Empress Miniatures Colonel Durnford and Boers

I had intended doing just a paint and wash job on these Boer figures but was enjoying them so much I went over them again with some proper highlighting. I treated Durnford with the same care that I would normally treat a Command figure. Two of the Boars came with the NNC plastic box and were previously painted and based. As I could not find enough matching heads I had to reuse and rebase these and then used the left overs as NNC Command figures. These are not however dressed as they should be. I will use the Boers as part of Durnfords Command until I get the correct figures.

Great War French

I bought a pack of Great War French Infantry to see how they compared to the Renegade figures I have already painted. My initial conclusion was that they are really too different to fit in the same units. Its not just that they are quite slim but also they are a very different style. I attempted to try and hide the slimness by adding Greenstuff to the Kepis and Greatcoat tails. I also added backpacks to most of them which came from some Artisan packets. However the thinness of the guns compared to the Renegade figures are really evident. After basing the figures I thought that the kneeling figures are very difficult to spot the difference so I bought a set of the HMG so I can add a couple of figures to the bases I have already painted up. These have been undercoated with the eight second hand Renegade figures I have stripped and are ready to paint.

The figure below on the right hand side is a Renegade figure.

Last weekend I went to ValleyCon which is a yearly event put on by the Hutt Wargames Club. It is a decent sized affair and was as far as I can tell consisted of Competition Games and no Demo games so I did not take any photos. I did however talk to a Club-mate about taking up DBM. To my surprise he invited me to take command of one of his Generals of a Spanish Army. It was a really good game and I learnt quite a lot but I was blamed for losing the game. Haha it was all in jest as the other player had the right plan in his mind before we even set up. I have a pile of Black Trees Design Romans, Wargames Factory Vikings and a few already painted Renegade and Black Tree Celts which were bought with DBM in mind. So as soon as I can I will be painting up some Celts and have already based some of the ones I have painted earlier just to get a feel for the game.

TT Combat Comms Tower

I saw this on sale recently and thought that the style would fit with my scenery. I worked out by the dimensions that it should work out ok with the walkways and would fill an area I talked about on an earlier post. 

I thought that it looked a bit plain and was not too impressed by the unsightly joints so added a bit of spare MDF to improve it. I also found that each floor seemed to be progressively out of level by about 4mm at each floor. The top floor was ok but the others needed correcting. One floor I left as is but the lower two had the locating tabs removed at the front and glued without them. I did not like the dishes either so fortunately my partner had been giving me some disks from Gherkin Jars which looked much better. When I get a fourth one I will fit that as well. The centres were made out of floss sticks but I have bent one twice before even doing any gaming with them so may trim them down.

This is quite tall so was difficult to photograph.

I also added a couple of pieces of MDF so I could fit a walkway to them. This was made from some EDS (?) scenery which was supplied with the wrong mix of parts so I did not mind cutting them up for this.

There were five signs so I used them on other parts of my terrain.

I had also undercoated the Water Pistols but when I looked at them later I saw that I had not filled the screw holes, and thought that I had been lazy not doing more than adding the cooling fans at the top. So then added some pipes on two of them. The other two I think are ok after filling the screw holes with wooden dowel.

I found the Grey Board supplied was missing some of the signs which I have painted in West Ham colours. I cut and fitted some plain card to mimic them. The etched detail did not come out at all so I may find something to print and glue over them. The figure I have used is going to be repainted as Deckard (Harrison Ford). He may need a new gun though.

First post New Year

This seems to be a thing that Bloggers do where they look back and take account of the past year.

For me Hobbywise I seem to have come to a what some would call a "Watershed moment".

I have decided that I will no longer chase Rainbows in the hope that a new project will bring fresh hope into my Hobby. Last Christmas I bought into "The Cruel Seas" thinking I would be able to take it to the Club and get some games in, but by then the Club had folded and I have not been active in my old Club so the painting on that has stopped. I will consider selling what I have painted but may think on it a bit more. I also bought "What a Tanker" thinking it would be a good evening game at the Club but after trying it solo to see how it plays I did not think it was that good. As a group game it could be a lot of fun but Solo I think I will pass. Luckily I did not buy any tanks for that. The previous Xmas I bought Necromunda thinking that it would be something engaging to get into but found that the figures are a pain in the arse to paint (too much detail) and the escalating cost of Forge World upgrades were prohibitive. The cost of constantly buying books and then the rewriting of the rules and hence new books required were also a put off. 

The new plan I have decided on is that any project has to fit into one of these categories.

1, Its for the display Cabinet. Mordheim Or Necromunda would fit here.

2, Its for a Demo Game. Actually I should start calling them Display games as no-one ever joins in at a Convention.

3, I can play solo with it. Anything with a Dice or Card activation would work.

4, A joint effort with another Gamer. Blood and valour is something I am working on with a friend.

This will leave me with a few decisions as to what I need to sell off and what to keep. My aim is to complete a few outstanding units for a few of my collections as I find once I have done a Demo I move on to another project. The Collections I have in mind are; Robin Hood, I have a new faction waiting to be painted. Vietnam is probably about 80% complete. NVA, ARVN and some more US units needed. AZW is going well but a few more units awaiting paint. I have a Spanish Peninsular Brigade Painted with some British Marines that need something to fight, but no urgency on that. The 28mm WW2 and also the 20mm versions need to be either completed or bits sold off that I won't ever get around to painting, or using. I'd like to try Chain of Command but never seem to have an opportunity to try it.

New projects are never going to be an issue as I have so much Lead stacked away I should never need to buy anything but a few bits here and there. Paint and basing is always going to be an ongoing cost. Some of the Projects I have plenty put away for future use are; Foundry Pirates and Toy Pirate Ships. Several Factions and theatres for "Blood and Valour" or "Through the Mud and the Blood" or maybe be even a "CoC" mod. Foundry 7th Cavalry and Indians, no idea of what rules yet. English Civil War which I have stock-piled Essex with some Foundry packs. Several Rule sets spring to mind. French for the Peninsular War, which I mentioned earlier. Cold War American and Soviets in 20mm. I need my garage back for this so I can use my spray gun to do all the vehicles. Its full of tools and left over building material which should be going soon. I am painting the hall this Holiday instead of working outside preparing for a storage shed.

My current painting projects are; Cyber Punk Terrain, I am really enjoying this but its throwing me a few curve balls with scratch building and colour choices. AZW Boers, this unit is quite big with dismounted figures as well as a Horse Holder. I was just going to do a quick paint and wash but have found that I am enjoying going back over the details with all the different clothing choices and beards etc. I am basing some Great War French which are annoyingly small looking compared to my old Renegade figures. I spent a fortune on some painted Renegade French from Ebay which I am currently waiting on to arrive. The last items on my work bench are some Judge Dredd inspired Motor-Cycle Policemen. These are for my Euro City theme setting so they will not look like the Cartoons but more of a Dredd Movie look with the limitations imposed by my sculpting skills.

The Blog I feel is looking a bit dated. I set it up to be easy to read and don't like the White writing on Black look which I see on some Blogs as it is hard for me to read. I write the Blog on an iMac so it may look different on PC's and maybe even phones so I wont change it too much. I have a few ideas I'd like to try so don't be surprised if it changes a few times. I would like to start putting my Blog reading list on here as well but am unsure if I should be asking permission first or just do it? I presume that its all Public for all to see anyway so should not matter.

Speaking of Blogs, I have changed my viewing habits on Forums and Blogs. I had been a member on TMP since either 2005 or 2006 but came to realise that the only conversations I have lately are about whether Tango should be allowed to Spam at will, or if there should be some control over him? I was also posting on Frothers to see what I missed on TMP that had been edited out. I have not been on either Forum now for about two months and don't miss either. I first tried to use Twitter to replace these which I just found annoying to use and not much information that I could see. I have used Lead Adventure since its inception (I think) but don't feel the same urge to post all my work there as I am already doing it on the Blog. What I have found useful is Facebook. I have about eight groups at least where I can chat and pass information back and forth. You get the occasional idiot but they eventually get sorted out and there is no editor to censor or delete what you write.

I hope everyone has had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, I hope to see lots of inspiring painting and Modelling in the coming Year.