Soldier who fought off 30 Taliban — Alone

Sergeant Dipprasad Pun, 31, of the 1st Battalion the Royal Gurkha Rifles holds his Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, after it was presented to him by QueenElizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in central London June 1 , 2011. Sergeant Pun defeated more than 30 Taliban fighters single-handedly during an attack on his checkpoint in Helmand province, Afghanistan in September 2010. The award is second only to the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration for armed forces of the Commonwealth.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110602/wl_uk_afp/britainmilitaryafghanistannepalaward

WW1 Described In Terms As A Bar Fight

Sent to MAC by Mal Wright and as he said quite a good laugh.

Germany, Austria and Italy are standing together in the middle of
the bar-room, when Serbia bumps into Austria, and spills Austria's
pint.Austria demands Serbia buy it a complete new suit, because
there are splashes on its trouser leg. Germany expresses its
support for Austria's point of view.Britain recommends that
everyone calm down a bit.Serbia points out that it can't afford a
whole suit, but offers to pay for cleaning Austria's trousers.Russia
and Serbia look at Austria. Austria asks Serbia who it's looking at.
Russia suggests that Austria should leave its little brother alone.
Austria inquires as to whose army will assist Russia in compelling
it to do so.Germany appeals to Britain that France has been
looking at it, and that this is sufficiently out of order that Britain
should not intervene.Britain replies that France can look at who it
wants to, that Britain is looking at Germany too, and what is
Germany going to do about it? Germany tells Russia to stop
looking at Austria, or Germany will render Russia incapable of
such action.Britain and France ask Germany whether it's looking
at Belgium. Turkey and Germany go off into a corner and whisper.
When they come back,Turkey makes a show of not looking at
anyone.Germany rolls up its sleeves, looks at France, and
punches Belgium.France and Britain punch Germany. Austria
punches Russia.Germany punches Britain and France with one
hand and Russia with the other. Russia throws a punch at
Germany, but misses and nearly falls over. Japan calls over from
the other side of the room that it's on Britain's side, but stays there.
Italy surprises everyone by punching Austria.Australia punches
Turkey,and gets punched back. There are no hard feelings,
because Britain made Australia do it.France gets thrown through
a plate glass window,but gets back up and carries on fighting.
Russia gets thrown through another one, gets knocked out, suffers
brain damage, and wakes up with a complete personality change.
Italy throws a punch at Austria and misses, but Austria falls over
anyway.Italy raises both fists in the air and runs round the room
chanting.America waits till Germany is about to fall over, then walks
over,waves a fist at Germany while Britain knocks it out, then
pretends it won the fight all by itself. By now all the chairs are
broken, and the big mirror over the bar is shattered.Britain, France
and America agree that Germany threw the first punch,so the
whole thing is Germany's fault.While Germany is still unconscious,
they go through its pockets,steal its wallet, and buy drinks for all
their friends.

Nobody comes out of it looking particularly good.

Cerberus in 1/1200

Inspired by my research into the real ship, I broke out my long neglected 1/1200 scale Cerberus by Brigade Models, and a lovely casting it is too.


The model comes in 5 separate parts: hull, 2 main turrets, breastwork superstructure and mast. All part were very crisply cast with no flash at all. All fit together nicely with no filler required. One particularly good feature is that the breastwork structure fits over the turrets, which in tun have a peg and hole fitting. This means that they the turrets can be painted and fitted without gluing, so they can rotate freely.


I painted the model prior to assembly, undercoating in white. I went for a traditional RN paint scheme, and as accurate to the real ship as possible. The hull was therefore black, the armour, superstructrue and deck fittings white, gun muzzles dark grey, mast and funnel ocre and the deck a faded wood colour. Finally, I added a RN White Ensign to the masthead (again by Brigade) and fitted her to a base in the style of Mssr Ogrefencer (name and flag yet to be fitted). A smallish wake befits a vessel of 10kts max speed - no big bow waves for Cerberus! Then again, nobody should ever rush a lady...

This model represents Cerberus as she appeared in the late 1880s, after her mast reconfiguration (in 1878) and the addition of the torpedo spars and nets (in 1887). I must admit that as a result of my research this became more of a modelling project than a wargaming one, but the overall effect is quite realistic I think and I'm looking forward to her first tabletop battle.

Ironic then that my first Aquanef fleet unit is a surface unit! There are also 4 Russian units about half done and I just found some Navwar 1/1200 ACW ships (again courtesy of Mssr Ogrefencer, thank you Sir!) which will be joining us soon...

More Brits

Here are some closeups of Nuno's British Nefs, which I showcased here last week.

He informs me that his painting technique was:
- white undercoat which was left showing in the sides of the superstructures and the masts as well as the tail of the nefs
- GW chaos black hull side
- GW Sepia wash on the decking
- GW foundation astronomican grey in the turrets
- GW foundation adeptus battlegrey in the cannons and the center of the large turrets
- GW foundation tausept ochre on the chimneys

I've updated the entry on his Greman nefs to detail the paint scheme too.

Thanks for sharing mate, I thin they've come out beautifully. Well done old Boy!

New Brits and Germans

Nuno (aka Rastamann from the TacCom boards) has finished up his British and German starter sets and they have come out beautifully!

Well done Old boy! They look great and I love the thematic presentation style you've adopted. Great stuff!

Marx Industries, Part II

More Land Ironclads by Marx Industries!

HLMS Klompton (LandRamship)

HMLS Kelso and Nelson

The highly inventive "Das Foot-Boot" from Germany!

Marx Industries Unveiled

Mssr Marx from the Lead Adventure Forum has unveiled an unparalleled level of productivity on the Land Ironclads model fFront. We are privileged to have been granted permission to post pics of them here!

First up, the rather inspired HMLS Implausible:

for which Mssr Marx gladly credits his inspiration as this pic:

More to follow soon!

New British Aeronef fleet commissioned!

Bill has posted pics of his lovely looking British Nef fleet at his blog.

http://billwerks.blogspot.com/

He has also kindly put together a How-to for his great name and flag placards added to each model Great work Bill- thanks for sharing and we look forward to seeing more!

A cracker of a picture

I just spied this fanstic sterographic image at the Republic of Sonora website- great stuff!

Check out the website here:

http://www.mysterious-island.com/aeronef/nef.html

HMCS Redoubt

Bill Witthans, creator of the fine Prussian steam-powered landship posted to WWS previously, has kindly sent me pics of another of his wonderful conveyances- the HMCS REDOUBT!

Bill created this from the Scheltrum Miniatures "Jules Verne Class French Aerial Torpedo Destroyer" kit you can find here: (thanks for the information Ironmammoth!)

http://www.scheltrum.co.uk/ironclad.html

Great stuff Bill- many thanks indeed for sharing your great creation!

HMS Pippistrel

Another stunning production by Vanvlak Industries!

Following the destruction of the Nautilus on Mysterious Island, and the invasion of the Martians in 1898, the British Empire had commissioned its agents to collect what technological remains they could. The Mysterious Island expedition, supported by the RN, was organized by an organization which remains unrecorded, although it was rumoured (wildly) that Nemo himself had once been a member. The Martian remains were more abundant, and were collected under the supervision of the newly formed Torchwood Institution. Investigation of the heat ray lead only to disaster, but an improved method of joining metals and an enhanced steam power plant were successfully derived. A hybrid of these technologies and the brainchild of one of the leading designers and Vosper and Vosper, Jarvis Pennyworth, led to the construction of a high speed launch for reconnaissance and special missions. Four were built in great secrecy, and it is believed that a fifth, armed with torpedoes, was constructed and tested against a decommissioned warship. Believed to have been completed by 1905 (although some records indicate an operational record going back to 1903!), the boats were apparently continuously in high demand. One was lost to the Arctic ice packs; a second suffered engine failure in mid-Atlantic during a mission and was utterly crushed by the liner Majestic. A third blew up on a mine in the Eastern Mediterranean in 1916. Like her sisters the survivor, HMS Pippistrel, saw extensive service, and is believed to have served in the Mediterranean theatre as late as in 1944. A rare photograph was taken by an overflying Junkers Ju88, showing the boat cruising at high speed on what is believed to have been a clandestine mission from Malta to the Balkans. Of the fifth vessel, the torpedo boat, there is no further record.

Powered by steam impulse engines, the boats were rumoured to be capable of cruising at 55knots. The louvres over the engine bays had to be opened to permit effective cooling, and closing of the gills in bad weather conditions forced a reduction in power, and consequently speed. The Martian-derived joining technology took its toll of the hull armour as relatively rapid corrosion was induced in the otherwise outstanding armour plate based on the Nautilus design.


Plot hooks to boot:

• The Nautilus was scuttled inside Mysterious Island by Captain Nemo of course.
• The War of the Worlds is well known, and the heat ray disasters are mentioned by Welles at the close of his book.
• Torchwood refers to the Dr Who institution founded by HM Queen Victoria to counter alien threats.
• Vosper and Vosper is derived from Vosper and Thornycroft, who were already in business back then.
• Mr. Jarvis Pennyworth (the designer) has a name and surname derived from Alfred's assumed surname and an ancestor's name - Alfred Pennyworth being Bruce Wayne's butler.
• The organization which recovered the Nautilus plates is of course the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, reorganized after Nemo himself had left.

This, and HMS Pippistrel link the boat to its model origins - a 1:24 scale Revell kit of the Bat Boat. I have faired over the cockpit to reduce the scale to 1:28; added the 3 funnels, and a few other odds and ends, including a bit of windscreen wiper over the cockpit.

She obviously (HMS is a dead giveaway) belongs to the Royal Navy, although, like her Aeronef counterpart HMAS Platypus has also seen service under the Torchwood flag.

Another Vanvlakian Astronef creation!

Introducing the new HMS TERIBUS, lead vessel of a new class of single aether-screw low orbit bombardment monitor. Another brilliant Vanvlak creation!

Redcoat Painting Guide

The Wargames Illustrated website has a great guide on how to paint your redcoats to ensure that they look their finest while campaigning for Her Majesty.

Its written specifically for the Sudan but fits for any overseas British troop deplyments throughout the Empire, on Mars and beyond!

http://www.wargamesillustrated.net/gallery/download/Sudan%201883%20-%2085.pdf

More Iron Stars

Rory has posted some pics of his Aeronefs and Iron Stars ships, as well as other pics of his great gaming models, here: http://web.mac.com/rorymh/iWeb/Home/Gaming.html

More Contraptions!

Today I discovered Andrew's VSF page, which I hadnt come across before and has some wonderful 25mm VSF contraptions, shown below.

You can find his webpage here: http://andrewnz2.tripod.com/id59.html

Prussian Steam-powered Walkers (old 40k sentinels converted and painted by Ken Crawford)

Brit Steam Armour

HMAS Platypus revealed!

That Mad Genius Vanmullikan reveals his latest works!


Fans of Dr. Who will know of the establishment of the Torchwood Institute in the latter days of the reign of HM Queen Victoria. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torchwood_Institute)


A few ships have on occasion been assigned to Torchwood, in particular during the Martian invasions and the Venetian incident. This includes the HMAS Platypus flying the Torchwood flag. Now all I need is a police box of the same scale.

Another great and original peice from Mssr Vanvlak - thanks for sharing matey!