Saka Light Cavalry

Saka Light Cavalry

Sunday 25 September 2016

Chatter Behind The Bike Sheds - No Wolrds For Me

This is how I thought I would feel but I am more shrug. I have found shows more difficult since The Boy has got into gaming and wants to go to them. It almost seems like work to try and balance doing my stuff and getting the most out of a visit for my son. The fact that he waits patiently as I AGAIN stop and chat for twenty minutes as we nip to the next game he wants to play etc just makes me feel worse. Balancing the desire to chat with mates, supervising The Boy's purchasers and games as well as my own retail needs does make it difficult. 

Not making a show I have been looking forward to for months and not really being too bothered is a bit of a shock. Especially as I thought I was going to make it with no problem not having worked out my rota properly. The Boy is OK with it, I did say he may still be able to go with Lee but he is happy to have a game or two with me when I get home from work on Sunday.

I of course will miss the chance to catch up with a few mates which is the only part I can't manage to substitute via the net, however I will try and make sure I get to York being the next probable show for me. 

It does beg the question are shows losing their attraction to me other than the obvious face to face meet ups that normally only happen at such shows and if so is it the same for others?

Whilst I did have some good ideas on what I planned to buy I have so many figures  (over 5,000) that I won't miss out and even do myself a favour by not going. Get the lead pile a bit more under control. However below is a list of sorts of what I would have been looking at getting.

15mm Ancients 
I was certainly going to buy a couple of packs of Forged In Battle Alexandrian phalanxes, enough to give me three more pike blocks, even though I don't actually need any more blocks. I would also get some command which I probably could do with. I still have a few blocks worth of unpainted figures that I still have yet to paint.

I was NOT going to buy any more Magister Militum companion cavalry. I still have two units worth from the last Worlds waiting for me to paint. These should get painted in the upcoming Analogue Painting Challenge at which point I will need to decide if I want more cavalry and if so who from.

6mm Ancients
I have six units of Persian cavalry to paint up (108 figures) a few units of Thracian infantry (about 96 figures) and four phalanx (400 figures) clearly I need more, lots more. 
With Lee pushing his Romans I will be further building the Macedonian army. I would have picked up another four or six phalanxes and possibly another three units of cavalry. 
The Persians still need a lot of help to get up to a large enough army to face the Macedonians as they already stand. For this I would have added some more Persian cavalry, most likely the heavier options and some Satraps. I now have six Hoplite units so for infantry I would have gone after levy bow and javelin armed troops.

15mm SYW
The other main and fairly fresh project would see me dropping a few pounds the way of Old Glory or Timecast for more cavalry. I have plenty of infantry awaiting painting, two Lancashire Games battle packs untouched but cavalry wise I just have the unpainted I have used in a few games that need de-basing and painting up. Command and Artillery I have a plenty.

The Boy needs more of everything but he is happy with what he has till we get a few games in. He should be more excited once I have his Blue Moon dragoons finished (current project)

6mm Napoleonic's
Can I seriously consider buying more? The bulk of the 5,000 is indeed 6mm Napoleonic. Well true I do have rather a lot but the Polish need some command and these I need to order from Adler for picking up from a show. So this will now have to be Triples if he travels to that show, or mail order if not. Either way I have plenty to keep me busy for now.
I do plan to get back to painting up more of the Prussians and even more of the French at some point. At the moment the 6mm Ancients and 15mm SYW are absorbing most of my painting time.

And that's it, I stocked up with bases some time ago so am good to go and now I have Thursdays off from work can nip over to Mansfield if I am running low on the odd bottle of paint. So anyone who is going to the Worlds please keep an eye on Lee and remind him he still has SOME space in the shed!

17 comments:

  1. For me shows are the social bit now. Internet shopping does the rest .

    Time for another blog con perhaps... Why not bring the boy too

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    1. I would bring him to another Blog Con, would be the perfect event for him. I need to try and get to Hammerhead as he will love that

      Ian

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  2. I don't know if this is right but I will ask. Is your lack of interest due in part because you cannot things perfectly right the way you want? As in, to be able to watch Boy, chat, mind his purchase whilst doing your own thing.

    So in that you have all this overwhelm, it's easier to drop interest all together?

    I dunno. Could be way off. But sometimes when we don't know where to start or how to sort it, we give up.

    If that is the case, then I encourage you to push through and make the new times together, work. And not be hard on yourself. Because the more time we spend being hard on ourselves, the less time we have for fun.

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    1. If I was off we would certainly go, that is unless something else had to trump it but that would not be likely.

      The social side is important now, shopping can be done via the web. I am not deep enough to be able to get where you suspect I could be LOL.

      I am not beating myself up, rather just articulating the whole thing into being. The Boy and I will be playing through some combats so he can understand the rules a bit ready for a game we can then have maybe next week. We have Command & Colors sorted for Sunday when I get home from work so he is getting something out of it

      Ian

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  3. I would certainly echo Dave's comment with regards to the social side and shopping of shows. I have far too many ideas and not enough time!

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    1. I hear you :-) I am lucky that normally I get a fair bit of hobby time to get to the painting table. Having it set up 24/7 is a major advantage for me as I can grab an hour whenever I feel like it

      Ian

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  4. I've never been to a UK show, so I probably don't know what I'm missing. I'd think I'd be more interested in the demo games to be honest.

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    1. I want to find time for these but never seem to manage it

      Ian

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  5. Triples has been cancelled :-(

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    1. I expected that to be honest. It needed to change so I hope they organisers can look at it and consider re-launching it, preferably as a single day event

      Ian

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  6. I can understand this. I stopped doing shows a while ago...
    Had several years as a break!

    But now I'm back with a vengeance. Though at the moment only when I'm displaying.

    A rest is as good as a change?

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    1. Well I took well over ten years off but have never really had the buzz of before. Maybe youthfulness aided my enjoyment?

      I am sure as The Boy gets older and more independent we will both actually enjoy the shows even more.

      Ian

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  7. I can understand the conflicting impulses. Still, you are a lucky chap to have a son who shares your hobby.

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    1. I am indeed and I don't take it for granted. His continued interest will be a big part of our growing together. I want him to have lots of happy memories of our shared hobby time and hopefully it will set a good foundation for his own relationship with his kids.

      Ian

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  8. The woes of a wargamer, I go to shows just for the sake of going to shows, 99% of the time I have no list to buy from and I spend most of the show talking with other Bloggers and gamers, which I thinks great.

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    1. The last show I went to I did not buy much. Until The Boy choose a new period for us I was thinking I would not be looking at any new ones but here we are with another new project so who am I trying to kid? LOL

      Ian

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  9. I wonder how shows will change in the future to remain current. Possibly a coffee franchise with comfortable chairs would be an idea?

    Ian

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