[SoTC] Tell me about a watch I will find interesting that I don’t own!
I have some pieces out at service and a few incoming, but I have more of my collection in one place than I usually do, so I thought it was time to share. Pardon all the bunds. I’m allergic to nickel, so if a watch is not gold or titanium, I wear it with a bund. If it’s steel and not on a bund, I either don’t wear it often, havent gotten around to putting it on a strap, or the strap I use it with is on another watch right now.
By picture:

1. Omegas

A.Seamaster 300 trilogy (RSM silk nato)
B. 30t2rg “Jumbo” scientific dial (cordovan strap, I forget the maker)
C. Ck2998 blue (Watchstrapheaven [WSH] “stealth” bund, cognac cordovan)
D. 30t2 9k Dennison case (temporary leather strip until serviced. This one is with the watchmaker right now)
E. Ck2998 Pulsations (WSH 3 piece cognac cordovan bund)

1. Omegas part 2

A. OT2500 centenary with 333rg bumper movement. I have the original 1948 box and papers for this one, and the original strap (I don’t know the maker of this strap, but it’s almost identical to the original from 1948)
B. Early 18k seamaster, fab suisse chronometre with cal 354 bumper

1. Zeniths

A. Cal 135 (heavily polished case. I want to upgrade this one; Shinola gator strap, Accurate Form bund)
B. Cal 133.8 with 18k hermetic Spillman case (the strap it came on)
C. A277 on original ladder bracelet
D. “Evil” Chronomaster original (on its bracelet. This is my latest pickup, i havent put it on its strap yet)
E. Not shown: Ti A3818 Cover Girl Air Weight (in the mail, should be here Friday)

1. Breitlings

A. 2130 Reverse Panda (Delugs alligator, Accurate Form bund; I restored this one. The datewheel isn’t correct, but I have the right one coming in the mail)
B. 2110 Reverse Panda (on the strap it came with)
C. 2130 Panda (I restored this one too; on Balabanoff hippo suede)

1. Universal Geneve

A. Guilloche dial, 18k cased cal 262 (fixed lugs, I need a strap for this one. It just came back from service)
B. 18k polerouter date (i forget the strap maker, but it’s alligator)

1. Assorted

A. Polerouter above
B. Harwood in 925 case (the first automatic movement, this one dates 1929)
C. Junghans cal J82 chronometetre
D. IWC cal 83, salmon dial. (The strap it came on)
E. Harwood in 9k case (also from 1929)
F. Baume and Mercier for Cuervo y Sobrinos (ca 1970s). I think this is a Valjoux 7733, but not sure.

1. Alarms! A. JLC Memovox E855 (cal K825)

B. Seiko Bellmatic
C. 17k Cyma Time-O-Vox (the first chronometre rated alarm; look at those DeBethune lugs) (blue cordovan delugs strap)
D. Croton/Nivada Wanderer with a Vulcain 120 (cricket) movement
E. JLC tribute to deep sea Memovox (WSH stealth bund)

1. Longines A. Cal 302 chronometre movement. More interesting than it looks

B. Hodinkee Zulu Time
C. A fun beater with a cal 301 and a reprinted dial

1. Enicar

A. Sherpa Ops
B. Sherpa Jet (this is the wrong dial, but everything is NOS parts, so I’ll try to get a jet dial for it and a super jet to use this dial. I just love this configuration)
C. NOS alarm with AS1475 movement
D. NOS Garnix with Valjoux 72 (delugs alligator, Accurate Form bund)
10 Eberhard
A. Mareoscope 31024 black dial (WSH integrated bund) this is my every day watch.
B. Mareosocpe 31024 white dial (Delugs alligator strap accurate form bund)

TL;DR: We made wooden 3D-Catan Tiles with Epoxy. Some didnt harden correctly. We wanted to Sand/polish them to make them transparent, but the faulty ones are too soft for that. Any way to save those pieces?
Long Version:
We made several batches of epoxy, some kinda failed. For some Tiles the Epoxy is extremely hard (for example the Black one). Some are pretty hard but you can make a dent with your fingernail (the dent disappears fast, for example the one with "water" and with the sheep ). Some are pretty soft, you can push them in with a Finger (the ones you cant really See anything). All together we have 28 Tiles.
We want(ed) to grind/Sand away the excess epoxy (above the Wood) and after that polish them to make the epoxy See through.
We tried that with a few Tiles, but as you can See the results are mixed. The one with the sheep is not perfect, but some are horrible.
Is there any way to save them? Any Tricks to polish epoxy that is kinda soft and catches dirt easily? Should we try to put another layer of Epoxy on top and how would we do that? Or is all hope lost and we have to redo the faulty ones completely?
And does It make a difference if they are only a little soft?
The most important thing for me is that they are See through. I can live with them not havint All the same height.

TL;DR: We made wooden 3D-Catan Tiles with Epoxy. Some didnt harden correctly. We wanted to Sand/polish them to make them transparent, but the faulty ones are too soft for that. Any way to save those pieces?
Long Version:
We made several batches of epoxy, some kinda failed. For some Tiles the Epoxy is extremely hard (for example the Black one). Some are pretty hard but you can make a dent with your fingernail (the dent disappears fast, for example the one with "water" and with the sheep ). Some are pretty soft, you can push them in with a Finger (the ones you cant really See anything). All together we have 28 Tiles.
We want(ed) to grind/Sand away the excess epoxy (above the Wood) and after that polish them to make the epoxy See through.
We tried that with a few Tiles, but as you can See the results are mixed. The one with the sheep is not perfect, but some are horrible.
Is there any way to save them? Any Tricks to polish epoxy that is kinda soft and catches dirt easily? Should we try to put another layer of Epoxy on top and how would we do that? Or is all hope lost and we have to redo the faulty ones completely?
And does It make a difference if they are only a little soft?
The most important thing for me is that they are See through. I can live with them not havint All the same height.
I would really appreciate if someone with a lot of experience could give us some insight. We have very little experience 🙈

Do fingernails actually breathe? Is it healthy for the them to be uncovered between polish applications? And how the hell do you do oval from square nails???? I can’t do it…. 💅

I’m working from home today and have errands to run so I’m really excited I get to keep polish on my fingernails

Does an acrylate allergy cause you to break out on your face? I’m not sure if I am allergic (I a praying I am not) but I noticed weird skin on my fingers after using beetles gel polish in press one. My skin has also been breaking out (it usually doesn’t) for the past month or so, and from what I can tell from pics I’ve taken since April, the press ons I did then didn’t cause me any irritation. I just can’t figure out if the recent reaction is affecting the skin on my face, and if I need to stop using the skin care I have that contains carbomer and other acrylate derivatives.

I don't recall having them two months ago. I don't go into the sun much and I have barely any birthmarks or beauty marks. I am under the impression that they just appeared recently and I can't recall it being from some injury. They don't feel like anything, don't itch and I don't have skin rashes outside of being allergic to UV nail polish. I have seasonal allergies, Hashimotos and PCOS and issues with my gallbladder. My family history of cancer is only related to my grandpa's digestive track one (can't recall specifics) and my mom has freckles that I haven't inherited. I'm very surprised by the idea that it could be something related to skin cancer so I'd rather ask before spending money on a dermatology consultation that will make fun of me 👉👈 last photo: Added a reference between my birth mark and the newly developed one

Hello there,
again.
After the WTC earlier this year I yet again found myself with way to many brown points and money saved up. Naturally I had to venture out and blow it on playing a bit more plastic toy soldiers somewhere in Europe. After talking to the ever friendly Pete from the Juggernauts after the WTC and further drawing on the wisdom of one Alistair of Scotland, asking for their recommendations on a proper singles bash on their group of islands they recommended the Welsh Nationals. Held in Ireland. Just kidding.
https://preview.redd.it/9zgc53xd12zc1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8286ccb5797ea24cc47ed1195b7d1e16ad609c7d
So, what are the Welsh Nationals? A lot of the information about the event can be drawn from this here banner of the Facebook event page. It's a Bolt Action (V2) GT held in Cardiff, Wales, at the marvelous Firestorm Games store, organized by Rhys and Josh - who did so expertly. That being said a fair warning to those allergic to all things competitive: this is an AAR to one of the biggest competitive BA events of 2024 and my retelling is from the perspective of a competitive player. If you don't like that type of content, I recommend skipping this post!
It was held on the 4th and 5th of May, which were Sat & Sunday respectively. There were going to be 3 rounds at 2,5 hours on the first and 2 more rounds of 2,5 hours on the second day. Good stuff. 52 players had signed on. Even better stuff.
So I booked some flights, packed my things and traveled from Düsseldorf over Amsterdam to Bristol, England, to then arrive in beautiful Cardiff on Friday night, just in time before the event. My return was planned for Monday morning, I was ready to go! Bring. It. On.
Disclaimer:
I was busy playing at the time/or looking up the next mission: Photos are few and of shotty quality, my apologies, I tried - and also I'm retelling strictly from my perspective and from what I remember. Take it with a grain of salt and room for errors in details. Spelling errors are hidden on purpose for you.
Army Composition Rules: (in case you somehow missed it)

• 1250 points
• up to 2 Generic Reinforced Platoons
• V2 rules and 2024 FAQ/Errata
• no theater platoons, no tank platoons, no planes, no named characters, only correctly labeled theater units, the usual stuff.

My Army:
As the title gave away, I ran took my Dutch (KNIL) to their second planned singles outing since the WTC in February. I had still a BUNCH of painting and basing to do, so I used the time to get on finishing my still very bare bone force. I'd preferred playing practice games, but as there is not to much going on in terms of active BA playing around here I only got two games of practice in. Which in fact were the grand total of games I played between the WTC and the Welsh Nationals. I could've used more, a lot more!
https://preview.redd.it/r53ntoix32zc1.jpg?width=3264&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=146e1fc3d8f870822c316403423e456fb5a650d5
So, 1250 points. I've never played at those points. Less so with my Dutch. Should've taken my US or Germans, who can really use the extra points, whereas my Dutch excel at lower point costs due to their absurd cheapness. That being said I used my WTC 1000 point list as a basis and then expanded from there. I cut an inexperienced mule, upgraded a regular mule to vet, dropped an inexperienced horse and truck and from the freed points bought myself two Alvis Straussler armored cars, another light utility vehicle with light anti tank cannon and two regular anti tank rifles. My new list so went from 1000 points and 25 orders to 1249 points and 27 orders while trading 2 useless spam-dice for 5 more combat units. It seemed like a theoretically good idea. As said, sadly I could only practice twice, and only once on the actual mission pack. My army was vast and soft as butter on a summers day. Perfect for taking on the best the GB-meta could sling at me.
https://preview.redd.it/e6yw2u9w42zc1.jpg?width=3264&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97293f083f68946d7c8f2ea6d07a7624b1f4e9c9
My list:
Infantry:

• 2* inex. 2nd. Lt.
• 6* 11 inex. shirkers with 6 pistols
• 2* reg. snipers
• 2* reg. AT-rifles
• 2* inex. med. mortars

Artillery:

• 2* inex. light howitzers
• 1* reg. howitzer

Vehicles:

• 1* vet. mule
• 2* reg. MH CTLS tanks
• 2* reg. Alvis-Straussler armored cars
• 4* reg. light utility vehicles with forw. mounted light AT-guns
• 1* inex. truck

The KNIL at the Welsh Nationals on Alex Bundocks tray he lent me (my travel-tray is too small for the army)
So what does that all tally up to?
I'm running a tank platoon with four fully enclosed 7+ machine-gun vehicles, mounting a total of 10 individual MMGs for some sweet 50 shots of highly mobile firepower. Two of theme even sprinkle in some Recce for good measure.
I'm also running a leaf-blowegunline with 3 howitzers and two mortars which are supplemented by 10 MMGs, 2 snipers, 4 AT guns and 2 AT rifles to deal with pesky gunslingers. I got more. Thee-Hee.
I'm also running a horde of 66 infantry with 36 being tough fighters. sure they shirk, but that don't matter too much in most cases, as they get to retake order test with their full strength and on a charge put out some amazing 11 attacks /6 of which are TF... While costing about half as much as a single Japanese bamboo squad. They clock in at just 38 points in this layout. Unless they're charged in the open they outperform nearly any other unit in the game pointwise! Of course they will lose and die against a plethora of enemies in CC - but you kill 3 Ghurkas while at it - and you've outperformed him point-wise ;) it's amazing!
After so many words, the actual Battle Report:
Round #1: Sectors
With check-in each player was given a number for the duration of the event (mine being 29). Every Table was given a letter (A-Z). The first pairing were like so: 1 vs 2 on A, 3 vs 4 on B and so on. This meant I played against Keith (30) on some letter half way down the alphabet.
The mission was "sectors" and played largely into the strengths of my army. You deploy in a quarter diagonally opposite of your opponent. There was predatory-bombardment allowed. Which sucks, but on with it. You score 1 VP per kill, 1 per unit in a neutral quarter and 2 per unit in the enemy deployment zone. I have 27 units, its not hard for me to rack in point just by moving them. I deployed along the neutral zones around me and prepared for moving my entire army into scoring secotrs. Keith played late war elite Germans with two Kugelblitzes, but his few order dice meant that he couldn't put any dent in my numbers and thus i smothered all three other sectors with units, largely ignoring his two beefy tanks and gunning down his infantry with amassed vehicles and artillery. Good stuff and a first victory for me with the secondary secured.
the table. This may have been my favorite table of the event (from the ones I played)
https://preview.redd.it/62m7ifobb2zc1.jpg?width=1661&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=09e5008e4a6491c7bbad81f8be12c9f2fe8dabe1
https://preview.redd.it/tiancfobb2zc1.jpg?width=1836&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f17f651f49367ae7936cb99d770f06bb191f552d
Round #2: Heartbreak Ridge
As Swiss goes, I now faced another victor from round one. In this case i went up against one Dan Lane of the Juggernauts podcast and his French horde. In Heartbreak Ridge there are three objectives, one in each players quarter and a neutral one smack in the center of the table. This is usually where 95% of the action happens and sadly all to often a draw is produced by two armies grinding to a halt over the center objective.
In our game, fielding somewhat similar armies with similar dice counts (his 25 vs my 27) we had somewhat of a mirror match. Where he brought bigger howitzers, flamers and cavalry I had brought more armor. He pushed units from reserve from his entire board edge. Infantry in the center, closest to the center objective, with his cavalry going around the flanks, likely trying to bait me to move my much slower infantry to intercept and if ignored: tackle my quarters objective. his snipers messed mine up, my mortars messed up his heavy howitzer, my 4 armored vehicles bullied their way up mid-table against a sole howitzer that had taken some hits. he formed a tight circle of small arms around the center objective whilst i tried to push my swarm of swordboies onto said objective. meat-grinder.
I had a truck with a troop on the objective first, which he routed of the table when they failed to rally inside their transport on 3 pins with two attempts. bad luck. but i got 5 more, all running towards the middle. As there is a ruin and we have a massive 52 dice in the bag we have to make good time, which we did all things considered. I pushed another unit onto the objective at the end of turn 4 and he moved an engineers squad into point blank range (flamer missing), a cavalry squad shot to 3 guys, a lone CO and the remnants of an inex. infantry section of his (2 men) into very short range of the objective. however I was holding it in a way he couldn't make contact with it - so he kept shooting the squad on target, who were in hard cover, but still he managed to get them up to three pins. we enter turn 5, i get my dice first. nice. i rally my squad on obj. which would've likely sealed the deal. but of course i fail and go down, with my 3 pins. at least in hard cover. in short succession we draw our last hand full of dice. my two tanks grind through the ruin wiping out all of his units that could've held the objective with their 6 MMgs - but in doing so, killing the engineers right next to my squad before they could activate, they opened the LOF for one of his snipers who of course shot, hit and routed my unit on target. one of my tanks touching the objective made the draw inevitable, and there was not gonna be a 6th turn. 3 more infantry units of mine failing to activate with 1 and 2 pins respectively, even on double tries for one of them the downside of shirker infantry :D... It was a great game, very much exciting to the very end and swinging back and forth.
In hindsight I should've used my tanks to get onto the center early on and bully back his advancing units who had no real anti-tank means making it easier for my infantry to run onto center... hardly playing 2 games in 3 months really takes a toll on your problem solving skills - or rather your redundancy-planning. Anyhow. A great and fast game, sadly a draw, but i got myself that secondary and having bully vehicles is always good times.
Sadly I didn't take pictures of this table. Dan Lane would move on to win the tournament, so i pride myself being the single draw on his record for this event.
Round #3: The Bigger The Better
Drawing is similar to Losing always somewhat of a downer early on in such an event, as it usually means you drop out of the top field. This event turned out very different and also, I got to face off against Juggernaut Alex Bundock and his Polish lancers.
The Bigger The Better is much like Meeting Engagement - but instead of 1 kill = 1 VP it was split up to where units of higher point-cost would reward higher VPs for being killed. A rule I like very much, as in other scenarios killing a Tiger is worth as much as killing a mule. Which is very counter-immersive. Anyhow: we played on a desert map with lots of buildings and high walls, which his cavalry could recce and regroup around but my tanks and armored cars didn't struggle much to keep up. We had a whole lot of nothing happening all game on my right hand side of the table where 80% of my army and his two tankettes fought an awkward battle of incompetence leading to nothing at all being killed (iirc), whereas all the action happend on my left, his right. here we had a glorious cat and mouse skirmish of 3 gun-trucks, a CO, 2 At-rifles, 2 tanks, 1 armored car and one blob of my sword-slingers against 4 of his vet. cavalry squads and two dakka-tanks. As this was his side of the board, so to speak, opposite to his deployment, he could occasionally bring his two med. howitzers and sniper to bear on me but to little effect with all the buildings in the way. While I was really not very effective at killing him, he got a tad bloodthirsty and charged his units in-between the houses all my units were hiding behind and around where, with time and many misses, i was able to pick his units apart.
Oddly having 2 infantry and a sniper next to the secondary for the whole game, I never realized this actively and thus never moved onto the secondary. But neither did he, so it was a win for me, with not secondary - and a bloody good game against Alex, who I count as a friend and ever helpful fellow hobbyist (he is the one who offered me a ride, had i stayed at the same hotel, and also provided me with a large tray for my army, as my travel-one is to small). Great guy, great game.
the last 4 of 36 lancers hiding behind a high wall. The lone bear holding down the med. artillery, after recrewing the other gun twice!
lots of my stuff just sitting around the right hand flank doing nothing. smoking tanks to the west.
dead lancers
Day One: 2 W - 0 L - 1 D and 2/3 secondary objectives
Round #4: Seize and Hold
On to a very interesting mission I've never seen before: Seize and Hold against one Paul Wickens and his Soviet horde (21 dice).
Table quarters, again, with 4 objectives, two per quarter, one in each placed by both players - however in a so small corridor that it didn't actually matter (8" from all table edges, 8" from long center line and 8" from other objectives. Essentially this means its a small, 8"*16" corridor, which, after the native player places his objective gets roughly cut in half or more... so it's more an illusion of choice when placing an objective in the enemy quarter.
I placed my objective in Pauls quarter as close to his table-flank and the long centerline as possible, put 3 squads of infantry and a whole train of stuff into outflank. My plan was to push into his sector and onto the objective with sheer brute force. My armor was reserved to come in mid table from my long side to stop any pushes from his to my diagonally-opposed quatre and also stop anyone trying to take the secondary - but me (I now had learnt that they were worth an actual tournament point each - rather than just being tie-breakers). the rest, roughly a third of my army deployed in my sector to block off any chance of his to come from reserve onto my two objectives. I was playing for the win big time.
Sadly the table was spammed with hard-cover, LOS-blocking buildings and HIDDEN-rules were in play. Pretty much from the get go Paul aborted any potential plans of trying to attacking my sector and focused everything on the defense of his. Playing the long game this one. Bringing in his reserved infantry not to challenge me, but to pack his short board edge so my out flankers were unable to arrive from more than 24" into the table. where a convenient wall was placed with hidden vet. Scouts in Ambush, who simply waited the whole game for my outflank to happen. Along with them Scouts he had 12 dogteams and two fausts all hiding (actually "hidden" keyword" behind houses and his two heavy autocannons in constant ambush. His entire setup screamed "You Shall Not Pass". Since Im not part of the GB championship, of which the Welsh Nationals is one of the three tourstops, I had no reason to play the long game. And personally I find playing for draws in singles events very unsatisfactory. So I pushed him as hard as I could. starting wiht an AT rifle to bait an ambush, which he didnt trigger, but using them boies to spot all his hidden units on that side and even killing a vet. tankhunter behind one of the houses, trying to get them fausts removed. I was right at the wall with his scouts, about 5" from the objective i had placed for me. He charged the AT rifle with the hunters - and got killed :D. Hopefully I roll a d6 regroup, to land 2" further up, not far enough to cross the wall and clear the 1" gap of the scouts.... But he charges me again, this time a dog-team. He dies, again. I regroup, this time a whole... 2" across the wall and painfully close to the objective. I could smell it. one of his snipers close by turns and kills one of the team, when of course i fail my morale check and get routed.
I drive up my truck to "the wall", he ambushes me a bit earlier to limit my pour-out. where i roll another glorious 2 to only make it up to the wall, now with a pin and having taken losses almost impossible to get the squad to move up to the objective. But I'm lucky. He charges me with a squad of his inex. infantry, which my tough fighting shirkers of course snack up and regroup...... 2" over the wall, but not far enough. These last 2 survivors get mopped up by something else he has on that corner. which is most of his army. two more squads of infantry arrive from reserve but of course cannot move over the wall nor enter along his short edge due to his infantry being spread around there.
In a last ditch effort I successfully bait his ambushing autocannon and remaining faust with a racing utility truck of mine, running towards his other objective. After having baited him I race my armored car already on the field in an 24" dash toward the other objective to obstruct. we turn into turn 6 and i manage to activate the armored car first to connect with the objective. the game is won, i turn the car, fire 5 shots into his holding CO (going down) and into the autocannon, hitting 4 times. I fail to wound him at all with the 4 hits, neither the CO, we draw the last dice of the game. of course its his. autocannon activates through the pin, no problem. double hit. double pen. double boom boom goes my armored car. the game ends on a for me unhappy draw, However at least I got the secondary and had a fun game against Paul.
mid game, one can already see the reserves pouring hin along his short edge, where the veterans with SMG hold \"the wall\", my oibjective ever so close behind.
table layout. nothing at all happened on my side of the board. it all went down on his short edge of the board.
this could've been a thing of beauty - but he just had to get the dice and roll some good hits, did he :D...
Round #5: Meeting Engagement
A chill and easy last mission against the excellent Richard CZ and his Ghurkas. This was the only Ghurka army I faced at this event. To my big surprise and relief. Sadly in the one mission where they were probably best against me: kill points - and points per unit don't matter... and i have 27 squishy dice against his 16.
The mission, in case anyone doesn't know is: move on along your long table edge and simply kill the other guy better than he kills you. good stuff. I had two guntrucks with CO's and infantry outflanking both sides to allow some nice side/rear shots into any adventurous tanks and mop up rear placed artillery and support with my infantry. Ghurkas with an M3 Lee and Stuart were a different ballgame however. Richard brilliantly played a "denied flank", rendering anything i put on the other table-half - including my out-flankers, redundant. All the action was always going to be on the small open corridor on the left table half. I took the secondary mid-table at my discretion, as there was no one to contest and the battle raged to my left. his para-Ghurkas, tanks and mortars against my armor and artillery. no point in tossing in infantry for me.
I beat him to a bloody pulp. Then he beat me to a bloody pulp. Then, pretty sure we were drawn, +1/-1 something, he had what felt like the upper hand, his Lee and stuart raigning supreme, my bigger guns dead/unmanned, my guntrucks having to hide from his stuarts firepower... didnt look to shiny. I brought my outflanks not to attack him - but along my own long edge sprinting over the open field towards the safety of houses to not get caught by his advancing army, which i couldnt stop in that concentration... All looked dire, until he, I think, became a bit bloodthirsty and rushed his brengineers in to kill a guntruck and tank in the middle of my bottom left army conentration. his flamer missed, and his 10 shots mmg caused but a pin. It was the top of a new turn and we were at about 10 vs 20 dice, having me draw first. my tank wiped out his engineers with its 15 shots. he drew and activated his Bren not to move, but shoot, not killing my gun-truck again. he drew again, moving up his Stuart into the fray and failed to kill the gun-truck - again, also missing my tank with his AT gun. Now i activated my outflanking infantry which had entered the table and were pressed to the ground along my long edge to get up and run towards his lone, actived bren, proximity kill assured. one of my 4 guntrucks shot and caused 2 pins by damage (1 result) on his Lee, then my howitzer hit on a magical 6 on his Lee, causing damage through the roof for 4 pins, my mortar too hit on a 5+ ranging in (iirc) and caused damage for 4 pins total - routing the monster. my tripple pinned, indestructible gunbuggy activates for a fire - and this the stuart in short range blowing it up. We shook hands on a great and bloody game, ending 15 mins early. Secondary secured. Very good result against ghurkas in kill points for this force.
a whole bunch of stuff just standing around uselessly. my right outflankers just taking pot-shots at super long range... you can see all my stuff on my left looking at the stuart that had just died there (some models already packed away).
you can see our three dead tanks and my burnt down armored car between the two houses. bloody mess.
Final Results:
3 W - 0 L - 2 D with 4 secondaries for 15 Tournament points. I cam in 4th, which I'm happy about with my Dutch.
Tournament take-aways: The event was well run, awesome prize-support, lots of awards, friendly people and organizers. The size of it meant that newecasual players could play more casually at their speed after the first round, while the nasty cheesers like myself got to play amongst themselves in the top 10ish. good stuff!
Also lunch was included in the very fair event-costs and the venue itself was handicapped-accessible and a proper nerd-heaven. Very cool!
Im not going to another BA event when I have to check into a hostel. not gonna do it.
In-Game-wise take aways:
I was unsure of the Dutch at 1250, as they do not get that much stronger with more points (imo), they excel at 750-1000 point games. Whereas many other nations can dramatically ramp up their power with them extra 250 points, for Dutch not really that much ramps up I think. I tried very hard to squeeze something sensible into the army.
However after the event I am positively surprised of how well they carried themselves at 1250. At times it almost feels like cheating running this army. You just have so much of everything. So much redundancy, something dies? who cares, Ill put another 2-3 up there!
A word on missions: I am no fan of missions that lend themselves to be easily drawn, like "Seize and Hold", You spawn on two objectives - all you need to draw. All your units are hidden. Just hang tight and defend your position and you cant lose. For tourney play not my favorite. My guess is roughly a third or half of all tables drew that one.
Special Thanks go to Daniel Moody and Sally who graciously offered me rides to & from the venue and even let me borrow a phone charger-adapter, as my EU plug wasn't fit for the GB sockets. Thanks a bunch and until next time!

Does anyone have any experience with polishing mineral crystal? If so what product/kit did you use and what realistically can I expect the results to be? The scratches are significant, I can feel my fingernail catching on them. I did get this watch at an unbelievable price so I’m not too concerned about the cosmetic condition as it’s keeping great time and works perfectly. I just think it’s much much too pretty a piece to not at least try and correct some of the scratches on the face