Death in the Dark Continent/Congo figures

I am back again with more plans and schemes that will remain my focus for about 10 minutes, before something else grabs my attention.

I recently bought the re-released Death in the Dark Continent rules from Northstar.  I went in for it because........well, it looked good and I had no figures for it and I have no will power, at all.  The rules came and caught my interest immediately, so all I needed was some figures.  On our recent trip to Partizan I spent a bit of cash and ended up with a selection of figures from Wargames Foundry, Copplestone Castings and Northstars African Range.  All told I had a mixed bag of over 80 figures by the time I had finished.  I figured that would be plenty, stupid of me I know. I decided to base them on pennies (UK 1 pence coins) as they are magnetic and would also allow me to use the figures for Congo games.  So sabot bases were needed for DitDC, which were easily arranged by emailing Supreme Littleness Designs and asking if he could knock something together for me.  In less than 24 hours he had done so and I had ordered them.  Top service from a nice chap who does exactly what it says on the website.

So, I started slapping paint about in a random manner and eventually ended up with a load of painted(sort of) figures.  So here they are in their glory, sort of.  Well, at least they are painted and none of them have been in my possession for more than a few months!

 Here are 20 warriors, all with wicker shields and spears.

20 more warriors, some with fancy headdresses.

 10 more warriors, 5 musket armed types and some porters.  This lot include the freebie figures that came with the pre-order of the rules book.

 24 Pygmies, because who doesn't like a pygmy!  They are right sneaky little blighters in the rules, very hard to hit if they are in cover.

Finally for now are some disorder bases.  Disorder is the normal unit killer in the rules, it takes a very lucky shot to actually kill a base so they tend to run away rather than get wiped out.

So there they all are.  The planned force is a Cannibal Tribe list coming in at a nice 298 points made up of the following units.
One unit of 4 Elite Warrior bases including the Chief
Two units of 4 Warrior bases
Three units of 4 skirmisher bases armed with spears
Two units of 6 pygmy bases with bows
The Surprise stratagem, so they can all set up in ambush
Some pitfalls to force the enemy into the rough and slow them down

 Here are the figures on the sabot bases.  First up is 2 units of 4 bases of warriors.  I need another 12 warriors including a chief to complete the fighting arm of the force. Also shown here is the baggage base, 3 bearers.

 These are the 3 units of 4 bases of skirmishers.  Only 2 figures per base, so easy to tell apart from the fighting types.

Finally (for now), these are the sneaky pygmies.  These are all the pygmy figures that Wargames Foundry make, so that's all there will be I think.

As I said, I need to get a Chief type and some more warriors, so Northstar will get an order as soon as my finances have recovered. In the future I plan a Naval Landing Party force using the Perry Miniatures Sudan figures.  They can have a gatling gun......

So that's it for Africa for the time being, although I have also painted up some other things for another plan, more on that tomorrow.

Adios for now.

Not much to report

No news is supposedly good news, but not so much when it's the hospital your waiting to hear from.  Ah well.  Onto the important stuff.

Gaming has still been limited for the same reasons.  I popped in to the Devon club and saw some fun looking games.  I couldn't stay as long as I would have liked but it was good to get out for a bit again.  The games are reported on the blog so have a look and see what they get up too.

I managed to run a multiplayer game of Chain of Command for the Monday night lads and it seemed to go pretty well.  It lasted a couple of weeks as I struggle by 10pm but the Germans were eventually defeated by the raiders.  It was a bit "different", with two forces competing with each other whilst attacking a German camp.  I will eventually put up the scenario and some photos but not until I have played it a bit more and sorted a few things out.

Painting is going on slowly.  I am waiting for a delivery from Firestorm Games after the Royal Mail lost the original package.  I can't recommend these guys enough, their customer service is exceptional and they are my go-to online store as well as getting an in person visit anytime I am in Cardiff.  While I am waiting for them I have been painting some odd bits I have got here. 

First up was a 28mm Morris CS9 armoured car that I have had in a drawer for years gathering dust. By adding a couple of Perrys 8th army figures I now have a decent addition to my VBCW force, espescially as it has a Boys anti-tank rifle and a Lewis MG to suppress those damn rebellious types.



Then there was a bit of an oddity.  Some time ago Northstar sold off their Studio Miniatures stuff cheap and I grabbed a box of German WW2 zombies.  No idea why, it seemed like a good idea at the time.  They sat in a box until this year when the Too Fat Lardies Christmas New Year Special came out with additional rules for Chain of Command.  What did these rules cover.......German WW2 Zombies!  So out came the figures, glue was liberally applied and paint was slopped over them.  Voila 30 German zombies!

MDF has really made an impact in wargaming, first with buildings and terrain and now with vehicles and ships.  TT Combat appeared on the radar recently and have some really nice models and very decent prices.  I stumped up some pennies and bought a Cargo Ship and very nice it is too.  Measuring nearly 20" long and over 5" high it is really good value.  I spent a day putting it together and filling in the bow area to make it smoother, then out came the cheap craft paints and away I went.  Then I dirtied it up with some chalk powder and the like as it supposed to be a tramp steamer type of thing rather than a nice, clean ship from a merchant company.  I am really impessed with this company and I will be getting some of their buildings as soon as finances allow.

Now I had a ship, but no crew.  I also wanted to use it for my VBCW force of Royalists based in Torquay, so it would need to defend itself from the Fascists/Communists/Commoners etc.  Northstar again provided the figures with an impulse purchase of a couple of packs of Pulp Figures crew.   A quick paintjob and there they were, ready to sail into harms way.  But they will need some guns to protect their valuable cargo, so HLBS to the rescue with a really nice model of a 6pdr Hotchkiss  gun. A couple of Lewis guns on the bridge wings and it's ready to go.  The guns are all magnetized with magnets also hidden under the decking of the ship, so they are removeable.


 So, that's it for now.  I am off to do something less productive.  Have fun folks.

Not much to see here

Hello again, it's time for another rambling post of no interest whatsoever.

I have done very little gaming over the last month, but still managed to do a little here and there. Chain of Command is still the favourite game here, so this post by Trailape is worth checking out if you are undecided about which way to go for a WW2 small action set of rules.  I have tried out both sets of rules and my preference is also for CoC.  That's not saying Bolt Action is bad, it's just a bit too much like Warhamster 40k for me.  Trailapes post also brought about a special offer from TFL, so if you are considering getting CoC, now is the time.

Purchases of lead and/or plastic have been limited by a serious lack of funds, being sick for so long has really hit the finances and belts have been tightened.  So I have bought nothing lately, but the lead mountain has grown somewhat significantly due the the amazing generosity of Gaz Amos (top bloke even if he still has a pornstar moustache).  After my previous post about Fighting Season he was kind enough to offer me some Mongrel Miniatures Arab and Syrian figures.  Assuming it was a pack or two I gratefully accepted.  A box duly arrived from deepest darkest Salford, but it was much bigger and heavier than I expected.  Opening it was like Christmas as a kid, I knew what I was expecting but what else was there.  Arab and Syrians but more of them than I expected, plus some Israelis and Congo figures from Mongrel, some US infantry from TAG and some Cold War Russians and Yanks to top it all off.  Thanks Gaz, you have restored my mojo a bit and paint has been slapped on lead for a change.

Painting has been a mixed bag, with several long delayed projects finally getting some work done to them.

 I ordered a 15mm factory from Sarissa Precision as all my buildings are residential so I wanted a change.  It came in a big bag and was a pleasure to build.  Unlike 4Ground it comes unpainted, so is a blank canvas and open to a wide range of paint schemes.  I sort of followed one that I saw on their website, except I added windows of plastic and printed off some roof tiles.  Paint was mostly from B&Q in tester pots with a few craft paints added.  All in all I think it came out pretty well and I am looking forward to seeing it dominate the table as it is 180mm square.

 The roof is removable and there is a walkway that the outside stairs lead up too.  I have some fencing arrived now so will be making up a yard for it, just to tie in with the other buildings I have based.

Following on from my German platoon for the Barbarossa period, I picked up a box of Battlefronts new plastic Russian infantry when we visited Battlegroup Souths show at Bovington tank museum.  They are nice figures and the box includes Maxim mg teams too, so plenty of firepower to support the Russian horde.  I did get the metal command pack as well to provide the 50mm mortar and flag bearer.   A quick check of the list for the Russian force in 1941 and the platoon was painted up.  CO(with a flag), 2IC, Commissar, 50mm mortar team and four squads of 13 men makes it a large platoon, but quite tactically rigid as the squads are not broken up into teams.  They will make a change from the Germans though, more a blunt instrument than a scalpel I think 

 I also picked up some support for the Russians, with some Zvezda T-26s and Plastic Soldier Company artillery.  The Maxims are from the infantry box, so the platoon is almost 100% plastic (7 metal figures out of 98).  The five T-26s are more than I will ever need for CoC, but a nice force for Battlegroup games.  Two Maxims, two 45mm AT guns and two 76mm infantry guns also gives a reasonable spread of support too.

Finally I purchased a Warbases Mark I tank (just because I could) a while ago and have finally got it put together and painted up.  It will be used for my VBCW force, based on the fact that many were sent out to towns as displays after WW1 and Newton Abbot was a major train depot so had plenty of engineer types to get it up and running again.  I have tarted it up a bit from the original.  I didn't really like the square gun barrels or exhaust pipe so I replaced them with some brass tube and I also added some Lewis guns to the sponsons and in the bow, courtesy of Colonel Bills supply store.  I am happy with how it has turned out and it is a much cheaper alternative than the others out there while still making a decent replica of the original. 

A final note about hospitals and such.  I am still p****d off with UCLH for the way they cancelled at the last minute, leaving us over £100 out of pocket in hotel costs.  I have now been referred to Mid Essex hospital in Chelmsford(getting further away every time) and should be there early next month to see a top man in the gastroparesis field apparently.  Fingers crossed and all that.

Catch you all later, I am off to do something less constructive for a bit.

Down, but not out.........

I'm still here, unluckily for some.  Sorry for the lack of posts, I have been struggling for a while with being ill for so long and it all got on top of me for a few days weeks months.  Still not back to normal, but things are better than they have been for a while.  Still being sick, still got stomach ache, still feel like crap, but I am off to University College Hospital in London on Thursday to see a new specialist so hopefully things will start to get sorted sooner rather than later.

Right, enough of the miserable crap and on to the important things.  Wargames!

I have struggled to get much of anything done since my last post back in June.  My concentration is sorely lacking and my patience has left the building.  I have "made" myself do some painting, but really not felt like it to be honest.  I managed to finish off a Warlord German Grenadier platoon that I had started back in June. These are nice figures and paint up easily, even with my level of skill.

I also got an engineer squad and attendant Sd251 Hanomag done.  The figures are Warlord again, but from the early war set with metal "pioneer" bits added.  They look the part and the extra bits do make them different from the usual infantry figures.  The Hanomag is by Rubicon and is a cracking model.  The kit comes with parts to make the engineers Sd251/7, the ambulance variant (Sd251/8) or the command Sd251/10 with a 3.7cm PaK gun.  I can't recommend this kit highly enough, it's a beauty. 



 Then it was onto something new.  The bunch of reprobates fine upstanding chaps that I game with on a Monday night are play-testing the forthcoming "Fighting Season" rules by Too Fat Lardies.  These are designed to cover the more modern insurgency(post 2000) conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan and are based on the Chain of Command system, but with many differences to allow for the less rigid style of combat.  So, I have been looking at getting some figures to play it and it worked out damn expensive.  I did plan to do it all in 15mm, but the lads all moaned about it being "too small for their ageing eyes to see" and "28's look better" and so on.  So 28's it is and, in my humble opinion  the best figures out there are Empress Miniatures and Eureka Miniatures.  Sadly both are a bit out of my price range at the moment.  So I looked about and came up with a cunning plan, at least for me it's cunning!  As I like to have enough forces to play the game at home I didn't need to worry about matching in with other peoples stuff so much.  I came across this blog and saw the 1/48 models from Airfix's "Operation Herrick" range and was sold.  A quick scout on eBay and a few models were winging their way to me. 
The initial purchase was an infantry patrol box and a Landrover Patrol box, which gave me 16 figures and a Snatch Landrover.  The figures are more realistically proportioned than wargames figures, but are close enough to the Empress figures that they will do.  Then a bargain appeared on eBay and I ended up ordering two more boxes, a bit larger but a lot cheaper.  These boxes gave me the extra figures I needed to make a full platoon, so here they are.  Three sections of 8 men, plus a command group of 6 and 3 "extras".  Not too bad and I am pretty happy with how they have come out.

The other bits in the bigger boxes included a pair of Landrover WMIKs, so I put one of those together as well.

Here are the 2 Landies, ready for action.  I had picked up the vehicle crew box as well, which gave me the crew for the WMIK and a spare figure for the Snatch.  Airfix models have certainly improved from my youth, the level of detail on these kits in amazing, even down to the mesh in the glass being replicated with decals.  I have some stowage to add to these from Red Zebra Models.  Very quickly delivered and beautifully cast, they will add that "lived in" look.

The final part of the boxes contents is a Lynx helicopter!  I was a bit concerned about this model as it is rated as a "5" for difficulty and it's been a few years since I have made anything approaching that level of complexity.  The instructions and parts are great though and it went together really well I think.  The WMIK was quite a complex model with 57 steps and 80+ parts, but the Lynx blew it out of the water.  There are 100 steps in the instructions and over 200 parts, plus over 150 decals.  I have modelled it as landed and with one door mounted GPMG.  It was quite a job to get it done, but I am fairly happy with it and hope it will be off use as an objective or something in the game at some point.  And yes, I do have another one to make at a (much) later date.  The price was too good to turn down, each box (8 men, 1 WMIK and 1 Lynx) cost £15!  An Infantry Patrol box(8 men) is about £10, so the price was definitely right.

Still to be made is the 2nd Lynx, another WMIK and I also have a Jackal to do.  And I would like a Warrior at some point....or maybe two. ;-) 

So there it is.  I will post again soon with a few pictures from the little bit of gaming I have managed over the last few months, but that's your lot for now.  Catch you all later.

Just a quickie....

Been a bad weekend, so not a lot to report.  I popped into the Devon Wargames meet, but didn't stay as I felt rough.  There were some nice games going on, a large Napoleonic bash with 28mm figures, a Chain of Command game in post war Indonesia(I think) and a game of 15mm Ancients.  More updates will appear in due course on the Devon Wargames blog.  Nathan has also just posted about the game on his blog.

 I have also updated my CoC Platoons page as I realised that I had expanded the collection somewhat since I posted it.  I had only shown four platoons on there, two German and two American.  I now have the full amount(for now) shown along with their support.  There are now nine platoons shown, which should be enough shouldn't it?  Not a chance.  At least three more are planned just for Europe/Russia, then I am going to look at either the far east or desert theatres!  Not sure which yet, but I am tempted by Crusaders going up against M11/39s.  Tin foil armour rules, until the German's arrived and messed it all up.

A quick shout out to the nice chaps at Firestorm Games too.  I placed an order with them for some French vehicles and decals from Battlefront.  It sat on "processing" for several weeks, with one part of the order changing to "packed", but the other bits never arriving. So I rang them as I needed them for the OML3 game last weekend.  A quick chat with a very helpful man saw my order being changed to a substitute that they did have and promptly being posted first class to make sure I got them in time.  Now to some that may sound like a screw up as they didn't get what I wanted, but hold on a second.  I have been chatting to several people in the wargames trading business over the last month or six and all of them have expressed their problems with Battlefront lately.  You place your order on the Monday, on Friday a delivery arrives.  That sounds good, until you open the box and realise that you haven't got what you ordered, just what BF feel like sending you.  I find it hard to blame the retailer for the ineptitude and ignorance of their supplier.  Battlefront have seemingly dropped the ball over the last couple of years, which is a shame as they do some cracking models.  So thanks Firestorm for sorting out my order and getting it too me in time for me to paint the little Frenchies up.  It obviously helps that they are a Welsh shop.  Land of my Fathers and all that.

So that's it for now.  I am struggling this weekend so didn't get much of anything done sadly.  Fingers crossed for tomorrow.  I have a Rubicon Sd251 and some Warlord Germans to finish off.  Hope you're all doing better and getting some gaming in. 

2015 plans and all that jazz

My plans for 2014 were mostly sorted.  I have enough to play Chain of Command in 1940 and 1944 France.  I started (then stopped) my Longstreet forces.  I didn't buy too many figures, actually less than I painted for once.  I did buy too many new rulesets though, a couple of which will probably end up costing me money this year.

So, plans for 2015.

1. Paint my 15mm French 1940 infantry for Chain of Command (underway already)
2. Paint some 25mm Napoleonics that I have inherited (also underway)
3. Paint some more bloody Zombicide figures, as we have season 3 due soon!
4. Stop buying new rules (I have a rulebook "ooh shiney" syndrome)
5. Go to at least one of the Partizan shows this year.
6. Get the figures for a couple of Lion Rampant forces bought and painted.

So that's the plan.  As with all good plans it won't survive first contact with the enemy and the enemy in this case is anything new!  For example, I "received" a copy of Lion Rampant for Christmas from my youngest son(who is 20).  By "received" I mean I bought it, my wife wrapped it and put a label on it saying "To Dad from Michael" and then I unwrapped it on Christmas morning and said "Great, just what I wanted".

I have played 2 games of it now and am now planning on doing enough troops of each type to do 2 forces.  So the Perry twin's will be making money from me already and it's only January 7th.  Willpower of a damp lettuce leaf, that's me.

Here is a picture of my first game, with my "Scots" facing of against Nathan's "English".  King of the Hill, once I was up there he was in trouble and the Scottish spears ruled the field of battle.  It did help that he failed to move his heavy cavalry 3 times on the trot, allowing me to get up there and deploy in schiltron.  Plus he rolled double one on a morale roll for his archers after my skirmisher types shot 3 of them, so they routed early on.

Fun rules with a quick and easy system and enough difference in units to keep it interesting.  Thanks to Nathan for providing everything except the rules, including several cups of tea.

However, I should be painting up some of the 15mm ACW, 15mm AWI, 15mm WW2, 25mm Ancients, 6mm Seven Years War, 15mm Bush Wars, 15mm and 25mm Napoleonics or 25mm WW2 that I have here, not planning new purchases and painting.

I am a bad, bad man.

Still, it could be worse. 

See what I mean.  Happy New Year to you all.

P.S.  A quick shout out to Magnetic Displays, whom I ordered some magnabase from on December 28th and received on December 30th.  Awesome and thank you.

Project Cold-War Chain of Command

Hello again.  Yes, I'm back after surviving the madness that was Salute.  No pictures, as so many others already do it and I can't be bothered with doing it as well.  I bought very little, a box of Victrix new plastic peltasts, half for my eldest son and half for me, a nice mdf gate from Warbases, a copy of Charlie Don't Surf from the Lardies and, erm, that was it.  I know, a poor effort all round, but I was there more to deliver some of Gus' collection than to get things for myself.  That's not to say that I couldn't have spent a lot, there was so much there that I could have quite happily bought, but I restrained myself.  I doesn't help that I had dropped a big chunk of change on Battlefront Anzacs in their 40% off sale(more on that in a bit).

Anyway, back to the point of this post.  Chain of Command, I really like these rules and they have quickly become one of the first games of choice amongst my local gaming buddies.  I got to thinking about the old, loved but underused figures I have here, sat idling their time away in drawers and boxes.  Now I can be quite mercenary with figures, usually thinking that if I haven't played with them for more than a couple of years I may as well get rid of them.  So why do I still have my Cold War 28mm collection then?  Because I love 'em, that's why.  Some lovely figures from Mongrel Miniatures and Mo-Fo Miniatures, supported by some awesome vehicles from Sloppy Jalopy and the now sadly defunct Chieftain Models. 


I have enough to do a platoon of British in either Spartans(RAF Regiment) or Fv432s(Infantry), supported by Scorpions, a Sultan, a Samson, a Ferret and a Chieftain!  Almost all are painted, except the Fv432's, whose dastardly tracks were just too annoying to finish off and the Ferret.

 They have a Milan, a tripod GPMG and some Carl Gustavs as well










Against them I have enough Russians for a full platoon, with RPGs and the like.  They also have vehicular support in the shape of 3 BMPs and 2 recently acquired "toy" T-55s, from the James Bond Collection.

I also have a small force of US Marines, but not enough for a platoon.

So, my plan is to do an easy variation of Chain of Command to allow me to use this collection.  Most of the rules don't need changing as the small unit tactics don't seem to have changed all that much.  Weapons seem to fire a bit faster and there are better communications now, but the squad/platoon still appears to work in much the same way.


Now, I must admit that I have been a bit cheeky here and stolen, ahem, borrowed some of the following information from another blog, Sapper Joes Wargaming & Toys.  He has worked out most of the weapon clarifications already and his thoughts match mine pretty well, so thank you Sapper Joe.

L1A1 self loading rifles / Semi automatic rifle

L42A1 or SVD rifle / Sniper rifle

AK47 and M16A1 rifle / Assault rifle

L2A3 Sterling / SMG

L4 Bren or RPK/D  / Magazine feed LMG

L7A2 or PKM GPMG / Belt feed LMG

L7A2 GPMG (in Sustained Fire mode) / Tripod mounted MMG

M79 grenade launder / Rifle grenade with a minimum range of 10” (30m)

M16A1 & M203 grenade launcher / Assault rifle with rifle grenade (Min. range 10”)

L9A1 51mm mortar / Light mortar

L16A1 81mm mortar / Medium mortar

I need to work out stats for vehicles, armour, gun effect etc.  Also details for AT weapons, as the infantry have RPGs, LAWs and Carl Gustav rockets.  Then there are the ATGWs, as the Britis have a Milan team and the Russians have AT-3 Saggers and AT-5 Spandrel missiles on the BMPs.

The other part of the plan is to also do a "What If" using my new 15mm Anzacs and my old AK-47 figures.  I like the Anzacs, with the Centurions and M113 Beast with the Saladin turret, so I got some and plan to do an Australian Intervention force in Africa.  Don't know why, but it seemed like a good idea at the time, so I now have 3 platoons of Anzac infantry, 6 M113s with MG turrets, 2 M113 Beasts and 2 Centurions.

More to follow as hopefully I may get a small playtest game in tomorrow with Nathan.....hopefully.  Keep rolling those dice.

Zombies and Peter Pig

Monday night was Zombicide night and much fun was had.  We played 2 games and managed, just , to win both.  Zombicide is a cooperative game, where you definitely have too work together to have any chance of completing the mission.  Each survivor has special abilities and it is vital to use these to succeed.  Game one was won by the simple method of gathering as many zombies as possible into one zone, then chucking in a molotov to fry the lot.  We just managed it and then the 5 remaining survivors rushed in and cleared the building.  Game 2 was much harder and we ended up losing 3 of the 6 survivors, with my cop sacrificing himself to allow the 2 women survivors to rush in and claim the last objective.  Its a cracking game and I would consider getting it if I had £60 spare.  Sadly I don't, because I have spent it all on lead and plastic.

Last Friday I placed an order with Peter Pig for just over £80 worth of assorted ACW and AWI figures.  As I placed it late on Friday night, and I knew that they were going to Vapnartak in York on Sunday, I didn't expect any delivery any time soon.  Then the postie knocked on the door yesterday with a parcel from Mr and Mrs Piggy.  Cracking service as per usual and, again as usual, the figures are lovely.  I now have all the figures I need for my 2 AWI forces for Maurice.  I have painted up another 2 units of foot and 1 of horse this week, but am now back to painting for others again.  I have 53 US Paras on the pegs right now, to be followed by another unit of Napoleonic cavalry.

Loo-Brush trees.  I just don't like them much.

Saturday is another meeting of Devon Wargames Group, so I am out on Saturday, but have nothing on for Sunday.  My plan is to make some trees, using Woodlands Scenic armatures and foliage/flock.  Having seen some videos and tutorials on Big Lees and the Model Dads blogs,  I have decided to make my own as pre-made trees either look like green loo brushes or are damn expensive.  As I have matured got older my thoughts on what looks good on a table have changed.  When I started wargaming I used an old sheet with books underneath to make hills.  I am not knocking this as I had a great time using this simple method, but now I look at the table and think "It could look better".  So I have started spending money on terrain pieces as opposed to just buying more figures.  Hence things like the 4ground fences and walls or the Warbases buildings.  I still prefer to make it myself, even if just from a kit, but I am usually happy that I have done so.  Wish me luck with the trees though, I can see glue going everywhere.

It is now ten minutes to midnight and I am going to bed.  Catch you all later and keep rolling those dice.

Peter Pig do it again!

Its nice to receive things you order.  It's nicer to receive them quickly.  It's more than annoying when you have to wait for weeks on end, with no news from the people you order from.

Case 1.  Order to Battlefront.  Big company with offices in several countries.  Placed on 17th October.  Order for £10 worth of guns, but the size of the order shouldn't matter.  I have emailed them twice and both times received the same reply.  "Sorry, its out of stock.  They will be back in stock in 1-2 weeks".   Which is fine, except the 2 emails I sent were more than 2 weeks apart.  It has now been 46 days since I placed the order and I am, to say the least, unimpressed.  I am close to cancelling the order and buying something else.

Case 2.  Order to Peter Pig.  Small company, run primarily by a husband and wife team with a few employees.  Placed on evening of 28th November.  Order for over £120 worth of various packs from 4 ranges (AWI, WW2, AK47 and buildings).  Order arrived on 1st December, all correct and everything is lovely. 

So, big company fails where small company delivers.  Well done Peter Pig and thank you.  Another order will be placed in January/February to complete my British AWI force, after which there will be more ordered.  Battlefront.....meh!  I will stick to Peter Pig and Plastic Soldier Company I think.