So what is happening? Well you can read a little about the decisions leading to the move on the front page and the About page. But what I hope you’ll see over the coming weeks are:

• more frequent posts about the hobby and what I’m doing
• reviews of magazines (Miniature Wargames, Battlegames, Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy, Slingshot)
• galleries showing my armies and projects
• my ImagiNation – lots to come on this as I prepare for the 2012 Ayton game
• game reports – IF I actually manage any!
• show reports – hopefully starting with York this Sunday

So please comment on anything as feedback is much appreciate. And hopefully I’ll add a feedback/contact page soon!

So, what was the plan for the day? After dropping kids at school I spent a bit of time tidying up the attic. It still doesn’t look like it but a lot of stuff is now in drawers and I have some space on my desk/painting table. May will see the next Ayton game for which I have great plans (see the Painting Master Plan to the right). I’d hoped to start before Christmas to try and avoid the rush to finish in May but there was too much on and I only managed to spray undercoat a good batch of figures. So today I thought I’d at least make a start.

First up are two small batches to add to what I already have. We have the next contingent of ‘Native’ warriors from the Colonies, under the command of JaegerMeister Hans Gretal of the Altefritzenburg Jaeger Korp. After their outstanding performance in last years game I have high hopes for this larger force. Along side them are the second squadron of the Legion Uhlans. The initial squadron was just not meaty enough to deal with Old School size units so I’m doubling it to 12 figures and will include an office and standard bearer.

 

All figures are RSM. I’m hoping to get these done by the weekend and then start on the first of the Ottomans. I want at least one unit done, then will start the artillery for the Legion, then return to the Ottoman cavalry.

I’m not sure yet if the painting is up to the last lot. I’d painted a good few 28mm before I got to the Uhlans so my ‘eye’ was in. These are the first 28mm I’ve painted since last May so we’ll just have to see.

And most worryingly, the mystery Ral Partha green paint is getting close to unusable so I’ll need to prioritise units that will use it.

Anyway, nice to be back painting.

So we come to the:

Another Slight Diversion 2011 Year in Review.

Wargaming Neutral

I’ve got to start with this really This was my great master plan for keeping my hobby and my spending under control for the year. To be honest, the first half of the year went pretty well. I managed to sell a few things to fund projects and kept the painting going steadily to justify new purchases. Then come the last three or four months it all went pear shaped! Here are the final figures;

I ended up lumping together the last months as I’d failed (feared!) doing the monthly updates and to be honest I may have missed a couple of things off. Nothing major I think… I’ve excluded the purchase of rules as this would likely add another hundred to the total.

The main culprits have been the RSM and the GHQ. The RSM I need for the 2012 Ayton Game and I’d hoped that by getting them early I could avoid the rush to paint them. I have about sixty sat next to me undercoated and ready to go. Just need to start. The GHQ was a massive expense but the bulk were bought at half or less price and have given me the core of my Syrians and decent Italian and British forces for 1940/41. Still need a few odds and ends but not a lot and there will be some scope for selling/trading spares.

Do I intend to carry this on into 2012? Yes! This, and the Painting Master Plan give some structure to what I’m doing and it will be a challenge (likely a hopeless one!) to get those figures out of the red by the end of the year.

Review

I’ll restrict the review to a few highlights and a general moan!

THE highlight had to be the Ayton Game. It was a pleasure painting up my Savage Swans and the weekend itself was what wargaming should be about: great figures, great games and great company. I am REALLY looking forward to this years game and to getting back to some 28mm painting.

Projects – despite getting little actual gaming done, I did keep a few projects going and even completed a couple! I’m most proud of the Swans.

Really please with how they came out. Next up has to be the FUBAR project.

Still no game played (coming soon, I promise!) but fun to put together and also to follow Michael at Angel Barracks and his project and games. I met up with him briefly en route to Cornwall and he is a very nice chap. I almost felt guilty doing my upcoming Colonial stuff in 10mm and not 6mm!

The Modern stuff has ticked along, slowly making terrain as well, and a good push would see the main armies finished. Got slightly distracted picking up some IDF but that enabled me to almost complete my initial Syrian forces and led me to the guilty pleasure that is GHQ.

Finished off bits of Punic related stuff which I was rather pleased with even if I’ve hardly played any game with them.

Games – bit of a poor show quantity-wise but made up for by the quality! Again, the highlight was the Ayton weekend. Fun campaign and games. You can follow the tale in Issues 26 and 27 of Battlegames with more to come in Issues 28 and 29. Managed a couple of small Impetus games (both fun) and a couple of Cold War Commander games (here and here). And apart from dabbling with the Waterloo game at the Christmas meeting, that was it… hopefully more this year though I feel the weekends being allocated already and time flying past!

Other Stuff – what else grabbed me? The whole Battlegames demise and rise was a worry. I love the mag and would have been sad to see it go. Its takeover by Atlantic, albeit with some issues over the digital issues, is a relief. Hopefully I’ll get chance to post a review of Issue 27 soon. Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy continues to deliver a quality product as well. I resubscribed to Miniature Wargames as I’ve been enjoying it recently, only to find the last couple of issues less than expected. I bought the last AWI themed Wargames Illustrated and wasn’t hugely impressed. It was the first I’d bought for a while and will likely be the last for a while. The mag just doesn’t do it for me…

I also picked up the new I Ain’t Been Shot Mum from TooFatLardies. A very nicely produced set with some good ideas that I hope to try this year. The Yahoo group is also very good and it has been pleasure seeing Richard’s input to the hobby via this and various magazines.

And finally I discovered the Meeples and Miniatures podcasts. Neil Shuck’s enthusiasm for the hobby comes across really well, there’s a good range of reviews, and the interviews are well worth a listen. Recommended.

And 2012? Well, you can see the Painting Master Plan. Priority has to go to the figures for Ayton in May. Then finish the Syrians and make a start on the North Africa stuff. Anything else will be a bonus. I’d love to get more games in and will be negotiating over the coming weeks for when that night happen. A FUBAR game is a must, even if solo. It would be shame to have gone to all the trouble of putting the forces and background together and then not use them. And at least one big Cold War Commander game to put all the terrain to use. I’d love to get to the big Cold War Commander game being planned in Sheffield but I fear that will be pushing for one weekend away too many!

With 167 Followers, 60500 visits and an average of 45 visits a day, I’d like to improve the blog. Whether that is from a move to WordPress, more posts, redesign or whatever I’m not sure. I enjoy posting stuff and hope I can maintain both my hobby and the blog at a more productive level in 2012!

Thanks

Andy

 

I took control of a couple of brigades of British cavalry and some horse artillery on the British left.

They had moderate success seeing of French cavalry and breaking squares.

The Prussians slowly advanced on the French right, driving off Cuirassiers, but not being able to make rapid progress.

As the Guard advanced the British center was under threat.

 

The Guard did break through but were held and repulsed!

And as the recovered French corps moved to the attack again it looked like the center would hold.

The Prussians continued to push onwards but were desperate for their other Korps to arrive!

As time ran out it was agreed on a marginal Allied victory. The center had held, barely.

I haven’t played Grande Armee for…ages. And really enjoyed it again. The game was great fun and played with great spirit by all concerned. And this was certainly helped by the excellent supply train!

Some fine cognac, German brandy, cherry brandy, port, wine, vodka…

Phil, Lawrence, Ian and Richard were doing a 28mm Dark Age game:

 

The regular large Great Captains game, part of an ongoing campaign:

With serious numbers of 15mm figures present!

There was a large naval game, French vs. Japanese I think but no idea on what rules!

 

All in all, a very pleasurable way to spend the afternoon. And luckily I didn’t have to drive anywhere tonight as I’d be way over the limit!

So a big thanks to the guys for games and victuals and hopefully I can make it down more in 2012.

If you read the comments on Amazon about the Blu-Ray transfer there are a few people who complain it is ‘too clean’ and that the original ‘quality’ of the film has been erased by the digital processing. All I can see is a bloody stunning film! The colours are vibrant and it was a joy to watch. It was great to have the time to sit and watch it on my own and it still remains a great film. I know the history ain’t quite right but in this case I don’t care. For me it is one of THE films of my childhood and I can watch it again and again!

And after the film I had a little time to finish off some basing. I had done a unit of T62As for my Syrians. Models are GHQ and rather nice. HQ stand completed as well.

 

 

And just so I might have enough for a small game, I did a recce unit and the CO stand.

 

 

 

The GHQ T55 is an absolutely lovely model. Oozing crisp detail and and example of GHQ at their best.

And yesterday I spent a little time dipping the latest batch of trees from Timecast in PVA ready for basing up.

 

With what I’ve done so far this will hopefully give me enough to get going, though I think I really need about the same amount again! As with the others I did I’ll be putting them 3,4,5 to a base and then putting those on defined areas of cloth etc. to mark the extent of woods.

One day I’ll use them in a game…

Someone on TMP had suggested using Veltrim (usually used for car interiors) as a material for game cloths. I managed to get a sample of the ‘SAND’ colour.

Although it matched quite well with that I’ve painted my tiles I’m not yet sure I’d right for general desert use. Just not quite yellow enough. It would cost £21 plus shipping for a piece 9ft by 6ft. The jury is still out on this one!

On a visit to Timecast I was talking to Mark and Barry about any plans for doing track rather than using actual model railway track which is a tad too big. The issue is always how much you do. You need straights, points and curves. But if you do curves, what radius? And do you allow for double track? And curved points? So this Hornby stuff seemed a good idea. They also said they had looked at this as well for some models but had found it really difficult to glue…to anything. Something about the type of plastic being glue resistant!

Now I bought the pack months ago and as with many projects it has sat on the side waiting. However, at SMOGGYCON last weekend Martin at Warbases has a little bargain box so I picked up a pack of 132mm lengths of MDF which I thought would be ideal for the track. And today I found a little time to make a section up.

I just lathered on UHU glue and let it dry fully, trimmed the ends, and then used Vallejo White Pumice to texture the rest of the base. Sprayed with mid brown an then painted and dry brushed the lot.

You can get an idea of what the basic track looks like below. The only slight issue is that some/most pieces have a code number on them. I may try and trim some of these off but on the test piece I left them on and then painted that bit black. I also used one of the very short track sections in the middle and that makes it look a little uneven.

Overall, assuming the glue thing doesn’t kick in, I’m quite happy with it. Future one’s I’ll texture to make the raised track bed more prominent. And I want to move to some double track, maybe mostly curved. Martin at Warbases has said he can cut curved bases to size so if I can work up some templates that should be good to go. The lots of interesting points etc. will allow some nice rail yards to be made up, I hope.

Still, as with all projects, lots more to do!

This little game was fought yesterday at SMOGGYCON. Figures, rules, terrain and umpiring provided by Peeler and you can find details on the forces/figures used on his blog. He also graciously provided his pictures as by then my camera was dead. The Zulu hordes were commanded by Norman D Landings and Goat Major and I took command of Her Majesties forces alongside Richie. Rules were the Colonial Supplement for DBN from KISR and I shall be acquiring these to go with the pack of Pendraken Zulu War figures I bought!

It’s an excellent venue. Spacious and light. The two main halls being quiet separate was confusing for some, who commented on the Show being not as big as they thought, and were then introduced to the main Sports Hall – I won’t mention who!

There was a good range of demo games on, some familiar from other shows, and a few participation games.

An excellent looking SYW game wherein it was good to see a lot of my favourite RSM miniatures. The first picture highlighting an issue with the lighting in the Sports Hall which although bright enough gave everything a yellow tinge!

The Derwentside Club had an interesting SF game where all terrain AND vehicles were made from card!

Border Reiver Wargames had a very impressive Irish Civil War street battle depicting ‘The Block’, one of the last actions in Dublin in 1922.

Tyneside Wargames Club fielded an impressive array of Imperialists and Ottomans for a Great Captains game.

Various WW2 games were on show using rules such as Rapid Fire and Kampfgruppe Normandy . It was not always easy to see what games were and what rules were used. Asking would have been the solution but I was a bit pressed for time as the battery on my phone/camera was on the way out. Again. So I apologise in advance for lack of accreditation.

 

 

 

 

 

There were other demos and competition games in the Sports Hall but the lighting didn’t really facilitate decent photos.

As I’d travelled down with Norman D Landings we met up with Goat Major and Peeler (all WD3 denizens). The latter, with the Yorkshire Shore Wargamers, had a neat little DBx Colonial game open for participation using 20mm Zulus against the valiant redcoats.

I’d seen at least one game mirror Zulu Dawn rather than Zulu so the three of us, plus Rich with Peeler as umpire embarked on a game ourselves. I’ve never really played DBA but some of the variants seem to have a good following and reputation and this set (which I’ll have to get Peeler to remind the name of!) were no exception. As the Zulus charged forward onto the British line they were met with withering volleys (despite my naval guns jamming!) and suffered badly. On the right (Rich commanding) they fell to Native Levies and when finally made contact were driven off with much loss. By the time the flank attack was approaching the army had broken to not a single loss to the Queen’s forces! As the roll call was called afterwards all were present and correct and the impis returned to villages full of widows. Fun little game. Excellent rules.

And finally the re-enactors (ACW and WW1) looked excellent and had friendly and informative stalls.

All in all it was a good show.

The Damage!
It was inevitable I’d buy something but I tried to be restrained. A few bases, a Britannia BMP for my 20mm Soviets. Some dice (you can never have too many!). And Extra Impetus 4 which finally has the lists for my Punic Armies.

And having swore I would do nothing that involved a new scale or a new period, I walked away with a 10mm Pendraken Zulu War pack! God knows when I’ll paint them but it was only one pack and one pack of figures do not a new project make! Honest…

Bring and Buy was spacious and well run. Not much in the way of bargains for me but there were two boxes, 105 figures in each, of plastic Spencer Smiths. Neatly painted and at £40 a box well worth it I thought. Now there was no way I could justify them but I know a man who might! So come the end’ish of the show as people were reclaiming their stuff from the Bring and Buy I asked if I could leave a contact email for the owner to see if he would like to contact my friend who MIGHT have been interested. But no, it was against ‘Club Rules’. The models had not sold, any potential sale resulting was likely to be weeks off even if it happened and it was in the owners court if even bothered contacting. But no. Not allowed. They obviously couldn’t risk losing the 10% they weren’t getting anyway… I understand and support the general rule about grabbing stuff in the signing in queue, or pulling from the table and then selling and I wouldn’t condone that. But this was the end of the day and they’ve basically cost the guy a potential £80 sale. I felt it was a little petty…

So if the seller reads this, drop me a line and I’ll put you in touch. It may not happen but you never know…

So in summary, it was another excellently organised show. Good games. Good traders and good atmosphere. A welcome regular addition to the pre-Christmas  show calendar. Roll on next year.

On the painting front, I’ve just about finished off some BTR-50s with mortar teams and a sagger team and have a GHQ T-62A battalion based and ready to go. You’ll hopefully notice that I’ve expanded the Syrian section on the Painting Master Plan to the right. It’s not the definitive list but it does give me something to tick off as I go until I can get a proper list worked out. I’ll likely add the IDF re-basing to the list at some point as well.

Had a bit of a flurry on eBay to pick up some GHQ models (mostly at half price or less and new in pack) for my Italians and British for North Africa, as well as a pack of Super Shermans for the IDF. These should arrive in the next week and give me a good addition to this project. I’ve even added the A9 and A10s to my Christmas list in the vain hope someone will take the hint!

So that’s it for the week. Still scared to do the Wargaming Neutral….

Meant to post this last night, but Henry announced yesterday that Battlegames magazine is in the process of being taken over by Atlantic Publishing to be a stablemate to Miniature Wargames. The full announce is here. There have been corresponding posts on TMP, WD3 and assorted blogs and Facebook and as to be expected the response is a big Hurrah! It is really good news. For Henry, to allow his baby to carry on and to get his life back in order. For us, to get an excellent magazine back.

The intention is for Henry to remain at the editorial helm and for the style and content to remain. And there is the intention for Issue 27 to be available by Christmas/New Year. There have already been a few comments on mailing lists that the result of this will be a merger of the two titles at some point – as happened with Battle for Wargamers and Military Modelling all those years ago. I don’t see this happening for two reasons. One, Henry would not hand over the mag if he thought it was going to ‘change’. Battlegames has a unique approach to the hobby – not entirely Old School, but far from the current glossy approach. Two, well actually I can’t think of two! I just trust Henry’s decision and that Andrew Hubback and Atlantic don’t have an ulterior motive!

I don’t know whether they intend to use their marketing clout to push the magazine into Smiths. It would be a risk as the increase in print run and costs would put a lot of pressure on its success. I think it could work. As a bi-monthly, especially if alternated with Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy there would still really be only three mags on the shelves per month and I know a few wargamers who buy the Smiths mags regularly but don’t really know about Battlegames so there is a good potential market out there. Then again, they may just keep things as they are. Either way, I’m please to see the mag saved and with Henry and Atlantic the best for a successful future.