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. 

Jumping Around History

 

As the title suggests, the second half of November saw two very distinct periods.

 

First up, I cleared anothe set of minis that have been lying around far too long. I think I got this German Heavy Mortar as a Christmas present sometime around 2014. It got assembled a year or so ago and then say on the WIP shelf for far too long. Pleased to say that when I got it down and set to work, it was a quick paint job and a nice distraction from wading through 144 French Napoleonics:

 

It's cetainly not a ground breaking paint job but it's completed, and in the amy. It even saw action the other day. In time honoured tradition of fielding newly painted minis, it did nothing and died quickly! The figures are all Warlord in metal. 

The other minis squeezed in at the end of November was the second battalion of French:

All very blue! It's fair to say that with Napoleonics you have to strike a balance between the paint job and the time it takes. You could spend ages on these with multiple layers of blues, some transition on all the white straps and other touches, but not sure how you'd ever get an army done. These guys are avergaing 45 minutes a man and I am half way through the four battalions. The figures are all Perry Miniatures metals.

I now have a busy desk with about 107 minis on it - a mixture of the remaining French, some more of Sigmar, some Napoleonic British and  a small smattering of 10mm. I have set a target of all of those done by the end of Janary - a tall order! I am also not sure how much will be done in December. It appears some kind of lock down may be coming which I have to say could easily hamper or hinder painting depending on what they do with schools. 

In any case, I shall have at least one more post this month for your reading pleasure, so don't forget to check back later. I hope all my readers have a good Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Post Sumer Update

 

I always find that I have a lull over the summer months with the hobby - too much drinking beer in the garden, going away, and generally being busy. However, this summer was a particularly bad one, and whilst I did do some hobby, I totally failed at Blogging.

But here we are to give it yet another go. I am going to try and do just do two posts a month, which will be much more more manageable than trying to update every little thing I do. 

On to the updates. I won't post pictures of everything done over the summer, just the recent stuff. The desk has taken on a very Napoleonic flavour recently.

First off - personal projects. I have started a small British Force for Sharp Practice 2, which I had my first game of recently. I am nearly half way through the force with three units all done:

The idea is to use up some of my Napoleonic's that I had lying around so I didn't have to buy yet more stuff to add to the unpainted pile. As a result, these are mainly Perry Plastics, but hiding in the middle unit is a single Warlord Figure and some Front Rank minis. These are lovey minis and I shall look to get some more of them next year, slightly bulkier than the others but a joy to paint. 

On the commission front, it's the dastardly French. I have no less than four, 36 man Battalions for the 8th Light Infantry Regiment to do. One is now complete:

These are all metal Perry Miniatures and with their all blue uniforms are a joy to paint. I am already well into the second battalion as we speak. 

Finally, where are we with the Hobby Bingo:

Well, I have marked off all the "Unit" boxes and anything else I can with the units above. I have also just realised I have missed a box (the "any model" box on the bottom), so I am currently at 13 boxes done, so 130pts. I have been hampered by the fact most of my painting this year has been big historical units and very few characters or vehicles. I was never going to finish the whole grid as I don't paint terrain but I do have a few characters in the works so I am hoping to close off a few more boxes before the end of the year. 

Bolt Action 25 Pounder

 

As part of my ongoing efforts to clear the shelf of shame (where all my half fnished projects lie), I have finally gotten around to completing some artillery for my late war British army. 

 

The story behind this model will be a familiar one to many wagamers. It was given to me as a christmas present way back in 2015 (I think) and sat on the unbuilt shelf for years. I decided to finally get it build and painted back in 2019 but only got as far as building and undercoating. However, it still languished on the shelf. It's good to finally get it done. 

Lets do some pics:

 

In Bolt Action the 25 pounder is a light artillery piece with three crew. I have mounted them all a single base for ease of storage and transport. Being an all metal model it's quite a hefty piece.

Overall, I was happy with the crew but not so much with the gun. To save time I didn't weather the gun with my usual oil paints and just gave it an Agrax wash after adding chipping. In retrospect I should have done the wash first then chipping etc as the effect was a little overwhelmed by the wash. However, when based, it is not too bad and it is, at least, done. 

This kit is so old it was back when Warlord Games provided a limber and three other crew, so they have been painted up as well:

The finished mini was not quite what I wanted it to be but I am just pleased, afte 7 years, it's done. The shelf of half done shame is starting to clear!

Hobby bingo wise, I used this to fill an Any Model slot, and it gave me another 10 points.

Online Store Open!!

As I think I mentioned in a few previous posts, I have opened my own Wargaming business as an independent trader!

This is all very exciting for me - I've always wanted to work or myself and decided to combine this with the hobby as a second job in addition to the day job that pays the bills.

At the moment, I only carry Warlord Games prodcuts but at what I believe to be a great discount of up to 24%! It's early days but it seems to be going really well. I offer a friendly bespoke service so you can get your Warlord Games goodies for the best price possible.

So go and checkout cardboardfortressgaming.com and let me know what you think! I am adding products as fast as I can so keep checking back for more items.

On the hobby side I do have lots more stuff to show off - it's just finding the time to photograph it all! Hopefully a couple more blog posts coming soon.

Boom, Boom, Boom! German 10.5 Howitzer.

In the ever going quest to one day beat my Bolt Action nemisis Steve, I have finally got around to adding some heavier firepower to my 28mm Germans.

I have gone for a leFH 18/40 10.5 cm Howitzer to hopefully blow a few infantry squads off the table.

Quite a fun model to paint this, combining a different range of techniques. I painted the crew exaclty as I would my infantry which was a simple enough job. However, the gun got a similiar treatment to the vehicles in the force, and I made use of oil washes to hopefully give it a beat up look. Some pigments to represent soot and a matt varnish sealed the deal.

One thing that I did do different to this was to mount the crew on the base in a way that they can't be removed. I normally prefer to have them detachable, but for speed they were simply glued on to the base. I did leave the gun loose for ease of tansport.

Plenty of other stuff for my Bolt action guys sat on the shelf, but it's 20mm next up!

45th (1st Nottinghamshire) Foot Complete

It's been a while coming, what with my hobby butterfly approach, and working on them in batches of 8 models at a time, but my very first 28mm scale Napoleonic battalion is complete! I am very happy about this as Napoleonics has always been near the top of my wish list of things to do, so to finally be making a bit of progress is great.

First up, here a couple of photos of the two command stands:

I think these came out pretty well, the drummer was quite tricky as he has his colours reversed and the flags are my first attempt ever at flags. I had ordered flags from Flags of War but I got impatient and usd the ones that came with the Warlord Games boxed set. I think they came out alright in the end.

On to the main event, heres the whole battalion:

I think they look pretty impressive en-masse. I have gone for a 6 base layout, meaning 24 men per battalion. This is the bottom end of a normal size battalion for black powder but it keeps it more realistic for me in terms of what I can achieve. If it was 9 bases per battation (36 men), I'd never get them done. I can always add more bases at a later date.

Things I have learned from doing these: Napoloenics are daunting at first but once you have a paint scheme down and if you concentrate, you can do them quite quickly. Each pair of bases took on average 8-10 hours, spread out over three or four evenings, and with life distractions. I imagine if left alone, I could knock this out in a week. Just need to quit work and evict the wife and children....

Where will I take this project? I have got a box of Perry British Line, and with the leftovers from the Warlord Games box, I think I can stretch another two battalions just by buying another command set. The Perry set also has four riflemen for a small 95th Rifles detachment. Painting wise I shall be altering things a little bit, mainly by incorporating different trouser colours for a more on campaign feel.

The only bad news is I wouldn't expect to get around to these next few units for a while - too much else on the go. I've got a few more projects to clear off the desk, then I'm going to tackle my 20mm Poles over the summer.

As always, all feedback is appreciated!

British Peninsular Flank Companies

Not going to be a vey wordy blog entry this one.

I've completed the two flank companies that will go with my first British Peninsular battalion. Once again, I am very pleased with how the unit as a whole is progressing. Here is how the two flank companies have come out:

And blended in with the other two bases done so far:

I'm going to be doing 6 bases per battalion, maybe with the odd one or two large battalions (probably guard regiments). I've only got the two centre command companies/bases to do now, which will be the most difficult due to containing officers and banner bearers. I am especially concerned about flags, something I've never really tackled before.

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.

Christmas 2015

Little bit late, due to family festivites, drinking and general merriment but here is my Christmas haul.

First up I have some Bolt Action reinforcements:

For the Germans we have some artillery (a 10.5cm gun no less), a Flakvierling and a heavy mortar whilst the Brits get a 25 pounder gun.

For my naps I got a box set of Perry Miniatures Brits. This should give me enough to field three batalions if I use the leftover Warlord guys and get some more command minis:

Next up was these:

That should give me a good start to get a Dacian army going for Hail Caeser. Going to need a lot more though.

The big one:

Been wanting this for a while, ever since I had a couple of games a while ago. Was great fun and might even be a game I can get the wife involved in!

Now this little gift seems insignificant:

It's a chargable daylight lamp. It should allow me to set up a collapsible paint station down stairs. These means I can paint more often as well as keeping the wife company. Win! 

The only down side to all these gifts is I now have an unapinted mini pile bigger than ever before - going to be busy.

First Completed British Napoleonics

I have now managed to finish the first 8 of my British Napoleonics. I got some pretty positive feedback from a Black Powder facebook group on the first test mini, and I am reasonably pleased with how they have come out. I have gone with basing 4 each on a 4x4 base. My normal size infantry battalions will be 24 men, which will give me 6 bases per batallion. Since I like to batch paint between 5-10 models at the same time, I divided them into 8 men groups, meaning three batches per battalion.

Enough of a waffle from me, here's some pictures.

First company featuring a pioneer. 

Second company, with an NCO.

And various views of the two companies together.

Overall, I am quite pleased with how these turned out. The facings are green as these guys will be the 45th Foot, a Nottinghashire regiment. True, the trousers should be white for the Penninsular war, but I found grey quicker and easier to do, so I went with them. However, my main aim was quality and speed, both of which I think I achieved. I reckon these took ten hours, including basing. That was unfortunatley spread over about 2 weeks, but if I can ever get some solid hobby time these will be quick enough to churn out. I suspect I can get the total time down to an average of 1 hour per man.

When I get back around to more of these, it will be two more companies featuring the flank elements as well. 

WiP British Peninsular Napoleonics

In amongst my many, many projects has been a long held dream to start a Napoleonics army. What is there not to like about stalwart lines of British redcoats, dashing cavalry, batteries of cannons and sneaky riflemen? 

I've finally started what will no doubt be a never-completed project, since you need huge numbers of stuff for even a small game. Anyway, just as a little offering for all, here is the first 8 guts. Roughly half way: 

Trying to keep it quick and easy although in a few places I've gone a it more than needed for table top. However, the photo represents about 4 hours work which I don't think is too bad. 

Panzer IV Complete

Realised the other day that I don't think I have posted a single painted model in November, figured I had best sort that out. I intended to do so earlier this week but the arrival of my newborn son somewhat distracted me!

Managed to finish off the Panzer IV that has been staring at me for about 8 weeks or so. It's the plastic kit from Warlord, not bad to put together. I painted it in the same style as my Hanomags, which was basically to hit it with my airbrush then weather it. I was happy with the final result, it should look just the part supporting my grenadiers across the battlefield.

So lets keep this simple, have some pictures:

I messed up a litte with the Schurtzen - I didn't put much effort into the back of it as I thought it would mostly be covered, but some of it shows. Oh well. I'm also still not sure if I have mastered the use of pigments - the different coloured mud was more by accident than design. What do you all think?

Plenty more to come over the next couple of weeks hopefully, got several things to update when time allows.

Birthday Swag

Been a little while since I last posted. I've been busy working and had a few days away with the family visiting Legoland and Warwick Castle, which was a nice break away. The main reason we went away was for my brithday, and of course, there were gifts involved. Luckily for me, many of them were hobby related due to having furnished the parents with a Warlord gift list and the wife with an Amazon one. 

Here is what I got towards my various projects:

My Bolt Action British force got another chunk of infantry along with a medium mortar and MMG. This is good news as it means that force is well on its way to being a decent army - I already have a Sherman Firefly waiting to be painted so this will build it up nicely. 

Mr Germans recieved this little diamond:

A Pak40 75mm gun. I like this because it will give me the option to field a good anti tank gun without having to take a tank - something worth experimenting with. 

Final hobby present was this:

I alrady have the core rules and the Overlord book so getting this was a bonus. I think my move into 20mm WW2 will be a new year thing as got a bit much on at the moment and funds only stretch so far. 

Other presents included some various gift cards, cash, a radio control car (which is great fun chasing the four year old daughter around) and I treated myself to a 1600 piece Lego Tie-Fighter, which is taking some work. So overall, a good birthday was had. 

Hobby wise the first four Taliban will be done soon and other things are moving along so there should be a quite a few updates this month. As always, please give my facebook page A Cardboard Fortress a like.