Welcome to 'Seize the Day'
German Pz V 'Panther'
Welcome to my World War II miniatures wargaming website. This site represents my first steps in this particular period of history (of which I have little or no previous experience) and it went live on 13th May, 2006.
30 years ago I dabbled in WW2 using Battle! Practical Wargaming rules from the book by Charle's Grant. On the floor of our bedroom, my brother and I used plastic figures from Airfix and some poorly modelled tanks to fight over terrain that took a real effort of imagination to accept! We had some fun but never realised that we were just scratching the surface of the hobby.
Wargaming has come a long way since then and time has come full circle to bring me back to this period of gaming all these years later. This site is my attempt to chronicle a more serious look at the period and, hopefully, to recapture some of those exciting days of my childhood. I hope that you find it interesting and useful. Let me know by signing my Guestbook.
Now that I have started in this period I am planning to collect and paint a lot of figures. See below for my plans for 2011.
Paris, France 1940
There we were, on the Champs Elysées, sat outside of a café drinking wine and making merry. Apart from Steiner we were all in an exuberant mood. France had fallen as easily as the rest and now here we were in Paris.
As we toasted the health of the Fuhrer only Steiner sat solemnley with a glazed look on his face as if he were somewhere else.
"Oh Steiner," I said, "Stop being such a bore."
"Soon my friend we will be fighting again on another front," he said "and it will not always be as easy as this campaign has been."
As I raised my glass to the Fuhrer, Steiner turned to me and raising his own glass he said simply, "Carpe Diem my friend. Seize the Day..."
Currently On My Workbench
US 105mm Infantry Guns
These are Minifigs figures and you get three in a pack which is more than I actually need. They are now undercoated and awaiting the first coat of paint. Although I only have one gun in my US Battlegroup I am nonetheless painting all three in anticipation of future expansion of my US forces.
German Recce Motorcycles
These are Pendraken figures and I have six of them. I'm going to be painting them for use as a Recce unit. They are all without side-cars. I currently have no recce units in my German Battlegroup so these will be a welcome addition.
Plans for 2011
So, what's in store for the last half of 2011? I have been gaming a lot using my Americans and so I want to add to them and expand my options. However, I also want to start fielding my Russians since the Eastern Front is my favourite theatre. I currently have a relatively small force of Russian infantry and practically no armour so it will be a question of expanding all arms for them.
I would also like to try my hand at some early war games. It is too easy to fall in love with Panthers and Tigers but in reality the famed Blitzkrieg of the Germans owes more to the early war Panzer II's and III's than it does to the later V's and VI's.
- Expand late-war Russians to 2000pts: add a second Infantry Battalion, an armoured battalion, some artillery, an FAO and FAC.
- Add an Armoured Infantry Battalion to my US forces
- Start planning for an early-war German force
Wargames Terrain
I still have an insufficient collection of terrain which, under normal circumstances should be a priority. However, my gaming partner, Mark, has a large selection so we are never short of an excellent table layout. This being the case I find myself ignoring my own terrain collection and for the moment that suits me as I can concentrate on painting figures. Nonetheless, I shall make some more effort in this particular area. In particular I need to make an attempt at producing at least some of the pieces listed below;
- Roads
- Rivers
- Barbed Wire
- Minefields
- Gun Emplacements
- Buildings
Gaming
This is really the crux of the matter and everything else is being undertaken in order to actually play the game and have some fun! I have been fortunate this year in finding a keen opponent, Mark, and we have had numerous encounters. I have taken my camera to several games but have failed to keep up with the action and produce a narrative simply because the games have been so exciting and fast playing!
I am going to try and get this sorted so that I can produce some After-Action Reports to at least show that there is a lot of fun to be had from this hobby and it is not all about sweating over the work-bench!