Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

Keeping up my tradition April is time for the first update of the year.  The gaming update for the same period is  here .   At the start of the year this is what the projects board looked like (detail  here ): And here's the updated list as of the end of April: As always big ticks are for completed projects, little ticks show how many months I've worked on something for that project.  The only changes since the start of the year are: The 16th C. Revamp has been completed, but I've added some more figures so it's now just 16th Century. I've added a new project - Fall of Granada.  This is a period I've wanted to do forever it seems, well at least 30 years since I travelled round Andalucía.  The starting balance as of January 2026 was : 28mm - 6 figures (all Verrotwood) 20mm - 45 figures, 1 gun, 1 aircraft (all French Indo-China War) 15mm - 7 afvs (all WW2) 6mm - 368 figures (44 Iran-Iraq/1980s, 9 1980s afvs/aircraft; 240 Seven Years War; 84 19t...

It's now almost a fortnight since Salute 53, Europe's largest one day wargames show.  It's taken me a little while to unravel my thoughts.  This post isn't a review of Salute (see Storm of Steel and Big Lee's Miniature Adventures YouTube channels for two excellent reviews), it's my personal take. Much has been said and written about the show.  Salute represents where the hobby is at.  And it's dominated by Sci-Fi and Fantasy.  That's just the way it is.  I started out as a historical gamer pre-Warhammer, when Games Workshop just imported and sold other people's games.  Warhammer passed me by as I was into guitars and girls by it's release, so GW games mean next to nothing to me (apart from Warhammer Historical).  However, GW changed the hobby and with so many companies run by ex-GW people it's inevitable the GW "way" dominates the hobby and therefore dominates Salute.  This is very much how it is with the traders.  You can feel the ...

Introduction Winter has at last released the Verrotwood from its grip.  As the snow disappears the cultists venture out in their quest for Favor and Power.  This time there's no additional quest to undertake.  Each cult is determined to become dominant, they'll be no quarter in Leave None Alive. Set up This game is based on the Bloodbath encounter from Verrotwood: The Old West.  The only changes are in using suitable forest rather than Old West themed terrain.  The game is played on a small board 24x28 inches over four  rounds.  The board features a piece of centrally placed Cursed Terrain and a Madman lurks to attack the Cultists. A Victory Point (VP) is awarded for each enemy cultist or the Madman taken Out of Action.  The cult accumulating the most VPs at the end of the fourth round wins 100 Favor and 1 Point of Power.  The losers gain 50 Favor. Starting positions. Round 1 SerpensNadrew and SerpensEnirethec of The Uncoiling Run forwards ke...

March has been a very disjointed month.  We were away for a week in Malta.  Unfortunately, both before we went and on our return there's been some serious family medical business to attend to and normal life has been very disrupted.   I've been left to my own devices for quite a bit of the month, so from the hobby perspective it's been a good month.  To be frank though most of it has been rubbish.  The importance of being able to sit quietly and focus on something that you have control over should never be underestimated.  Completed Here's what I completed during the month: 6mm Iran-Iraq War afvs.  I based up the last four vehicles I'd painted last year.  I'd held off on these as I did consider using them for the Soviet-Afghanistan project but decided they'd be better for the IIW.  I also found a Command stand that just needed the ground texturing so I did that too. 20mm Platoon 20 French Indo-China War Vietnamese.  These were...

Introduction We return to The Garden of Statis in the Eternal City.  The folk of The Dreaming City - agile and fast Elven warriors led by Commander Varnik take on the Undead of Soregade the Necromancer.   Set up This was a game of Sword Weirdos using the Treasure Surprise scenario from the rules.  Each side was 86 points.   Round 1 Round 1 starting positions Soregade's Undead grasps the Initiative and the bad lad himself moves forward his maximum 2 SPD, which sees him splashing into the central pool.  He doesn't have enough actions left to Interact and grab the chest so that's his turn over.   Using his superior elven speed, Feneric moves 3 sticks to be next to a chest, ready to claim it next turn. The Bane Knight does similar on the other side of the garden, but as he only has a Spd of 2 he can't quite reach the chest. Seeing the Bane Knight positioning itself to grab a chest, Ederic move twice and then fires his pistol at the undead....