I have painted the next batch of Backyard Battalion by Reis O’Brien figures, first the Blue Gang and next The Red Hand or Red Shirt Gang:
Some beautiful details on these new plastic figures.
Crossposted from my blog here
Blog posted by Mark Man Of TIN, 6 May 2024
Simple colour or cartoon strip white and black line?
Crossposted from my fully colour illustrated Scouting Wide Games for the Tabletop blog: https://tabletopscoutingwidegames.wordpress.com/2024/05/04/backyard-battalion-figures-painting-experiments/
Excited by gaming possibilities with the new plastic Backyard Battalion figures by Reis O’Brien which arrived this week from the USA!
Post / Crossposted from my fully colour illustrated Scouting Wide Games for the Tabletop blog: https://tabletopscoutingwidegames.wordpress.com/2024/04/24/backyard-battalions-usa-and-three-man-sorry-kid-patrols/
One of the series I have been watching on Netflix subcscription is the curious mash-up animation Hilda.
It’s a children’s animation about a strange blue haired girl called Hilda and her mother who move from a stone troll and tiny elf infested wilderness and forest to the urban safety of the nearby town of Trolberg, a city protected by bell towers. Trolls do not like the sound of bells. The city is patrolled by airship and pompous imcompetent Troll Guards. Trolls however have destroyed Hilda’s childhood home.
From its Lofi 80s video game soundtrack to its infusion of Scandi supernatural mythology, this is a strange mixture of 80s retro Stranger Things (young teenage friends on bikes with lots of freedom) and a lively weird kids animation series.
Luke Pearson’s animated series (based on his graphic novel series) has that Harry Potter edge of myth, monsters and witchcraft with dark forests and ‘safe by day, dark things happen at night …’
There are many Scandi folklore elements:
Some of these tiny elves are planning strategy on a war-games type table, when giant girl Hilda comes to see them in Series 1 Episode 1: Chapter 1: The Hidden People.
You will also find
Of interest to my Scouting Wide Games for the Tabletop Project, Hilda joins the local Sparrow Scouts, whose uniform seems based on US Boy Scout or Girl Scout type sashes for badges.
Screenshots from Netflix series for (Uniform) reference and series review only.
You can explore more at:
https://hildatheseries.fandom.com/wiki/Hilda_Wiki
Blog posted by Mark Man Of TIN 21/22 March 2024
B.P.S. Blog Post Script
Hilda / Trolberg has a slight feel of the walled or gated community with a terrible threat outside the walls in the much more adult series of books and TV series by Blake Crouch called Wayward Pines
https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2022/11/13/wayward-pines-series-1-and-2/
Wayward Things maybe as a fusion?
Crossposted from
https://manoftinblogtwo.wordpress.com/2024/03/03/d-day-replayed-june-2024/
I found out about this Scottish gaming event through the Waterloo Uncovered newsletter, as it intends to fundraise for the veterans’ mental health through battlefield archaeology project.
Waterloo Uncovered and Professor Tony Pollard hosted the Waterloo Replayed event a few years ago.
https://www.facebook.com/dday.replayed
I won’t be attending as it’s not my type of game, scale, rules or period
but I hope it is well supported
and is successful both in raising funds for work with veterans through Waterloo Uncovered and for marking the historic event in a public and educational way.
I am sure ‘replaying’ D-Day as part of the commemoration will invite much discussion and discovery.
Blog posted by Mark Man Of TIN, 10 March 2024
It would have been the late Tony Adams’ 71st Birthday yesterday on 13 October 2023.
Here is my belated ‘birthday present’ for Tony Adams of a book review.
His wife Tina and daughters Laura and Laraine posted on his quirky and unique The Miniature Woodscrew Army Blog which they maintain in his memory as inspiration to other gamers to plough your own hobby furrow.
https://thewoodscrewminiaturearmy.blogspot.com/2023/10/today-would-have-been-tonys-71st.html
Tony often featured books on logistics and horse-drawn troops, which we chatted about – he kindly gave me a tray of his surplus 1960s Airfix figures including many from the Desert War. 
Tony wrote 127 book reviews about volumes from his cherished library of hundreds of books. I would send him news of forthcoming logistics books he might not have noticed. Sadly we never got to chat about this recent book.
So here, Tony, at long last is my book review of what might have been Book Review no. 128
I mentioned this missing book review in the tribute I wrote to or about him in May 2023: https://manoftinblogtwo.wordpress.com/2023/05/25/rip-tony-adams-of-the-miniature-woodscrew-army/
From the comments on his birthday post, Tony and his Woodscrew Army and Imaginations world of TIAN clearly continues to inspire gamers. (See B.P.S below)
Happy Birthday Tony – At the head of your Miniature Wood Screw Army on Parade – and of course best wishes to your family from the gaming community at this difficult happy / sad birthday moment.
Blog posted 13 / 14 October 2023 by Mark Man Of TIN
B.P.S – Blog Post Script
A good example of this ongoing influence – James at his Quantrill’s Toy Soldiers website mentioned the ongoing influence of Tony’s TIAN ImagiNations map https://quantrillstoysoldiers.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-passing-of-tony-adams-creator-of.html
Being tales of phantom black dogs and I-Spy Books, this blog post is crossposted from my Man Of TIN Blog Two:
Interesting radio archive documentary about his 1933 classic book with interview clips of H G Wells himself
Available online through BBC Sounds / IPlayer
Blog post / crossposted by Mark Man Of TIN from my Man Of TIN Blog Two, 24 August 2023
What colours should our SciFi and Space gaming be? Some interesting ideas from (possibly A.I.?) Tumblr adverts online that pop up on posts on my free WordPress blog:
Crossposted with colourful ad screenshots from my Man Of TIN Blog Two post https://manoftinblogtwo.wordpress.com/2023/08/20/tumblr-ad-graphics-for-outer-space-colours/
Interesting free monthly sample article by Rob Morgan on using chessboards and board game boards as the terrain for wargames scenarios on the Lone Warrior (Solo Wargamers) online magazine.
Crossposted from my Man Of TIN Blog Two post:
Man of Tin blog 