Better Loot Than Never...

Hello again.

Doesn't time fly when you get back into your work schedule and, as the annual peak period of the year builds, lose all track of time?

It has been almost two weeks since the Chillcon show in Derby, back on 22nd September. I was in two minds whether or not to go. I checked out the traders and, to be honest, whilst there were some gems, there were others I had not heard of or, on the face of things, was unlikely to be particularly interested in. Oathsworn would be there and there stuff is great, but I did have that feeling that I had probably done enough Burrows & Badgers stuff for now. Colonel Bill would be there too and there second hand options are always worth a look to find those hidden gems. Laser Cut Architect could tempt me with some more "Necromunda"-esque MDF terrain, but I have not painted a gang or built the stuff I have already yet. Crooked Dice were there and I had seen mention of a "Grandville" line of figures in honour of the graphic novels by Bryan Talbot, so I fancied a look at that. They might even convince me to add more to my B&B stuff. But there did not appear to be any real draw for me.

Of course, I did venture along to Derby and, in addition to what I had seen advertised, was pleasantly surprised to find Warlord there with a very full range and others too. And, as always, there was plenty to tempt me. Why would I doubt there would be? I think because, not having played anything for months and with my work/ life balance all out of kilter for a while now, I am struggling to get into anything. Quite simply, however, games or no games, time or no time, I realised again just what this hobby does for me, the release painting even a couple of miniatures provides.

So, where did I spend my hard-earned money?

Read on...

I did see this advertised and it appealed on a number of levels. To top it off, I got this for £31!!! It retails for £40!!! It ticks a number of boxes - limited figure requirement, an interesting period of history, expandable to other armies and not just Romans and Celts, simple rules. Only around a sixth of the rulebook is rules, the rest being scenarios, background, etc. I look forward to trying this rules set out and painting a few Celts. I would like to do some Roman Civil War stuff I think - Celts, Spanish, Numidians, Germans and Romans all freely mixed across the two "Roman" armies.
Thanks to "Mighty Lancer" game for this bargain!!!

I also had my eye on "A Dark And Bloody Ground", buying this from Warlord so I could get the "free" figure - a Woodland Indian peering over a large rock. This period is one for which I have some forces and was the subject of the last game I took out on the road at the Barrage show last year. I am still part way through painting the 35th Foot! The "Age Of Caesar" book I bought for some further background for "SPQR" really and the "free" figure is a Roman officer, so usable for that too.

I saw this on Nephew Nick's "Sleeping Dragon Hobby Shop" stand and immediately saw some potential for old mine works in my "Burrows & Badgers" games.

From "Laser Cut Architect" I acquired these sets to add some buildings to either my "Strontium Dog" set up or for "Necromunda"

Nephew Nick supplied this kit for two Biohazard tanks and, with two in the pack, it will be one each for "Strontium Dog" and "Necromunda". The other kit is a two tier medical block which will have to feature in one or the other game.

Pretensions towards using my Ancient Indians as a Great Kingdom in "SAGA: Age of Magic" saw me buy this figure from "Crooked Dice". Not cheap but, I am sure you will agree, very suitable for a fantasy Indian army!

These two "Crooked Dice" figures I had seen advertised and fancied as a crime-fighting duo for Scarsburgh, my fictional Burrows & Badgers town. "LeBrock" is a badger, but is rather smaller than the Oathsworn versions, so he will be painted as some other type of animal. "Ratzi" will do nicely as a rat, however! So, I give you Hemlock Holmes and Dr. John Ratson.

 A little, light, flavoursome reading from Oathsworn Miniatures is this small collection of newspaper-style articles and titbits. Having done a campaign newsletter or two in the past, I really appreciate this sort of thing.

Finally, I could not resist adding a few extras to my Burrows & Badgers collection. The main set will happily form part of my "Molegrew Haulage" company from the dockside area of Scarsburgh and you can never have too many wagons. The two ladies to the right I see as proprietrixes for a high-class/ lowlife nightclub in downtown Scarsburgh, with the odd talon or claw in the criminal underbelly of the town. The archer and fox figures will fit pretty much anywhere in my existing stuff.

So, a rewarding, if mildly expensive, visit and a most enjoyable one. How dare I think going to a show was not worth it!

G

What is red, ...

...doesn't suffer fools gladly, has an incendiary love interest, has horns he has to keep filed down to stumps and is supposed to be a secret?

HELLBOY, of course!!!

Hello again.

As part of my frenzy of boxed game purchasing, I simply could not resist something I found lying around in the "Board in Brum" shop in sunny Walsall recently.

This is a side on view of the box, which is seven inches deep!

A cornucopia of content.

 I was "lucky" enough to find an open example of the game at the aforementioned "Board in Brum", which meant I could examine the contents. There are over 120 figures in the box!!! These range from a couple of different versions of Hellboy himself to his various companions to Nazia to monsters of different sorts and even a turkey! I can only assume that is for some sort of Christmas game based in the old cartoon series, "Stop the Pigeon!", (i.e. "Stop the Turkey!") but I may be wrong. That is all in addition to the bits of scenery, cards for the game, floor plans and the like. All the figures come in storage trays too, which means they are all self-contained within the box and I do not have to buy extra boxes or files to keep things in, just remember where each figure goes!



Floor plans and such for various scenarios within the game.

The uppermost tray of figures contains our heroes, the five, large gribblies, Rasputin (!), a couple of Lamias and some other bits.

Oodles top ogle at!!!

 


Our prime hero in three guises, including Hellboy kid with ice cream!

The five chief gribblies - ape monster, tentacle horror, large grub, fanged amphibian and dragon

Our prime hero's friends.

And a novel little set of busts of the main protagonists.

I have not played the game yet, but I am impressed by the variety and quantity of the contents. There is a little bit of flash to remove, but I look forward to eventually getting some of these figures painted and trying things out. I especially like the fact that several of the figures are useable in other games - Nazis are Nazis, right? And those Lamia figures are crying out to oppose some errant Greek hero in some fabled land as he quests for an artefact to save his home city state from a gorgon or kraken or some such. Did I also mention there are harpies in the set? And how about getting Hellboy trapped in a time loop following some nefarious enemy scheme that sees him taking on Martian tripods, a resurrected terracotta army, a zombie plague or whatever? The game was not cheap, at a little over the £100 mark, but WOW! There is also a Batman game out now, so I must keep saving. My favourite superhero and all that.

And, to top it all, "Hellboy 2; The Golden Army" is on TV tonight, and I am in need of a way to avoid that utter drivel that is the Eurovision Song "Contest". Sky One at 2115hrs anyone?

G

Very Handy Reference Material

Hello again.

Perusing a local newsagents recently in search of my usual monthly reading matter, I happened across something that immediately grabbed my attention.

This was just sitting there, crying softly at me with those immortal words, "Buy me! Buy me!"
So, after a few seconds of content checking, to ensure it was not a part work but was actually the real deal, and not chockfull of stats rather than nice piccies, I duly bought it. I was not disappointed!

Just look at the sort of thing you get for your £7.99!!!

A random opening of the book for photographic purposes and I got this spread of Merlin-engine Spitfires.

Now, it has been a very long time since I put together a good, old Airfix kit, and even longer since I did a plane, so my memory of colours and markings is not quite what it was. I do not intend to build any kits anytime soon either, so why bother?

Well, just think of the uses this book can be put to.

1. The book covers EVERY propeller-engine fighter class of the Second Word War the RAF used, even down to the Bell Airacobra. There are numerous Spitfires (both engine types, Merlin and Griffon), Hurricanes, Warhawk/ Tomahawk/ Kitty Hawk, Typhoons and Tempests, Gladiators, Blenheims, Beaufighters, Whirlwinds, Mosquitoes, Boulton Paul Defiants...even Mustangs and Airacobras!
2. Even if you are not an aeroplane modeller, the number of games you can use this for to fill out your forces is enviable. "Blood Red Skies" is an obvious one. I have just bought "Cruel Seas" and note that Beaufighters are available to the British forces in that game. The Desert War players can have their Hurricanes, Hawks and others. Those who prefer Normandy can go tank-busting with the Typhoons. Etc.
3. Who could go wrong with those colour spreads covering every single featured aircraft type? The header proclaims "More than 280 highly detailed colour profiles" and it is not wrong!
4. You even get a colour chart in the back of the book!
5. Most handily of all, perhaps, is the advert on the inner rear cover showing other titles in the series, with "Luftwaffe Fighters", "Pacific War" and "Allied Fighters" all covered to tempt you further.

"Absolute bargain" is what I call it. I would also throw in "essential purchase" and "eminently usable".

Published by Mortons Media Group Ltd, check out WHSmith and other newsagents or go to www.classicmagazines.co.uk/thebookshelf if you want to look at the whole range of stuff.

G

2019 is upon us!

Hello again!

2019 is indeed now upon us, so a Happy New Year to everyone!

2018 was not the best for all sorts of reasons from a personal perspective, so I am rather glad to be into a new one, albeit still less than a day old as it is.

Before I started writing this post, I had a quick look at what I started the year with twelve months ago and, it appears, some things do not change. Last year, I was some way through the lengthy process of finishing my British Grenadiers for the French & Indian Wars and this year, I have a unit of British foot for the same conflict part done. I also find myself contemplating some sort of agenda for my hobby activities which, as with last year, I am most unlikely to stick to. "Agenda" is clearly the wrong word for me to use. As someone who is usually pretty disciplined at work, it is somewhat odd how the butterfly takes over when I get into my hobbies...

"Agenda" somehow morphs into "whim".

In 2018, I was supposed to be preparing a gang or two fro "Necromunda". I was supposed to be moving my FIW collection back to Europa for regular Seven Years' War games. I even thought I might get my French Wars of Religion project going or return to my Williamite Wars in Ireland  project that stalled a few years back. As you can see above, I have not even finished the British forces for my FIW games yet! Let alone moved back across the pond!!!

No, 2018 saw activity in mainly three places on the painting front and two main areas on the purchasing front:

1. French & Indian Wars, ready for the Barrage Show back in July.
2. Crimean War, initially with a view to converting Regimental Fire & Fury, but now with Black Powder 2 in mind.
3. Oathsworn Miniatures and their "Burrows & Badgers" offerings.
4. Boxed games - HOW MANY did I buy last year?!?!?!?
5. See point 3...

2018 was not a classic year for quantity, but I had a great time painting single figures again. Those "anthropomorphic animals" are very more-ish indeed!

So, what do I THINK will happen on the painting, gaming and collecting front this year?

1. Boxed games - there is "Necromunda", for which I have all the gangs available to go at as well as many of the supplements. I have "Kill Team". I have "Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game". I have "Blood Red Skies". I have "Strontium Dog". I have "Gorechosen". I have "Battle in a Box". I have terrain for all those games in this list that can use it.
2. More "Burrows & Badgers". I have completed a paltry 24 figures so far, have four more underway and seven more undercoated. That just leaves around a score remaining to do something with and the muse does not seem to be leaving me yet.
3. Crimean War. I simply MUST crack on with some more Russians, but those British NEED to see the light of day first. (If only to stop my dog taking a shine to the unpainted castings and taking them off on holiday to the back garden like he did with the Light Brigade back in the summer...
4. Finish the last British Foot regiment as the 35th before they become lost in a sea of dust on my painting table.
5. I may even look to sell off some of the stuff I feel will never get an(other) outing!!!

And after that, it is fair game.

• There are a couple of interesting looking games/ rules sets on the way, such as "Cruel Seas".
• There are my 10mm Sassanids, eagerly awaiting a set of rules I like for 10mm Ancients games, and they will need opponents.
• And then there are the numerous part-done and never-started projects that weigh heavily upon the house's foundations:

 

Romano-British vs Saxons in 28mm;

Hellenistics in 28mm;

French Wars of Religion in 28mm;

Williamite Wars in Ireland in 28mm;

Japanese WW2 in 28mm, who will also need opponents;

Lord of the Rings in, yes, something like 28mm;

Warhammer 40K in more like 38mm;

20mm Bolsheviks to take on my WW1 Russians, aka Whites;

20mm Vietnam War US & VC forces;

20mm something or other to fight my Taliban (probably Russians in the 1980's);

15mm Ostfront Russians for WW2;

15mm Austrians/ Prussians/ Italians for 1848 to 1866;

54mm WW2 skirmish.

 

As well as the potential to add units to the projects I have "finished"...

 

But I also fancy finishing off some terrain, getting a few more games in this year than I have in the past couple of years, getting some sort of work/ life balance back into vogue and jumping on whatever wargaming whim flits past this Spring as I wander lazily around a show!

 

Enjoy 2019 folks! It could be a bumpy ride!!!

 

G



 



Eine kleine shopping trip

Hello again.

Yesterday saw your humble scribe out Christmas shopping, taking advantage of a day off work and no kids to chaperone to see what he could acquire for sundry individuals. Walsall was my centre of choice for two reasons:

1. I wanted a certain department store, for maximum gift choice options;
2. I fancied a look around Asgard Games. Just a look, you understand...

Having battered the plastic in said department store, I ventured up the hill to Asgard and was greeted with the jaunty ringing of the shop door bell as I entered, followed by a cheery "Hello!" from the proprietor, whose name I believe is Vince.

Asgard Games is an absolute mine of gaming joyfulness.

I went in with the intention of coming out with some Hurricanes (and possibly a corresponding squadron of German stuff) for "Blood Red Skies" and was prepared for a chance purchase or two in addition.

There were no hurricanes in stock.

BUT THERE WAS LOADS OF OTHER STUFF!!!

I have been eying this beauty for a little while now.

 "Strontium Dog". I saw the advert for the game a while back and was enthused. Now, bear with me, as my memory is starting to get suspect in some things (!), but is unusually hot in other areas...I have a very vague memory of a comic called "Star Lords" (I think) back in the late 70's. I have an equally vague memory of a certain Johnny Alpha appearing in that comic, which ran for all of about six issues. That first story saw Johnny shoot some perp and the shot fried all the flesh from the perp's bones, leaving just a skeleton. Johnny then attached a sort of beetle-shaped device to the skeleton and the chap re-appeared for questioning by our hero. Once that was done, Johnny flipped the device off and the perp' became a skeleton again. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP! I am vague on where I saw the story, but believe my version to be true. Can anyone assist? This story had a massive impact on a kid used to "Look-In", "The Beano" and "Whizzer & Chips"! I should really have graduated from there to "2000AD", but went for "Match Weekly" and sometimes "Shoot!" to pursue my football interests instead...

Anyway, alongside such recent purchases as "Kill Team", "Necromunda", "Lord of The Rings", "WH40K" and various figures for different eras which are taking an age to get through as work and atmospheric conditions conspire against my painting time, Johnny has now joined the queue for brush attention. There are also other miniatures in the box, so I need to factor those into the schedule too.

Now this was always going to be on the cards at some point.

I have not played "Ghost Archipelago" yet, but remain enthused by the idea.

 Not having yet played "Ghost Archipelago", nor even "Frostgrave" for a good while, I am unsure exactly why I keep buying the different books. I like "Frostgrave" but, in truth, would probably have chosen "Ghost Archipelago" instead of it had it come out first. The reason for this is the lost tribes/ Conan Doyle-esque feel and, in gaming terms, lush and verdant is a lot easier and far more common than frozen wastes, so a one size fits all terrain option is a winner in this context.



This anthology of short stories also appealed.

I have not bought or read a short story anthology since picking up a copy of "The Collected Griselda" (as in the "Runequest" heroine and frequenter of "Pavis and the Big Rubble") many years ago. I read a lot of Conan stories even longer ago too, as well as a smidgeon of Lovecraft, but thought I would give this a go.



 



Another thing I like about "Ghost Archipelago" is the different creature options, with sea beasts, lost tribes and these fellows. I simply love the idea of snakemen. What more sinister mutation could a "human" have than to be crossed with a cold-blooded, non-mammalian creature with some seriously nasty inherent traits? Poison bite, anyone???

 

Finally, these were a freebie and I got three sets of them.

Yes, a FREEBIE!!! Vince approached me as I browsed and offered me the three sets free and gratis. They are one foot square terrain tiles, four per pack, so I have enough to do a 4x3 foot table. Now, the detail may be printed on them, but they are double-sided and will happily sit flat and have terrain pieces added onto them. Ideal for games such as "Burrows & Badgers" and "Ghost Archipelago" (though one or more of the various Africa games would fit, alongside numerous other options), they could well replace my two foot square terrain boards in future games of that ilk as they simply give far greater flexibility of use. They are technically for a game called "Golem Arcana", which Vince had in stock, so I may well return to pick up a copy as the artwork at least looks rather attractive...We shall see.

So, Christmas shopping partially done, shopping for myself a most welcome distraction, I shall depart and dodge the mercurial lighting to try and get some more figures completed, about which I will post as and when.

G

A Chance Buy For The Autumn Gloom

Hello again.

Even with a south-facing conservatory for a mancave, there are times, especially at this period of the year, when it is just too gloomy to see anything properly to be able to paint. Natural light is my preference, but there is not much around at the moment! So, I went on a recce for Christmas presents for the brood with my wife last weekend and we ended up in a place called "The Range", a sort of Hobbycraft and similar outlet if you do not know it. We were not looking for anything for me, but needless to say, I found a few things!

 

 

For the princely sum of £4, I bought these two Christmas decoration kits, which, as you can see stand around four to five inches high when built. I think you are supposed to build them, paint them, and then either hang them on your Christmas tree or put a tea light in them. BUT WE DON'T WANT TO DO THAT, DO WE!?!?!?

 

I did at least build one, but those awful tags had to come off...

...so off they came!

 At this point, you will obviously have gathered my reasoning. For that paltry £4 outlay, I wanted to investigate whether I could add to my terrain pool something unique after finishing my initial purchase of Sarissa Precision kits for "Burrows & Badgers" that I got from the Chillcon show last month.

So, with stage one complete, what now? Well, I could have drawn a plan of what I wanted to do, but that would be too technical! So I winged it.

Stage Two saw the building of an entrance lobby, a simple lean-to affair and I added one of the doors from the Doors Pack from Sarissa that I bought at Chillcon. We will overlook the fact that I had already added a floor at roof level to give added structure to the piece BEFORE I thought to glaze the upper windows...D'oh!

Stage Three saw me build up the living space. I decided on a sort of wrap around lower storey, knowing full well that the subsequent roof angles could be a total pain...

The end wall features another of the Sarissa Precision doors. I will add a shuttered window on that side too in the near future.

Stage Four saw the need to roof the lower storey. With some careful measuring from which I cut out paper templates, I was able to fit a pretty decent roof.

Et voila!

Stage Five saw me needing a chimney stack, which I fabricated from a scrap of 3mm MDF. The same material was used, along with some 2mm mounting card, to build the actual stack above roof level, topped off with some plastic tubes pots.

So that is the basic build.

 

It has taken me around four man hours to get this far, which is probably longer than the equivalent kit would have taken, but you obviously have to fabricate parts yourself without a kit. However, a self-built thing is unique.

I still have to tile the rooves and finish the body of the building with timber framing, rendering, brickwork, window sills and whatever, but the structure is built and sound in that it is not going to fall over any time soon. I will also base it for added stability and the idea of a vegetable garden is one I think I will pursue for this dwelling. I will finish this one as and when work, light and time allow. Then there is the little matter of the second building and what to do with that one...

G



Just a quickie

Hello again.

It has been almost a month since I last posted and, with lengthy Summer holidays now over (boo!) and after returning to work post holidays (much, much bigger BOOOOOO!!!), I thought I would once again say "Hello!"

Although I do not have any pictures this time, I have been busy and will regale you with the tales and depictions of my activities very soon. I have made a few decisions, however, and am looking forward to some tasty looking kit which I hope to acquire in the next couple of weeks.

1) I have decided to keep my dog! It was a close run thing, as Wellington might have said, but he very nearly ruined the Light Brigade all over again, not with confused orders but simply out of what perhaps passes for canine curiosity. I'll explain...
I wandered out into my garden a couple of weeks back and saw something shiny on the patio. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a 10mm cavalryman, with a few others I had previously not noticed close by. Looking around the garden and fearing the worst, I noticed a pile of silvery things down near the big shed. It was the rest of the Light Brigade from my Crimean War lead pimple!!! My very own four-legged terror had helped himself to the Magister Militum boxed set of the Light Brigade, had torn the box to shreds and scattered the contents. Luckily for the world's naughtiest Border Collie puppy, he had obviously not liked the taste and I duly accounted for all 48 cavalrymen and the three artillery pieces with crews. PHEW!!! NOTE TO SELF - keep the dog out of the Mancave!

2) I have abandoned my pretensions to game the Crimean War using "Regimental Fire & Fury" and, having enjoyed them so much at Barrage, settled on "Black Powder" as my rules of choice for this conflict, with "Rank & File" for back up. Having made this choice, I might even get a couple of forces finished in a rather quicker fashion than RF&F would have allowed.

3) I am most desirous of the new Games Workshop "Lord of the Rings: Battle of the Pelennor Fields" boxed set, which is due out next weekend, I think. I already have a decent Mordor Orc collection and the figures in this set will not only add seamlessly to what I have, but give me a start on some adversaries. A "Must Have" if ever I saw one!

So, next time out, I will have some piccies of a couple of very different projects I have been working on, but until then, enjoy the last of the summer!

G

Needs must

Hello again.

With the Barrage Show in Stafford fast approaching, being as it is to be held this coming Sunday, 8th July, at Blessed William Howard High School in Stafford, England, and coupled to the fact that we were to play a game based on the relief of a fort (aka "The Relief of Fort Nummanmason"), I needed a few bits and pieces in a bit of a hurry.

I needed a fort, or at least part of it, and that fort had to show a bit of battle damage to indicate that it was in need of the aforementioned relief. I did that one a couple of weeks back, so check out that post if you will.

But you cannot have a siege/ bombardment/ assault of a fort and just have the attackers standing around waiting for the occupiers to surrender, can you? Not in my world. So, I needed some trenchworks, some fieldworks, some indication that the attackers knew they would be in for a bit of a wait and some reciprocal pain. I also needed some North America specific buildings I felt, to better show that we were in America and not Northern Germany with Ferdinand of Brunswick and the Comtes de Broglie/ Contades.

So, I built a few bits and pieces, in a hurry, to give me what I reckon I need to kick the game off on its inaugural outing. We in the "Wyrley Retinue" always add to or somehow change a game between outings, so this is a one-time only offer to get yourselves to Stafford to see this in the flesh. If the game emerges again, and I very much hope it does, some thing or other will be different - more troops, an altered layout, more buildings or terrain, different victory conditions, etc.

So remember:

1. 8th July 2018 at Blessed William Howard School, Rowley Avenue, Stafford.
2. 1000hrs start.
3. Barrage Show.
4. Wyrley Retinue.
5. "The Relief of Fort Nummanmason".
6. Come and see us and say "Hello". (I'll be the tall, middle-aged chap looking bemused at my lack of success with command rolls...)

G

The approach trenches for the French. MDF base, polystyrene, lollipop sticks and card to build up the sides, mounting card for the duckboards, Renedra gabions courtesy of Nephew Nick at The Sleeping Dragon Hobby Shop and paint to suit. This is a three piece set up.

And from the front. They stand around 50mm high from the terrain board to the tops of the gabions, to give the French room to shelter from the fire of the fort's defenders.

Renedra gabions again on MDF bases.

I had a mortar so had to have a mortar emplacement. Details as previously.

And with the aforementioned mortar. This piece is lower than the trench pieces by around 10mm.

I went with a Perry kit for my church.

And a Perry kit again for my house.

This scratchbuilt affair sits inside the fort, having been hit and burned out by the French artillery and mortar fire. I had to have something inside the fort and not just empty space.

And finally, some idea of how the defences will fit together on the tabletop this Sunday. The mortar emplacement will occupy the bottom left corner, artillery the right foreground and centre right positions.