On the workbench

Well, really not a workbench, more in storage in the cellar until I take them out and do something with them.  Anyway, what I am prepping and painting.

For the ancient ships I have finished removing any flashing and have started to glue together:

  • 12 Athenian Triremes
  • 12 Phoenician Triremes
  • 6 Quadremes
  • 3 Heptares

For the Babylon 5 ships I have finished removing any flashing and have started to glue together and/or drill mounting holes for a number them including some whitestars, 3 shadow ships, 2 vorlon lt. cruisers and a bunch of earth alliance and minbari capital ships.

And I have put on hold some UK 1/285th armor that I have primed and have applied a base coat to.  FV432s, Scorpions/Scimitars/Spartans/etc.  I need to get the others built, primed and with a base coat before the cold weather comes.

When imagination fails …

… peace will not prevail.

War seems to happen when all sides have exhausted their ability to think up imaginative ways of peacefully dealing with their conflict.  Seemed like a fitting title for a blog about miniature wargames and a useful counter point to my blog on gaming nonviolent direct action.

The periods I game tend to be:

  • 1980s NATO/Warsaw Pact land conflict in Europe (1/285th scale)
  • Classical/Hellenistic Greek and Roman naval conflicts (1/900 scale)
  • Babylon 5 star ship battles (~1/5000 scale?)

For now there won't be much here until I have more time.  Too many miniatures to paint in the little spare time I have.

Thailand – 11 Days and Counting

Thailand is 11 days into the (largely?) nonviolent attempt to overthrow the current government.  The government opponents escalated the conflict with an attempt to take over the Police HQ and various airports.  They continue the occupation of the prime minister's office building. 

The government reacted by attempting to arrest 9 protest leaders, and tried to evict the protesters from government buildings.

The prime minister said that he would not use force, but, after supporters of his party (which has support largely from the rural areas) attacked the protesters.  The BBC quote is "when a screaming crowd of government supporters – armed with sticks and slingshots – ploughed into a group from the PAD".  Street clashes resulted and the PM called a state of emergency in Bangkok. 

The military doesn't seem eager to get involved with police staying on the sidelines during clashes or attempting to keep the two sides apart.  I haven't had time to look up other sources than the BBC, so it is possible that the military and police are using harsher methods with government supporters since the military overthrew the previous government by the PM's party.

The foreign minister has left the government and the PM has called for a referendum that will "ask a range of questions including whether the
government should resign, whether it should dissolve parliament and
what people thought about the ongoing protests." (BBC)  The protest leaders opposed it, though considering that they don't want an elected parliament, it doesn't seem that surprising.

The BBC has pictures from the latest clashes.