More 15mm

The great 15mm change continues. I've painted and based the Boxers, finally going for 3 castings to a 40x20mm base. This gives a good compromise between an unruly mob and regulars merely by the position on the base.

I've also put together 4 Tigers and 5 Panthers from the Plastic Soldier Company for my mid war German army which I'll use with the battleground Kursk rules, having sold all my flames of war books after realising that despite investing heavily in army books and rules I had never played it! I've also realised that I didn't like the codex creep or the Rock Paper Scissors approach to army lists. 

I think next onto the paint table after the tanks will be some VBCW figures before I go back to the Spencer Smiths.

The eBay clear out continues. Next to go are my Crimean and 1866 armies. The FPW armies have a reprieve as I've got enough to run some small scale battles. I'm toying with the idea of rejigging the force on force rules or perhaps looking at the tfl rules for the ACW based on sharp practice.

15-18mm the new hotness ?

Having nailed my colours to the 28mm mast I've realised that most of my recent purchases have been 15-18mm! I've broken up the ongoing spencer smith saga with some 15mm Boxers from Lancashire Games. They are really easy to paint and I'm happy with the results, especially as it gives me a chance to use the more exotic colours that have been lurking in the paint tray for some years.

I've also done a unit of foundry 28mm home guard, which can be used either as designed or will form part of a VBCW force I'm building. I've got some workers militia from Musketeer and will probably get some BUF soon, to go with the blitzkrieg Germans I've already got.

I've also finished the 2 squads of 20mm early war British and Germans my youngest son bought at Crusade.

Speaking of crusade, I have to say that I'm sad to report that the show is getting worse. The number of traders is around the same, but none of the "big" boys are there anymore. When I started going 12 or so years ago, people like old glory were coming, but now even the local store (Firestorm Games) is reducing their commitment. I'm not sure what has changed except the economic climate. The venue is small and perhaps suffers from the lack of facilities ( it's held in the main hall of a local leisure centre), especially the lack of catering options. It's very disappointing as I don't get to go to Salute and with Colours off the next show near me is Warfare but that's not till November and the Rugby season will be on again then! Still it might allow me to make a dent in the lead pile.....

Hello, my name is Melvyn and I'm a wargamer

You may wonder why there's been a sudden increase in the amount of posts, but I've downloaded the blogger app to the iPhone and am away on a course for work at the moment. As there are coffee breaks programmed in and I don't drink coffee, ( the tea is awful as well), so I've been using the free time to ruminate on the wargaming life. 

The more I think about it there more I'm feel that I've chosen the wrong scale for the late nineteenth century warfare. I managed to get a lot (nearly 500), of castings of 1866 Austrians, which have sat in the lead mountain for a few years. They are beautiful but even if I do them justice I'm only going to have enough for a few brigades so I might keep some for skirmishing but the rest might find their way to eBay. The same can be said for the 28mm FPW figures. Then again I might change my mind and get 15/18mm armies as well knowing me!

Pictures of recent games

The Royal Welch Fusileers I painted for my youngest son, whilst Ww1 British advance behind a Mark 4 tank

The panzer grenadiers run away from the British Paras

The times they are a'changing

The clear out of the lead mountain continues.

I've realised that having backed the West Wind ancients kickstarter then it made no sense to hang on to the few 28mm armies that I have so they've gone on eBay. 

I received my swag from the Wild West Exodus kickstarter and I have to say I'm not very impressed. The hired hands figures are very awkward to put together. The rule book is mainly fluff (and I mean over half the pages) and the rules themselves are not the greatest. I'm quite happy with the battlefoam bag but there is one bizarre bit of foam that I think is meant to take terrain pieces but I'm not sure. I think I'll put it on eBay and buy a pick and pluck tray to replace it.

If you'd asked me a year ago what I'd be most excited about then I'd would never have guessed it would be VBCW! I think the release of the dad's army figures from warlord games is to blame. The civilian versions scream VBCW. So I've got some militia figures from musketeer and some foundry home guard with a view to doing a Welsh Natuonalist list. Watch this space for pictures!

Sheriff Fatman started out as a granny farmer........

This season the fatman has been very generous, and the tally is as follows
3 bags of 18mm Blue Moon Confederates to add to the brigade thats nearing completion.
2 bags of 48 Spencer smiths plastics ( so I now know who else in my town I was bidding against!)
The dagger and talon supplement for tomorrows war - now I can use my 40k figures for a game that makes sense
The Zulu war supplement for black powder  - hopefully this will inspire me to finish the impi in plastic thats waiting....

Although it's not the new year till the day after tomorrow we're going to be busy with friends visiting so here are my resolutions for the next year:

1) Finish painting the Spencer Smiths and get the boys to enjoy the delights of old school gaming.
2) Finish at least a brigade for either side in the ACW and game with them at least once.
3) Paint all the stuff I've Kickstarted (28mm russo-finish war, 15mm ancients and Wild West Exodus)
4) Be lead neutral this year.

There are other thoughts I'm having. There are several ears (crimean, crusades, celts and romans and vikings) that I have the start of armies in 28mm but will need to expand considerably to get playable armies. If i continue to get on with 15/18mm painting then I might send them the way of the Napoleonics etc. I am worried that I might get tempted back to that era when the 15mm Plastic Soldier company figures come out (I'm guessing at Salute) but have consoled myself that if they have the same number of figures as their WW2 sets I can base them singularly and then have enough for Sharp Practice, or multibase them and have a few regiments for black powder. I know that Will is a someone who will do all you need for a range once he starts so I'm not worried on that score, more concerned with my megalomania.

Painting Stats

Last post probably this year so time for the stats (not that anyone cares):

Painted 1400 28mm, 50 stands of 15mm, and 400 Spencer Smith plastics.

For the second year in a row this is more than I'd bought until the Plastic Spencer Smiths (1000 of these bought this year), so I'm calling it a even year. I've off loaded several eras so it might be interesting to see which have survived:

28mm Romans and Celts
28mm Anglo-danish
28mm Crusades
40K
Fantasy
19th Century 28mm (Crimean, Six weeks war and Franco-Prussian)
28mm WW1
28mm WW2
28mm Moderns

15mm WW2
15mm ACW

and I've just pledged to the West wind 15mm ancients.

I hope the fat man brings you all that you deserve, and will hopefully be back in the New Year more frequently than this.