Chatter Behind The Bike Sheds - Getting It Done?

Reinforcements for the Lead Mountain?

Obviously this post HAS to be about that thing of beauty, The Lead Pile, it sometimes acts as a stimulant, sometimes it drowns the unwary. Mostly it just pisses off the wife ;-)

I am not sure if anyone really understands what drives us to buy more and more whilst other projects remain half finished or even not yet started.

Often we blame being unable to hold onto one thing at a time and that projects that are really large loose impetus and become a bind. These both are true in many cases but I wonder if in fact it's a useful excuse rather than a reason.

What if the true reason is that we simply have more money to spend on our hobby than we have time or interest in painting up? What if we actually tried to only buy at the speed of our painting, maybe just for one year?

Of course this could be a disaster, one main reason for going to shows is the chance to buy all the things we want including more and more lead/resin/plastic. I have to admit buying is a lesser reason to go to the show's. It's obviously the company, those I travel with, as well as those I meet at the show.

But keeping with the horror idea of not increasing the lead pile, lets go further whilst I have you. How about NOT buying figures for a year but still drawing the money you would have spent on figures etc. and instead spending it on

1. Terrain and Buildings. This is for the ones playing on the same old table they have for the past 20 plus years. Look at the hills, roads houses etc. If your using the same five buildings over four periods why not consider such a move. With all the cheaper but more realistic options now available in all scales it could be what you need just to make your old armies just that bit better.

2. Rules and Old Armies. So many armies are sitting unloved and unplayed since that last game where finally the rules drove you nuts or you simply got fed up of the same old same old. Well most modern rules bring a new flavour to the game and new mechanic's that make playing the game so much more fun and/or challenging. Better still if it's Biblical through Medieval and you based for DBA/M then in most cases no rebasing is required. Ok you may want to run a ink wash over your figures and tart up the bases but if you test drove some new rules you may well find the fire rekindled enough to make that a pleasure not a chore. Warning, it could lead to buying new figures to flesh out new options or larger number of figures allowed for that troop type.

3. Painting Service. There I said it. For some reason many of us hate them, well hate the idea of using them ourselves. One good reason is getting the painting service to match your style and skill. Well in today's world with the internet it's so much easier than it ever was. Another issue is pride and expense, so often rolled nto one I include them together. Some how you failed if you use a painting service and worse still your paying good money to feel said failure. Well that may have been a good argument when we had the time to paint and not the spare cash to pay for someone else to do it but for many of us the cost is not such a burden but time really is. What is worse, spending money on piles of figures that IF they do get painted just means lots of others never will. Or diverting that money to getting some of those figures that have not made it to your desk but ARE still wanted to being painted? Don't get them based, do that yourself, it's amazing how much that contributes to making the figures look like the rest of the army.

So how about you all looking at your mountain and I mean looking at it and considering one or more of the options above. I think in the next few weeks I will pull out and list all the figures I have in the pile and predict their future on this blog, dare you do the same on yours?

Relevant to this, next weekend will be Triples at Sheffield. I plan to pick up a Baccus order of the new cavalry I have yet to buy and if all goes well other new French figures which will find their way to the desk PDQ. I have a cunning plan, each month I plan to paint up at least three Battalions of French, Three of Prussian, some cavalry or Artillery and at least one Zulu Regiment all in 6mm until I have all the Waterloo stuff finished and get to Matt the last of his Zulu's, Not at all happy I have not got moving on them so they take a seat up front till they are done. 

On top of that I plan the odd fantasy figure for the campaign and finish off a couple of Sniper Reminder bases part done. After that I will try and get more Snipers done to fund further purchases and get the Winter War started again to get some cash in as well as paint up to keep.

Still on the list but sliding down is the Roman's, by the World's I want to have painted up enough to justify buying more but I think that's a bit hopeful. The cowboys need painting up as I think Lee will be wanting another go at it soon and why not.

One last thing, I don't plan on buying more than I paint once I have these new Baccus in hand, though to be fair I have actually painted a lot more 6mm than bought in the last five months so feel fairly good on that score.

Buildings of the Week, Going Medieval

No new buildings this week as I re-visit the Leven Miniatures Medieval range, though I have them as older buildings for either the ECW or Napoleonic period. Indeed much of the Quatre Bras village will be made up of the MED03, MED04 and MED06 buildings. I will be adding some of the MED05's as well but more likely they will be in the outskirts or part of one of the farms. Most of these will in fact find their way into my town to mix in with the other three already painted.

I had damaged one of the MED04 buildings when I first dropped it and then ran over it with my chair for good measure. Never mind, why not have a little fun.

I worked on it with a hammer to try and break up the roof a little which was much harder than you would think. Finally I managed to get the roof broken away in enough areas as to make it easy to work with. I also damaged the sides in a few points which I turned into further damage.

I will be painting up a wood shop to go on the tile adjacent so added some discarded older wood to the tile. The wood yard will have fresh looking wood to work a good comparison to the stained wood that's been left here. The plan is to build up a number of tiles that are trades which will add a bit more life to the town, just got to work out exactly what to do but that's half the fun.

View from above, as you can see the smoke billows out as well as up. The smoke is in fact toy wadding that I have teased out and added some grey black watery paint too. I really like the result and it will hold well and not fall off at a later date. Maybe Quatre Bras may have a burning building come Joy of Six LOL

I did paint flame colours to the broken parts of the roof (on a black base colour) which was not over the top so works well. It was a lot of fun but very messy.

I also added a door to the model, open into the street and added smoke pouring out of it, I did want to add someone hanging out of the building but being Medieval model the windows were very small so instead I may add a few people in the street looking rather unhappy.

Whilst having more fun than should be allowed I also painted up another three buildings this week using up the whole of my Medieval supply. Mostly they are similar in colour to each other but each has a point or two of difference and will be placed away from each other in the old quarter of town. 

I will possibly buy even more of these buildings in the future as they look really good on the table and can fit into both the periods I do in 6mm and will fit into many of the countries that the Napoleonic war was fought over.

All three roofs were done a little different which helps break up the similar paint jobs. These three and the others I have not based will end up on the same tile as a bit of an hovel section, this will allow me to put the buildings close to each other and also make roads that are not totally on a grid. I plan to do a number of these with varying number of buildings and other scenic's as fancy grabs me and imagination allows.

A scale shot against the new Baccus French Grenadiers. I plan to paint about three buildings a week until the end of June, this will have me on about 50 buildings for the year at that point and on track for the 50 mark. Getting 100 building's done in a year is about £200-£250 worth in Leven Miniatures, that's a lot of resin for your money!

A Matter of Elf

For the first six or so sessions one of the players has used a Human Ranger as her figure but after waiting for the figure to finally be back in stock at Leisure Games I was rewarded with the Reaper Miniatures Elvish figure  14058 Lorielle Silverrain sculptured by S. Garrity.

I really like the figure as has a reasonable amount of detail and fits the players idea of what she looks like so it's more or less perfect for the game. I decided to go really pale skinned as I wanted the Elves to have a fragile look. Being the Fourth Age and after the calling of the Elves home the ones left should be more care worn and in some ways more vulnerable.

The player is experiencing her first roleplaying game and has gone from very self concious to really getting into the theme and world. The reward has been two way, she gets to have a lot of fun but also contributes to the thinking and comes up with ideas and has helped break down a few leads to get results. I have a strong block of players that will help the game progress.

I do wish more figures would come with baggage, though this figure is carrying enough wit the bow case and sword. She also has a couple of pouches and extra's on the belt which makes for interesting bits to paint. If I had been brave I would have added some free hand to the quiver but as it was a bit rushed anyway I chickened out.

The Building of The (Last) Week

This was actually painted last week but I had the choice of running with it or Blog-Con and wanted to get the Blog-Con post out before I got to far into this week as I knew I would split it into parts so as to be able to give each section good coverage.

Here we have another Leven Miniatures building but this time it's actually available and can e found in the Military section. MIL23 - Longues-sur-Mer Bunker priced at £2.50 The image on the Leven site does not show it with the gun barrel though it does come with one.

I added the model to a 60x60mm base and built up a bank to look more like the actual bunker as seen on a quick internet search. The picture above shows the tapered gun off rather well. It is not just a barrel as it also has a block built to it which looks good from the front.

I could not resist adding steps to the rear for the troops to climb on leaving the emplacement even though this is going in a display case that almost certainly hide such details. I know you will understand LOL.

I kept the concrete look fresh painted grey rather than the more worn and aged look of now, hope that looks right for Mike. I built up the sides with cardboard and bits of wood wrapped in paper glued down then coated in Bitter Chocolate Sandtex, coated in sharpe's sand. Dry-brushed and then given a lot more static grass than I would put on a base followed by plenty of tufts to break up the finish a little.

Spring Blog Con, The Loot and the Dudes

It's the people that make Blog-Con, not that a good venue doesn't add to the experience but whilst venue and games add to the whole it's the people that keep us coming back for more. Dave D was great, steering us through chaos, Sydney added another layer of fun that kept us all entertained. Our Oldhammer mates are just that. Eight months ago I would have had a different view of Oldhammer but seeing the guys play both games (Nottingham and York) I have a growing respect and feeling of comradeship towards them.

EVERYONE just gelled together and the whole day was one of joy and other than Ray not a bad word was said about anyone (just kidding Ray,we bad mouthed another guy)  ;-)

It was a shame I was not up to staying for the Curry Evening, the southern one looks to e a stay over (I have the dog kennel of one of the Oldhammer freaks guys so am sorted LOL).

It really started well for me as Loki gave me my prize from his last giveaway (he is having another you know) but being the top guy he is he also gave me a bonus book, a historical novel to read between the Sharpe's I am also reading at the moment. I just need to finish the last Wheel of Time book then I am all over these! I don't think I was as forward in my thanks as I really should have been so thanks Andrew I really am looking forward to both of these, the Howard book more for the unexpectedness of it.

So the end of my Blog-Con trilogy and a big thanks to all the guys, you all made my day, especially Lee for being the great mate he has been over the last three years. The two where I was skint and too often short tempered through fatigue or pain. He was generous in time and lifts so it was great to be the driver for a trip that was not just round the corner. I have to admit that two of my oldest opponents still remain favourites to play against so Lee and Matt cheers mates and here's to another 30 plus years of being little kids and laughing at not juts each others misfortune on the table but our own!

Spring Blog-Con The Great War

The second game we played was a fun loaded Great War Skirmish called Get Carter ran by Sydney Roundwood who ran it with much merriment and brilliant accents and comments that had us all champing at the bit to get at 'em!

I was picked to lead the boys over the top, I assigned troops and basicly left it to them to get on with it as I also took my troop of five rifle armed Tommies and four rifle grenadiers giving the bombers and trench clearer's to other parties. 

Lee was the only one to suffer casualties getting into the trench but as he was the first to make contact he did suffer for this. However he did force back the Germans all the way back to the command dugout. However these Germans rallied their shock off quickly and charged back at Lee winning the melee and sending him packing. This only happened as I was inactive for three turns or the Germans in this area would have been destroyed as I was at full strength but that's the nature of card activation systems.

On the other flank we got straight into the Hun and was to see how devastating two attacks one after the other could be as these German front line trench troops where first beaten and then smashed. Unfortunately they were to far away at that point to help the right hand attack.

Finishing off the German left flank, the Big Man gets seriously wounded and two of the last three Germans carry him to safety. The last German was quick to get out of the trench and run for the rear. At this point with two relatively fresh squads in reserve and my yet to be committed squad all looked good for us.

Rather than attack me the surviving German squad moved down the adjacent leg,mean while bringing their shock right down. This did not worry me too much as I would charge into them with great odds as soon as my card came up, this would free up the way to Get Carter from the command dugout (top left) he was no longer under guard but would not leave the dugout as he was wounded.

The German Trench Raiders turn up (one bunch over open ground and the other now coming in between me and Carter. I had already attacked the German squad but had taken a mauling due to the extra Big Man and whilst I shocked their troops well had only killed two. I in reply did not suffer much shock but lost more troops, now I was in trouble and needed the help of our friends. Curt (left) and Kev look on as if things are going bad but in fact are resting their faces after another salvo of laughter  :-)

We had three separate attempts to go over the top and rescue Carter but each fell short of getting to him, one by just an inch. A mix of rifle fire and MG (top left) had us further reduced. Even if we got to Carter we would have been trapped in the dugout. Maybe a few of us managed to get back but overall the field was littered with our dead.

It was such good fun and knowing the rules that bit now would look forward to trying again and having just as much fun again. Everyone was clearly enjoying the game and even though some of the German's got to enter late and Lee was knocked out early the banter kept everyone engaged.

So we had two great games with great terrain and figures it was an absolute treat. Just the edge of the table was the Old Hammer game that was played through the whole afternoon and clearly was a lot of fun for the two guys playing. They were really a good addition to the day and I am really glad they had the room they got. No doubt that they really could have done with a little more but not a word of complaint and the great thing is that they will travel to the southern Blog-Con as well.

Thanks needs to go to James for setting up the whole concept but Dave really needs the main praise having developed the con still further. It's now developed into a life of it's own and even though Spring Blog-Con was meant to be just a small affair to celebrate Curt's visit to the UK it was most excellent to be able to see it as that bit more. Word is that it will be down south for the late in the year session this year and that's no problem, lets see what those boys in easy town can come up with  :-)

Spring Blog-Con

Well the second Blog-Con was yesterday. A much smaller event but well attended, indeed we could not manage many more. Having nearly missed this one as I thought it clashed with something else I was even happier to make this one.

We stood outside for a chunk of time just chatting with the weather being so nice and a bunch of nice guys why would you move?

Well this would be one good reason. Ray was in town, caught red handed smuggling budgies and about to be dragged back to Canada by Curt (from whence the budgies were smuggled I assume).

We were the Pinkerton's and we had already planned on spending the money for the reward so I guess the Mounty just might not keep his man.

Stair's having yet to catch on in Canada, Curt throws Ray over the rail for a speedy getaway, jumping over the rail and landing next to the slightly confused Ray (obviously landing on his head knocked a lot of sense into him).

Curt ties Ray up and then climbs onto his horse to try and get to the train before it sets off. Clearly thia was gong to be a drag for Ray.

The gambler after making a few bucks strolls outside and gets into it with a couple of outlaws. Favouring his shotgun he cuts down Loki and a poor innocent civilian, oh well plenty more civi's would get what was coming so no time to weep. Loki was to get back up and continue the fight but that gambler was a tough guy.

Curt races around the town until he gets the opportunity to ride over the tracks and add a few more lumps to Ray (Curt either really likes budgies or dislikes Ray!!!)

Curt gets on the train, hog ties Ray shoots me down as well as another Pinkerton who he walks up to calmly and finishes him off. I need a 6 on 1 die to get up which I manage but Curt drills my other arm and I jump off the train allowing Curt to ride off into the sunset.

A fantastic game with so much laughing and dice throwing, real load of fun and a great time had by all, well except Ray.

Tomorrow I will post about the second game by Sydney Roundwood, another eye candy filled game that delivers on all levels.