Ebro Miniatures-Review

 I may have had one or two items in the post, so why not share the excitement?

The next video will be more organised, and I will attempt to do something constructive.

If you want to keep track of the video uploads, take the time to subscribe to the YouTube channel, and if you hit the notification bell, YouTube will let you know when the next epic is uploaded.

Hunting for the perfect T-26 tank

 Spoiler alert

It does not exist. I ranted in a previous post about the readily available T-26 models. This time I decided to rant on video. More wailing and gnashing of teeth as I seek the holy grail, only this time, I changed the scale to 1/48thas the Ebro Miniatures I'm, now working on are just a bit bigger than the Empress/Anglian stuff I already have.

It's Been Such A Long Time

 I almost gave up on the hobby. Time restraints and a general meh attitude led to me putting everything away. Lists were drawn up, ready to sell everything I had, but thankfully my meh attitude stopped me from parting company with it all.

Time is a great healer, and I slowly got back into it as the weeks passed. I built a few plastic kits to start with, then returned to the club I used to attend. 

Hobbies are so important we don't realise how much we need them. Sitting quietly at my desk with a paintbrush in hand, with a podcast, or some music playing, I can drift away, and the stress of my world drifts away too.

So what am I up to?

Well, here's a rubbish video to let you know

It's good to be back.

T-26 Tales

 Ok, yes I know, Spain again...will he ever get this project to a decent stage, where it all looks fabulous on the table top?

There is always that distinct possibility, but I have the attention span of a goldfish, and whilst I was quite happily painting some Spanish Foreign legion figures, I made the fatal mistake of "rummaging" and found a discarded Rubicon T-26 model.  Now I had great plans for this little tank, I did an in box review on my YouTube channel, and then followed that up with an in-depth build video, which revealed the defects in the kit, and consigned it to a box under the "Desk of Doom"....hang on I shall blow off a few cobwebs, and revisit that sadly dormant channel, and share the two epics with you all

There you go, a little rewind on the T-26 tale, so lets bring this up to date.

I really wanted to love the Rubicon kit, I had such high hopes for it, and yes, I know most gamers will not give a damn that the kit lacks key details, but I do, I care quite a lot in fact.

Before I was a "serious gamer", I made model kits, and was actually quite good at it, but all the models did was sit on a shelf, and I wanted to relive my boyhood days of battles at the school wargaming club with Airfix soldiers, so I got into gaming...But, you knew there would be a but didn't you!!😂

I also wanted my gaming models to be of the same high standard that my shelf ones were, and that my good friends is not always going to be the case with "wargaming" models.

So I tend to "mess about" with the models, converting, adding, scratching bits n bobs, to make them look the part.

As most of you are aware, I have more than a passing interest in The Spanish Civil War, a few years back I set up a figure company, to produce a range of 28mm figures for the period, and decided to build the vehicle masters myself. First off of my workbench was the T-26, and TBH, I did a pretty good job on it

So, I have a fairly good idea of what a T-26 looks like.

Back to the Rubicon kit, it you watch the build video, you get an idea of whats missing, here's a image of some of the pieces I was making to replace the missing parts on the Rubicon kit

All of the white bits, are the replacement parts required to bring the model up to the standard I wanted, and sadly, there are more bits that need sorting too.

Yes I admit, some of the bits you can get away with, and if you just want a table top representation of a

T-26 tank, then the kit straight from the box will do that for you, but I wanted that little bit more from what was meant to be the best 1/56th scale T-26 around, and felt just a little bit disappointed that simple things like two stowage boxes were not supplied, the kit has just one, or that the door on the back of the turret is not there, and the simple little bits on the rear mudguard, were also omitted. There are other things too, but if I list everything, then it will be seen as being overly picky. I paid £18 for the model, and yes it has a plethora of variants in the box, I feel too much time was spent cramming as many options as possible in, they dropped the ball on the simple stuff.

The model was due to be the star turn in a "How I paint Tanks" video for my sadly neglected YouTube channel, I was so annoyed with the model, that I shelved that idea, and sulked instead.

Days turned into weeks, turned into months, and I lost my model making and painting mojo, until just recently, when I just sat down one day at the desk, and picked up a brush, looked over the clutter of rubbish that sits on the desk, and picked up a forlorn SCW figure, with no intention of doing that much, just to mess with some paint, to see how I felt. That "5 minutes" turned into two hours, the calming influence of just simply painting, whilst listening to some podcasts made me feel so relaxed, I began to enjoy the hobby again.

Then, I found the T-26 box, and this rather idiotic plan began to form on my head..You see also in the box, was another T-26, a hunky chunky lump of heavy metal, bit wobbly, not amazing, but still pretty good

An original Anglian Miniatures casting of my T-26 master, I had thrown a bit of paint on, and then my head had been turned by the Rubicon temptress, in the form of their shiny new plastic kit, and the rather elderly metal model was pushed to one side, but look very carefully, and you can see, it has two stowage boxes, the correct rear mudguard bits, the door on the turret rear is there, it also has the missing saw, the missing spare wheel, the missing spare track links, and the missing periscope on the turret too...its actually not a bad version of the T-26, yes its a little primitive in places, but I did build the master a good few years back, and I have got a little bit better since then...In fact I still have that master in a box somewhere........

And......There it is, mangled master, and the cast model, I could do a repair job on that...no hang on, I could use some of the more tricky bits, on a new master, and improve on the areas I fell down on........Now thats a good idea for a video or two, build the master again, improve on the tracks, and some of the hull areas I messed up on the original, and maybe, just maybe offer a few limited edition castings, to cover the costs of getting some cast up for myself!!! I could sell the master perhaps, but I doubt very much that anyone would want it...but I really want a top quality T-26, and I think its time I built it

I love it when a ridiculous plan comes together😂😂

Its Been Such A Long Time

I used to have this blog, ok it was never up to much, but it did occasionally get a little bit of love, and things appeared...wargames stuff mostly, models I was working on, various historical periods that took my fancy,  I changed these more times than my undercrackers!! There was always something different, laying on the desk of doom, whilst I either hacked at it, or splattered paint over it, sharing the details in glorious technicolour, with a few pithy word to accompany the rather dubious imagery.

Sometimes things  got finished, and made their way to New Buckenham Historical Wargamers, to appear on a table, and fight their own little miniature battle.

Then real life happened, and I had another battle to fight, this one didn't involve, toy soldiers, and dice, and was not so miniature, but rather massive.

I have previously shared my cancer news, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018, and had surgery to remove the tumour, and my prostate..and for a while all was going well, the cancer had gone, and the prognosis was good...Then in October 2019, I was given some somewhat sobering news, my cancer  had returned, as metastatic prostate cancer of my lymphatic system, a series of scans revealed two new tumours on lymph nodes in my pelvic region!

More treatment was required, with no positive outcome promised...the prognosis changed, to maybe 5 years, possibly 10, or if the growth accelerated, may be as little as two years...I was 56 at the time, looking at being dead just after turning 60....My world collapsed.

2020 rolls into view, and what a year this bastard turned out to be!!  I started chemotherapy on 22nd january, 6 rounds of poison pumped into my body, I won't share the details, lets just say its not an experience I want to wish on anyone....in August I began 34 rounds of radiotherapy, targeted to hit key areas, but they could not guarantee that other areas would not be hit...again, not going to share the fun, just want to say, visiting hospital, on your own 5 days a week, in the middle of the Coronavirus crap, was not something I would choose to do again....9 months off work, feeling like crap, and scared shitless that none of this was going to work...that was my 2020 experience.

I waited and waited until November, to hear whether to not the treatment had worked, and was finally given the news i wanted to hear.....the cancer has gone, no trace in my system, dear god you should have seen the tears!!!

Now theres no guarantee that I am in remission, I have to wait three years before they can confirm that I am clear of cancer, but its a massive victory for me.

Being given your life back changes you. I have a fresh outlook on life..I'm slowly getting my head around what happened, and its going to be a bit of a journey, but one thing I have got back, is my love of all things historical, and my desk is once again full of rubbish, which will rise from under the desk, from the boxes where its hides, to take its turn on the desk of doom, whilst I share the nonsense with you all again.

FUCK ME, ITS SO GOOD TO BE BACK😂😂

 

Partizan....Just a quickie

Empress Miniatures Spanish Civil War Dismounted Cavalry - A Review

May 2018, back updating, but now doing it all on video :-)

Empress Miniatures Volksgrenadier Review

The Return of the Idiot

It seems like an age, since I posted anything, of any relevance, on here......
Life has an unfortunate way, of placing various obstacles into your path, and before you know it, months have flown by, dust and cobwebs have settled into place, so with some trepidation, I brush them away, and settle down to try and breath a bit of life back into my poor old neglected blog.

So, what wonders have passed across the Desk of Doom? Well, to be perfectly honest, not a lot, as usual with me, I have drifted from one thing, to another, with odd figures, have been finished, and bits of plastic tortured into various shapes, and welded together with liquid poly.
In need of some inspiration, I decide to head off to Partizan.
Now it would not be me, if there was not some dumb arse drama issue involved, and after arranging to pick up a couple of mates, a spanner gets thrown into the works, now being the dad of a special needs child, I have a certain level of responsibility, we are currently in the middle of the school summer holidays, and trying to fill up a day, for an autistic 17 year old, who does not like other children, crowds, loud noises and dogs, is really hard work, and my poor wife manages this, on her own for most of the week, so when I am not working, at the weekends, I take up the slack, and give my poor wife a break. So, to take the best part of a day out of the weekend, is a big deal for me, and after agreeing that it would be ok to go, my wife decides to change her mind!!
Some intense 11th hour negotiations take place, and we finally reach a compromise, and I get a leave pass to head North to Newark

Partizan has moved house, and its shiny new venue, is the George Stevenson Hall, located on the Newark Showground, for those of you who can recall the gloom of Kelham Hall, the blinding lightness of this great new venue, may have come as a bit of a shock.

The intrepid threesome, roll up, and pay their dues, for the princely sum of £4, we are granted entrance, and are handed a nice little figure as well ( some sort of Crimean war nurse it seems).

The new venue is lovely, light and airy, loads of room to stroll about, the stalls go around the outside, and the games take up the centre space.

The games themselves are split into two zones, Demonstration, and Participation, so at one end you can join in and chuck a few dice, and at the other, you can marvel at the set ups from the Demo game crowd.

Loads of choice on the trader front, with the usual culprits, from the Kelham days, and a few new faces, so money will more than likely be spent, with one of our gang spending more than the other two added together.

I spent most of my day, generally chatting, with assorted mates, it did me a massive power of good, to go to the show, sometimes you get stuck in a bit of a rut, and I needed a kick up the arse, to get moving again, and to start enjoying this hobby again.

Now I would like to tell you about all the games, but to be honest, I did not have a camera, and I really did not spend  alot of time looking at them. There were some lovely looking games on show, and they all semed to uphold the usual high standard you expect to see at Partizan.

My spending was minimal, just a few packs of figures

From UnderFire Miniatures, I picked up his latest Bundeswehr releases, and a few additions to my DDR NVA collection, I will do a review of these at some stage, as they are my current favourites, in my period of choice (at this moment in time)

A token pack of Spanish Civil War Republican infantry from Empress Miniatures, my enthusiasm for this period has somewhat waned, and I really don't know why.

So, not a huge amount of cash blown by me.

Overall, well what can I say, another great Partizan show, to add to the list of all the other great Partizan shows I had attended, the new venue is great, and its on our side of Newark, so a lot easier to get to.

Congratulation to the organisers, done it again gents.

Now, keep your eyes peeled, because, this blog is going to turn into a VLOG!!!!

Yes, I am going live action, so instead of reading the drivel, I type on here, you can see moving images, and listen to my dulcet tones, as I cover a number of different topics, from  miniatures reviews, to "How to's", so if you ever wondered just how I can waste the best part of an hour, painting a face on a figure, you can bore yourself stupid watching me do it.

Oh the horror of it all

Been A while

Since I last typed any sort of nonsense on here.
I am still around, just not done much worth sharing TBH, at the moment I am working on a charity build, having taken on the Tank Girl Tank for The Frothers Charity Figure thing from a couple of years back. Hope to have the finished model squared away for Partizan on 21st August.
Apart from that.........errrrrrrrrrrr..........yeah.
Boring old git these days.

Bundeswehr and National Volksarmee - Another Review

Because then, at least I am typing something on here.

You may, or may not recall, as I cycle through wargaming periods quicker ,than  a drugged up Lance Armstrong in the Tour De France!! I purchased some very nice East German NVA figures in 28mm, from a company called UnderFire Miniatures, and did a little review.

http://nigelh-viewfromtheduckpond.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/like-thin-shelled-chocolate-easter-egg.html

Now as you all know, I am easily distracted from a project, and this time I can blame the TV, I did go through a "War and Peace"crisis, as the BBC aired their latest Sunday evening drama, but a few hours wrestling with them horrible Perry figures, and it passed, then along comes More 4, with its Walter Presents nonsense, and he declares that "Deutschland 83" was worth showing, and I decided to give it a look, the rest as they say, is history........

I dug around in my boxes of shame, and rediscovered the NVA packs, then I went online, and made the mistake of having a quick glance at the UnderFire Miniatures website.
Well now, they have added to the range, in the shape of two more NVA packs, and the start of some Bundeswehr opponents for them. So I had to order them, as it seemed impolite not to.

A little parcel duly  arrived, and here is a Villageidiot style review of the contents.

Bundeswehr 1 pack

The pack contains, as its obviously clear from the picture, four rifle armed infantry, now these lads are firmly rooted in the 1980s, as clearly depicted by the uniforms, and equipment, so no Flecktarn to paint (Hurrah).

Sculpted by Tony Boustead, the same person responsible for the previously released NVA models.

The models are well cast, with a little mould line clean up required, but nothing too taxing. Once again, these lads are on the tall side, and measure up at around 34mm to the top of their heads, the figures are slim build, none of your chunky lads here.

This is no problem, as they match perfectly with the previously released NVA models, and as the only company producing figures for this period now, you don't have to match them with other figures.

Scale wise, yes as you already know, I am a scale nazi, they probably scale out at about 1/50th

I popped one onto my scale mat, and he works out at about 5ft 7" in 1/48th.

Onto the equipment, and the models appear to have all the correct bits n pieces, the webbing looks right, the G3 magazine pouches are spot on, and they have the kidney pouch respirators, on the rear there is the entrenching tool, small pouch,and a water bottle.

The G3 assault rifle is beautifully detailed, and is not overly large, often an issue with figures.

The uniform would be the old Moleskin issue, greenish grey, with the American style helmet, the helmets are bare, and I did expect them to have the camo covers on them, but thats a minor gripe, and easily sorted with a paintjob, or by adding loads of foliage..

Its good to see these figures appear, and I hope that we get a few more packs,always difficult when beginning a new range, and its a bit of a niche area, so congratulations to UnderFire for commissioning this range

 It has inspired me to drag out all my old model plans, and after a bit of jiggery pokery, I came up with this

Yeah ,Marder 1A2, its what every Bundeswehr Panzer Grenadier wants to drive about it, expect a  1/50th scale, hacked up plasticard mess to roll off my bench...........eventually :-)

There are a few more packs to come in this range, and I hope we will get some light support weapons, including the MG3

So West Germany done, lets hop over the Iron Curtain, and have a look at the East.

National Volksarmee 2 packs

To round out the East German side, we have two new packs of NVA figures, and once again, nice clean castings, that require a minimum clean up.

The first pack contains a platoon command group, comprising an officer/NCO, radio operator, RPG gunner, and a sniper 

The second pack contains three infantrymen armed with the German equivalent of the AK47, and a kneeling figure aiming his RPG7.

The figures have a mix of helmets, some are plain, others have the net or camo cover, they all have the right selection of equipment, and the detail on the kit, and weapons is just fantastic.

These two new packs will enable you to make up a good mix of vehicle squads for either BMP mounted sections or the BTR60 ones

So lets put this one to bed, if you are interested in gaming a 1980s Cold War what if, and you choose to  take the 28mm route, then you will not be disappointed with these models.

Price wise, they are £8.00 for four figures, this includes postage, and is about par for the course these days, you do get a quality selection of figures for your pennies, so the cost is pretty damn reasonable.

Get you backsides over to 

http://www.underfireminiatures.com/index.htm

and order a few packs :-)

Now, do I contact Mr Boustead, and see if he is able to sculpt some B.A.O.R and Soviets?

I have this urge you see :-)

Until next time fellow figure fondlers.

2016 - Back To Blogging, with a review

My God, Last Post September 2015!!!
Where the hell did all those months go :-(

Yes its been a while, but to be brutally honest, I've not felt much like blogging, in fact I've not felt much about the hobby at all. It must be a winter thing, as I always get on a massive downer at this time of year ,struggling to do very much, and flitting from one unfinished piece of work, to another, seems to be the order of the day.
         I have managed to finish a few bits, mostly models that I made for Fenris Games, I went on a massive Frostgrave bender, before realising that playing with myself was the only option there!!!
So, back into the box went the war band, I still have some work to do for Fenris, but the inspiration for figures has gone by the by. Next up, Fury Road, I got lots of cars, fiddled with some bits n bobs, and then realised that playing with myself was the only option there...............I think you can guess what happens next?

So, lets get this blog thing rolling, with a review of the latest bit of  wargaming frippery to fall through my letter box.

Painting War Magazine-Spanish Civil War

Not much of a surprise, me ordering this, as most of you can see the attraction, but whats it like inside?
Well now, its a shiny A4 soft back magazine, full colour printing throughout, and very cleverly laid out.  The models themselves are incredibly well painted, and you would expect nothing less from the talented Ruben Torregrosa, at first glance, most modest painters would think, no way can I paint to that standard, but what this clever little guide does, is to lead you through the methods used by Ruben, to paint his models to the high standards seen in the images.
The first 45 pages of the magazine act as an introduction to how Ruben paints his figures, covering  such topics as how to paint faces, and clothing. There are sections dedicated to painting various pieces of equipment, how to paint horses and even how to base your models.
From page 48 onwards, we are treated to a series of images relating to no less than 40 individual models, all 28mm, and mostly from the Empress range


Each page covers an individual model, listing the Vallejo paints used, and packed with useful painting hints, its not only a great painting guide, but  also choc full of very useable uniform information, it provides the budding SCW gamer with a wealth of excellent information.
You don't have to be an SCW fan to buy this, as its a great stand alone guide to painting figures.
I ordered mine direct from Spain, its actually cheaper to do so, I always like to give money direct to the producing company, rather than through a third party, I'm a weirdo like that.

So if you are serious about putting together a Spanish Civil War collection, add this magazine to your list of "must buys" you won't regret it.

My biggest gripe, well why did no bugger do this when I had the models in my Anglian Miniatures range?
Its a fantastic advert for the Empress range, and I had hoped that we would see some new models added to their range, but so far nothing doing :-(

If I could find a sculptor as good as Paul Hicks, I would get back into the period, and start anothr range............I wonder if there are any Spanish figure sculptors who fancy having a go?

Chain Of Command Espana Attempt Number 2........

Back to Sunny Spain

Having a week off work, means that I get the chance to dig out the old Spanish Civil War collection, and jog on over to New Buckingham Historical Wargamers to put on a game.

Once again, its the turn of Chain of Command, for those of you unfamiliar with these rules, they are a platoon level skirmish set, primarily designed for WW2 games, but if you click on the linky

                            http://toofatlardies.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/espana.pdf

You can grab yourself a free, yes thats right FREE, set of lists to help you construct your forces for the SCW. Too Fat Lardies offer a great deal of support for their rulesets, and Chain of Command is no exception, for those of you wanting to have a go, but are not sure how the rules work, then we have a solution for you too

                                           
They have created a series of videos, running through the rules, above is part one, and its well worth clicking through and watching the whole set, because it gives a very good insight on how the rules work.

Right then, car loaded and off to the club I go. Its takes a litle while to get into the hall, as the promised Tapdancers are not there, so the hall is firmly locked, and I have no keys!!!!
Rescue arrives, in the shape of Andrew Knapp, and he scoots off to get the keys.

Once inside, with the help of a few club members, I get set up and ready to go, and this is how the board turns out

I decide the "Attack on an Objective" scenario would be a good one to play out, the objective being  holding the junction on the far side of the river, that joins the main Madrid road

Objective, reach the road, control the junction

Clive Waterhouse has brought along his collection of Anarchist FAI/CNT militia, and adding those to my figures gives the Republican commanders a full platoon to play with.

After rolling for support options, they decide a bit of command assistance is required, so they add El Hombre, which gives them a bit of flexibility, and to boost their firepower, they take an LMG team, not much to add, but it proves to be an excellent choice in the end.

I manage to scrape together a Foreign legion platoon, minus a few bits n bobs ( No 50mm mortars, and no scouts).  There support options are a lot better, and they trundle out a Panzer 1, and give themselves a bit of heavy firepower, by buying an 81mm mortar with an observer to direct its fire.

One learn straight away, I do not have enough figures painted to put on a decent game, and I fully intend to buckle down, and get more stuff finished.

The patrol phase gets underway, and we are fortunate that a new member has turned up, his name is Paul, and he knows the rules!! Hurrah :-)

Paul helps us to fumble our way through the patrol phase, and eventually we get some jump off points sorted.

Patrol markers on the move, with the Nationalists getting over the river, which proved to be very useful in the game.

Another learn, get there early, get set up quickly, and put a time limit on the patrol phase. I spent far too long farting about with terrain, and the patrol phase got very tactical, meaning that the game proper did not kick off until after 9pm; not good.

So lets bung a few pics up, with some captions, rather than a blow by blow, he rolled a 6 and 1 and 2 etc etc

The Anarchists take cover, with their LMG covering the road, this turned out to be their most effective weapon, trading fire with a Legion squad in the house opposite, and towards the end, firing in desperation on the advancing Pz1

Legion Condor in the guise of Panzergruppe Drohne men in a Panzer 1A begin their attack on the town

The Anarchists view of the approaching danger

Anarchist commanders agonizing over their next move.

They decide to move forwards, but are caught in the open by the Nationalists firing their 81mm Mortar, and forcing them down to take cover, they never recovered from this, and spent most of the game pinned in the olive grove

The Legionarios break out of cover, and start to attack the houses.

They know that the Anarchists are hiding in the houses, after being fired on by them.

The relentles advance of the Nationalist super weapon, and thats the fun of these SCW games, no uber tanks. Where a Pz1 is a game winner. This one trundles on, with LMG fire pattering off its front armour, as the Anarchists try to get a lucky shot through the vision slits.

Anarchists debating their orders, in true style, Andy and Clive debated their moves, trying to marshall the scant forces available to them, at one stage I thought they were going to vote on them!. A gleeful Nationalist commander, in the shape of Stephen, watches their efforts.

The endgame begins, the Legionarios asaault the houses, dring the Anarchists out by bayonet point, and  they rout in confusion. The Nationalists take two of the Anarchist jump off points, and its virtually game over.

What can I say? 

Well, after our first efforts, I am glad to say that this game went a lot better. I think it really is a case of play play and play some more, so the rules stick. The rules themselves give you a great tactical game, and remove the usual I go, you go sequence favoured by quite a few rulesets.

The Anarchists were hampered by their lack of command dice, just 4 to roll each turn, and having no junior leaders in their squads, getting them to do anything was quite hard, which is why taking the El Hombre option was such a good idea, they have a woeful lack of firepower too, not helped by the Nationalist side rolling low dice on the support options ( still not entirely certain we have got this bit right)

The Legion found it a lot easier, having an abundance of commanders to activate, and that extra command dice made a difference. Picking the tank, and the Mortar gave them a definate advantage, and the effective deployment of these, meant the Anarchists had a tough time of it. There was a lot of hiding in houses, but once we got going, it was a bit more fluid moving.

We could not fight it out to a conclusion, as we ran out of time, this was more due to the fact that we had to refer to the rules a fair bit, plus we began the game a bit too late. Once we have had a few more games, I think its going to be easy to get a game finished in time, and I'm loking forwards to having another go.

So, in conclusion, the Chain of Command rules give a fast, fun and thinking game, making players look very hard at what they are doing.

Thanks go out to Andy, Alan, Clive and Stephen, for puting up with me fumbling my way through the game, and also to Paul for stepping in with useful advice, to help us along.

                             

          

Random Musings on a Rainy Weekend...........

After the somewhat optimistic post about taking advantage of the nice weather, I find myself gazing through the rain streaked window, watching the gale force wind ,swirling various things around our lovely garden, summertime has been and gone, end of July, more like bloody November here at Higgins Towers.

Not the most ideal weather, for a session of making terrain boards on the patio.

   Driven indoors, and at a bit of a loose end, yes ok, I did say I would finish Pyrrhus, but I did'nt enjoy painting the models, and the frustration at my inability, to plonk some pigment on a Cretan Archer, had me desk diving again.
 The dedicated followers of my idiot ravings on here know by now, that means,
 I will find something, then get fixated, try to paint it, get frustrated, put it away, sulk a bit, then, hmmm I wonder whats under there?.................I think you can understand the cycle of despair by now.

    Well, Spain has returned to the desk, I had the lads on standby anyway, so it was a simple process to push Pyrrhus into a box, and fill the desk with random Anarchists, and a token ethnic minority, in the shape of a Moroccan cavalry scout I have converted.

 We now have this view, when we plant our fat arse onto the leather desk chair.

Lets have a closer look

Its mostly militia on this side, in various stages of paintyness, lots of converted loveliness in this lot, mostly head swappery, so we have a few lovely ladies, a wounded Legionario, with an attending Medico. Over the back there is the Moroccan scout, and accompaniying him, we have a Militia despatch rider slaking his thirst, whilst holding his trusty Motorcycle. The other two models are crew from the Anarchist car, remember that project? :-)

I work on a number of figures at a time, so you tend to find a weird selection of half painted nonsense littering my painting space, as I get towards finishing an individual figure, I then concentrate on that one, and try to get it off the lids, and onto a base.

The figures on the right are a lot further forwards, and I will try to get those squared away this week.

No organisation at all, and thats perhaps why I don't get a lot of stuff done.

Down here, we have some Legionarios, the plan was to send these "up North" to the talented Andrew Taylor, to get him to slap some of his excellent paintyness onto them. Sadly, real life intervenes, and I have limited funds, so I shall have to add my own Paintyness to them, until my financial embarrassment passes, and I can employ Mr Taylor's talents on some other models.

Sometimes though, you get some completed models, and this motley crew will be joining the FAI/CNT force, once I get their basework squared away

From left to right, converted Anglian/Empress militiaman (headswap) Footsore/Musketeer Brigand, Anglian/Empress Militia, with a Crooked Dice Female head swap, and on the end, an Artisan Design partisan/resistance fighter. Just goes to show how a little application, and a careful trawl through various ranges, can add a lot of variety to your militia force.

For those of you how wish to engage in some head switching fun, I shall point you in the general direction of this, rather iffy, video presentation, which may, or may not help you in your endeavours.

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

I'm Getting Board..................

As the summer slowly ticks away, I've suddenly realised, that if I want to take advantage of the nice weather, I had best get my arse into gear :-)

I have these boards to do you see, as New Buckingham don't possess any sandy, scrub type terrain, I thought I should make some of my own to take over, of course there is an ulterior motive to this, I want to do the boards, so I can use them to put on a game at a show, this show most likely being one of the Partizan ones.

So, into the garage I dive, and dig out the collection of pink boards, then lay them out on the grass to have a dekko at what I have.

So people, here is the cunning plan.

The board will be sort of flat, up to the bit at the end, where it will climb up towards a small plateau

The hill section at the end will consist of a small village town, climbing up to a church at the top.

Something along those lines, with perhaps not so many buildings, more perhaps like this

Now I have a problem do I embed the road sections into the boards, or make some lay on stuff to use instead?

I suppose, using lay on sections will mean the boards will get more use, making them a bit more generic, I shall have to experiment with some bits n bobs, and see what I can come up with

So, a little bit of work to do, and first off, I will try to shape the hill section at the end, and then work out the layout of the town. I already have a church, it will get a few alterations, so it does not look like the original model (Empress) can't be having that now can we :-)

Ok, so the game will consist of, the road to Madrid, running down the rough centre of the board, the town/village on the hill, the rest of the terrain I will figure out as I go along.

I do want to include an Olive Tree plantation, along with a little processing plant, and that will be made from this

I kinda threw this together, just to get it on the board for a game on two, and its really not that well painted,  so bringing it back to life is another little side project, plus I get to practise a bit with painting buildings, and yes It won't be a twee little whitewashed job.

I don't like the roof, these tile sheets, are just far too uniform, so that just has to go.

I managed to pick up some sheets on E-Bay, the idea now being to cut them up, and do a bit of subtle rearranging, to get a more random look to them, and this messing about with tile sheets is all going to help in the long run, as there will be a few roofs to construct.

The model will get a new board to sit on, with some added scenic items to set the scene, and I am going to replace all the doors, with something more Spanish looking.

Hoping to post some progress pics as I put it all together.

So keep watching folks.

Summers Here, and once again............

Its time to resurrect that Pyrrhic army, you remember them don't you?

Forlornly hanging around the edges of the painting desk, in their various half painted states, thinking to themselves

You see, it goes like this

Crash, bang, wallop, and a desk full of twisted plasticard, tortured into various bits, its all the fault of that Mad Max bloke, and his Fury Road nonsense. My head was easily turned, seduced by the world of roaring V8 engines, and the prospect of racing across the Post Apocalyptic world, in the hunt for Guzzoline, and my own harem of foxy breeders.

I've spent many a fruitless hour, trying to hack and melt my own little fleet of mental vehicles, the finished result, well its one solitary Motorcycle, and that has taken me an age to finish. Have to face it, I am not very good at this model making malarkey.

Admitting defeat, I carefully pack away the plasticard, and seal the lid of the liquid poly firmly shut, Then the rummaging starts, like some grey haired ferret, I sniff my way through the stack of boxes lurking under the desk.

 first off we find some half painted SCW figs (remember that project), and they duly take their place on the desk of doom...............painty painty painty, brown, khaki, drab, boring, fed up, back into box.


Then, its time for King Arthur to ride out, galloping across the desk, cloak flying in the breeze, along with his stalwart men, they face the Saxon hoard ( well ok, three figures blu-tacked onto some old paint lids) I work out how many figures I need, for a game of Dux Britttanorwhotsit ( remember that project?)  and discover that perhaps my willpower will not stretch that far, and I would like to have a game with something I have managed to paint, before the end of summer comes.

I cry a little bit, and as I wipe away the tears of frustration, my eye falls on a single random little fellow, there he is lying all innocent like, on the desk lamp base.
I pick him up, and place him carefully onto the desk

Mr Grey, although not in the 50 shades sense, but rather the hard polystyrene version.

I'd forgotten all about him, and his placcy mates, so here we have the best of both worlds, some plastic to hack and melt, followed by a bit of painty painty, in some nice fetching shades.

A big shiny box of Victrix Italian Allies, and they look like nice little fellows to paint too.

So units to add, figures to paint, and some new rules to boot.

With a sweep of his mighty hand, the desk now looks like this

Yes, Pyrrhus is back, and this time its war, Fat Boy Higgins v The Eagle King

and I shall get them finished, they will take their rightful place, upon the hallowed boards of New Buckenham Historical Wargames Club

To hack and slay their way through the mighty opponents placed against them. Victory shall be ours, unless of course we have to face that Lee Abbott bloke and his uncanny dice throwing skills.

Ohh the thrill of it all

Next time out, I will be reviewing a few new bits n bobs, the Victrix figures, and a quick dekko at the Sword and Spear rules I want to have a crack at.

There is always a chance, I may get distracted

Ooooooooohhh lookie here, Sid James and some naked fella.............

Until next time gang

cheerio

A Hot Date, with Boudi, Diceni 2015

A Lot of Things Happened in a Day at the Forum

I go to shows, not as many as I used to, since I stopped trading, but I get to the nearest ones to me if I can. Diceni is in Norwich, about as close as you can get, as its a little under 20 miles down the road.

For those of you who don't know much about this show, let me tell you a little about it, no lets let the show tell you about itself

Whats this Diceni all about ??

Diceni is a games event organised by Lee Lowe, and his band of Dicenian's that help's promote Tabletop, Board, Card, and RPG gaming as well as the costume worlds of Cosplay and LARP. 

There will be traders selling a wide range of hobby related item, from Board games, to miniatures, paint etc etc. We will have lots of demo/participation games for you to come along and enjoy.

Organising a fun and free entry event each year has meant that thousands of gamers and non gamers can enjoy a day of games, meeting up with friends and making new ones in this vibrant, interesting and creative hobby.

We love the world of cosplay and the colour and artistic skills it takes to portray a character. Diceni is a Cosplay friendly zone and we invite you to come along, show of your latest creation and help brighten up the event.

Diceni has helped and continues to help charities, every year we give a sum of money to help a local charity not as commonly recognised like some of the larger well known ones but just as important all the same, Hedgehog shelters, Nelsons Journey, dog rescue centres.

We've even supported a lovely little dog named Storm and her foster parent Sally from Hasslefree miniatures ( Another of the shows Sponsors) to have an operation to help her see again :)

So, we are about games, painting, fun, dressing in costume, making friends, relaxing, painting, helping others and we do it all for free!

Please help the event by purchasing some of our goodies found on the website or by simply telling your friends and family about us.

For those of you who currently involved in the hobby, we have lots for you to get excited about . For those of you who currently don't, come along and have a look, you never know, you might be the next generation of gamers, painters, game's designers, sculptors or cosplayers.

freshly stolen from the Diceni Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Diceni/117570275059298?fref=ts

The Forum is a lovely venue, very airy, loads of space to move around, and slap bang in the heart of the lovely city of Norwich, so if you gents want to go play soldiers, you can let your lovely partners shop to their hearts content, in the two shopping centres the city boasts.

As you can see, its not a tightly crammed, no space to move show, although it does fill up as the day wears on, its never so crowded to be uncomfortable.

This show was a bit different for me, I have attended shows previously as a punter, as a demo-gamer and as a trader, so I have experienced the wargames show in all its glory, and all its horror as well.

This time round, I was just going along as a punter, my trading days are long past, and as I'm not so much of a club regular these days, I don't tend to get involved in the demo games anymore. Then the fickle hand of fate intervenes, Lee Lowe, the gent who organises the Diceni show, put out a plea on the show's Facebook page, they had a last minute cancelation, and wanted to try and fill the free space, did anybody know a trader, or something that could drop in at short notice to fill the gap?

I hesitated, just a moment, and then typed, " I could set up a table, showing how to scratch build stuff" thinking they will never want something daft like that!!

You've guessed it, Lee said great idea, so I found myself, packing up a pile of stuff, with some trepidation, as I worry far too much about what people will say, about the stuff I make.

Saturday morning, and I'm all set up. I have a lovely spot, next door to a trio of very talented painters, there I sit thinking, oh crap why did I suggest this. 

Chris Cope from the New Buckenham Historical Gamers pops over for a chat, they have a 28mm set up showing the attack on the British squares at Waterloo, he is on the scrounge for some paper, he passes some very nice comments about how good my set up looks, and the way its laid out to explain how the vehicle master process works. I feel a bit calmer now.

Stupid me, took a camera, but not a single picture did I snap, so I cannot show you the table set up, and hope someone else has taken one, if they have, I will share it, saying that, if you look very carefully at the above picture, you can just about make me out top right, just to one side of the brightly lit shop.

Enough waffle from me, over to the show itself. Now Diceni has a much different approach to your standard War Games show, its more of a showcase event, to promote different aspects of the hobby, its not all about figure gaming, and that adds to its appeal. Out the front of the building, there are the re-enactors from the Norwich And Norfolk Medieval Association, plus what I think was another LARP group, and I feel bad that I cannot remember who they were.

Inside you have a mix of Historical, Sci-Fi and fantasy games, both demo and participation, and a selection of great traders, some of whom who have journeyed a fair distance to support the show.

The games all look great, a lot of effort has gone into them, and it shows ( I shall be stealing pictures to post on here very soon)

Wandering about the show, are the cosplay crowd, and its a bonkers mix of all sorts, Stormtroopers, Super Heroes, even a Japanese Geisha lady!! I always thought that the cosplay crowd were a funny lot, but meeting them at the show changed my opinion, they are a marvelous bunch of people, and they gave the show a brilliant splash of colour.

There I sat, and spent the entire day chatting, to a lovely mix of people, some were gamers, some were just passing by, and had taken the chance to pop in and have a look. I lost count of the kind comments that people made, and for someone like myself, who has a crushing lack of confidence in what they do, it made my day to see that people were genuinely impressed with the models I had on show, and by what I could do.

I spoke to small children about Airfix kits, and the joys of Lego, to  a German gentlemen who was waxing lyrical about how welcoming eveyone was, to a radio control tank modeller, who had video of his model on his phone, that was impressive I can tell you, I talked about making art from deconstructing things with an American artist, and one group of people towards the end of the day stopped at the table, they had just wandered in because they saw the people outside the venue, and it piqued their interest, we had a chat about the hobby, laughed about the geekiness of it all, and one of them said,

 "we just came in for a laugh, but I have to say, I never realised just how involved your hobby is, its been a real eye opener for us, fantastic show, and thank you for taking the time to talk to us"

Says it all really,

 Diceni is a great little show, sure you can point a critical finger at it, and say, the mix is wrong, the wargames should have bigger tables, you should invite the big traders, why not do it on a Saturday, you should move to a bigger venue outside of the city, and yes all good and valid points, 

Somehow the show works, and it works really well, is not broke, it does not need fixing.

What Diceni does really well, is that it attracts new people to the hobby, it showcases what we all love, and gives us the chance to pass on our hobby to other people.

If I have managed to inspire one single person, to have a crack at making something out of plasticard, or to convert a model, then my time was worth it.

Will I return next year?

Yes indeed, and I hope to repeat my set up, and improve it a bit too, as my hand written bits of paper looked a trifle unprofessional, plus I shall take a small supply of snap together models, so when a youngster stops to chat, and tell me how "awesome" my models are, I can hand them a kit, and say, "take it home, have a go, and I hope you get the bug to do some more"

I'll leave you with a couple of pics, first off, the bike I was working on Yesterday at the show, and my Steampunk Boudi miniature, to remind me of  how fun a day I had

and finally, an image from one of the show attendees

Mark Bosanquet-Bryant, who was inspired by the show to build up his newly set up gaming club, and his picture shows the spirit of the show, it is all about joining in, and showing people what we do, its about making our hobby accessible , and its what Diceni does so very well

Congratuations Lee Lowe, another success for you and your Dicenians,

heres to 2016

STOP PRESS

There was a picture of me, looking a bit, well errrrrrrr, "strange" there I am with me good mate Si talking nonsense to some poor unsuspecting member of the public