Hello Sweetie!

And we're done! The TARDIS is all ready to show up in some far flung galaxy:

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. The hand-painted signs turned out OK, although as the pictures show they're not quite central (typically, the front sign looks the most out-of-position of all four sides...) I'll probably go back at some point and redo it, but for a gaming piece (i.e. designed to be viewed from a distance of a few feet, rather than a few inches...) I think it'll do fine.

In other news, the Steam Tank is now undercoated:

I'll likely start work on that over the weekend, along with continuing with the Dystopian Wars stuff. Talking of Dystopian Wars, I was down the club last night and, aside from a very enjoyable second game of Cutlass (where we still didn't get the rules right!), I picked up a couple of Britannia Vanguard Submarines as well. They look fun to paint, and they shouldn't be too difficult either.

More on those next week!

The TARDIS Takes Off...

...although strictly speaking, I suppose it doesn't really fly. Regardless, work on the TARDIS has begun (hence the "taking off"!)

After a quick wash in soap and warm water, followed by a scrub with my brother's toothbrush (just kidding...) it was all ready to start. I have to say, the casting is top-notch which saved on any sort of maintenance work first (although it denied me the chance to use the new Liquid Green Stuff on air bubbles...)

One black undercoat and a coat of Regal Blue later:

I let it sit like this for a day or two, just out of sheer excitement - it already looks like a Police Box!

Today, I got over my nerdy Fanboy-ism and carried on painting. A 50/50 mix of Regal Blue and Enchanted Blue provided some line highlights (there are a lot of straight lines on this thing after all) and then a 75/25 mix of Regal Blue and Chaos Black provided a bit of shading in select areas (mainly the door panels).

With Flash

And without

You'll also notice I've started on the details, like the windows. The handles and keyhole were recoated black, ready to add metal. The windows and light have been give a basecoat of Skull White with a touch of blue (it occurred to me afterwards that I probably could have just used straight Ice Blue for this. Hindsight is a wonderful thing...). I originally tried to be neat and just paint the little boxes, but I quickly gave up and went for the "all over" approach. The Ice Blue-esque coat will get a highlight of pure Skull White, leaving the blue-white around the edges, and then I'll go back and repaint the window frames with Regal Blue.

You might be able to tell that I've also painted a box of the really dark blue on the door lintel (and the other three sides). That will be where the "Police Public Call Box" signs go, of course. Then it will be a simple case of adding the Police Notice on the left-hand door (or the right, depending on your point of view...) and we'll be done!

In other news, I've assembled the Steam Tank into sub-assemblies ready for painting:

These have all been thoroughly washed and scrubbed as well, and I'll probably get round to undercoating them tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I've finally managed to continue with the Dystopian Wars fleet:

Excuse the dodgy photo angle, but you can hopefully see that there's just one Cruiser left to undercoat. The Battleship (the big one of the right of the picture) and the painted Cruiser (top-left) are both on hold until I can figure out what sort of camoflage/razzle dazzle I want to do on the fleet, if any.

Sentinels of Shadows - Crossing Paths Campaign

Today I'm going to take a bit of time out to talk about a subject that's a little bit different - online campaigns.

Some of you will be familiar with the concept of online campaigns; some may never have heard of "normal" campaigns, let alone online ones, so for those of you in the latter category I'm going to start at the beginning...

What is a campaign?

Well, in the most general sense, a campaign is defined as "an operation or series of operations energetically pursued to accomplish a purpose." The word can be applied to anything, from advertising to politics. Of course, where one most often hears of it being used though is in regard to military operations, where a campaign is described as "a large scale, long duration, significant military strategy plan incorporating a series of inter-related military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war." It is this latter definition that is most applicable to what I'm talking about today.

Naturally, we have the Romans to thank for giving us the word "campaign", derived as it is from the plain of Campania, a place of annual wartime operations by the armies of the Roman Republic. But how does this apply to wargaming?

Military in Miniature

Wargaming obviously has a connection to military matters. After all, wargames are strategy games that attempt to deal with military operations of various types, whether real or fictional. Most historical wargamers will have taken part in a refight of a famous battle at some point; Kadesh, Cannae, Hastings, Agincourt, Blenheim, Waterloo, Gettysburg, Stalingrad - there are plenty to choose from. But in the bigger picture, each of these battles is part of a wider conflict, just one action in a war that may have lasted for years. It is this "bigger picture" that campaigns aim to encapsulate. The famous battles are obviously the most well-known and 'popular' (otherwise they wouldn't be famous...) but there are plenty of lesser known but just as important (if not moreso) engagements that either preceded or followed. At it's most basic level, a campaign attempts to present a conflict on a wider scale that demonstrates the action over a series of engagements, rather than on the outcome of a single battle.

Of course, just as with the wargames themselves, campaigns can come in many shapes and forms. Historical refights are one area that certain players may want to extend to cover a series of historical engagements; perhaps a set of battles refighting the D-Day landings and the Battle of Normandy for WWII gamers. In it's most basic form, a wargames campaign is a series of linked battles connected by some sort of continuing narrative. The most basic ones may follow a tree diagram between two players, where the outcome of the first battle determines what the second game is, and so on. Perhaps your army is trying to reinforce your main force and your opponents army is trying to stop you. You fight a Pitched Battle. If your army wins, they reinforce the main army and the next game is a siege while they trap your opponent. If your opponent wins, the next game is an ambush, as your main army is overwhelmed without its reinforcements as backup.

More complex campaigns may involve half a dozen players each with their own army, fighting over a map to control towns, cities, territories or what have you. There may be rules for supply lines, reinforcements, seasonal effects to try and reflect the logistics of a long-term conflict. There may be neutral forces, indigenous natives or packs of dangerous animals that the players have to contend with. All of these things can be added to increase the flavour and "realism" of the campaign, whichever game it is you're playing.

Taking it online

Now that's the basics of a wargames campaign established, but where does the "online" part come into it, I hear you ask? Well, some of you who are familiar with Games Workshop (which I would imagine is most of us...) will likely also remember (or at least be aware of) the worldwide campaigns that they used to organise and run every couple of years in the summer: Storm of Chaos, Nemesis Crown, Eye of Terror, the Fall of Medusa V. These were all online campaigns - players played games, and used the results to influence the results of the campaign and determine a winner, and a campaign story. The players fight for a team (called a faction) in an effort to triumph over the other teams involved in the campaign. Usually these factions are organized roughly by race, by forum or by traditional alliances. Each faction is trying to take as much territory as they can from the others while defending their own. A map is used to represent the area of the world (or worlds) that is being contested. Each faction starts with a small amount of territory and must use points gained by fighting games to capture more.

Those are the very basics of fighting a campaign online, but over the years there have been several online campaigns run by online communities independently to Games Workshop. There are several Warhammer forums out there than organise and run their own campaigns set in the Warhammer world. Over the years, these have gradually built in complexity to become far more immersive and involved than any of the Games Workshop worldwide campaigns ever were. Sites such as Animosity Campaigns, Warhammer-Empire and The UnderEmpire have each run very successful campaigns, with Animosity now building up to their sixth (!!!) online campaign.

Get to the point already...

So why am I telling you all this?

Well, because there is now a new kid on the block in the world of online campaigning. Some of you may know that I'm an Admin on Asrai.org, a Warhammer forum devoted to Wood Elves and Wood Elf players, and in about April 2010 I got together a team to work on an online campaign for Asrai.org to follow in the vein established by other Warhammer sites. Now, after eighteen months of hard work (not to mention blood, sweat and tears...), that campaign is finally ready and waiting to be unleashed upon the unsuspecting masses!

Sentinels of Shadows ~ Crossing Paths

It is the year IC 2527, five years after the coming of the Storm of Chaos and the ravaging of the Empire. Five long years in which the Empire has struggled to recover its lost strength and the forces of darkness have begun to regroup.

Yet the suffering of the Empire is not yet over. In the province of Nordland, the elves of the Laurelorn forest assemble. Provoked by the trespassing of villagers in their hunt for timber to rebuild and concerned by the dark forces advancing on the forest, the elves of the Laurelorn gather to remind their foes why they once feared to enter the woods.

The land is further troubled by news from the east of a greenskin horde rampaging across Ostland and heading west. The remnants of the Waaagh of Grimgor Ironhide, the horde has ravaged Ostland almost to the brink of utter destruction; the armies of the Empire must now march north to face this foe and put a stop to the woe it brings before it can cripple the Empire's bulwark against the north.

This threat could not have come at a worse time for the Empire. In Middenland, the people mourn for the loss of their Elector Boris Todbringer, slain at the hand of his arch nemesis Khazrak the One-Eye. This tragedy has left the province desperately weakened and facing invasion on two fronts; not only the Orc Waaagh to the north-east, but more immediately threatening is the coalition of forces gathering to the south of Middenheim. Dark rumours talk of a shadowy figure known only as the Dagger of Shadows, a warrior who commands the loyalty not only of the beasts but also of foul rat-men, vampires, servants of the Dark Gods and foul daemons of the aethyr.

While the Empire faces two known foes in the open, others move in the shadows to corrupt and subvert. Brigands and outlaws, mercenaries, petty necromancers and warlords all flock to the banner of the one they call the Cockatrice. Little is known of this mysterious figure, or what those who follow him hope to accomplish. Gold? Glory and honour? Or something altogether more sinister? To the nobles of the Empire, these forces appear disorganised and unconnected and thus present no threat but little do they know that each ambush, each robbery, each raid is but one thread in the giant net woven by the Cockatrice. What he hopes to ensnare with this net is unknown, but with the forces that descend on the lands of the Empire it will not be long before the Cockatrice reveals his hand.

Boris Todbringer’s son Hanil is now Elector but although capable, he is untried and untested. Under the advice of his spymaster Rilhert, the new Elector has established a temporary base at Carroburg rather than risk travelling through the Drakwald to reach Middenheim. Guided by the prophecies and premonitions of the captive witch-child Ikena, Rilhert follows the movements of the Empire’s enemies and seeks to find a future in which the Empire can survive these troubled times.

As I mentioned above, this is the culmination of eighteen months' hard work and determination. It's been a long journey, but we've got there in the end! The campaign opens tomorrow 10th October for registration, and begins in a week's time, on Monday 17th October. If you're even the slightest bit interested in campaigns or Warhammer (preferably both!) then it would be great to see you join in. Head to Sentinels-Campaigns.net to get involved!

And just to finish off

Campaigns, for me, are the epitome of what this hobby is all about. They combine all aspects of the hobby - gaming, roleplaying and modelling/painting - into one glorious bundle. Games take on new meaning as they actually become something more than just a bunch of figures on a table, because the fortunes of your army/warband/crew/whatever depend on the outcome. You can invest time and energy giving your figures a background and a history that makes them more than just lumps of lead, and you have the drive to invest more time and energy into the physical appearance of your models when they mean something to you. That perhaps sounds more than a little corny, but it's true nonetheless. Knowing that a bunch of figures are telling a story and perhaps, in some cases, literally changing the world makes me want to invest the time in them to get them painted, write fluff for them and play more and more games with them! For me, campaigns are a self-perpetuating source of motivation in all aspects of the hobby, and being able to share that with people all over the world via the internet makes it all the more inspiring for me.

So if that sounds like something you might be interested in, why not give it a shot and see what you can get out of it?


P.S On an altogether different note, I now have two new followers (doubling the total to 4!). Many thanks to Sylvos and Hoodling! I hope you enjoy my ramblings.

Derby World Wargames Part Deux!

So as I mentioned earlier in the week, this weekend was the weekend of the Derby World Wargames show. I went, I saw, I came back with a melted debit card and a big bag of goodies!

We set off early and arrived about half an hour after the doors opened. The venue is a fair size, but the show didn't seem all that busy. There were the usual demo and participation games, although the majority were fairly sub-standard (if I may say so myself). Considering they were supposed to be demonstration games, there didn't seem to be a lot of demonstrating actually going on - whenever we (Stafford Games) have run a game in the past (although that admittedly isn't all that many times), we've always made a point of having someone just standing around the table ready to talk to spectators, explain what's going on, what the game is, how it's played etc. Today, out of all the games there (the entry leaflet said there were 25+ Display and Participation games...), only one person noticed that he had spectators and came up to tell me about the game and what was going on (and invite me to join in). All of the other games were engrossed in their own game, and seemed to have simply turned up to play in an "exotic" venue. Now, I'll bring this rant to a close shortly and get to the good stuff, but surely the point of a demonstration game is to demonstrate what the game is, how it's played and what's going on, and surely the point of a participation game is to invite people to participate in the game? Maybe it's just me, but that was my biggest bugbear of the show and really a bit of a let-down, considering that the display games are usually my favourite part of wargames shows.

With the rather disappointing array of games on display (excuse the pun...), I didn't bother taking any pictures as I'd planned. But I was soon cheered up by the prospect of spending some hard-earned pennies and getting myself some new toys. And in that respect, Derby didn't disappoint.

You can see the shopping list I wrote in the previous post, and surprisingly I actually managed to get most of the stuff I wanted!

First up, a visit to Heresy Miniatures yielded the long-coveted Doctor Who figures. In order of excitement, we have:

"Not-K9" The D-06 (read it carefully...) General Duty Robot

"Dr Hugh"...

"Emily Lake"

"Nerdlord"

Who fans among you will hopefully forgive me for rating Amy Pond (sorry, I mean "Emily Lake"...) above David Tennant in the excitement stakes!

Of course, no Doctor would be complete without his constant companion:

The "Constabulary Communication Cabinet"

I picked this up from Ainsty - after all, how else is the Doctor supposed to show up in 1880s London?!

I did pick up one other thing from Heresy:

Van Halfling! Mucho potential for the next campaign character I think!!

Moving on then, the next port of call was the Steampunk/Victoriana stuff. After a bit of discussion with Gary, my partner-in-crime in this particular venture, we decided to take the plunge into a sort of Deepest Darkest Africa setting rather than start off in the traditional Victorian London environs. We'll get to that eventually, but we're both quite keen to experiment with Lost World scenarios, complete with angry natives and dinosaurs, to get us going. With that in mind, Gary now has a varied selection of potential savage natives in the form of Wargames Factory Zulus and Perry Miniatures Mahdists, plus a box of Wargames Factory Zulu Wars British Infantry. I, meanwhile, have these:

Desert Guides - quite handy when wandering around the Sahara

'Renegade Legionaries' - to be supplemented with more French Foreign Legion types...

Technically, a British Tank Commander in overseas dress...

Allan Quatermain!

And the crowning glory:

Yes, a Steam Tank! I can't wait to get this baby painted up and onto the table...

But the real crowning glory of today's purchases is the only one I can't show pictures of - because I don't have it yet. The one thing I wanted to come away with today was a pirate ship, and boy did I get one! Ainsty Castings were quite near the entrance and as soon as I saw the stand, I saw the pirate ships sitting there. Thankfully, Ainsty had managed to get them cast and ready for Derby and I wasted no time in ordering the biggest and best of them - the Man-o-war. To be honest, the Merchantman would probably have done the job perfectly well, but the Man-o-war was absolutely bristling with cannons and covered in detail, and it was too good to resist. The downside is that I have to wait roughly two weeks before I'll get the ship - Ainsty only just managed to get the first casts done in time, and spent the few hours before the show actually gluing everything together! But it will definitely be worth the wait, and I will have pictures up the minute it arrives...

So all in all, a very successful day of spending! You'll notice of course that I didn't actually end up with that many figures; hopefully this means I'll actually get this lot painted!

Derby World Wargames

Yet another post with no pictures I'm afraid. Still no painting done, and the painting den is still nowhere close to up and running.

So I'm going to talk about something else hobby-related. This coming weekend (1st & 2nd October) is Derby World Wargames, presented by the Derby Wargames Associates and held at the University of Derby Kedleston Road campus. The last time I went to this show was probably at least five years ago, simply because I've not been able to make it each time. Things are about to change though!

I'll be heading up to the show on the Sunday (2nd Oct), and I've already compiled my shopping list:

Coritani/Magnetic Displays ~ Basetex: Brown and Green

Ironclad Miniatures ~ Victoriana/Steampunk

Heresy ~ Dr Who stuff

Magister Militum ~ Lead Adventure Steampunk

West Wind Productions ~ Saxon Archers!

Ainsty Castings ~ Pirate Ship


Coritani/Magnetic Displays is a must-visit (???) if I want to get my Napoleonics finished. You might remember how I forgot to buy the Basetex I needed at Alumwell way back in March; well, I still haven't bought any so now is the ideal opportunity (and it saves me having to mess about with buying it over the internet). It will mean I can finally finish off the bases for the Napoleonic figures I finished earlier in the year, and it will mean I have enough to use for Napoleonics I'll paint in the future.

Ironclad Miniatures and Magister Militum will be cautiously optimistic visits. I have no idea whether they'll be carrying their Victoriana/Steampunk lines and I'm not sure which, if any, I'll be buying but a few of us at the club have been toying with the idea of a Victoriana campaign. The recent articles by Tim Eagling in Wargames Illustrated discussing his 'End of Empire' rules resparked the interest among us (or me at least) so I'll be seeing what these two companies have to offer, as well as having a look round for others.

Heresy Minatures have long been a favourite of mine, but I've never actually bought any! With the interest in Victoriana/Steampunk spiking again, what better opportunity to kill two birds with one stone and introduce the Doctor and co! It means we'll be able to shake things up a little by introducing a sci-fi element to Victorian games (Cybermen in 1880s London anyone?) and it means I finally have an excuse to buy those long-coveted Dr Who miniatures!

Yet again, I'll be visiting West Wind to see if they finally have some Saxon Archers for me to buy. For two years running, they're not had any so this time, I'm going to get there early and have a look. Otherwise, I'll have to take it as a sign that I should really paint the Saxons I already have before buying more....but that can't be right, can it?

Ainsty Castings will be another optimistic visit. I've heard through the grapevine that Ainsty will have the Dixon Miniatures pirate ships for sale at Derby, but whether that will turn out to be the case is another matter. It all depends whether Ainsty can get them ready in time. Ainsty do also do a line of "Professor What" products that include a "Constabulary Communication Cabinet" (or Police Phone Box....) though, so I might pick some of those up to accompany other purchases...


Anyway, that's yer lot. I'll report back on how the show goes (with pictures! If I remember to take the camera...) after the weekend. In the meantime, I have another post planned on a completely different subject this week so keep your eyes peeled...

Has It Really Been That Long?!?!

Doesn't time fly? Already we're past the halfway mark of the month, and I've gone all that time without making a single blog post. It doesn't seem all that long ago, but maybe it's just me...

Of course, even in all the time since the last post, my hobby progress has been sadly lacking (which is happening all too often these days...). I've managed to get a fair few games in though, and this weekend was something particularly special.

Yesterday saw the opening of the new premises of Stafford Games, and to celebrate the occasion an Opening Day event was held to show off the new shop and gaming hall. What was once a crowded and rather tiny industrial unit with room for about six gaming tables and not much else (and before that, was an almost equally crowded two-floor shop in the middle of Stafford, if memory serves) has now become a large and spacious gaming hall with a very smart-looking shop area at the front, and is being styled as "The Midlands Wargames Centre". Honestly, I think it lives up to the name.

It's nothing too flashy at the moment (or at least the hall isn't), and it's not completely finished (Roland, the owner, still has plans for work to be done) but it's a huge upgrade from the previous setting (which only happens to be just round the corner, so we didn't even move very far!). But whereas the previous shop was always a struggle for space, and barely fitted half a dozen tables with all the stock tightly packed on narrow shelving around the room (which wasn't an ideal situation for either gaming, or shopping), the new premises has the shop completely seperate from the gaming area; the shop alone is about the same size as the whole previous premises, and has plenty of room to comfortably display all the available stock.

The biggest improvement though is most definitely the gaming area. Until turning up yesterday, we had no real idea of just how big it was going to be, but it's more than big enough now to comfortably meet all of the club's needs. Just to give you an idea:

Three shots taken from the back of the hall, looking back towards the shop (through the door) and the front of the Centre. As you can tell, there was plenty of space yesterday - on the left side (left on the photos, that is) there were three rows of three 6'x4' tables and on the right there were four rows of two 6'x4' tables - seventeen full size tables in all, and plenty of space for them all (plus plenty of open space left over; you could easily fit in another three or four tables comfortably). What isn't shown in the photos above (because they were behind the camera) are the two painting stations along the back wall, the toilet facilities and the all-important vending machine!

You can see the balcony above the shop as well (with the wooden barrier where the flags are hanging); that's the planned development for the future. At the moment, the only way to access the top is by ladder, but Roland has plans to add in stairs, build a sturdier barrier ("because some of us are big chaps!" he said...) and then get another three or four tables up there; either to add extra tables for tournaments, or to allow us to plan big ongoing games without having to pack everything up each week.

So those are the new premises, but what did we all get up to?

Well, as you can see, there were plenty of games going on. Here are just a few of them:

A WAB game between Greeks and Persians (I think)

John's Border Reivers participation game, which attracted a lot of interest

A Regimental Fire & Fury ACW game by Mike, Andy, Glenn and Stuart

Jeff (left) and BMW John (right) and their tank-mad FoW game

Of course, there were several more games going on that I didn't get chance to take pics of - after all, I had my own game to play!

Gary, Paul, Daz and myself were playing a Thirty Years' War game between the forces of Gustavus Adolphus' Swedes, and Imperialists under the joint command of Wallenstein and Tilly. Myself and Gary took command of the Imperialists; our mission was to secure a river crossing, which was at the far end of the table. Daz and Paul took command of the Swedes in defence.

I didn't keep a record of the whole game to write up, but although the Swedes put up stiff opposition, we eventually managed to secure the bridgehead. The second photo above shows the Imperial advance early on (after two units of Swedish cavalry had been revealed behind the hills). I had command of the left flank (a unit of Arquebusiers, a unit of Curassiers, a saker, and three infantry regiments; Jung Tilly, Munich-Ebersberg and Lorrainers) which remained the most intact throughout the game (losing the cavalry, but with three full-strength infantry units taking the bridge by the end of the game) while Gary's forces got pretty heavily battered by the end. Of course, Gary will claim that this is because he did most of the fighting, but I know the truth - obviously, it's because of my better generalship!

My Curassiers engage a squadron of much-depleted Swedish cavalry

A view of the Imperial line from the Swedish perspective, after the initial cavalry charges by the Swedes

My three infantry regiments advance early on. From left to right: Munich-Ebersberg, Lorrainers, Jung-Tilly

Another early shot of the Swedish cavalry charge, after my Curassiers have been pushed back initially.

The Imperial advance continues towards the Swedish line

Another shot of the Imperial advance

A close up of the Curassiers caracoling more Swedish cavalry

The Imperials within touching distance of the bridge!
 

The rules we were using were entitled Pike & Musket and were actually written by Roland, and play very well (although there are bits that still need work of course). After the game, we had a good chat about the rules, the game and the possibility of running a TYW game at upcoming shows, ultimately targetting Salute in April next year. We have Wargamer and Alumwell, in December and March respectively, before Salute in April (unfortunately, we were too late to run a game at Derby in a fortnight but in hindsight it might have been a good thing - I don't think we'd have managed to get anything good enough ready in time...).

Anyway, things are all still up in the air but there are four of us at least who are prepared to put in the work and get things ready. The unfortunate thing is that not many other people at the club seem to be interested; as I may have mentioned before, the club is very Flames of War-centric, and unfortunately not many of the members seem keen to branch out into other eras, other games or other ranges. Each to their own I suppose, but with a club of our size (and now, with our facilities) it would be a crying shame if we couldn't up the level of our involvement in the wargaming community, especially after successful showings at Wargamer and Alumwell this year (which were the first games we've ever put on at shows). But I digress....


Of course, the day wouldn't be complete with some good old trade. The Opening Day had a bring-and-buy sale for people to bring along their unwanted figures; I took along my old Blood Angels army to get rid of (as we've not played 40K for years, my Blood Angels are more a collection of figures than an army, and I have Eldar if I do ever get back into playing 40K anyway). I took all the stuff I had and sold them by unit, at very good prices (if I do say so myself!). If it had all sold, I'd have made £122 but in the end I only managed to get rid of some Assault Marines and a Command Squad for a total of £21. Still, I didn't expect to sell much because I knew most people would be preoccupied with playing. They attracted a lot of interest, but sadly only a couple of buyers!

Naturally, I also did some buying of my own (I really should learn to leave my wallet at home...). Jeff was selling a bunch of Empire figures (the guy's a chronic collector of just about everything - he's just got rid of 16000pts worth of Space Marines...) so I picked up 12 Empire Knights for £20 to use with my Tileans. Not a bad price all in all (although, after comparing RRPs last night, a lot smaller discount than I was selling my Space Marines for!)

After playing Black Scorpion's Cutlass rules at the last couple of club sessions (written by a certain Gav Thorpe...), we're also toying with the idea of running another Pirates campaign (myself, Paul and Gary ran a small Pirates campaign using the LotHS rules last summer, but I think we already prefer Cutlass) so I've picked up another couple of minis for a crew

The first figure I picked up mainly because he looks like a character from a Three Musketeers film; the second because he has a parrot! You can't get more piratey than that!

In other news, the complete lack of hobby progress may soon be at an end - I'm getting my painting den back! After being turfed out of there I don't know how long ago (probably Christmas?) to make room for visitors, it was turned back into a spare bedroom. Now, I'm getting it back it will hopefully make it much easier for me to work on stuff - as things are, I've been working out of the bedroom, with everything (paints, tools, miniatures) packed away or tidied under the bed. Not the easiest situation to work with, and not helped by the fact that I often come home and the last thing I want to do at night is fetch everything out for an hour or two only to have to put it away again. With the painting den back up and running, I'll be able to just leave everything out and ready, and just pop in when I have half-an-hour free to work on bits at a time. Much easier to work with, and hopefully much more productive!

Anyway, it will probably be at least another week or so until I get the den back (we're in the middle of a big move-around, and I have to decorate another bedroom before I can move furniture around and reclaim the den...) but once I have my personal space back, I can hopefully get churning out a few more figures before the year is out and all my resolutions go out of the window!

Until next time!

Finally, some progress!

Time for an update on the WiP stuff then.

First up, Dystopian Wars.

I bought a Britannia fleet a while ago and after leaving them neglected for a few weeks after a few undercoating-related issues, I've slowly started working on them again. The Cruisers and Battleship all have various seperate turret pieces with them (Shield Generators and Gun Turrets in the set). There are loads of turret options in the DW rulebook so in a rare case of forward thinking, I thought it might pay dividends to make the turrets detachable, so that I could easily interchange any of the available options if Spartan Games make further turret options available in the future (as far as I know, only a few of the turret options detailed in the rulebook are actually available in miniature form). With that in mind, I set about magnetising the turrets.

Here you can see two of the Cruisers with the turret spaces magnetised. After a bit of thought about how to put my brilliant plan into action, I figured the best and easiest way was simply to fill the whole with Green Stuff and then press a tiny little neodymium magnet into the putty while it was curing. These magnets really are tiny - 1mm x 1mm! They are incredibly strong for their size though. I've had them for years, as I bought them originally so that I could magnetise all the weapon options for my fledgling Eldar force (which has now fallen by the wayside, as I've not played 40K for about 5 years!) On a side note, I've been looking into buying some more neodymium magnets (bigger ones) for magnetising bases, so we'll see how that pans out...

Anyway, with the magnets now firmly in place on the ships, the final stage was to do the same with the turrets. A quick snip with the cutters to remove the peg, a good filing to ensure a flat base and then a hole drilled into the base of the turret was all it look. Pop a bit of superglue in the hole, followed by the magnet (after getting the polarity right!) and voilà...

With the magnetising done, the painting has now begun. I started off with a dark-metal basecoat (Chainmail and Black mix), and the wooden decking on the Cruisers and Battleship has now been painted with Scorched Brown and given a wash of Brown Ink (to get that glossy finish I like!). So far, the Frigates have only received the coat of dark-metal as there's no real decking area to speak of.

So a bit of progress with the fleet. I've still not decided on any sort of detail work, whether I'm going to do some 'Razzle Dazzle' on them or not, so we'll have to see.

In the meantime, I picked up some Tileans again last night and did a bit of work on them as well, just for fun and as something a bit different (given that I've not touched them for a few months now...)

I've gone through the whole unit and repainted the faces (pretty much the only flesh on the models) and started painting the red helmet plumes as well; I've got about halfway through the unit so far. I decided after a bit of consideration to go with Blood Red as the plume colour rather than Red Gore as originally planned. As I intend to "dip" these figures (or rather, paint them with a wash) the Red Gore would probably have come out darker than I'd intended, so hopefully the Blood Red will be a little better.


In other news, I've played a very enjoyable game of LotR this morning with my brother and I'm off to play more Uncharted Seas in about an hour. This week, we're running a four player game. Not sure whether it's going to be a free-for-all, a 2v2, a 3v1 or whatever, but we're looking at introducing an interesting mechanic for deployment involving a pack of playing cards, just to spice things up a little. Should be fun!