Valiant Rapid Fire Brits

Hi Chaps,

I can attest that being off work is amazing. Decorating is well under way and my British Infantry Battalion is now complete. I do not have a pic of it all together as everything here is upside down due to the decorating but my games table will be out shortly so a Battalion snap will be taken and posted. In the mean time here is the HQ company and a few of the men....

The dullness of the pics is a little disappointing but I am working on it. The figures were speed painted on a white undercoat, a wash of Agrax Earthshade and then highlighted. All the guys have a battalion patch and rank insignia, I suppose they could do with a lighter flesh highlight. From box to tabletop this full Battalion took 8 hours which for me is pretty quick. The Germans may well take a little longer.

The Germans are stuck together and based awaiting a black undercoat. Sadly the Plastic Soldier Company order has not arrived yet so no armoured support for either side is available. A trip to my local hobby shop later today may see some cheapo Zvezda reinforcements or even a few Hat figures purchased.

Next challenge will be a small skirmish.

Keep blogging Chaps.

Rapid Fire 20mm (again)

Hi Chaps,

Well the hot weather continues to put a halt to pretty much all of my painting but to be honest I am not getting much spare time at all at the minute. But.... I have made what for me is a major war gaming investment as a sort of treat to self.

I have purchased the starter deal from the Rapid Fire website and also a box of A9s and Pz38T's from the Plastic soldier company. Hopefully this stuff should arrive in time for my two weeks summer holiday which will be spent decorating, family time and hobby time.




Hopefully Rumford and Marsh won't send the lads around for using their picture! At under £30 this set is a bargain, link below.

https://www.valiantminiatures.com/product/valiant-miniatures-rapid-fire-starter-set/

I am hoping that I can make the Brits look like early war, likewise with the Germans and if not-well I play solo!

The Plastic Soldier company stuff has been good for me in the past so I am expecting the tanks to be fine. Pretty much for less than £80 inc postage I will have the basis for two decent armies which I can add to when the mood takes me.

I have found that armies of this period are never finished as there is always that extra vehicle needed or command group or field kitchen ... its a long list.

Keep blogging Chaps

A £7 light box and figures to strip.

Hi Chaps,

I do trust that you are all well? It has been a busy month here, in fact it has gone really quickly and pay day is almost here again. The postman has been busy delivering decrepit old toys to me so that I can have an army that will cost so little but just a little extra in time.

An old cannon (all metal) and crew was had for less than a few beers off an auction site and the cannon has already been re painted. Whilst it will never win any trophies it is a passable piece of equipment for my new/old Empire army.

This pic was taken using a Canon (appropriate) 14.1 mega pixel camera and a very cheap £7 light box from that auction site again. The LED's are almost powerful enough alone but for my next batch of photo's I will help them along with a light pointing inside the box as well.

A unit of 10 muskets on their bases are almost complete and I am about to chose the colour scheme for the first unit of spears. The hot weather is awful for painting-no air con here in the UK-so I spend an hour or two in the evenings just looking at blogs for inspiration (when I can).

The light box is pretty useful and my learning curve continues... as does the base building and pile of figures for stripping. The old master engineer is a favourite of mine and he popped up again in an online purchase.

The Grudge Pony is just too good not to have in an fantasy army and will go well with a unit or two of dwarves fighting for the Empire.

Keep blogging guys, we are fighting the elements at the moment but it will soon be cooler and more painter friendly.

A Campaign and Second hand figures

Hi Chaps,

I have at last had a couple of days off together-rejoice! Also the postman has been kept busy delivering small packages from my ebay purchases. So far I have three units of Games Workshop Imperial infantry and a cannon but I have bids on several more. I do love the older (5th edition?) version of the Imperial army-the cavalry can still be ordered from Games Workshop.

This military style planning is hopefully going to culminate with my two weeks off work where I intend to laze around and paint figures during the day and drink German beer at night. (after I have decorated my little girls room).

Construction of some bases is also underway only another 20 to go for the infantry. Some of the figures will get a bath to remove the paint, I am especially fond of the master gunner who was a little bonus amongst the shooty types.

As for the setting for any games I am using local history and a mix of mischief. It must be 30 years since I last had a campaign diary and scribbling notes for a background has been very cathartic. How this ends up I have no idea but it does feel a bit DandD and a tad nerdy but already my games will have a reason and an impact on my characters.

Keep blogging guys.

Hi Chaps,

Well I think this has been my longest break in many a year from the hobby but I do feel the urge to paint returning. I do rather think that this is a hobby of peaks and troughs, quite often I paint too much in too little a space of time and, over enthused but worn out I put the figures aside.

My latest break was due to a combination of a bereavement, the weather and work....always work. Still I do feel old interests stirring and last night I spent an hour or more looking at figures in my cabinet and feeling rather nostalgic.

I have every intention of resuming my painting when the weather cools-my painting desk will be moved and a design for a new paint rack to accommodate even more paint pots has been drawn. A few old but unpainted Games Workshop minis have been purchased from ebay and bids for even more have been placed. The remainder of this years painting will be focused on trying to learn some new techniques and improving my quality.

Games Workshop continue to impress me and I have bought their box of skulls! Not that I am such a fan that I buy every last item they produce but because I want to create a unit that looks like it has marched off the page of an old engraving. As a child the gruesome images from art books fascinated me and Games Workshop seemed to be taken up with the theme as well.

OK so the pics above are not such a good illustration of my point but... See you on the other side of this summer Chaps I have a feeling its going to be an awesome autumnal painting season.

Keep blogging

A few hours free

Hi Chaps,

Well things certainly improved this afternoon on the war gaming front. I actually had 2 hours of my own time with no distractions. What a treat.

As I am fairly tight (approaching Yorkshireman level) I decided to use up a scrap of 5mm foam card. This small piece was the leftover from some past building project and was an irregular shape so I measured 20mm squares onto it and proceeded to cut them out.

by stacking four together and holding them together with PVA and a couple of brass tacks I have the size of a 28mm Hesco barrier. Using insect netting (about £3 a metre) I stuck this on four of the sides. Please note that this will give you sticky fingers and PVA drives me mad. Once this is dry I will put glue on the top and dip into sand.... a finished example can be seen on the left of the next pic.

This was a little project to make use of my time and I hope that I never have to make any more of these! I always paint scenery using the cheap tester pots from B and Q.

To complete the best day ever (well in a long time) two lots of figures arrived from two excellent companies. Both had a free sample and relevant figure in with them and both delivered their orders the day after I placed them. Well done Britannia and The Assault Group.

I am not sure what is happening to my pics but I will leave it as it is getting towards kick off of Liverpool vs Roma and I am sure you chaps will understand....

Today I also ordered some air con units from Crooked dice, if you read through this blog you will see I attempted to make some of these and failed. The Crooked dice ones look really useful and the 10 I ordered will not be enough! Please do have a look at them-they are cheap.

Next week I hope to order some more figures so that my forces are more or less complete before I begin painting. The US Marines will probably get the Somalia desert pattern clothing-does anyone know if this is correct for the Assault Groupo figures?

Have a good week Guys-I am off again at the weekend (first in ages) and I hope to have a few shops or Afghan compounds almost complete to show you.

Thanks for looking Guys your Blogs keep me going.

Another sad time.

Hi Chaps,

Well it has been a while since I posted and there is a very sad reason. My father and best mate died at the end of February. Many of us will have experienced such a loss so you will understand the heart break.

Service will be resumed though it will never again feel normal, just new. It takes a while to recover just from the shock.

Today I did pick up the brushes and I am surprised to see I have a number of figures on the table that were completed weeks ago, I will post some pics soon.

Keep blogging guys and gals you are literally carrying me at the moment.This is Dad back in the 70's