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!!!!

An unexpected turn......?

Well this is a change of plan! When raking through the pile of shame I came across a box full of what was Emperor Toads French Revolutionary figures, now being sold by Skytrex.  Now I had bought a good few of these when Michael had a decent price on them, I had bought some Levee en masse, some Vendeans with farm implements.fouling pieces etc, some National Guard and some grenadiers plus some Heavy cavalry and a couple of mounted officers, a nice wee haul.

They were duly dumped in the pile of shame and forgotten about, now after finding them I realise I am not going to do a Revolutionary Wars project so I am left with what to do with them, I could flog them on but I don't really want to as they are lovely figures, I like them a lot, so I have decided to do a  imaginations project with them, one army in bicornes and one army in helmets, five or six 16 man regiments a couple of cavalry squadrons and a couple of gun per side should be enough for a decent game and some table top teasers. I already have a good lot of the infantry so not to many additions on that front, a bit of cavalry and the guns and crews and that will be enough to do.

I haven't ironed out the whose who and why yet but it's going to be based on a civil war with the government army in helmets and the rebels in bicornes plus the civilians, uniforms will be what ever pleases me, the rebel army especially will not all be in the same uniform, the government will be a bit more regimented.

I have made a start with some of the civilians undercoated and flesh added and hope to get some more work done tomorrow. I still have my SYW Austrian on the table so they have not been forgotten and will dip in and out of both projects to keep my interest and butterfly happy!

They are nice figures and really too good to sell on, now to plan out some back story for the conflicts that lie ahead!  Anyway until the next time.......

A change of plan...... Again!!

 Not too much happening on the hobby front, a few more additions to the Britains toy soldier collection and a change of tack on the wargaming front!

The TYW project is being put on the back burner for the time being, I have so many half started projects on the go that it would be stupid of me to start yet another one at this time.  So with that in mind I am going to crack on with the various 18th century projects that are part completed, not yet started and nearly done. These include, Jacobite Rebellion, Savoi and Modena project and the massive SYW project which is the one I will concentrate on, that's the main problem with me!, I have a Saxon army well down the road to be completed, still a good bit to do though, a Hanoverian army at pretty much the same stage and an Austrian one just started and a Prussian one with nothing done to it yet.

Plenty to do and focussing on this will be the hard part for me and the butterfly is a strong part of my life so who knows if I will have the discipline to keep at it but I will give it my best shot and see where I go with it.

To help keep me on the straight and narrow I am thinking of buying a couple of pre-painted 6mm armies that will enable to let me game without the problem of painting them.  There is a painting service that gets the army packs from Baccus and paints them up, each army pack has between 8 and 12 infantry about 9 cavalry and a couple of guns, so enough to get a decent game on the table, cost will be around £350 for them both and I have a bit of money to burn so this may be the way to go.  Next problem is what to get!! I am thinking of doing something I don't yet have in my lead pile, so maybe Franco-Prussian War or maybe Marlburian, that still has to be decided.

Busy time at work so not much time on wargaming stuff but I do have next weekend of so hopefully get into some SYW Austrians, I have one musketeer unit primed and also a Hungarian one primed, so enough to keep me going.

Well plenty to ponder, so until next time.....