Walk

 Left the house before 08:00 for a walk locally-

Most enjoyable, followed by a scone and coffee uptown. When rebasing my figures l couldn’t help but admire the painting skills of whoever painted these figures l got at some point off eBay, especially the snake-

I am pleased to be able to give these veterans the chance to fight again, hoping that their anonymous painter would be pleased…

A quiet day of pottering, painting and Test Match on the radio is the order of the day l think.

Remembering Jan : 1962 - 2015

 

Arcadia: a gathering of my hosts

 Inspired by Ross’s blog l went to my old school ancient box and decided to rebase-

The hoplites waiting to get their feet wet to remove them from flocked bases. Also need to mix up the colour of their tunics a bit , not to mention their plumes and maybe do some basic shield designs. Even my scrawls will be better than plain ones.

Hoplites drying their feet and sandals as they prepare for the next part of the process…

Wee bit light reading as they dry to put me in the mood.

Some rebasing done, move from 60mm by 40mm to 60mm square. Just looks a tad better to me , don’t know why. 

Flock free based , works for me. Move pictures anon as work proceeds…

Finally a link to a video- 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J5yp54UnbfI

Next

 Still not got the modelling, painting and making mojo back. All I painted this week were two Risk pieces as a trial . However l have cleared my desk/ battlefield of months of detritus-

Part way through the process…

Now what to set up as a game, any suggestions?

BIG

 I’ve been following with interest a chap who uses 60mm figures and Lion Rampant rules. His are mainly Bronze Age and include some splendid Sumerian battle carts in that scale. I went as far a contacting the resin  printing company for a quote but came to my senses and resisted. I just didn’t “ need “ to buy into this, exciting though it was. Yet the itch remained. Big figures, Rampant family rules, smaller number of figures. So yesterday morning I decided to have a wee play about with my War of 1812/Expeditionary Figures. I bought some , painted some and ran out of enthusiasm, this was some time ago. So to cut a long story short l got them out, popped them on the dining room table, found the appropriate rules and cut up some card, just to get a feel for what it could, might look like as a game…

The figures got out of their boxes and the rules found…

Snip, snip and some sample card bases were created . The three man unit is for skirmishers and the other for natives and line infantry.

I felt the project has potential. Decent bases, big Lemax trees and a scatter of twigs and stones on the table and we are away. Don’t know if I will proceed with this now but it definitely has potential, scratches an itch and saved me adding to the lead/ plastic pile . What’s not to like?

That was the week that was.

 Another good week of guiding has finished. A daily commute to Edinburgh to do so reminded me of my working days. I have met lots of interesting visitors not to mention my fellow guides. I also tried some of the splendid street food available near John Lewis such as this-

Walking to and fro the bus l saw this hollyhock bedecked house. It reminded me of Danish houses which have this plant in the garden.

I haven’t lifted a paintbrush or done any hobby stuff for over a week. My mojo has gone and the Lower Canadian figures look askance at me as I pass by.

Last night my three daughters and friends were in London to see Taylor Swift. They evidently had a wonderful time. Arriving from various corners of the UK they successfully rendezvoused at a hotel . 

With the television free for once l decided to rent “ Civil War” and watched it. I don’t know what I was expecting but not what I got. Still trying to work out what I made of it…

I will be interested to read your comments on the film.

James Atherton

 Discovered this today-

https://m.youtube.com/@jamesathertonyt

Interesting games reports, rules ( https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3jVAkoKlplU) 

Well worth a look…

Anyone know more about him? I am intrigued.

Match of the day - Palmyra v Rome

 Yesterday saw my Palmyrans having their first outing since I completed them. It was a derby against Rome . The mainly mounted Palmyrans against the mainly infantry Early Imperial Romans. Played on my dining room table l hoped to out flank the Romans and use my light cavalry for this purpose. As it turned out things were not to be…

The Palmyrans led by their enigmatic queen assembled with the team sheet.

Lots of cavalry and camels were the order of the day accompanied by bowmen.

The teams arrayed for kick off. The toss was won by the Romans who had the initiative.

Palmyran regular light cavalry move down the wings towards their heavier equipped opponents.

Archers and Auxiliaries about to contend the centre of the field.

The cataphracts advance on the legionaries, including some new signings from last Saturday.

The aforementioned new signings advancing towards their Roman opponents.

A complicated altercation in the centre leading to some tricky situations.

My Roman opponent threw high consistently as l threw consistently low. One command became demoralised and then the Palmyran Queen , in her palanquin replete with cataphract guards was killed and the second command disintegrated. One nil to a lucky Rome!

The team sheet hastily scribbled on hotel notepaper. 

I really enjoyed fielding the Palmyrans. I love the exotic nature of them with camels , cavalry and cataphracts galore. However they lack any heavy infantry to hold the centre, perhaps it is time to sign some new players , sorry blades. This was definitely one of these occasions where l fielded an army I loved , had enjoyed researching, restoring and painting. That was far, far more important than winning.

A wee diversion

 A friend is painting up a Canadian force for The Silver Bayonet. I discovered this the other day. I have agreed to paint up the opposition. It will be either an Upper Canada or Lower Canada unit.I will do so using figures l have already ( after all only eight are needed) and using this excellent guide to the uniforms of the War of 1812 l got five years ago.

P.s cannot recommend the uniform book highly enough.

Quar : strangeness & charm

 I got this box ages ago and kept it for a rainy day. Today was one and so l opened it-

Here is everything you need to game with the Quar.

Colourful and engaging box art , both the front picture and the blurb etc on the back.

The rules , cards and Quar filled sprues reek of high production values. Notice the cut out terrain on the box sides.

You get twelve Quar for each faction. I look forward to starting some in the coming days. There is a lot of background info about including videos. I got sucked in by the charm of the Quar as well as their strangeness. There is good Facebook page and much inspiration out there …

Pass the Duchy

 Yesterday saw me in Edinburgh for the Festival Fringe-

Obligatory coffee at Origin before the show.

En route to venue, five min from Origin

The stage and musician in place.

The guide to the Fringe and the show we attended-

Most enjoyable, very clever and entertaining.

Today sees me start my voluntary guiding in the Fringe at the venue below-

Well , well worth a look if you are in the area- https://visitmansfieldtraquair.uk/

Claymore

 Friday was a day of sorting out things on the telephone and by email followed by go out with the family ( https://bonnieandwildmarket.com/) for a meal to celebrate daughter number three’s birthday. We had a lovely evening and most importantly it rounded off a most enjoyable day for her.

Saturday dawned with reasonable weather and the promise of it ending with a bbq with friends, a long running post Claymore tradition. Regardless of weather the bbq goes on. We have bbqd  in the rain with me holding a brolly over it, for example.This year was some of the best weather for ages.  Anyway l am getting away from myself . Some pictures of the show-

Incredible ship anchoring one end of quite an outstanding table.

Infantry march in column on the aforementioned table.

Fantastic fortifications and vignettes abound across the table, much to look at.

Figures wading out of the sea to the shore, a nice touch. I had not seen it done with mounted before.

Exuberant scene, full of lovely details, well worth taking time to see.

The folk putting on the game and a final picture below. Wow!

A lovely Rapid Fire Reloaded game with great terrain and figures.

And again, lovely buildings.

And again…

Battle of Hampton Roads.

WW1 1914 in an interesting and innovative manner.

Midgard Rules demo game. I await their publication with interest.

A borders reiver game with super figures and terrain.

Carlist Wars in 28 mm , fascinating colourful uniforms on display.

It was good to speak to folk putting on the games and bump into friends old and new. My purchases- a packet of 60x 40 mm bases, a packet of dials to keep casualty tracking and a van for the vbcw. 

Finally a huge thank you to a reader of this blog who brought over to the show some cataphracts for my Palmyran army. Great new recruits and great to meet you too!