April 2024 hobby update

I've had more time for hobbying this month.  I finished off quite a lot and also spent a great day at Salute.  Salute used to be a shopping trip for me but since writing the blog it's become more of a social event which has been really rewarding.  This year I got to speak with a few more people that I correspond with online and we had the regular bloggers meet up.  Thanks to Ray from onelover-ray.blogspot.com for the photo.

Completed

I've been whittling away at the Victrix Unarmoured Late-Romans set since last August and I finally got round to completing all the figures this month.

First up were the 12 spear/sword/dart armed Romans.  These had been painted a while back but I’d been procrastinating about shields.  At the end of March I got my finger out and ordered all the Little Big Man shield transfers from Victrix and I’ve been adding those.  The oval shield transfers are a bit fiddly to place correctly but a bit of paint has sorted the ones that aren’t quite true.  I seem to have spent a lot of time fiddling about with shields this month but they do finish the miniatures off nicely.  

I also completed the 12 Command figures from this set.  I did six as Gothic/Germanic warriors and six as Late-Romans.  I completed the Goths first, the Romans took a bit longer.  I’ll do separate posts detailing these next month. 

The last figures I completed were four Burrows & Badgers miniatures which you can see more of here.

In progress

I've got two more late-Roman spearmen on the go, built using Victrix Ancient Germans bodies and bits from both the Unarmoured  and Armoured Late Romans sets.  I also bashed together a staff slinger leader and an archer leader using bodies from the Dark Age Archers with parts from the Late-Roman Archers/ Slingers and Unarmoured and Armoured sets.

The other things on the table are the 15mm Ancient Germans from Cromarty Forge/PSC.  I've done a couple of test paints and I'm cleaning the rest up to press on next month. 

I've turned my attention back to Verrotwood and built another cult of four figures and a couple of creatures all from bits lying about.  I'm looking forward to painting these up and finally having a game.  

Ramblings, Reading & Research  

I've not finished any hobby related books this month although at a stretch I could include The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall.  I first read this as a lad at school and thoroughly enjoyed it as I did the 1980's BBC series.  Reading it so many years later I'm able to comprehend it on a much deeper level than just a great adventure book.  It's a superb book, moving and funny and captures what I imagine those dark days fearing Nazi invasion must have been like for many people. 

Incoming 

I managed four months without buying any miniatures but we’ve just had Salute 😂 How did I do?  I think I was quite restrained:

  • 25 20mm Second World War figures for the Eastern Front from Early War Miniatures and Battlezone Miniature
  • 2 20mm Pz IVHs also from Early War Miniatures
  • Also from the BZM/EWM stand I picked up Touching History magazine for Spain which I've wanted for ages. I only paid a fiver which less than half of the current eBay price.
  • 5 Burrows and Badgers figures from Oathsworn. I can't go to Salute without picking up a few.
  • 27 Pro-Arte brushes from ABC Brushes.  I didn't need any more brushes but you can't have too many.
  • 6 Army Painter paints (old series) and some bases from Warbases.
The Salute haul

Non-Salute purchases were:
  • South African Border Wars by Willem Stenkamp with photos by the legendary Al J Venter.  I've wanted this since first becoming interested in this conflict last year,  so when Helion were offering it at half price I ordered it straight away.  It's a superb photographic reference work.  Reading this has inspired me to restart this project.
  • Battlegroup Torch theatre book, a 15mm Elefant and a 15mm Pz IVH from Plastic Soldier Company.  I placed this order in early March when PSC offered 20% off due to the delay in getting the Bagration book out and delay in processing orders due to the popularity of their 3d printed releases.  They've been a victim of their own success as they built up a backlog, which got worse with this offer 🤣. However, they always deliver and communicate to the customers so I wasn't worried.  They also popped in a freebie motorcycle combination which was nice, as are the book and the 3d printed vehicles.  Actually they're more than nice, the Battlegroup Torch book is top quality and the vehicles are crisp as you can get.

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