Happy Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had a great day today, best wishes Simon 

 

Civil War!

For some reason I've always been drawn to civil wars, be they Roman, English, American or Cybertronian.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 Merry Christmas everyone, it’s been a real pleasure doing this Blog and swapping tips and ideas with you all. I’m still learning so much as I go. Have a great few days in this weird time we are living now.

War Games Terrain

Page War!

Texan Sherman IV’s come under static fire from Federal heavy artillery. A Sherman 10 prepares its mega cannon in response. Texan infantrymen run for cover but take heavy loses due to the open terrain.

 Federal troops move up but are slowed by scramble wire and purple gas canisters.

 Armoured Hood walkers lurch into action, they too find it hard going through the incoming kettle gun fire. A MK4 Razorback is hit in the leg and taken out. The 23rd armoured Jackson division is stopped in its tracks and starts to withdraw.

 As the Texans retreat more Federal troops advance to secure the victory. A heavy Tomtom cannon breaks the last of the Texan resistance.

Unlucky Mr Longshanks

The Middle Earth Bug.

Arthur takes a break

The Warlord Arthur takes a break and enjoys a squirrel lunch, times are hard...

Early Saxons

This new year I have been playing around with getting a base of Early Saxons painted up for Dux Bellorum. I have around a hundred old Saxon figures from Essex Miniatures I painted back in 1998. A lot of these figures are for a late Saxon ( Hastings) range but can be easily used for early stuff too. I have bought some extra heads from west wind productions and I'm in the middle of cutting off the nasal helmets and replacing them with earlier designs. Single heads are great for conversion work and West wind do a nice range, they will come into their own now there are lots of plastic ranges to play around with.
 Anyway, I thought I would give you all a heads up as I have been sitting on these old Saxon figures for a while with no chance of using them. I did use them once many years ago in the Roman campaign as Germans, but that was the only time.

I'm not going to stress out about painting another army with these guys, I've given myself the task of doing one base (one war band). This way I won't start feeling bad when other projects start to mount up. I see this as a very long on going project I can dip in and out of when the mood takes me. It's nice to revamp the old figures and get them into units I will use.

One of the main pulls for this project is the chance to do a large unit on a single 120mm x 80mm base. I had planned to do the units on the standard 120 x 60 bases but looking at them it didn't give me enough space. I'll do one and we'll see how it turns out.

Iron Hills dwarf

The Loneliness of a Solo Wargamer...

It's a tough life being a solo wargamer sometimes. Keep your head down and keep on painting until the battle is won.

Don't Tread on Me!!!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

I am 47 this year and after a life time of drawing and painting for a living, my eyes are really starting to fail me big time. I recently bought some Old Glory AWI figures and was horrified to find that even with my painting glasses on I was struggling to see the detail. The results were disappointing  and have lead me to buying Front Rank miniatures which are a delight to paint with nice big details.

However, one stroke of luck was the discovery of this light with a magnifier glass inside. It really helps see the detail and after a while I am getting used to painting under it. It can be a little tricky but I think I am getting there. Painting is slower which is annoying but the results are better.

In the old days I would take pictures on my i phone and blog them, only then seeing them close up would notice mistakes and go back and fix them.

Another eye test is on the cards too I think, joy!

The Last Round

High Elves

A quick Doodle to clear my mind so I can get on with thinking about work.


 It's also a good excuse to try out some new grey marker pens. These are based on the old grenadier Mark Copplestone sculpts. Now available from Miriliton Miniatures and Forelorn Hope Miniatures.

Victory without Quarter 'Trotters'

A squadron of 'Trotters' pause to work out how to engage. Thanks to some kind members of this Blog I have figured out what to do when the situation arises again.

Trotters can either stop and fire with one unit card activation...or they can charge home with a card activation. They can't do both in the same turn.

I my game my unit pulled up to a halt and fired their pistols at short range, I couldn't see how to engage them after that. On their next activation card or officer card they could of attempted to charge home or fire again. As the melee damage (3D6) is greater than the pistol damage (2D6) it would make sense to rush them into close combat.

Internet Standards

Doodle Of The Day

It's hammer time!