If it wasn't for bad luck.......

 Well it's been a while since I posted an update on this blog and it's all down to my health and not particularly good health!  First problem, about 13 years ago I had bowel cancer which was discovered due to the bowel screening programme that is run by the NHS, without this I doubt I would still be here, anyway after an operation and the removal of the cancerous bowel I got a clean bill of health and life continued. The screening tests come out every 3 years I think it is and I do it as a matter of course and the last one has come back as positive for something dodgy, not again! Anyway went up to Raigmore hospital in Inverness and got a colonoscopy which showed a rather large polyp that the surgeon reckons could turn nasty, so a biopsy and a CT scan was done that day, good news is that it is not cancerous nor is the bowel around it, they still want to get rid of it but it is a pretty minor procedure so all good on that front.

The second health problem is not so good news though, at the end of August start of September my lymph nodes got swollen, went down, swelled up, went down and finally swelled up again and stayed that way, so of to my local GP who took blood samples and passed it onto Raigmore hospital, ENT got in touch so it was up to see a specialist. Then it was a round of tests, ultrascan, biopsy, MRI and another CT scan, all done and dusted I went up and saw my ENT specialist and was told I have a small cancerous tumour on the underside of my tongue! Good news is it is small and not growing and has not spread to my throat or my chest as they can do, and since then it has been a steady trip up to Inverness to see dentists, dietician, speech therapist, my own nurse and at the start of the year my oncologist who will tell me what is due to happen and when.

My nurse filled me in on what is going to happen and the ENT specialist also let me know the procedure, the oncologist will tell me the time scale which works out at 4 weeks Monday to Friday of Radiotherapy followed by 2 weeks Monday to Friday of chemotherapy, when that is done and dusted I should be clear and that little parasite should have gone for good. Sounds by all accounts that I have a hard slog for a couple of months at the start of the year but the prognosis is good and for that I am one happy wargamer! After this is done I go back to ENT and go to the specialists Thursday clinic for 5 years!,can't fault the after care that's for sure.

So a bit of a shock and a bit to take in but everyone has been so nice and allayed any fears that I am about to shuffle off, thing is apart from the swollen neck I feel great! good appetite, still fit and healthy, which I suppose is good for the forthcoming treatment.

All this has kind off put my hobby time to a real premium and I have done really nothing at all, my main hobby time has been following and reading all my favourite blogs and this has kept me going nicely, I will have a bit of time of work but don't really know if I will be up for doing any painting or gaming, just have to see how it goes. This is my last year at work as I am retiring at the end of the year and now I am going to miss 2-3 months of the start of the year there too, they have been great and it is a weight of the mind not having to worry about that.

Well not the last post of the year I wanted to make but it's a good prognosis and it's not going to put me under so it's just a case of onwards and upwards and see what's what at the end of it all. Good thing is I am a pretty positive person and don't get depressed easily so in a good place with good friends and family around me all should end well. I may not post too much here for a while but I will still be reading and posting on all the blogs I follow ou there, so keep me entertained folks!!

Mojo returning?

 Well it's been a wee while but I am back into some sort of groove, most of my hobby time has been basing some SYW stuff that I have got from TJ, these are non Minden figures a mixture of Black Hussar, Foundry and some Front Rank French and British, most have been based but some needed finishing off so that has taken most of what little free time I have had, but that has now changed!

I finished work on Friday for a break of nine days free from the grind and with the gardening all but done of the year I really should get some painting done and indeed I have!

I needed something to reignite my painting funk and fancied getting away from the late 17th, 18th or 19th centuries that are my usual, so what did I go for?  Well sorting out some books for putting on my wargame library shelfs I found a copy of the first DBA rule set, now I haven;t dabbled with DBA since far too many years to even try to remember so thought that this may be the little project needed to get me back into some serious hobby time.

First purchase was a gaming mat, 2 x 2 grassy fields for playing it on, decent deal of ebay, paid and duly arrived, happy with it, so that's one thing ticked off the list. Now I haven't thought about DBA or figures for playing the game so after looking about a bit online I decided I wanted an old school vibe for this project and after a bit of browsing I went for Toy Soldier's ready assembled DBA packs, these range in price from £19 to £42 depending on whatever army and how exotic it is. They are seriously old style 15mm figures, chunky and look the part for me, so I picked 4 armies to get me going, Numidian, Hoplite, Macedonian and Successor, order placed and within the week package delivered, super service from TS and really happy with the packs.

First day of my break so out with my painting table and out with the DBA packs, now I haven't painted anything in 15mm in donkeys years and was a bit worried after years of dedicated 28mm figures but these little guys are quite chunky and actually rather easier to paint than I had thought, first on the table were the Numidians, I thought these might be the easiest, tunics, basic equipment and right enough they were a good choice, so for a couple of hours I managed to paint the first elements of this army, a couple of light infantry stands of 4 figures each, light armed figures with javelins and small shield, very little flash and once primed they painted up very easily and are pretty much done other than some highlighting, vanishing and basing, tomorrows job!

To finish off, this has been something different for me and has recharged the creative batteries, hopefully pictures to follow once they are done. On anther ancient topic, reading the excellent Palouse Wargaming Journal blog, I really enjoyed seeing Jon's biblical projects, some great work, it made me go and purchase a Hittite and an Egyptian army packs from Newline Designs for a future retirement project, thanks for the inspiration Jon, I think!!!

Well until next time folks....

Long time.....

 Well it's been a few weeks since I posted on here, real life taken priority, work, gardening and putting up a new shed all ate into hobby time big style. The shed is kind of hobby related as it will house my boxes of figures, good solid 8 x 6 pent roof security shed, should fill it up nicely!

Not all been work and no play as I have some Carlist volunteers on the painting table, they have been undercoated and first skin tones added, not too sure if I will get a chance this weekend to add to them though, we shall see.

I got another box of goodies from Spain from TJ who has sold his 28mm Minden collection to me as he downsizes to 15/18mm, the ones arriving now are unpainted castings, French, Prussian and Austrians, all to be added to the dreaded lead pile! Also in the box were a couple of painted command stands for the Prussians, Von Seydlitz and a vignette with Frederick and a couple of staff, all painted to the highest standard by TJ, very talented he is too the swine! I've been lucky to have had the chance to acquire his collection it's been a major boost for my SYW collections.

A bonus in July's pay packet has given me some splurging money and I am looking at the American/Mexican war, small battles and some nice uniforms, regulars and volunteers, ticks a good few boxes for me. I have ordered a couple of books, uniform guides and rule book and I think the brigade deals from 1st Corps looks a good bet for me. I will go with the US army to start with and six infantry units, two cavalry and three guns and it should be good to go. A wee bit of planning to do but I am looking forward to getting dug into this project, something a little bit different for me and has enthused me I must admit. Here's a picture from Ist Corps site, to give you an idea of what they offer.

Well finally getting back in the groove after a couple of months of little activity on the wargame hobby front at least!

A wee update

 Well the unseasonably good weather continues up here in the far north but due to end this weekend.  Any free time I have has been spent in the garden and I am very nearly finished doing what is needed. More shrubs have been added and more grass taken away, less cutting Huzzah!!

My Canadian Lilac in full bloom, absolutely alive with bees and a really beautiful shrub when in bloom, I did have another one but it has died due to my ivy taking over. The next phase is putting up a 8x6 shed which will be a useful storage for a lot of my plastic tubs of completed and still to do miniatures.

On the wargames front, not much has happened painting wise but I have received lots of goodies from across the pond, loads of Minden and AWI figure from Fife & Drum, super service as always from Jim and ultra quick delivery at a real decent price, can't beat that!

The figures in the stock pile are some Highlanders,artillery and cavalry for my British army, not far off having most of what I need for this project. French artillery and officers, also got a pile coming form TJ, most of these will be used for the FIW as I have probably enough for the SYW. I also got some Austrian infantry and hussars and these are actually going to be used as a Bavarian army as they used uniforms of a similar cut, so a paint job should make them work.

Well that's about it at the moment, I have three units of British cavalry just arrived from TJ in Spain so they will needed based and hopefully this Sunday will see that happen. Until next time folks.......

In the doldrums!!

 I have had the past week off work and found myself busy in the garden, an odd day out and some really good relaxation time, great stuff but a whole week off and a paint brush not lifted once!! I pored over blogs, read a couple of articles, skimmed through some books for some ideas for games etc but not one figure painted or even primed, just no enthusiasm and it really seems like a missed chance to get something done and off the table, very disappointing.  I very rarely go through periods like this but can find no enthusiasm to pick up a brush and dab some paint on but hopefully this will pass and I can get on and get something completed.

Yesterday I got some miniatures on the table to see where I am at with a couple of different things.

Some Minden British infantry that were actually done a while ago, they will eventually be part of a 16 man unit but I have found out that I have the other figures but no standard bearers! Really annoying to say the least!

A nine man squadron of French Hussars but destined to be something different. I have three different French Hussars so don't really need another one so these ones will be repurposed to another nation, not quite sure what one yet, possibly Prussian but may go with an Austrian Grenzer Hussar regiment, something a wee bit different, they won't be quite accurate but will do what I want them for and on the table should pass well enough.

A six man British Horse Grenadier squadron and some British Horse in the background, I also have some Dragoons to do as well, these cavalry figures will do for both my WAS and SYW projects.

A couple of Saxon Cuirassier squadrons and you can just see some Saxon infantry, there is three sixteen man ones to do. When done this will give me eight sixteen man regiments which will be enough. I need some more cavalry some Dragoons and maybe a squadron of Uhlans, then it will be som command stands to finish off.

So there you have it tonnes to do and plenty of figures to paint up all I need now is the enthusiasm to get myself into gear and crack on, back to work this week so maybe this weekend will be the time to reignite these projects, here's hoping!!

Spain, why Spain???

 Although I have travelled a fair bit over Europe and Canada I have never been to Spain, no real interest in the beaches etc, so it was never on my list and now I find myself in my mid 60's it is never going to happen, Spain and me will never meet!  So why do I find myself wargaming in Spain so much?

I have a Peninsular project with Brits, French and Portuguese who will be fighting in Spain, I have a First Carlist War project with the Carlists just about done and the Isabelinos on the go and now I find myself going into the Spanish Civil War!!

Now I don't do modern wargaming the nearest I get to is the Quar and it's sort of fantasy WW1 setting, so how did I go down the SCW route?  Ebay had an interesting starter set on sale, the guy had painted up two 20 a side units plus some buildings, very nicely done to, very impressed with the standard of painting and modeling, he did a really good job, I looked at it a couple of times and then put it on my watch list, the guy contacted me and offered me the set with 10% off, so I bought it!

There are 20 International brigade and 20  Carlists plus the buildings you can see in the background, the figure are very nicely painted and based and the buildings look great and two of them were scratch built and the ruined one is a Warlord kit that fits in well. Enough to get me started and gaming right away you would think, but no there is more to come!

The obligatory Ospreys were purchased and then it was off perusing the Empress Miniatures catalogue and off course a Republican army pack was purchased and a Nationalist army pack was purchased! The packs come with 60 odd figures a side a couple of tanks and machine guns and crews, so I now have a very decent size project, another on the go, when will the madness end!!

I don't really need to add any more to this project although maybe a couple of the strange little armoured cars that featured during the conflict might be the final purchase just to finish it off.  The only thing now is to find a decent rule set that will do, not being a modern gamer a fair bit of reading of reviews and other blogs will hopefully point me in the right direction.

Anyway my fascination with Spain continues, on the wargames table at least, I have enough to get a game in as I build up the rest of the forces so it is a nice place to be in with this project.

Hopefully this will be the last time I go to Spain but who knows as the whole El Cid thing interests me a fair bit as well!

Hobby time at last!.....

 Finally got some time to do some wargaming stuff, work has been busy and last weekend it was off to Stirling for a record fair so no wargaming hobby time until Sunday.

Some Minden Russians finally get some love! I have had a three of small orders from Minden recently for some SYW Russians but they have been sitting in their boxes since they arrived. With a bit of time to myself on Sunday morning I thought this would be the time to start them off, 2 times 16 men musketeer units and 3 times 6 men cavalry squadrons consisting of cuirassiers, dragoons and horse grenadiers, this is the size of unit I will be using for this army, probably a dozen infantry,six cavalry and a couple of 3 gun batteries of artillery plus officers etc.

Ordering from Minden is a treat, they get delivered in quick time and Jim throws in some freebies that are always appreciated, top notch service. Prepping the figures takes next to no time as there is practically no flash on these figures, the are more or less ready to go straight from the box.  I glued them to their bases and got the horses primed so happy enough to get these started. No real time next weekend as it is another record fair next Sunday, down to Dundee for one of the best  fairs in Scotland.

I should be able to crack on with these in a fortnight or so and prime the infantry and start to put some pain on them. I have a couple of more infantry regiment still in the box plus a couple of mounted officers and an artillery crew and gun, so plenty to get this army up and running, just need a bit of time to get it really rolling, 

I will probably get another order into Jim for the next batch of Russians but I am swithering as I need some French artillery crew and guns so need to think about this before ordering, we shall see.

So until next time when hopefully I will have some progress to show......