I am very pleased with the post man today. He dropped off a single eBay buy of this Dwarf Flame cannon blista. SO I'll give you a free guess as to what will be coming up on the painting table this week. Having looked at the figures closer than a simple eBay picture will allow I think they will fit quite nicely with the Kallistra ones I already have, which is going to save me a lot of time and effort. No need to muck about getting different crew figures and and all that malarkey! I still have a few packs of Kallistra to paint and base, before I can claim anything like enough to Field an army, But as I got this one cheap I feel I can indulge myself and get it done before next weekend. I have got some dwarf warriors on the table as we speak and I am sure I can get those done by then as well.

I hope to have a bit of a CULL of old figures soon, either at shows or on that famous on line auction site. I have been putting it off both through a reluctance to part with them and a natural level of apathy. However the time has come. I realised the time had come when I wanted to play a game of PBI (Poor Bloody Infantry by Peter Pig). the problem being that I don't have the figures for this project painted just yet. "I Know" I thought "I can use my Flames of war figures!" There in my mind problem solved. So I dragged the Flames box from the top of the cupboard and had a rummage. I went straight to the US Paratroop Company. I looked at the figures and I saw that the troops carrying BARs and .30 cals were for the most part mixed in with other figures and thus could not be told apart as I would need to for PBI. I looked at them, I starred at them, I thought long and Hard and put them back on top of the cupboard and took down the US infantry company which was still in its shrink wrap. The problem was that I could not face re-baseing them. I would rather start afresh than re base figures. Yes I know It is sheer lunacy but it's the way I'm hard-wired. Ahh you are thinking that's ok he can still play Flames now so that's ok nothing wrong with that. But there's a problem, and you knew there would be. You just knew it. The problem is no one else at the Rainham club plays Flames. The two people who did play have left the club for pastures new and I wish them luck with all that, but It means I have stuff I'll never get to use now. I could hang on hoping that a new player will turn up and already have an army that's compatible, but seriously what are the chances? So I think they will be part of a Cull, a spring Clean, an exodus, a slimming down if you will. One of the big problems with the club members and to some extent all wargamers is that we are all individuals. If I say at the Rainham club let's have a WW2 Game it would generally be accepted as a good idea (Unless I said we're playtesting for Phil and then I'd have a rather different response). And that's great happy smiley faces and lots of people saying I have "I have a _____ army " and "I have a ----- Army" but no two armies will be compatible with any other either in scale, theatre or time period. Let alone be based to the same set of rules. So at Rainham for the most part you need to do two armies, which can be a lot of work. Ok Ok that's a slight exaggeration as Pete and Rob can both field North African armies (Pete Axis and Rob British), in the same scale and using the same rules. But as a generalisation everyone has something different.

On the whole though I would not change the clubs attitude I am learning to embrace it. Finally coming to the Point Graham already has 2 PBI armies, (Russian and German). So creating an alternative one of my own seems like a good idea. The Obvious choice would be to build something which could be complement these armies so of course I have chosen Yanks!

Yes I am as bad as everyone else!