November 2024 hobby update

I really can't believe it's the penultimate update of 2024, where has the year gone?  I didn't manage to reach the heights of October, but November has been a steady hobby month with the Early Imperial Roman project entering the end of the first phase. 

Completed

I've completed quite a bit this month:

• I've continued basing the 15mm Cromarty Forge figures that I'd painted over the last few months completing:

• 44 Early Imperial Roman Legionaries

• 39 Ancient German warriors.  As well as basing these I'd not finished painting the shields , so I did all these while painting the shields for the noble warriors (see below).  The shields took ages to do but they've been worth it as they set the figures off well.  I don't want to paint anymore for a long while though.

• Still with the 15mm Cromarty Forge, I painted and based 36 Ancient German noble warriors that'd I'd prepared last month.  That's the last unit done with just have a few villager figures to do and that'll be all of them finished.  I think they're outstanding little figures and I'll pick up more to round out my forces and give me some more options for both Infamy, Infamy (which was why I'd originally got them) and Midgard.  I need to make their unit bases and I'll post more pics when they're done. 

• 15mm PSC Pz IVs.  I'd painted the base colours last month, so I just had to add some shading, highlights and details.  I'd been looking for some good reference photos of Pz IVs in Italy for a camo scheme, but most seemed to be in overall yellow so I left them as they were.  It did save a lot of effort!  I will add the side skirts and decals at some stage but they're done really.  

In progress

The 15mm Cromarty Forge figures took up the majority of my time and with those done, I'd more or less finished off everything I had on the table apart from the 15mm PSC Jagdpanzer 38(t) which I haven't touched this month.  In the last throes of the month I started on the following:

• 15mm Cromarty Forge villagers.  I only have eight of these to do, they're lovely little characters and I'll spend some time on these.

• 28mm Victrix Dark Age Archers.  I'd kept a quartet of these back waiting for the Rus set to be released.  Now I've got some Rus frames, I'll be adding some bits and getting on with these.

Gaming

I had two main gaming objectives left from my Ovelist.  I managed to achieve one with a game of:

• Warmaster Revolution.  After last month's inaugural test game, I read the rules more closely and gave my Chaos Dwarf and Ogre Kingdoms armies another outing.  As this was a proper game (where I even may have got some of the rules right) I wrote an AAR which you can see here.  It's a good system and it'll be one on my list of games to play more of.

Ramblings, Reading & Research  

I got a bit of reading in this month:

• I finished off Elric of Melniboné at the start of November.  An absolute classic, I first read it 45 years or so ago.  After I read a section I also listened to a reading of it I'd found on YouTube.  Doing this meant it really sunk in.  I now want to re-read the entire Elric saga.  

• "The Moors Last Stand" by Elizabeth Drayson.  I thought this was an excellent book.  It's mainly written as a biography of Abu Abdallah Muhammad XII (Boadbil) the last Sultan of Granada.  However, his story is the story of the fall of Granada.  It's got really good background on Al-Andalus and Spain from the 8th to the end of the 15th Century.  It's not a large book either coming in at 180 or so pages so not intimidating at all.  Highly recommended.  

• We had a marvellous day out at The British Museum.  It's a place where you turn and look at something and are instantly filled with ideas, and then you walk another few feet and have another idea.  Completely inspiring.  As always we only covered a few of the galleries, so another visit or two will be needed.  I concentrated on the Assyrian, Islamic, Ancient Iran and Roman Britain rooms and that was enough to blow my mind and set me into research overdrive.  

Incoming

There's been quite a bit of incoming this month:

• I was in the area so I popped into Wayland Games to be greeted by a decimated retail unit and a very lonely looking sole member of staff.  Unbeknown to me they're relocating and have already packed up the gaming space and cafe, and most of the stock.  Bugger.  I have no interest in most of the game/minatures ranges they stock, but they have an excellent choice of paints which is why I go.  It's a loss to the local gaming community as it's always buzzing on a game night.  I bought a few required colours, some of the new Army Painter washes and a couple of Xpress Colour to try out. 

• My much better half gave me some lovely stuff to mark growing older.  A trio of cracking books and a light box.  I'm hoping this will help to improve my miniatures photography which is not that good.

• After time spent gazing in awe at the Assyrian exhibits in The British Museum, it was inevitable that my interest in this period would be reignited.  World of Books owed me a freebie so I got a copy of the classic Osprey Elite.  From another eBay seller I also got a guide to Assyrian sculpture, which as it turned out was a British Museum publication, which was nice!

• I'd gone for the all-in pre-order package for Midgard and that arrived in the second half of the month and 4 days earlier than the indicated date.  This has been top of my purchase list since hearing about it a couple of years ago and seeing the game being played and talking to James at Salute 2023.  When I saw James in the summer he didn't know when it would be available, but it's been well worth the wait.  I knew it would work as a game as James has so much gaming experience and it's been play tested to death over the last few years.  I knew it would look lovely as Handiworks Games (Beowulf) designed it.  It doesn't disappoint in the least.  The counters are lovely as well and the PDF came on time.  Well done to James and Richard Clarke at TFL for the impressive way they have handled this release.  What an absolute contrast to some of the other companies out there.  

• Some 10mm Republican Roman Command figures from Lancashire Games.  My 10mm Punic Wars collection is all Newline Designs, but they don't do command figures apart from the basic ones in each unit pack.  I'd wanted to see how Lancashire  Games compare so bought a pack each of mounted and foot Republican Romans command.  They've sturdy fellows and would look out of place mixed in a unit with the slighter Newline figures.  This is most pronounced with the cavalry.  They'd be ok in their own units or as individuals and that's how I'll use them.

• Finally, very excitingly and most extravagantly I picked up some pan scourers and some wet and dry paper from the local Factory Shop for the princely sum of £3.29.  I've been meaning to try making my own trees for awhile, which is why I bought the scourers.  The wet and dry makes good easy roads (see here).