July 2023 Hobby update

I was away on holiday for the first two weeks of the month.  I took some figures to clean up but didn't get round to even looking at them, so I had a complete break from normal life 😃. It's done me the world of good and I've really pushed on since being back. 

Completed

I've nearly finished everything that was on the table prior to my holiday: 

  • 15mm Grumpy's Landsknecht  arquebusiers and musicians.  I made life difficult for myself by priming them grey and then ended up giving then a white coat base coat so that the colours stand out.  The lesson for the next batch is just use white primer!  I found them a bit daunting at first, but as I got more colour on them I started to enjoy painting them more and more and am enthused enough to start on a new batch straight away.  Overall I'm very pleased how they've turned out and will do a post on them soon.
  • Native American Mound Builder Shaman.  Once I put my mind to it I polished off this chap quite quickly.

In progress

Here's what's currently on the table:

  • In June I'd started on some 1/300th South African infantry from Scotia Grendel.  I've painted and varnished these and have put put them to one side.  I'm going to get some other figures (possibly some of the new 2D6 Rhodesian Bush Wars or Heroics and Ros) to mix in with these for some variety, so they can't be based up and properly completed until then
  • I've started on another 6 Victrix warriors from the Dark Age Archers and Slingers set.  I began 2023 working on some of these, mixing them with parts from the Victrix Vikings set and I enjoyed doing them (see here). 
  • Right at the end of the month I started on a couple of terrain bits I had lying about a nice little 10mm Warbases building that I bought ages ago and a treasure chest base.   Unfortunately, the building didn't have its roof so I need to contact Warbases to sort that out.  

Gaming

I had a spare Saturday morning the other week and had my first game of Space Weirdos, which was  really enjoyable.  You can read the AAR here. 

Ramblings, Reading & Research

There seems to have been an absolute plethora of new releases and hobby news this month.  It's had my head spinning!  Helion are trying to bankrupt me by  releasing tempting tomes on a weekly basis.  Cromarty Forge (who I have been monitoring for a while) have teamed up with Plastic Soldier Company and are releasing ranges encompassing Republic, Imperial and Late Rome.  Part of me wishe they had their Late Romans available last year before I lashed out on those Victrix!  Talking of Victrix they've announced a new Medieval range is in the offing and they're regularly releasing Dark Age sets of the highest quality which are difficult to ignore.  Wargames Atlantic are just as prolific with their First World War Brits finally coming over the horizon amongst a constant barrage of new stuff.

I'm a simple soul and to be honest I've found it all a bit overwhelming as it's all so tempting.  However, it has made me sit down and reassess where I am and where I'm going with the hobby.  I have a collection of many different periods and scales and with hindsight I could have been much smarter.  It's definitely time to make some decisions.

I've been taking stock of all the outstanding figures I've got and and will be formulating a plan.  I used to split the year into thirds and do a plan for each third.  I stopped in April this year as I'd not done much on the plan I put in place in January, but it's meant I've gone off on more tangents than usual😟.  I  recently read an excellent post from Joe McCullough that has reinforced my thinking and has made to want to get back to good habits.  It doesn't seem that long ago where I was blogging about having no unpainted miniatures.  

That's the ramblings out the way.  As far as reading goes I've read Osprey Men at Arms "Norwegian Waffen SS Legion".  I wanted something quick to read before I started on something more substantial.  It's quite a good read, being a brief history.  There's some nice colour plates too.

I picked up a cracking book from the library which coincided well with the game I played. "Fangs of the Lone Wolf" is a study on Chechen tactics in the wars with Russia.  It's written by American veterans turned reporters who interviewed Chechens who had fought.  It's a series of vignettes with maps and commentary.  Fascinating stuff.  It's by Helion (of course!) and I read the original 2013 version.  They've since updated it and brought it inline with their Europe at War series.  

Incoming!

In line with the ramblings above I've tried to keep my spending down this month and definitely not buy anything that needs doing!
  • Right at the end of June an offer came up from Lucid Eye for The Red Book of the Elf King rules and Troll Wars supplement for only £10 the pair.  I've been interested in these for awhile so couldn't resist.  They were waiting for me when I returned from holiday and I've had a good look through.  They're interesting rules in an interesting setting.  At £5 a book they were a steal. 
  • I put a small order in for supplies from Cottage Craft.  As ever great service at good prices and free P&P as I spent over £10 which isn't hard to do nowadays.  Ordered Sunday afternoon and delivered on Tuesday, I've been buying from them for years now and will continue to do so.  I thought I'd give the Vallejo Surface Primer a try as I've finally used up my last can of Army Painter white and Humbrol White enamel looks very creamy to me.  I have got a load more Landsknechts to do after all. 
  • The final item I bought was Osprey Men at Arms Armies of the War of the Grand Alliance, which I'd been monitoring since it's release.  I've had a hankering for this period for a long time but something has always come along to distract me.  The book is a nice intoduction and I got it new for half price.  The colour plates are gorgeous.  I haven't bought a MAA for a long time as the quality varies so much but I'm pleased with this one.  I was less pleased with the fool from Amazon who bent the book to push it through the letter box!  It was all a bit odd as I'd bought it off eBay, but it came in Amazon packaging with an Amazon receipt.  Covert ways for the big boy  to get your money?

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