June 2024 hobby update

That's June gone.  I've continued making steady progress, completing a further 11 28mm figures (88 done out of the 128 that I started the year with).  I've made a decent start on the 15mm Early Imperial Rome project now as well.  I also played another two games, giving two rulesets I've long wanted to play a try.  Overall I'm very satisfied with my hobby year at this halfway point. 

Completed

I didn't have too much on the table to finish off at the end of May:
  • In the first week of June I finished the Victrix Armoured Late-Romans.  I completed these as a unit of noble Germanic warriors.  You can see more here.
  • 28mm Print Minis Bitter Nightshades. These are some 3D printed figures I picked up last year and the first real Sci-Fi figures I've ever painted.  Packed with detail, just as I thought I'd finished them I'd see something else to do so they took awhile!  I'll do a post detailing these when I get time.

In progress

  • 15mm Cromarty Forge early Imperial Roman auxiliaries.  I had eight archers and eight infantry prepped and have painted them all.  As with the Ancient Germans I completed in May I just need to base them.
  • 15mm Ancient German skirmishers.  16 more Cromarty Forge figures that I knocked out very quickly, with just the bases to do.  
  • 15mm Ancient German archers.  I’ve started another 16 Cromarty Forge figures.  I'm making sure I always have some of these on the go while I whittle down the 28mm pile.  It helps to keep things fresh to have a few different things on the table. 
  • I started on the pair of 20mm Early War Miniatures Pz IVHs that I bought at Salute.  The assembly is simple but they needed a fair bit of cleaning up and all the schutzen had a hole at the front edges on both sides which needed filling.  Annoyingly one of them had the wrong turret so I had to contact EWM (a couple of times) for a replacement and so I put them to one side while waiting.  I'm going to dedicate some time in July for tanks and terrain so I'll be getting these done then if it all goes to plan. 
 
  • With Green Stuff on hand to fix the Pz IVs I stuck the 3D printed Raiders to their bases.  I'd bought these the same time as the Bitter Nightshades and thought I'd start getting them ready for next month.  I also added the sand mix to their bases. 
  • And while I had a bit of Green Stuff left I did the same for the last three 28mm Warlord Games WW2 Germans I've left to do, also adding the texture to their bases.

Gaming

Since I played my first games of the year in May I'm trying to spend more of my hobby time actually wargaming.  I'm going to try and play twice a month as a minimum and this month I played: 
  • Verrotwood.  I'd built two cults and some creatures for this game this year and this was my first game. The AAR is here.  
  • Battlegroup. Also my first game with this ruleset. I had intended to commemorate the date by using the new Bagration supplement with my 1/76th collection.  However, if you've been following this saga you'll know that was never going to happen!  Instead I marked the other great occasion for 22nd June and played a Squad level game using the Barbarossa supplement and my 28mm figures.  Although the rules are written for 15mm and 20mm I didn't change anything re. distances and it worked very well.  I missed some rules and I don't think I handled the deployment correctly, but I picked up enough and I've already got in mind my next game.  I really liked it.  

  • I didn’t  write up an AAR as I wanted to concentrate on learning the rules.  The fighting centred around a farm house.  For much of the game the Red Army looked to be in the ascendancy, with their KV-1 and anti-tank rifle team combining to destroy the German Panzer III and the Germans also losing an infantry squad.  However, with the Germans approaching their Battle Rating limit, an MG34 team managed to destroy the Red Army platoon HQ, taking the Red Army over their Battle Rating and winning the game.   

Ramblings, Reading & Research  

Appropriately bearing in mind another anniversary, I read "The Lost Paratroopers of Normandy"  by Stephen Rabe.  Although  I've read a fair bit about it over the years the Normandy campaign is not my usual fare.  It's not that I'm disinterested just that other theatres interest me more.  This was a fairly decent read, with good background on the US Airborne in general and the situation and people of this part of Normandy.  In comparison there's not that much about the action.  The author certainly can't be accused of offering an unbiased or dispassionate view - he's the son of one of the paras who fought!  He doesn't hold back on his opinions, to the point of constant repetition which I found a bit tedious in the end.

From Normandy I went onto classic heroic fantasy with Poul Anderson's "The Broken Sword".  I read this as a teenager and picked up a copy the other year when I became interested in The Red Book of the Elf King rules.  It's a great book which I wouldn't have fully appreciated when I read it all those years ago.  Fantasy at it's best. 

Incoming and Outgoings

I've kept my purchases to a minimum this month with total expenditure being a tenner.  With the sales I've made I'm actually up a few quid:

  • A visit to Home Bargains produced a cheap door door mat and a plant sprayer.  The former will be used as either fields or roads and the latter will be used to add colour to the fleece blanket I bought last month.  


  • I got some 3D printed 15mm scale stone walls off a seller on eBay.  They only cost a few quid and I think they'll paint up very well.  I like making terrain but the fiddlyness and time taken doing something like these means that buying pre-made is the best option. 


In my continual attempt to instil order I cleared a few things out of the collection this month:
  • Painted Far East figures.  I had a Warlord Games 28mm Chindit officer and Burmese scout I'd painted a dozen or so years ago that were never going to see action so they went to a new home
  • Likewise the painted Perry Miniatures Carlist Wars French Foreign Legion I'd got at a similar time went off to pastures new.  I'm really not sure why I  bought these as I can't remember what abandoned project I was going to use them for, it wouldn't have been for the Carlist Wars and certainly not 28mm!
  • First World War 28mm German Uhlans and HMG team.  These brand new Great War Miniatures were bought for the A War Transformed project which on reading the rules was swiftly canned!  If I did a FWW project it wouldn't be in 28mm so they went. 
  • Chain of Command Far East Handbook.  When I bought this on pre-order I got the PDF free and i don't need the hard copy for my purposes.  Taking into account the current cost of the PDF and as I sold the hard copy for nearly what I paid, I think I actually made a few quid! 

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