A New Year and, hopefully, a new start.

 Another attempt to restart this Blog and my figure painting and I hope this year may be better than 2020.

I was exceptionally fortunate to have my eye operation in the UK and to be back in Normandie before the Covid-19 epidemic became a major issue and had such a dramatic effect on all of our lives. 

I think that during 2020 I painted some 500 or so figures but given the time spent in lockdown it does not seem much at all.

Wargaming wise I have gamed at home when possible with Les who lives the same village as me. We have mainly played Chain of Command, Sharp Practice and Infamy Infamy. 

As of this year we are also playtesting a new ruleset, Fighting for Mexico, which will be the next set from the Martin Goddard/Peter Pig stable. to date we have managed 3 games and they have all been very enjoyable and a fast paced, fun set of rules.

I have also joined a group playtesting Rebel Yell, a set for the ACW being developed by Arthur van der Ster which look very promising.

On the figure painting front I have set myself a target of painting the minimum of a figure a day. January has already come and gone but I managed over 50 figures that were a bit of a mixture but in the main for Sharp Practice. As long as I manage to keep this blog going there will be photos of them in my next post.

The Best Of Intentions.........

Well my Blogging didn't restart as well as I intended......

Unfortunately my cataract, in my right eye, has got to a point where I struggle to paint and model. It is, to say the very least, extremely frustrating. Luckily I'm fortunate enough to be able to have a lens replacement arranged for the middle of February, so fingers crossed I'll be able to paint again by the beginning of March.

Time will tell!!!

Another Birthday passes.

Oh well another birthday has come and gone!

Wargaming wise I received a copy of Digby Smith's book Napoleon's Regiments which has already proved very useful as it covers the histories of the Regiments of the French Army, 1792-1815.

My partner very kindly bought me a box of the new 28mm Perry Miniatures, plastics, namely the French Napoleonic Infantry Battalion 1807-14. This will be the perfect start to my Sharp Practice Peninsula War campaign. The box contains a full 36 man battalion plus 8 additional Elite company figures in skirmish poses. All figures are in the pre-1812 long tailed coat and overalls. I am particularly impressed with the excellent painting guide which covers details for painting them as French, Swiss, the Kingdom of Italy and Neapolitan troops.

My aim is to check through the Digby Smith book and paint them up as one of the more colourful units that were present in the Peninsula.

Photos to follow once I get my camera and, hopefully, light-box sorted.

The other project that I need to mention here (as I need the motivation to proceed and develop my technical skills) is the use of my 2 3D printers that I acquired in October and November 2019. The resin printer, an Elegoo Mars, is set-up but I've only printed a couple of small items whereas the other on is not even properly set-up or levelled yet. The crazy thing is that I'm a gentleman of leisure but there are still not hours in the day.

The one thing I'm  determined to stick to this year is that any new figures and terrain that I buy this year will be funded from sales of my surplus figures. Time will tell!!!

New Year 2020 and a Restart to my Blog.

The purpose of this blog was to motivate me to paint and game. It worked for a couple of years but then fell into disuse as life rather got in the way.

My last post here was way back in August '17 and an awful lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. I was looking at property in Italy but actually been very happily living in a lovely Longere in Normandy since 28 Jun '18. 

I'm incredibly lucking to have gone from having a 6'x4' table in my spare bedroom to having a  dedicated 'suite' with a 12'x4' table.

I have joined 2 wargame clubs, each and hours drive from home. One is in Carentan and the other is in Fougeres. I will post much more about them once I have spoken to the members to ask for their permission. Both clubs are very welcoming and tolerant of my very poor French. They both meet on Saturdays so I am spoilt for choice.

By pure coincidence there is an expat Brit wargamer also living in Saint-Michel-de-Montjoie, less than 2km from me. We have a regular gaming session every Thursday. At the moment are mainly using Chain of Command and Sharp Practice; although we also play tested two of Peter Pigs rule sets namely his Pirate rules (sorry Martin but the name escapes me at the moment!!) and Bloody Barons.

Painting wise I have been quite busy concentrating on 28mm American Civil War, French Indian Wars and early WWII French.

As to the next few months I hope to concentrate on on more of the above plus a host of Perry Plastic 1415-1429 English.

The only blot on the landscape is a cataract in my right eye which means I need a lens replacement in the near future. In the meantime I will paint as much as I can and game on a regular basis.

It is also my intention to continue with this Blog and develop it further.

Bon journee et au revoir

A lot can happen in 4 weeks!

Well that's another month that has magically vanished! The reason for the lack of Blog activity is primarily down to the fact that my new laptop has been away being fixed after it suddenly and stubbornly refused to connect to the internet as the drivers became corrupted!!

A lot has been going on and amongst other things I'm considering buying a property in Italy with my new partner!!

On the wargame front I've  been painting odds and sods. All 28mm  but a mixture of  New Kingdom Egyptians, Macedonians, Landsneckts and early hangunners!

In total 200 foot and 16 mounted.

I'm now back in the swing of things so photos will be added over the weekend.

I'm off in less than an hour for a game at SSWG. My 28mm NKE will be taking to the field for the first time against an equally new Hittite army fielded by Colin Cavanagh. It will be a 200pt a side game using L'Art De La Guerre. I'll probably come off second best but it will be a good game, as it always is with Colin.

Where Did 8 Months Go???

Was my last post really last year!!

A lot has happened since my last post, most of it to do with life getting in the way of  gaming.

Anyway I'll not bore you with the details; suffice it to say that I'm back and picked up a paint brush yesterday for the first time in almost six months.

Unfortunately the Mountain and Pile have increased in size with the addition of some WWII Brits, a Curtley Miniatures Ancient Chinese Army and 3 boxes of the new Warlord Miniatures Landsnechts.

I've recently signed up for the conquering the Lead Mountain Painting Challenge (6MMRPC) which has come at the right time and spurred me on to pick up my brushes and make an inroad into the frightening Mountain and Pile.

How Wrong Could I Be?!?

Well I ended the last post with a clear list the the next few units that I was going to paint............how wrong I was!!

My gaming chum Nick returned from foreign parts last week and we met up for a catch up and gossip about all things gaming.
The conversation got round to his current project which is 28mm Russian Napoleonics and his plan to paint 2, or was it 3, Corps in the next few weeks. Seriously though he paints more than 20 figures for every one I can manage! Well my thoughts inexorably turned to the 20+ boxes of Perry and Warlord French that have been languishing in the plastic pile for probably the best part of 2 years. I then felt obliged to dig out a couple of boxes and give them a go.
Therefore:-

Warlord late French in greatcoats.

Perry plastic late French in a mixture of greatcoats and jackets.

My main problem though is that I really struggle to paint Napoleonics; I think it is just the sheer numbers required that put me off.

Having said that I'll finish these first 2 battalions, followed by a light one, and then see how I feel about the remainder. I'm sorely tempted to wait until the new year and then send them overseas to Fernando Enterprises. I sent 500 plastic Austrians out to Sri Lanka a couple of years ago and they only cost me just over £1 each including postage. I sent a single large box with 12 units of 48 figures. I included painting details for each unit and was pleasantly surprised to get a photo of the first figure of each unit for approval, to ensure the facing colours etc were correct. The whole process took a couple of months from despatch to return but all in all a very impressive service and well worth the wait.

The last pirates are almost complete and my frigate, named Theresa, is still in dry dock but plans are afoot........................

Pirates IV

A productive week.

I've managed to complete the 16 pirate crew and the 4 monks that were my target, plus the final 9 Royal Marines and started the last the last 9 pirates!

It's been a strange few days as I've been busier than usual but have actually managed to find more time for painting. There must be a moral there somewhere.

Anyway here are the results of my painting:

This just leaves the final 9 pirates and that is the first project of this three month challenge complete (well at least for the time being!!)

The next challenge is to complete my Frigate which is, at least in the main part built. All I need to do now is rub down the exterior of the hull, fit the 20 gun ports, finalise the configuration of the masts, fit them, paint the whole model and finally tackle the rigging!!

The next thing is to decide which project to complete next. I suppose it's a bit of a no brainier really as I have a unit of 28mm Sassanid heavy horse archers that I need for the Firestorm Games LADG competition in December. Once they are complete it's then on to the ACW Yanks that need finishing, thereby completing my first Sharp Practice II forces.

Pirates IV & Priests

A very quiet week painting wise.

I managed to almost finish the first 10 Wargames Foundry Royal Marines for my Pirates project. Still a bit of final highlighting to go but overall I'm satisfied with the results.

Next up are a group of four priests/monks

With regards to pirates I have 16 crew to tackle. I believe they are a mixture of Artizan and North star.

I'm still struggling to get decent photos using my camera but I'll persevere and maybe even master the dark art one day!!

Pirates III

Generally a quiet week painting wise v and very pirate orientated.

The Naval boarding party is almost complete. Just dip and final highlights to go:

Next up are the first Royal Marines:

Most of my remaining time has been spent putting together my DarkOps Frigate. So far I've managed the hull:

It went together remarkably easily and the online video instruction were invaluable. I've built many MDF buildings from a number of manufacturers and this is up there with the very best.
The masts have been put together but not glued so the next step is to finish and glue them them and then to commence painting the hull. I'm really very excited about this project.