Wednesday 24 December 2014
Whatever Happened to 2014?
This Blog started well at the beginning of 2014; as did my wargaming intentions.
But...........
As you can see everything ground to a halt in June. My intended trip to China failed to materialise and since then life has rather got in the way of gaming. I should hasten to add that everything has been for the good; culminating with my partner, Theresa, moving in at the beginning of this month.
The consequence has been that the metal mountain has grown; as has the plastic pile and the collection of unmade MDF Buildings and Resin Vehicles.
In the next week I am finally finishing setting up my Gaming Room and will list details of my unfinished projects.
At the end of every year I promise myself that I will be more organised and spend less the next year. I can't promise the same for 2015 as I already have a KickStarter pledge for a few hundred 28mm Persian Napoleonic figures but I will rationalise the Mountain/Pile and dispose of the surplus on eBay.
I sincerely hope that during 2015 I will finish a project or two, paint regularly and actually game far more but I suppose that only time will tell!!!
Friday 30 May 2014
Ready for Fisticuffs
Well May draws to a close and I failed miserably with my 2 hours a day target.
Tomorrow is Fisticuffs (the annual show put on by The Weymouth Levellers) and I'm helping Nick with a massive Austrian v French 28mm Napoleonic game using a modified form of Black Powder. Nick is providing God knows how many 100s of figures and I'm desperately hoping I can finish 8 Austrian Staff Officers and a 2nd battery of 3 Austrian Guns
I should have been fielding a full Corps comprising 10 48 man Battalions of Austrian Infantry but unfortunately they are not back from Sri Lanka yet. I've been sent photos, they look great, and they have actually been despatched today. Maybe next year!!
I'm not setting any painting targets for June and July as I shall be spending 6 weeks visiting Liuzhou in China!!
Tomorrow is Fisticuffs (the annual show put on by The Weymouth Levellers) and I'm helping Nick with a massive Austrian v French 28mm Napoleonic game using a modified form of Black Powder. Nick is providing God knows how many 100s of figures and I'm desperately hoping I can finish 8 Austrian Staff Officers and a 2nd battery of 3 Austrian Guns
I should have been fielding a full Corps comprising 10 48 man Battalions of Austrian Infantry but unfortunately they are not back from Sri Lanka yet. I've been sent photos, they look great, and they have actually been despatched today. Maybe next year!!
I'm not setting any painting targets for June and July as I shall be spending 6 weeks visiting Liuzhou in China!!
Tuesday 13 May 2014
May follows April
Well April flew by and a third of May has gone already!
Salute has also come and gone. I went with the intention of looking but not spending. Needless to say it did not quite work out like that and I left with a signed copy of the stunning Perry 'picture' book and 8 boxes of Victrix Old and Middle Guard. Salute also gave me the opportunity to meet Stuart from Studio Miniatures who true to his word sent me all the remaining Sikh Wars figures from my KickStarter Pledge a week later.
I have had a number of emails from Sri Lanka and photos of the painting to date. I hope that I will have all 500 figures back in time to have them based and ready to take the field my the end of this month.
Painting has been slow but I managed to complete a unit of 24 Indian Mutineers and finally my first unit of 12 Napoleonic Austrian Hussars. I have now started 8 Austrian Staff Officers (a mixture of Perry metals and Victrix plastic) and a battery of 3 Austrian Artillery (Elite).
I am now trying to paint for an hour or 2 each day and will see how it goes..............
Salute has also come and gone. I went with the intention of looking but not spending. Needless to say it did not quite work out like that and I left with a signed copy of the stunning Perry 'picture' book and 8 boxes of Victrix Old and Middle Guard. Salute also gave me the opportunity to meet Stuart from Studio Miniatures who true to his word sent me all the remaining Sikh Wars figures from my KickStarter Pledge a week later.
I have had a number of emails from Sri Lanka and photos of the painting to date. I hope that I will have all 500 figures back in time to have them based and ready to take the field my the end of this month.
Painting has been slow but I managed to complete a unit of 24 Indian Mutineers and finally my first unit of 12 Napoleonic Austrian Hussars. I have now started 8 Austrian Staff Officers (a mixture of Perry metals and Victrix plastic) and a battery of 3 Austrian Artillery (Elite).
I am now trying to paint for an hour or 2 each day and will see how it goes..............
Monday 31 March 2014
End March - So Far, So Good
Fernando Enterprises
After a nervous wait I had an email from Fernando Enterprises to say that my Victrix plastic Austrian Napoleonics had arrived safely in Sri Lanka!
A few days later I had a follow up email to say that a couple of bayonets were broken and asking whether they should tidy the figures and paint them anyway. Good Customer Service or what!!!
Painting
As to my painting the Highlanders are based and finished but as my camera is playing up I'm afraid there is no photo. I'm about two thirds towards finishing the next Unit of Mutineers and a British Officer shooting from an Elephant. the latter being an old Foundry set originally part of a 'Tiger Hunt'.
Gaming
I have managed to attend the South Somerset Wargames Group (SSWG) weekly Thursday Club Night twice this month.
On the first occasion I had a really good game of Bolt Action, WWII skirmish, which resulted in me digging out my partly finished Italians and ordering an Autoblinda Armoured Car and Carro Armato M13/40 (from Warlord Games) and a few Command types. They arrived within a couple of days so Warlord were up to there usual standard. Yet more painting!!!
The second visit was for a game of 28mm Napoleonics, using Black Powder. It was most enjoyable and as it was only the 2nd time we have tried the rules it was a steep learning curve for us all. There were a couple of unexpected events but they were down to our unfamiliarity with the rules. We are due play again this week so as long as my camera decides to work I'll post some photos.
After a nervous wait I had an email from Fernando Enterprises to say that my Victrix plastic Austrian Napoleonics had arrived safely in Sri Lanka!
A few days later I had a follow up email to say that a couple of bayonets were broken and asking whether they should tidy the figures and paint them anyway. Good Customer Service or what!!!
Painting
As to my painting the Highlanders are based and finished but as my camera is playing up I'm afraid there is no photo. I'm about two thirds towards finishing the next Unit of Mutineers and a British Officer shooting from an Elephant. the latter being an old Foundry set originally part of a 'Tiger Hunt'.
Gaming
I have managed to attend the South Somerset Wargames Group (SSWG) weekly Thursday Club Night twice this month.
On the first occasion I had a really good game of Bolt Action, WWII skirmish, which resulted in me digging out my partly finished Italians and ordering an Autoblinda Armoured Car and Carro Armato M13/40 (from Warlord Games) and a few Command types. They arrived within a couple of days so Warlord were up to there usual standard. Yet more painting!!!
The second visit was for a game of 28mm Napoleonics, using Black Powder. It was most enjoyable and as it was only the 2nd time we have tried the rules it was a steep learning curve for us all. There were a couple of unexpected events but they were down to our unfamiliarity with the rules. We are due play again this week so as long as my camera decides to work I'll post some photos.
Sunday 16 March 2014
Mid March - No Going Back!!
Oh well as the title says there is no going back now.
I have spent a good few hours putting together 480 Victrix Napoleonic Austrians. Not exactly an exciting task but strangely satisfying. They ended up as 10 Units of 48; 8 with Shako, 1 with Helmets and 1 of Grenzer. All carefully packaged in a reinforced shoe box and £10.80 later on their way to Sri Lanka. Communication with Fernando Enterprises seems really good so I await their return with excitement and a degree of trepidation!!
The dreaded huzzars are still collecting dust but the highlanders are almost complete.The next batch of 24 28mm Indian Mutineers are under-way.
I have also heard from Studio Miniatures that the last few hundred Sikh Wars 28mm figures are on their way to Somerset.
Lastly I have not quite stuck to my resolution of not buying more figures as I accidentally ordered 28 boxes of Perry Miniatures French Napoleonics... oh and 8 metalguns and crews........ and a dozen or so staff officers!!!
I have spent a good few hours putting together 480 Victrix Napoleonic Austrians. Not exactly an exciting task but strangely satisfying. They ended up as 10 Units of 48; 8 with Shako, 1 with Helmets and 1 of Grenzer. All carefully packaged in a reinforced shoe box and £10.80 later on their way to Sri Lanka. Communication with Fernando Enterprises seems really good so I await their return with excitement and a degree of trepidation!!
The dreaded huzzars are still collecting dust but the highlanders are almost complete.The next batch of 24 28mm Indian Mutineers are under-way.
I have also heard from Studio Miniatures that the last few hundred Sikh Wars 28mm figures are on their way to Somerset.
Lastly I have not quite stuck to my resolution of not buying more figures as I accidentally ordered 28 boxes of Perry Miniatures French Napoleonics... oh and 8 metalguns and crews........ and a dozen or so staff officers!!!
Friday 28 February 2014
February - Abject Surrender or Change of Direction?
Well the painting this month has not gone well. Undoubtedly an understatement!!
I'm still struggling to finish a unit of 24 x 28mm Mutineers Miniatures representing HM 79th Highlanders and a unit of 12 x 28mm Elite Miniatures Napoleonic Austrian Hussars. Frankly I wish I had never taken on the little kilted blighters and have always struggled with Hussars. Why, oh why, did I ever start these two units at the same time???
My inability to finish these Units has resulted in me re-assessing my Plastic Pile and Metal Mountain and I've decided that it is insurmountable so the only option is to outsource some of the painting. Having thought about the costs and having shopped around the best deal appears to be Fernando Enterprises in Sri Lanka and as the shipping on plastics is considerably less than for metal I have decided to make a start with the Victrix Plastic Napoleonic Austrians. The aim is to ship out the whole batch of 480 during March!!
I am going to concentrate on the Metal Mountain which has grown considerably with the arrival of the first batch of the Sikh Wars figures from Studio Miniatures. They are simply gorgeous and the 'Flashman' figure is simply stunning.
Deep down I know that the Metal Mountain is still far too large for me to ever finish many of the part finished projects so I will need to face facts and maybe even embark on a career as an eBay Seller!!
More hard decisions ahead and maybe, just maybe, some time for painting!!
Only time will tell........................
Friday 31 January 2014
January - Success or Failure?
The month started well and my brushes actually contacted paint and lead (more or less where I intended!!). Things then fell apart with the arrival of a 4 month old Jack Russell puppy.He settled down remarkably quickly so I ran out of excuses and actually managed to complete 65 Indian Mutiny figures and 10 Mediaeval Camp Followers.
Apologies for the standard of the photography but it is a first attempt so as such a work in progress that will hopefully improve with the general quality of this Blog.
As to the painting I'm afraid that these days my eyesight is such that it is very much a case of 'block n dip'!!
All in all not a bad month and I managed to refrain from buying any figures. The only problem was that I noticed that The Plastic Soldier Company had a sale and I ended up buying the excellent Kursk Ruleset and the Late War Supplements.
 |
| Mutineers from the excellent Mutineer Miniatures range |
 |
| Indian Mutiny again; this time a unit of 32 figures from Mutineer Miniatures painted to represent HM 75th Regt of Foot. |
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| Camp Followers from 1st Corp. |
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| As above |
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| A few more! |
As to the painting I'm afraid that these days my eyesight is such that it is very much a case of 'block n dip'!!
All in all not a bad month and I managed to refrain from buying any figures. The only problem was that I noticed that The Plastic Soldier Company had a sale and I ended up buying the excellent Kursk Ruleset and the Late War Supplements.
Monday 13 January 2014
Ongoing Projects
Like most, if not all, Wargamers I enter 2014 with a number of ongoing Projects; some of which I would actually like to complete this year!
In 28mm:
A Very British Civil War (VBCW) - Somerset Freedom Fighters (SFF)
Indian Mutiny - HEIC & Mutineers
Sikh Wars - British and Sikhs
War of the Roses
Wild West
World War One (WWI) - British, German & French
World War Two (WWII) - Italians, German & British
Napoleonic Austrian & Bavarian.
English Civil War
Ancient - Assyrian, Greek, Persian, Early Imperial Roman, Indian, Macedonian, Hun, Mongol,Goths Late Roman and Dark Ages.
In 15mm:
30 Years War - Dutch.
Samurai
American Civil War
World War II - German, Dutch & Russian
In other scales:
Dystopian Wars - French and British.
All in all a lifetimes plus worth of painting and basing so I will be concentrating on 3 or 4 of these and hopefully finally finishing at least one of them.
In my heart of hearts I know I need to rationalise the 'mountain and pile' but can I actually bring myself to enter the World of eBay actually sell on at least the Projects I can see no prospect of ever starting. I sincerely hope so but....................................................
In 28mm:
A Very British Civil War (VBCW) - Somerset Freedom Fighters (SFF)
Indian Mutiny - HEIC & Mutineers
Sikh Wars - British and Sikhs
War of the Roses
Wild West
World War One (WWI) - British, German & French
World War Two (WWII) - Italians, German & British
Napoleonic Austrian & Bavarian.
English Civil War
Ancient - Assyrian, Greek, Persian, Early Imperial Roman, Indian, Macedonian, Hun, Mongol,Goths Late Roman and Dark Ages.
In 15mm:
30 Years War - Dutch.
Samurai
American Civil War
World War II - German, Dutch & Russian
In other scales:
Dystopian Wars - French and British.
All in all a lifetimes plus worth of painting and basing so I will be concentrating on 3 or 4 of these and hopefully finally finishing at least one of them.
In my heart of hearts I know I need to rationalise the 'mountain and pile' but can I actually bring myself to enter the World of eBay actually sell on at least the Projects I can see no prospect of ever starting. I sincerely hope so but....................................................
New Year - New Blog
Blogger is new to me so we shall see how this develops; fingers crossed!!
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