The First Steps of 2017

Hi Chaps,

Well 2016 was a big year...all the big stuff was done, house move and arrival of daughter safely completed so maybe 2017 will be about details. On the hobby side the first detail was to set up my old painting desk and dust off a few old figures (and sell off stuff in boxes).

It came as a surprise whilst filling my shelves that I have over 100 40K figures! Not bad for someone who does not play the game...maybe GW will do an Age of Sigmar on it and finally make it accessible to lesser mortals? Anyway I had an hour or two re acquainting myself with the little fellows who stared back at me rather menacingly...

As you can see the old bureau is getting a little worn but like myself it has had a life which is reflected in its creaks and creases. So with my toys a little more in order I decided to purchase some figures to see me through the next couple of months. Initially I wanted to order from Spectre miniatures but everything seemed to be out of stock so TAG and Empress got my order for African rebels. A modest 4 foot square board is next on the list along with buildings and scatter terrain.

My reference for the buildings will come from Thailand and Laos but I imagine they will fit in OK? For a long time I have wanted to show the complete disregard for safety in these remote places.... electric cables dangle everywhere and I do wonder how the cable guys decide what the hell is happening! Add to this chaos a very shaky drainage system and danger is coming at you from above and below even when it is peaceful.

The last pic is from a few years ago when the military had taken control of Thailand (for the 19th time since the 60's). The police and the army seemed to set up competing check points and things did occasionally get tense....bad stuff was mostly avoided by just paying a "fine".

Keep blogging Chaps your ideas are fantastic.

Bolt Action 20mm French.

Hi Chaps,

I was going through my rules collection before Christmas and chanced upon Bolt Action. I do like this set of rules and so decided (present to self) to buy the French supplement and I am so glad that I did as it is a wonderful book-well worth the money.

So with the rules and supplement I dug around to find my French 20mm figures and in between the busy Christmas and New Year holidays I splashed a bit of paint around. It was so relaxing just to avoid people if I am honest and have some quiet time. The end result (or is that the result so far?) are the troops below.

I always run out of bases! For plastic 20mm I now use the mdf penny size from Warbases (excellent company by the way) and so I will have to order many more. The crewed weapons are on 40mm bases, Officers and NCO's on 30mm. To help play the game I also ordered some coloured gems from the Dice Bag Lady....really good service and my little order arrived the next day-amazing.

A few Germans caught some paint but the Caesar box of Germans in great coats is a let down-far too many SMG types and the riflemen suffer from the dreaded plastic droop......really don't bother with these guys.

Zvezda on the other hand are superb! At £3 for the motorcycle and side car you cannot go wrong! Maybe there are a lot of financially challenged war gamers in Russia or maybe this company is just onto a good idea? I fully endorse being able to buy one artillery piece for a few pounds complete with crew etc being poor will not keep you out of this hobby now.

Hat are another fantastic company that have recently been grabbing my interest as regards their pricing, I am torn whether to start a Black Powder Napoleonic army or two (safely based on 3mm chunky bases to protect the figures) or an ancient army for Hail Caesar. These are truly interesting times if one is prepared to go down the 20mm road-I just needed an eye test and some glasses first. No pair of glasses can prepare you for Hats choice of colour for their figures though! This poor French guy was almost an electric blue colour!

Lastly a work in progress, a few months back I purchased the Orion Modern Federal Russian box and it came with what I take to be a drunken crew so I then felt the need to get these guys some armour-Grubby tanks supplied a cheap BRDM 2. So halfway there with the base colours on and no matter what the scenario the little men will be in party mode, great silliness that will add some humour to my dour modern Russians.