Paint Table Saturday 15 May

Rather than start this post with a photo, I thought it would be better to write something and then post a series of progress pics on the hills.

There, I've written something. Now for the pics.

Basecoats applied and rock details washed and drybrushed:

For the large piece I did the rocks to fit in with the wasteland rock formations I did last year:

Grit and sand added to the wasteland hills:

Sealed with a mix of paint and PVA glue:

After three stages of drybrushing:

Tomorrow I will be going back over some of the rocks with a wash to add depth then I can call this set done (apart from a coat of matt varnish when the weather improves).

Blogger Problem Overnight

Late last night, Blogger had a bit of a meltdown. Something had happened which caused Chrome (owner: Google) to declare the entirety of Blogger (owner: Google) to be dangerous, malicious and/or deceptive. They also started flagging posts as having malware or viruses and deleting them. As far as I am aware only one of my posts was removed - I got an email telling me so. After commenting on the help/feedback thread someone had started about the issue, I did get another email telling me that the post had been reviewed and reinstated. It took me a couple of hours to find that rather than reinstate it as a published post, it had been reset to "Draft".

If any of you had posts deleted and reinstated, but they haven't reappeared on your blog, do check your posts list and see if they are back as "Draft".

News Crew and Minders for Judge Dredd plus (one day late!) 9th Blogiversary

 Go on, admit it. You missed me, didn't you?

It has been almost a whole month since I last posted. In my last post, I had just started work on this set of figures:

The next day I did do a little bit more work on them, but then hit a bit of a funk and only got back to them on Thursday. I finished painting them yesterday and did the varnishing today.

The News Crew:

I had started out giving the reporter an Asian skin tone but it wasn't working out right, so I went back and did an African skin tone. 

I'm not sure what happened with  the focus on a lot of these photos. They looked fine on my camera screen when I took them.

The Minders:

Alternatively, the girl could be a ganger; the guy could be a mob boss.

 

The Robot Butler/Maitre D:

This robot could be the crime-lord Nero Narcos' "man" servant.

The NeoSov Agent (or mob assassin):

The figures are all from Copplestone Castings.

9th Blogiversary

Yesterday was nine years from me beginning this blog. Last year I wrote a list of things that I planned for 2020 - let's see how I did...

1) Terrain - I need to get on with building my terrain collection. Mind you, that will have to wait until I have a little more space (I will be moving out of London this year). I'll be wanting terrain for New Guinea, Arnhem, Mega City One, Mexicagrave...

Despite not moving out of London yet (my house purchase is progressing - hopefully I'll be moving this month) I did do quite well on this. I made a bunch of rock formations for Strontium Dog, painted up a lot of terrain for Mega City One and a few hills and marshes for "Infamy, Infamy!".

2) No new armies, but I can add to existing forces (and paint/add to armies that have been bought but not painted)

I think I did rather well on this one (in comparison to previous years at any rate). The only new armies I bought were the Romans and Germans for "Infamy, infamy!". Mind you, i have since purchased some extra figures for both so that I can also use them for Art de la Guerre.

Oh, and I may have bought more figures for existing projects.

3) Have a bit of a clear out - there are some painted figures that I very much doubt will ever see the table and a huge pile which I doubt will ever be painted. Some may be donated to the club, others sold off at shows.

Didn't happen.

4) Finish off some of my incomplete projects - the Sarmatians, Buccaneers and Aztecs spring to mind)

I did manage to paint up a 28mm Wars of the Roses army for ADLG. Mind you, the less said about the older unfinished projects the better.

5) Get more games in - I haven't done much gaming in 2019. I might even try some solo gaming.

I did manage to get one game in. If Covid hadn't come along I might have got more games in.

6) Shows - Salute is a definite; other shows may depend on my move out of London.

Bloody Covid! No shows for 2020 and I doubt that there will be any in 2021. Maybe late in the year if the vaccines help bring down infection rates.

7) Painting - I do want to improve my painting skills this year by working on character figures and trying new techniques.

I did paint quite a few character figures during AHPC X and also for my Judge Dredd project and my skill levels have improved, but I didn't really get to try any new techniques.

I guess I should make some plans for 2021:

1) Paint up the rest of the figures (and terrain) for my "Infamy, Infamy!" project (including the extra Romans and Germans to expand the forces for ADLG).

2) Make and paint the rest of my terrain for Mega City One. Also to paint the extra figures and vehicles for that project.

3) Make up a load of jungle terrain for my WW2 New Guinea project (which will also be usable for the Mexicagrave project if I ever get back around to that).

4) I probably need to add a few more bases of medium cavalry to my Mongol army.

5) Complete my 15mm SYW Russian army by painting up the Observation Corps. OK, and maybe some more Cossacks, artillery and commanders.

6) Make up and paint some more terrain for my Arnhem project.

7) If I've finished the terrain for (3) and (6), begin work on the Japanese and German opposition forces.

8) See about finishing some of those old projects...

9) If any shows do go ahead in 2021 to get to some of them.

Check back this time next year to see how I did!

As mentioned above, I should be moving out of London this month (unless there are any more delays in the process). Once that happens, I will be busy for a month or two getting the new place set up (and selling my current flat), so there might not be much painting going on.

AHPC X Day 12 - 8th Blogiversary Post

Bloomin' 'eck! It really is eight years since I began this blog. Incredibly, I haven't got bored of it and people still seem to enjoy my posts so something must be going right.

After AHPC X ended, I had a fallow couple of months in terms of painting, but since then I have more than made up for it. There has been quite a bit of terrain assembled and painted; my SYW Russians saw the final nine musketeer regiments painted (just in time for our club's Kunersdorf game) along with some dismounted dragoons and more artillery; my WW2 Australians have been reinforced, as have my Choson Koreans and my Dragon rampant wolf pack; oh, and I began what was intended to be a platoon (plus supports) of WW2 British Airborne which seems to have become a company (plus supports).

September was my busiest month of blogging, mostly thanks to my Arnhem 75th anniversary series which focused on the 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron. I mostly managed to write 2 or 3 posts a week, except for April and May (my fallow months). I hope to keep to that level of posts this year.



On The Workbench

The generals are finished apart from flocking...

...and I have been working on some converged grenadiers. Basecoats are done, and I have started the touch-ups, highlights and details.



2020 Plans

Once this year's Challenge is over my main hobby plans for this year are:

1) Terrain - I need to get on with building my terrain collection. Mind you, that will have to wait until I have a little more space (I will be moving out of London this year). I'll be wanting terrain for New Guinea, Arnhem, Mega City One, Mexicagrave...
2) No new armies, but I can add to existing forces (and paint/add to armies that have been bought but not painted)
3) Have a bit of a clear out - there are some painted figures that I very much doubt will ever see the table and a huge pile which I doubt will ever be painted. Some may be donated to the club, others sold off at shows.
4) Finish off some of my incomplete projects - the Sarmatians, Buccaneers and Aztecs spring to mind)
5) Get more games in - I haven't done much gaming in 2019. I might even try some solo gaming.
6) Shows - Salute is a definite; other shows may depend on my move out of London.
7) Painting - I do want to improve my painting skills this year by working on character figures and trying new techniques.


Anyhoos, that's enough rabbiting on from me. Happy 2020 folks and thanks for all your comments on my blog posts!

Salute 2019 Bloggers' MeetUp

That dodgy character Ray has finally pulled his finger out and posted the details of this year's Salute meetup.

All bloggers are invited to meet up at 12noon at the red dot on the plan below:

Hope to see some of you there!

AHPC9 Day 12 - HNY and 7th Blogiversary

...and my 1200th post!!

And what a year 2018 has been.  Despite withdrawing from AHPC8, I was still quite productive during the period it was running, albeit that my output was much less than if I had been taking part (I think it would have been about 650 points compared to my usual 2000+ points).  That period saw me finish (usual disclaimers apply) my Ming Chinese army and start on my Sea Peoples army - that was finished not long after the Challenge ended.  I also added a bunch of Choson Korean levy and finally painted some Scythians which had been hanging around for a good few years.

So, let's do a month-by-month round up of what I got up to.

January - Mostly painting Ming Chinese.

February - Painting Ming Chinese and Choson Koreans

March - Started painting Sea Peoples army;  finally painted those Scythian cataphracts and commanders.

April - Finished the Sea Peoples;  went to Salute;  caught the Gaslands bug...

May - Started painting WW2 Aussies;  went to Campaign in Milton Keynes;  Gaslands fever...

June - Painted more WW2 Aussies;  went to Broadside in Sittingbourne;  lots of playing around making tufts.

July - Still more WW2 Aussies

August - too darned hot to do very much

September - went to Colours in Newbury;  caught the Strontium Dog bug...

October - Back to painting WW2 Aussies;  caught the "What A Tanker!" bug;  went to SELWG show;

November - Even more WW2 Aussies!;  a bit of a 15mm tankfest for "What A Tanker!" (reminder to self - buy the bleedin' rules!);  worked on some Gaslands terrain;  started prep for AHPC9

December - Prep, prep, prep and prep.  Oh, a little bit of painting too.


I did get some gaming in at the club, but not as much as I could (or indeed, should) have.  Hopefully I will correct that this year.  I am definitely going to try to get one game a week in during the Challenge, if only to give me a sanity break from all that painting!


Looking forward to 2019, what are my plans?

AHPC9 - I have set myself quite a stretching target this year, but it should be achievable despite lots of my prep-pile being individual paint jobs (characters and irregular troops) rather than serried ranks of uniformed troops.  The three projects I really do want to get completed during this Challenge are my 28mm Wars of the Roses army, my 1942 Aussies and the Strontium Dog figures and terrain.

Shows - I managed to attend five shows in 2018.  This year I hope to get to a few more.  I just need to remember to leave my purse at home...

Gaming - I must knuckle down and get in more gaming in 2019.  ADLG, King of the Battlefield, Chain of Command, "What A Tanker!", Full Thrust, Gruntz, Gaslands

Terrain - I must get some jungle terrain made up.  I have a huge amount of plastic trees, aquarium plants etc just waiting to be painted and added to bases.

Figures - I will not buy any new...oooh!  Shiny!  Errmmm, yes.  Let's ignore that resolution as we all know that I won't keep to it.  And there are a few things that I do need to buy for ongoing projects.

15mm SYW Russians - there are nine more infantry regiments (plus the four that I already have the figures for) that I need to complete this army.  Oh, and the Observation Corps which at roughly double-strength of the regular infantry means 10 more regiments (2 grenadier, 8 musketeer). And some more artillery.  And more Cossacks.

28mm WW2 Aussies - I think I'll have the infantry well and truly covered by the end of AHPC9, so just tanks (another Matilda and some more Stuarts).

28mm WW2 Japanese - the Aussies will need an OpFor after all.

15mm Choson Koreans - you thought I was finished with that army?  So did I, then along come Essex Miniatures and they release a range which includes Hwatcha artillery - must have!  I could also add some more levy to take me to the maximum for FoGAM/FoGR.

15mm Sarmatians - it's about time I pulled my finger out and finished this army.  There are a lot of horses who have been waiting to have their riders painted.

15mm Buccaneers/Pirates - another army which has had primed figures languishing.


Escaping from London! - Part of my plan when quitting my job was to move out of London to somewhere cheaper.  Once I've recovered from AHPC9 I will start looking for a house, probably in the Newark/Nottingham area.  I should be able to buy a 3 bedroom (maybe even 4 bedroom) house which will give me space for a dedicated painting room/office and still have a room for guests.  Not to forget, space for a gaming table.

Quit Smoking - Yes, for those who don't know, I am one of those horrible puffers.  Since quitting my job I have been cutting down the amount I smoke and I am continuing to reduce it. Hopefully I will have stopped totally by my birthday in April.

Blogging - Yes, unfortunately for you, I have no intention of stopping my witterings in the blogosphere.  I think I have found the happy medium of two workbench/update posts per week, plus posts of finished figures, AARs and show reports.

Double-Spacing After Full Stops - I shall endeavour to ensure that I observe this "rule" in all my future posts.  I think I've managed it with this one.


Well, that's about it. I wish for you all that 2019 will see your dice roll high/low as required and that you get all the shinies you want.

Toodle-pip!

Tamsin

(my word!  That was a long post without any pictures!)

All Quiet on the Tamsin Front

Yes, I have been rather quiet on the blogging front since I finished (the beginnings of) my Aussie force. That's largely because of the recent hot weather we've had in the UK - I'm a fair-skinned redhead, so hot and sunny weather is not my favourite. Especially as my flat is on the top floor and receives all the rising heat from the flats below during the evening, meaning that it starts cooling down much later in the evening.

Whilst I've been quiet, I was aware that my page-view counter was ticking closer to the 1 million mark, but I wasn't expecting to get there for a few more days. I was, therefore, surprised to spot this morning that I have gone past that milestone. A quick check on my stats suggests that this was down to the efforts of the ever-helpful Russian bots.

I guess that I should do something to celebrate. Maybe get back to painting, gaming and blogging?

Back from Salute

I've actually been back for a few hours, having left the ExCel centre a little after 2pm. I got there quite early and despite stopping for a coffee and to go to the toilet, I found myself about halfway along the first section of the (wide) queue and was sort-of able to watch how the queuing hall filled up. Some photos of the queue at different time points:

0933 ahead of me

0933 behind me

0943 ahead

0953 ahead

I did go with a plan - this year I'd start off by taking photos of all the games, going round the tables in order (to help keep the photos in order to ease identification later on), then doing the bloggers meetup at 12.30 before doing my shopping.

It started out well, but then I noticed that my battery seemed to be running low. I had put it on to recharge last night and it appeared to have done so. Maybe it is on it's last legs and it's time to buy a new one? By the time I'd got about halfway up the "C" column of games it was definitely at the point of running out and I had to hastily amend my plans. As I didn't take pics of many games, I probably won't do a post of the games.

I think annoyance at the battery running low might have resulted in me not really looking at any of the games tables beyond the ones I'd already photographed, so I ended up missing some very nice looking ones (from pics I've seen on other blogs).

12.30pm saw the xth annual bloggers' meetup. Numbers were low again - I blame Ray for leaving the publicity so late. However, a lot of the usual suspects were there and a couple of others: Ray & Postie, Legatus, Eric the Shed (with a big bag of plastic Normans from Conquest Games), Bob Cordery, Alastair, David Crook, Michael Awdry, Blax, Sidney Roundwood, Al, Big Lee, Simon Miller, Mike Whittaker, Carl. If I missed anyone, let me know in the comments.

Postie did take some pics with my camera, but they were all either fuzzy, had the bins in the way or only showed a small part of the group (admittedly that was because someone had already taken pics). I'm sure Ray someone will have the pics up on their blog before too long.

Before and after the bloggers' meetup I did do a fair bit of shopping. Perhaps not as much as I'd expected (and budgeted for) but more than I'd realised. All those small purchases soon add up. I also spent a bit of time chatting to various people I bumped into on the way round.

Well, what was my haul? Time for the loot pics!

All the swag:

Warbases:

Bases, bridges, casualty counters and bits

Pretty obvious what these are:

Essex: 

More SYW Russians (minus 4 packs of infantry that they are sending on next week).

Stuff for Gaslands:

MDF gates and hazard tokens (Products for Wargamers); dice from Magister Militum; templates and skid dice from the rules' author:
The MDF gates/hazard token kits are their original version - they've produced a newer kit but couldn't find them so I got the two kits (2 gates each) for £2 a pop.
Correction - the kits only do one gate each on closer inspection. Drat - I'll need to get another two at some point!But I will have more hazard tokens than even the most psychotic bunch of drivers could ever need (38 on each sheet)

Stuff for my WW2 New Guinea project:

Buildings from Sarissa Precision; Indepent Company Section, 3" mortar team and PIAT/Boyes teams from Warlord; box from Eureka (see below)

Top row - Aussies in slouch hats; middle row - Papuan troops (including stretcher team); bottom row - 15mm Ming arquebusiers and rocketeers plus some free chickens

Bits and bobs:

Dice bag, dice cup and Mongol yurts from Magister Militum; paints from Pendraken/Minibits; steel bases from Products for Wargamers; Kra'Vak grav bikes with dual riders from GZG.

Salute goodies:

Some light reading:

The book was a freebie from Bob Cordery - the first print run had a number of printing errors (blank pages in the wrong places) so he had a small stock with him to give away.

All in all, not a bad loot haul. There were a few things on my shopping list which I didn't buy either because the traders hadn't brought them to the show or because I forgot to visit the trader!

It also means that I've got plenty of lead to prep over the next few weeks, plus MDF kits to prime, paint and assemble (or prime, assemble and paint).


Thoughts on the show:

Lighting - it seemed a bit worse this year in most parts of the hall. I'm beginning to wonder if that might have been the cause of my camera battery running low so quickly?

Noise - the general buzz/hum seemed louder than normal. There were a few occasions when I couldn't quite catch what someone close by had said to me.

Flooring - the hard concrete floor was noticeable for me this year and my dodgy left hip was starting to ache by about 1pm (even with having taken painkillers).

Crowds - it seemed as busy as always, but the increased space in the aisles made it easier to get around. Sadly, that seems to be at the expense of space for some traders who ended up with very cramped stalls.

Traders - a lot of the regulars seem to have stopped attending (Leisure Games, Dave Thomas and S&A Scenics spring to mind). I suspect that they have found that they can't justify the costs for the amount of business they do on the day.

Games - the overall quality of the games that I did see this year seemed to be higher than the last couple of years, particularly with regard to signage and the terrain. There did appear to be a somewhat higher proportion of games being demoed by companies (rather than put on by clubs) than last year - that is a trend that is ongoing.

Will I go in future? - of course, so long as I'm still living in London and my dodgy hip holds up.

Salute Bloggers Meet-Up

It seems that nobody else has bothered to do a post yet, so it looks as though it's down to me.

As has become usual, it would be great for all the bloggers (and vloggers/podcasters) to meet up at Salute. As normal, this will be near the painting comp displays (see the red dot on the pic below) at 12.30pm.

Now, I know that this has always been at 1pm in the past, but LAF have had theirs arranged for 1pm for a few weeks now and I believe that a few bloggers will want to be at both.

Please feel free to share the pic and the information.

Breaking Silence

And I'm back to blogging. Sorry for the silence on here for the last few weeks. I've had various things keeping me occupied which have meant a distinct lack of hobbying, but that's all over now.

In the past week I have had two games of ADLG - I forgot to take my camera for Thursday's game but did get pics of Monday's game - I'll be writing up an AAR next and will schedule it to post tomorrow night. I've got games set up for the next two Mondays and Thursdays and will try to do AARs for all of them. These are for our club's competition.

This afternoon I actually got back to the paint desk - just putting a basecoat of burnt umber down on the dice holders I showed primed in the last post. I'll drybrush them and add some static grass on Tuesday night. I also need to do a priming session with the airbrush this week.


The Future of this Blog

During my absence, I have been giving some thought to my blogging and made some decisions. Rather than posting constant WIP pics, I'm going to do a single "on the workbench post" each week and will only do posts of figures once they are finished. I think that is better overall.

I'll also do AARs (when I remember to take my camera and take pics) and show reports.

Salute 2017 Blogger Meet

Usually there are multiple blog posts about this, but the only one I've seen so far is the original from Ray. So, I guess with it being just one week away that I should post a reminder.

Yes, the annual chaos of the Bloggers Meet at Salute next Saturday. If you're a blogger (and we seem to have expanded to include podcasters and YouTubers) and fancy popping along to meet and chat with other like-minded fools, please come along to the area near the painting competition displays (see the red dot in the above pic) at 1pm. Usually it all breaks up after about 30 minutes as people have other things to do. Before everybody naffs off, we do try to get a group photo or two done - here's one from last year:

So, I hope to see some of you next Saturday.

750K and FlockBox Experiments Pt2

Gosh! It seems that the rogue Russian and US webcrawlers have pushed me through the 750k page view threshold even sooner than expected. If bots could be thanked, I would do so. Well, perhaps not as it does rather distort the true viewing figures for this blog and those of others.


Anyway, back to the FlockBox experiments. The new ones haven't arrived yet, so yesterday I did some experiments to test different backing materials. It turned out that I didn't need to buy a 12V adaptor - the one for my spray booth was the right type. So I cracked on with the tests.

1. Silicone paper (sample strip that came with the FlockBox)
2. Sticker/label backing
3. Plastic from a "punched pocket"
4. Plastic from a document cover
5. Foil-backed siliconised parchment (paper side)
6. Foil-backed siliconised parchment (foil side)


Findings:
i) For some reason, the tacky glue grabbed really strongly onto the plastic and foil such that the tufts couldn't be removed. I may have to do some tests with other glues (PVA, Copydex) to see if the same happens with them. The sticker/label backing also grabbed a bit and the larger tufts were difficult to remove without tearing.
2.The silicone paper and the siliconised parchment were equally good for tuft removal without any tearing of the larger pieces.
3. The two plastic pieces must have developed quite a good static charge - the next two photos show them after letting the glue dry them blowing and brushing the excess off - it was almost as deep as the tufts!

I then did a test using 4mm and 6.5mm static grass to see if the switch from 9V battery to 12V adapter improved things. It worked a treat, although the longer grass takes more effort than the shorter grass.

I did make a bit of a booboo - I should have done them on separate pieces. the result was that the green 6.5mm grass managed to find bits of glue in the 4mm tufts to get stuck to. Mind you, it created quite a nice vari-coloured effect.

The Curtgeld figures got prepped and washed last night. I've glued them on bases today and will be adding basing sand later on. I need to wait a bit before priming them as one figure was missing its weapon (Dave has found it and will send it on).

AAR - A Scattergun Approach

Furniture WIP:  Two bookshelves secured to wall in hobby/painting room. Made a start on the wall-shelves to go above my painting table (power tools - yay!!) but my drill ran out of charge before I'd finished the first wall bracket. The battery is recharged now and I should finish them by lunchtime tomorrow, barring any mishaps.


Hmmmm, I suppose I should do the AAR from Monday's game of Gruntz with J Womack (Scattergun Gamer) & sons...

I'd set up the scenario with the NSL having landed an advance force on a planet they've laid claim to, but have since discovered that there is a pre-existing alien settlement there which puts the claim in jeopardy. They've decided to eliminate and remove all traces of the alien presence before the UNSC find out.  The Crusties are aware of the arrival of some aliens on their planet and wondering if they will be friendly. The UNSC have determined that the planet is already occupied, that the NSL have (illicitly) landed a force there and as a result are sending an intervention force to stop the NSL doing anything rash...

The NSL had two infantry platoons and one armoured platoon; the Crusties had a forward platoon, a command platoon situated just behind and a heavy platoon in reserve. the UNSC had a platoon which might come on at some point.

J's sons opted to take the Crusties; J and I took the NSL; Simon was umpiring and taking the UNSC.

Each force (NSL, Crusties, UNSC) had their own victory conditions. To keep track I decided to use some plastic "gold" coins I bought for piratey games.


The first turn saw the NSL and Crusties making initial moves. One of J's APCs had line of sight on one of the Crusty buildings so he took a shot and caused some damage (one of victory conditions).

Turn 2 saw the NSL armour arrive on table, just to add to the chaos. The Crusties had a 1 in 3 chance that their heavy platoon would come on this turn - it didn't.

There was soon a bit of a traffic jam in the centre of the NSL deployment zone...

Turn 3 saw the Crusty reinforcements and the UNSC both arrive on table, increasing the chaos mucho mucho - we only just had enough activation cards for the units that were deployed. And some of the APCs hadn't disembarked their squads...

A Crusty walker managed to score enough damage to knock out one of my APCs. It didn't blow up, but the crew and troops didn't manage to bail out. That gave the Crusties 8 victory points.

However, one of my other APCs managed to finish off a Crusty building - another 3 VPs for the NSL.

 
Lots of toys on the table!

The Crusty unit with the brown and orange tokens was the victim of friendly fire from a mortar whose round deviated right on top of them - four hits, four casualties.

We did start turn 4, but realised it had got to chucking-out time so called it quits. The NSL had managed to take out another building and some more units, just inching ahead for VPs.


To round it off, here's a pic of all involved:

Simon, me (yikes!), sons*, J
*One is Dane/Dain the other Zane/Zain - can't remember which way round!

It was a fun but very chaotic game.



Lessons Learned:

For multi-player/multi-force games cut down the number of units/points for each force. If nothing else, it will reduce the weight I've got to carry to the club!

Don't use the activation cards, or only use them to determine the order that forces (rather than units) activate.

Sort out the deployment zones so that units don't have too far to move to get into contact, maybe by reducing the playing area (which would also leave space for drinks, sheets and other clutter at either end of the table).