Happy New Year 2016

Happy New Year Everyone

2015 has been a year of Ups and Downs for me.

I started with a 'Down' after an overnight trip to see an out-of-hours doctor as my stomach pains were really really bad.

Then there was an 'Up' as my youngest daughter got married.

Another sort of 'Down' as we had to postpone our annual trip to the Sunshine State.

A couple of  'Ups' followed as I had two good charity trading shows (Carronade and Claymore) which boosted the funds greatly.

To keep things in balance I had a really bad 'Down' with suspected Meningitis and then a little 'Down' with my gall bladder being removed.

I suppose the general trend is now 'Up' and I'm doing everything I can to keep it so.

My hope is that 2016 will be a year of many 'Ups' and no 'Downs'.

Happy New Year Everyone.

Deadlines

Here's a few pictures and some words in lieu of a status report.

I have a deadline coming up.

I am running a charity trade stand at the Leuchars Veterans Christmas Biggy on the 28th.

Apart from having to get up before I go to bed to travel half the way across Scotland to get to a working roadbridge before driving back again on the other side I am hoping to have a number of game specific goodies on sale.

The game is a version of Waterloo so I am rummaging through the 28mm plastic pile for suitable offerings. I have a few. I hope to have them ready in time hence the deadline.

None of these will apply.

And neither will this.

The hard part is pitching them at the right price.

Battleground 2015

Been back from Battleground for a wee while now. A 2.5 hour drive each way so not as tiring as the trip to York from Edinburgh. We left early enough to get home over the border before darkness fell having left in darkness in the first place.

My first time at this show and will probably visit again next time around.

A neat little show, not so little actually but constrained by the scale of the premises so doesn't have much upgrade potential unless there's another hall stashed away somewhere. A good mix of traders which some shows don't quite manage so I managed to get my lead, some MDF and some paint which I didn't get at a show last week.

I met a TMP'er in the canteen, 'Hi Jarrovian', going by his TMP handle he didn't have far to travel. The canteen wasn't up to much, under-staffed I would have thought but fortunately, being on a bit of a diet, I managed not to get too excited by the offered menu.

I exchanged a few Scottish Tenners with Pete Berry for a great big bag of 6mm ACW (and some MDF) which will allow me into Longstreet but only after I explore some of the Polemos options. A couple of more tenners extracted a few more Shermans from Dave at Pendraken and a few bottles of paint, nothing in particular that I needed but the colours were 'pretty'. I also got a couple of bottles of 'soft tone' can't remember who from, which I am now, apparently, addicted to.

I had a few short blethers with Leon, longer chats with Martin at Warbases, Stu at Colonel Bills, Erik at Figures in Comfort, Dave Lanchester at Dave Lanchester and a few nameless others (well I can't remember everyone). I took no photographs on the day, didn't see many others doing so apart from a young lady with a tripod. Has anyone blogged any pics yet?

Here's some!

http://herkybird-richardbradley.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/battleground-show-2015.html

And some more:

http://justaddwater-bedford.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/battleground-show-2015.html

And again here:

http://westerhopewargames.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/battleground-report.html

'ere:

http://onemanhisbrushes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/battleground-stockton-on-tees-28th_30.html

'ere:

http://carryingsonupthedale.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/battleground-2015-and-man-of-match.html

and ere:

http://independentwargamesgroup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/the-end-of-campaigning-season.html

So the plan, back at the ranch, is to finish off a bundle of 28mm Napoleonics by the end of the year, finish the Warmaster/Warband options still in the painting/basing queue, add a few more Shermans and stuff to my Pendraken WW2 setup and then the Baccus ACW stuff. By that time it will be well into 2016 and all priorities will have no doubt changed by then.

Church on Sunday

I bought a church yesterday.

It came in a big box.

It weighs over one and a half kilo's, that's three and half pounds for imperialist brains.

It should look a bit like this once it's done although I'll probably 'pimp' it up a bit. I was going to say 'tart' but I thought that might be rude :) It is scaled for 28mm.

The roof comes off;

So you can see the interior detail.

What do you get in the box?

Well, you get plenty of these.

Not much use on the tabletop but they will help you get there.

A pulpit for the Reverend.

Pews for the congregation.

A lectern for the holy book.

A storm shelter for when the wind blows.

Grave boards for those who didn't get to the storm shelter in time.

And a great big bag of floors, walls, windows and roof. There should be acetate for window panes.

This is intended for a Wild West tabletop but I'm sure it will fit within an ACW scenario.

Enterprising gamers could also make it fit Zombie culture, RPG, Call of Cuthululu (how do you spell that again?).

I'll have to study its makeup deeply making it both sturdy for game use and storage and also flexible enough to re-arrange its component parts for variety. Obviously I don't want to mount the hole thing on a single base so I will probably make the building one piece, the graveyard another and the fence pieces modular for use both with and without the church.

The complete box retails at £75, quite pricey but was advertised on the day at £59. I actually paid a bit less than that being a Scotsman. Now I'll have to build the damn thing. The product itself is from 4GROUND, sold by Colonel Bills and I will probably blog its construction in due course.

https://www.4ground.co.uk/

http://www.colonelbills.com/

I may well sell this at the end of the day as I am still active in charity fund raising as well as providing an impromptu service to those in the hobby who still glue their fingers together, even with PVA adhesive.

I passed over a not inconsiderable sum to Combat Stress yesterday, a 4 figure sum.

Watch this space.

liberte egalite fraternite

Today my thoughts are with the people of France.

I need not say why.

 

 





Warlord Games Hanoverians

I started this unit of Warlord Games Hanoverians months ago as part of a commission for a friend who can't paint for peanuts. I have only just completed them, regular readers will know why.

My earlier post gives more details:

http://jim-duncan.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/warlord-games-hanoverians.html

There are 6 metal figures and 30 plastic rankers in the box and I add another 4 rankers from a freebie sprue. This gives a 40 figure unit, a whole regiment if you like which in rules like Black Powder can be a large unit or split into two as two standard sized units.

I have heavily shaded this unit using Army Painter Soft Tone ink. This covers many little painting boo-boo's. I like that!

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.