Posjet Muzeju

 

     Dok se probijam iz usnulog Zagreba prema istoku razmišljam i ne mogu se sjetiti razloga zašto već dvije godine nisam bio u Pakracu. Pakrac za mene nije tek običan grad u Slavoniji, u Pakracu sam rođen... Treba sjesti u auto i odvesti se stotinjak kilometara dalje.

    Ford klizi praznom autocestom. Bočica vode mi je društvo ovaj put. Sunce lomi oblake probijajući se kroz gustu maglu oko Lonjskog polja dok se Gold bori sa sve agresivnijim lokalnim stanicama. Ne uspijevam otvoriti vrećicu štapića zubima... brzinomjer pokazuje da iako nesvjesno, žurim negdje. Srce se nadjačava s jednolikom zvukom kamiona kojeg zaobilazim. Skrećem za Kutinu i rado ostavljam nekoliko životinjica za cestarinu. Usporavam, ali svejedno promašujem KTC. Nekoliko sitnica mi nedostaje... Zaboravih kupiti u Zg.

    Na kružnom prvo skretanje za Pakrac, drugo za kavu u Kutini. Dao sam šansu kavi i nisam požalio. Domaća kava u lijepom ambijentu i neobavezni razgovor s domaćicom s kojom kao da se znam oduvijek... Nažalost, moram dalje... 

    Bočica vode se otkotrljala na pod. Očigledno je da moram potražiti drugog suputnika. Koga? Ne mogu jednostavno ubaciti nekoga u auto, a sam ne želim više biti. Tada se sjetih... 

U Zagrebu razgovaram s mačkama, pokojna baka je pričala cvijeću... Mogu li ostatak puta provesti s krasnom osobom koja me razumije i podržava u svemu? Zašto ne? Mogu li, budući da već zamišljam tu osobu, zamisliti lijepu ženu ugodnog glasa? Naravno da mogu i ne, nisam poludio :). Krećemo tako nas dvoje prema odredištu. Otvaram prozor ne bi li povjeterac donio miris njene kose. Mašta je zeznuta stvar :). Pričamo o vikendu, o stvarima koje nas usrećuju, o sitnicama koje volimo. Usput pokazujem srušene kuće po selima, prisjećam se djetinjstva... Pakračka Poljana, Lipik, Pakrac... vrijeme mi nije prijatelj kada uživam...


    Ford se poslušno zaustavlja u blizini muzeja. Uzimam modele japanskih konjanika i brzim pogledom hvatam slike grada... obnovljene zgrade, mali trg, park... Izgleda lijepo.
Mario, kao pravi domaćin čeka na vratima. Nedostaje samo čokančić rakije... Stisak ruke i krećemo škripavim stepenicama u obilazak...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Idem dalje... još se svašta „mora“ odraditi. Ispucavam zadnje fotke, pozdravljam se i krećem bivšom Štrosmajerovom, Demonjinom i Omladinskom do moje Venecije. Starih borova već godinama nema, nestala je i hrđava ograda u parku... Kuće i pokoja zgrada pokazuju da je ovdje nekada bio rat... fasade su stare, s rupama. Novi park gleda u budućnost... uređen je, idealan za šetnju. Samo Pakra i dalje teče istim smjerom. Na kraju ulice vatrogasni dom, preko puta staro igralište gdje smo satima nabijali loptu kroz ne baš uvijek pokošenu travu. Često su te lopte završavale bez daha u grmovima ruža. Dudovo stablo nisam primijetio. Tko zna da li današnji klinci nakon nogometa jedu bijele plodove dok se vrte na starom ringišpilu...

    Malo kasnije palim lampaše za najdraže. Dodirujem topli mramor uz tihu molitvu i pozdrave... Sjetih se prijatelja koji su otišli mladi. Takav je Pakrac, budi tužna sjećanja. Pored škole samo prolazim... Drugi put ću pješice kroz centar, obećajem.

    Ford poštuje prometne znakove do Lipika. Previše toga još moram usput vidjeti... zašto ne prošetati parkom kao nekada?
    Guste krošnje ispod samih oblaka, sunce ponosno pokazuje park... po sjenama stazom hodam. Pratilja iz auta razigrano leprša oko mene. Sve želi vidjeti, svugdje se fotkati... Park je prazan samo za nas. Dolazimo do bazena, do malog brežuljka. Ruku pružam da se lakše popne, dodir je tako stvaran... Pogled na manje jezero i ribiče. Staza nas vraća do ceste...

    Ista sela do Kutine. Sela sa srušenim kućama iz kojih rastu stabla, u drugima radost života... razigrani konji po dvorištu, gnijezda bez roda... Takva je moja Slavonija.

    Kutina, autoput, Zagreb... Neće ići... Ovo je moja avantura i ne želim je već završiti :). 

    Na kružnom skrećem desno i vozim se desetak minuta prema Gori... stajem na brdašcu i jedem burek. U blizini imanje kao iz snova... dvorište puno zelenila, kućica, mali bor prekrasan u svojoj nesavršenosti. Dok ga gledam iz dvorišta izlazi žena i nosi mi oprano povrće. Glupo odbijam poziv na ručak i rakiju jer... žurim dalje. Za stolom sjedi djevojka zagonetnog osmijeha i zove me da priđem... Dok kao opčinjen idem prema njoj, ona se okrene i ubere sočnu krušku sa obližnjeg stabla. Posljednju krušku samo za mene... Zauzvrat protjerujem strašnog stršljena. Ne pitah je za ime...

    Gold je odsutan, slušam tamburice... nekako pašu. U mislima prolazim dan, dok spuštam se puteljcima prema izlazu za Zagreb.

Tom (2021/09)

Playing with friends... FoW tournament (Vršac 2021.)

 

Too small to be a tournament, too long to be a gaming day  (30th of July - 1st of August 2021)

Back in the 2016, I have organized the first tournament in my hometown, Vršac, Serbia. Every year it was a great tournament with 20+ players that came from four countries. Even last year I have managed to organize a tournament with my friend, but due to corona, it had only eight participants, and many cancelled the day before the tournament.

Now, when the things are becoming much better with corona here, and with friends begging  for some organization, I have managed to make the event for only six participants. Simply, I could not find a larger place this time. But, those participants were willing to play for three days! That way we have managed to play Round-robin tournament, 5 games in three days, which brought us quality that has never been seen before.  Another thing, we have decided to test the new missions, and that was a great decision too. All armies were painted and most of the rosters  were relatively friendly. This time there were no prizes for the best player and for the best painted army as there were before. We had food and drinks nearby so it was less work for me this time (but more pleasure).

Our companionship started at Thursday, as always, with a pint of beer.

 

Slika 01

This weekend  there were some R`N`R concerts at the city lake, so that was a side event of our tournament ahaha

 

Slika 02

The next day, we have started arround 10 o`clock. Three tables, six players, Deka, Shuki, Sloba, Nemanja and me (Koba). Special thanks for Ivan from Zagreb, Croatia, who was willing to travel for 8 hours on almost 40°C, had a tire defect, and still managed to arrive on time.

 

Slika 03

 

Slika 04

 

Slika 05

 

Slika 06

I was leading Hero T-34 Company. They were painted with great pleasure during lockdown but were never used in action. Last year, I took the best painted army prize for my Winter Germans, and this time I had freshly painted Winter Russians. 

 

My list:

 

--------------- GAME 1 (Day 1)
My first game on Friday was against Deka`s US Rifle. Oh boy, I don`t like to face them. There is only one roster that I fear more than US Rifle, and that is his US Armoured Rifle. I think we have played a Counterattack mission.

 

Slika 07

I have decided to rush my Hero T-34 Tankovy directly on close objective. My greatest concern were the AT guns and M-10s in Ambush. 

 

Slika 08

Oh boy that hurts. I had one platoon of T-34 wiped out. But that was a cost that I knew I had to pay. Luckily, on the second turn, I was able to get some revenge. I have managed to pacify most of his M-10s and the AT guns. 

 

Slika 09

I kept going towards the objective. 

 

Slika 10

After some 2-3 assaults, I have succeeded at taking over the objective and winning the game. Huge thanks to my opponent Deka, who actually guided me during the assault phase. After almost a decade of playing FoW, I still have difficulties with understanding the assaults.

 

Slika 11

--------------- GAME 2 (Day 1)
New mission again: Spearpoint. I have played against Nemanja who had StuGs and Hotchkiss formations. I was a defender, and I have decided to put my SU-100s and Panters in Delayed Reserves. I decided to rush on the closest objective and use one single good thing about Hero T-34s:  Tactics order on 2+.

I must say that I had a lot of luck.
Coming from the forest, I was shooting, shooting and shooting, turn after turn. While Nemanja did not have luck with the dice, my T-34s were destroying any unit that came from his reserves. Russian losses were minor comparing to German losses, as shown on the picture.  While in other games I was mostly playing with SUs and Panters, this game I actually won while they were in the reserves. But, once again, Nemanja really had no luck with the dices.

 

Slika 12

--------------- GAME 3 (Day 2)
The next day, my first game was with Sloba, who is my usual oponent. At least he was, before he decided to move to Belgrade and leave me here without a friend to play with... 

 

Slika 13

The mission was new again: Encirclement, and Sloba decided to play defence. He had a British infantry with 2 platoons of AT guns and Crocodile tanks. 

I have decided to put 60% of my force on the left flank which is a maximum allowed by the mission. This time I was actually playing with Panters and SU-100s. 

 

Slika 14

They had some losses, but my 1inC was with them allowing some valuable rerolls. At the end, I have succeded in taking the left objective. This time, the only purpose of two platoons of T-34s was to move around the central objective, not allowing Sloba to move his units from there. I think that Sloba made a mistake by releasing AT guns from ambush in front of his infantry. That made them more vulnerable to my assault. But, they were very dangerous anyway, and the final result could easily be quite different.

 

Slika 15

--------------- Game 4 (Day 2)
Till this moment, it was definitely my best ever starting tournament. Three games, three wins. But then, I had to face Shuki, who had some German halftrucks and 5 Tigers. We both wanted to attack.
New mission again: Scouts out.

 

Slika 16

Shuki was playing very cleverly. He was moving cautiously with his Tigers so that my Panters can be in his range, and then trying to shoot and scoot with them. 

 

Slika 17

I have made a mistake by putting my Panters and Su-100 to be concealed in the forest. I should`ve hidden them totally and wait for my T-34s to come from the reserves, and to strike with all of them at once.

 

Slika 18

However, I had a chance to do something on the third turn, when my T-34s came from the reserves (both platoons). I have managed to hit 2 Tigers, and they failed to get saved, but I could not get a 3+ Fire Power, so they remounted on 2+ next turn. After that, I was quite demoralized, and Shuki was able to kill all my tanks and take the objective. A real bummer for me...
At the end of the day, we went to a restaurant and had some great food.

 

Slika 19

--------------- Game 5 (Day 3)
On the third day, we were supposed to play only one game. I had to play with Ivan, who had some really nicely painted Summer Russians, as opposite to my Winter Russians.

 

Slika 20

The mission was a counterattack. Something that we should be familiar with.

 

 

Slika 21

Ivan (the bad one ahahah) decided to play very aggressively with his infantry and some heavy tanks like SU-100 and IS-2. He managed to get to my central objective on turn two. But I had a chance until turn six to deny it. My reserves were actually dedicated to deny that objective, while my SU-100s, Panters and SU-76 should`ve defended my closer objective. Again, I was playing most of the game with SUs and Panters. (So, next time, I should either make a Panter or SU roster ahahah) 

 

Slika 22

In a way it was mission impossible. What I have achieved was destroying his SU-100s and IS-2s and some other platoon, that way earning 3 small points. I have learned what means when you have infantry with RPGs... The hard way...
I have learned how oponent infantry can waste your time, by not allowing my tanks to pass them by...
I have learned that 3 Stuarts can kill 3 SU-100s if the dice are not rolling in your favor.
It was a bloody game and at the end I was totally wiped out from the table, while Ivan was on both objectives... I must say that Ivan made an enormous progress since the last time we have played. He had a good roster and knew how to use it. 

And the final results:
Player    Big points    Small points
Vladimir Šukalović (Shuki)    4    34
Dušan Kostić (Koba)    3    27
Ivan Milković (Milky)    3    23
Dejan Milinović (Deka)    1    15
Nemanja Konstantinović (Turchin)    1    13
Slobodan Tomić (Sloba)    1    12

The overall viner was Shuki! Congratulations!

I hope that next year I will be able to organize a tournament for more players, like I did in the good old days.

Dušan (Koba)

Warlord - Soviet tank platoon (T34/85)

 

 

T-34/85 Box

Kutija tenkova kupljena uz plan da ću ih obojati i prodati (barem 2 tenka).  Kada sam vidio koliko novaca bi išlo svima koji sudjeluju u prodaji, odustao sam od posla unaprijed. Meni bi ostao tek maleni dio, možda 10-15% od cijene prodaje. Bojati nekoliko sati za 10 kn/sat mi se nikako ne isplati.

S druge strane, sve što bojam... bojam sa srcem. Ne mogu objasniti kako, ali vežem se uz te komade plastike i metala :).

Skoro nikada ne bojam točno određenim bojama niti znam redoslijed bojanja, prljanja... kako mi dođe, tako u tom trenutku napravim.

Ova tri tenka su obojana upravo tako... sjeo sam za radni stol, vadio boje za koje sam u tom trenutku mislio da bi mogle pomoći... krenuo sam bojati. Točno određene nijanse zelene ili smeđe nemaju previše smisla. Treba pogoditi boju tenka koji je napravljen u ratnim uvjetima, u tko zna kojoj tvornici... Jednom zgotovljeno vozilo je trebalo što prije prebaciti na front. Koliko je bilo važno obojati ga točno određenom nijansom neke boje... Zamislimo i ovo... i boje se negdje proizvode. Isto tako u teškim, ratnim uvjetima, u podrumu neke tvornice prebačene nakon Njemačke invazije na Rusiju. Malo pigmenta više ili manje i evo druge nijanse; bačva do bačve i svaka je bar malo drugačija svojim sadržajem. Onda uzmimo u obzir više proizvođača boje, pa miješanje boja... bojanje na samom frontu radi hitnosti isporuke. Trebalo je odraditi i kamufliranje bojom... na sve to dođu blato i prašina, razna oštećenja... Teško da je tenk uništen prvom granatom, nakon određenog vremena se pojavi hrđa... Svaki tenk ima svoju priču i tu se zaustavljam.

 

Ne volim ovakve fotografije. Obično previše nedostataka otkrivaju... U ovom slučaju se vidi nekoliko nanosa boje (dry brush rađen puuno puta).

 

Kao i uvijek, uživao sam trošeći slobodno vrijeme na oslikavanje plastike :).

Nadam se da ću ih jednom sve zajedno strpati u neku listu i razbiti protivnike... :). 

T.