2021 Roundup and Future

 

Another fairly productive year for me, lets have a look at the round up of 2021. 

Firs of all - what did I paint. The answer is:

376 Minis of all sizes and scales. So overall, down on 2020 by just over 50 minis. That I think is due to two things - there was a lot of 10mm in 2020 (quicker to paint) and my usual summer hobby slump was very bad this year. Still, that's over a mini a day so I can't complain.

Hobby Bingo wise, that gave me:

30 boxes complete - 300 points

5 lines compete - 250 points

For a grand total of 550 points. Sadly, I didn't complete the grid but that was never very likely due to the fact it contained kitbashed minis and scenery - not something I do very much of. 

Where do we go from here? Well, first off here is the traditional update on the Christmas Haul:

Gives you a very clear idea of what I want to get into next year. I have always wanted to do Lord of the Rings, though these will be for the mass battle "War of the Ring" rather than the skirmish game. I also want to start work on a personal Napoleonic big battle project. The main choice on that will be scale - 10m, 18mm or 28mm? I suspect, in true wargamer style, the answer will end up being all three!

I am terrible at keeping to targets and plans but here is my rough guide to 2022:

- Complete 600 minis (aim high!) 

- Do more of my personal stuff (of last years 376 minis, only 75 were for me)

- Get a games table sorted out finally.

- Buy less than I paint (even if the pile of shame only goes down by a few models, I'll call that a win!)

- Continue with two blog posts a month. 

Not grand ambitions for some, but for me, that's a good guide to work to. We shall see how long it lasts into 2022.

To all my readers - thanks for tagging along on my sometimes sporadic blogging. I hope you all had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. 

Sisters Revisited!

 

December is always a tricky hobby month. It's dark and cold outside, which always causes strong hobby mojo for me, but the festive season always does it's very best to get in the way, limiting my painting time. Despite that, progress has been made. 

After some historical stuff in the last post, it was time to get back into Mordheim and the Sisters of Sigmar. My mate Steve supplied the next batch of the commission and over a few nights I finished off another load of violent young ladies:

There was also the classic mercenary Ogre to paint. Now this was somewhat out of my comfort zone (I am not good on big models), but he turned out to be great fun. I varied the skin tone on this guy - I wanted a slightly more weathered, beaten look to him as if he spends a lot of time living outdoors. I think I just about managed it:

There are still a couple more Mordheim bits to do - one final sister and a pit fighter, but they will roll into 2022. 

I shall do a round up post very soon for 2021, so stay tuned! 

Mordheim - Sisters of Silence

 

After a busy autumn desk full of Napoleonics, there was a surprising twist to my next bit of painting as I went back to some seriously classic minis!

My main gaming opponent is, like me, an old GW gamer who has mostly fallen out with the current GW crop of games and minis. However, he still has a fondness for the older games and recently has been starting to build up a Mordheim collection. His first faction was to be Sisters of Sigmar and he asked me to paint them for him

I said yes straight away, even though Mordheim is never something I painted or played. I was glad that I did though as he handed over the fist 8 minis and requested a blue and white scheme. It proved to be a nice break from Napoleonics:

This was the test figure I did. The white took a little bit of experimentation, mainly due to the large flat areas but it came out quite well in the end I thought. I really liked the colour scheme and knocked out the rest over the next few days:

I have to say that these minis took me back to a time when GW was at it's peak, in m opinion at least. The sculpts are clean, the detail is amazing and they were just nice and simple to paint. There was not an overabundance of little bits like emblems, bags, detailing etc that really slows you down with the current GW models. For example, I like the look of the Lumineth but the idea of painting them makes me cold - they look way too complicated. These, however, are not. 

I returned them to Steve and he was so happy he has duly handed me another seven and a mercenary ogre as well, which are currently on the desk. Please note - Steve will be basing them himself. 

Hobby Bingo wise, two of these minis are characters so that ticks off two more boxes. I need to work out the points for them another day, but I do believe I have finally crossed off a whole line! 

Man O' War

 

Whilst I sort out the post for the Irish Brigade, I thought I would take you back to the early 90's for a short spell.  

My wargaming origin story centres firmly around Games Workshop. The short version of the long story is that a friend bought a copy of the September 1990 White Dwarf to school and it got passed around the social area and when I saw it, well, that was that. My hobby was decided there and then and my long wargaming journey began...... 

I have pretty much moved on from GW now, but I have fond memories of some classic games. I recall my mum having to step ove huge games of epic on the kitchen floor whilst making dinner for example, and much fun was had with Necromunda. 

Another game that I never did as much with as I liked due to being restrained by being 13 was Man O War. I sold my copy way back in 2007 for some reason, along with my dwarf fleet, and it's nagged at me ever since. It gradually krept back into thr front of my mind over time, and for the last year I have been casually watching it on eBay, but never quite pulling the trigger. 

Suffice to say, lock down gave me the final kick I needed and I managed to snag a little bundle off of ebay:

I have to say I was happy with the price I paid for this and it's pretty much the whole game. The core box contains a lot of rules with the two expansions adding flyers, monsters and new fleets. I decided to jump right in:

As you can see - plenty of stuff. The books are in good condition as well with little to no wear on them and no rips that I can see. It did take an age to sort through it all, and compare it to the contents list for the three boxes. I was a little nervous as initially it seemed loads were missing. However, I eventually found I was missing templates for just four ships - which I was able to get off ebay on their own for next to nothing. The only individual thing I cannot yet get is the range ruler for elf ships. However, this is essentially a 12 inch rectangle of blue cardboad so nothing a tape measure can't replace. There were also no dice, but after 30 years as a wargamer this is not an issue!

The ships were in a slightly worse state:

In the core box you originally got a dozen galleys - the idea being six were pirates and six Empire. As you can see, the standard of these is differing and three have been converted to chaos galleys by having the ram's heads replaced with skulls. No big deal, they've already had a trip to the freezer so I can remove the masts.

My initial plans are to strip the galleys and paint all twelve as Empire ships - this will give me a really good core to build a fleet around. On ebay you can buy 3D printed replacement masts (already ordered) and I've snagged some extra sails as well. Once these are done I plan on adding ships as and when they pop up at a reasonable price on eBay. My intial two fleets will be Empire and Dwarves. 

I have already really enjoyed this litte nostalgia hit and look forward to charting my fleet build up with you. As a final little reminder of the way things were - anyone remember spending ages looking through catalogue pages like this?

 

What glorious memories! 

Bingo!!

 

As you have no doubt noticed, my last attempt to get the blog up and running failed miserably! 

However, one my friends contacted me the other week, saying he was starting hobby bingo for 2021. I was curious and gave it a look. Here is what it is:

Now, at first I looked at it and though while it was interesting, I initially dismissed any idea of doing it as not possible, as it's clearly tailored towards GW stuff, very little of which I paint these days. However, the more I looked at it, the more I thought I would give it a go. Even with historical stuff, doing units, hero's, vehicles and scenery won't be a major issue. The big struggles I see ahead will be Behemoths/Lord of war and kitbashed models. 

I shall try to get around the behemoths with some big stuff in my orc and goblin army and the kitbash stuff I shall worry about later down the line. 

All this will start in January and I will try and keep a monthly log of how I am going. I think this is a three way competition with my main rival being the Sachiel Returns blog!

In the mean time, Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year!

Blast from the Past

One of this years main projects has been sorting stuff out in the pile of shame. A lot of stuff has been sold on as I have been honest with myself about what I would actually get around to.

The main pile of stuff that has been cleared out has been my 40k stuff. As a former GW boy I had a lot but I have fallen out of love with the game itself despite several attempts on my behalf to reboot myself in the game. As a result over the last year or so I have purged most of my 40k.

Which leads me to this short post. The other day I was clearing the last few things out when I found these two at the bottom of a box:

My old paint scheme was fairly basic and these were already pretty much done. I almost put them on ebay but figured I may as well finish them off since it wouldn't take long. Here is the final result:

I stuck to the basic scheme and the simple basing that 2007 me used to use so they fit with the rest of the army.

This now means I have no unpainted 40k in my collection anymore. Actually, I think I have a half finished ork vehicle somwhere that I really must get done.

Progress wise the desk is awash with Bavarians from the War of Spanish Succession, some 15mm Republican Romans and a couple of Orc and Goblin Spear Chukka's. There all coming along at a fair pace so hopefully there should be some more posts this month. Fingers crossed!

Necromancy

It's been a while!

Nearly 2 and a half years as it turns out. Why, in these turbulent times am I revisiting my blog? To be honest, I am really not qute sure as to why, but I have decided make an attempt at blogging my hobby progress once again.

And what has the last two years of hobby bought me? Quite a lot as it happens. I have a hobby room set up and this year is seeing the final push to get it all finalised. I hope to complete it soon. However, it has been sufficiently equipped for me to be quite productive.

I have been painting a lot of stuff for myself and also taking on some commission work. New project wise, I started a Warhammer Fantasy Orc and Goblin army last year and there is a 15mm Roman Army in the works. I am also experimenting with other smaller scales and games.

For now, here are some pictures of stuff I have completed recently.

I recently completed three Perry Miniatures battalions of French Line Infantry for a client. Considering the amount of white in these, I was really pleased in how they turned out. The order also included three mounted colonels:

The same client has commission four War of Spanish Succession Battalions in 28mm. Here is the first all done and based, the rest are coming along nicely.

Finely, at the recent Hammerhead show I picked up three 7TP tanks in 20mm for my Polish. These are from Early War Miniatures and I painted them up straight away. With a 37mm gun they should give the Germans pause for thought.

And finally, a unit of 10 Spider Riders for my Orcs and Goblins. 

What's coming up? Well, there are more Bavarians, some geenskins and some 15mm Romans - and that's just the start. I am aiming for a ratio of one mini a day sp stay tuned. 

New White Dwarf Review

It seems that Games Workshop have been changing lately, what with a return of the specialist game department and their return to facebook. Another seeingly retrograde step is to move back to a monthly White Dwarf magazine. 

Quick reminder: A few years ago they moved to a weekly format for White Dwarf. Up to this point, it had been monthly and I had loyally bought every issue since 130, way back in October 1990. I used to love it, but towards the end it had deteriorated badly. I never got into the weekly format, mainly because it was the time I was losing interest in GW and also it was hard to get hold of unless you were quick! 

So when I found out that GW were moving back to a monthly format I decided to check it out. I duly went down on release day and picked this up:

First impressions were good. It came in at £5.99 against say Wargames Illustrated at £4.95, so it's normal magazine price. It seems heavy and good quality, clocking in at 148 pages. It comes with a free mini - useless to me as I never liked Chaos even in my GW days, but free toys are never a bad thing. So far, so good. 

Into the magazine the first two pages are the editorial and staff photos, followed by two whole pages just for the contents list. 

After this there are 16 whole pages of whats new. It's all very glossy, goes to great lengths to point put how awesome everything is, and covers the whole GW universe - miniatures, books, terrain and computer games. What I then have a small problem with is after 16 pages of this, we then go into two pages of adverts. It reminds you we still have in our hands a GW catalogue and promotional magazine. 

After that there are two pages of readers letters. Sounds great, but a lot of these letters seem along the lines of "wow, you guys are doing a great job," without any real fan engagement. It left me a little cold. The next two pages are "Eavy metal" spotlight, and are photos of new minis. 

It is only at this point that we reach the first real article - The Tale of Four Gamers. A style of article used in the old White Dwarf, four gamers collect armies over several months, and document it. I like that idea, but each collector only writes two paragraphs, so it likes a real in depth analysis. 

The next chunk I really did like:

This is a readers army section. It features great photos of the army and plenty of text from the owner describing how he collected it. Also, a four page pullout of the army all nicely laid out.

We then have a large chunk of extra, and to my understanding, new, rules for several of GW's games. Thumbs up for this - it's far more like supporting the hobby. For me personally I can't use this but if you play these games, you're in!

I won't bore you with the rest in any great details. We have a very flashy battle report, some backgroud for Imperial Knights, a feature on terrain at Warhammer World and Blanchitsu. There is an article on various staff members Kill Teams for 40k, and a converting article (all GW pieces only of course), along with a painting guide. It finishes with some really nice photos of readers models, along with a side box contianing tips on photographing mini's. 

Let's boil this down. I am not unbiased - I fell out of love with GW a few years ago. I like the direction the magazine is going, and I imagine if you do all or most of your wargaming in the GW unuivese, there is plenty of stuff for you here, the  extra rules being a good example. 

But I can't help feeling it's a tired and souless effort in some ways. Monthly battle reports SOUND good but I feel its too much of a good thing. Back in the day they were once or twice a year and eagerly anticipated, and came with tactical maps etc. Now, they are every single issue, so the magic is gone. I also think Tale of Four gamers need more substance but has been done before and one bug bear for more is Blanchitsu. I know John Blanche is a hobby god and has some serious skills, but do we really need a regular monthly article showing yet more of his drab and dirty style miniautres, nice as they are? Not really. 

 

I found myself wanting more words. A quick flick thorough and I can't find a single page of just writing, or even mostly writing. The most you get is two thirds of writing and the vast, vast majority of pages are half or less. It's very clear that this is desgined to further GW's mini sales, and the abundance of flashy photos support this. 

I would also have really have liked to see some sneak peeks, and maybe at least a very small mention of Lord of the Rings and the other games, but the magazine exsists in a GW only, 40k/Age of Sigmar bubble, which I think is a shame. GW is a massive part of the wargaming hobby (like it or not), if only as a gateway, and it's a shame GW doesn't capitalise on this. 

Final verdict: Good, but could do better. I will only buy this again if there is an issue with something for me in it, such as the upcoming return of Blood Bowl, but I will not be resubscribing as it stands. But, if you live and breath the GW universe, it's worth cover price. 

Epic Reinforcements

I have returned from a rather nice two week break away in Cyprus, enjoying the sun, pool and more than a few cold beers. I am now off work on my shared maternity leave for a few months. I am hoping, as I have said before, to get stuck into the hobby as a result, as much as two small children will allow. The only down side is I am not getting paid whilst being off, so new purchases will be more or less none exsistant. Its a good job I have plenty to be getting on with, though basic supplies are running low! Never mind, I have a cunning plan to boost income....

Anyway, a few months ago, I had a game of Net Epic scheduled, and decided to expand the force some what. I was lacking dedicated anti tank as my Leman Russ company, whilst a very good all round company, does not possess any real hard hitting anti armour punch. I added a support detachment of Vanquishers as a result. My army overall was also lacking in AA cover as I as relying on my Thunderbolts for air support, but they needed to be freed up for ground attack duties. I therefore added a detachment of Hydra's to the ranks.

I was lucky enough to have bagged a few of the old FW models for these two additions so I painted them up:

They were a rush job, so not my best work. The FW models also lack the stowage of most of the epic models I use, and I am not confident of scuplting in 6mm, so they stay basic in appearance. Sadly, the game never happened due to illness so they will have to wait for a while to see action.


In other hobby news, I will now be cracking on with my 20mm Poles as they remain my priority. Sadly, an order from a supplier has fallen through after waiting three months, so I am looking to order from somewhere else to fill the gaps. Updates soon.

Gaming in our Pyjamas

For the whole of her little life, my daughter has had a daddy who plays with toy soldiers. She has known no different, but for most of her life not paid too much attention (she was taught at an early age not to touch my models without asking). However, the last year or so she has been paying more and more attention. She has joined me for some painting (which is just her slapping pink all over some one piece Skaven I got her), and she lost interest in that quite quickly. 

But recently, since her fifth birthday, she has been paying more and more attention to what I do. She is, by her very nauture, an inquisitive little soul, and this applies to toy soldiers just as much as anything else. I've been promising her a little game for a while. And since we were having a lazy pyjama day, it turned out today was the day. 

I decided not to do anything too drastic. I used what fantasy forces I had painted, and gave us each two units of ten troops and one unit of ten archers. The rules were simple:

4+ to move a unit

4+ to hit

5+ saving throw

Biggest unit strikes first (or, in the case of equal size, my daughters unit went first!)

Everyone moves 6", archers can fire 24"

I think it went quite well. She stuck with the game all the way through, and got the hang of the dice rolling quite early on. 

It was a straight forward way to introduce her to the very basic concepts of wargaming. She got the hang of moving stuff, rolling dice, and it's only going to help her counting. We already have another game arranged for next week and it gives me an excuse to buy and paint some more stuff, because what I really need is an excuse to do that! Who knows, she may become that rare thing - a female wargamer! Plus, she will provide a good test bed in how to get the boy into the hobby when he gets a lot older. 

Here are some photos of the highlights. As an aside, this is the first game EVER on my gaming table. Result!

The opposing forces. All my daughters stuff was on movement trays. 

My daughters archer unit takes first blood on the High Elves in the distance. 

Aerial shot of the closing armies. 

My daugher's forces closing on mine.

The first close combat. Victory to Evie's Skaven!

My High Elves take out the last of the opposing archers.

Evie shows no mercy to my last close combat unit.

And the end, victory to Evie!

The Hills are Alive!!

Not major news, but some hills have reached the front of the painting queue and been completed. They are the old Games Workshop ones that I thought were robust, hence why I bought them. This is the second lot of these I have painted.

Nothing spectacular but here they are:

I had neglected to write down how I painted the others, but I think they blend together ok:

As you can see, the gaming table is still a long way from being useable. However, it's getting there. I think next on the agenda needs to be some trees, which I shall look to get from Salute in a few weeks. After that I can start to move on to more scale specific terrain such as buildings etc. 

Messing Around with a Light Box

I decided a while ago that I need to improve the photos I take for the blog. I tend to find that even with lots of lights on them they are dark, especially in the winter when there is very little natural light around.

I know that a lot of people use light boxes so after finding a cheapo one on Amazon for £7.99, I took the plunge. The light box itself is just an expanding wire framed box with white cloth over it. I didn't get the set that comes with lights because I decided in the short term that I would see if I could use my daylight lamps.

After setting it up, here are the results:

Here is a comparison shot of my recent Skaven both how I normally to do the photos (top) and the light box one (bottom):

I can't personally see a massive difference, perhaps I need some better lights? Also, ironing the back ground cloths that come with the light box wouldn't hurt. The main positive is that it doesnt matter how dark and miserable the weather is, the light will be constant.

Complete Skaven Unit

Having picked up Dragon Rampant rules just before Christmas, it prompted me to look at the forces I had suitable for fantasy. I have very small forces of Undead, Elves and only ten Skaven. I decided finishing off another 10 Skaven to make a full unit of 20 would give me a suitable size unit to use in my games. I quickly finished off these guys to achieve this:

 When put with the other ten and stuck on a movement tray they look like this:

The important thing to remember with these chaps is that they are base coat of maybe 8 colours and a wash, then basing. So I reckon that unit took maybe 12 hours all in spread out over 6 evenings. In other words I could easily sit down and do a unit in a day if I had nothing else to do with my life, which I think is a pretty healthy speed.

My intention now is to do a few solo trial games of Dragon Rampant to learn the rules and see where things go from there. I suspect, from a quick read of the rules, that I might what to house rule a few things already but they seem a straight forward stater for fantasy games. Just need to get the games table sorted with a few bits of terrain first.

In other hobby related news: I've had my first play around with a light box to get better photos, I have my first ever 20mm World War 2 inbound and I'm mulling over going in on my first kickstarter ever as well. Lots of new stuff to look forward to.