October 2024 hobby update

This has probably been my most productive month of the year.  It's definitely the longest update!

Completed

I've completed quite a bit this month:

  • 15mm Cromarty Forge Ancient Germans and Imperial Romans.  I finally made a decision on how to base the figures that I'd been painting over the last few months.  I've now based and thereby finished:

    • 16 Ancient German archers
    • 16 Ancient German javelin men
    • 8 Early Imperial Roman auxiliaries
    • 8 Early Imperial Roman auxiliary archers

They're all based individually to make them usable for as many rule sets as possible.  The missile armed troops are all on 15mm rounds, the rank and file on 12.5mm squares.  I've added 3x1mm magnets to all the bases and I'm working on some movement trays.  

  • Victrix Dark Age Warriors, four from the Viking set and one from the Ancient German set which you can see more of here.  By painting only a handful of these at a time they're a joy rather than a chore.

  • Verrotwood Cultist.  During my last game The Uncoiling of Beiysss lost a cult member, so I quickly bashed up another.  He's a combination of Northstar Barbarian and Cultist with a mashed up weapon using a Mantic Ghoul's hatchet.  This took no time to put together and paint and I'm really pleased with how he's turned out ready for the next game in my campaign.  

  • Burrows & Badgers Black Rat Necromancer.  I prepped this one a little while back and he's just sat on the table.  While I was finishing off the Verrotwood Cultist I started to paint this and did him in no time at all.  The paint seemed to just fly on and he was done in a couple of hours maximum.  I think that's just testament to how enjoyable the Oathsworn Miniatures are to paint.  

  • 15mm Second World War late-war winter Germans.  I've had a small collection of metal Battlefront Germans and Americans from when they released their original Bulge range years ago.  I decided to fiddle about with the basing on the Germans to bring them more in line with Battlegroup, which splits each German squad into one five man team and one three man lmg team.  Firstly, I removed all the figures from their bases.  I then added more mud (Vallejo Dark Mud) and snow (PVA and bicarb) and painted the slots so that when they are removed it's not so obvious.  Three of the lmg teams are stuck to the bases, all the other figures are loose.  This now gives me the flexibility to field an extra lmg on the five figure bases or extra riflemen, so they can serve as either Volksgrenadiers or Panzer-grenadiers.  And they'll also work for Chain of Command when I finally get round to playing it.

In progress

  • I've added all the magnets to the bases for the Roman Legionaries and German warriors, and stuck these to their bases.  I've also been working my way through painting the German shields.  They'll be finished off next month and that's about 3/4 of that project done.  Not bad for me as I only got the figures last October.  
  • I've cleaned up and stuck the Cromarty Forge Ancient German Noble Warriors to their painting bases.  This is the penultimate lot of Cromarty Forge with just some villagers left.  It certainly won't be the last as I think they're the best 15mm I've ever painted.   
  • 15mm PSC Pz IVs and Hetzer.  I had painted these previously, but I'd run out of the original paint.  With the replacement turret (which, by the way had a broken muzzle break that I had to fix) finally arriving,  I mixed some paint up and repainted the base colour, I'll try and get round to finishing them in November.

Gaming

I didn't manage to play at all in September and I was determined to get some gaming in this month.  I managed three games:
  • Sword Weirdos.  Right at the start of the month I played Sword Weirdos using some Oathmark figures.  A really good game you can read the AAR here.
  • Verrotwood.  I played the fourth game of my Awakening Campaign using another of the supplements written by Verrotwood creator Mike Crutchett.  The AAR is here.  
  • Warmaster Revolution.  I got my 10mm Chaos Dwarf and Ogre Kingdoms out and played a test game.  I didn't play it through to conclusion as it was my first game, and I have a lot more studying to do.

Ramblings, Reading & Research  

The only historically linked title I've read this month has been "A Man Without Breath" by Philip Kerr.  This is one of his Bernie Gunther detective novels set around the Second World War.  This one involves the Katyn Wood massacre.  It's a very good read, the history well explained and believable characters. 

I've been doing a fair bit of research into what projects I want to add to next year's Ovelist.  Much like with the 1980s project, I want to finally start on the ideas that I've had kicking about for years.  So far I've dragged out my books and been scouring the web and libraries for:

  • The Fall of Granada 1480-1492.  This is something that's been on the to-do list for nearly 30 years since I travelled through Andalucía.  It's time to get off my arse and get on with it. 
  • The Gempei Wars.  This one hasn't been simmering for quite as long, but it's another long term aspiration.  I'm narrowing done scale and figure choices and I'm also wanting to get started on this in 2025.
  • Melnibonéans.  Now this really is a nostalgia project.  When I discovered the Elric books in the early 1980s I was instantly hooked.  I still have vivid, happy memories of the day my Dad took me to a games shop to buy me the Chaosium Stormbringer RPG.  With the imminent release of Midgard (which I've been following for a couple of years), it seemed an appropriate time to resurrect the idea of a table top Melnibonéan force.  As part of my research I'll be rereading the books, and where else to start but with Elric of Melniboné, which as well as reading, I've been listening to a marvellous narration of on YouTube.  

Incoming and Outgoings

I've set some moths free this month:

  • First off I ordered the bases for the Cromarty Forge figures, and some extra bits from Warbases.  Great service as ever, although some of the bases were missing they sent these out the next day.  The extra bits were a tray for a RUB and a 15mm building.  

  • For the first time in nearly a year I've bought some plastic figures - a sprue each of Victrix armoured and unarmoured Rus warriors, and a sprue of female Northstar Cultists.  These were from The Sprue Shop, an appropriately named merchant, who offer the best prices and a very good service on single sprues and much more.  
  • Tales of the Heike.  Essential reading for the Gempei Wars.  I've been looking for a reasonably priced copy of this for a good time.  I paid £6.75 from World of Books which is a bargain.  It's got a lot of scrawling notes, underlining and highlighting in it which doesn't meet the condition that WoB advertised it as, so they've credited me the amount as recompense, so it was free!

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