New Club Venue.

Having put my house under Martial Law,I have commandeered the small bedroom as my temporary wargames room.

It's dry and warm and comfortable,what more could you ask for??-I even invited the rest of the "boys" around to watch me play some solo games....................................

Thanks for coming around lads,I really appreciate your company,but I'm not sure that you're observing the guidelines for "social distancing"!!!!!!!!

My first game-English Civil War,using all the 15mm figures I have-a grand affair,very enjoyable,and,I'm sure it will be one of many until his terrible business is all over.

An all-action game,taking about an hour and a half,with a win for the Parliamentarians-great stuff.
My next game,tomorrow, will be an attack by a Royalist force against a Parliamentarian-held village,with me taking the part of the Royalists.

The set-up for tomorrow -the "boys" seem to have gone home!!!

Spartan Vignette,and Moan!

First the "Moan"-about Tesco,and their 9.am to 10am "Elderly" slot-we joined the queue at 5 minutes to 9am,and didn't get into the shop until 10am!!-I estimated the queue to be about a mile(yes a mile!) long containing about 300 "elderly" people-organisation and method is obviously not their strong point!!!!!

Bloody ridiculous-3 degrees as well!

Now onto proper things,I mentioned in my last blog that I had found some Ancient Greek figures in my rumblebox,and had decided to do a vignette of the last of the Spartans at Thermopylae 480BC......................

Top photo shows the figures which have been drilled and wire stuck into the holes,and a couple of them bent into appropriate positions,as having been shot full of arrows,and just about to fall!
Bottom is a close up-the wire was cut to length when the glue had dried!

Wire trimmed and figures put into position,for me to envisage the finished vignette,now for the painting.....................

Very simple paint job,not too many colours to worry about-the figures are from Warrior,are cleanly cast and very detailed.

Top shows figures stuck onto base and in final positions,bottom shows my attempt at making the base a bit more interesting by adding lichen and some stones!!

Complete!
Next project is some Napoleonic light infantry!

A Plethora of Pachiderms.

I have achieved two goals this week,one I've finished the Elephant model,two,following Government guidelines,I have been to Tesco for ESSENTIALS.........................

Phew,rum and coke and lemon slices-luxury to the palate!!
The elephant model I started earlier this week,is now finished-hurrah!

Early stages,and simple colour scheme(lazy!)-I decided to paint the Mahout in situ,in case I couldn't get him in place once the tower was put on.

Top photo shows tower stuck on,bottom photo should have a caption of"does my bum look big in this?"

Top photo shows the 4 figures supplied,but only 2 can fit into the tower,and I hate wasting things,so I added a shield to the spare javelin man,and included him on the base.

All finished! I took the following photo's to show my Successor-type elephants.............

11 Successors,12 Carthaginians plus 12 Indians-you can't have too many elephants!!!

In my last blog I mentioned my "Rumblebox"-here it is.........................

Unwanted,unloved,broken and discarded figures from as far back as the early 70's-thousands of 'em!!
Whilst "rumbling" through the box last night,I came across some Ancient Greeks,so just might paint up a small "vignette" of the Spartans last stand at Thermopylae-oh no not another project!!!!

Good News/Bad News.

Bad news-have had to cancel my audience with the Pope(no flights!) Good news is.....................

I managed to get a "triage" nurse to prescribe some anti-biotics-hurrah,so should see the back of my cough by early next week
Even more good news-I have finished the Rangers and Courier du bois figures,unforunately I don't have any card to mount them on,so they'll have to wait a few weeks before I can get them onto the table!!

I'm quite pleased with the results,let's see what the Indians make of them-eventually!!

I found an Elephant in my garage this afternoon-as you do!!

I found this,complete and in a plastic bag,in my "rumble box"(remember the old rumble boxes you used to find at shows??) and ,of course, it is my next painting project.

The damned things never went together properly,but a bit of the old "polyfilla" does the trick!!

Everything stuck,just need to put them onto their painting bases,and the project will begin!

Ready,steady............................

As this fantastic book has a whole section on Successor Elephants,I will be using it as a painting guide.

Painting update/Club News.

As expected,we learned today that Carronade show at Falkirk has been cancelled due to this virus-a great pity but understandable in the circumstances!
I feel "blessed" at this time,in that this hobby has given me two wonderful things:-something to keep me occupied in times of need,and,possibly the greatest thing anyone can have, Good Mates who have all phoned to make sure my wife and I are okay(special thanks to Paul for getting us a chicken and rare tins of Ratatouille!!!)-couldn't do without you lads!.
Well,I've been "cracking" on with the Ranger and Courer du bois figures(I've actually seen three different spellings of these!!)

Block colour has been put on the lot-green for rangers,brown(different shades) for the others(see the way I avoided the spelling thing?) I have decided to paint eight kneeling figures first,so that I can fit them into an existing plastic canoe or rowing -type boat.

First eight,almost complete-these are nice figures to paint-although I must admit that ,for my eyes, there are too many straps to wrestle with!

He looks a bit aggressive doesn't he?-in the background it looks like there's a "line dancing" class going on!!

Top photo shows Rangers in the canoe,bottom shows the "others" in same said canoe!!
I have stuck the figures onto a narrow base,because they will only be used in either the canoe or the rowing boat.

Highly decorative rowing boat,c/w Rangers-you can just see the narrow base that I stuck them to.

The rest of the figures are progressing nicely,and should be finished in a couple of days time.

I set myself two targets for today-one was to gain an audience with the Pope,the second was to contact a Doctor about my awful cough(and hopefully get some anti-biotics),well,I am seeing the Pope next tuesday(flights permitting!) but so far no Doctor,still I will keep trying!!
Please keep reading my "drivel" and commenting where appropriate.

Virus Crisis 2.

Bored?-what,me bored!-it's only day three of my self-violation,so what have I been doing to keep myself amused?
Well,I have a most "disturbing" cough,which I've had for weeks,which starts at my toes and ends up nearly bringing my lungs up!!On Tuesday tea-time I coughed so much that I couldn't breathe,starved my brain(?) of oxygen,passed out and fell and hit my eye on a cupboard handle!-I couldn't remember anything about it until my wife picked me up and started to mop the blood up-well,the next morning(Wednesday) at about 7.30am I had another coughing "episode" resulting in another fall,onto the bedroom floor,cracking my head and bloodying my nose-again,I couldn't remember a thing!!-However,I can now control the bloody cough,so no more falls/pass-outs,just a very sore head,eye and body........................

Poor old soul!
I "dug out" some figures which I have had for a couple of years today,undercoated them,and will hopefully start to paint them tomorrow(unless I decided to head-butt a floor somewhere!)
I don't know the manufacturer,they are French/Indian war figures(rangers and courier du bois) and the animation is very good-can anyone help to identify the make??

There's about 36 of them,top photo-bottom photo is some kind of officer figure-too much detail for any sane man to paint though!!-as per my usual painting method,I'll probably just paint over the detail I deem irrelevant!
My eyes(the good one that is!) has drifted more and more to my neglected guitars over the past few days,so may take playing up again,when I finish these figures-could I combine the two and use one of the figures as a Plectrum!!!-now I'm wandering!!

"Busking" can be quite lucrative,but I'm sure people used to pay me to "STOP" playing!
Anyway,I don't think I can stay away from this little beauty for 13 weeks!

I will keep you up to date with painting and news as it happens,and,hopefully, the rest of the "boys" will contribute with news and text and photo's.