Mithras Court

I had Mithras Court on my radar for a little while now.  I was looking for something a little different to "read" (listen to on my commute) so I decided to pick this up on Audible.

"When you've lost what you love most, a life in hell comes easy...

Lewis Beckford's wife was murdered on a London subway car; now Lewis spends his night searching the underbelly of London looking for the man with the snake tattoo. A year after her death, he finds Richard Baxter, but his attempt to bring the man to summary justice for his crime goes horribly awry when the train finds its way to Mithras Court Station, a place not on any mortal map of London. The only key Lewis finds is a name - Sir Lucius Knight. But Knight seeks only his own empire to rule, and in Mithras Court, he has that. Lewis cannot buy his assistance easily, but Knight offers a deal: Lewis' aid in Knight's plan to expand his kingdom in exchange for Lewis' freedom."


I was pleasantly surprised by this book!  I really enjoyed it!  The setting was right up my alley - gothic horror.  And the Ravenloft setting was one of my favourites when I was role-playing in my teens.  The part of the book that really stood out for me was when they arrive at Mithras Court in the train.  I don't want to spoil it for you, but I loved the atmosphere and what happens there.

I tried not to think of how all the people in Mithras court live and how it functions economically, so I just suspended belief and enjoyed the ride.  Check this one out if you're into Gothic Horror Victoriana.

Fallschirmjager with FG42

I finished up these Fallschirmjager with FG42s over the past few weeks, with a lieutenant in the middle in the first pic (with MP40).

The Lt is supposed to have a scar on his face, in case you're wondering!  It didn't turn out as well as I thought I could do.  Oh well.

I plan on adding late war units a little bit at a time, to flesh out my collection of FJ to make them a little more versatile.  And besides, I need to have a complete collection!  :-)

The miniatures are a mix of Artizan Designs and Bolt Action.

I've been working on a Russian army for Bolt Action.  I picked up most of the Artizan packs, as well as some Crusader and Black Tree Designs miniatures.  I've been trying to work with the Warlord plastics, but am not having too much fun with them!

I am looking forward to trying out the opposite end of the spectrum, going from veteran Germans to Regular/Irregular Russians (at least for now).  Watch out Hitler!

Bolt Action AAR and MG42 Pictures

Last weekend I was lucky enough to meet up with Grant to play a game of Bolt Action.  I was playing Fallschirmjager and Grant was US Airborne, 1000 point game.

The table at the beginning of the game



Grant sets up his forces, with a mean-looking Sherman behind the building.

You can see some of the FJ coming on my side of the table.

Grant's side of the table after the preparatory bombardment, which plopped on a lot of pins and allowed me to get on the table.



I've got most of the FJ on the table, and am in the cemetary.  Great cover, crappy to move through.

Grant moves his American up - that squad by the fences was there the entire game.

After taking a pot-shot at my mortar spotter, the Sherman moves in to attack.  The US troops move into (and behind) the house.  The LMG was firing out of the top floor window.

The remains of my squad tries to take cover after the American airstrike - they eventually perished from excessive pins in the ruins ahead of them.

I forgot about the Christmas trees!  They were our proxy for smoke being laid down by Grant's light mortars.  Honestly, they didn't really do much and eventually went off the table.  On the right, another FJ squad and the medic take cover behind a ruined building, while the command squad take refuge behind a shrub!

The FJ squad that was behind the building move into my brand-new 4Ground house, and would eventually take a risky gamble and assault (and destroy!) the US squad by the rock walls.  As a funny aside, you can see the FAO running away in the far left hand side of the picture, after a FUBAR check.

This was the biggest game we have played to date, approximately 1000 points.  I took the recoilless gun for the first time and it didn't do all that well, firing at the US squad behind the rock walls the entire game.

The sniper I had did okay - he took out one light mortar and I think the bazooka squad.  One of the best parts of the game was when I was able to get my panzerschrek team into the building in front of the Sherman and managed to get a shot off!  I didn't hit, and the schrek team got blown away about 10 seconds after, but it was cinematic!  ;-)

The mortar did well, like it did last time.  I really like having the spotter.

Gratuitous picture of Grant's cute dog, Pixie!  Please note the wagging tail.

I finished up the static MG42 Medium Machinegun in time for the game.  I like how it turned out, and really think that the helmet decals make the models pop and give them that extra little detail.  In the game, they peppered the squad in the middle house (and later behind the bushes) pretty much the entire game, and eventually got EXTREMELY blown away by the Sherman in the last part of the game.

I received my Warlord Games plastic Russians and metal Russian Artizan miniatures in the mail on Friday, and just finished up cleaning the metal ones up.  I also have a few more FJ minis - some Crusader ones this time, which are pretty good sculpts.  Hopefully I can get around to painting them up soon, as I'm really itching to!

And finally, a gratuitous dog picture - this time my dog-in-law Rocky:

Compagnie Franche de la Marine and 4Ground Buildings

Well, things are almost back to normal here in Calgary.  The flooding is gone and the cleanup is still going on.  Stampede is on, and the C-Trains are running again.

I do a lot of painting on the weekends, and this time I've got some French Marines done.

I decided to do my officers for Muskets and Tomahawks on lipped bases, to make them stand out from the regular soldiers.

They're not painted very well, but good enough for the tabletop!  All of the miniatures are from Conquest.  The only complaint I have with their miniatures is that sometimes the eyes are sooooooo small!  On some of the Indians I just gave up trying to paint them, since I can't even see them!  :-)

I got a delivery of French Regulars and some misc FIW minis on Friday, and started cleaning them up.

I picked up some of those 4Ground buildings just to give them a go.  I wasn't sure if I'd like them or not.  I must say that I do indeed like them...and building them was fun!

Every French Indian War game needs a cart!

This is one of the ruined buildings for WW2.  You can see the FIW minis waiting to be scraped clean in the background.

Above is a log cabin, with and without roof.  I really like how it has a removable roof, which makes it great to gave with!  And they don't have that laser-cut look like most of the laser cut buildings have...if you know what I mean.

I'm definitely going to pick up some more of these.  The pre-painted walls they have coming out are a must buy.

Next week I've have some more Fallschirmjager to show off.

Borealis

After reading Snowblind, I followed up with another horror story - Borealis by Ronald Malfi.  And like the previous book, I loved it! 

Here's the blerb for the book:

On a routine crabbing expedidtion in the Bering Sea, Charlie Mears and the rest of the men aboard the trawler Borealis discover something unbelievable; a young woman running naked along the ridge of a passing iceberg. The men rescue her and bring her aboard the boat. But they will soon learn her horrible secret. 
By the time they find out why she was alone on the ice – and what she truly is – the nightmare will have begun, as one by one she infects them with an evil that brings about unimaginable terrors. 


I didn't expect it to be set in the modern world.  I guess I'm used to reading stories like Captain of the Pole Star!  Like that story, Borealis is very short and it left me wanting more...

I really like the moodiness of the setting and the creepiness of the girl.  Nothing is really explained fully and the ending was perfect.  Highly recommended!