"The Rainbow Comes And Goes"

Yes, It Does Rather, Doesn't It?
     (Another DoPaF inspiration)  There are certain natural phenomena that are the very opposite of transient - glaciers, mountains, the North Atlantic - and thus utterly unlike the rainbow.  Which - er - comes.  And then goes.  Usually rather quickly.  A rainbow being transient <Mister Hand hastens us on from excessive padding>
     Alright, anecdotal introduction over.  Next!

Hmmm.  With faces like that one is grateful they're not around for long

Multi-tasking Conrad 
     Perhaps I should qualify that!  Being able to watch "The Web Of Fear" - Classic black and white Pat Troughton Doctor Who for the ill-informed - and simultaneously managing to complete my 330 miniature counters is less impressive than, say, cooking a lobster thermidore whilst drafting a journal entry and looking after a small child, but I take what credit I can snatch.

It doesn't look much - but it will help me TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Just not right now

     This is a collection of 330 squares located within 330 larger squares, intended to be the basis of a set of counters like the chap below -

Quail in fear at the mighty 34th Armoured Brigade!

     As Conrad is nothing if dilettante, it has taken several months to complete the draft counter set.  Next comes adding relevant symbols to the counters, then their Attack, Defence and Movement points.  In the example above these values are 1, 1 and 7.  Eventually these counters will enable me to run through an Alpha test of my hex-and-counter rules for the Third Ypres campaign.  The real thing happened 97 years ago and at my current rate of progress I may - only may! - get things done by the centenary.

Before:  the Cloth Hall, Ypres, pre-1914

During:  the Cloth Hall 1917

After: the Cloth Hall, rebuilt

Doctor Who: The Web Of Fear
     I haven't seen this since I was 7.  The first few minutes are set in the TARDIS - and you can see that one wall is merely a large-scale photograph of the roundel-studded wall, and that the walls do not meet the floor, being propped up on bits of wood ...
     However!  When matters move into the London Underground, things really kick up a notch.  The Tube setting is horribly claustrophobic, the Yeti and Great Intelligence are always one step ahead of the humans, and the party of soldiers and scientists get whittled down remorselessly.

No!  Not cuddly teddy bears - these are ferocious killer Yeti!  Terrifying to 7 year-olds

     I do have a quibble, however.  One character remarks that the only way to stop a Yeti is to hit it between the eyes with a bullet - clearly this information has at least some dispersal.  What do the Paras do when encountering Yeti?  Blast away firing from the hip, which may look cool but guarantees you will miss your target!

"Apparently, sir, only a hit between the thighs will stop 'em."

Achtung!  Wo Is Der Schlemmertopf?
     It's right here, thank you.  A "Schlemmertopf" is a clay cooking pot with lid, from Germany.  Wonder Wifey managed to obtain one for the paltry sum of £2, when even second-hand ones go for £30.  Tonight I soaked it in water, put it in a cool oven for 10 minutes, then cranked the heat up.  End result - pork joint cooked most thoroughly.

Ah!  Heir is der Schlemmertopf!

Now it has to be hand-washed in hot water - no soap or scrapey materials permitted.

BlitzKrieg Commander
     I had to sort out the units involved for the scenario I am (very) slowly plotting, moving them onto a handy piece of MDF so the Desert Terrain Sheet could be put over the tables:

British on left, Italians in middle, Germans on the right.

You can almost feel the flying sand

So - Tanks?
     Say hello to my little friend.  In tank terms, you can't get much more little than the Panzer Mk I:

Desert paint scheme.  See?  Link to above even if rather tenuous.

     Weighing-in at a dainty 5 tons, it was really only a self-propelled machine gun.  Early models didn't even have a turret cover, meaning if Operation Sealion succeeded and the Werhmacht got ashore in England, these tanks and their crews would have been drowned by the weather.


Blatant Traffic Plug
     Edna continues to entertain and amuse, although her curiosity around hot oven doors that have just been opened is, frankly, a little worrying.  She appeared to take the query "Achtung! Wo Ist Der Schlemmertopf" a bit too literally.

Work it, Edna! Get daddy some web traffic!