Sunday, 17 November 2024

Back in the saddle

The lack of activity on the blog recently is due to a lack of activity at weekends generally.....

Aside from the VWC, I have been unable to summon the energy to tackle any of the many projects, partly due to endless grey skies and work, work, work.....

Hopefully, I can get myself into gear and do some cleaning up of figures.

In the meantime, various projects have suggested themselves, such as my long neglected SYW and FIW armies. While there is still unpainted lead, I have supplemented them with some eBay purchases....

Greenwood & Ball / Garrison French




Very nice in an "old school" way and about £1 per figure.

I also could not resist this Austrian Willie general and his Hinchliffe aide. 



Not cheap but an inspiration to paint my own Willie generals; fortunately the style is not too dissimilar to my few painted Austrians, supplemented by some painted units. I puts me in mind of Phil Robinson's (?) fantastic Hinchliffe SYW Austrian army, complete with Willie personalities that appeared in a very old MW.

A friend of mine, Pete Foggin, sent some pictures of masters he has done for his expanding Italian Wars 10mm ranges. In this case Stradiots.



To buy, see here:

https://www.foggofwarminiatures.com/

At present only Gensdarmes and Swiss/Lansknechts seem too be available with various ancients.

Finally, David of the Ragged Soldier blog (https://russetcoatcpt.blogspot.com/) mentioned he had been to the NAM in Chelsea and seen the Siborne Waterloo diorama. There were in fact two a small and large, the small resides in the Armouries Leeds. I didn't post previously as the pictures are not of the best as it was very difficult to photograph. Online articles suggest the figures are 25mm but appear much smaller - scale creep even in the C19th?






Despite restoration and conservation (including making replacement figures) it looks a bit sad and worn. Anthony Clipsom indicated there's a viewer to see the figures in close up, but I missed that.

Sunday, 3 November 2024

Pavia inspiration and a trip to Fiasco

Last weekend saw a trip to the Fiasco wargames show and the Royal Armouries in Leeds.

Fiasco was disappointing; the games were mostly small with a lot of fantasy and sci-fi, the venue itself (across from the Armouries) a bit gloomy. Trade stands were OK and I came away with some paints and brushes. I noted a couple of tables where games had failed tom turn up (never a good look) but on the whole it had more of the feel of a club night.

While I have complained about large demonstration games, this was the opposite, small niche games or 5mm /15mm often on plain cloth. The biggest was a Battletech game with very nice scenery.

I think somewhere in between club type games and elaborate demonstration games is the answer with some of the others mixed in. At least a lot appeared to be participation.

The only temptation was Anschluss' 1:144 armour, but I resisted.

Naval landing skirmish





Cthulu Mountains of Madness




VBCW

Castles in the Sky Agean sky battle


What a Cowboy


Cold War turns Hot


Battletech Big Red Button



The Armouries was busy, and a bit dark for photos. A lot of reflected light.

Pavia














Back in the saddle

The lack of activity on the blog recently is due to a lack of activity at weekends generally..... Aside from the VWC, I have been unable to ...