Spanish Civil War

A picture of the expanded Spanish Civil War collection. As mentioned in my previous post, I selected my friend's Italian collection as I have fond memories of a Check Your 6! game I played in a few years ago.  In this collection were also some Spanish Civil War aircraft. I already had a few planes painted up for this conflict (nicely done by Kevin Hammond at Miscellaneous Miniatures), and now there is an Italian component added to the mix. I am not 100% certain of all the plane types, and I am going to need plenty more Republican forces, but it is a start!

The top row of Bf.109s and the He.51s are ones that I had Kevin paint for me. The remainder are from Bob's collection - Bf.109s, Cr.32s, I-16s, I-15s, a Ford Tri-motor (I think), and something in the middle I have yet to identify. There are a mixture of companies represented as well - Raiden and Shapeways, and maybe one or two others.

I'll get the large force of World War II Italian planes together for a future post.

In Memory of Bob

This past Saturday I spent the day with my gaming friends, in the basement of a departed friend, Bob. Bob passed away at the end of last year, suddenly, unexpectedly, a tragic event that still affects me greatly. Bob's wife, whom I have known for many decades, graciously invited the gang over for a day of gaming and food, in memory of her husband and our friend. We had a grand time, but one that felt uncomfortable at the same time. To see what figures Bob was working on, still sitting on his painting table, to be gaming in his basement without him, and to go through his massive collection, at the behest of his wife, to take items that we wanted, left me walking away with mixed emotions. A high as a result of gaming with my friends and enjoying the banter, and a low as I miss my friend.

From Bob's massive collection of painted figures and boardgames, I came away with something that would always give me a memory of him. A few years ago, at the Check Your 6! game day, Bob hosted an Italian/British brew up with Gladiators and Cr.42s, and it was quite a fun time. Therefore, I came home from Bob's basement with his Italian CY6! collection (with the Gladiators as well), so that I could host that same event in the future in honor of Bob. I also choose a small boardgame based on Wake Island, an old Mayfair Games offering.  Not sure why other than the Wake Island story holds interest for me.

I'll snap some pictures of the Italian planes...Bob did some amazing paintwork on them. In the meantime, here are a few pictures of the Fire and Fury game we played. This was a combined scenario, designed by another friend, and it was a challenge. Some bad die rolling on the Federal's part kept us from obtaining our objective, but it was fun to run "Bull" Nelson's division at Shiloh just the same.