Sunday 31 May 2015

Partizan 2015

Stephen and I, accompanied by a small and sulky child, made the trip to Partizan today. I had a mental shopping list that I then forgot once I arrived. Ho hum.

We played a game of Frostgrave, which was light-hearted fun. The small boy thrashed me (apparently kids have been beating dads in all the demo games). I think Steve and I will be jumping on the Nickstarter for this one. Although I'm no big fan of Bob Naismith's sculpting style for historical miniatures - I find them too cartoonish - I think the henchmen plastics he's done fit the feel of this game very well. I also like wizard models in the main and the book looks splendid. Small boy wants to play some more, so I think a level three on the Nickstarter might be the way to go.



One thing that was noticeable about Partizan was the absence of participation games. Small boy really just wants to roll some dice and take part, but it was very demo game heavy. He loved Hammerhead (which is all participation) but was bored rigid at Partizan. I'm not saying either format is better, but the difference was noticeable and his engagement levels massively different.

We did spend some time admiring top chums James' and Scrivs' lovely Verdun game.
It looked splendid and they were having a grand time playing it. I have mixed feelings about their WW1 escapade, which I explained to James and I'll elaborate on in a future post I think.

 "Let it explode, let it exploooode"

 Huns at the trot




I purchased a couple of blisters of the Curteys resin Dark Age casualty markers - I'd wanted them since Scrivs showed me them on the way back from Salute and a book on Oppy Wood - in an attempt to reconcile my conflicts around WW1 gaming.

Sunday 24 May 2015

Scots Greys (1)

Started work on the Perry Scots Greys.

After cleaning up (which was laborious. God knows I love the Perrys and their models, but their casting really is a weak link) I based them on some Warbases oval bases, added some sand then gave them a blast of grey (well, durr) primer.


Then I've given them an overbush with Astronomican Grey.


Saturday 23 May 2015

Still more 40K scenery

And so it continues.
A couple of ruined buildings tarted up and desertified,






And two more bits of resin rock formations from TSS.





Almost got a table-full now.

Friday 22 May 2015

Inspiration

I ordered a couple of films over the weekend.


I have seen both of them before.
Waterloo many times on an old video, but The Man Who Would be King I think only once.

Waterloo may give an additional clue to the Mysterious New Project (tm)  I mentioned yesterday.

The Man Who Would be King is in preparation for Dan Mersey's rules of the similar name due out next year from Osprey. I've always fancied a bit of colonial nonsense and this game may be just what I need to tip me over the edge. Guitar Hero Andy has been posting some playtest battle reports over on his blog and there are some very nice figure ranges about.

However must get Mysterious New Project (tm) finished first before I buy anything else.

Thursday 21 May 2015

New Project

Some time ago General Ballroom and I conceived of a wizard wheeze that would make a smashing project of the type ideal for two butterfly minded simpletons like us.

The first part of the plan was for me to get some models at Salute.
I failed to achieve this.

However I was able to make a successful online purchase and the goodies have duly arrived.



Unfortunately Gen. Ballroom has, in the intervening weeks, had a heart operation, followed by a severe bout of unexpected complications leading to nasty poorliness.

I visited him in hospital earlier this week and was able to drop off his part of the package, though it may be a while before he's ready to tackle much in the way of painting. However I was pleased to find him up and about and clearly on the mend.

So I'm going to crack on with my part of the project and we'll see where we end up.

Can anyone guess from the package above what the project might be..?

Jungle Boogie

The painting and gaming drought continues. I think getting used to my new job is taking more out of me than I imagined. A nasty virus hasn't helped, either.

However I've done a bit more jungle terrain stuff.




All as in the last post...

The bases that the round bits sit in are from 4ground.




And of course, as this will mostly see 40K service I had to make a classic Oldhammer 40K Spiker Plant.




Sunday 10 May 2015

More Scenery

A change of job and a lack of inspiration means I've not been able to get my painting mojo on these last few weeks.
However I have managed to crank out a few more bits of terrain.

First some jungle bases, for if I ever get my Darkest Africa plans in shape. Or just for use in games of 40K with the kids





The bases are MDF from Warbases and I'm not worried about the edges as they're going to slot into some of the 4 Ground Wood bases. The "bushes" are aquarium plants that GW repackaged years ago for the Lustria campaign.

Then a resin rocky piece from TSS



On a desert style base for either 40K or for some El Cid games.

And finally a couple of plastic pieces from the old LotR game





Again on desert to do duty in either the grim darkness of the far future, or the grim darkness of early medieval Spain.

Sunday 3 May 2015

40K Scenery

Given the ongoing enthusiasm in the Tom's Toy Soldiers household for all things from the grim, dark future I took the opportunity to pick up a few cheap pieces of scatter terrain at Salute.
So here they are:










The crystals are from Wargames Terrain Workshop
The barrels are from Coritani

Saturday 2 May 2015

40K with the smallest boy

The weekend before Salute I was left in sole charge of the smallest boy.
We ate fried things, went to a swimming gala, watched Hull FC beat Sheffield Eagles at Rugby and played Warhammer 40K. Twice.
Initially he said he wanted to write the battle reports, but sadly the lure of Minecraft means he hasn't put cursor to screen.
So in lieu of words here's the pictures.

 Da Boys arrive

 Waaaaagh!

 Black Templars amongst the ruins

 Da Boys capture da objektiv

 Come on ladz!

 Fightin'


"Eat Thunderhammer alien abomination!"


The game - still a frustrating mix of very simple and ludicrously complex. But it passes the time reasonably enough.
I won one and he won the other game and fun was had.