Sunday 12 February 2023

"Here Comes The Rain Again".....

Here comes the rain again.Falling on my head like a memory
Falling on my head like a new emotion        The Eurythmics 1983 (ish)



After the extensive flooding we had in Auckland a couple of weeks ago, the last thing we needed was this news.....


The garage and "family room" (second lounge) are now home to garden furniture, pot plants etc to avoid the possibility that they may become airborne over the next 36-48 hours as the eye of the storm passes along the length of most of the North Island, from north to south. Apparently there have already been power outages in Pukekohe, and certainly many areas further north are reported to be suffering from extended power cuts. A work from home day tomorrow for me, and possibly days off for both my kids as all flights cancelled and unlikely any work can be done on a building site in the middle of a cyclone!

Not that I let any of this prevent me from making progress on my current mini project/expansion of 15mm WWII British infantry......


Once again, all based on 30mm x 30mm bases.


A mixture of Command Teams, NCO Teams, LMG Teams and Fire Teams



The one in the middle is another 2" mortar team.


I have another 15 of these guys painted up to complete 5 more Fire Team bases - I will then have 24 bases and this may well be enough for any scenarios of Heroes of Normandie we are likely to play - pity I did not have some spare Russians, as the same company makes a Stalingrad game, which Andrew also has a copy of....!

I also have the first batch of the Warlord 28mm Chasseurs a Cheval nearing completion, so they should be posted soon, then there is a request from Dai in Ca. for an 1812 collection parade....

As always, I appreciate all visitors and doubly so if they leave a comment!

34 comments:

  1. Great looking mix of minis!
    Oh, and news about Cyclone is disturbing...

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    1. Thanks Michal, it is currently howling around our roof and chimney like a banshee - but at least the rain has stopped - flooding is the worse of the impacts from this type of storm, in my opinion.

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  2. Nail everything down matey. Is this a regular occurrence down there?

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    1. Lol...my wife literally decided at about 1030pm that we needed to do that with the plastic tarps covering the front of our fire wood storage box, JBM. Most everything has been removed from the garden, except an old kids swing set....if it gets windy enough to blow that around, we have insurance!
      We do get the tail end of tropical cyclones most years but they rarely hit us at full strength, like this one seems likely to do...last time was about thirty years ago I think.

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  3. Nasty looking storm. Batten down the hatches and prepare for a long painting session.

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    1. Thanks Jon....as long as we don't have power cuts, I will be fine. Can't paint without a bit of light to help my old eyes these days!

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  4. Keep dry and safe. Painting is a solace in bad weather,. The Brits look nice and business like. Looking forward to more posts.

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    1. Thanks Joe, we will and keep out of the worst of the weather. More pix to follow soon!

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  5. Once again this made the news in the UK Keith, probably due to our obsession with the weather. Fingers crossed it won't turn out too bad compared to the last deluge. A good opportunity to paint though and more nice Brits to add to your collection:).

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    1. I had assumed it might have done Steve. I certainly hope the rain isn't as bad as a couple of weeks back when hundreds of homes were inundated. Painting will certainly be one way to get through it!

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  6. More good looking Tommies!

    Best of luck to you and yours with that storm Keith, sounds bloody awful.

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    1. Thanks Dai, so far, so good, although the worst is still to reach us. A 15m (50 foot) wave was recorded in Whangarei harbour ( the largest population centre north of Auckland) apparently. Fortunately, we are about as far from the sea as it's possible to get in New Zealand, so waves etc aren't really a concern.

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  7. Best of luck weathering the storm! The figures are looking great!

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    1. Cheers Bill, I am reasonably confident we will get through unscathed but you never know, so fingers crossed as well!

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  8. Definitely time to stay indoors and paint toy soldiers…

    Look after yourself.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Cheers Aly. Unfortunately, my work is eminently suited to "working from home" so that's what I am supposed to be doing right now 😇

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  9. Hope the weather improves quickly and that your district comes out unscathed.

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  10. More lovely WWII infantry. As I said to Mark I was half expecting the cyclone to change direction and hit us, but the weather in Queensland has been so hot that I think it has been pushing it away. I am surprised it hasn't blown itself out as it approaches New Zealand though. Fingers crossed it's not too bad. Norfolk Island copped a direct hit but they seem to have had a lucky escape.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence....yes apparently Gabrielle changed direction at the last minute and Norfolk Island was spared the brunt of her fury. She is now downgraded to a Cat 2 storm but still packing a bit of a punch. Our operations north of Auckland have been suspended TFN for safety reasons.

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  11. I immediately thought of the same song.. now it's in my head.

    just more evidence how outside is a terrible place and we all should be inside painting miniatures or even better; playing miniature games with them.

    best wishes for no hurts or damages. 😀

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    1. Thanks Stew...hope you enjoying Annie Lennox on loop! We are also hoping to avoid any serious effects from the crappy weather 🙏

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    2. It’s like walking on broken glass…

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    3. LOL - not an Annie Lennox fan then Stew?

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  12. These Tommies look good Keith. Will we see them in action soon?

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    1. Thanks Chris, that's kind of reliant on Andrew and what days he has available, as I can't always make it when he issues an invitation!

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  13. The rain has certainly picked up here in the last half hour, Keith. It’s not quite as bad as two weeks ago…yet…but there is time - this thing us with us for another day yet I think.

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    1. I am SURE I answered this a few hours back Mark....although events had already overtaken your comment (see my reply to Ben below) Its blowing a gale again here now and I doubt our freight aircraft will be operating tonight after all - they were hoping we might be able to do reduced flights starting at 2300 but not looking hopeful at this stage.

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  14. Nicely done units and keep your head down in the storms 👍

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    1. Cheers Matt...Gabrielle seems to have done her dash as far as we are concerned but she is still dishing it out further south...lots of flooding in areas already flooded two or three times in the last twelve months...Napier and Hastings area is particularly badly hit.

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  15. I hope you have made it through all the rain Keith. I see from the news here that it has got very bad.

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    1. Thanks Ben - yes, fortunately, the worst we had was a power outage at 0030 that set of the internal siren of our alarm, because the back up battery was flat. I had to get into the top of the spare bedroom cupboard, open up the control panel and disconnect the terminals - then the power came back on ten minutes later!
      I think in general, Auckland suffered less from this than the freak flood a couple of weeks ago, but further south in Hakes Bay - Napier and Hastings area - it looks cataclysmic - multiple bridges washed away, people sitting on the roofs of their houses with 2m of water surrounding them etc...it is going to be years before some of the damage is rectified...

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