January 2026 hobby update

January 2026 has been a curious month.  On the downside I've had what seems like a perpetual cough and cold for almost the entirety of the month.  The weather has also been dismal.  However, where this has stopped me getting out and exercising, I have done a lot of hobby stuff, swings and roundabouts and all that.  Consequently this is quite a long update. 

Here's what I completed this month:

  • 48 Baccus Franco-Prussian War Infantry finished as French Foreign Legion for my 19th Century French Armée d'Afrique collection.  I started these early in December and they had sat on the table since.  However, once I got back to them I knocked these out quite quickly.  Lovely sturdy Baccus figures, this gives me another unit and a bit to make a total of three FFL units for The Men Who Would Be Kings.  

  • Verrotwood Cultist.  After the bloodletting of the last game (here) the Wisentii cult needed a new cultist, so I bashed one together using Northstar Frostgrave Barbarian parts.  She's now ready to join the ranks in my campaign.  I only have a handful of spare plastics left.  Hopefully there's not going to be too many fatalities before I conclude the campaign as I don't really want to buy anymore.

  • Five 15mm Plastic Soldier Company M4A3s.  These have been on the table for awhile, so it was good to finally get them completed.  At the same time I also added stowage and repainted an old Zvezda model.  You can see more of them here.
  • First terrain job of the year was to make up a few more winter tree bases.  These are bigger trees than the batch I made in December, a couple of which I trimmed up to give some variety in height.  
  • I'm not sure whether this is terrain or not, but I needed some prey animals for a Verrotwood scenario.  I'd picked up the Warlord Games farm animals set a good few years back and had only used the pigs and poultry.  They're very basic models but they do the job.  With a very quick paint job and bases made of foamboard offcuts slathered with my usual snow mix, I soon had them ready.  The cows aren't attached to the bases as I made holes in the foamboard for their legs to give the illusion of being in deep snow, so I can use them for other scenarios too.

In progress

On the table as the month ends are:

  • 1/72nd Airfix Bristol Blenheim. Having spent most of my hobby time on this last month, I’ve not done too much more.  The underside is painted as are some of the parts that will be added once all the painting is done.  I still can’t find the decals which iis really bugging me now and has stopped my progress as I know even if I paint it, I can't fully complete it without the decals.  
  • 6mm Baccus Seven Years Wars Austrian Grenzers.  These were very cleanly cast and needed little clean up - just the way I like it.  They’re all primed in Humbrol Black Enamel and I've painted the skin areas.  I’ll finish these off next month. The details sculpted on these tiny figures is quite amazing. 
  • 20mm Platoon 20 Vietnamese civilians.  Part of the order I received at the beginning of the month (see Incoming below).  They're all primed and based and I've started the painting.  I'll enjoy painting these little characters and they'll add that extra bit of interest to my French Indo-China games.

Gaming

It's been a good month for gaming.  I started and finished with two old favourites, and played a couple of new games in between.
  • Space Weirdos. I decided to start the year with something simple and dug out the only true Sci-Fi figures I own to give them their inaugural run-out.  SW always gives a fun game and this was no exception.  The AAR is here. 
  • The Men Who Would Be Kings.  I'd played a test game of this last year, but this was my first full game.  I use bases rather than individual figures and the Skirmish Kings variant of half sized units.  The French Armee d’Afrique forces fought valiantly, but numbers (and poor dice rolling) told and they were wiped out by the Algerian rebels. 

  • Chain of Command 2.  My third game of the month was a test game of CoC2.  I'd had the original set for years and never got round to playing, and when I heard a new version was coming I put it on hold.  This was my first game just to try out the mechanisms.  I played the Patrol scenario from the rulebook with a German infantry platoon against a Red Army infantry platoon.  I didn't finish the game as it took a long time as I was referring to the rules constantly.  I enjoyed what I played and I can see why people love it, it's a very good game.  I'll need to put the time in to keep playing and I'm looking forward to that through the rest of the year.

  • Verrotwood.  And for an unprecedented fourth week in a row I played another game.  This time I returned to the Verrotwood for game nine of my ongoing campaign.  I haven't had time to write up the AAR yet, but here's a couple of shots of a suitably wintry game.  

Ramblings, Reading & Research 

As usual there's been a few things I've looked at as future projects this month.  I'm going to be all secretive though, and say no more.  I've got a bit to work through adding to existing projects which will keep me going until Spring and Salute. 

My historical reading this month was:

  • Dunkirchen 1940.  I'd read the majority of this last year and finished it off early in January.  It's the German view of the Dunkirk battle, which as you might expect is covered in detail.  However, it's much more than that with the campaign in the West covered in general and the fighting for the other ports of Boulogne and Calais in more detail.  It's an excellent book and helps to put right some of the myths about the Fall Gelb campaign and also "The Miracle of Dunkirk".  This is one of those campaigns  which I've long looked at to game and this is just the sort of book that would inspire you to do it.
  • Osprey Elite Raiders from New France.  I've got a shelf full of Colonial America books and thought it was time I read some.  This is by the late great René Chartrand, a prolicifc author and  expert on the subject.  It’s from the French perspective and does make the British look somewhat hapless in this type of frontier warfare.  It deals mainly with the time before the wider known French-Indian Wars which suits me fine.  The colour plates are really nice too.

  • Scorched Earth, Black Snow by Andrew Salmon.  This tells the story of the British and Commonwealth troops in combat in Korea in 1950.  It's a superb book and by keeping to the first six months of the war, it really does the story justice.  The author interviewed many veterans and their stories shine through.  The author also provides the wider strategic picture for context.  There's a lot of detail such as the exact date the 27th Brigade were issued with US field jackets, which is the sort of nerdy thing I love!  I'm now got his book on the 29th Brigade in Korea on order.  I'd say it's an essential read for those interested in this largely forgotten conflict.

Incoming and Outgoings

I think that a fair percentage of my miniatures spending this year will be adding to existing projects to finish (hahaha) or at least round off the forces.  To that end I bought: 

  • 45 20mm Platoon 20 French Indo-China War figures.  This was a mixture of civilians, Viet-Minh/VPA and a French mortar team to add some options to my collection.  These were bought from East Front Miniatures.  The figures were very cleanly cast and service was excellent. 
  • My next purchase was "Spire's Fall" a Sci-Fi variant of Verrotwood.  I was coerced into buying this by the author who picked up on my Space Weirdos AAR.  It's really good and well worth the £4:47 that the PDF cost.
  • The third purchase was the Old Gods of Appalachia role playing game.  There's been an offer on through the Bundle of Holding initiative and I liked the look of it.  On digging further I discovered the podcast and there we go, I bought the full set of products on PDF.  I'll probably never play the RPG, but the background material would be great for a small scale skirmish game using either Verrotwood, What a Cowboy or Dracula's America.  The podcast is excellent too.
  • My final hobby purchase of the month was my Salute 2026 ticket.  Once I knew my trains would be running on the day I bought my ticket.  It's as near to a local show that I have and a great opportunity to meet up with some gaming pals from across the country.  

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