chargedog

[chargedog]

Operation Drop Bear - Building The Platoon

It's time - Let's build an Aussie Platoon to take on the Dastardly Regular Opponent.

[chargedog]

SITREP: Back To Arnhem Boys!

Time for a news article. And yes, it's about a Kickstarter

Listen, you may not know this, but I have a thing about Operation Market Garden in WW2. Probably because the first game I actually tried to sit down and learn to play (rather than simply slapping the buttons to see if it worked) was Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far. Not the best choice for a 5 or 6 year old but technically it counts as history and honestly my Dad was better equipped to actually win…

[chargedog]

SITREP: A Weekend of Wargames

Wargaming Fun: Lots Hobby Progress: Zero The perfect way to spend the weekend!

[chargedog]

I'm Back! And now in Technicolour!

Yeah, I'm thinking I'm back. Gonna be some fun new things going on with ChargeBlog this year

[chargedog]

The Long War: Part 0 - Remembering How The Game Works

Well, that was a nice break. Let's play some Chain of Command, shall we?

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know I’m a big fan of Too Fat Lardies Chain of Command. You’ll also know that my Dastardly Regular Opponent is also keen on the game. Before the Great Move, we had roughly scheduled gaming into our calendars once a month (the most frequent we could arrange due to the regular opponent being busy with other commitments). The problem with this…

[chargedog]

SITREP - Mail Call

The blog may be on hiatus but the hobby pile keeps building!

Yeah yeah, I’m on hiatus (currently mostly stripping wallpaper and stressing) but that doesn’t stop the parcels from turning up and my hobby life from continuing. First of all, good news on the BPRE front – after the issues with my first box of figures, Echelon then sent over some replacements. After a little panic when it turned out Hermes was delivering them, I successfully managed to get it…

[chargedog]

Looking Back, Looking Forward - 2023

A little different but here is the traditional "start of new year" post. I have some exciting plans for 2023

Seeing as you’ll have this image for the last time, take the wide angle version 2022 is over and a new one has begun! Traditionally, at this point, I’d break out the stats and graphs, show you the diagrams, and then talk about the plans I have for the year. Then we’d laugh at all the stuff I promised I’d do last year and then didn’t get around to, slap me on the back, and look forward to doing…

[chargedog]

(Digital)Home Moved

And the move is done! You know, the easy one that actually saves me money rather than costing it. Because websites.

It took a little longer than planned but my blogs are now all moved over to my new host (IONOS for anyone interested). Hopefully, you don’t actually see any significant changes, aside from maybe some speed improvement. The only downside is my figure tracking database has been moved to my own house server due to some access controls on the new host. Then again, my plan to have it on full display…

[chargedog]

Heads Up - Moving (Web)Home

Little bit of house keeping - I'm moving my digital home!

So, at the same time as choosing to change where I live physically, I’m also changing where I live digitally! Basically, I’ve been massively overpaying for my current server host for what is a website that needs little processing power and a load of storage for photos of almost 10 years of hobby stuff. Well, the current host doesn’t let you get storage without a power increase and so I’ve been…

[chargedog]

A Smorgasbord of Gaming

2023 begins, and as such I found myself up in Darlington for New Year's gaming with the Regular Opponents

It is slowly becoming a habit that, at the start of the new year, the Regular Opponents and I gather in the Frozen North (Darlington) to bring in the day after New Year’s with a celebration of Wargaming. In the past, the Creative Regular Opponent has usually run a single massive game of Chain of Command and we’ve played from lunch to dinner, only stopping once our hunger has overwhelmed our love…

[chargedog]

SITREP: A Sequel Sitrep

A new sitrep to update the post from earlier this week - good news about the Phaseline figures I was having issues with.

After Sunday’s post, I managed to talk to the team at Echelon and reported my findings, including firing over some photos. After that evening, I posted my Sitrep, went to bed and then went up north for a day of wargaming (post on that fun coming soon). When I got back, I had some news from Echelon – after checking with other people who have received their Phaseline boxes, it seems I had received…

[chargedog]

SITREP: (Not Much) Fun with SiOCAST

I'm back to doing Sitreps to cover all my hobby stuff rather than risking the winds of social media. Come take a look!

It’s the new year and I trust Twitter to work correctly as much as I trust myself in a Greggs not to buy a steak bake so I’m going back to using my blog for all the little posts and updates. Enjoy! After my New Year’s celebration in Middlesbrough, the traditional New Year Shawarma and a drive back to Leeds, my original plan had been to assemble and at least undercoat the figures from the…

[chargedog]

A Contract in Awbari - Phaseline Unboxing

Merry Christmas, have an unboxing of the new BPRE 28mm expansion pack Phaseline.

Hey, remember when I said I was done with posts for the year? For those of you not on the website, you’re missing out on one of my favourite gifs to respond to people with I had to rush this video slightly due to house/Christmas things but here is my unboxing of the new Phaseline expansion for Black Powder Red Earth 28mm – you can find it embedded below or over at Youtube here. Hope you enjoy…

[chargedog]

28mm Ultramodern Wargaming in 2022

The End of 2022 is almost here, so let's see how it's going with the old standby, Ultramodern Wargaming

Look, I know I’m in the middle of packing up to move but it’s close to the end of the year, I just had the new BPRE box arrive in my hands (more on that this week) and Spectre earlier this week sent me an email talking about how they are no longer selling their ruleset. It’s a lot all at once and it’s got me thinking a fair amount about the main wargaming genre I spend my time in (even if fantasy…

[chargedog]

December 2022 Patreon Update – Last Sword Does It Again

New month, and Patreon wants your dollars. Let's talk about where mine is going...

[chargedog]

November 2022 Recap – Things Getting Busy

2022 is almost over, but that still means there is time for a couple more recaps on what my hobby time has been up to. This time, we're looking at November!

Okay, so literally on the day I’m writing this, I’m looking through and signing a big pile of paperwork that should be finishing off my house purchase. This whole thing has been kind of a nightmare the entire way (and there is still stuff that needs doing even after I pass the money over) but I’m really looking forward to it being done. It’s also been a bit of a sledgehammer on the desire to do…

[chargedog]

An Afternoon of Lard - Chain of Command

Many many weeks later, but I ran some Chain of Command for people!

One advantage of returning to Leeds is that I’m actually close to several of my friends who also happen to be wargamers (or wargamers who are my friends depending on who you ask). Since we finished lockdowns, we have tried to get together a reasonable amount to play some larger games, such as February’s Raiders of Tobruk game, which let’s be fair is mostly an excuse to catch up and hang out. As…