TWO days late.

Actually no I am not! These have been painted for Matt and his Crimea collection. He is expecting them in 8 days time. Matt as I am sure many of you will realise likes big guns.  Perhaps the bigger the better.

Today you will see two Foundry guns and crew for the Crimean war. They are both quite large, but more details I am afraid I cannot give you.

I do have one more to do (started but not as yet finished). Which shall barring accidents be ready for next weekend. So You can expect to see another one mid week.

I cannot offer any insight as to what these guns were used or designed for. But the top one has 4 wheels and 4 crew. I did ask Matt if he wanted the officer with this one and he said yes. I only know that sooner or later it will be used against me!

The second gun only has 2 wheels! It lacks an officer so I Imagine Matt will use it to destroy some Russian position. And nothing to fancy or supposedly clever. But with Matt you never know. Again I suspect it will be used against me in some way. Having said that Matt is as likely to give me command of these 2 guns. You just never know!

Both guns are Wargames Foundry Crimean war range. Not a period I really enjoy but that is secondary. I mostly do not enjoy it because I know so very little about it. Perhaps in the future that will change.

Being Foundry they are  both 28mm in size But as mentioned not a period I know very much about! (That's probably because other than "Charge of the Light  Brigade" there have been very few films on the war.

Anyway more in 2 days, I have Aeronef and WW2 ready to show so it will most likely be one of those options as opposed to another gun!

Until then. Take care have fun  and roll some dice In (pretend) anger! All the best Clint

Fiat 621

Well I must be honest yesterday was I can't be bothered day! I did manage a teeny bit of painting.  This is a MISCAST 20mm (1/72scale) Fiat 621 Truck.  It was used by the Italians in ww2 Western desert. Captured ones were used by the British And commonwealth troops as such drivers speaking Indian or with Australian accents were not that uncommon. It was also used by the Germans when they were re-captured. As such I have put no markings on it simply because all the forces could and DID use these trucks. 

The model is (MISCAST) Frontline (Link ) and 20mm or 1/72nd scale. I shall SLOWLY be building my western desert forces. So more are on their way!

But  as mentioned above I was in a can't be bothered kind of mood all weekend so got little done!

Thanks for looking and more again in a couple of days! All the best Clint

RA gun crew Crimean War

Yes Painted for Matt.  They are of course Foundry and 28mm in size. Very simply one 6 (or maybe 9) pounder and a crew of 4. If there had been a sergeant with the unit he should have a gold band around the hat but enlisted men had red. But no sergeant  so nothing this time to worry  about.  I doubt that will be the case next time.

While I have no love for the period it is a pleasant period to paint. (He says before Matt passes the Russians on to paint, which I am sure will take some getting used to!). Overall a nice bunch for the weekend.

As I know what they plan at the club tomorrow I may well give it a miss. It is not that I hate the period. Far from it! BUT I do hate the version of the rules they will choose to use.  Enough of what has not happened yet, As I ponder what I shall do next! (It may be more Lion Rampant, Aeronef or it may be something entirely different!) But I have a free afternoon so I know it will be something!

Anyway enjoy the weekend and with luck see you Monday!

Second archer unit (Re-painted)

Yep that is unit no 2 finished. As you can see I have removed the banner bearers but retained the musicians. As you can see I have kept the Sable and Argent (black and White or Silver) colour scheme.  Painted a drummer and 11 archers. As last time there is no purchase prise as they are all old figures.  They are as I am sure you already know Bretonnian Archers from Games Workshop. But I shall be using them as general archers for Lion Rampant! So a swap of figures from a Fantasy game to a historical game. This switch for me sp far, has worked really well.

At the bottom is a pic of both units. And at this stage it isall I have managed to COMPLETE. I shall need to work on some other stuff soon so expect the next post to be something a bit different! (Not wildly different just not Lion Rampant probably Crimean war!)

That's it for today, just a quickie and no frills.
All the best from Clint and with luck you will all have a great day!

Buisy few days

After the heat and the weather sapping all my energy I now find myself full of zim and zigour. In other words the Mojo has returned. I therefore completed a unit for Lion Rampant. Ok not from scratch but a re-paint. There are things still to change! Firstly I may replace the bannerman with an archer. I feel this is most important. As suchthe re-paint of an additional archer is underway. Secondly I may replace the musician. And I may not. In lion rampant all troops need to be within 3" of a unit leader. As such the musician if they act as the unit leader (with no abilities) it may clearly mark a place all troops need to be within 3 inches of. So at present I am in 2 minds. I have spare archers so it is at this stage not a cost issue.


I plan another archer unit in Black and white (Sable and Argent) as the next part of this sub project! They should I hope be finished either today or tomorrow. Yes I shall blog them soon. If the gods will it, it shall be done with this group and the additional bowman and the bannerman removed. That gives me time to think about the musician.

Aeronef: All the parts I messed up arrived yesterday afternoon. (which is quite normal delivery via the postman. And no complaints about that what so ever!) As such early this morning about 3;30am I fitted the small turrets. And here it is ready for a second prime!

Therefore I shall start the painting any-time now! I am still unsure of the colours but As it is Victorian Science Fiction I will not follow the painted version on the Brigade web site.

I will now keep this hidden until finished! So no more aeronef for a while.

Retail therapy: I have purchased 2 things wargames related.  A box of Perry Plastics. These in time will bulk out my Lion Rampart force. Perhaps a unit of crossbows!  I have also contacted a few members of the wargames club to see if they have any spare figure I could buy of them for this project. Maybe I will be lucky on the weekend. Time will tell.

The second thing I bought was from Dave Stone.at Wargames Terrain Workshop (LINK ) A stand of Cactus.  I must admit I am itching to start painting this. Now before I do I need to carry on building some terrain which due to the heat had slipped onto the back burner. However thanks to Dave, {THANKS DAVE} it is moving to the front rapidly. In fact I MAY do some tonight! I feel I have a fresh start and that makes a lot of difference! I have noticed that WTW also make Dinosaurs! While I do not need any for any planned project it is definitely something to ponder for the future!

That#s it for today. Spare time planed already to painting models making terrain and If I get the chance a Cak ay get made as well as It seems ages since I made a Cake!

All the best Clint

Repair, Repaint, Re-touch, Re-use!

Today I have been looking at my old Bretonians. I have come to the startling realisation that I can use so many as a Lion Rampant base for an army! YES I know it is not all a straight swap. My Grail knights on Pegussi (Not sure how to spell the plural of Pegasus ) for example cannot be used! And while not a balanced force I can field the following.







60 Longbowmen. Yes some shall need a repaint. Typically the ones I Picture.

I have an additional 3 units that just need dusting of and re-organising. I shall come to those in a later post no doubt.

Each of these units shall need re-paining, tidying up and different liveries! Blue and white is so 5 years ago! Actually I shall put them in different liveries so they actually look like a different force, and nothing to do with fashion. My other 36 are all in Red and Blue so feel free to suggest another colour scheme if you want. But these shall be a different force so a re-paint in different colours is needed.

More of these in a future post! But that is a total of 8 points and should (I hope) be quick to finish>


 These knights need a tidy up (and in some cases a glue). But 6 Mounted "Men at arms" (yes I could if  I chose use them as Mounted Sergeants). All the Comparisons on the horses match and I have 4 left over. Again they have a blue and red motif and while they do not have helmets a quick tidy up is all they really need. And sort out the banner! It is Just possible I shall get rid of the yellow stripe! Time will tell!


The last unit. Again in need of  some slight refurbishment is another 6 mounted "Men at arms". Yes the banner does need some work but not much ad mostly regluing! As you can tell I was on my very big flag phase. Yes it is quite a whopper! (About 2x as long as a horse From main to extreme end of it's tail).A bit of work to do but not all that much! I Might if the mood takes me address the green knight as the rest are either red, blue or Yellow as a dominant colour and the green seems out of place.

I think I still have a few knights from the GW Bretonia range lurking unpainted in forgotten boxes so I shall need to look them out asap!

So here id what I shall be working on in my quiet moments if not over-come with eat ! 2 units of archers. And a tidy up of the mounted figures. Considering they have not been out of the box for 15 years I do not feel to sad to notice a few things I would do differently and a few repaints and repairs! But as we all know there is always more to do when it comes to wargames.

Heavies.

Sorry I had a couple of days off!  Actually I am not sorry it was a break I needed after the weather being over 33 oC I have felt like a hostage to the weather for the last 2-3 months. But now the weather has "Broken" back down to normal for tis time of year I feel as if I want to get on with things.

 Lets start with some Si-fi tanks These are heavy laser heavy tanks. Only 2 of which but as I like them I suspect I may get more. Maybe even 1 in 15mm for a few games. After all very little says sci fi like a laser!

At the end of this section I shall show a pic so you may judge scale. I am aware that last time with it missing there was nothing to judge size by.

 2 Twin barrel Heavy tanks. 2 of these I think should be enough at least for now. It is possible I shall change my mind in the future but for now 2 is enough!

For those counting that makes 6 heavy tanks in all. I know they are not massive additions but they should bulk out the force considerably. I do have an infantry platoon alomg with 3 Hover jeeps and 6 additional heavy tanks (Standard turret) so this project is not finished juts yet!

After that I need to get the other force done. And to be honest I am still thing about that!







The last pic shows a size comparison which should allow you to see the magnitude of the heavy tanks to the medium tanks with 6mm infantry on the far right. So we have 2 Heavy tanks , one medium tank and a stand of infantry. As mentioned previously



Aeronef.

Due to bottom/hull detail I need to assemble and paint them on pencils. I mucked up the turrets and Have had to send for some more. With luck they should arrive BY NEXT weekend. 4 teeny tiny turrets to put on ad then the painting can begin. It is a slog but as it was my mistake I have to bite the bullet and get on with it!

In the background is a large British ship (Part painted for Matt) I think it is a Vanguard class Battleship BUT with different turrets. So quite a big ship and yet compared to the German carrier rather small. It will be interesting to position this along side a few other ships and see if it really is as big as I think!

 That's it for today and with luck back to normal in a day or two. All the best Clint

heavy tanks started

Yes some OK 2 6mm Heavy tanks started for my 6mm sci fi.. As with the rest they are Brigade models ( LINK  )

I know there is only 2 of them. And that they are 6mm so quite small. I also realise that there is no indication of size. But you will have to forgive me as it has been another hot day. Far hotter than I am used to! So Painting has not been a huge priority for me.

These are Sohei with Gatling cannon for those that really care. Not the most common of my heavy tanks but painted at least and ready for the table!

I did go to the club yesterday but there were 6 people already playing one game designed for 2! Consequently I left early and came home and watch the swimming!

I do have2 games planned down the club... well mentioned if not planned! Next time will probably be an AK 47 (Peter Pig) game while the one after should be an Aeronef (Imperial skies) game.  As I have an aeronef game planned I think I should get my German aircraft carrier done. Commercial flying bases are just not up to the task so I shall be making my own from BLACK Perspex!
 All the components are laid out and ready so I will do a step by step as I bring this beat to fruition. It is part Resin and part metal (I have to supply the Perspex) and costs £9 from Brigade Models (LINK ). I hope I can do it justice and create a vessel of note.

I know very little done due to the heat but that we are told is coming to an end in 2-3 days time!

Until then paint if you can and game if you are able. All the best Clint

Sharman Firefly's

It's still too HOT. All I do is sit still and perspire! However here are some 6mm Brigade Models (LINK ) Sharman Firefly's. 6 were purchased in all at  the Broadside show and they make 1/2 the medium tanks, the Sharman (NON firefly) have already been shown.

As medium tanks I do expect them to do most of the work. As such the Sharman Firefly (I dislike that name by the way) having a better gun than the standard Sharman these should (I hope) adopt a more anti-tank role. But we all know plans like that go out of the window as soon as they are  set up on the table top.

These are only 1/300th scale so I could not put masses of detail on both due to the scale and due to the hot weather. I know it is not so hot everywhere but I am also aware that people are dying in Spain! So I really do not have too much to moan about. So let's just say it is too hot to paint in a stuffy room.

As it is a Saturday I shall have Club tomorrow but I have nothing planned so may leave after a few hours if it is too hot!

So with luck I shall be on here again on Monday maybe with more tanks maybe terrain and hopefully with an AAR.

Until then chill out as best you can and scoff ice-cream! I Know I intend to! All the best Clint

Lights, camera, action...

Yes another bring and buy purchase by Peter that I have painted up. This time a 1920-30's film crew. These maybe Copplestone castings I shall let you know if I even find out for sure. Again these are to be used in "Pulp Alley" I am told but in what capacity I am not sure.

28mm in size they will fit in with most games of this era either directly or as part of the scenery. I do know they cost Peter a massive £1.50 at the Broadside show and IF I had seen them on the bring and buy I most likely would have bought them!

That#s it for today as it is due to get baking  hot here. And that means seek shelter for me and stay out of the sun!

Maybe Aeronef next time and maybe some more 6mm sci fi it all depends what I get finished!

Whatever happens take care and enjoy what nature brings. Even iof that means no painting due to the heat!

All the best Clint

3 old (new) Vampires!

Yes I have finished the last 3 Vampires for Peter at the club. I still do not know who made them but in my head Iam thinking "Black Tree Design"  but of course it may be someone else entirely! So if you recognise any of them please let me know. If you don't no worries.

I have mostly kept with the traditional vampire colours when it comes to clothes except the last lady. Who I painted in a blue dress. As I wanted them all to be different I decided on blue just because you rarely see it on Vampires. (And I hate painting Yellow!) I may well be wrong in painting a blue dress on a Vampire but I should get away with it.

They are 28mm in size and blue tacked (white blue tack) to MDF bases just so I have something to hold. The bases will be removed at a later date so do not fret about that.

The last pic is all 5 together so you can see the ensemble. All in all they make a very nice but dated group of figures. Yes the sculpts could have been better, which would have lead to better painting I am sure but overall I can field them without embarrassment and that is the test.

That's it for today. Loads of different things on the painting table so it could be anything next time. Sorry I have no idea at this stage.

Have a good day and thanks for stopping by! Cheers Clint

Vampires (First 2)

Well the weather has broken at least for now and rain has fallen from the skies.  So I tried to get some tainting done!

Al morning I have had relatives here so that put a ki-bosh on that idea! They left and then 10 mins laterthey realised that they had left something behind so came back!

Despite that and problems with Tesco's chillers but that really is another story! I have managed to get 2 Vampires done. They are both 28mm but I do not know the make. I suspect tey were made in the 1980-90 era looking at the sculpts. But It could have been earlier or later.

I am panting these for Peter at the cub and I have a few more to do. Painting vampires is a struggle with colour choices as you seem to be limited to very few options. Needless to say I want them to be distinctive and different each time.

The only brief I had from Peter is to make the skin Pale. I am not sure I have done so sufficiently but I do hope so.

Anyway that is it for now. More Vampires in the week as I finish the last 3 (weather permitting)  so until then take care have fun and paint like crazy! All the best Clint