June 2025 hobby update

Halfway through the year already, bloody hell has someone sped up time and not told me?  The hot weather this month means my painting time has been limited to early and late in the day. "Why's that?" I hear you ask.  Well my painting desk is in a South facing bedroom and it's hot as Beelezebub's balls in there, with paint drying instantly on the palette.  However, I have managed to progress on a few fronts.  

The blog passed 100,000 views in June and shot up to over 103,000 by the end of the month.  I'm not sure if this is all genuine traffic (who knows how these things work), but my sincere thanks to everyone that's visited, and especially those that take the time to comment, either on the blog, TMP or Facebook.  It is very much appreciated and inspires me to keep waffling on.  The blog is just my hobby diary and as there's not any of the most popular subjects (American Civil War, Napoleonics, Warhammer 40K or NWE Second World War) I'm amazed that I've had this many views. 

Completed 

I’ve completed most of the pieces that were in progress as May ended:

  • First off I finished the forty two 6mm Heroics & Ros afvs for the Iran-Iraq project that I'd painted and varnished last month. The bases I’d designed and had custom made didn’t arrive until the very end of May.  Therefore, finishing was pushed into June, when I based them, then textured and painted all the bases and I’m really pleased how they’ve come out.
  • Four 28mm Comanches from Gringos 40s.  I'm much happier with the job I did on these than the Apaches from last month.  The sculpts are top drawer, I really liked painting these.
  • One Verrotwood Cultist.  After Game 5 of my campaign, one of the cults found a crossbow which gave me a good excuse to build a new cultist armed with the aforementioned weapon.  A simple build, it's a mix of parts from the Northstar Cultist I and II boxes.
  • Five 20mm Red Army infantry from Battlezone Miniatures.  These were all from the Command pack and it’s a mixed bag.  There's an officer, NKVD Commissar, medic, radio operator and an engineer.  Not sure what the engineer is doing in there really, but it made a nice change to have every figure different.  "Classic" wargames sculpts, a bit rough and ready in places, but sturdy and will do the job on the table.  

I didn't work on any terrain or scenery this month for the first time this year.  My energies went into gaming which you can read about below.  

In progress

On the table as the month ends are:

  • 6mm Heroics & Ros Cold War era West Germans which I'm using as Iranians.  I really enjoyed painting these.  There's a great sense of satisfaction and progress to be had from whizzing along the strips, painting all of one element, then all of another and seeing them quickly come together.  I started with the 50 basic infantry and then added 27 Command and MG figures.   They're all done bar the basing, and will join the painted tester figures in the box while I mull over how best to base them.  6mm Moderns are so easy to paint, I've found that working on them at the same time as a few 28mm (where the painting approach is completely different ) strangely seems to work very well.  Perhaps the two extremes in scale bring the cosmic painting balance into alignment...
  • Two 28mm Gringos 40s Native Americans.  These are the last of the figures I bought at Salute and are an Apache Gaan Dancer and a Comanche warrior.  When I've finished these two I'll do a post featuring all of them. 
  • Five 20mm Battlezone Miniatures Red Army tank crew.  These are a mix of full, three quarters and half figures to put in the hatches of tanks.  I've only just started on these and don't envisage they'll take long.

Gaming

I decided to put time aside and get some games in this month.  
  • I played my biennial Seven Years War game using the Honours of War rules and it was as enjoyable as ever.  The AAR is here.

  • For my second game I went a few hundred years on in time with a trip to the Eastern Front in the Second World War using the Battlegroup rules.  With forces from the Bagration supplement, I played an all infantry partisan action game.  This worked very well.  The AAR is here.
  • Verrotwood.  I played the sixth game of my ongoing Verrotwood campaign.  I haven’t had time to write up the AAR yet.

Ramblings, Reading & Research  

Let's start with some ramblings.  6mm aside you may have noticed the small number of figures that I've been working on.  I'm running out of figures.  I only have nine 28mm and five 20mm that aren't started.  I've yet to decide if this is a good place to be.  Part of me feels a great sense of achievement, but I'm also feeling a bit strange in that having got to this point, I'm feeling reluctant to buy anything.  There's plenty out there to tempt and thousands of years of interest, but at the moment nothing so special that I feel a burning desire to start the cycle again.   

And onto reading: 

  • I started the month reading "Rommel?  Gunner Who?" which is the second part of Spike Milligan’s wartime memoirs.  His artillery battery arrive in Tunisia and see action.  Although there’s still lots of humour, from this point you start to see the detrimental impact this has on his mental well-being.
  • "Nine Lives - Ethnic Conflict in the Polish-Ukrainian Borderlines" by Waldemar Lotnik.  The title tells you what this one is all about and it's not for the faint hearted!  It's the wartime memoir of a Polish man who was caught up in this horrific part of the Second World War.  It deals with the German/Soviet occupation of Poland, the warfare between the Polish and Ukrainian partisans, his time in a concentration camp and the author's eventual escape to the West.  I wouldn't say it's an enjoyable read, but it gives a very good insight into a part of the Second World War that many if not most have no idea about, or just don't want to know about.  It's not Normandy or Arnhem so not important after all is it?  
  • "The Enemy at the Gate" by Andrew Wheatcroft.  A superb book.  I thought it was solely about the siege of Vienna in 1683, but it's so much more than that.  Eastern European warfare is something that I was really interested in about 15-20 years ago, but apart from buying and reading books and doing a few packs of 15mm Essex Ottoman Turks it never went anywhere.  After reading this book it has given me a whole load of ideas and made me think about rekindling my interest.  

Incoming and Outgoings

After the extravagance of April and May, the moths are securely back in the wallet.  I have managed to bring in a good bit of loot for future projects by selling off some surplus musical equipment, rules that haven’t been and won't be used, and the rest of the 28mm figures that I have no interest in doing.    I'll be looking if there's any painted stuff I want to sell on next as I continue to rationalise the collection.  

Comments

  1. Ray Rousell30 June 2025 at 18:30

    Sounds a very busy month Andy. Love the Gringo Commanches. I shall be buying the Siege of Vienna book and I'll paint up some figures to go with them too! If you've only 9 figures left, iv4mthink sone 15mm Turks should fill that gap!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dr Beard1 July 2025 at 08:45

      Thanks Ray, the book is great, right up your street with your love of this period. Not sure I'm brave enough to take on those Minifigs Turks you picked up!

      Delete
  2. Dex McHenry30 June 2025 at 18:31

    I re-read Gunner Milligan's memoirs myself not so long ago. About the same time I was getting into researching 38th (Irish) Brigade's exploits in Tunisia, Sicily and Italy. There's a scene where Milligan recalls going up to a 'hot' observation post and coming across a load of Irish blokes. 38th Brigade's war diaries confirmed that the Brigade was in the same place, at the same time, as Milligan. Alas, however, the war diairies make no specific mention of encountering a Gunner Milligan!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dr Beard1 July 2025 at 08:48

      This is my first read, I've always meant to but never got round to it. I managed to pick up the whole set for free which is nice! I remember with much fondness watching Spike's comedy programmes in the '80s. The Med and Italy is second to the Eastern Front in my particular theatres of my interest for the Second World War so great for me.

      Delete

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