SAM site at Fót and the air defence of Budapest in the Cold War
In the recent period, due to work and family matters, I havelimitedo time for the hobby and the blog. But I still plan to continue posting, so here it is one from an earlier trip. Hope you will enjoy it! On the holiday weekend of the 15th March we decided on visiting the late Surface-to-Air…
Report from the table, vacation edition – 2022/01
In the foggy last week of February we had a little and short vacation and visited the city of Gyula, situated on the border with Romania. There are several historical sites in and around the city, but I will only focus now on the castle, located in the middle of Gyula. History The city of…
The Plastic Soldier Company’s 15mm Russian Infantry in Summer Uniform: review
I don’t think that I have to introduce the Plastic Soldier Company for those who build, paint and play with 15mm or 25mm WW2 or modern battles (and nowadays they have a 15mm ancient and medieval range too). I have just purchased their box of 15mm Soviet infantry in summer dress, to play them against…
Summary of 2021
Another year is over, this is going to be the 2nd end-of-the-year summary post on this blog. Although we all hoped that the COVID will end, it is still with us. Home office periods came and passed away which meant that I had a fluctuating amount of time for the hobby. But let’s see the…
HRA – Hungarian Royal Army: the HRA cavalry and mobile forces during Operation Barbarossa, part 2 – operations
After moving through the uniform and organisation of the cavalry forces during the Barbarossa campaign, this part will be about the combat operations of the Mobile Corps and the Carpathian Group in the Soviet Union, some more OOBs and a short analysis on how effective these units were. But first of all, after the first…
HRA – Hungarian Royal Army: the HRA cavalry forces during Operation Barbarossa, part 1
The next part of my HRA project will be the cavalry forces, especially their operations and performance in the Operation Barbarossa, the attack against the Soviet Union. Uniform After the 1st World War and the turmoil that followed it, the new Hungarian Royal Army (HRA) needed a uniform to equip the remaining troops. As the…
HRA – Hungarian Royal Army: the HRA River Forces during WW2
To continue with the Hungarian Royal Army’s unit types during WW2, this post will be about a lesser-known branch, the River Forces. History After the 1st World War, on 1st March 1921 the Royal Hungarian River Guard (Magyar Királyi Folyamőrség) was established under the Ministry of Interior. Officially they carried out police activities in relation…
Company of Heroes Board Game: alternative use for the bits and bods
My Company of Heroes Board Game finally arrived, after supporting it on Kickstarter. I never thought that I will have to wait around 2 years for it, but the COVID, the problem in Suez and other supply problems led it to their. Anyway the boxes and what are inside them are incredible and high quality.…
Terrain: Italian Vineyards (BB116, Battlefront)
In the pause of the fights you just lay down in the shadows of the vineyards, reach out to eat some grapes, enjoy the sour and sweet taste and think about getting some local wines too. Can you imagine anything better? Well, if you want to recreate this feeling on your table, then Battlefront can…
Folding gaming table from Gamemat: review
Mostly because of work I don’t really have time to go down to a club and play wargames, so solo gaming remained as a viable option. During the home office period I started to look at different solutions on how to set up a gaming space at home. My requirements were that the playing surface…
A blog worth to read: Third World War 1987
When I decided to start this blog, my aim was to organise and write down the details of my different projects, plus to provide information in less-known topics. To follow this original objective, this post will be a blog recommendation. I really like blogs where the writer publishes posts in novel-like quality about an alternative…
Report from the table, vacation edition – 2021/10
Welcome again! It has been a while since my last report, but the weeks were full with work and family matters and only had limited time for painting (although I had plenty of time to read new rules for future games). I will make a post about how the different projects are going on, but…
HRA – Hungarian Royal Army: armoured divisions during WW2 late war
As Battlefront is coming out with a new army book for their Flames of War rule system, called Bagration Axis-Allies, containing late war Hungarian armies and units, I thought I will prepare a short summary about the Hungarian Royal Army’s (HRA) armoured divisions and units in 1944-45. I’m long planning to build some armour to…
Report from the table – 2021/9
It has been a quite long time since my last report, let’s see how are the projects going on my table? The last few weeks were quite full of work and sometimes I found that I had a mood for playing some solo turns on the table (now testing the rule 7 Days To The…
Terrain: Wooden walls (TER-40, Wargamer)
Your hostile neighbour harasses you? You have some unruly children or unfaithful wife, who needs to be kept inside your property? Don’t despair, what you need is a tall fence! My second purchase from the company Wargamer is their wooden walls set, code TER-40. The set arrived in a nice big box and within it…
Report from the table – 2021/8
It is May. The summer and good weather is arriving, also it is time a for a report from my table. I’m continuously painting the minis for the Mongol project, I would like to form some units for Lion Rampant rule system and play some games in the future. The WW2 Typhoons are ready and…
The Mongols are coming! – The aftermath of the battle of Muhi
The battle of Muhi is over. The field is filled with bodies. Both Hungarian and Mongol. The King is running away with a handful of knights and with Mongols in his trail. Many warriors are trying to get away through the fields, forests and marshes. The glorious and victorious Mongol army started their march into…
Report from the table – 2021/7
Welcome again! It was quite a long time since my last report from the table, but things were busy both on the blog and on the projects too (and we shouldn’t even speak about the normal work…). Let’s see what happened in the previous weeks! The Mongol invasion project has begun: I have finished and…
The Mongols are coming! – The battle of Muhi
11th April 1241. 780 years ago on this day the history of Hungary has changed and took a turn which could no one estimate in the previous 300 years and will not happen again in the next 285 years. The Hungarian royal army and the mighty Mongol horde clashed at the battlefield near Muhi. As…
The Mongols are coming! – The prelude and the start of the invasion
After going through the brief history and army of the 13th century Hungary, plus the Mongol Empire, it is time to look at the events leading to the invasion, and the first part of the campaign until the battle of Muhi. The Mongol threat was not unknown or underestimated by the Hungarian King (despite popular…
The Mongols are coming! – The Mongol Empire and the army of the Hungarian invasion
After introducing Hungary and its army in the 13th forces, it is time to meet the other side, the Mongol Empire and the invasion forces. I think the Golden Horde or Mongol Empire is one of the better known point in the history, there are only a few people who never heard about Ghengis Khan…
The Mongols are coming! – The Hungarian army in the 13th century
The previous post was about the introduction of the theatre of the invasion: the Hungarian Kingdom in the 13th century. It is time to see what options the Hungarian king had, to fight military campaigns or defend the country. Before going into details I would like to mention that, as you might noticed, I am…
The Mongols are coming! – The Hungarian Kingdom in the 13th century
Before posting anything about the Mongol invasion of Hungary, it is necessary to write about the country that is the centerpiece of the project and tried to stop the mighty horde. The Hungarian Kingdom was established by Saint Stephen I, crowned in 1000 (or 1001), who introduced a feudal social system and continued the spreading…
The Mongols are coming! – A new project on the horizon
Strangely speaking warriors on small and fast horses, riding around a burning village, shooting down with arrows everyone who try to resist or flee, capturing the women and children, executing the men. This was the picture of the Mongol invasion from the Sea of Japan to Eastern Europe. There were only a few armies that…
Report from the table – 2021/6
Welcome back! March is almost over and I’m working on the next ‘secret’ project with full speed. I will post a short preview at the end of this month, so stay tuned! Until that I have to paint a horde of minis, finish several post and take some cool photos. But I still manage to…
Report from the table – 2021/5
Welcome again! It is three weeks now, since my last report and many things happened, so let’s go through them! All the 5 Panzer IVs are fully ready! Yeeaah! They will be a part of a D-day themed FoW army (12th SS Pz division). The next vehicles on my table are two British Typhoon fighters,…
Fortress Budapest – unofficial supplement for Firestorm Campaigns
I am always interested in those battles and military operations of World War 2 zhat happened in Hungary. Their importance usually underestimated or forgotten, that is why I was really happy when I first realised there Hungarian units, armies and minis in Flames of War. I was also excited when the Stalin’s Europe army book…
Report from the table – 2021/4
Welcome back! Two weeks are down since my last report, so it is time again to look at the ongoing projects! The camo is ready on the 5 Panzer IVs that will be the bulk of my SS army in Caen (or somewhere else). I have already started putting on the decals, next step will…
DIY Terrain: River sections
There are only a few real or fantasy regions and sci-fi planets, where the presence of some kind of river is not common. Whether it is wide and fast, frozen or as narrow that a child can jump over it, rivers are an integral part of wargaming and battle tables. They not just divide the…
Report from the table – 2021/3
January of 2021 is almost over, let’s see what I managed to do in the past two weeks: I have reached the point with the Panzer IVs when I could start to paint the camo schemes. I still want to stick with the Normandy theme, 12th SS around Caen. For the colours and patterns I…
DIY Terrain: Ruined wall section
If you play modern wargames (WW1 and after) for certain scenarios you will need urban areas, which, after shorter or longer fights, could become damaged, so building ruins and damaged wall sections will be useful to have on your table. With Battlefront introducing the new city ruins with Bagration rulebook, this topic has become popular…
Report from the table – 2021/2
Welcome again! As I stated in my previous post, in 2021 I’m going to try the method that I will make a report only if I manage to have a big progress with one the projects, something historically important happened or every second week. So after two weeks it is time to check the ongoing…
Report from the table – 2021/1
Yippee-ki-yay, the first Sunday of 2021 has arrived! Since my last report I managed to move on with a couple of projects. But first thing first I have decided to change the course of these reports. In this year I am not going to write every week one, except I managed to proceed significantly or…
Summary of 2020
Today is the 31st December 2020, the last day of the year. I thought I write a short summary about the achievements of this year and the plans for the next one. 2020 was a rather strange year for everyone. Due to the COVID epidemic we experienced close downs all over the world. Some of…
Report from the table – Week 52
Merry Christmas! It is Sunday, the 52nd week and the last report from my table in 2020! As I mentioned last week the days of Christmas are usually filled with travel to me: both my GF’s and mine family gathers in our hometowns and we spend a couple of days with them. This means endless…
The Hungarian Royal Police – Summary
The aim of the first project of this blog was to collect the available information about the Hungarian Royal Police and to build some units for the chosen rule system in World War 2 era. I had been thinking about starting this for a long time and the birth of the blog was one of…
Report from the table – Week 51
Thank the Lord, the final working week for me in 2020 is over! This meant lot of work, stress and little progress with the ongoing hobby projects, but let’s see what did I manage to do. A big relief is that I could finish both the Hungarian Royal Police rifle platoon and the post about…
The Hungarian Royal Police – Part Seven: the Rifle Platoon
The last part (at least for the moment) of my WW2 Royal Police project is an infantry or in other name rifle platoon. As the HRP had limited amount of armoured vehicles and support weapons, the riflemen were the backbone of their combat units. My job was quite easy as I already have written about…
Report from the table – Week 50
Today is the end of the 50th week of 2020 and the third Sunday of Advent. We are speedily closing to Christmas and the end of this year. Let’s see this week’s progress in light of this! Priority #1: the Royal Police rifle platoon. I am happy to report that all the minis are painted…
Report from the table – Week 49
Is it Sunday again, but today is special as it is not just the end of the 49th week of the year, but also the second Sunday of Advent, when we light the candles on the Advent wreath in Hungary. It is a custom in Hungary (and many other countries with Christian origins), the light…
HDF – Hungarian Defence Forces: a Leopard in new camo
A couple of weeks ago I have published a post about the camo scheme of the new Hungarian Leopard 2A4 AFVs. Since then 10 AFVs already arrived to the 25th Brigade in Tata, Hungary. They even got a new hangar in the garrison. An intensive training has started for the crews who will man the…
Report from the table – Week 48
Well, this week did not go as planned and had less time for the hobby, but still managed to do some things. Let’s see them! I moved on steadily with the Royal Police minis, the first layer of colours is almost ready. I tried to stick to the routine of painting at least one colour…
Report from the table – Week 47
If it is Sunday, then it is time to have a report from my table! The 4 bases of Hungarian Royal Police are fully ready, the next 3 portions are primed and I started the painting. The project is a bit behind schedule, sometimes I just need some break and have to look for making…
Report from the table – Week 46
We woke up to another lovely Sunday which means a new report from my table! This week was milder than last week, I could have more progress with the projects. The first batch, which is 4 bases of Hungarian Royal Police infantry, is on the bases, I’m doing the painting now. The second batch is…
Upgrade the painting on older minis – Pimp my Panther!
While I was getting some vehicles out of my cabinet to take some photos, I accidently broke down the barrel of one of my Panzer V Panthers, which I made years ago. When I glued it back, I was thinking, that maybe I can quickly upgrade their painting. During the years I have learnt some…
Report from the table – Week 45
Is is Sunday, a week which was a bit of a clusterf@ck ended, but I still managed to have some progress with the projects on my table. Let’s see them: With the infantry of the Royal Police army I’m at the point of doing a clean up painting, correcting mistakes before washing. Hope to finish…
HRA – Hungarian Royal Army: 120mm mortar platoon
The minis, used for the HRA conversion post, are part of an originally German 15mm 120mm mortar platoon with 4 tubes plus crew, made by Forged in Battle (code: G-INF-04). My plan with them is to make some support for my future Hungarian Royal Army, based in a way to be used with Flames of…
Report from the table – Week 44
The 44th week of 2020 is over! Let’s see what has happened on my table. I moved on with the Royal Police infantry, most of the main colours are painted on them. Plan for next week is to reach the point of washing. The Shermans are ready, check the pictures about them. I also took…
Terrain: Wooden fence (Wargamer)
You need something to keep your dogs inside the garden or to keep the postman out? You want to lean on something after a long Friday night to rest or during a market day to check the local young ladies/guys? You need something to cover your infantry from the eyes of the enemy or to…
Report from the table – Week 43
A week is down again, let’s see the progress. Both the mortars and fences are ready. I did a small work on a part of our home which influenced my ability take photos this week in a negative way. Friday was the 23rd, a national holiday in Hungary, and I wanted to have my special…
23rd October: the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 – brief history and wargaming options
Tomorrow is the 23rd October, when we remember the Revolution of 1956 against the Soviet occupation and their puppet government of the Hungarian People’s Republic. The revolution and the fights afterward lasted until 10th November 1956, and it was one of the first major uprisings in the Eastern block. The revolution, as so many other…
Report from the table – Week 42
It is Sunday again, a week just passed, therefore here comes a new report from my table! The mortars and crew are ready, they are now in the box, waitin for the grass to dry on them. Next step is preparing some stats and a post. At last both the Royal Police HMG platoon and…
The Hungarian Royal Police – Part Six: the Heavy Machine Gun platoon
Besides vehicles I would like to have some infantry and support weapons for my 15mm Hungarian Royal Police army within the Flames of War ruleset. As the HRP had limited weaponry, I have decided on building a HMG unit with three 7/31.M Schwarzlose plus crew. The 7/31.M Schwarzlose The Schwarzlose was a veteran of the…
Report from the table – Week 41
It is Sunday again, which means a new report. As this week we had a National Day of Mourning, the 6th of October, this post going to be a special episode. First let’s see the progress: The 120mm mortars and Hungarian crews are ready and varnished, will do the basing next week. With the Royal…
Report from the table – Week 40
The 40th week of the year is over, so it is time for the weekly report! The ex-German soon to be Hungarian 120mm mortars and crew are in progress, first colours are on them. I managed to finish the Royal Police HMGs, check the picture about them. Next week will be about basing, I’m going…
Report from the table – Week 39
If it is Sunday, then there is a new report from my table! 🙂 I finished the conversion of the remaining German WW2 120mm mortar crew and they are also primed now. Royal Police HMG crew is in progress, most of the main colours are painted on. Hope to finish painting next week and maybe…
The Hungarian Royal Police – Part Five: the 35M Ansaldo tankette
As my minis arrived, I could continue the Hungarian Royal Police project. The next unit for my 15mm Flames of War army is the Ansaldo tankette, which could provide (very) light support for the infantry. The 35M Ansaldo The Fiat-Ansaldo L3/33 or in other name Carro Veloce CV–33 was an Italian tankette (light tank) which was…
Report from the table – Week 38
It is Sunday again, so time for a new weekly report! This week was less busier, I managed to make some significant progress with the ongoing projects. I finished both the Hungarian Royal Army minis and the post about their conversion. Next step is to work on the remaining figures of the mortar unit. Royal…
HRA – Hungarian Royal Army: How to convert minis?
While I waited for the minis to continue the Royal Police project, I have decided to open a new and longer one: creating 15mm Hungarian Royal Army (HRA) units from WW2. I have a couple of figures, guns and vehicles, but not a fully equipped army. The first step of this project will be a…
Report from the table – Week 37
Another busy week is over. Luckily next week looks better, maybe will have more time for the hobby. I am still working on the post of WW2 Hungarian uniform and conversion. Plan is to finish both the painting and the post during next week. I have started to prepare a Royal Police HMG unit for…
Report from the table – Week 36
Another week, another report! This week was a bit busy but still I have managed to do a few things. I’m working on a post on the uniform colours and conversion of Hungarian Royal Army soldiers. Plus, the Royal Police minis arrived, so I will continue that project too. The Jadgtiger is advancing steadily, I…
Report from the table – Week 35
… or weekly moustaches as my GF called these posts this morning 🙂 What happened this week on my table? Different from the previous weeks I have had a nice and quiet seven days. I’m almost finished with the Brits, they are on their bases, waiting for the vegetation. I also managed to finish a…
HDF – Hungarian Defence Forces: Uniform types and colours
Before starting to paint any minis from any units of the Hungarian Defence Forces I thought it is better to go through all the field uniform variants that are used within the HDF. In this post I will write only about the variants of the uniform material used, expect the clerical and ceremonial uniforms, and…
Report from the table – Week 34
It is Sunday again, which marks the end of the 34th week of the year! In Hungarian Sunday means vasárnap, which is originated from the word vásárnap, where vásár means market and nap means day. To help the spread of Christianity in Hungary, our first king, Saint Stephen I connected the market days to Sundays,…
Report from the table – Week 33
The 33rd week of the year is almost over, so here comes the usual weekly report from my table! I’ve managed to finish the post about the HRP’s 39M Csaba armoured cars. At the moment I’m working on a HDF one, plus started to do some conversion work: from WW2 German minis I try to…
The Hungarian Royal Police – Part Four: the 39M Csaba armoured car
While I’m still waiting for the miniatures for my Hungarian Royal Police (Magyar Királyi Rendőrség) project I have decided to introduce one of the vehicles that the HRP had for armoured support. As it is stated in the third post, the project is about to build some 15mm or in other word 1/100 units for…
Report from the table – Week 32
Well, this week was awfully busy, had to work a lot, even in different shifts. But I still managed to find some hobby time, so let’s see the progress: I’m working on a post about one of the vehicles of the Hungarian Royal Police, the text is almost ready, but still I have to take…
HDF – Hungarian Defence Forces: How to paint a Leopard?
While I’m working on the next post about the Royal Police I run into the news, that the 25th Brigade, which operates the Hungarian Defence Forces’ new Leopard 2A4s, because of the great interest, contacted the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann factory and asked for the official paint scheme and colours. The camo scheme consists of 4 colours,…
Report from the table – Week 31
A new Sunday, a new post from my table! This week was busy and the weekend short, so the progress is moderate, but I also managed to finish two posts: one about the Rába H14 of the Hungarian Defence Forces and one about some DIY cobblestone road terrain. There was also an unprecedented level of…
DIY Terrain: Cobblestone road sections
An iconic and essential part of a battlefield (except some cases) is the road system. Whether it is the German Autobahn with long, double lined sections and overpasses in some WW3 scenarios, or some muddy roads where the Vikings can approach the Saxon village, you need to indicate them somehow on your table. There are…
HDF – Hungarian Defence Forces: The Rába H14 truck
There is a saying that amateurs talk about strategy, while professionals about logistics. Well, I try to keep it in mind when I’m planning travels, trips and journeys. It is also one of my favourite part of building armies, for some reason, to make and paint non-combatant vehicles and units, even if they have a…
Report from the table – Week 30
It’s the 30th week of the year! Let’s see what I managed to do in 7 days. I have finished the HDF truck, post about is in progress. I’m still waiting for the minis of the Royal Police project… The last batch of the British infantry company is primed, will start painting next week. The…
Solo AAR – Hungarians vs Austrians (Borúra derű!)
Welcome to my first After Action Report on this blog! As I had a couple of overtime hours, I took a day off and had a nice and quick solo game with a free Hungarian rule, called Borúra derű! (translated like Serenity after sadness). It is for playing regiment, brigade or division level battles in…
Report from the table – Week 29
Another week is over, let’s see the progress! The Hungarian National Police project is still on hold, waiting for the minis to arrive and the truck for a new HDF is almost finished, hope to write about it next week. The Brits are completly finished, check the picture to see my ongoing British Flames of…
HDF – Hungarian Defence Forces: The new AFV camo
The news, that urged me to start the HDF project, was that the first one of the new armoured fighting vehicles of the HDF got its first, very impressive camo scheme. Your first question could be: wait, are there going to be new AFVs?! Yes! Within the armed forces modernization programme (called Zrínyi 2026) a…
Report from the table – Week 28
Welcome back to the latest weekly report from my table! 🙂 I managed to finish and publish the first post of a new project, the modern Hungarian Defence Forces. As I mentioned in the post, this is going to be a long project, running parallelly with the others and filling out the time while waiting…
HDF – Hungarian Defence Forces: Summary
During building armies, painting minis, researching and working on projects my thoughts, from time to time, return to the same idea, that I should make some figs and vehicles as modern Hungarian military and law enforcement units. When I started this blog one of my objectives was to write some posts and build minis in…
Report from the table – Week 27
Another week is down, so welcome again at the report from my table! Let’s see this week’s progress. First of all I finished and posted the third part of the Hungarian Royal Police project, plan to order the minis for that next week. I’m happy that I did that, worked a lot on the topic…
The Hungarian Royal Police – Part Three: Wargaming options
In the first post I wrote about the history and organisation of the Hungarian Royal Police (Magyar Királyi Rendőrség), in the second one about the uniforms and equipment. In this one I will write about how can you play the Police: what themes, scenarios and gaming systems. Gangsters vs police If someone mentions the ’30s…
Report from the table – Week 26
Welcome! Another week just flew away so here comes the status of my ongoing projects The Brits are under painting, I finished the main colours, next week will be hopefully about shading and highlighting. I have just started to paint the Germans parallelly yesterday. The first batch of British infantry and the barbed wire dried.…
DIY Terrain: Barbed wire
My first Do It Yourself terrain post will be about an effective obstacle against infantry (and cavalry): the barbed wire. As it is a cheap, easy to deploy and replace tool to protect or deny movement to certain areas, and was used in different forms since the American Civil War, having it on a gaming…
Report from the table – Week 25
Another week, another report from the table post! 🙂 This week has been a double return: I started to work again after vacation plus finished the home office and moved back to the office. However, I still managed to do a few things. Let’s see them! I primed the second batch of British infantry plus…
Report from the table, vacation edition – Week 24
Welcome! This week we went on a vacation with my GF, so I couldn’t report about any progress on my projects. However, I like to visit historical places during my free time and luckily my Better Half supports me in that. In the following I would like to share some of the photos we have…
The Hungarian Royal Police – Part Two: Uniform, weapons and equipment
In the previous post I wrote about the history and organisation of the Hungarian Royal Police (Magyar Királyi Rendőrség). In this one we will go through the uniforms they wore and weapons they used, especially during the Second World War. Uniform The uniform of the law enforcement forces around the world represents that the person…
Report from the table – Week 23
Welcome back! Let’s go through this week’s progress: well, it is not much. I had a quite busy time in work, so I only managed to do a few things. The first set of 15mm British Grenadier Guards infantry miniatures are fully painted and varnished, waiting for basing. The second group is waiting for priming…
Report from the table – Week 22
To encourage (and maybe pressurize) myself to carry on with ongoing projects I will post every week about what is on my table, except of course the usual chaos. Well, this week I managed to finish some Shermans, 15mm, for the British Guards Armored Division. I worked on British infantry from Battlefront’s new British Infantry…
The Hungarian Royal Police – Part One: Organisation and history
The first real post I planned to be about a unique topic, as there is not so many information about it on the net, especially not in English. The Hungarian Royal Police’s (Magyar Királyi Rendőrség) establishment could be derived from the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 when the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was established. At this time law…
The first steps…
Welcome, Wanderer of the Internet! As a part of spending my free time I decided to start a blog about my hobby to share some of my adventures through the forests of plastic trees, rivers of PVA glue and villages of MDF houses. When I first had this idea of having an online diary (using…
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Minis with moustaches 