Work In Progress.....April 2023

In which I look back at my painting, gaming and modeling exploits of the last month and write a small amount.

I've finished a number of models I've been working on for a while, and very varied they are too. When I played regularly I would make and paint units ready for the next week, or even a big game in 2-3 weeks time, and getting them on the table to use next time out was my motivation for painting and modelling.  Fast forward and I am playing no games whatsoever at the moment, but have picked up an interest in modelling and painting once more.  My motivation for getting figures done is now very much about how much fun I'll have actually doing the task rather than getting to use them.  This means I'm picking some seemingly very random bits to paint!  I've also discovered a need to paint in bright colours, something I avoided due to a lack of skills when I was gaming regularly.  This has had a distinct influence on how bright everything I'm painting is.

And so with no more addo let me introduce you to this month's creations:

2 Orcs

1 Black Coach

6 blue men (more on those in a later post)

1 water carrying supply train piece

A hen house

2 chickens (same base)

And a badger.

The skull markers I did last month but look nice.

Working on currently is this nice ECW piece which I've had for a number of years but never made.  Currently trying to get the base colours right before going to the wash stage.

Work In Progress......January 2014

There has been progress!  I have picked up several painting brushes and painted a bit of paint on a number of different things.  The most work has been on my limited 28mm French Napoleonic collection, where I am working on the first of 3 projected battalions and resurrected the blog post series I had started.  I have also been trying out an air brush set on several tanks of different sizes (see below).  I have also made it back to Deeside a few times for a few games, and read a few books.  Its been a better month than December.  I’ve painted up 6 28mm Napoleonic Frenchmen so far, and based them (they are just missing the final matt spray), and subsequently painted another 13 frenchmen, but not got round to ‘dipping’ them in my strong tone yet.   I’ve an additional 15 models waiting to be painted then I was going to dip the lot together to save on broken brushes. 

Air Brushing:

I was fortunate to be the recipient of an introductory air brush set for my birthday, I can only assume that it is designed for numpties, in which case I should find it a challenge.  I initially tried it out using my normal Vallejo paints watered down, but couldn’t get the right texture and it all came out too wet, so I bit the bullet and ordered a number of the air brush-specific Vallejo Air paints and primers.  I’ve used it limitedly so far, having a good go at air brushing an old GW leman russ tank in the same style as I hope to do my German FOW tanks, and overall I was quite happy at the result, having used a primer as an undercoat, then just adding green stripy camouflage afterwards.  More to come here I think.

Gaming:

I’ve started to make the trip to Deeside on a Thursday evening again, and slotted in a few games of varying sorts, including getting the better of Aidan in the Flames of War campaign, and then coming off worse to his Romano-Brits in Hail Caesar (good run out for the Wwwwomans though), as well as coming just second to Luke’s Irish in a three-sided Saga fight, and being thoroughly battered by Michael’s Normans while Red’s Vikings hide in some trees.  I even bumped into several people I haven’t seen for an age from the RGMB and had a nostalgia hit.  Damn that nostalgia hit.

Books:

New section partly because I have speedily read three books since the end of December, and started a fourth, and also because for once I have remembered which ones I have read!  In terms of books I did well at Christmas and my birthday, gaining no less than 7 tomes covering various topics and in both fiction and fact.  The three so far were Stormbird by Conn Iggulden, The Hobbit, and Embedded by Dan Abnett.

Stormbird was a bit of a find by my parents, and is the first in a fiction series of books set in the Wars of the Roses, and starts just after Henry VI comes to the throne.  I had previously read one of Iggulden’s roman-based novels, and this is similar in style, plenty of fighting but also plenty of storyline, and having read up on the Wars of the Roses recently I could identify each historical character and event and their overall place.  Well written with the only disappointment being that it is the first and only book so far – I’ll have too wait for a second. 

The Hobbit is a book which I haven’t read for probably 20 years, but having been to see the second of the 3 Peter Jackson films (and enjoying it) I wanted to read it again, and heavy hints meant it turned up!  Identical to Lord of the Rings in writing style, which sometimes makes it hard to read until I’ve spent a couple of chapters slowing my reading down to be able to take it in, then it flows.  You do have to be careful not to skim-read as much (a habit I’ve picked up over the years) because in this book you almost certainly will miss something.  Super still after all this time, and the films helped me image and enjoy it just like the Lord of the Rings films did.

Embedded was the shortest read.  Written by Dan Abnett (of 40k novels fame) it’s a science fiction piece from a media perspective.  Slow to get going (and odd to get used to the various futuristic words and lifestyles), once the shooting starts it rattles along nicely.  The only gripe being a slightly unsatisfactory ending – felt like it was being left open, perhaps it was.  A good read if that’s your thing.

Painted Vs Purchased: 

Didn’t even make it as far at Vapnartek in York this year (no money, no time off), so that helped.  I’ve also not finished painting anything.  Maybe this month….

Purchased: 0

Painted: 0

My first shot at air brushing.

Work In Progress.....September 2013

Right until the last bit of the month I didn’t really do much, but having managed to get some paint on a band of 6mm American Civil War troops while on holiday I came back and pressed through with the basing of all the Union troops I had done so far.  This turned out to be a grand total of 74 models (1 equalling; a strip of 4 infantry, a strip of 3 cavalry, or 1 cannon and crew).  A nice ending to what has been probably my most productive year of painting models.  This also enables me, after borrowing a few models from Andy, to claim to have an ACW force capable of taking to the field – post coming soon.

With a Flames Of War game against James coming up, and a bigger game in October to look at I also gained some added enthusiasm for painting a few bits of scenery, and the big Hovels resin bridge that has been sitting in the garage (thanks Dave!) has gained a few different colours, and I’m pleased with the overall effect.  It should be good for a couple of different scales as well, with Flames of War and 28mm English Civil War the big contenders. 

My old Airfix farm also gained a new lease of life.  Originally a 1/72 model of La Haye Sainte I had found it in my Airfix bits box and put it back together incorrectly, due to a few missing parts, and based it on a wooden board so that it looked like a farm once again.  I painted it in very basic colours for use in Flames of War games, and it did look the part, but I always felt it was missing some colour.  I’ve filled in the cracks between the bricks with Iraqi Sand (an excellent tip from Red) and followed up with a brown wash to give it a weathered look.  A drybrush of the same sand had a decent effect on the rest, and some flock gave it a bit more green.

Farm in 1/72 with a 15mm Battlefront german car to demonstrate scale.

The bridge, minus the toll hut, should also be fine for 15mm, but perfect for 28mm as the Royalist horse demonstrate.

The farm from another angle, the roofs are removable.

For the Painted/Purchased lark I did make a last minute mistake and bought the Battlefront Open Fire boxed set for Flames of War; at £28 (£22 + postage) on Amazon it was a bargain, but did add an additional 33 models (1 model per team) to my purchased side:

Painted: 385

Purchased: 474

Plans for October: In the next few months I’m (hopefully) running a Flames of War campaign, so I may turn back to that and paint a few of the unfinished figures for use in the Race for the Rhine.  I also have my ACW command and a cavalry regiment waiting beside the painting table for a space, and I’ve just finished reading another Wars of the Roses book, so maybe the numerous models I’ve got for that will actually get some paint too!  Finally my improving scenery collection is making my hills look a bit out of place, so I might return to those and redo them in a brighter colour. It is also the end of my painting year, so a ‘Wargaming Review – 2013’ might be in the offing.

Or I might just play more football manager: Season 3 with Liverpool and I’ve been headhunted by Internazionale!

Work In Progress......August 2013

August has been a very slow month for painting.   As in shockingly slow.  I blame football manager, and football in general.  I finally got the push I needed to finish my Dreadball team, which included making the last two corporation models (nasty mould lines) and all 10 are now painted to go with my referee and ball.  The push came courtesy of the Dreadball tournament which will be played out this Saturday; I’m aiming for non-humiliation and a mid-table position, any higher and I’ll be ecstatic.  The sand and flock order from Baccus arrived for use with my ACW 6mm troops, and I put it too use test-basing an infantry regiment to reasonably good results.  I'm working on two short posts about my ACW and about my Dreadball team.

Coming up this month – there is currently nothing blocking my work on my 6mm Union regiments, so I suppose I’ll have to have a bash at getting them based for an actual small game on a table somewhere.  Managing that by the end of the month will be a good target.  Sold the final remains of the Wood Elves, some Dwarfs and some Khemri skeletons, but misjudged the postage to devastating effect so I may as well have paid the ebayer to take them off my hands.  Sad face.

Other questions that dominate life include; why am I getting so many views on this blog?  Confused.   Painted section includes 6 Dreadball players and a regiment of Union 6mm infantry, which I’m counting as ‘1’ per strip of 4 mini-men, I’m over 300!

Painted: 309

Purchased:  441

Layout and the Mold Cape

Yes, your still in the right place, I've just tinkered with the layout for something to do while I wait for an iPhone to update and restore - the joys of modern life!

Thought I'd also add in something extra, rather than just have this as a 'I've changed the layout' post, so here goes:

I currently work with the Wrexham museum at the nearby Bersham Heritage Centre (good stuff, very interesting and thoroughly under-appreciated), but in the museum itself they currently have the Mold Cape until the 14th of September.  Well worth a visit even if your area of interest isn't the ealry bronze age, it just has a presence of its own, and is rated in the top ten of the British Museums treasures.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_prb/t/the_mold_gold_cape.aspx
http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/heritage/events.cfm

Work In Progress….July 2013

It’s a bit late for a July work in progress, but I’ve just realised I haven’t done one.  Too busy being distracted by a number of things (birthdays, work, unsuccessful job applications etc) to get my act together.  So onto a brief recap of the month;

Gauntlet has been and gone, and with it my English Civil War army which is now fully painted, and sitting in a set of foam trays upstairs desperately begging to be used again, something which hopefully won’t take too long.  Playing time has been split between a number of games, and I’ve had a bash at Saga with my Welsh, American Civil War with Will’s fantastic 20mm plastics, and Dreadball, as well as losing a Deeside league game of Bloodbowl.  Having finished the Royalists I decided to start painting a few of the 6mm American Civil War, and was pleasantly surprised in that not only did they look ok, they also painted up fairly swiftly.  I couldn’t decide, however, how to base them, apart from sticking them to 2mm thick MDF bases from Warbases.  After wandering in and out of the garage indecisively looking for a colour of flock I simply didn’t have I placed an order with Baccus for theirs, and a bag of their fine sand, and await the arrival of it. 

In terms of numbers for my painted ratio I am counting the strips of 4 infantry or 3 cavalry as 1 figure (to make the comparison to 28mm painting time etc).  I have now painted and stuck to their bases a total  of 36 strips of infantry, and 8 cavalry, and I’m working on another 14 strips at the moment.  They are sadly unfinished until I get the basing materials and add the varnish and flags!  They do make up a total of 3 infantry regiments (with 1 and 2 cannon on the painting table) and 2 cavalry troops however.  I have also painted up 4 members of my Dreadball team, having plumbed for a light blue colour for the strip, and gone with using the army painter dip system again.  It makes them a bit darker, but they look fine.

Scores on the doors time, and the last 32 from June are included because they weren’t last time out, plus the 4 Dreadball players and the referee.  The 6mm ACW will have to wait:

Painted: 293

Purchased:  441

Work In Progress....June 2013

June has been a good month for getting things done; I started with the end of my English Civil War project appearing on the horizon, and inside the first 15 days of the month I had completed 51 models!  The dragoons, foot and mounted, were first to roll off the painting table, followed swiftly by a bunch of civilians (pregnant vampires, baby-holding women, dogs and goats presiding).  I even got the additional warhammer gatehouse out and made, sprayed and painted that as well – that was a slightly tricky project because I had to use a different shade of gray from the rest of the castle, so it does look lighter but I think it blends in well overall.  The last of the 51 models (the gatehouse being classed as ‘1’) were the 4 welsh hearthguard, complete with their red shields and cloaks. 

Dipping Issues

I did come across a problem when ‘dipping’ them however, in that for the first time my tin of dip had developed a skin across the top.  I consulted my oracle in dipping; Luke, who informed me that his first can went like that and the best option was to store it upside down.  Unfortunately the crusting varnish around the edges of my lid made this impractical so upright it had to stay.  The consistency of the dip varnish had also changed, becoming thicker and more gooey.  It wasn’t great to work with but I managed to finish the 51 models with it, and they looked a similar quality to the others.

Modelling Begins After Football Management….

After my initial burst I had a period of inaction, with bits of gaming, social calls and a purchase of Football Manager 2012 to blame, before I resumed my efforts.  My Redoubt Enterprises order had arrived surprisingly quickly; only a 2 week wait, and I used the bits to make a limber for my Royalist Saker – adding a dog and a Perry Miniatures officer to the base to get a more impressive effect – as well as finishing making the third supply unit needed for the scenario, and the storming party.  I also made 2 cannon fortifications, based some chickens and made 8 welsh warriors on horseback for my Saga warband using a wargames factory ancient Germanic boxed set – small horses = ponys!  I committed myself to painting them with the enthusiasm provided by previous successes, and finished the paintjob on the 30^th of June. 

The Dip is dead, long live The Dip!

Sadly at this point I discovered my dip had indeed turned to nasty solid gloop, and into the bin it went while I wandered off to 4^th Planet Games in Wrexham to buy another Army Painter Quickshade – Strong Tone for £17.99.  The models, all 32 of them, were dipped this morning, in a process that fully highlighted how gooey my old dip had become, and await flocking on Thursday night before spraying in time for Gauntlet on Sunday.

What Now?

Damned if I know.  I’ve been painting Royalists for the best part of three months, with just a few Welsh breaking up the monotony, and now they are ALL finished!  Bugger me.  Well, there are a few more things that are awaiting a coat or two of paint, starting with my 6mm ACW which are still in their boxes while Andy’s are holding dress parades!  Then there is the teams from the Dreadball game which finally arrived today (just the 1 months wait that was), not sure if I can morally paint an orc though, even if its called an ‘Orx’.  Finally I’m reading “Lancaster and York, The Wars of the Roses” by Alison Weir, so maybe I’ll paint a few of those if I can bring myself to do any more 28mm models.  The 28mm Napoleonic French and the rest of the Saga welsh are bumped down to the bottom of the pile.

Just time for a mention of the scores on the doors, don’t think I’ll make 400+, but 300 should be do-able, the second part of June (the 32) isn’t included because its not finished yet:

Painted: 256

Purchased:  441

Work In Progress.....May 2013

Its been a busy month for painting horses, and for buying models with the Triples show seeing a trip out to pay plenty of cash for a variety of bits including plenty of American Civil War Union troops and a lot of modelling bits for various projects.  I didn’t manage to secure a few bits I wanted so I’m waiting on an order from Redoubt Enterprises for those (which sadly takes around 1 month to come, but that ‘should’ be in time for Gauntlet).  I also ordered a copy of Dreadball having been impressed when playing the game at the RGMB again the Dutch wizard.  My Saga forces also had plenty spent on them, most of which remains unmade with a late burst of modelling enabling me to make the 4 hearthguard and the horses for the mounted warriors, as well the petard assault team from Warlord (supplemented by spare renegade models to make up a storming party for my Royalists).

Painted Vs. Purchased: I did some tallying for the Painted Vs. Purchased figures, and almost fell off my chair.  Thanks to my expenditure at York and Sheffield I have now purchased a grand total of 441 models since October!!  My work painting 40 model (all English Civil War with 32 horsemen, 1 horse mounted officer, and a diaroma with 7 different figures all being completed) has been severely diluted by this, although there are mitigating circumstances.  Firstly my purchases of American Civil War troops in 6mm accounts for around 150 of these models, at a cost of about £55.  Being 6mm they have been counted as one strip of 4 figures = 1 model, so once I start painting them they should rack up fairly quickly.  Secondly to purchase anything I have sold, primarily my old Games Workshop collection.  The most recent to go onto eBay was my warhammer Bretonnians, who funded the entire trip to Sheffield, and numbered 206 models.  Whether I should take these away from the ‘purchased’ column I’m not quite sure, probably not.

This is actually part of an interesting swing in my collection/gaming interests from the fantasy/sci-fi games I used to play (40k, Warhammer etc) to my current wish to play historical wargames.  I always wanted to do so, but earlier in life it wasn’t easy to find someone with a similar interest and I turned to Games Workshop as another option.  Now I’m very much turning back with a wide variety of periods and scales. 

Painted: 205

Purchased:  441

This months task: Its almost all Royalists in the run up to the game at Gauntlet.  I’ve two units of dragoons which top the list (19 on foot and 12 on horse), followed by a supply wagon, cannon limber, storming party (11 models) and a castle gatehouse.  I’ve also got 4 Welsh hearthguard for my Saga warband, and some goats on the painting table to provide a distraction.  It’s a fair amount, and, very critical of the possibility of finishing the lot, I’m prioritising the dragoons on foot and the gatehouse as essential, followed by the wagon and limber and the dragoons on horse.

Work In Progress.......April 2013

I’m thinking of switching the work in progress post to once month, that’s seems to make more sense!  As such here is the Work In Progress report for the month of April, and with much excitement building over the prospect of a large English Civil War game at the Deeside Defenders show of Gauntlet on Sunday the 7^th July I’m unsurprisingly focusing on painting a few more of my Royalists.  My mathematics says that I will have had to paint a total of 130 Royalist models by that date, including all my dragoons (28 figures mounted and unmounted), all my horse (32 mounted figures), a regiment of foote and plenty of extras on top.  To that end I’ve been working on the regiment of foote, and my supply units this month, with the result that I’ve finished painting (although not Dipping, flocking or varnishing) the following:

16 pikemen (Talbots foote)

A cart pulled by 2 oxen with a barrel load (counts as 4 models)

A supply unit of musketeers and donkeys (9 models)

4 pigs

1 farmer

1 tavern owner

The musketeers for Talbots foote, all 24 of them, are currently on the painting table and in need of their muskets, hair and hats doing before a general tidy up and they will be finished.  Once they are done I will have 59 models ready for some Dipping, flocking and varnishing, and can move onto the next bunch.  What the next bunch will be I’m not 100% sure as yet, the horse have been sitting very unpainted for a long time, so I will probably turn my attentions to a couple of regiments of them, as well as my section of ECW command which will provide a nice distraction

In other distracting news I took the leap and placed an order with Baccus (creaters of 6mm models) for some American Civil War troops, more about those in another post, but enough to say here that I’m doing a small (!) sideline in an infantry battalion and cannon battery for them to break up the ECW figures.  So far I’ve finished one base (40mm by 20mm, and with 16 infantry men on) to test the colours out on, they seem to have gone ok so far.  I’ve also applied some flock to the bases of my two Battlefront ponds to give them some ‘life’ and colour, they certainly look better for it, although quite how the tiny bag of flock that came with them was supposed to achieve the same look I’ve no idea!

Talbots musketeers, the supply train, and some pigs!

Ricks Great English Civil War Painting Quest - Part 1

With the aim of having all of my Royalists painted for a big ECW bash on the weekend of Gauntlet (6/7th July) I thought I'd take stock, make a list of what needs doing, and how long I've got to get it done.  So firstly the list of the unpainted/unfinished models:

32 x cavalry men (and their nags of course)
40 x Talbots regiment of foote (24 muskets and 16 pike)
28 x Dragoons (16 on foot and 12 on horse)
13 x supply train
9 x command models
6 x pigs & farmer & tavern owner

All in all 128 models.  Crap.  And now 82 days to paint them in.  So thats an average of just over a model and a half a day.  Double crap.  Perhaps this wasn't such a good idea.  Luckily some are already partly painted, and only around 35 are totally without undercoat.  Maybe the revised target should be to finish most of the army!  Plus it doesn't include the two collapsed fortress wall pieces I need for the scenario I was thinking of.  This could be fun.

Work In Progress......The Scenery Special!

Some of the money made from selling copious amounts of Games Workshop models in the last 6 months or so went on, instead of more models, scenery.  For me the battlefield has to match the troops being deployed on it, or the imagine is lost and your just playing a game over a folding table covered in polystyrene and wood, rather than a battle through forests and villages.  With the English Civil War, Wars of the Roses, and finally Saga all in 28mm scale I decided to expand my collection of scenery, most specifically buildings (of which I had few/none), and it all got out of hand, costing me more than I had planned for, and pricing other things out of the plans (sorry Soviet troops for Bolt Action – your relegated to the back!).  I set out all the ‘new’ bits I’ve bought since going to York a month or so ago, and put some notes below.

Firstly the bits that I’ve done little/nothing too – the  roads and fences, both purchased in York.  The roads are quite nice, and have already appeared a few times in different games.  The fences are more fragile, being made of loose twigs, and I decided to paint a layer of pva glue on them to give them a sold feel, which has worked nicely.

The Dark Age Village & Butter Market – the three similar sized dark age houses were very much an impulse buy to go with the new Saga purchases, but I feel they would also be at home up to the English Civil War.  They are resin and came painted to ‘factory standard’, which I’m happy with.  The larger building with a hexagonal room is from the same company (on eBay), and is something I kept thinking about buying.  It came painted, and probably best fits in with the RGMB buildings set which is the same manufacturer and colour, but looks ok on my battlefields.  Again its resin.

Church – the white building with a primarily brown/orange roof is the 28mm church I wanted when we went to York.  It’s a wooden MDF kit from a company (not 4Ground) which was a sod to put together.  The white colour scheme is based upon a picture of the Norman church of St Bartholemew in Goodnestone.  The lack of a tower is actually handy because it could be planted in an ancients game as a Roman building as well, and the strength of the white colour on top of a grey undercoat came out very well.  The experience of painting from scratch a wooden building was not an enjoyable one, and needed a varnish undercoat, then a primer, then the paint.  It is mounted on a plasticard base to make it a better footprint shape, and link to the other buildings.

The town house and blacksmiths – two buildings that come ready painted from Conflix, and I’d had for a few years.  However, the paint job was at best ‘ok’, while they were becoming chipped and tatty (the blacksmiths was in 3 pieces and required a repair), so I hadn’t used them in a while.  They were both based on plasticard, then touched up with Vallejo paints to get a better effect and hide the damage, I think its come out well.  Both are resin buildings.

The ruins – also conflix I think, they come in plain grey with green flock on their bases.  Inspired by an example I saw at Deeside Defenders I painted up two rocky outcrops and a building, and added some flock as well, and overall they are much more realistic and have more life to them.  A basic form of resin.

The Medieval Cottage – a job I’m happy with; the Perry’s plastic cottage placed on a wooden base, and given a garden surrounded by fences and with an animal pen and a pig muddy bit (the pigs are still in their packets).  A few more touches (old GW bits) like the toadstools, a rat and the axe give it more character, and again its usable from Saga to ECW.

The Figures – touching on these briefly, all but the boy on the wheelbarrow (an old GW bretonnian) are Redoubt Enterprises figures.  The pastor, woman and 6 sheep were bought to add colour to ECW proceedings, and having already had a few outings I think they do that.  The camera isn’t kind to them, or a couple of the buildings, which I’m quite happy with the detail on.

I did want to add a river, but couldn’t find one I really liked.  Future scenery plans include expanding the amount of roads available, possibly at Triples in May, and some more fences/hedges.  I also have those pigs to finish!  Finishing the buildings (that needed it – the church, medieval cottage, town house and blacksmiths) takes me to the below total.

Purchased: 174

Painted: 106

Work In Progress.....

Lets make this brief, I’m thinking of getting some work done on some buildings tonight!  As noted in my Saga post my Welsh are complete following a period of sustained painting, that also saw me finish my 6 sheep, a pastor and a female figure, plus a small child with a catapult, for giving character to games in 28mm scale.  Also done are two rocky outcrops (small) and a resin building. This has improved my purchased/painted ratio no end:

Purchased: 174

Painted: 102

The remaining models have also arrived from Redoubt Enterprises; primarily civil war boosters, although also with some pigs, a couple of Ox to pull my 4Ground cart and a tavern owner to kick Lord Flasheart out every so often.  Next up I’m looking to put some time into painting up a couple of old Conflix buildings that will suit the Wars of the Roses onwards in 28mm scale, and perhaps the Norman church as well, although that is from scratch in terms of painting so is a bit hit and miss whether I actually get round to it.  After that I’m not sure, I’ll probably have to wait and see if any particular project appeals.

One day I might get another job and all this will grind to a halt.  Again. 

The last Redoubt Enterprises order - a group of ECW officers around a table, the pigs, ox, cart, piper and tavern owner.

The Welsh - pre basing and matt spray, sheep and pastor to the right.

Work In Progress......

Work in progress time, and following the trip to York and a general spending spree of the cash I’ve gained from selling various old GW stuff I thought I’d list the stuff I’ve bought (along with how many models it counts as for the painting ratio) that needs making and painting, and update the painted/purchased list.  Some random-looking stuff in there, but it all has a point!

• Wars of the Rose Infantry – 40
• Royalist cavalry – 12
• Wars of the roses cannon – 5
• Royalists blisters (dragoons) – 3
• Medieval Cottage – 1
• 4ground cart – 3
• Norman Church – 1
• Roman command – 3
• Royalist command group – 7
• Pigs – 4
• Sheep – 6
• Characters – 2
• Donkeys – 2
• Gripping Beast - 33

Purchased: 174

Painted: 57

Now onto a pressing issue; I have realised that with such a variety of models around I have not one project ongoing, not even two, three, or four, but instead eight!  Truly Aidans observation that the historical wargamer is unable to stick to one period is correct!  The projects are as follows:

• Scenery – An overhaul of buildings mainly, something which I had less of.  I have a church, a medieval cottage and the bases of the two older resin buildings to paint.
• English Civil War – an ongoing project, which at least has a definite size.  I’ve moved off foote regiments and onto horse ones (4 horse regiments in the army and none painted, shocking.  There are also a variety of characters and sheep hanging around, including the bits for a small supply grouping.
• American Civil War – I’ve plenty of 20mm Airfix plastics waiting for me to test-paint the two bases of troops I’ve done.
• Wars of the Roses – More infantry to go with the cavalry still in its box, and the cannon in its blister, approximately 57 models needing to be made, and near 100 to be painted, and I’ve not purchased all the bits for the army.
• Bolt Action – 28mm WW2, and my hopes for a Soviet army are receding with my lack of cash (spent it on Saga), so I’m back to thinking about painting Germans.  Thinking that is, not really doing.
• Saga – The new kid on the block, 33 metal Welshmen ordered and now arrived, courtesy of Gripping Beast.
• Napoleonic’s – A sudden urge to make and paint my Perry’s French infantry grips me.
• Romans – Enough models for a sixth cohort of legionaries are available, but they are a long way down the list.

So there it is, the list, with a total of 6 periods in history, just the 2 scales, and a horde of unpainted models.  To make sure I actually finish any models at all its clear some prioritisation is required, I need to pick a project and stick at it until something is complete!  Until yesterday it seemed fairly clear; scenery topped the list because it was useful for all 28mm games, and unlike partly painted models I can’t abide partly painted scenery.  This was followed by ECW because the campaign was in progress.

Then my Welshmen for Saga arrived, and spurred on by another really good game against Luke and Chris, and by Lukes ability to paint his whole 7pt Anglo-Danish force in 2 weeks they have jumped to the top.  I’m hoping to make, paint and dip them in time for the next game, a tall order most definitely, especially when I’ve a meagre 1.5hrs a night available, and this is generally gate crashed by other events as well.  If I can get them made, sprayed and partly painted I might be happy….

Work In Progress......

Hold the phone, catch that pigeon and look out for flying farm yard animals.  I've painted something.  Sod the 'why', 'when', even the 'where' and move straight to the what and some pictures.

The What: 40 musketeers, 16 pikemen and 1 Lord Flasheart for my Royalists.  Who they are will be covered in an ECW update sometime soon.

In Progress: One resin building which was in need of upgrade, and the gates for my fortress which need the bracing struts (installed following sustained bio-titan damage) painting.  I will also move onto another Royalist unit, but not sure which one yet.

The Pictures:

Work In Progress.........

Time for a work in progress, and I've brought the painting table/desk/tray out of semi-retirement with the current aim of improving the look of my Royalists.  The Battle of Chester report really put the Royalist side to shame with the entire Parliamentarian (and Swedish) force painted, and it gavve me the required kick up the backside to do something about it.  Plus my purchased to painted ratio is shocking, especially as I'm hoping to pick up a few more bits in York at Vapnartek at the beginning of February.

The first troops to be looked at are pictured below,  and are the 24 musketeers that form the sleeves to Hopton's regiment.  I'm about half way through with all the annoying details still to do.  Following these will be the extra 16 musketeers I had to get to enlarge the King's Guard and Stradling's regiments of foote to the right musket sleeve size.  The idea is to paint the 24 and then the 16, and then dip the whole lot in one go.

As a slight distraction I've also stuck some Airfix American Civil War troops to a couple of 45mm square bases with the intention of painting them and seeing if the effect can encourage further expansion of the idea.  I'm aiming to do a little bit of modeling/painting each night, except where gaming takes over. 

In other news I've photographed and written the descriptions for the remaining models to be sold on eBay; a bunch of Chaos Space Marines and a fair number of Imperial Guardsmen (including 4 tanks).  The Chaos lot are on first, and finish a week Sunday, hopefully a few more pennies will come trickling into the fighting fund for gaming purchases, although I don't expect them to be anywhere near as successful as the Battlefleet Gothic or Epic 40k.  I expect quite the opposite in fact, however even a few more pounds would be useful, and the models would go elsewhere to be used rather than sitting without hope in my garage.

Welcome to 2013 - and Work In Progress.....

Another year dawns, and another attempt to get back into my stuttering hobby, while hoping all those I was playing various historical games against haven't lapsed into work-related doom like I had, or simply got bored and gone off to do something else.  So far the signs are good.

The initial plans for gaming in the early part of 2013 are three-fold:
1]. Get stuck into those dastardly parliamentarian scum and trounce them from the fields of North Wales and Cheshire (although they can keep Penketh, I'm really not interested in that area) in the RGMB English Civil War campaign - By The Sword Divided (http://btsdcampaign.blogspot.co.uk/).
2]. Get in more games in general, to which end I've set up opponents at Deeside defenders for my Flames of War germans to cross swords (or is that 88mm barrels?) with in a couple of weeks in January.
3]. Get modelling!  I was very successful in building and painting my Romans and some Royalists at the beginning of 2012, but with the change in job in May it petered out and did not return.  I need to regain the willpower to paint - and only one thing will do that; an enthusiasm for a project/period (new models help also).

I succeeded at the end of 2012 in selling off a number of old Games Workshop models, most notably a couple of Battle Fleet Gothic fleets and Epic 40,000 armies, and with a few more GW models still waiting to be sold this will hopefully provide me with the financial muscle to get something going.  I hope to wield this muscle at a wargaming show soon, either York (3rd Feb) or Sheffield (May sometime) beckon.

Onto The Project.  I actually want to do a number of different things, listed below:
Napoleonics - French with scenery in 15mm
American Civil War - Both sides in 15mm with scenery (priced at £200 just for the models so far!)
Wars of the Roses - Yorkists in 28mm
English Civil War - Expanding a couple of units of Royalists in 28mm
Scenery - 28mm generic; water features, roads, buildings

However, my financial muscle and time isn't going to stretch to all of them, so the early recipient of my attentions is the English Civil War (ECW) and scenery.  I particularly want to slightly expand my army to make it more viable in Pike & Shotte, with my dragoons needing horses, my horse brigade needing support, and my army as a whole needing paint.  They also need extra scenery for my personal collection.  A church is a big target, plus hedges, walls, roads and any water features - ponds, rivers etc. All these pieces should be generic enough for using in a variety of periods, including WOTR, ECW, ancients (within reason), WW1 and WW2, and some (e.g water features) for using in a variety of scales - such as for my FOW germans or the Napoleonic french.

Next down on the list is the Wars of the Roses (WOTR), which I already have a number of models for, and which don't need a huge number to make them into a useful force to supplement Aidans forces for this period.  I received a couple of books on the subject for Christmas, and a boxed set of the Perrys mounted men-at-arms (brothers are very useful things!) which I'm looking forward to reading/gluing respectively.

Actual work in progress currently?  Umm, none really.  Although I've a few pieces of models standing round waiting for me to decide what to do with them.  I'll take a picture of an updated Royalist army soon, and perhaps even the WOTR troops waiting on the painting desk.  Game of FOW tomorrow night at Deeside (against Alex and his British paras - urgh, bad memories of the Ardennes game last year), and one on Tuesday against Luke and his Parlimentarians, heartily looking forward to both!

Edit; forgot to put the purchased/painted line in, pity really because it looks rubbish!  Oh, and why is my adsense adverts displaying Match.com?  Tripadvisor I can understand but really??  *Sigh*

From 1/10/2012
Painted: 0
Purchased: 52

Work In Progress....

Yes, another one.  Firstly the update to the painted/purchased numbers which I failed to do last time.


From 1/10/2012:
Painted: 0
Purchased: 40

And even worse for the purchased figures I have bought some models online from Redoubt Enterprises.  Only a few this time; some sheep and a couple of character figures to add some life to our 17th century battlefields.  If they are good enough quality then I might get a few more, there is a particularly good looking coach, some pack horses and a giblet!  In terms of funds to buy all these bits I had previously made £43 from selling bits at the club (an underwhelming total), but have my Battlefleet Gothic online on eBay, and remain hopeful that it will go for a few £'s.  So far I have spent £48, so I need the income to balance the books!

On the actual painting and modelling front I have finished the painting part of the 16 pikemen that make up Hopton's pike block, as well as the figure on horseback that represents Lord Flasheart himself, and I'm holding them back while I finish some more troops so I can do an en-mass Dip process.  I have also rebased/made an additional 40 musketeers, 24 of which are based in 4's so they can make up the numbers for my foote regiments musket sleeves from the current 8 men to the needed 12.  The rest are based individually to be broken into two lots of 8 men to represent two small dragoon units on foot.  They await sand on their bases, and spray painting.

Work In Progress........

The non-existent painted vs purchased ratio hasn't lasted long - I've gone and bought something.  I took a trip up to Brimstage with the aim of getting a few painted and some flock to make my Wars Of The Roses bits stand out, and by the time I had arrived I was pretty much decided to buy a Royalist infantry boxed set to enable me to finish off my Royalist shotte sleeves which needed some boosting to reach the new size of 12 men per sleeve.

There are 24 musketeers in the box, and I'm going to combine them with my renegade spares (who up to this point have been shamming around pretending to be a Forlorn Hope) to create 6 new bases of 4 men apiece. There is also 16 pikemen in the box, although what (if anything) I'm going to do with them I'm not sure.  Overall the price vs. getting more musketeers from elsewhere came out well so I went for them.

On a negative note I was disappointed at Brimstage.  I've been a number of times before and enjoyed having a look round and the atmosphere - indeed I could have bought what I picked up online and saved the petrol but took a run out with my wife and bio-titan/son for the enjoyment of shopping there.  Having been in a few seconds my wife was asked to not let my son touch the models in a not particularly subtle or pleasant way, and felt so uncomfortable that they left almost immediately to look elsewhere.  I stayed, found the bits I was after and went to pay for them, only to feel that I was actually a hassle for wanting to buy something when they were busy.  I was the only customer the whole time, wasn't spoken too while in the shop, and a 'goodbye' just about followed me as I was exiting.

Conclusion; having been there before I can only assume that the proprietor was having a stressful off-day, and wasn't their usual self, and they were busy unpacking deliveries.  However, having made the trip up (a fair distance from home) to leave feeling like that means I'll probably stick to online and elsewhere rather than travel up again.  This won't stop me buying stuff at wargamestore online if the price is right, and their variety of stock is brilliant.  But as a walk-in customer I'm staying away.

Work In Progress.....

Bit of a work in progress report; I've not actually finished anything, so we'll start with the total for the year:

From 1/10/2012:
Painted: 0
Purchased: 0

Instead the focus has been on several projects.
Firstly the Wars of the Roses troops, which I have made, based and spray painted three units of (two lots of 12 archers and one lot of 12 billmen).  I have some more troops for this period, but they are waiting for me to acquire more men to enable me to make full units.  I have also got to finalise my colour scheme for the army.
The second project is the continuation of my Royalists, and I am currently working on the paint job of the 16 pikemen in Hopton's regiment, and Lord Flasheart himself.  It will be a while until anything can be declared finished because I want to do a fair number of troops before going to the trouble of getting the Dip out for them.  There is also the prospect of another English Civil War campaign at the RGMB, and I have dropped far behind Red, Aidan and Michael in terms of troop numbers and paint job!
Thirdly and finally I have decided to sell a fair few models to fund further purchases, including two Epic 40k armies, my Battlefleet Gothic and some 40k pieces.  Having taken the lot down to the club last night I only managed to make a paltry £43, not enough to even fund the WOTR at the moment.  eBay beckons!

Work In Progress - 2011-12 Review

I've just remembered that my tally for painted vs. purchased models was started on the 1st of October 2011, and as such I have passed the annual point without a final update!  That could be because very little has happened since I finished the Romans back in May 2012.

The final total stands at:
Painted - 246
Purchased - 152

So overall a very good result.  The purchased numbers were boosted by an extra 46 due to some Wars of the Roses purchases at Tripples, with the Romans fulfilling the rest of the sequence, and a box of Royalist horse in there too.  In terms of painted models again its 170 Romans in there - a whole army - along with two English Civil War regiments and some artillery and an officer.  I also found time to painted up a 15mm farm, some hills and some more tree bases, as well as fixing a number of trees to expand my scenery collection.  I also purchased a new carry case and enough foam to carry and store my Romans, Royalists and Flames Of War collection in from Figures In Comfort.

The first two thirds of the year were very good from a modeling and painting point of view, partly due to the amount of free time I had available.  I found a real enthusiasm to complete my Romans, and the Winter Of Discontent ECW campaign at the RGMB helped with the Royalists.  The last third from June onwards was more of a disaster because my work/life balance took a massive hit from a new job that didn't work out due to the length of the commute.

For the Future: Key factors are influencing the wargaming outlook fro 2012-13, mainly the financial restrictions which mean my purchasing power is weaker than the Liverpool forward line.  This means whatever I'm doing has to be unbelievably cheap, funded by sales, and preferably using models already in my collection.  With this in mind the immediate drive is towards the Wars of the Roses,which I've found to be of interest and I'm currently trying to make my box of 40 Perry miniatures men-at-arms and archers.  After that my Royalists need attention and flags!

So, starting again from 1/10/12 for 2012-13:
Painted: 0
Purchased: 0