Wednesday 29 January 2014

Impulse buy


Hi Chaps,

I have just purchased this box of infantry and despite painting them twice before I had the urge to paint them (better this time) again. The basing may be a problem...what does Hail Ceasar use? Would 3 or 4 figures on a 40mm square base be OK? As I will be doing this thing solo is it the same as black powder with 3 bases being around average unit size?

Thanks for any help or ideas you have regarding the basing problem....I am off to do some sticking and cutting.


Friday 24 January 2014

Back when Games Workshop was cool!


Hi Chaps,

there has been a few days delay with this post because my router snuffed it and I had to buy a replacement....and then wait for it to arrive. Still on the bright side I have super fast broadband now!

Is anyone old enough to remember when GW was cool? I have their early rule sets including the first Warhammer 40 000 which is actually a very good game. Everything changes though, a recent visit to their shop in Preston was a revelation...all the paints have changed names again and the prices are just a joke....such a pity as this was once a good company.

It seems that this may be a year for experimenting with rules, IHMN are excellent fun but Force on Force is a total let down. Buckets of strange dice and the initiative changes make me dizzy. Also where does one buy all the good 1/72 stuff from?


World aflame is interesting and I may use it for some Back of Beyond games, it struck me as old scool in the record keeping department, not as good as Contemptible Little Armies though.

For inspiration if you can get hold of White Dwarf 360 (December 2009) there is an article entitled "Old War Stories". For me this article really captures what war gaming is about...how an army evolves and why certain characters and units develop the way that they do. In fact I was so inspired by re reading this that I went straight to games workshop to buy some figures. Only to come straight back out again when I saw the prices!



Keep blogging Chaps, I missed you all!

Thursday 16 January 2014



Hi All,

I have just ordered this as a treat to self along with some scratch building materials...balsa sheets, balsa shaped wood, Willis windows and some foam board. Great to be playing with toys at 47! Hopefully I will have a couple more buildings for my Victorian board by the end of the week....its the strangest thing but I have misplaced all but two of my D10s so I also have 15 of those on the way from Amazon.

Just as an afterthought I must have in the region of 100 dice and I cant remember where I bought even one of them! How many dice do you chaps own? What is the average number of dice (OK die) owned by the average war gamer I wonder?

Keep blogging lads I need to copy your stuff!


Wednesday 15 January 2014

Tripod acquired...more light needed!

Hi Chaps,

Well upon advice I have acquired a tripod and used the timer to take pictures on my camera....only to find that I definitely need more light. Even after playing with the photo on BeFunky these snaps are too dark for use. Never mind...I will provide more pictures as I wrestle with this process. My camera is a humble Canon Powershot A490, 10Mega Pixels.....






Its strange because I could swear that the background was white when I took the photo! LOL. Photographing miniatures indoors is the work of the devil!

Tuesday 14 January 2014

Which is the best camera?

Hi Chaps,

I am thinking of blowing around #100 on a camera so that I can primarily take better photo's of my minis. For this price I have the choice of a few of the "Bridge" type cameras that have a super zoom and some decent features. Can the shutter time on these cameras be altered?

Any advice would be welcome as I really need to work on this to feed my blog with better pictures of my toys!

Saturday 11 January 2014


Hi Chaps,

I apologise for the poor photo quality but I rushed outside when it wasn't either raining or blowing a gale. It occurred to me that I now have three units of 10 men and a technical (plus 2 more Landrovers) and that I will hardly ever field all the figures at once. Despite this realisation I do intend to order some more figures next week, maybe Copplestone or TAG or even Old Glory 28mm modern! Its a good feeling trawling through online catalogues, in fact that is my Saturday night entertainment accompanied by several cans of beer.

I hope that you Chaps are enjoying the hobby as much as I am!

Tuesday 7 January 2014

Britannia Miniatures order arrives! (Excellent Service).

Hi Chaps,

Happy start to the year, my order for some Britannia miniatures via Grubby Tanks arrived today. Not only was the order super quick but Mr Grubby included some extra figures "thrown in for good measure". This was a much appreciated gesture and Mr Grubby deserves thanks and recognition for his good service.

The figures themselves are just what I remember, well cast and with plenty of character, the fellows wearing sunglasses will really make a difference to my modern Africans, as will the amazing technical.

Pictures to be posted soon, I expect to finish the first few later this week.

Keep Blogging.

Monday 6 January 2014

New year, new computer.

Hi All,

well my old computer bit the dust at the weekend. I finally tired of forever re installing XP so I went out and bought a reconditioned Dell with windows XP professional...well I cant be expected to adapt too quickly! If this machine lasts half as long as my last I will be happy, after I have completed this little entry I will scavenge  the RAM out of dead computer to plop into this-Star Wars style.

Good to catch up on what you lads have been up to over the last few days-I was climbing the walls without my blog fix.

Keep Blogging.

Saturday 4 January 2014

Blogger problem...ahh chrome

Hi Chaps,

Thanks for the intel! Reinstalled windows and then Chrome and now I can type freely with err two fingers. I have no idea what happened to Blogger earlier but I forgive her now.

I have to admit to being extremely lazy and distracted this year...real life has been crap actually since my wife and son died 6 years ago but I lostill love reading how people scratch build things. Its a strange tangent that this hobby has sent me on (I also like to see peoples painting stations), so here are a few pics that I saved from a blog. If the owner can let himself be known I will put a link up....this work really is (for me) what wargaming is all about.





This Chap is good! Sorry I don't remember his website but this is inspirational to me and I hope to some of you Chaps. 2014, I hope it is a good one for all of us.

Keep blogging.

Wednesday 1 January 2014

A wierd problem with blogger

Hi Chaps,

I have a weird issue with blogger, I cannot write anything unless I hold down the left mouse button! Has this happened to anyone else? Is there a solution as I really enjoy this blogging? Should I start a new blog?

Thanks