Musings of a Madman

Lately, I have been hard at work painting up another Union Regiment for my ACW collection. Being the first armies I started to paint way back in 1996, they are looking a little tired now and the painting standard is pretty low. So, I hope to repaint some of the early work and re base them to bring them up to date with my other collections.

However, I have been stopped in my tracks by the big basing question. On what size base do I put them. Having thousands of old ACW rule books kicking around from the time I decided to write my own, I have gathered that 40mm by 40mm comes out on top for the most popular games.

I like the idea of putting causalities on my stands and having at least five figures to a base, inspired by the pictures in the old Fire and Fury rule set.

Of course this led me to start looking at larger 60x40mm bases.

I could get a lovely looking base going on with that much room to play around with, my only problem was would that effect the game play? Would huge bases make a firing line just too long to game with?
Less bases was the answer, but that would effect the formation of the unit with less stands to arrange etc. Anyway you can see the problem and being an old perfectionist it has been on my mind for most of the week.

I think although I like the idea of putting loads of character into the bases I will go back to 40x40mm bases but vary them with figure numbers and causalities. This way I will still keep the multiple bases for unit formations and vary the look of units etc.

I need to get out more!

The Hungry Lieutenant

Being Civil

Union Artillerymen

Confederate Charge

Being Saturday I've grabbed some time to colour up these ACW pictures for the a new Osprey quiz book.

My first true war gaming love was my ACW Blandford uniform book and my Minifig15mm armies.
It's interesting to note, that even though I had a uniform book, I still painted most of my figures incorrect. Mind you at 15 I didn't care. How things have changed.

LIFE 3, HOBBY 0,

I have decided that Thursday will be my painting night. It's so hard these days to find time for anything 'hobby', that I have been forced to choose a night to do it. It's off to a bad start though as last night I had to go out.

I also have a pile of cartoons that are gathering dust that need to be Blogged, some of them are hardly relevant any more. Life 3, Hobby 0.

Pictures From the Edge

Under pressure...

Back to the Celts.

Next week is Celt week! They aren't going to paint themselves...

One from the Vault.

Painting Time...

I'm finally getting my head in gear as far as painting is concerned. It's hard getting back into the saddle after a long time away from the brush, but I'm going to start with just a couple of figures and lower myself back in gently.
It doesn't help that Boney keeps on at me to rebase his armies, I just haven't got time Boney...get off my back!

Roman Legionary

Horse hair crests can make a man look bigger than he is, psychological warfare in the ancient world.

Finishing off the legions.

I have finally got around to working out and painting up all the missing command bases for my Roman forces. For many years some of my oldest legions have been without their Eagles, well not any more. It's a little thing but it means I can sleep easier at night now.

Next up are those Celt cavalry which have been gathering dust over the last few months. Now the Cybermen are done I can get back to them and hopefully clear the table.



Eagles for the armies of Britannia, Africa, Pannonia and Gaul.




Above is the Eagle for the African forces, made up mostly of old veterans recalled back into service.

The Luck of the Dice

Dark Elf Surprise.

I had a lovely surprise the other day when a lone Dark Elf turned up on my door step. It had been sent by one Steve Cooper, who, after seeing my passion for the old eighties figures, had dug out then sent me one.
I didn't have that particular model which was a bonus. I was also very taken back by the extreme kindness of the chap who had to cross fire and high water to find my address. Many thanks Steve it was a wonderful surprise!

As thanks here are some real Dark Elves:

Lord Snagnec and his Black Cavern guard gather to study the strange creature killed by Longoth's arrow.
Beyond all the Gods, could it be...? The mythical being known only as a female...

The Waterloo Collection DVD's

After doing my usual trawl through Amazon to check on new Historical releases, I was delighted to see three DVD's of the battle of Waterloo.
These seemed a little too good to be true at first but they turned out to be really good.
Three 90 min DVD's covering the whole waterloo Campaign narrated by a team of battlefield tour guides, which works well. Although I had to smile at their football style, blow by blow account of Derlon's attack.
I've learnt loads which is the main thing and they are good to have on in the background while you paint. I Recommend them.

Surround Sound

Staying in tonight, listerning to tunes on my favourite sound system.

Hightech CyberLanding Shuttle

Flocked and locked, these bad boys are on a one way mission to Earth, hold on to your Enfield Alan here they come!

Can you spot the five Stealth Cybermen...no...good aren't they.


A lone Tommy calls out in vain but is quickly silenced.

Job done, right I'm off for a Cyberpint down the Cyberpub. Mind you going to the Cybertoliet might be difficult, as I can't find the Cyberzip in this damn silver Cybersuit.

Cyberstrike Force Assembled and Ready

After the Silver spray paint was dry I gave the figures a wash of black Ink. This worked really well, better than dry brushing the Silver on. This looked much closer to the original suits worn by the actors in the 80's. Here is the completed Cyberforce. It contains four squads of seven, a Stealth squad, a heavy weapon (Cybercannon), a scout squad and of course, a Cybercontroller.

Each squad is lead by a cyberleader with his black handle bars denoting his rank. There are also two casualty figures that I made up from the old Citadel plastic range. If I find time I'd like to knock up a few more, but time is a rare thing these days. Talking of time, this must be the quickest army I have ever painted.

The Cyberforce producton line.

The Cybermen reveal their secret weapon.

All based and now sprayed with Silver car paint, they start to look like real Cybermen.

As their mighty strike force starts to take shape, they begin to take of the air waves with their superior technology.

Good Cyberman reference was quite hard to come by, but these detailed action figures proved a God send. Highly detailed and with detailed weapons they proved better than anything I could find in print or online.

French lancer Waterloo 1815

This is a member of the Elite Company of the 6th Chevau-Leger-Lanciers. The 6th differed from the other lancer regiments by having buff coloured equipment instead of white, also the Elite companies had red crests rather than the usual black.

News from the Front

A French light Infantryman.

Back from Holiday

Well I'm back from Egypt and ready to kick some serious lead ass!

Off on Campaign again.

After having enough of the Britannia weather, I thought I would find an excuse to lead a expedition to Egypt to shake things up a bit.

Remind them of the might of Rome and their true rulers...

Then sit back and enjoy the scenery.

Muddy Waterloo

Bloody Waterloo

A trooper of the 1st Life Guards at Waterloo 1815

WARHAMMER WATERLOO

After waiting around 10 years for a Warhammer Napoleonic rule set to appear, I can finally relax with the arrival of 'Waterloo'. I started collecting my army about six years ago with the idea that when the game did appear, I would have ready painted armies. Well the game never did appear and I got carried away painting lots of lovely blue French.
Forge World aren't in my good books after dumping the ancient side of things, but because of my long wait I was curious about this new rule set for the horse and musket period from the Warhammer team. Also it is set around Waterloo like my French forces.

I decided to take a chance and buy it. WHAM! case shot right in the nuts...£36! Well I know I've waited ten years but £36...come on.
Well, it arrived in a gold jewel encrusted case and I was very pleasantly surprised on first impressions . It looks like a well put together game with loads of useful uniform guides and illustrations.

After the disappointment of Foundry's 'Napoleon' and it's lack of support, I was quite taken back by Waterloo. My friend informs me it is based around the GW 'Lord of the Rings' game which he tells me is very good.

One of the annoying things about the game though is that it has six figures to a base (=1 company) whereas mine are based four for use with 'Napoleon'. It's a small thing and one to which the rules actually mention and say it doesn't matter. however, when you've waited so long you want it to be just right. Mind you I will wait and see if the game is any good first before I start ripping figures off bases again. If anybody gets a chance to play it or sees a review do let me know, I would be more than a little interested.

So far I can't see any mistakes which is a bonus unlike Napoleon which came across as half finished and rushed . Anyway I will keep reading ... £36 was a little steep, but at the moment it looks like it was worth every penny.

I have ordered some new 60x40mm bases... I know I know.

Rabble!

A sideways shot of my Celtic shelf. I love painting Celts ever since I discovered the Army Painter method. Mind you I still need to flock a lot of these.


A quick shot of one of the many Roman shelves. I have been finishing off the last Eagle bearers for three Legions lately, so soon my Legions will be complete ( well, apart from any other units I add when the wind changes).

The French Massive

A quick snap of the french shelf. It looks nice but I still have to flock more than half of them still.

However, they are now all totally rebased with four on astand. This sets me up much better for a whole multitude of Napoleonic rule sets.

I have gone off 'Napoleon' from Foundry after they didn't support it in anyway. I am still waiting for the Waterloo army lists for the game.

Cybermen made easy

Here is a line up of the contenders for the forth coming Cyberskirmish. The smaller two on the left are old figures from Citadel, the first being plastic. The larger one on the plastic base is from Black Tree Designs.
The whole Cyberman order arrived really quickly which surprised me some what. Cybermen must be a lot less popular than WWII soldiers that's all I can say.
I've decided to go with the BTD figures as they are quite imposing and match the right size for Cybermen, who are meant to be 7ft tall.

I have been trying out different ways in which to paint up the Cybermen. Simple is often the hardest thing to get right and the Cybermen were very simple, being silver all over.

The silver flight suit was darker than the mask which was sprayed silver with no other details.
First I tried dry brushing silver over a black undercoat, the detail looked good but I couldn't get that DR WHO low budget look I was after.

In the end I copied the actually live sized suits and sprayed the figures with silver car paint. This works really well! I then give them a wash of Citadel black Ink and then dry brush their body armour with silver paint again. This adds more shine and makes the body armour stand out from the darker suit underneath. Very simple and the most important thing...very quick and easy to do.
Cyberleader; "EXCELLENT!"

Cybermen save money by using the Park and Ride into Oxford

After seeing how much fun people were having at the last couple of posts, i couldn't resist drawing up one comment which made me laugh. Cybermen using the park and Ride to get into Oxford. Thanks Paul.

Don't worry this isn't part of the battle...although seven Cybermen did go missing for six hours during the main advance...

I got an e-mail today from Black Tree Designs, saying that some of my order has been sent out to me. Hopefully the rest won't be far behind , oh well I can always start painting them piece meal as they turn up.

Cybermen invade Oxfordshire

The year is 1944 and a large Cyberforce lands in a small village on the outskirts of Oxford. They appear to be searching for something, an artifact of immense power. Above, a Cyberleader scans the area for signs of the hidden energy source.

Cyber Invasion

The cat's out of the bag as far as my friend is concerned, so now I can let you know of my next project. Using COE WWII rules I intend to put on a Cyberman vs WWII Tommy game for his birthday. It should be fun and I have been busy painting a basing loads of Cybermen and extra Brits for the game. A few more PIAT teams wouldn't go a miss when facing these guys.

I have ordered the Cybermen from Black Tree Designs so I just hope they arrive in time and not next year. I had some WWII Americans turn up so late once, I forgot I had ordered them!

I have no idea how the game will turn out, will the Cybermens tough resistance to small arms fire win the day, or will it be the shear amount of firepower laid down by the Brits that swings the tide of battle?

The best thing about Cybermen is they are so quick to paint. Spray silver and wash with black...job done.

Zombies!

I have started to plan some alternative war games for this year. A game of Zombies would be great fun. Has anyone got any Zombie recommendations. I saw some plastic Zombie WWII Germans, but couldn't find the company that made them.

I started planning a friends Birthday present battle , featuring Zombies of a sort but with a twist. More on that later, however I have ordered them from Black Tree so I hope they arrive this year...