Christmas 2017 - presents

I've not had much time to update the blog over the festive season but whilst up in the Midlands I have received some lovely presents from Santa, in the form of 1/72 infantry and a surprise present of Darth Vader's TIE fighter! Happy days!

The Zvezda Prussian Grenadiers will finish off my as yet unassembled 1740s armies. Some will be painted up in dual French /Austrian uniforms and the remainder will be in blue coats to represent all manner of armies - Prussian grenadiers foremost but able to depict Hessians for an American War of Independence battle, or for my grander Fontenoy 1745 project, infantry of the United Provinces.

The other Zvezda box is some medieval French infantry - a great assortment of crossbowmen, men at arms and command figures. These will form part of my medieval project, which will consist of armies that can serve as both Agincourt forces or historically inaccurate War of the Roses armies. I already have most of the other sets from Zvezda for this task, including some peasant levies. I want to be able to play with multiple rules - so far One Hour Wargames and Lion Rampant will be on the cards.

The Italeri US infantry from the 90s are a little side project for me to have a break from all the musket armed models I am going to be painting in 2018, and is a sort of safeguard against a total burnout feeling. These figures will be forming part of a Team Yankee-esque coalition force facing off against Soviet units that are already in my collection. I just need to find some M113 APCs to accompany them.

The fourth box was a complete surprise from my girlfriend's parents - in 1/121 scale it will more or less match my Revell X-wing which I made in 2016. The kit itself looks like great fun to assemble and paint, and provides yet another diversion from my main projects... I wish I had more gumption with modelling!

Anyhow back to the seasonal festivities, Happy Christmas to you all!

Hasty Barricades from S and S models

I've just finished 4 pieces of resin Hasty Barricades from S and S models. They will make a great addition to my wargaming terrain. I'm hoping to combine them with Armourfast houses to represent a 'town' in One Hour Wargaming rules. This would form a potential objective for the armies fighting, and these barricade pieces are the perfect length for my Renedra wargaming bases. I've used a variety of GW paints and inks, with a bit of drybrushing to raise little details. In my experience resin models are a massive faff usually and halfway through painting these up I felt they would look awful. But GW inks like Agrax Earthshade and Athonian Camoushade make the sacks and barrels look the business.

WIP Armourfast Farmhouse 1

This is my first attempt at an Armourfast Farmhouse. To use it for a variety of periods (1700s onwards) I wanted to give it some slight battle damage but still retain the main structure so that wargaming units can hide behind it. The next stage will be strengthening the joins with Liquid Green Stuff and using the same substance to break up the surface of the cream coloured plastic.

Christmas haul 2016

A very merry Christmas back in Kent has resulted in a splendid haul of new models. Of particular note, a pair of Moebius 1/72 Cylon Raiders (BSG is my favourite sci fi at the moment!) and the new PSC 25lb gun howitzers - thanks to a blog review elsewhere on the Internet, I'm going to make four guns by using the wheels intended for for the limber trailers on the spare gun barrels and carriages.

Most of the rest are colonial or 1700s rare pieces, so happy days!