The New MW magazine

The first issue of this magazine has arrived. Whilst changes are to be expected with the new editor and board, I was disappointed to see the return of the white text on black background. It is so difficult to read that I must confess I skipped all those pages. I hope that this  will not keep happening, but look forward to the next issue.

Autumn thoughts 3

I'm having a little think about what I really want to do in the hobby. There's stuff going on in the real world that's making me re-evaluate an awful lot of things. At the moment I'm going towards 10mm for a lot of periods. Again I realise that this is a process I've gone through several times in the lifespan of this blog, but the new Pendraken sculpts are lovely. I might stay with 28mm for the Hundred Days and do 10mm for everything else.
With regards to the 10mm I've started with some Austrians, going 8 on a 40x20 base. This would mean that French would be on a 30x20 base, needing me to buy more bases in a different size. I already have 30x30 base so might just see how 6 French castings look on this base.

I was sent some 2mm ACW, and have to say that they look ok. Each 30x30 base represents a regiment or brigade so could allow for some big battles. Having painted up some of the terrain that came with them, I've got the bug so they've jumped up the queue.

The most current things on the painting table are some 10mm CSA and 10mm Austrians. I'll post some photos when they're done.

Autumn plans 2

Colours was a relative disappointment. I managed to pick up some packs of casualty and horse-holders for the ACW project, as well as some 10mm Danish for 1864. Seeing as I 've decided to do 1866 in 6mm and 1870 in 10mm, I might as well allow expansion to other eras. The Pendraken sculpts are tiny masterpieces and I'm looking forward to getting some paint on them.
One minor irritation was not being ablento get the bases I needed. The trader explained that imperial measurement bases are produced to order and if I'd pre-ordered I could have collected them. I think that if items are only done to order then it should be displayed promenently on the website. Who know's it might increase sales?

Plans for the Autumn

Taking photos of the shed for the proposed magazine article has prompted me to rethink win what order I'm going to tackle the lead mountain.
I think that the first thing that needs to be done are the 10mm Prussians and ACW figures. These will be based for RF&F so should get me usuable units fairly quickly.
At the same time I'll try to drop a few units of 15mm Persians in as there are quite few of them to do. Especially as I've got the War and Empire 2 figures coming at some point.
I'd like to go to Colours as I need little things like flags, casualty markers and bases. Going ti a show will allow me to save on the p&p, as well as perhaps allowing for a bit of Father/Son bonding if either of the boys come with me.

I hate technology

I have been asked if want to contribute to one of the wargaming magazines. The words were easy-ish but I've had no end of problems trying to get good enough photos to go with the article. Finally I resorted to taking my phone out of its case and using every setting on the camera to take the same shot. Hopefully the editor can make some kind of silk purse out of this cow's ear.

Butterfly nature

No sooner have I posted about my historical passion then I've moved onto something else. I bought the Stormclaw box for the last edition of 40K and left it sitting on the to do pile. Whilst sorting out the shed I found a box of orc raiders from Rogue Trader and felt they needed painting. I've chosen a very simple colour scheme. Since they all have coal scuttle type helmets, they've been given feldblau uniforms with black webbing etc. The guns are valejo gunmetal blue as is the armour plates. With a soft tone wash they are suitably grubby. This inspired me to paint the orcs from the stormreach box, as well as some random Dark angels I found on eBay.
I have the Betrayal at Calth set and I think I've decided to paint the lot as Blood angels as that will give me 6 Chapters: Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Angels of Redemption (DA successor) and Golden Scythes (Space Wolves successors).  That should be enough for any campaign or set of rules.

It's all a matter of scale

My obsession with the late 19th century continues. I sold some 28mm castings and promotly reinvested the money in smaller scales. Although I've got large numbers of 28mm ACW to paint, I've always had a feeling that a smaller scale would be better. I've tried 15mm and 6mm so have gone for 10mm. I've a feeling that my original plan of 30-40 castings on a 100x40 base might look great but not be fit for any ruleset that I might end up using.
I recently bought the Wargaming in History covering the 1866 campaign and have been so impressed with it that I'm thinking about getting other titles in the series. The authors use 10mm figures and a varient of regimental fire and fury. Since I already havr the rules, I picked up a few 10mm FPW figures to try them out. I think I might be doing the same as Henry Hyde and doing 1866 in 6mm and 1870 in 10mm, although I do have a 6mm Bavarian corps to paint.
I think what may happen is that I'll paint both and use them for a bit to see which speaks to me more. It may well be that I end up keeping both scales, but then I wouldn't be the first wargamer to have multiple scales for the same period. I've already decided that the ACW will be Perry in the Virginia theatre and Spencer Smith in the Trans-mississippi.

May-June update

After the bring and buy I put everything I didn't sell onto ebay with good effect. This has allowed me to add to several projects. I've had this itch at the back of my mind to do 10mm Napoleonics with a single battalion on a 100x40 base. I saw a relatively new company, Lancer Miniatures, was doing French in bicornes so got a starter army. This could allow me to do the early/revolutionary wars leaving the Spencer Smiths and 28mm plastics for the later periods. I'll keep you informed of how it goes.
On the painting table I'm plodding through the 15mm Persians. Although the colours are interesting, there are a lot of them to get painted. I've done I think 8 stands and am only a quarter of the way through the infantry. Alongside them I've managed to complete 3 French Hussars in 40mm for Sharp Practice 2, and a squad or two of space marines so I can play 30k with my youngest son.
I'm off on holiday soon so want to make a dent in the lead mountain before the summer break, but it might not be as big as I had hoped. Still, I've still managed to sell and paint more than I've bought so am on target to be lead neutral for the year.

What to do

I've now finished a huge amount of work that was limiting my hobby time and can look forward to cracking on with several projects before the rugby season takes up time again.
Having had several games with the Spencer Smith AWI figures I've added to the rebellious colonies with 2 additional regiments. At the same time I'm plodding on with my 15mm Greeks. They should be done by the end of the week but then I've got to move onto the Persians.
There's a table top sale coming up at Firestorm and I think it might be the place to get rid of a load of stuff I've not used. The 28mm moderns will definitely be going, and probably the 28mm Malburians. I'm tempted to sell all the Mars attacks Kickstarter stuff but might hang onto the playmats.
So if you're in south Wales on the 11th of June check it out. You might just get a bargain

The Featherstone Weekend

I think I can safely discuss this now since it is featured in the latest MWWBG. As you may know, this is a Weekend hosted at the great Wargames Holiday centre run by Mark Freeth who is a real gentleman with a amazing sense of humour. The battle was a playtest of the upcoming General D'Army rules from Dave Brown. They have several innovative mechanics and might be the rules to get the boys into Napoleonics. The scenario was Leipzig and I was the Prussian commander. The best point of the weekend was when  my depleted Landwehr battalion bounced several cavalry charges whilst in line. This may sound ahistoric, but actually was due to some good dice rolling for the snap shots taken as the charge came in.
All in all it was a great weekend, but the best thing was that not only did I win the award for the "dandy", but very generously the other players deemed me to be the "Player of the weekend". This meant I won a fabulously painted set of figures representing a French command group.

For further details and some wargaming porn see the latest issue of Miniature Wargaming with Battlegames.

More Napoleonics

The Napoleojics continue. This time it's Bavarians from Spencer Smith. I'm enjoying the speed with which I can get them to a tabletop standard, and have managed to crank out 5 36 man battalions this month already. I think I might be wavering slightly since this last unit has a set of metal command figures which were a cheap ebay purchase.
I'm very intrigued by the update to Sharp Practice and will probably get the rules bundle after payday. I am still favouring 40mm for the large skirmish and think that the British cavalry will be the next onto the painting queue.

The year so far

I've neglected the blog lately as I've not really had anything to add. The 6mm 6 weeks war project continues, but I'm having a break to paint some 6mm ECW figures. They'll overlap on the painting table with some 28mm landwehr. Then I aim to get back to the Spencer Smith ACW.
I went to the Wargames Holiday Centre this weekend for the Featherstone Weekend. This year the battle was Leipzig in 28mm, and we were play testing some rules in the General De Brigade family for larger battles. I can't say much as I promised I wouldn't but they were really rather good and I'll definately be getting a copy when they come out. Amazingly I managed to win the prize for best sport, which was a beautifully painted Command base. All I need now is to get some Poles for him to command! It might have to wait till later in the year, since I've enough to keep me going for the moment.