Latest Purchase......

 

This is my latest purchase and the possible start of a new project! Not another one, I'm afraid so, very much in the planning stage at the moment but with some inspiration gleaned from various blogs I really think this could be one to go for. If it happens I will be going down the Elite Miniatures route as I really like these figures a lot and they do a pretty extensive range of Spanish, Portugues, British and French and should cover all the figures I will need.  Not totally decided on rules, maybe Black powder but we will see, the book purchased will be used for some ideas to begin with but I may well go with the main rules.  I already have some uniform guides for British and Portuguese and off course the French, will have to find something that covers the Spanish if I decide to go down that route. 

With this project being a distinct possibility I may get rid of some of the stalled projects and sell a few of them, I will think about it but it may be the time to pass some of these onto someone who will use them, time will tell! I do have way too many projects on the go and will have to prioritise and rethink what I can and can't continue with.  Interesting times as always!!

Bits and Bobs.....

 This weekend was one of doing bits here and there but not really concentrating on one thing. I got three sixteen man units of British infantry for my ongoing AWI project primed ready for some paint. All the figures are by Fife & Drum and them and the Perrys make up all my units, Continental and Brits and both work well enough, the Perry ones are a bit chunkier but do for me, the F & D ones are lovely, very nice elegant sculpts.

The next work done this weekend was getting some paint on 5 Giant Ice Trolls of the North which are part of the Wars of Ozz range, I have a few Ozz figures and have actually got some finished! These Trolls are allies of whatever faction you want, I have them all blocked and ready for a good wash, then highlights and they will be good enough for me. I don't do a lot of fantasy and this and Slaughterloo are my main fantasy projects although both have Napoleonic uniforms to some extent, anyway these will be done soon enough.

The last work I did this weekend was some Perry Paraguayan from their War of the Triple Alliance range, I have a only a few packs of these bought, this ones and some Argentinian infantry and cavalry, I am doing this as a small project and units are only 12 men each and 6 cavalry, I am not too sure how many units for each side, will see where it takes me, The figures are lovely, I really like them, but then I am a fan of the Perrys. I have the 12 man unit all blocked in and just a bit of final detail to do then a wash and highlight and I can get them based up.

The other wargaming part of my weekend was the usual reading of various blogs and one I really concentrated on was Unlucky General, a cracking blog and I read all his posts on his Peninsular project and his Waterloo one, really top notch and very inspiring. He tends to use a lot of Elite Miniatures figures and I must admit I really love those, they look great en masse and have a certain "old school" feel to them. 

Well it was a busy enough weekend for hobby time and also got some gardening in on Saturday so all in all a nice weekend and ready for the onslaught on work on Monday!!

Back to the grind......

 I have just had a week of work and pretty much all hobby time was spent on my Quar project but I am pretty much done with this for a while and need a break from them and do something more historical. I did a fair bit of work on the Quar and the project is going well, so I am happy enough with that. 

My break from work was just what I needed, the weather in part had held and I was able to get my garden into some shape ready for the new season, all weeded and ready for planting up in a few weeks. The weather up here in the far north usually means what gets planted down south you can add 3-4 weeks up here before you do likewise.  I am back at work today, a Saturday I know!! but it i only for the morning and it means my desk will be cleared and ready for Monday, all the 3 or so hundred emails will be mainly deleted and a clean slate for the new week, also we usually do breakfast when working on a Saturday which is always good!

Now to get back to historicals but I really can't put my mind to do what!! I had thought about the Epic ACW project but the figures weren't calling out to me! I will have to be in the mood to start this project and the mood is not with me at the moment. So it is back to the 18th century or maybe the Carlist War which will take my fancy, probably won't get anything done today but tomorrow should be a nice easy day with minimal chores to do, so painting will take place!! Just what!?

I have come the world of blogging rather late and some say that the world of blogging is dying, sure a lot of blogs have withered away due to Facebook etc. but there is still a load of cracking blogs about. I spend a fair bit of my day checking new posts and commenting on said entries, all of which I never really did before. I had always been interested in a couple of blogs but never really explored the wide range out there, glad I did as there is so much inspiration, tips and encouragement to be gleaned from the wide world of gaming.  Long live blogging!!!

Anyway have a great weekend wherever you are and hopefully I will decide on what figures are going on the table for tomorrows painting, I have a bit of time to mull it over!!

New goodies......

 I got a nice parcel in the post yesterday from Ironclad Miniatures, these two wee beauties.

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• They will be used for my ongoing Quar project, the original tractors are long out of production and if any do come up for sale they go rapid, there are new ones coming out but I wanted something sooner, so plumped for this two.  Very reasonably priced and postage in about two weeks which was fine.  They are resin and come in just a few parts, the main body and the tracks, and then there are a couple of metal pieces, a fuel stack and a machine gun. The top one will go to the Crusaders army and the one on the bottom to the Coftyran side. They are on the painting table but will be on the "to do" list as I am working my way through the metal figures in my collection.

I have a week off work this coming week so should get my fair bit of hobby time, looking at my table I have 20 Crusader figures finished just needing some washes and varnished then the base done, they are mounted on 25mm circles and I am going to use Stirland mud as the base for them as they are in a WW1 style setting, trenches etc, so the mud base seems the way to go. I have a 5 man Toulmore rhyfler unit and a HMG 2 man crew on the go as well, after them I may get some of the plastics glued and primed and put in the queue. I must admit I am surprising myself in being incredibly focussed, for me, on this project and really enjoying it.

The other thing that occupies my wargaming mind at the moment is a board as I could really do with a new one. I am going for a 6' x 4' and using hardwood plywood for it, probably 12mm, toyed with the idea of 18mm but the thinner board will be easier to handle. I am thinking of just painting it green gloss so I can use it for "old school" gaming and then using a mat for other games. Plenty to think about and plenty as always to do!  So until the next instalment....

What's happening??......

 Well it was a really busy time at work, what with stock-taking last weekend and working again this weekend and yesterday afternoon it was lunch with my daughter who is up for the easter weekend, hadn't seen her for a while so it was a really good  to see her and pend some quality time with her. So not too much hobby time recently, but here is a wee update!

Got my Quar boxed set and really happy with it very nicely packaged and full of goodies that will hit the table soon as I clear the older metal one, they are getting towards the finished status so wont be too long. More purchases for this project are in the process of being finalised, with a load of goodies going to be winging their way from the U.S.A.

I got a couple of Epic ACW sprues from an ebay seller, these are the zouaves and cavalry ones, they came very quickly and will fit in very nicely into this project.  I also got some extra command stands from Warlord Games ebay shop, they are pretty pricey for what you get but will really help me get this project sorted so I wasn't too bothered about the price as the usefulness out weighs that,

So to finish, not too much hobby time but what there has been was pretty productive and all in all I am happy enough with the progress made and always good to see my bairn, so that was good too.  Hopefully next post might see some more progress being made, but who knows!!!

Inspiration and sadness.......

 

I spend a fair bit of spare time looking at others blogs, I find them full of inspiration, whether it's gaming ideas or painting tips or rules etc, there are tonnes of great blogs out there.  It was yesterday that I went to Lee's blog  "A figure painting therapy project", cracking blog full of some lovely painted figures on show from his commission work and his own projects, anyway he had a post on an Epic ACW project he is working on but just using 20 figures for a regiment and basing them on 60x35mm mdf bases.  Now I have a box of Confederate and a box of Union figures just sitting in the pile of shame as I really can't be bothered with the 100 man units as I don't have the space or time to do this size of project but the idea Lee has on his page is well doable. I have all the infantry I need , if I get some extra command stands, a sprue of zouaves, which has some cavalry, dismounted cavalry and some sharpshooters on it and I should be good to go.  This will give me 8 units of infantry, 1 of zouaves and 3 guns for a battery and some cavalry, enough for a good game on a smallish table, an ongoing project!!

I should get my boxed set of Quar this week and have been busy on the metal ones on my painting table, I have about 14 rhyflers and a mortar unit pretty much done, need a bit of a wha and highlighted to finish them off. Then it's a couple of officers and a couple of other figures and the Crusaders will be done for now. Another ongoing project!

Heard on Friday that Stuart Insch had passed, I knew he had an aggressive cancer but still a shock to hear that he had passed away. I always checked into his blog as he put on some lovely games and chatted with him online on the Fife and Drum forum and by email.  He had helped me out a lot with uniform information for Piedmont during the War of Austrian Succession.  He had published a couple of cracking books on the Sugar Islands campaign and also on the sieges of Havana and Manilla, well worth getting. We had talked about getting together to get a game or two played but unfortunately this will now never come to pass, a missed opportunity that I wish had come to fruition.  Coming as close to the passing of Graham Cumming the wargaming world has lost two really good guys, hard times indeed. My condolences go to Stuart's family in this horrible time for them.

Another birthday looms....

 Well in a couple of days time it will be my 63rd birthday, and my better half is buying me this for it-

I have been looking forward to this coming out since I first saw the initial work in progress pictures. I love the whole back story and mythos of the Quar and have a good few of the metal miniature and these plastic ones will be a great addition. I have around about 24 Crusader, 7 Toulmore, 9 Gwynt plus 3 cavalry and 6 Fidwog plus a LMG, all are currently works in progress but the Crusader figures are nearly finished, so will get some photos up when I am done with them.  Looking forward to seeing how the plastics work with the old metal range, they seem a bit chunkier on the videos, adverts etc. but they should match in well enough.

The box set allows for a skirmish style game but with the figures I already have plus maybe a couple of sprues I should be able to do the bigger battles as I have the rules for that, Crusaders plus Toulmore against the rest. I may need to purchase some Crusader cavalry and some heavy guns to flesh it out and will probably get a couple of  Ironclad Miniatures steam tanks as they have the right vibe for this setting and should fit in nicely.

It's an interesting project and one I dip in and out of as the mood takes me, the figures are an easy paint and you can as the detail on them is very good and lends themselves very well, even for a dauber like me!!

Anyway I am really looking forward to this present arriving, not too sure about being 63  though!!!!