, and the leaves on the trees are a little more dusty yellow.

The interesting part of living on an island is that it doesn’t heat up like a large city, or in fact any place that doesn’t have temperate ocean cooling. To our south, the Straits of Juan de Fuca only warm up about 1 degree Celsius between Winter and Summer. But, on the other side of the peninsula, Saanich Inlet can warm up a lot. So, we see some pretty uneven temperatures across the area all at the same time. Here’s a snapshot:

Weather today. 13 degree Celsius (35F) temperature range in the area before the hottest part of the day, which is usually just after 4pm. For our American readers, the top end is around 90F, and the low end is about 55F

Where I live is 9 degrees Celsius hotter than down in James Bay, and 7 hotter than downtown. Friends down in James Bay never need an air conditioner. Without one, even in my properly insulated house, it reaches 28 degrees Celsius before 4pm. So, if I were to merely look at the Weather Network, it’d be giving me some pretty erroneous data for my area.

Luckily, the site that I use is amazing. School-Based Weather Station Network has automatic weather observations systems (AWOS) on every school in the area and in fact, on the Island (and the surrounding Gulf Islands). This means that you can get really beautiful and useful weather mapping for planning your outings. The moderating influence of the water also means that the hotter places are in the Summer, the colder they are in the Winter. From a world creation perspective, this type of thing can add a lot of flavour and interest with certain areas being much hotter or cooler, with shrines or fortifications having to deal with significant differences in how they deal with the weather.

The south Island with all of its pretty temperature ranges. The rainforests on the West Coast are cool, but very, very wet.

What you see on the news or local station may not reflect what you’ll see outside. It can be hotter, colder, windier. In some cases, on this side of an island called Race Rocks, there will be no fog. On the other side there will be thick, thick fog that lasts for a week and no one in the city is the wiser.

The picture of the large tree sticking out over a stream that you’ll occasionally see on the banner is taken by yours truly on the West Coast Trail 12 years ago and really illustrates the difference of micro-climates here. On the trail it never gets hot, just wet. There is no drying off in the Summer. The blue areas on the West Coast in the image above is where you find most of the old growth. It is a true rainforest and is stunning. Here it is again in normal size:

On the West Coast Trail – I wandered here to get some water and sat at the top of a small waterfall and let my filter hose dangle in amongst the rocks

Those of us who go to sea, for our living or enjoyment, and those of us who wander into the wild, pay close attention to the vagaries of our coastal climate and it seems to make our home here a little more special than many think it (already) is.

Review of Warlord 28mm Resin WW2 Vehicles Pt 2

On By NuadaIn Review, WIP, WW2Leave a comment

Part 1 can be found here.

I’ve assembled 5 of the vehicles and have some more points to note. That Opel will be tackled. Someday.

Sdkfz 222

The Sdkfz 222
A nice and simple kit

No issues to report. This is a solid kit that is easy to fit together.

Pz II Luchs

Good detail
A nice kit

This tank needed some work with the tracks to get them to sit properly. Using heat to warp the pieces to make them fit does work, but track pieces are short and so harder to fix. Otherwise the kit is solid and VERY quick to get ready for priming. This is my favourite kit of the 6.

Tiger II

A beast!

I like this kit, despite its problems. The turret plug is too large for the hole, so I filed it down – a lot. This is not a big deal, but it detracts as it shouldn’t be hard to get the measurements a little more correct. The tracks needed a lot of cleaning and to be warped back towards true, so they were run under hot water as I watched the World Cup on my computer. The track shields/schurzen were frustrating. They do not fit on well, and so are super-glued on there well enough. I dislike doing things ‘well enough’ but hopefully attention will be drawn by the size of this beast and its main gun. Of all the kits, this one needs an assembly guide and hints on what to put on first. I luckily dry fit most parts but had I not, there would have been much sailor talk.

Track problems. And yes, I did try everything to get a tighter fit. I will fill some gaps and leave the rest as I bet these weren’t soldier-proof in the real world

Sherman V

The Sherman has an alignment problem with its track pieces. The holes and joining lugs do not line up. See the picture below. This is amateur hour and disappointing on what is otherwise a good kit. The folks at Warlord should look at redoing the moulds to fix simple errors like this (and to reduce the amount of flash and sprue bits). It detracts from the kit and once something obvious and simple like this is seen, the natural tendency is to look for other issues. Luckily, the problem was simple to solve: I simply cut off the alignment pieces on both track pieces and put it together.

Pretty obvious issue here…

The drive lights and light guards are really fiddly. Too fiddly in fact. But they’re on there. Having worn green for a few years, the typical way of unbreaking a vehicle was brute force, (the vehicle techs use a slightly harsher verb of “unf%^1ng”. Seriously. I’ve heard a senior NCO yell at corporals to take a mobile repair team or MRT out to unf$#* a truck many-a-time). Please, don’t do that with these parts of this kit, either with the language or with the brute force bit. It won’t end well. Tweezers will drop. Fingers will be used to save the day. Your fingers may end up glued together. Or to the glacis. Just saying.

A Sherman, glacis is free of all fingers
My second favourite of the bunch, but design issues should be corrected

Humber Armoured Car Mk II

This kit is very similar to the Sdkfz 222 and simple to assemble. The extra hatch on the turret (that is for some reason not part of the moulded turret) has gone missing or never arrived. I will be filling in the gap before priming. This kit really could use an instruction sheet for what goes where, as there was much googling, just like with the Tiger II.

The car with missing hatch

I will be doing a bit of filling with green stuff and then priming. I will keep reporting on these to the painting stage.

A final note: condolences to England fans. I’m not a great fan of football, but I have been following this World Cup. England did very well (in my amateur estimation) and have made me interested in following the sport more closely. It was a good run.

Review of Warlord 28mm Resin WW2 Vehicles

On By NuadaIn Review, WW2Leave a comment

PSA: This review has a number of pictures.

Note, this review is continued here: Review Pt2

In order to beef up the support for my FJs, I took advantage of Warlord’s 3 for 2 resin vehicle sale and bought:

  • Sdkfz 222
  • Pz II Luchs
  • Tiger II
  • Opel Blitz Truck
  • Sherman V
  • Humber Armoured Car

The allied armour is to support Lucius’ Paras and also to start to build up towards an Italian Campaign Canadian force.

These kits are resin and metal, and there is an important thing to note: resin, just like plastic injection miniatures, needs to be cleaned with mildly soapy water and then rinsed before doing anything. This is to remove the mould release agent that coats the model. Warlord did a great job with the leaflet in the Sherman V that described some of the reasons for the cleaning and trimming that is needed. Sadly, this only came with the boxed vehicle, and yes, only one of these six came with a box. That means, that if you ordered a non-boxed vehicle, you could be disappointed with the castings and have issues assembling and painting. Warlord should include the leaflet with every vehicle. Also note, that unlike the plastic kits, these vehicles do not come with damage markers or marking transfers. This is a really minor point, but the buyer should be sure to acquire necessary markings elsewhere.

After doing a bit of washing up, I laid out the kits to get my initial impression.

Sdkfz 222

This light vehicle kit is excellent. It came with very little trimming or clean-up required, and all pieces fit well.

Sdkfz 222 with grenade screens on the right
Another view of the same

Panzer II, Luchs (Lynx)

This light recce tank looks great. It comes in four main pieces: hull, left and right track assembly, and turret. There are of course the hatch, gun barrels, commander and some stowage.

The Luchs out of the package

This kit only goes together one way, but to ensure that there are no mistakes, the pieces are even labelled!

You can faintly make out “Luchs” and “Right” on the track assembly

The kit is very clean, but the turret, like many of the turrets for the other vehicles I bought, has really large pieces of resin left over. I’m surprised at their size, based on the size of the turret, but I’m not a resin caster.

The bottom of the turret needs to be trimmed and cleaned up

The only other issue with this kit is, unlike the other armoured vehicles, there is no pre-drilled hole for the main armament. I overcame this with a pin vise, but this is a simple fix and is a little disappointing considering the strength of this kit.

No place for the main armament

Tiger II

Having a Tiger just isn’t enough, so I purchased this beast. The model is excellent. The resin does a good job showing the zimmermit, and the casting is very clear. This is an excellent model overall.

The Tiger II with metal and resin pieces nicely cast
A size comparison with the Luchs

The detail on this tank is great and the pieces fit together well. I am hoping to have 2 or 3 vehicles ready to be primed by tomorrow.

The detail on the hull, with clear attachment points (holes) for the exhaust

Opel Blitz Truck

In contrast with the great kits above, this one was a disappointment and I will purchase plastic versions of this in the future.

The Opel Blitz

There was an excessive amount of trimming and cleaning to be done and when dry-fitting, it became clear that I would need to do some modifications to make the parts fit. Annoyingly, the back of the cab simply cannot fit. This is not a trimming aspect, but seems to be a mould problem. This vehicle will be assembled last, and hopefully my opinion on it will change.

The tabs of the can look like they fit, but sadly they do not fit over the frame below the large bump.

Sherman V

This model looks great. It is cleanly cast and all pieces fit together well. The detail is more than good enough for a wargame table, but perhaps not as crisp as the Luchs or Tiger II.

The Sherman V and its bits with track assemblies dry-fit

The tracks are in separate pieces, which can make painting easier for those that wish to paint the hull entirely before worrying about the tracks.

The Sherman V’s tracks need some fiddly cleaning but are well detailed

Humber Armoured Car

This kit is tiny but good. The detail is crisp and clean, but some instructions on to what goes in the various parts of the turret would have been great. I have had to do some digging around online to figure things out, which is a pain. I’m still trying to work out what goes in the space to the left of the main hatch as I cannot find anything that works. If I can’t figure it out soon, I’ll simply have to fill it in.

The Humber Mk II Armoured Car.

Overall Impressions

I have only begun to assemble these vehicles, but I am impressed with most of the kits. I have some resin terrain from a few manufacturers that comes with far less cleaning and trimming to do, which begs the question as to why Warlord’s products come less finished, but that can be looked past. The kits look good, fit together well, and should be fairly quick to get onto the table top (with the exception of the Opel).

Warlord should include the resin information leaflet with all the resin kits, and if instructions are too much to put in, having assembly information available on their website (much like Warbases does for their terrain) would alleviate some of the difficulty.

At this point, I think that five of the six kits above are worth the money and will be fun and easy to put together and paint. I will post an update as these vehicles move towards being ready for the tabletop.

Note, this review is continued here: Review Pt2

Dux Dalmor – AAR

On By NuadaIn AAR, Dux Dalmor, Fantasy1 Comment

So on Saturday night Nate and Matt came over for the first of hopefully many campaign nights. Matt decided to raid north into Tiv Ungalli, while Nate raided into Gron Toft. Meanwhile, some undead had raided into Tiv Ungalli as well, from the forest near the Woodmere, further reducing that province’s ability to defend itself.

Nate and Matt raid north, while some undead (presumably led by the Alfar) have raided Tiv Ungalli as well

The first raid was a bit of trial, with the intent of trying to game the system to see if we could break it. So, all the terrain was placed into a line across the table:

The terrain protecting the village from the raiding force

Then, Matt diced to determine where the village he was raiding would go… and naturally it was in the worst position possible. To add to the fun, Nate (playing the Rovians), would be entering from his left just before the obstacles. This seemed to be a theme for Matt. His dice rolls were, frankly, terrible. I think this may come back to an RPG session a while ago where he desecrated a shrine to a particular wolf god. In any event, Matt’s horsemen (seen here) advanced at a waddle while most of his forces remained off the table edge, with only his lord sitting at table edge trying to get as many advantageous Fate cards as he could. Matt’s rolling ensured that he had only two turns of free movement. There was much discussion about how much trouble this “Beggar’s Bowl” of loot was worth, and the image came forth of a scary beggar eliciting donations with a bundle of heads from those who were not forthcoming, thereby making this bowl full of coins, jewels, and possibly a few teeth.

Matt’s horse managed to race to unfortunately placed village (your rolls Matt, not mine!) and Nate’s forces begin to appear in force. The elite Rovian warriors and archers rushed to the village, while the warriors moved to push the pesky mercenary lord off the table. At this point, with a little prompting, Matt decided to bring on his whole force. Nate chased off the cavalry in the town, but was left without his best units facing a rapidly advancing mass formation.

Matt’s Iron Band form up and move towards the reduced defenders.

A unit of mercenaries charged in with three Fate cards in support and it merely rebounded from the line, which then surged forward and massacred the unfortunates taking no losses. The Rovians attempted to withdraw behind the forest, but based on the simulataneous raid that I had diced for earlier, the Rovian leader abandoned resistence and fled the field. Matt came off a fair bit wealthier and maybe a bit wiser about trusting his rolling.

The second short raid saw Nate’s forces push across a deep stream/river to raid a shrine. Nate only took three units with him and rolled amazingly well.

Nate’s forces rush towards the bridge in the distance

Before the defenders showed up, Nate had troops across the unpainted bridge (bearing the marks of where the airbrush failed). Matt mustered his Rovians and threw them forth. Nate was now cursed by the dice gods. He could not roll a 6 to save his life. So he abandoned his position, and rather than fight a slightly larger force, he ordered his troops off the nearby neutral edge, and promptly rolled two ‘6s’ for movement. The Rovian warriors and elites were closing fast, and Nate was unable to leave with his own elite troops and threw them into shieldwall, with two “shieldwall braced” cards to back them up. Matt’s forces just couldn’t kill the troops behind the shieldwall, and were forced backwards, giving Nate just enough time to finish looting the shrine before disappearing off the near edge. Nate lost 5 troops to thieves and bandits, but his raid was a success. It also showed how valuable shieldwall is (the Rovian forces cannot enter into that formation).

So, while each raid was short, it was a fun evening and the campaign rules continue to be refined. Hopefully next week we can fight two more encounters as well, seeing that we are getting much faster with the ruleset. I will be putting a post up later this week with some further updates to our game rules and you can look forward to seeing some more fantasy melee action next weekend with more pictures – (taken with a proper camera)!