Old Hammer....? ID if possible please.

Hi Chaps,

A few weeks or is it months ago? I had a conversation with a fellow I have known for years and he casually mentioned that he had some figures in his garage. Free to me as I am a war gamer...happy days. Eventually this box of what he described as fantasy figures turns up out of the blue! I am grateful but I am pretty sure that they are not fantasy!

By the looks of them they are old-very old Games Workshop 40K but I do not recognise the castings at all. Maybe they will find their way onto ebay but more likely they will now sit in my garage! Is there anything of interest amongst these? Does anyone actually know what they are?

Games Workshop have come a long way from their starting figures thank goodness but then again the hobby has moved on tremendously, I remember being amazed at Hinchcliffe figures that were the true 25mm about 30 years ago.

Keep blogging because I really enjoy reading about your efforts...how selfish is that?!

Painting 28mm ...lots of 28mm

Hi Chaps,

Its been a strange month, the school holidays always slow my painting down but I have still managed a fair few figures. I do not have a goal at the moment, it's just fun to paint whatever is on my desk. Amazingly an Empire army is now sitting on my shelves, it has taken a mere 10 years of occasional painting but it now exists and will appear on here soon...only 80 figures but I swear I don't know how this happened.

Looking around for "Back of Beyond" stuff I stumbled on this site, please do give it a look and do let me know if you have ordered from them. I am seriously tempted by the "Defenders of the estate" group.

http://siberia-miniatures.ru/index.php

Happy painting guys!

Back of Beyond buildings...

Hi Chaps,

I have had a busy few weeks getting married and applying for my wife's visa though to be fair oijai has done most (OK all) of the work. this has left me with not much to do except the usual housework and chores...but some time to paint.

I have been busy with my Empire army which is now a few units stronger than it was so I will give them a rest as all the colours, shirts and stripes are starting to irritate me a little. As a break I began fiddling with the foam that I bought from http://www.depronfoam.co.uk/ .This stuff was really cheap and actually works! Now that I know this stuff is for real I will scribe some brickwork for a more elaborate building, there was simply no way I was going to invest all that time unless I knew it would glue and take paint.

These two hovels are not finished but the sunshine was too good to miss, they took about an hour to throw together and in true Blue Peter style have bits from all over the house in them.

The figures are from Old Glory UK and are from the Boxer Rebellion page, I would buy more from this company as they are cheap and delivery is quick but my pet hate is that the site has so few pictures. I want to see what I am buying! I have no idea what the other figures from this range look like so if the chap who runs Old Glory UK ever reads this....

Buildings for In Her Majesties Name are now looking more affordable (one decent 28mm scale building should cost a couple of pounds to make) so maybe the next few buildings will be for Victorian England? I feel like Dr Who time travelling in miniature....on the cheap! I do look forward to seeing what you chaps construct.

WarHammer Fantasy....what the hell?

Hi Chaps,

I am confused. Last year my son and I played Space Hulk many times and enjoyed every game...we fudged the odd rule here and there but it was simple enough and we got by. Buoyed by this success I dug out a very old copy of Warhammer Fantasy thinking that we could play a game or two with the figures in the box. The old rules seemed straight forward....

This was not the end though, I have a later set. The problems started when I began to read them! They made WRG 7th edition seem like DBA!! How the hell does Games Workshop sell these rules to kids? I can only imagine the endless tedious arguments and teenage angst poured out over this poorly written needlessly complicated pile of crap....and you need a book for each army!!

This is of course my own fault for buying something without researching it...but in my defense this was before the internet and I was single so I had money to spend....now I have a large Empire army which looks attractive enough but it needs a set of rules!

Any advice would be appreciated...the thought of blue tacking my figures down to cardboard is making me ill but Hordes of the Things never looked so good!

It has occurred to me that I am just thick and GW have produced a slick and easy to read manual......(oh god no)....

Scratch Building in 28mm, Materials

Hi Chaps,

It has been an odd few weeks finding my feet again in a hobby that has moved on in light year in just a few months. The investment made by individuals and companies now makes my hobby of the 1980's look so painfully slow in it's progression compared to what we see today. despite progress I still love the Peter Gilder figures and older Essex 25mm.....

Yet again I had o buy another camera-third one in five years! Again another cheap ebay buy at £24! But the real bargain I have discovered is Depron! A cheap foam material that cuts very easily, takes paint and seems to glue OK. You may have already heard of it but if you haven't then it is available here

http://www.depronfoam.co.uk/

This is the cheapest form of building material that I have found so far (excluding free boxes from Tesco etc) and you can also scribe into it but be sure to use a hard pencil (4B or so) as painting out black lines on it is difficult.

Painting some Russians

Hi Chaps,

It's seems like a long time since I sat painting but at last over the previous couple of evenings I have been able to use my brushes. Painting must be a degradable skill! Nothing seemed to be in the right place at first and indeed a couple of mistakes in choice of colour where made but eventually everything settled down.

These figures are from the Plastic Soldier Company and are an absolute bargain in 28mm...after all these are only meant to be bullet stoppers for my beloved Germans!? I thoroughly recommend these to anyone looking to build an army on the cheap-if only I could have bought a similar army pack for the Germans.

The impending arrival of Mrs Hendrickson has forced something of a clear out and a couple of projects that I have little enthusiasm for will go onto ebay to clear some space. In Her Majesties Name will feature heavily this year- despite trying to make space I just ordered some more figures...oh well.

Keep blogging Chaps, I feed off your ideas and enthusiasm.

Fighting communists, crazy paint and marraige

Hi Chaps,

Its been a busy few years but now I am hoping that life settles down into a family routine once again.

Whilst in Thailand I came across these vehicles left over from Vietnam's push to destroy the Pathet Laos which spilled over into Thailand....pretty impressive stuff just by the roadside and painted in the maddest possible colours-I asked a guy who worked as a curator and he said the colours were authentic. Good news for modern players! You cant get it wrong.

I was not brave enough to go inside and play with the 50 calibre machine gun in the cupula as my wife is a phlebotomist whop deals with around a dozen snake bites a week....speaking of wgich here is a pic of my wedding. I am amazingly lucky to have met Oijai.

Now back to the hobby...