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......

The muster continues!......

 I got a box of goodies from Alternative Armies at the back end of last week, the first three unit of infantry for my SYW Dog wars.

Grenadier with dark blue facings.

Line regiment with yellow facings,

Line regiment with green facings.

All are 20 figure units and really nicely painted, very happy with them, great service from AA, really nice people to deal with, communication was good and the time to place the order, get painted, based and delivered was very decent indeed. 

The planning for the next order is underway, another three red uniformed line, just got to work out the facings for this lot. After that it's jaegers and artillery before the cavalry get their turn, this should cover most of this year and then it's on to the opposition forces. 

This project is on the move in the right direction and I am very happy with the progress, it's all going according to plan, which for me is very unusual indeed!

First Recruits!....

 Here is the first recruits to my War in Canis project, finished ones that is!

Not quite finished as I am going for a gloss varnish finish with this project so they have to get a coat of that to fully finish them. 

 This unamed, as yet, hussars were painted by Alternative Armies and really well done they are too, very happy with them.  I have three 20 dog units with AA at the moment getting painted, red coats and different facings, one yellow, one green and a grenadier unit with dark blue facings, once I get them I will post them up here.

So this project is on the go, not too sure when I will call it finished, plenty to do and get done yet, so it is a good qay into the future for calling it done that;s for sure.

Quar back on the menu....

 Well I haven't done much with my Quar collection for a number of months, I have a load of Crusaders ready for basing but they still sit in their box waiting patiently, this should all change thanks to some new releases from Zombiesmith/Wargames Atlantic.

The Fidwog have arrived!! I have small number of metal infantry that are still to be painted, too few to do much with but when I saw that these were available to buy now I got a box at a good deal from Sarissa, delivered in two days as well, great service!  You get 12 rhyflers and two small tractors, the figures are fine and didn't take too long to put together and the tractors are lovely quirky, little models, looking forward to painting these up, all glued together today and hopefully primed tomorrow.

I also got two packs to got with this set, a pack of 3 miners and a pack of 2 officers.

The figures in the two packs are very nice and come in resin, not my favourite I must admit, I find them very fragile although these figures don;t seem too bad.  The miners only need stuck to their bases and are complete other than that, the officers need their heads, arms and back packs glued on.  All this is done and they too should see some primer on them tomorrow.

I also have some metal Coftyrans on the table but they need a bit of work before they see any paint, necks to be drilled out,a rms and weapons attached, also winging their way from Sarrisa are some more Coftyran infantry plus some add on packs, officers, snipers etc.

Must admit I fair enjoyed getting back into the Quar after such a long break, they are such quirky figures and a joy to put together and paint, never fail to bring a smile to my face.  

I need some  more Crusaders and some more vehicles and I should have enough for a very decent sized game, my main hope is they do some cavalry as the metal ones are really great figures but not available at the moment.  Anyway that's it for now, o until next time.......

All but done!........

 Well I made some progress this weekend and can call the two uniformed Continentals and the small militia unit done, just a couple of flags to add and these have been ordered so just waiting on them but that's a small job in the grand scheme of things.  I had both Saturday and Sunday off from work, the first proper weekend off in some time, due to staff shortages it's fallen on me to cover every Saturday but this has now changed as we are now up to full numbers.

I managed to varnish the three units and also get them based up and I am quite happy with them, they look fine and should look decent on the table. The unit of Swedes for the GNW are finished in the painting sense but need varnished and the bases done for them to be called done, I have a flag for them so next weekend should see the end of them.

Anyway here's the completed units in all their glory!!

 

On a roll with the AWI project and have a small unit to finish plush some Continental dragoons then I think it will be time to crack on with the British and Hessians, I have a few ready to go but will need to buy some more British infantry and cavalry plus artillery and command figures, Plenty to do that's for sure!  Apologies for the photos, not my strong point!!

War in Canis, Plans are afoot.....

 Well I emailed Alternative Armies with the first three units I want painted up by them, 2 line and 1 grenadier units, the two line will be red faced green and red face yellow while the grenadiers will be red faced dark blue, this will give me a good start to the red army.

That allows me to start on some of the unpainted figures I have and I think a squadron of 10 curassiers, just needing to work out the uniform for them. Will get a photo of the Hussars that I got before Christmas from AA, they are really very nice and a good start to this project.

The next thing is to try and work out a back story to the whole thing, countries, maps, campaigns and what rules to us, exciting times!!