XM-HELL

Recently in the course of my employment I was called upon to edit a small xml file. The file was loaded with bad programming practices and clumsy patches. I shouldn't be too critical, after all I am not a programmer and this file has been edited over the years by at least four people.

That being said given my personality I fixed it and then re-wrote it. It was frustrating and annoying (just like my hobbies and friends). In the middle of this, it occurred to me that Army Builder 3 uses xml files as the basis for its database.

So I took the tiny amount I learned and decided to tackle the job of writing the WAB 2.0 army list files. Four days later they are ready for testing. I am still finding things to edit and given my natural ADD & OCD I am sure I will do a complete re-write of them soon as I get some feedback.

So far I have data files for Early Imperial Rome, Dacian, Briton, German, Gallic and generic Barbarians.

Now where is that paintbrush?

Tim, they call him

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;

I used to be good at this... I really did! Painting is an interesting process; like writing you can have 'blocks'. I used to think that if you forced yourself to do it, that it would flow once you overcame the initial inertia.

Wrong...

It can't be forced it either works or it doesn't. Lately for me it hasn't been. Once I figure this out I will update my blog more. It does have a way of keeping me on-track. I do know that I am not going to buy any more miniatures (yeah, right!) until I paint what I have...

Ok I am not going to buy any more miniatures until I complete what I am working on...

OK, OK, I am not going to buy any more miniatures until I complete my Caesarian Legionaries (24) and Western Auxilia Archers (12). I am gonna try to get more than that done too (baby steps)...

Maybe there is a program for this...

Hi, my name is Tim and I am a miniatures painter...

Tim, they call him...

Painting Again!

I have been in a real slump as far as painting is concerned. Since Gateway (9/2009) at LAX I have not picked up a brush or opened a bottle of paint. Thought about it a lot... Sat down to do it... Something always got in the way.

Well two weeks back, I made up a list to play Flames of War with and realized that my SS-Panzergrenadiers had no support. I had some PaK40's base coated and mortars primed and standed. So I went to work on them. Ten days later the mortars are 95% completed and the PaK's are 70% done.

Hurray for our side!

Once I get the PaK 40s and the mortars done, I am going to work on a pair of PaK 43s, some 37mm FlaK43 guns and a SS-MG teams.

Pictures to follow.

Tim,they call him ...

Kursk at LAX

Well Gateway has come and gone, and so how our super-sized Kursk game. I had some responsibilities with the convention, so Harold was on his own. Kudos to him for pulling it off. It was a lot of work and I should have helped him more.

In the end, there were over 100 tanks on the board, platoons of infantry on both sides. Ironically, both Harold and I spent a lot of time setting up the scenario. And what we thought would happen, didn't. Something about the plan not surviving contact with the enemy.

Using Glantz's book on Kursk, we modeled the force after the corrected units in Glantz's book. The idea was to recreate Leibstandarte's thrust down the rail line to Prokarovka. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for Leibstandarte, the Soviets attacked at the same time.

Everything was going fine with our scenario, until the Soviets popped up with some infantry in a farm house. The German commander shifted his SS-panzergrenadiers to his right flank and assaulted the farm house. The farm house became the focal point of the battle.

Leibstandarte halted, deployed their artillery and began to engage the Soviets at long range. At the same time the SS infantry took the farm house. The Soviets tried to push their infantry into the farm house and the fight was on.

The problem is (for the Soviets) this is the fight the SS were designed to fight. Any player of Flames of War knows, digging out Fearless Veteran infantry out of buildings takes lots of infantry with support (artillery, tanks, etc). The Soviets have that, but they also have Leibstandarte's tanks and artillery to deal with.

A few turns later, the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Corps was a burning wreck. Victory to the Germans.

Photos can be found here:

Prokorovka Photo's

To quote James Dunnigan, "Playtest the dumb stuff!"

Tim, they call him...

White Outline Numbers Failed!

Well, my attempt to paint out the center of the white numbers on the Tigers didn't work out. I ended up leaving the centers solid.

There are a number of decal manufacturers out there that make white outline numbers, but none of them currently produce an "S" in white outline that I need for my Tigers. For now they will have to remain solid while I noodle out what to do.

Tim, they call him...

Kursk Painting Issues

Das Reich's Tiger company (8th) carried specific markings at Kursk. The normal turret numbers of 833 became S33 (in this case). The problem is how to get white outlined letter/number decals. No one makes them. It takes a special printer to print white so I can't do them myself. I even tried some custom decal makers, but the cost is too much. I decided to try something. I purchased some white letters/numbers and am going to apply them to the turret and see if I can paint out the center. Yes... lots of magnification (lots and lots). If it works tomorrow I should have pictures... or maybe the next day.

Faster, faster, must paint faster

Kursk Painting Log #2

Faster, faster, must paint faster

Progress shown in blue italics:

German Tank Force
12 Panzer IV H - Base coated in dark yellow, tracks painted, wheels painted, detail painted, decaled, black washed, ready for highlights, crew and matte spray.
4 Tiger E- Base coated in dark yellow, tracks painted, ready for green camo and detail work.
3 SdKfz 7/2 AA quads - Assembled, primed, magnets on gun

German Grenadier and Support force
Armored PanzerGrenadier Platoon - 80% painted and based
Armored PanzerPioneer Platoon - 80% painted and based
6 Stug III G - Assembled, base coated in dark yellow, tracks painted, wheels painted, ready for camo & detail work ,
3 Wespe - Partially assembled, base coated dark yellow, tracks painted, wheels painted, working on support vehicles and crew

Stukas - Completed
FW190s - Completed

First Soviet Armored force
10 T-34 obr1941 - Completed
4 su76 - Base coated green, detail painted, weathered, working on crew and decals

Stormaviks - Base coated green

Faster, faster, must paint faster