Memorial Day Sunday Flowers

Provided these flowers at my church on Sunday in memory of our departed church comrades on this Memorial Day weekend.

And also in memory of my father, Leslie Pitts, US Army Air Force, WW2; uncle Earl Rochester, US Army, WW2; uncle James Brent, US Navy, WW2; and brother Patrick Pitts, US Army, Cold War.

Serenity at the Controls

 

On Tuesday, Nov. 14, a group from my local MOAA chapter was given a guided tour of one of the C-17 Globemaster III aircraft assigned to the Mississippi Air National Guard's 172nd Airlift Wing at Thompson Air National Guard Field adjacent to the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport.  We got a close-up look at the first C-17 assigned to an Air National Guard unit, aircraft #0007, which joined the 172nd in 2003.  It is one of nine C-17s assigned to the 172nd.  Besides the officers of the chapter, two spouses and my granddaughter joined us to see this magnificent aircraft.

Serenity standing in the cavernous cargo bay only about 1/4 of the way down it.
[Faces deliberately obscured.]

And seated in the right-seat in the cockpit.

C-17 #0007 has been named "Spirit of America's Veterans" which was aptly chosen for our tour since we are all veterans.  We had a great visit and thank the 172nd for the experience.

Microarmor in North Africa

Well, this post has been a long time coming.  It has been 8 months since I last posted.  My painting and posting mojo has been at a nadir although I have been gaming with my local group, the Jackson Gamers.  But now I've been energized to renew my interest in gaming the actions in the Western Desert of North Africa in 1941 & 1942.

I originally got involved in these campaigns years ago with "Blitzkrieg Commander," playing several games.  But interest waned.  Now that I've been playing games using the "Memoir 44" rules, I've found my interest again.

I'm able to use the forces I've already painted and based, just adding infantry and 'special weapons assets' - antitank guns, mortars, and machine guns.'

Because I'm using 1:285 scale figures and vehicles I procured a 4" hex gridded desert mat from Cigar Box Battle.  After a brief exchange of messages my mat arrived posthaste.  For terrain, I using hexes cut from various colors of thin craft foam and the hills from 1/2" extruded foam insulation board.  The units are mounted on bases from Litko.

A Test of Units and Terrain Pieces

In the above image (please click for a larger version), the two dark brown pieces on the left are a wadi with a unit of DAK infantry at the mouth.  Next is another unit of DAK infantry behind a sandbag emplacement along with a unit of Pz-IV tanks.  The tan pieces are a desert track with another DAK infantry unit along with its AT gun special weapons asset.  And finally on the right is a small sand hill with a unit of heavy antitank guns (50mm PaK 38).

In Memoriam - Lori Brom

 

On the afternoon of Monday, January 23, 2023, my good friend and "sister from another mister," Lori Brom succumbed to a heart attack at Ochsner Hospital in New Orleans.  Lori was a delightful person to know, funny, witty, and smart.  After her father Larry Brom died in 2015, she and her sister Christy carried on Sergeants3 and the publishing of Larry's many rules, especially "The Sword and the Flame."

Lori Brom, 14 Nov 2014, at Colonial Barracks

Lori was the sparkplug behind the unfortunately short-lived Colonial Barracks conventions in New Orleans in the early and mid 2010s.  There gathered the most enthusiastic devotees of Larry's rules to play games and visit with friends, both old and new.  Economics and Covid put an end to that convention, much to our loss.

 She and Christy welcomed my wife and me into their home many times.  Those visits were always full of laughter and stories.  We didn't get to see them in person these past several years but did correspond via telephone, e-mail, and letter.

A loss too soon of a wonderful lady.  May you rest in peace in the loving arms of your parents on the green shores of the never-dying lands in the west.

"And all will turn to silver glass; a light on the water; grey ships pass into the west."

Veterans Day

 

First, a loud shout-out to all my veteran comrades on this Veterans/Remembrance Day.

I participated in a small Veterans Day parade put on my the local citizens/business organization, Fondren Renaissance, around the neighborhood in which my church is located .

With my driver, Lloyd

It was an interesting experience since besides military reviews the last time I marched in an actual parade with a military unit was during Mardi Gras in 1972 and 1973!

First Pashtun Unit for TMWWBK

 

After many weeks I finally finished my first unit of Pashtun infantry to be used with "The Men Who Would be Kings" rules.

These twelve mountain warriors are all armed with rifles - a mix of a few modern bolt-action rifles, a number of Martini-Henry single-shot rifles, and a couple of rifled jezzails.  They are all Old Glory castings.

Under the unit categories, they are "Irregular Infantry" with a 6" movement rate and worth 4 points.  In the rules, this category "is a catch-all for troops neither impeccably trained and drilled European regulars nor  native troops fighting in Tribal fashion."

You'll notice that two of the warriors will be carrying around their own rocks for cover.  These particular Old Glory castings are inherently unbalanced and would fall over if not supported.  I got the idea of using rocks from Neil of the Toy Soldiers and Dining Room Battles blog, in particular this post of his.  Thanks, Neil!

This is the first of seven Pashtun units in my lead pile - two more irregular rifle armed units, three tribal infantry melee weapons units, and a tribal cavalry unit.  Hopefully with some perseverance I can get all of these painted by the end of the year.

Medieval Crossbows

 

After a couple of games last month using the "Lion Rampant, 2nd Edition" rules, I saw a need to complete a unit of crossbows.  I had four painted 25mm figures obtained a number of years ago and decided to match them with eight unpainted figures that I had acquired a fewer number of years ago.  I knew I couldn't even begin to match the paint job of the original figures.

So here we have my new unit of twelve crossbows:

Please click on image for a larger picture.

I think you can probably tell which ones are newly painted (hint, their helmets are all the same) and which ones I bought already painted.

My Medieval troops are all (or will soon be) mounted on hexagonal bases to distinguish them from the forces raised by my wargaming buddy Lord Sterling which are either on round bases or rectangular/square bases.