Well I did say I should have something to show today. Got up early and bashed some figures out. This is my machine gun platoon for PBI. It consists of 4 .30 cal MG bases and an SMG command base. There's still some tinnie tiny finishing off to do, but should get them varnished this afternoon, especially if England are doing Badly at the Rugger. I have tried to put some foliage in front of the crews as I can't really see them wanting to be out in the open. They know that a little bush is not bullet proof, but with luck might give them some concealment until they open up. I should get another standard platoon done next so that I have enough regular bases to actually play the game, but as this was only 5 stands of 2 figures I rightly thought I should be able to finish them quite quickly and as I have a month to go before the planned game it seemed like a worthwhile thing to achieve in a limited time. The brown tracks are not meant to join up despite looking like they might, they are only their to give a bit of visual variety. Obviously in 20th century wargames there's usually no need to link bases so they will be spaced out more on the table top, it's just a style I use on my bases which I happen to think looks quite good.

Tomorrow I am of to Cavalier in Tonnbridge Kent. First show of the year for me and I am looking forward to it. Usually there's a list of things I want to get, but this year I am pretty much open to impulse buys. For me Impulse buys at wargames shows can be dangerous, as It can easily mean getting side-tracked onto new projects, or resurrecting old , sometimes very old projects that have stalled. I think if there is one thing I should buy its storage solutions. But the chances are I'll get more lead.

Off the top of my head here are a quick list of what I am currently thinking, so we can all see how much it will change when I post again on Monday.

•  1 pack peter pig BAR US WW2 Infantry.
• Some figure case or other.
• Crooked dice Fembots.
• Look at Hydra miniatures (stocked by Wargames emporium)
• 15mm Pony wars figures for that colonial idea.
• A book (probably Osprey)
• Possibly more rules or a supplement. (But which ones no idea)
• Some terrain bits and bobs. Could be any scale or period.
• Anything else that inspired me on the day.

. The main reason for going these days is to talk to some traders and clubs and make sure we can get them for Broadside in June. We picked up a few traders and clubs last year by doing this so I know it can work. Whether it will this year of course I'll just have to wait and see.

All the best and speak Monday. Good weekend all. Cheers Clint

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Old Friends

Working extra shifts at the moment so very little time for much hobby stuff should have something by Saturday though. Bear with me. I have just had a phone call from "Young Gary" asking If I could paint some flags for him for his Great Northern War armies in 15mm. I would be happy to give it a go, but I think his best bet is to reduce them on a colour photo copy as he has found a 28mm supplier. I think it would be the quickest easiest thing to do.

I'll probably get a chat with Gary over the weekend at cavalier. Gary was a Member of the Rainham club, vice president I think who has since left and I had not spoken too for at least 6 months, or more likely a year. Not that we fell out or anything just drifted apart. He did say he'd pop back to the club soon, and was talking about a big Napoleonic battle in Russia he'll put on with Tim. Personally I am not into Napoleonic or ECW which along with ancients are Gary's thing. I may be doing him a disservice, but he's not a Zombie kind of guy. Having said that he is a good bloke and a pleasure to play against or ally with on a table. But he's definitely a big battle player and wants things in battalions and regiments. The more figures the better.

I mostly like skirmish games, but will play big battle games on occasion. And that's another good thing about the diversity of a club. Everyone is different and brings different skills, likes and armies to the table.

I'll try to get something finished for next post. Cheers Clint

Colours

I had a spare five minutes and splashed some paint about. I was not sure which colour to use for the "tanks" so thought I'd try it on a couple of the smallest ones just to give me an idea. and here are the results. I hasten to add they are not finished, just done to get an idea. I did think about doing some browns but I think the lighter of these two  does the job for me. The other one (the orange one) just does not look right, to me it looks like a sweetie. I like sweets but I don't want a jelly baby army. Overall I'm quite happy and when I get to do them properly am convinced they will look ok, despite an elderly aunts comments about them looking like parts of a male anatomy. For Paint I used "Elf flesh" on the lighter one and "Bronzed flesh" on the darker one. Both were then given a wash of "Scab Red" I left them to dry overnight and this is the result. I need to think if they need more detail or if such a simple scheme will work. Maybe add some spots or splodges I'll wait and see.

Elsewhere I am now painting a machine gun Platoon for PBI. I have run out of one of the colours though but hope to pick a pot of that up at Cavalier on Sunday. I'll press on though as I don't want to get behind on another project.

Meanwhile up the shed I am waiting for paint to dry, as normal. I should start the last two moon boards eirther tomorrow or Friday. I have ground to a halt on the Cutlass cliff/beach scenery as I can't find anywhere selling plaster of Paris. In times gone by chemists stocked it. I have looked on line but the shipping cost doubles it's cost. The Local hobby craft £6 on the train to get there stocks it, but only at ridiculously inflated prices. I am not knocking Hobby Craft, just decrying the lack of local craft shops and the decline of civilisation. I have no doubt if you could fit it to a mobile phone in some way I would be tripping over places to buy it. I might try artex or plaster from B&Q.

That's it for now.

Well half term is just about over so my "babysitting" duties should b at an end now, or at least we can hope they are for a while. I don't really mind as these times I spend with him will be fewer and fewer as he enters his teenage years. I don't in any way begrudge spending time with him, I do however wish I could get on with things when he's here and not have to "Entertain" him quite so much. He is getting less demanding though and I am sure I'll look back on these times and wish there had been more of them.
As you can see I have not totally been ideal on the wargames front, I have managed to paint and base one platoon for my upcoming PBI game with graham, in 5 weeks time. I know it's hard to make out but the figures are clearer in 3 dimensions, while in the pic it's all green on green with some brown splodges. All figures are 15mm Battlefront miniatures on 30mm square bases with either 2 or 3 figures on a base depending on what the base represents.

As my first platoon it consists of 1 stand of Platoon commanders (Carbine). 1 Bazooka Stand, 3 Bar stands and 4 rifle (Garand) stands. BARs have a slightly lower rate of fire than most light machine guns-owing to the magazine capacity and not being belt fed. However Garands have a higher rate of fire being clip fed and not bolt action. The rules take this into account both in points and in the number of dice you throw. I have only played PBI twice so I'm basing the platoons on the one in the Peter Pig PBI rules, and will have to see how it plays before I come up with what I think would be the best ratio of stand types, but I am already thinking of dropping a BAR stand and replacing it with a .30LMG stand instead. But I'll have to wait and see how badly I loose before I commit myself to this plan.

Other than these figures nothing has moved either on the painting table or up the shed, apart from being bashed about by an 11 year old (he was gentle), but several items were not replaced exactly where they came from so I'm now missing the stands for the Kallistra Dwarfs... and if that's the biggest thing I have to worry about I can't really complain. He's getting better.

Other wargames news. Well the Broadside show is slowly coming together we have less than 4 months now and as I shall be at Cavalier next weekend I expect to talk to a few clubs who have yet to return their game detail forms and a few traders who as yet have not confirmed. The Club game forms are required as soon as possible as we have to hire the tables in from an outside source unless they want to play on the floor. Also we need to Know how many bacon or sausage Sarnies the caterers need to save for us hard working types. I still can't believe I missed out last year because they ran out.

I did have a great email last night in reply to my Point man enquiry from Ambush Alley Games. I was asking if they had a UK Point man-Point man is their term for demonstration team- they do have one and it is hopeful that they can get them organised enough to supply another game for Broadside. It works from every ones point of view, they get their products showcased and we get another game for people to either watch or take part in. Time will tell if they can organise it from across the Atlantic. I am not holding my breath but I am optimistic.

That's it folks back to posting normally next week.

Cheers Clint