That's The Spirit

To celebrate my return to near normality I have painted a figure.

Not just any figure but one in the spirit of which I aim to continue.

A Mammoth Production.

This Spirit Mammoth will part of my Warmaster Barbarian Pseudo-Orc army and will have the characteristics of a Wyvern. Spirit Mammoths can fly, can't they?

This army is growing slowly thanks to my 'lost four weeks that I will never see again' and will need reinforcements soon (Leon will be pleased). I hope to get them up to 2000 points in order to challenge my other Warmaster armies as well as those of my playing chums.

Currently there are three units of Warriors.

Some Command and a couple of Catapults.

Many more troops will follow in due course.

Of course this Warmaster Barbarian army can pass for a Warband Barbarian army.

Just add sabots.

The bases and sabots are in a variety of 'unfinished' states.

The Shamans.

The Commanders.

Warriors.

More Warriors.

And, Yes, you've guessed it, more Warriors.

And the Catapults.

Please keep checking for next weeks thrilling instalment of Me and My Barbarians.

PS

Health Notes.

I am largely over my gall bladder surgery. I have four little belly scars that are not even itchy any more but will make me squeal if you poke them.

I have developed a couple of chest pains which my doctors associate with my invasive surgery although I am far from convinced. A little Voltarol (pain relieving gel) keeps them under control.

My weight loss is starting to bottom out. I am just over a stone (16 pounds USA) lighter than I was and I am really hoping to keep it thereabouts so I am being even more careful with my diet than I was.

I am not allowed to drive yet, insurance restrictions after surgery but that is OK. I should be fine for driving up to Kirriemuir next month.

Anyone for a Game of Operation?

Well, they said they took out my gall bladder. I have no proof that they did. I cannot prove who they were, they all wore masks. I can't remember going under. I can't remember coming too. All I know is that I have some dressings on my stomach, a tube dripping blood into a bag and a helluva sore gut!

I'm sure they mucked up my internal clock though. My op was due for 11 in the morning, should have taken about an hour but it was well on in the afternoon before I became aware of the time. It must have been wrongly set. My dearly beloved visited me between 6 and 8 but exhaustion took me under as soon as she left and I dozed off. I remember making a conscious effort to get into a proper sleep about 11, I was really tired.

I think I had a really really long sleep as I woke up in darkness but with a glow of light in the corner behind my bedscreens. Dawn I thought, I couldn't see the ward clock but my phone led me to believe it was 7.40. Damn, I've missed my 6 am blood pressure test and the start of my timed drug regime. A second look at my phone suggested it was actually 1.40, you know a 1 is a slim 7. OK, back to sleep, that didn't work, I gave up trying at 5.30 and started to read my book as I knew they'd come for me at 6. They did.

They've let me home, took a box of chocolates as part payment, they didn't let me have my gall bladder or the gall stones. The only proof of the operation is a typed sheet of paper with some illegible signatures, the dressings on my belly and the pain.

And we didn't win the footie!

Three Wheels On My Wagon

And am still rolling along...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RghKdGn8h5A

More like Three Weeks (of my life I'll never see again)

Where have I got to?

Well, temperature - normal
Appetite - normal
Bowel movements - normal
Weight - still at least half a stone lighter than I was
Energy levels - fairly low
Lead Mountain - just as heavy as it was

Here's what I need to progress.

This is as far I have got with my Warband High Elves, 1 unit of Cavalry, 1 unit of Archers.

My Warband Barbarians, destined to also be Pseudo-Orcs for Warmaster. 1 unit of Bison Riders and 3 units of Warriors.

My Warband Undead, 1 unit of Riders and 3 units of Warriors (inked and varnished right after this photograph)

I'm trying to pull together all the figures for the original Heroquest game. I'm almost there and I tihnk I have the box and board and playing pieces somewhere. I hope to complete it and sell it for charity.

Over one hundred Dungeon Adventurers and Denizens (mostly Citadel and a few Ral Partha and RAFM) which I also hope to sell for charity. I have one interested party already but I am open to offers.

Two battalions of 28mm Napoleonics which have to be finished for a big game at XMAS.

Forty odd 54mm WW2 British Infantry. I have stalled on these as I am not happy with their appearance. They will be a charity sale in due course.

My Warmaster Empire Army, not quite finished. Will be looking to sabot it as a proxy Warband army.

My Warmaster Undead Army. I need to investigate sabots to fit my Warband Undead Army.

My Warmaster unpainted pile, mostly High Elves, some Empire, a few Undead.

My Kallistra Teutonic Army. Set up for Hordes & Heroes and also Warmaster Ancients. They could be another proxy Warband army. I have just as many Kallistra Normans somewhere in the man-hut.

I picked up, cheaply, a few sprues of Saurus Warriors and Skinks. They'll go on sale at some point again for charity.

A box of BNIB Kallistra medievals, they'll get done sometime soon.

As above, another box of BNIB Kallistra medievals.

What have I missed out, absolute tons.

ACW in 6mm, 15mm, 28mm and 30mm.

WW2 in 10mm and 20mm.

I'm frightened to dig any deeper.

So, here we are, Friday evening. Just seen the All Blacks struggle a bit. I hope South Africa struggles a bit more and Australia struggles a bit less.

After all that is sorted out I have a rest day then a blood test on Monday morning and then a trip to the Infirmary on Thursday to have my gallbladder whipped out. Some way to go then before I'm normal all round. (fat chance I hear some say)   :)

WIP or WNIP, Warband, Warmaster and Me

Had another poor day yesterday (Thursday), many trips to the toilet, minimal bread and water diet, what doesn't come straight back up goes straight through regardless, headaches, nausea, irritability, unable to read for more than a few minutes, certainly nowhere near able to visit the man-hut. I'm 12 pounds lighter than I was on Monday.

On the upside, first trip outdoors yesterday but only as far as the surgery for another blood test. Psychologically damaging in that I had to be driven there in my own car, helped out my seat in the waiting room by my wife and shepherded hither and thither.

I had a short discussion with the practice nurse about my infection. One possibility was a friend who recently had gastroenteritis. Unlikely since he is of an age similar to me and would probably have been floored like me, so probably not him.

I was at a wargames show south of the border recently, hundreds of people there, I also used their toilets and ate some food in their restaurant, certainly a possibility. Unfortunately NHS England haven't published their monthly virus outbreak report yet, so still a possibility.

I also visited the local infirmary for my pre-op check. It's a very big hospital so it was crowded with people some of whom could well have been carrying my virus. Hospitals and sick people go hand in hand, don't they! (Tamsin, you might be right here)

Got an early blood test result today, yes, still infected, not sure what with for a few more days yet. Another one scheduled for a fortnight, god, is it going to take that long? I'm due my gall bladder surgery in just over two weeks.

Tried some dry low-sugar cereal this morning, it has stayed down. A small glass of shaken Lucozade, still too fizzy, mostly stayed down. A couple of soft boiled eggs for tea, boy do I feel stuffed.

I did venture out to the man-hut this evening, well Strictly was on.

I snapped the current status of this and that as it was easier to press buttons on the camera rather than wave a paintbrush at some figures.

Here's what I found:

A unit of Bison Riders based, saboted and tufted.

You can see that matching scenic effects of the bases and the sabot make a difference to the end result. The sabot version, of course, is for Warband.

 

Three of the bases without a sabot is a Warmaster unit.

These are 'new' High Elf cavalry from Pendraken.

Note the spacers in the sabot to give the impression of a number of 'squadrons' operating together.

These can come off the sabot too, obviously.

They then become a Warmaster High Elf cavalry unit.

Here's an example of WNIP (work not in progress).

Bases and sabots.

Kallistra Teutonic Knights awaiting their 'magical' transformation into Empire Knights.

The 'skellies', patient as ever.

Some High Elf archers, perhaps a little less patient.

That's all I can manage for the time being. I'm saving up my energy to cheer on Wales and Ferrari tomorrow and then the Scots and Ferrari again on Sunday.

I'm Out

Queue Fireworks:

They might be pretty Fireworks but I feel like a damp squib.

My fever, generalised ache and diarrhoea have subsided sufficiently well enough and my neck stiffness and my photophobia have gone completely, so, what did they do, they let me out.

My temperature at one point was 39.1 Celsius (over 102 Fahrenheit) but I was shivering like a, ehm, a very cold thing. I was hoping for a sponge bath from a pretty young nurse (female obviously) but fat chance.

I'm out though but still infectious, antiseptic wipes appear miraculously everywhere I go and I feel as strong as a supersoaked tissue.

Meningitis was taken off the suspect list fairly quickly despite me having most of the common symptoms so suspicion fell on a gastro-intestinal cause and eventually detected as adenovirus. What does that mean, god, I don't know, google it. The high point of my visit is that the CT scan confirmed I have a brain.

If you are interested in lumbar punctures ask me about the seven holes in my back.

The viral source is usually airborne from an infected client or sometimes an infected surface or contaminated water. So whoever, or whatever it was Thanks. The incubation period is 2 to 14 days so I ain't going far in that time period (from last Friday) but energy wise I'll be at least a week anyway getting well enough.

Thanks for the good wishes and offers of help, thanks guys (and gals).

A Short Break in Service

I'm getting out, today, once a piece of paper turns up, apparently the NHS can't function verbally.

UPDATE

Am now in an isolation ward, oh joy.

Second update

When medical staff come into my room they "gown up".



Apologies to everyone.

I am having a short break care of the National Health Service.

I had many of the symptoms of meningitis but after a few blood tests, umpteen anti-biotics, a CT scan, an X-RAY, poked, prodded and tickled, a lumbar puncture (very painful) it has been decided it is not meningitis but otherwise a severe viral infection.

This posting has been brought to you from my Kindle via my mobile phone WiFi hotspot. You learn something new every day.

Warband - Barbarians - WIP

Here's how far I have got with the Warriors from the Pendraken Barbarian Pack.

25 figures, including a scratch built standard of three 40 x 20 Warmaster bases and a Pendraken Warband sabot (100 x 50 mm).

Scenic clutter and die to follow.

The are three Warrior units in the pack.

Without the sabots and shuffled around a wee bit they become three Warmaster units.

Here's the Bison Riders from earlier fully tufted up on a Warband sabot.

And off the sabot.

I am planning to use these as proper Barbarians, on the sabots, with the Warband rules.

They also become Warmaster troops without the sabots.

How am I doing?