Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

And that was August.  Mercifully it wasn't too hot which made getting on with things a bit easier.  I'm still whittling away at all the bits that have been sitting around for too long.  I’m pleased to say I'm getting my hobby mojo back which has been on the wane for a lot of the summer.  It’s good timing as Autumn and Winter are the time for hobbies aren't they.      Completed  Here's the bits I finished off during August: First off I based the 20mm Battlezone Miniatures Second World War German gun crew that'd I'd painted and varnished last month.  I had thought of basing them as a team with a gun, but as I have another gun crew (in summer uniforms) and only one Pak 40 I based them individually for versatility.  It also saves buying another Pak!   These were the only miniatures I finished but I did do a bit more on the terrain front: I made a corner piece for the game of Ravenfeast that I played.  This was a quick and dirty job...

Introduction The Rus of Jarl Magnus have been laying waste Jarl Arne's land, while he himself has been raiding over the whale road.  Such an affront to his honour cannot go unpunished and when he arrives back to find a raiding party still active, he sets out to punish them.  This scenario is based on the Back to the Boats scenario in the Ravenfeast rules.  I have adjusted the points values to give the Rus an extra 50 points, as I felt 200 point difference was too much. Norse  -  Jarl Arne, Huskarls x3, Berserker x1, Hirdmen x6, Bondi Archers x3, Bondi x10, Thralls x2.  25 figures total of 500 points. Rus  -   Jarl Magnus, Huskarls x2, Hirdmen x4, Bondi Archers x2, Bondi x9.  18 figures total of 350 points.  Starting positions Turn One  The Rus win the Movement initiative and they all move their maximum allowance. With the exception of their missile armed warriors (the Thralls and Bondi Archers) the Nors...

My second batch of completed figures this year was a quartet of Norse warriors. These sturdy fellows are 28mm Victrix from their Viking set.  These were the last four left from this set and were the oldest outstanding plastics in the pile. I did minimum tinkering with them, just replacing the heads with ones from different sets.  The unarmoured axe wielding warrior's leonine head is from the Ancient Germans set, the other three are from the Rus set. I can only paint four or five of these Victrix figures at the same time.  Otherwise I notice the quality drops and I don't do them justice.  I've not got many to do, 12 Rus and three Ancient Germans which will be finished as Norse.  That should give me enough for a game of Ravenfeast with Rus versus Norse. 

Happy New Year everyone, I hope you all have a marvellous 2024.  I'm doing something a bit different this year.  Usually I split the year into three sections of four months with Salute in April being the first key point to work towards.  For 2024 I'm trying out the Ovelist approach of The Hobby Support Group.  I've chosen  nine things to work on for the whole year.  I'm still going to take those check points at April and August and revise if needed. The starting numbers for the year are: 128 28mm; 10 20mm and 152 15mm.  I started 2023 with 321 unpainted figures made up of 108 28mm, 53 15mm and 163 10mm so broadly similar, just replacing the 10mm for 15mm really.    New projects I've currently got one brand new project to work on: 1st Century. A.D Imperial Rome.  I've had the Infamy, Infamy rules for well over a year now, but could never find figures I liked as I wanted to do it in smaller scale.  I really liked Cromarty Forges' 10mm...

9th Century Norway.  It started in Jarl Sten’s hall.  The Rus Vikings of Jarl Radomir had been invited to feast, too much mead had been drunk, too many boasts made and then too many harsh words spoken.  This had led to brawling and the men of Jarl Radomir had dishonoured their host.  The only way this was to be settled was on the battle field and for there to be a Ravenfeast! Norse  - Jarl Sten the Unyielding, Huskarls x4, Berserker x1, Hirdmen x5, Bondi Archers x2, Bondi x6. 19 figures total of 447 points. Rus -   Jarl Radomir Thunder Axe, Huskarls x6, Berserker x1, Bondi Archers x3, Bondi x4, Thralls x3.  18 figures total of 450 points.  Turn One  Jarl Sten’s Norse win the Movement initiative and he moves his battle line forwards its maximum amount.  The Rus also move up but some have their move reduced by the rough terrain.   All the missile armed troops have moved more than half their movement ...