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.

The tally

I'm unlikely to get a large amount of painting done between now and the new year so it seems appropriate to publish the tally:

Painted:
38 15mm tanks and AFV
5 artillery batteries
64 15mm Hoplites
54 bases of 6mm
753 Spencer Smiths
76 28mm
320 1/72
5 40mm

For a total of 1315 individual bases or figures.
However I bought:
500 Spencer Smiths
100 20mm
200 28mm

And sold over 500 figures.

So I ended up  (I think) with a deficit!
I think it's the first year I've ever been on target to be lead/plastic neutral.
My painting time has reduced and I'm more productive so my plans are as follows:

Paint all the Napoleonic Spencer Smiths.
Paint and game with the Acw figures
Paint and game with the FPW bases
Try to get at least one 3-4 hour gaming session in per month

Happy Hanukkah and see you in the new year

More end of year thoughts

Just a few more things that have occurred to me, viz a viz wargaming. This year I have been searching for rules for the periods I've been focused on. The most tricky has been for the late  19th century since ideally I'd like a set of rules that would cover both the Acw and the fpw. That way I'd only have to remember one set so stand a chance of getting it right more often than not. The more I look the more I feel that the only one that might do it is Black Powder, for the reason that it is very generic to start with. Hopefully the Acw supplement is not far off so I can carry on painting till then.

The hoplites have proved a welcome diversion from the 6mm stuff, but I'm itching to have a go at some 30mm Acw Spencer smiths, as well as some plastic Perry versions. My big issue is that the Kalistra 12mm range is very pretty and fits more with the big battle vision. I suppose I could use the 30mm for large skirmishes of a couple units a side in a Longstreet campaign but will have to wait and see. I think the best thing to do is to put the Spencer Smiths next on the paint queue and get a couple of pack of 12mm To do at the same time. He losing scale can then go on eBay!

End of the year approaches

We're having more work done on the house so my chances of getting my painting mojo into full swing are low. I've got 6mm Prussians almost complete and some 15mm Hoplites from war and empire and basecoated. The Hoplites have been great fun to paint. Even in my hands they look good. I've decided on 8 per 60x30 base, so the standard pack  of 24 will give me 3 bases including command. I might go less figures on the same base size for loose order or skirmishing troops. I think cavalry will be four to the base. With standard bases I could use them for several sets of rules.

The Six week war project is ongoing. I think I'll see how BBB works with my base sizes (60x45) and leave the rest of the measurements the same. I'll report back when I've had a chance to game a decent battle. 

The Fatman is approaching, yet this year I've not really asked for anything hobby related. If my wife is desperate I've said to get some landwehr command for the plastic Prussians but otherwise it just a few books. I did ask for the Perry's battle in a box but doubt that will come.

After Christmas will be Crusade, and looking at the list of traders it might be more worthwhile going this year than last. I think much will depend on what comes for Xmas and how much I get done between now and then.