More midnight madness Ral Patha Retro style!

Well another night without sleep and another night scratching around trying to find something to paint. Last nights victim has been on my unpainted pile for a whopping 13 years! Its a Ral Patha viking giant from 1997...god knows why I bought him....anyway he was duly undercoated black and painted.
Its very wierd painting such a dated figure...a bit like vintage porn! What was once really interesting has become dated and about as fashionable as a powdered wig....I've done it but wont be doing it again. I hope that the Renegade order arrives next week to spare me from more dubious models.

My painting station needs a tidy up and scouring...not as much to remove dirt but to rid it of the memory of some of the awful castings it has been home to recently.

Insomnia and a lack of figures = this!

Trawled through boxes from under the bed to find a couple of figures...sprayed them matt black yesterday which was lucky because last night I couldnt sleep. Its a poor photo but it was 1am and my only light source was weak. I think this figure is from an old boardgame, I have a few that are very similar in design, they will end up in my HOTT goblin army-I dont actually have a list for this yet but I am sure that the figures will be useful for something.

Renegade Miniatures rock!

Hi, just put in an order for a WW1 regiment and command from Renegade miniatures. 10.55am on 7th January...wonder how long it will be before they arrive? I have always liked Renegade miniatures, they are easy to paint, a good size and best of all cheap! At a tad under £25 these figures are very good value, 3 HMGs, 16 infantry and a pack of 8 command...add this to the odds I have now and its starting to look like an army! Useful not only for the first world war but at a push they could be part of a Back of Beyond force...ah happy times!

Random pics of past work

Hi, its a cause of celebration-blue sky! To make the most of this event (almost as rare as a solar eclipse here in Cumbria) I grabbed some old figures and pointed a camera at them. The pics are'nt great but at least I've got something to plop on here. By the way if anyone ever wants to swap some of my painted stuff for your unpainted...drop me a line. Fleabay has taken enough of my hard earned to bother with them any more, it always seems that my stuff goes for 99p unless I put a reserve on it!
I have a soft spot for the science fiction figures-they were the last figures my wife bought me before she died...
Anyway on a lighter note it was fun to paint the 6mm stuff but its just not my bag-so they will have to go as I have very limited space.

Old Rulesets.

Being a solo wargamer (that is if I actually game at all) I prefer simple rule mechanisms that actually allow me to complete a game without feeling that I've run a marathon. Anyone remember WRG 7th edition!? So travelling along this line of thought I began to think of rulesets that were important to me on my solo journey. Heres a brief list-most of the rules have been superceded by more modern thought but at the time these were groundbreaking.

1) DBA. The king of solo rulesets, cheap and complete with army lists.
2) Rapid Fire, the best modern set for WW2 and especially useful to the financially challenged gamer who can build his armies in 20mm plastic.
3) Operation Warboard, amazing groundbreaking set-I used this till the book fell apart!
4) PSL Guide to wargaming, what an excellent book this was!
5) Black powder, wargaming excellence.
6) Contemptable Little Armies, written by the scribe to the wargaming gods himself Chris Peers.
7) Ever Victorious Armies, if you find a copy buy it! I left mine in Thailand....
8) WRG 5th Edition...the last playable set from RG till DBA arrived.
9) Irregular miniatures Napoleonic rules for 6mm. these come in a box and are printed on coloured index cards-they actually work very well!
10) Fire and Fury, played this a few times and they worked well.

So there you have it 1685-1845 should get an honourable mention-what did you chaps use? I shall be delving into Black Powder this year at some point...the Sudan looks good and cheap-if we get plastic tribesman....

Work in Progress

Hi All,
despite being rather tipsy over the new year I have started to paint some 28mm WW1 Germans. I've not painted for a while and the camers seems to show a lot of problems-but they are not yet finished....thats my excuse. I'm rather looking forward to playing a couple of small games using more Renegade minis, maybe some French? I will use a Chris Peers ruleset, my son understands them and is rather tactically aware!

Hope everyone out there is starting a new campaign for a new year! What will it be chaps?

New Years Day

Well just eaten a Thai curry...looking through some pics from last year again and found these chaps. I dont think I will try the 20mm plastics as I've just seen some that I did last year and they look...shabby! Just found at the bottom of a drawer-8 german WW1 Renegade figureas and an artillery piece with crew-lifes good when little victories like this occur. Come on plastic manufacturers lets have some first world war back of beyond types produced...enough of the Napoleonic nonsense!

Definatley no 20mm plastics! They are easy to paint but look so spindly!