No motivation

Alas the times of being busy are upon me again and I just simply had no motivation to do anything. I am also traveling far too much at the moment which is not helping.

Most evenings I either watch a movie or I have been working so whenever I look at the pile of figures\ paints it does not even register as being interesting. I am not sure if it is the knowledge that I need to spend a lot of hours of the day painting to get anywhere near finished or I am just approaching it all with the wrong mindset. I did think of starting again but then the light bulbs in our ceiling keep blowing (right above where I sit) and I have not had a chance to get a decent lamp.

However I think I just need to get down to it !


Cheers

No frills wargaming

Hi,

The problem I have always had with my solo gaming has been the ill placed wish to have Wargames Illustrated \ Perfect terrain for my solo wargames. It has taken some time but the reality has dawned that I am simply unable to have that type of layout (Let alone the space for a table) or the money to buy all that nice stuff. So I need to scale down my plans, play more and least enjoy it all.

So in an effort to get gaming and not worry about terrain I grabbed an old drafting pad and simply drew things on. I do have trees and buildings and such but my initial plan was just to see how it all looked on paper.

Below are the initial test using some 10mm vehicles (Railway supplies).

Below - President Key's convoy speeds past some parked cars

Paramilitary Police Roadblock

The Defense Forces new T-98 tank donated by President Piccilo, loyal ally.

So after the above I decided to play a game. I found my 15mm zombie box and tried out on of the initial scenarios - "First Contact". Now as zombie games all seem to be set in America I have changed it all to by a local scenario.

Below the map. Two wargamers, Jack and Mark have been at the Woolston club for a Napoleonic Refight and decide to avoid the Clubs "DEEP FRIED" culinary delights and head to a local sandwich shop.  Paul parks his sports car and they head off for a healthy lunch, as the leave they notice too odd looking people. Now unsure if they are simply teenagers submersed in "modern technology" or Mormon missionaries annoying pleasant locals, Paul and Mark don't pay much attention to them.

But  a low groaning sees the two figures shamble towards out two heroes. Still unsure if these are in fact mindless teenagers (Mormons would not shamble and are not dressed in their customary attire) it is only when a few yards away the undead look to them is apparent.

Now as Napoleonic gamers have giant brains (Need to remember all that lace and plume) the zombies charge for a hearty feast and the lads, cool as a cucumber get ready for melee. Mark socks the first zombie and his head pops off, and the two soon see off the other with a good dose of Linwood Step dancing.

They spring back to the car, eager to return to the club and finish off the game.

 As the car starts,more zombies appear but they are not fast enough to catch our likely lads. One zombie is on the road though but he gets driven over as they really need to finish their game to pack up by 5pm.

So my first game of "All Things Zombie" and it was okay. I'd like to try some bigger games (and have some guns) and link some stories together but it was a goo start. I also have 15mm.co.uk USEME zombie rules (That I cannot find) so I'd like to try the same scenario with those)

Kings of War Elf test figures and more ACW

Hi,

I picked up a small Mantic Elf army as they were on sale and then ran into the issue in that I have never painted an large scale armoured figures. Thin figures but they look the part so I made up the archer pack and thought I would test some out.
My attempts at painting the first two figures was disappointing as my painting style simply did not work.

So looks like I need to watch some youtube videos or try some washes instead.


My efforts on my Union troops has meandered through the realms of time and space, but have I have managed to finish my first three.  The left unit is varnished and the other two need a good dose to protect them from gaming, cats and children.

Warflag supplied the Standards and I use some 15mm scale Ancient wire spears for the pole (The spear turned upside down and jammed into the plastic base).

Also some Cavalry have been completed with the bonus of dismounted men and horse holders.

Herzogtum Rechburg

Some years ago now Barry (Baztay in most forums) dragged me into his imagination campaign area of Rechburg. It was  a large island full of large nations of which there were several players though the campaign fizzled out due to some player conflict and the scope of the whole thing. We often fought battles using Napoleonic troops and it was fun, the campaign itself was later changed to Barry's solo effort with myself and Archduke Piccillo playing small parts when Barry needed input. Roughly at the same time Archduke Piccillo purchased a horde of 28mm WSS figures, which of course resulted in my purchase and likewise Barry joining in.

Alas shortly after Barry became ill and before he passed away he gave me his figures with a general (as I recall) guideline of :

"Wife will throw these out when I'm gone, I tried to paint them but they are terrible so you take them, paint them and play with them. Paint a general figure as me and for fucks sake make me look good"

So my I have been working on it ...slowly and after 3 years I have made a good start.

Rechburg, Army of the South 1707. 

Below is his Royal Highness Prince Baztay Constantine of Herzogtum Rechburg at the head of his bodyguard, the Prince Constantine Infantry Battalion.

(I painted the general a long time ago but have finally finished his troops, the rest of the army is undecided as I was going to have my figures as Battle of Almansa Spanish however I have decided to assign a Spanish contingent  to Rechburg (with the Rechburgian natives looking a lot like French).

So in this time of need for the small Nation, his Imperial majesty Charles II had sent a small detachment to Rechburg to help protect his interests in the region. The first unit sent was the magnificent Morados Viejos in a rather splendid garb of Violet\Purple with red facings.

So, more to come as I paint them !

The longest project

Hi,

My plastic 1/72 ACW is the oldest army that I have now (The 1/72 Napoleonic forces are long gone and replaced by something heavier and four time the size). I began playing the Archduke Piccolo sometime in the 90's and I recall had around 12 units and a few guns. The army then survived a decade of storage as I traveled the world but has taken me a good 10 years to sort out. A recent purchase of Airfix ACW figures has also satisfied a wish list item of getting some.

A recent burst of enthusiasm has seen the completion of a decent sized force. 12 Infantry Regiments and a few guns. I still have around another 12 Infantry Regiments, 4 Cavalry and about 8 guns left to do. Simple 90's basing was simple green paint and simple paint jobs and I have followed the same style for the new figures. ( They have that toy soldier look that I always admired in the early war-games books of Featherstone and Grant).

Below - The Current Pile - A mixture of 1990 basing and 2008 Basing (I seemed to change my mind a lot). The flags are all mostly glued on half an hour ago apart from some old hand painted ones done in 1994.

 The Oldest Units - Mid 90s at least. The Esci figures are even older as I recall having them when I was around 13 (I just turned 40).

 The "newest" - Italeri (new figures) and Airfix (second hand).

So a few more hundred to go and then the Union can be finished (But I have already started).

Cheers

Progress

Hello,

I have actually spent some time having spare time !.  I decided to  get back into painting to actually have a break from things and I am going quite well  so far. I have not played a game in since Christmas but so far I have painted around 60 28mm figures but I have been lazy and not taken any photos.

Currently on my list are

• 28mm WSS Figures
• 28mm Napoleonic Prussians
• 1/72 ACW
• 28mm Mantic Elves

 In my free time I have also been increasing my numbers of home cast Prince August figures for my small Dutch army. On the leap day they had a 50% of Sale so I purchased some of their new British Dragoons which don't look too bad. I need to make an appointment with the Archduke so we can test cast some figures. These are new moulds (the previous ones were pretty brutal) so I can see tonight how they come out.

Hopefully once my Prussian army is sorted out I can move onto the Russians and have my two allied armies 100% completed.I have not touched on the other 15 or so "projects" that litter my storage room. However tomorrow I am playing Advanced Squad Leader which should get a taste for some games in.

Painting And Casting

I have been trying to get some painting going but it has been very warm in the evenings so I only did  a little. First on my list is to finish some of the spare Prussians I have as I did complete half of them last year for Waterloo.

 Tonight however I decided to increase my numbers of Dutch and British prince august. They are very basic figures but have a 1970's charm about them that I like.

The casting area.

 First mistake - Clamps in the wrong place, second mistake is to forget lead is hot.

 The finished product -  4 line each and some standards.

As I only have a mold each its a slow process. I might add the Dutch to the Prussians tomorrow to get some of them done.