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.

Pirates II

Well it's been a quiet week as far as painting goes.

I've managed to complete the first pirate crew, although I'm not particularly happy with the results. I'm going to paint the 2nd batch and then decide whether to repaint the first lot.

Anyway here's a photo of them so far.

Next up is a Navy Crew.

Apologies for the poor quality photos; something else I can't seem to get right!

The work on My Dark Ops Frigate is well underway and construction was a doddle (that's as long as the excellent video is followed!!). The Theresa, as she's aptly named will be the subject of the next post.

Pirates!!

My first painting project to start using the before and after approach are Pirates.

The first unit is Calico Jack's Crew fromNorth Star via Bristol Independent Games (BIG):

Once these are finished I have Blackbeard's Crew and some Crusader Miniatures pirates plus Royal Marines from Foundry and British Line from AW Miniatures.

The centrepiece will be a 28mm MDF frigate from the DarkOps Dark Seas range:

Progress During September

September has been been very productive painting wise but yet again I failed to keep up with the blog. No excuses; I was just obsessed with painting.
In a normal month, if there is any such beast, I would be happy to paint 100 pieces. In September I managed over double that.

The breakdown is as follows:
89 28mm Foot, Sassanid, ACW and cowboys.
48 28mm Cavalry Sassanids.
64 15mm Cavalry Sassanids
2 28mm Sassanid Elephants.

Apart from 16 ACW and 4 Sassanids the decks are now cleared and ready for a more structured approach.

From now on, well at least until the end of this year I'll be posting a before and after photo of each unit/project.

A spot of painting

Since entering the forthcoming 28mm L'Art De La Guerre competition at Firestorm Games I thought I ought to paint the Sassanids.

The figures are Gripping Beast and have been lurking in the Pile for many a year.

As can be seen so far I've managed a couple of command bases, the levy, the elephants and the light foot.

I have also, more or less, stuck to my detox but admit to buying the Aventine Miniatures King's Elephant and the grand total of 4 mounted command. The real indulgence was the Little Big Men Studios transfers for the elephant but they are stunning and I'm afraid that my painting and photographic skills do neither the model of transfers justice.

 The photo below was imported my new phone that supposedly has a better quality camera than the camera used for the photos above.

I think I need to set up a photo booth as I have no control over the lighting levels!

A Change of Approach to this Blog

I've never been happy with the layout of this Blog so I've been fiddling again!!

This time I've tried adding 'Pages' (i.e. the tabs above this post) relating to individual Rules that I'm currently playing and/or am interested in.

The aim is to include my thoughts on their use and feel as well as After Action Reports and photos of games.

I look at some of the AARs that are posted and they are incredibly detailed and professional in appearance; they set a high benchmark that I will aim to emulate!

The main posts will be for more general musings, details of painting and my overall attempt to tackle the Metal Mountain and Plastic Pile.

Proficiat ad Honorem!!

Over the Hills

For the last couple of weeks I've been looking forward to trying out a new set of Napoleonic rules, entitled Over the Hills, with my fellow addict Nick Turner.

Well today was the day and at the appointed hour I arrived at Turner Hall to find that, good to his word, he had set up a small Austrian v Bavarian game. We each had between 10 and 12 units of his beautifully painted 28mm foot, 4 to 6 of cavalry and half a dozen guns. In Turnerland this is positively tiny and I can but admire his restraint.

The game took about 2 hours, seemed to flow very well and, most importantly, was  most enjoyable. I think we have a lot to learn but are looking forward to our next game which i am sure will be larger.

My initial feeling is that they are a first class, fast moving, set of rules where command & control and fatigue are critical.

Now back to re-reading the rules (and marking the QRF with the relevant page numbers)....

28mm ACW Wargaming

Just before my detox started I managed to purchase a Perry Miniatures ACW  'Battle in a Box' which would form the starting point of a joint project for 2016 that I would be undertaking with my good friend and fellow addict Mr Tony Horobin.

We had gamed in 15mm for a while using Martin Goddard's excellent Civil War Battles rules but we both had a yearning to branch out into 28mm.

Infantry figures are based in 3s on 40x40mm with cavalry in 2s on 50x40mm. The reason for this is that they are compatible with Black Powder, Longstreet and even (at a bit of a push Fire and Fury).

Our current chosen rule set is Sam Mustafa's Longstreet.

So far we have had in excess of a dozen games and Tony is just about to start a 6/8 player campaign at our local club, the South Somerset War games Group (SSWG).

I've been very impressed with the rules and thoroughly enjoyed our games.

Like all of Sam's games they are card driven and qluick to pick up but have hidden depths and require a lot of thought.

The campaign system is extensive and well thought out; seemingly almost inevitably leading to historically accurate results.

With regards to Figures I have stuck almost exclusively to Perry Miniatures, the vast majority being plastic. I've managed to stick to my detox and the extra 8 (or possibly 10 or 12!!) boxes of infantry, cavalry and artillery have been funded through sales of surplus lead and swopping a 28mm Winter War Finn army for plastic.

So far this year I've painted just over 200 infantry, 16 cavalry and half a dozen guns with crew. To prevent getting bored with all the grey and dark blue I paint 30-40 at a time but then paint something different between units i.e. 28mm Sassanids, New Kingdom Egyptians and 15mm Classical Indians.

This is very much an on going project but I aim to have everything (well almost everything!) painted by the end of the year with the option to add the ocassional unit in 2017.

Tony and I are due to play the last game in our 2 player campaign before the end of this month and then I'm looking forward to using Longstreet in the Club campaign but moreso to try historical scenarios and some of the more obscure battles.

Photos and AARs to follow.

L'Art De Last Guerre

I bought a copy of Version 3 of LADG last year, had a game at Club, wasn't overly impressed and added it to my ever growing collection of rules that I never use.

I've noticed its growing popularity and that it appears increasingly on the competition circuit so thought 'sod it I'll give it another go'. A few weeks ago I had a chat with Colin Cavanagh, a club member who has played a couple of LADG competitions, and he kindly agreed to show me the ropes.

So far we have played a couple of games which, due mainly to his patience, have been very enjoyable as well as a near vertical learning curve (that's if if possible to have a vertical curve!?!).

I then decided that there is no point buggering about so went online and booked a place at Firestorm Games forthcoming 2 day LADG competition. It seemed a good idea at the time; that is until I realised that I had absolutely no idea what Army to use! I've subsequently browsed the army lists looked at the figures I have and, for no particular reason whatsover, gone for Sassanid Persians. All I now have to do is paint them and learn to use them!!!

Some of the things I particularly like about LADG as a rule set is that there are 283 comprehensive army lists included in the rule book so there is no need to buy a multitude of expensive supplements and that compared to FoG the forces involved are relatively small. About half the size of FoG. The games are also quick and over and done with in a couple of hours.

So two games down and a competition army chosen Colin has agreed to come round to provide another masterclass and my Sassanids will be facing his Selucids.

I've had the Sassanids in the 'metal mountain' for many years so this project will put a dent in the pile, well at least the Sassanid bit, and leave enough leftover for a larger FoG Army. Compatible basing between rule sets is another bonus.

All my existing figures are from the excellent 28mm Gripping Beast range and the only figures I've bought to supplement them are 8 heavy horse archers (from GB) and I treated myself to a stunning general mounted on an equally stunning elephant from Aventine Miniatures.

Photos and an AAR of my forthcoming game with Colin to follow.

Back From The Dead..... (Well what felt like almost dead!!!)

This is just a quick post to explain the distinct lack of activity on this blog.

In late March I was taken by ambulance into Yeovil District Hospital and diagnosed as having Diverticulitis that had resulted in a perforation. All very painful.  After three and a half hours  of emergency surgery, a foot less gut and three weeks in hospital I was left with a, hopefully temporary, colostomy. I was pretty poorly for a month after getting home and it has been a slow recovery.

I have started painting and gaming again and all is looking promising at the moment.

So I'm back and this blog is being resurrected. I have every intention of posting on a regular basis. I admit that I'm struggling to come up with a format that I'm happy with so hopefully anyone who follows this will see gradual improvements.

Over the next few days I'll show what I've been up to so far during my recovery and also indicate which projects I'm taking forward and currently considering for the future.

I will close now but will say that my figure detox has survived intact and that the only figures I have bought so far this year have been odds and ends to help complete projects already in progress and funded entirely from the sale of unwanted metal/plastic/resin!!

New Approach - New Blogs

As of now this Blog will contain my musings and ramblings and posts related to Painting, Projects and Games will be under the sub-blogs that can be accessed from the menu bar (if that's the correct term!?!) above.

I idea being that it will assist be to focus my efforts and record the results. Again time will tell.

January - The Detox Belt Tightens.

The metal and plastic detox went well during January; not a single figure purchased!! I honestly didn't think I could do it. So far so good.

On the detox downside I have purchased the marvellous Charlie Foxtrot Signal Box and then a load of Sarissa Precisions Railway Range - namely Track, Train, Guards Van, carriages, Goods Rolling Stock, Platform and Signals. These compliment the Sarissa Railway Station that I purchased last year and will be used for primarily Very British Civil War but also for NE European Bolt Action.

I've now had a serious talk to myself and decided that MDF buildings have had to be added to the already extensive list of 'banned' products.

The only exception will be in the event of me actually being organised enough to sell the parts of the mountain and pile that I decide I will never utilise; in which case I can invest the income in figures etc that are required to complete existing projects.

The primary object being absolutely no new Projects whatsoever.