Well, the first 8 days of my 23 days of holiday has seen me complete two more sci-fi forces, and now I am painted out and need a rest. Still, I'm amazed at how much of the project is done. I have about another 80 infantry and 19 VTOLs to get done and then I begin on the terrain and starships to populate the table and create a starport in 15mm.    I've also been snowed under by the arrival of hundreds of 28mm Zulus as well as a second Roman legion and another Celtic army. I also need to sort through around 300 early slotta Chaos Dwarves which represent the last lot of fantasy to be sent to my painter.   I've been mulling several things of late including the stratification of the hobby from the days when I and my peers set forth, and the dogpiling when people fail to follow the nerd herd and dare to have a contrarian opinion, but they can wait for a bit longer as I am having me some fun in the sun for a couple more weeks.   TTFN 

  It's been a weekend spent pottering around the manse, punctuated by a Saturday night watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show, with original cast Q&A session and a 'shadow cast' performance in the manner of the 19th century Tableaux tradition. And, despite a mere 6 hours sleep, here's the first 15mm sci-fi force finished. I set out to do these for my own 'taste', not going for the level of finish I provide in my 'day job'. But, the end result has been quite nice, and very much in keeping with my desire to rediscover my own 80s aesthetic. The Hov-Cav are all GZG, apart from the Independent Power Armour (AKA The Light Ale Infantry) which are Brigade Models. Each vehicle is shown with it's crew. I'm certainly enjoyiong the creative process (at a personal level - like I said, I keep job and hobby compartmentalised) and have so much more to go at with the sci-fi bug.  I'm already working on the second force...      

  Last night, I finished the final 12 figures for the first of my 15mm sci-fi forces:       I want to thank those of you who have commented on my ongoing projects in the last few weeks. I paint for a living - full time for the last 16 years - so for me painting is a job and not simething I do for personal pleasure. It's quite clinical as I have a very specific worth ethic (as my clients would, I think, confirm) and so, my own stuff has been sent to a part time leisure painter since 2020, as after a 45 hour week under 4 lighting rigs, hunched over like Quasimodo, I generally want to go out into the countryside and fine a nice restaurant or go to the theatre at weekends. My own requirements are clean, neat and above all, what I would call '80s style' paint jobs and my painter does them very well, working as he has through about 10000 28mm figures so far, and having done so with a tight brief from me.    It does mean I have some nice (and immense) ...

 I'm powering through my sci-fi projects, and as I write this, I am just 12 figures away from completing the first of four different forces. It'll end up being many more than 4, but I want to get those done, along with the terrain and the starships to populate a starport and surrounding areas. Now, from the outset, I have wanted to get the 'feel' of the sci-fi stylings and colour schemes I loved back in 1982. Pete Armstrong used a stunning green on his Traveller Military and I was blown away by a fashion show which used sci-fi military stylings in similar colours and orange flack jackets thrown in for good measure. It had a very Jim Burns feel to it and of course the 80s catwalks were wild places. I have been weaned off bright orange flack jackets at last, but I do like a nice contrast on my sci-fi. I like my Marines to look hard-miltary and not like walking Gothic cathedrals, although I will admit that my 'Federal Marines' using the GZG UN hardsuites, with the ...