My 6th Blogaversary 2022 finds me DMZ Demilitarised

More unusual uniform research for figure conversions? African-American Camp Fire Girls USA or YWCA Girls amongst the early Guides movements would have looked like this. Image source: Marcia Chatelain, South Side Girls.

Today is my 6th Blogaversary, the 6th anniversary of my first Man Of TIN blog post in 2016.

A lot has happened this past year since the 5th Blogaversary. It has certainly been a bit of a strange year, on top of the ongoing COVID disruptions to normal life .

The invasion of the Ukraine in late February and the prospect of war spreading across Eastern Europe and beyond, even going nuclear, brought most of my gaming, ImagiNations or hobby activities to a halt.

Since then I have avoided khaki, grunge, guns and ‘modern’ warfare for the time being.

Well not entirely khaki free, as my Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts from Scouting Wide Games for the Tabletop Project originally wore a khaki uniform.

My time since February 2022, when not busy with work, has been spent instead digging around newspaper and photo archives looking for the spirit of early scouting, guiding and forgotten youth movements in Britain, New Zealand and America. Lots of uniform research has ended up here on my Scouting Wide Games blog: https://tabletopscoutingwidegames.wordpress.com

Instead I have been focusing on non-lethal strategy games – Scouting Wide Games, Skatebaord graffiti games, Suffragette billposting and Snowball fights. All the S-sees!

https://manoftinblogtwo.wordpress.com/2022/02/24/some-more-peaceful-or-non-lethal-tabletop-strategy-games/

LBB30 Boy Scout STS Little Britons 42mm range conversions into Girl Scouts and Camp Fire Girls for Scouting Wide Games. Hopefully not unchaperoned!

Camp Fire Girls USA – the patriotic Minute Girls version of 1917. Red white and blue with the addition of red neckties to the white Middy tops and dark blue skirts.

What happened over the last year and what halted back in February?

May 2021 to February 2022 – before invasions began IRL – I was working on lots of enjoyable butterfly painting and gaming projects from Tankette Tuesdays to FEMbruary Space Princesses:

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2022/02/23/fembruary-figures-good-queen-bess-and-the-generic-empress/

https://manoftinblogtwo.wordpress.com/2022/03/08/fembruary-female-figure-number-four-1970s-space-princess-on-the-painting-table/

In fact it was all very Watch This Space? A lot of Space; I was watching a lot of SciFi (Battlestar Galactica 2004 reboot, bad Star Wars rip offs and The Orville) so was steadily working through SciFi figures for Close Little Star Wars such as the odd 1981 Airfix Space Warriors, figure group by group.

https://manoftinblogtwo.wordpress.com/2022/02/13/airfix-1981-space-warriors-samurai-robots/

The Spanish Arma-Dad’s Army Project came to a halt:

https://manoftinblogtwo.wordpress.com/2022/02/04/spanish-fury-ii-54mm-chintoys-spanish-warriors-and-conquistadors/

Cataloguing Peter Laing 15mm figures towards the 50th anniversary in October / November 1972 has slowed down or halted, but lots done so far!

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2022/01/08/the-benefits-of-15mm-scale-explained-to-the-little-woman-in-your-life-some-early-peter-laing-adverts-in-wargamers-newsletter-1970s/

https://collectingpeterlaing15mmfigures.wordpress.com/2021/11/09/peter-laing-15mm-id-post-3/

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Some of my new gaming years resolutions have been halted since late February 2022.

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2021/12/31/what-will-2022-bring-2/

but there have been a lot of posts on early wargaming this blog year including Donald Featherstone and H. G. Wells

Battling Bronte sisters and Boggarts https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2021/11/21/battling-bronte-sisters-and-branwell-conversions-from-bad-squiddo-little-wolves-figures-wip/

Svenmarck invaded 1940 has halted and these vintage Airfix Marines and Para “chubsters” are now back resting in their Really Useful Boxes:

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2021/07/18/airfix-ooho-british-paratroops-chubsters/

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2021/06/07/from-the-halls-of-montezuma-airfix-version-1-us-marines-1963/

Since last May there have been lots more rebased and restored vintage Airfix …

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2021/06/13/wades-toy-soldier-artillery-from-vintage-airfix-ooho-french-artillery-imaginations/

including these accidentally very Ukrainian coloured ImagiNations Airfix figures.

So that was Blog Year Five! Who knows what Blog Year Six will bring?

Snowball fight anyone?

Blog posted by Mark Man Of TIN, sixth Blogaversary, 25 May 2022