Magazine

Just a quick suggestion to you all to pop down to your local chain of newsagents or, if you are very lucky, your local wargames shop (because there are not too many around, after all).

With luck, on the relevant shelf, you will spy a copy of the publication featured in the photos below. It can be yours for a paltry £5.95 in Britain/ $9.95 in the USA.

Now, I am not averse to painting a few figures and have won the odd award for said practice, but I do not profess to be an "expert" or anything and like what I think this type of publication brings to the hobby party, alongside terrain books, modelling books and the like.

This one has a range of sections, including preparation, faces and skin, metal, basing, etc., with a section on conversions to round things off. You will not find the sort of detailed, specific project article beloved of other magazines, but there is enough detail to get anyone going should inspiration fail or fear strike. The examples given are also pretty comprehensive, with everything from varied skin tones to different metals to painting wood covered.

You will not find much on weathering for those interested in such, but for anything pre-vehicle age, you should not go far wrong with just this single publication.

I do not believe any of this is new, having seen much of it over the years in the magazine which published this tome, but it is good to see it brought together in one package. Of course, you can also find such stuff on line, but I like something to hold (psychologists' thesis subject as I am...)

Recommended for new painters and old lags alike.

G

P.S. - I am not connected to the publishers in any way. This is simply my view on this publication. Other publications exist.

The WI publication in question.

IMHO, it does exactly what it says on the back cover.

The Last At Last!!!

After almost eight months of trying to paint as many Swiss and Burgundian troops for the forthcoming "Wargamer" show game on 6th December at Halesowen, near Birmingham England, I finally managed to complete the paintjob on the last unit I had planned to complete.

So, here they are, the much-vaunted (???) Flemish pikemen, sporting banners from the fair City of Ghent.

I have settled on a minimum unit size of 24 figures for pikes for this era, using the Warlord Games' "Pike & Shotte" rules, so this will be a "standard-sized" unit.

The figures are almost all Perry plastics, which I would heartily recommend to anyone contemplating an army from this period. The two exceptions to the Perry count are a couple of Foundry figures on the foremost command element. The flags are from Freezywater Publications, available from the Lance & Longbow Society stand at shows and always worth a look.

Since finishing this unit, I  have managed to varnish all the new figures, texture all the figure bases for the extra units and have started the detailing phase. I have a week to go to the show, where the "Wyrley Retinue" will be demo-ing its 2016 game.

We always change things between games, so what you see at "Wargamer" will be different in some respect from what you see later on in the year, but if you are in Halesowen next Sunday, come and say "Hello!". As yet, we do not have a scenario and we are not yet sure exactly how the forces balance out. Nephew Nick has painted some troops up as Italians, however. Whether they remain Italian mercenaries in the Burgundian army or masquerade as Lorrainers in the Swiss army remains to be seen!

It will all be sorted out in the next week. So, "Wargamer", Sunday 6th December, Halesowen.

G

Probably about as menacing as the Flemish got at this point in their history...



A better view of the flags. Very reasonably priced, take your time to cut them out and fold then round the pole neatly and they work well. Apply Bostik or similar on one inner face and glue the halves together, then paint out any white edging carefully. They can also be detailed with shading, etc. Quick and easy!