A Thank you and a Thank you.

I forgot my Camera at the club yesterday so no AAR, which is a shame.  So no The men who would be Kings pictures although I was wiped out to a man in the first game but was still in fighting shape by the end of the second which was counted as a draw.

But that is not the reason for todays Post. Firstly it was not my Birthday (that is still to come this year). I did however receive 2 very welcome presents.

Here is the first.

A gift from Roy over at http://nevermindthejankers.blogspot.co.uk/ which is the Colonel Bills blog run by Roy.

This is a Beltfed miniature and for me will fit right into the Very British Civil War Troops I have. very nicely painted I do not think anything needs changing at all she will fit right in.

So many thanks to you Roy very much appreciate.
















My other gift was from Matt the guy I do a lot of painting for. Having seen my blog  and the Judge Dredd figures a couple of weeks ago he donated another Ape gang. Unpainted of course but this does give me enough Apes to put together a proper Large Ape gang. And we all like ape gangs don't we... Oh yes we do! This could be a subtle way of him saying that he wants some JD games in the near future and I shall try to make that happen now.

The picture shows my UNOPENED ape gang boxed at the top and then Mats opened and very welcome gift underneath.  This should give me more than enough apes to cause a couple of Judges trouble.

So while no AAR there is at least a pile of lead and a well painted figure. All of which is good as far as I am concerned.

Thanks for looking today and with luck more goodies to show come Wednesday.

All the best Clint

SELWG LOOT

Sorry for the lack of posts. They have been because I was doing something I cannot tell you about. Ok OK I'll spill! I was asked to paint a figure for someone and not tell anyone what it might be. As they will receive next weekend I will very likely post pics then or soon thereafter.

Well the picture says it all. Here is what I got. But most importantly the physical side is not as important as the joy of meeting other bloggers and other people in the wargames community. You can expect blogs of the show from the following bloggers, Tamsin (Link to blog!), Ray (Link to Blog) , Big Lee of the sore shins (Link to his blog ) Whispering Al (You guessed it another blog link.) as well as many more as well and I am sure they will do a very good show report.

So what did I buy, from top left to bottom right-

• 4 28mm Collie Dogs. you can never have enough dogs in a game. From Col Bill stand.
• 1 belt fed miniature that I am painting for Louise.... but she wants no pics just yet! Again from Colonel Bills.
• 1 20mm Huey medevac crew from Grubby tanks You may recall that I picked up a spare Huey at the Skirmish show. Now you know what it will be!
• 1 20mm Sampan again for my Vietnam collection as I have no brown water stuff at all (until now) Again from Grubby tanks.
• 2 28mm scare crows from Crooked Dice. Part impulse buy, part frostgrave constructs. I may not have another enchanter!

So as you can see quite a small haul. But after paying for fuel entrance and food and drinks (OK fizzy pop and sweets!) not much change from £45.

I did not take many pics of the day, but will put them up tomorrow.
Cheers for now Clint

28mm Viking-es

 Yes a female Viking. Hence the "word" 'Viking-es' I do not think that is a proper word so be very careful about using it. This figure is one of Colonel Bills "Beltfed" miniatures range which are a selection of saucily clad females in various historical costumes. And this one is of course a female Viking. As I want to do some Conan style wargames this year she seemed to be just the right type of figure and for £2.50 I thought a bargain.

She was also the last figure I painted for the Analogue painting challenge and was mostly done for some fun and relaxation. I can honestly say I did muck hers skin up on the first try and it came out looking somewhat grey and dirty. Which was not my intention so I did paint her twice out of necessity.

While I did find the sculpt and casting very nice my only pet gripe is that her trousers came with the vertical markings for the stripes scratched in. While not a problem as such it does limit her to having striped trousers as to paint them in another way might show the sculptors marks. While I will only ever get one of this figure it is not a huge issue but I will forever feel that the choice has been taken from me and that everyone will paint stripes on her bow. That really is my only quibble with the miniature.

I am not totally happy with the shield I have painted either. I might re-paint the end part of the tail so that it is in line with the head, it might give it a better balance. What I do like is the shield design though and the colours. It is only where I have put the end part of the tail upwards. That is a very minor issue and I can change that in moments when I start painting today. What I do like about the design is the ambiguity between is it a "Longship" or a sea serpent. I can take very little credit for that either as I saw the design on a re-enactors shield once long ago. So credit should go to them, or the source they used for it.

Overall I am happy with the figure and for the price would struggle to find a better one.

Thanks for looking. One more post to go to catch up so expect that about Wednesday. Take care have some fun and may your paint pallet never run dry or your inspiration wane.

Cheers Clint