Using the little ones in the Classroom!

Hi There!

Last week I had a teaching dilemma: I had to explain the major importance of the Great War and the change in warfare it instigated as opposed to all wars preceding it, to my 3rd classes (not the same as 3rd grade in the US, these kids are about 15/ 16 years old). Now I knew explaining the difference between, let's say, Napoleonic and Great War warfare is rather easy to us hobbyists but to make it clear to people not inducted in these secrets is a different story all together. So how was I to go about this? And then it hit me: you twat, you've got a showcase full of little teachers ready to help out! So I dragged a bag filled with Napoleonic and Great War plastics (mostly HäT of course) to school and did two demonstration lessons.

To one of those lessons I actually brought a camera, but forgot to make pictures during the Napoleonic phase and then remembered the camera and asked a pupil (thanks Eliana ;-) ) to make some shots. Those are pictured below.
After showing a French column at Waterloo being beaten by some Dutch Infantry and guns I showed this WW1 set-up. A German trench being assaulted by ANZAC infantry supported by a French FT17 (yeah I know I haven't got the Mk IV's ready yet). Oh the fat bloke in the red shirt is obviously yours truly...





Here a German Fokker Dr VII spots for the German artillery:





Close up of the trench:



Casualties are mounting:



Now I know that this works out nicely I might do this more often. It was fun for me and the kids seemed to like it too.

Thanks for being patient and not wrecking the classroom H3c and H3b!

Cheerio Sander

At it again!

Hoi

Woohoo! Finally after 3+ weeks I have had chance to paint something again last Sunday. The WW1 German Cuirassiers are finished (I still have to do their horses but hey everything in due time)!

I have started with the 1806 Prussians and the Pirate lass I have put up on the blog earlier after she was coated. Pictures will follow when available. Besides that I have been cleaning up a huge load of HäT Austrian Chevauxlegeres and French Chasseurs a Cheval from Italeri.

On another topic altogether: just obtained the cd "Elect the Dead" by Serj Tankian (from System of a Down) and it's a rare gem indeed!

Cheers Sander

ducosim part II

Hoi,

Okay, I may have hinted that the battle was very one-sided and I lost very quickly but the battle was actually very tense and I did considerable damage to at least two enemy mechs. Engmir did however succeed in keep two of my mechs pretty much out of the battle by very sneakily positioning his mechs out of LOS.




The battle heats up as the HQ comes under fire. Dang, how I underestimated the little amount of armour this thing had! In the end it took Engmir about 3 turns of shooting before the thing was down, or rather blown UP.



For me the most fun part of the battle was when my Hatamoto Chi (the mech with the yellow crest looking like a samurai) charged Engmir's Enforcer. The Hatamoto did 40 points of damage amongst which was a hit to the cockpit and the result was that the Enforcer fell into the lake. A truly epic movie moment.






Yes I was very glad the charge succeeded. Usually my physical attacks go awry from the start...





A general view of our part of the DUCOSIM fair. There are usually 3 halls, one of which is reserved for wargaming. Games played include CBT, Warhammer Fantasy, WH40K, Warmachine, Battlefleet Gothic, Flames of War and the occasional Historical game (in this case an ACW game).


Special thanks have to go to Professor Tobias "Tobmeister" Wittwer for the pictures featuring yours truly!

ducosim part I

Hoi!

Well today I played a very nice game of Classic Battletech against a very valiant opponent with the callsign of "Engmir". The scenario we played tasked me with the protection of a Mobile Headquarters vehicle (needless to say I failed in this task miserably)and of course my opponent had to destroy it. Here are some pictures!

The Enemy's deployment( protecting their supply of salad!)

My deployment, the large dark coloured hexes in the left-centre are part of a mountain...

Engmir's forces close in for the Kill.

Me trying to remember what point I was making...

Dark Age

Hoi,

No, I am not going to talk about early medieval times. I am going through, what in lingua Fora is called, a "Dark Age" a certain period of time in which you are not entertaining your hobby/ special interest etc. In my case I have not painted anything in about 3 weeks. A brush? What's that again?

My new work and some personal circumstances have resulted in this time of inactivity. I am very anxious to start painting again and finish some of the running projects most of which the several WW1 projects but when I get home I am far too tired to even open the paint cans.

The silver lining will be this weekend as I will visit the DUCOSIM games fair again for some games of Battletech. I will keep you posted and hope to have some pics.

Cheers Sander

Something different altogether...

Hoi!

Today's update is more or less just to let everyone know how I am doing, which is fine! Just before the summer holiday started I had a job interview at an exclusive Private School which, to my great surprise, hired me out of 4 candidates even though I did not have the right papers for said job. I didn't quite know what to expect having always been employed by big public schools, but during my visits to the school and the conversations with the Principal and staff I found myself liking them a lot and gaining respect for their aims in regard of how they are running the establishment. Just last week thunder struck and my own old school called in desperate search of a teacher in history and they could offer me a rather better perspective then the private school... so I had a hard choice to make. In the end I decided to go for my old school since they offered me more teaching hours (and thus more income), I would be working with old classmates and teachers who have taught me in the past and it is only 3 blocks from my present house...

The job-interview at my old school went well and I was duly hired, now I had to call the private school to tell them I would resign my commission. Those are the phone calls I dread, but as it happens the principal was very cool about it even if my resignation put them in an awkward position of needing to find replacement for me very fast...

So now I will start at my old school tomorrow and am very curious as to what is in store for me.

On the hobby front things have been very quite, some minor health issues have made me take a lot of rest this last week and not much painting has been done. I must also admit that for the present I am very sick of Feld Grau and as soon as those WW1 German cavalry are finished I am going to do some Napoleonic Prussians again as a counterweight.

Well that's all for now

Cheerio Sander

More Paris Pictures!

Now a positive tip for all visitors to Paris is the Printemps Shopping Gallery which has a Roof Terrace from which you have an awesome city-view. Oh don't get your hopes up about the drinks though, since the wine wasn't really that good but the view is spectacular! They even provide you with a cardboard diorama disc which tells you what buildings you are looking at, very nice indeed.



As most people visiting Paris, we went to the Louvre. Another tip: there are several Virgin Mega stores in Paris (one is located in the Carouselle du Louvre) and there you can buy tickets to the Louvre museum itself which we did the evening before our visit and it shortened our waiting time getting in the Louvre enormously! The Louvre is another of these highly touristical things to experience: so we enter the museum itself, along with hundreds of other people and everywhere you look there's signs saying "Mona Lisa Salles 6" so the crowd starts a stampede up the stairs towards hall 6. At the top of the stairs is a big statue, I can't for the life of me remember how it's called, and all the tourists (most of whom have a walk-man guided tour thingy) stop in the middle of the stairway to take pictures damming the flow of peoples going up! Then the rat race towards that Eternal Smile is on again. Running past all halls 1 through 5, I cannot tell you what is in there sorry, we were flushed straight into hall 6 for well a very small picture of a woman smiling condescendingly down at everyone, yes madam the joke's on us! After that we dived out of the mainstream of tourists and looked up the less familiar expositions. In the end we had a chance of seeing the ancient Greek and Roman Archaeological artefacts and the halls of paintings of the old French, Flemish and Dutch masters. I can now say I have seen some of the art pieces we hobbyists see in the reference books a lot in person! You know what else is strange? This museum houses one of the world's biggest and most important art collections right? So one would assume the museum has some kind of educational responsibility to the larger world audience right? So why are ALL the signs next to the pieces of art in French ONLY!? No I don't want an audio tour! I want to be able to read what painting or statue I am looking at and then converse about it with the people I came to the museum with. I must be mad...



Crowning of Napoleon and Joséphine



Do I need to introduce this one?

While walking back to the hotel that day we stumbled along a small scene on the side walk I could not help but photograph:



I call this piece of art: "The Toy Soldiers Demise"

Well that's all as far as I am concerned.

Au Revoir!