If you build it they will come.

Hi gang. Just a brief update, because to be honest, I have nothing to show.

From time to time I get stuck in a rut. I tire of painting and just keep building stuff. When I have completed building whatever I was working on, I start something new instead of finishing the project with a lick of paint. It's also at this time I go mad and buy a lot of stuff in a feeble attempt to fool myself that I'm not avoiding the issue.

Thinking about Saga

Taking a break from World War II I've been thinking about hairy brutes raiding and pillaging across Britain, taking lives, slaves and gold for Oden. In short, I have been fiddling with my Viking warband for Saga and reading the rulebook, thinking of what to do next.

My warband is assembled although not painted yet. It consists of my warlord with his bodyguard of four hearthguard, leading a band of eight warriors, four berserkers and twelve levies with bows. According to the rulebook the levies are "thralls" but I'm not too keen about that. First and foremost, "thrall" is the old norse word for "slave" and if I decide to go raiding I definitely do not want a bunch of slaves at my back with bows. That one is a no-brainer, if you don't want to get shot in the back, don't give your slaves weapons. Secondly, my bow-armed figures are mixture of old Wargames Foundry viking bowmen, with several carrying swords at their belt and some having cloaks and/or chainmail hauberks. So my levies will be a mix of young men on their first raid and older veterans that might not be fit to fight in the front ranks anymore but can bolster the others with their experience.

Two thirds of the bowmen. So far the only finished figures in the warband.

Plastic Soldier Company, 1/72 Panzerkampfwagen IV build

Well, my eagerly awaited box of Panzer IV's from the Plastic Soldier Company finally arrived. It was an impulse-buy following the announcement from North Star Military figures that they had recieved a few pack of Viking Dice for Saga. While ordering these I happened to order the Panzer IV's as well. It was an honest mistake, guv, swear on my mother's grave. Collateral shopping you might call it.

Anyway, I ordered two weeks ago. A parcel from UK to Sweden used to take about a week. If you were lucky you could order on monday and have it arrive on thursday, but usually it would arrive the next monday. I was able to calculate that the mail flights were on sundays and wednesdays from the regular arrival of my orders; always on mondays and thursdays. But nowadays it usually takes almost two weeks. Either the UK or Swedish postal services have really cut down on their staff or the amount of packages has increased enormously.

But on to the kit. The box contains three Panzer IV tanks and costs around £13. The tanks are fast-build, meaning that the kit has few parts and is aimed at wargamers. It is computer-designed and simply an up-scale of their 15mm kit. Although some of the details are simplified the overall detailing is good and the tanks really do look the part. Fastbuild kits for wargamers have been around for a while, but what's unique about this kit is that it offers the possibility to build four various versions of the Panzer IV. But more on that later. Let's take a look at what's in the box!