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.