Isolation is Bliss to a Solo Gamer!

Hi Chaps,

I pray that you are all healthy and avoiding the virus?

On to business... the UK is in "lockdown" which makes sense to me and as a solo gamer makes very little difference... work will continue as will my hobby though disaster has struck on the figure front.

As I am sure you have all experienced I wanted to paint a period that I had no figures for! Usually I do not watch TV but I am now on the third series of Narcos and to my shame I am thoroughly enjoying it! So having sold my modern figures I have ordered a few more from Empress... will they arrive before I return to work?

I do have clear outs of figures and have no regrets as my painting moves on and well I enjoy painting! One thing I will not be clearing out is the second edition of Spectre Miniatures modern ruleset. Over the last few days I have been reading this manual and with the handful of figures that I still possess trying to work out the rules-great fun.

So with a 3 foot square board and plenty of time for two weeks I am left with a dozen figures and about 50 zombies. What will you guys be getting up to?

Stay safe and enjoy the ride.

Sick just in time for the weekend.... typical

Hi Chaps,

Well the weekend finally arrived only for the cold I had been valiantly fighting all week to cut me down for the last two days! Obviously this is a case of man flu and its to the death but I did still manage to start some figures. I purchased an Ogre by Reaper which on the packaging in forms one not to use a spray undercoat... indeed no undercoat at all. During painting I felt that the paint was running away from crevices and not covering as it should. Still after a few coats it did seem to work and I am now the proud owner of an Ogre for the princely sum of £6.70 delivered.

The Tau are time consuming to paint and a bit repetitive but once done I can tick them off the miniature bucket list.

Well I hope that your weekend was more fun than mine Guys and Gals (ugh that sounds too much like Jimmy Saville! Ugh).

Keep Blogging Chaps.

The Tau of Painting Mini's

Hi Chaps,

Of course the above should read Tao, it's a lazy play on words but I was at work before 6 and its a Monday...

I have long wanted to paint the Tau miniatures from Games Workshop and attempted them once before but this time its going to be a proper attempt. Who knows this may be the start of something beautiful between myself and 40K? The other day I downloaded the Battle Primer from the Games Workshop website and it does look a lot more user friendly... we shall see.

Blogger has started to delete things after I attempt to put a pic on it which has been driving me nuts so I may even move over to a paid for site where I can have a little more control and a few more features...

Please find below a pic of the new toys and my ancient Codex for the Tau...

Last of the Zombies.

Hi Chaps,

I have just completed the last of a box of zombies from the Zombicide board game, having never played the game I have no idea if it is any good but I can confirm that the zombie figures are well detailed and fun to paint. Please forgive the somewhat slanted pic...

A white undercoat and a few quick base coats then a couple of different washes then highlight. Quick and simple which is handy because zombie games require a LOT of undead. The best zombie rules that I have come across were free on the net by Akula "Nightmare on froth street" I do wonder if they made it into print as they are excellent?

The buildings behind the figures are being put together a little at a time each day after work and I am now at the "first fix" stage of adding door and window frames. A few more are in the planning stage and will be a little more elaborate.... I coat the buildings with a mix of PVA and poundland filler-it dries rock hard and gives strength to the foamboard but needs sanding before painting.

Have a good week Chaps and keep blogging!

Yesteryear Y-14 Maxwell Roadster

Hi Chaps,

I was rummaging around my bits boxes-I have a lot of those as I am sure most war gamers do when I came across a rather worn looking model car. My late father had given me the car many years ago and it has survived three house moves and lived for a decade out in a shed! So I decided to do something with a shabby but (to me) valuable little keep sake.

I drilled out all the rivets holding the model together and stripped the metal parts using boiling water and caustic soda crystals. This is pretty horrible stuff so one has to be careful with it.

During this process I managed to lose the steering wheel and the spare tyre-I blame shift work and no time. I moulded a new tyre using greenstuff and Omiroyu (not sure how its spelt) and will source a new steering wheel at some point, probably by taking something off another model.

Some parts were undercoated black and the body was done in white... then onto the best bit of painting and adding little details. The canopy was always missing so greenstuff was shaped into a roll behind the driver. 

So the model is now complete and is ready for service maybe in the Back of Beyond, VBCW or something similar. I am pretty pleased with the end result and will plop it onto a warbase mdf base at some point. This won't be the last vehicle as I was given a box full of Lledo/Yesteryear vehicles... 1930's technicals may have to be built with a few of them!

Keep blogging Chaps you keep me sane!

A Lazy Weekend of Painting

Hi Chaps,

I have had the best weekend in months and it has consisted of painting miniatures, watching youtube about painting miniatures and beer. Perfect. Almost.

Taking pictures of my minis is starting to drive me nuts. Even using my wifes iPhone with two lamps still produces pants pics.. maybe I am too far away? Anyway if anyone has any tips or can recommend a midi camera to purchase I am all beers..... sorry ears.

Here is what was completed this weekend, 10 chainrasp (guys in bedsheets) 4 mymourn banshees and a handful of zombies from coolminornot.

A little hobby time each day

Hi Chaps,

We all experience a busy life and I find it hard to put aside some time for our hobby but this week I deliberately set aside 30-40 minutes after work in an attempt to see what could be done. I have no big plans in mind but I have been inspired by posts on the Lead Adventure Forum (a great site) and so had a go at some colonial Brits.

Mistakes have been made and the first mistake was a black undercoat! Vallejo Khaki grey 880 does not cover black! So I was slowed by having to paint 3 thin coats to even start covering the base coat....

Still progress was made which included assembling 20 models and with enough time to build a cart for scatter terrain and even begin a Battalion HQ building though this may be stuck in a box for some time.

I do envy the people who have a full on love of a period at the moment I am floating around the hobby but I have discovered something strange. Previously I would happily mix manufacturers, especially back in the day-my 20mm Airfix fought alongside Irregular miniatures quite happily... now that makes me shudder! Accidentally I have become a wargaming snob!? Recently I painted some medieval from different manufacturers but they don't match at all... whats going on? Have we all been spoiled or has it always been this way for people?

Oh well I will leave with a pic of the front of my HQ which is as far as I have got... Keep blogging Guys you keep me sane.

 

The Untidy Desk

Hi Chaps,

Well we are into February which is usually a busy hobby time for myself but I am experiencing a bit of a lull this year... I have no idea why!  The long winter nights are great for keeping warm around the painting desk or reading a book, maybe it is the mild winter to blame!?

Anyway in an effort to kickstart the years hobby projects I did buy a few boxes of Perry medieval and a stack of different sprues from ebay… as yet I just have a couple of units for Lion Rampant painted and based but I am not getting the urge to do much more with them yet. I am sure that we all have experienced a dip in our devotion to the hobby at some point?

What I did end up with was an unholy desk mess as all the clipping, gluing and parts storage seems to produce a dozen little storage boxes every time I use plastic figures!

The desk will be cleared ready for the arrival of yet more plastics in the form of Perry Sudan British which will serve in the North West Frontier. Another Dan Mersey book is also on the way and I have had some great help over on the Lead Adventure Forum to try and source a picture of a British cart...

Have fun guys and keep posting.