Work Not In Progress 2015

No, I've not fallen off the world, dropped off the deep end, or even taken a swim with the fishes.  There just hasn't been any progress since June.  I've ended up with too little time and energy to do anything, and the enthusiasm for making, painting and playing just hasn't been there for a few months so its all on the back burner waiting for the nearly 9 month old to be less demanding (and sleep!), and for the work situation to maybe not involve getting up at 5am in the morning.  It'll be back, I have managed to play a few FOW games, and update my FOW blog to round off the Market Garden campaign (it all turned out historical - Germans won, just, Allies mucked it up with a dodgy plan).

End of year stats for painting:

Purchased/gained: 154

Refreshed: 10

Painted: 66

Work In Progress........June 2015

As predicted last month my painting has dropped off the deep end.  Having finished enough Brits for my Flames of War army to be competitive and interesting I lost enthusiasm for painting more, and various other calls upon my time meant my hopes of adding to my English Civil War Royalists didn’t get beyond the modelling stage.  I did get as far as Phalanx in St Helens for the first time, taking the Bio-Titan along with me for his first taste of a wargaming show.  He lasted around 45 minutes, which was about as long as I expected, before getting bored and wanting to go home.  He left very pleased with himself with a box of the Perry’s new Army of England (Agincourt and all that) plastics, which we subsequently made a number of after we got home.

I personally picked up a box of Warlord Royalist horse to add another regiment and some more dragoons to my army, as well as a Warlord Falconet, some Assault Group musketeers to boost my dragoon numbers, another 4Ground powder cart to increase my supply train, and a foam tray or two for my Brits to live in.  Finally I briefly met up with Red who had picked up a mounted welsh warlord for my Saga troops for me at Salute.  In the days following this I managed to make all of the above, and quite enjoyed doing so, but they have remained plastic coloured.

Gaming:

In gaming news I’m running a Flames of War Operation Market Garden campaign which started well with campaign turn one having a decent turn out, more on that when I get time to write it up.

Purchased/Painted:

To break it down its 12 horsemen, 1 powder wagon, 4 musketeers and 1 warlord, so an additional 18 models to the unpainted horde.

Purchased/gained: 154

Refreshed: 10

Painted: 66

Plans for July – play football.  ECW at Gauntlet.  Flames of War Market Garden campaign round 2.  And maybe undercoat some Royalists.  Maybe.

Work In Progress........May 2015

The month started off well with decent enough weather for me to varnish and finish my Flames of War Brits aerial support – one typhoon complete with invasion markings, and not a bad looking effort if I say so myself.  I then proceeded to attack my British heavy mortars in a concerted effort to make them ready to take on Andy’s Jerrys in a pre-arranged games in the middle of the month.  6 bases of troops later and they were also done and I was fairly pleased with myself. 

At this point my good intentions took a bit of a battering.  Firstly Phil donated some troops.  A lot of British FOW troops in fact, and enough to put the kerbosh on my efforts at painting more than I have bought/gained – a further 60 figures were added to the lead pile, although many are already marked for sale to afford more relevant bits.  I also had a weak moment and purchased some plastic soldier company M5 halftracks that Paul at the club was selling off cheaply.  Overall 65 new models added, and a mere 7 more painted.

Purchased/gained: 136

Refreshed: 10

Painted: 66

I also discover somewhat of a painters block, with nothing appealing enough to make me want to sit down while exhausted in the evenings and take up the brush.  This may continue for some time I suspect, be prepared for short posts, if any at all!

Work In Progress.....April 2015

And just as all looked lost, like darkness had fallen and all the lights in the world had been extinguished….Out Came The Sun.  And the varnish can rattled and the models sparkled in the sunlight and the purchased vs painted total took a great leap towards the black.

The weather turned wonderfully warm, sunny and extremely varnish friendly in April, at the same time as I had an enforced break from work due to post-surgery recovery time.  I was able to put that finishing coat upon the 15mm British infantry and armour I have been working on this year in the attempt to put together a Flames of War (FOW) late war British army.  I also needed some obstacles for a big FOW game and revisited the 3 barbed wire barricades and minefield I originally build back in 2009 but never finished.  A bit more work finally went into the farm building I use for 15mm games; mostly in terms of adding some more flock to it so it blends into the battlefield mat better, but also some drybrushing.  I did buy a box of British 15mm heavy weapons (PSC’s finest) which added an extra 12 bases/figures to my purchased list.

Puchased Vs Painted – 33 British models, 1 random Focke Wulf (1/100 scale) and 4 obstacles painted along with a farm refreshed:

Purchased: 69

Refreshed: 10

Painted: 59

Gaming:

My Flames of War Berlin campaign ended with a decent sized bang this month, with the Russians (or rather the Romanians) claiming the spoils.  I’m thinking of moving on to do Market Garden in June.  Apart from that childrens birthdays and recovery following surgery limited gaming, with my new British also getting a brief outing one afternoon.

Coming up this month:

If I don’t get distracted by returning to the work force, child interaction or general tiredness and lethargy I have more 15mm British to work on.  My Shermans desperately need some air cover and artillery to lay smoke screens so a 1/144 typhoon is getting there, while a platoon of heavy mortars are also hanging around the painting table.  Finally my third, and last, universal carrier patrol might get some paint on it as something different to painting the mortar crews.  In terms of games it promises to be a month of variety with games of Dreadball, Necromunda and Saga already planned.

Work In Progress......March 2015

Baby.

No Sleep.

Hospital.

Gallbladder.

Surgery.

15mm British transfers.

Nothing bought, nothing sold, nothing varnished.

As you were, 15mm British army starting to look good.

Puchased Vs Painted:

Purchased: 57

Refreshed: 9

Painted: 21

Work (Baby?) In Progress.......February 2015

February ends and this will be a much shorter WIP piece than last month, partly because I haven’t the time (something is stirring….), and partly because I’ve simply worked on the same project and have nothing more interesting to say!

The project of choice was my 15mm late war British armoured company; kitted out for a campaign in the hedgerows of Normandy but with the flexibility to fight Market Garden and beyond.  It was going quite well too, and then THIS turned up:

Jessica.

That was a shock.

One and a half weeks early; one Jessica Kate took a mere five and three quarter hours to arrive making a mockery once more of projected labour times.  Since the 22^nd of February she has curtailed most other activities apart from feeding and changing, although 1-2 wakeup calls every night isn’t as bad as her big brother was.  Either that or I’m in denial.

Back onto the models, and with a projected baby arrival date of the 5^th of March I was hastening to get as many of my British done before nappies stopped play.  I partially succeeded; the paint was dry upon 9 bases of British infantry, 6 universal carriers and 12 Shermans, as well as a single trial US Paratrooper base.  The flock on the infantry and carriers was applied one evening after Jessica arrived, and I’m gradually adding the decals to the Shermans.  I’m still unsure what decals to use on the carriers, and I may have to seek a bit of historical advice on that because the internet has failed to provide a definitive answer.  Nothing is ‘finished’ as yet because the weather is not suitable for spraying the matt varnish on.

Puchased Vs Painted remains the same, one good day with a varnish can will change that:

Purchased: 57

Refreshed: 9

Painted: 21

My ECW, under the command of the Bio-Titan, once more marching and counter marching across the table.

Post-flock picture; I'll take better ones when they are done fully.

Shermans, pre-decals.

Work In Progress......January 2015

This was the month of making Airfix and 15mm British troops and tanks.  Airfix kits are something I dabbled in en-masse when I was younger, WW2 aircraft mostly but with a number of tanks with their nasty rubber tracks that needed melting together (a right pain they were too!).  This interest resurfaced this month after I was given enough money for my birthday to afford a Lancaster Bomber from Hobbycraft.  This is something I’d thought about each time I had seen it but had never been able to justify spending the £18+ that it cost, but this time as soon as I starting thinking what to buy it popped into the front of my memory and jumped around waving luminous sticks and setting off fireworks.  So I bought it – a Revell Lancaster MkI/III at £18.99.  Oddly the Airfix models appeared much more expensive but I don’t think this directly translates into better quality so perhaps it’s just the effect of the brand name.

I had two faults when it came to making model aircraft – impatience and a failure to finish what I started.  The impatience saw me needing the aircraft finished so I could run around the room with it (obviously), and with lowered undercarriages this meant often putting the weight of the plane onto the still drying wheels and struts before it was ready.  Most aircraft were wonky in some way.  Tails and wings were another regular failing.  Perspex cockpits were often wasted because I glued them in place to finish the aircraft without resorting to painting the pilot(s) first.  Then once the aircraft was finished I lacked the enthusiasm to do a proper paint job on all by the most popular aircraft.  In the line of favourite models behind the Lancaster (of which I originally had a dambusters version that is long gone) was the Wellington bomber which I hope to redo again some day.

On to the present day and I don’t intend to fail on either of my faults, but I’m also wary of my own rustiness – I haven’t attempted a build like this in many, many years, and those who have know that it is generally more challenging than most wargaming models!  So it is that I have decided to practice beforehand, and luckily I have many long-forgotten models to practice on.  A very good friend gave me a 1/72 D-Day Airfix set when I finished at English Heritage, and from this I have made the Matador truck and its towed 5.5” gun, as well as the DUKW and the bunker emplacement.  I have also made a 1/48 scale Airfix Spitfire Mk V, which I started making so long ago that the pilot I had stuck together had started to come to pieces and had to be fixed again.  I have resisted the urge to stick the Perspex cockpit cover on so I can paint the pilot and that’s the stage I’m up too.

15mm British

My new army for 2015 so far is my 15mm British aimed at being a late war army for Flames of War.  I will probably do a thread of posts for them in the future.  For now it’s enough to note that I used Christmas cash to purchased 9 universal carriers – 6 normal and 3 wasp carriers (to push out dug in infantry) – and a PSC Sherman tank.  These, along with my new infantry, and the Shermans my brother kindly gave me brings them up to a strength of 18 Shermans, 9 bases of infantry, 9 carriers and a solitary 1/144 scale Revell Typhoon which I’ve had since Triples and only just got round to making along with the box of Plastic Soldier Company Shermans I bought at the same time.  I’ve been busy making the PSC Shermans and Infantry while making the Airfix models, and deployed my airbrush to undercoat the lot so I am now up to the painting stage.

Gaming

In terms of gaming I managed to defeat my nemisis Adrian at Dreadball twice, cleared Ian Shaws Brits from Gatow airport in the Flames of War campaign, lost a suburb of Berlin in the same campaign to Red, and played 3 games of English Civil War at Aidans gaming day in Frodsham – 1 win, one draw and one defeat.

Painted Vs. Purchased

I’ve purchased a few models for my new 15mm British army this month, which translate into 9 universal carriers, 1 Sherman tank, and 27 bases-worth of late war infantry (actually purchased last month but I had to take the time to work out how many bases it would turn into).  My brother also gave me the old FOW Open Fire set which included 3 Shermans, 2 StuG’s, and he also handed over 3 Panzer III’s.   For my birthday I was bought a box of 12 fireforge Templar Knights by Ben, and I also bought a 1/72 Lancaster Bomber.  All in all a big increase in purchased models from 0 to 57, and with nothing painted as yet!

Purchased: 57

Refreshed: 9

Painted: 21

The Bio-Titan's deployment when I returned home from a 6am-4:30pm day.

And their enemies - 6mm Union troops!

One Revell Lancaster MkI/III still in its box.