My 1938 bookshelf

The great thing about writing about the Somerset Freedom Fighters and the Anglican League is I can make most of it up!
So my 1938 bookshelf is a bit of a mix.
First off ‘A Very British Strike’ by Anne Perkins. This is a great read and well worth a second or third go. Not just for the politics but for what happens when a 1920/30s country comes to a stop. No national newspapers, no trains, the TUC in London had to use despatch riders to get information out to the country.
Also some good background to the dark side of Churchill.
3 Ospreys next all on Ireland, ‘The Irish Volunteer 1913-23‘, ‘The Anglo-Irish War’ and ‘The Irish Civil War‘. All good background stuff.
If you’re going to learn, then learn from the best. The Somerset Freedom Fighters are a guerrilla organisation so the best reads for this are ‘Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War’ and ‘Guerrilla Warfare’ both by Che Guevara.
For those outside the UK look out for books of photos by Francis Frith. His collection of pictures cover the British countryside from 1900 to about 1950 and are split up by county or region.
If you have any to add please do so.

Battle of Westhay

The village of Westhay

Played my first VBCW game at the Tring club on Friday night. The setup was as follows:-

The Anglican League have decided to try and clear the SFF from Shapwick Heath which is very close to Glastonbury. The areas under there control were getting squeezed and the Anglican League had to come out fighting. The first part of this will be to take the village of Westhay and secure the bridge over the river Brue.

SFF in a trench

SFF
Your intelligence have told you to prepare for at attack. Your orders are to hold the bridge and north/south road.Your troops are
HQ officer+ 2 riflemen (officer has a roadside bomb, see rules)
2 man anti-tank team officer +1 rifleman, 2 sticky bombs, 3 grenades, crowbar.
2 sections each 10 men with LMG.
Throw D6
1= 1 section as above
2-5= HMG 4 crew.
6= Mortar 4 crew

Jim's Rolls Royce armoured cars

Anglican League You have been ordered to take the bridge at Westhay. You must take the bridge or cut the north/south road by taking one of the T junctions.

Your troops are
HQ officer + 3 riflemen
2 man grenade team, NCO +1 rifleman, 1 satchel charge, 5 grenade’s.
3 sections each 8 men with LMG.
Mortar with 3 crew + 2 man observer team.
2 Rolls Royce A/cars

SFF on the southern flank

Jim was attacking and I was defending. The first picture of the table is looking east towards Glastonbury.
Jim attacked with the a/cars on the main road, 1 section to the south of the road and 1 section and mortar in the centre to support the a/cars. 1 section to the north advancing along the lane.
I throw a D6 and got 1 so had 3 sections. 1 south of the main road 1 just north in trenches covering the 2
road blocks and 1 in reserve between the two roads.

Anglican League on the southern flank

Jim moved the a/cars up to the road block with the rest of his men fanned out across the table. I opened fire with an LMG but didn’t damage the a/car.
On the south side our two sections got in to a fire fight which lasted all of the game. On the north side one of Jim’s sections moved down the lane to the road block and attacked my trenches.
The a/cars rammed the barricade and broke through. They then split up going down different roads to flank my defending sections. 
Jim killed 1 LMG gunner in the trenches,but had the driver killed and machine gun knocked out in one of the a/cars, by the reserve section LMG.
My lead section in the trenches went to half strength because of fire from 2 sections and the mortar. The section failed its first ‘Run to the Hills’ test and buggered off. Jim moved his centre section into the trenches.
It then became a foot race between one Jim’s sections and one of mine to reach the bridge.
On the south side the second a/car put flanking fire on to my section at which point the SFF commander went out to attack it with a sticky bomb. Ook had not put Roadside Bombs in the rules and I had not checked before the game so changed to a sticky bomb.
As the Commander attacked the a/car it failed it’s ‘Run to the Hills’ test and buggered off as well.
The SFF Commander then moved over to the southern section to lend it some morale support.
Jim’s section got to the bridge first, but was attacked by my last section.
With my southern section down to 2 men and the mortar set up in the middle of the table, now dropping bombs on my last section, I know I couldn’t win so conceded the game.

1938 Project, part 6

 Here's the finished figure.
The next 4 are all Empress SCW figures. The first one is from the earlier photos.

 The one above has the look of a young kid.
The one below I've added a swagger stick and painted a BUF patch on his left arm.

1938 Project, part 5

As well as Empress figures I also use a lot of Warlord Italain Paratroopers for my Anglican League.

As with the riflemen I cun off the end of the MG42 and then drilled as far down it as I could. Then cut any ruff edges, from out of the left hand and the body. I then cut off the head. I cut the butt off the Tommy gun and trimmed it to fit. Then drilled down into the body to fit the head (which is from Empress).

The figure just needs matt varnishing to finish it, I'll post photo's tommorow.

1938 Project, part 4

Here 2 photo's of finished figures.

I'll post some more later.

Cookery, part 2

Baked Soup

1 lb any kind of meat, any trimmings or pieces.

2 onions,

2 carrots,

2oz of rice,

1 pint of split peas,

Salt and pepper to taste,

4 quarts of water,

Cut the meat and vegetables in to slices, add them to the rice and peas, season with salt and pepper. Put the whole lot in a jar, fill up with the water, cover very closely and bake for 4 hours.

I think this is a great way of using up leftovers and cooking them when cooking something else.

Homity pie

A traditional English open vegetable pie, the pastry case contains a potatoes and an onion & leek mixture, which is then covered with cheese - (apple adds interest, but isn't traditional).
Equipment needed:
Ingredients for 6 individual or 1 larger pie: 6 individual pie tins or foil dishes, or 1 x 8 in flan dish10 oz Short crust Pastry
12 oz Potatoes, peeled
½ lb Onions, peeled and roughly-chopped
½ lb Leeks, carefully-washed - then cut into pieces
3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
2 medium cloves of Garlic, peeled and finely-chopped

2 Crisp Dessert Apples (red if possible), cored and cut into pieces - but the skin left on

4 tablespoon Milk or Single Cream

2 Eggs, lightly-beaten

1 oz Butter (plus a little to line the pie tins)

a small bunch of fresh Parsley

a large pinch a Thyme

10 oz grated Cheddar Cheese

Salt and freshly-ground Black Pepper to taste

a pinch of Cayenne Pepper

Lightly butter the pie tins.

Roll out the pastry and line the pie tins. Chill the tins while you make the filling.
Boil or steam the potatoes until they're tender - then chop them into bite-sized pieces.
Sauté the chopped onions and leeks over a gentle heat in the vegetable oil, until they're soft. Add the apple pieces and mix in.
Add the garlic, followed by the potatoes, butter, parsley and thyme, the eggs, half the cheese and the milk.
Season with salt and pepper and combine the mixture well together.
The pies can be prepared in advance up to this stage.Fill the pies and cover them with the remaining cheese.
Bake them in a pre-heated oven 220C/425F/Gas 7, for 20 minutes, or until golden.
Serve warm or cold.
I had it cooked in a cake tin, so got a large deep slice. 

1938 Project, part 3

I don't have much in the way of tools. A saw, 2 knives, drill, file that’s about it.
If I change a rifle I always start with the left hand thumb and cut this away from the rifle. I then cut the rifle off the figures left hand.
I then drill down through the rifle as far as I can. This makes it easier to cut out. Then I cut out the rest of the rifle from between the hands.

I then cut the butt off the new rifle and shape it to fit in to a hole in the right hand and in to the left.
Thr hats I just cut a notch in the side of the one to be cut off with a knife. This gives me a start for the saw.
Then I just cut through, file off any ruff edges and glue on a British helmet.