March 2026 hobby update

March has been a very disjointed month.  We were away for a week in Malta.  Unfortunately, both before we went and on our return there's been some serious family medical business to attend to and normal life has been very disrupted.  

I've been left to my own devices for quite a bit of the month, so from the hobby perspective it's been a good month.  To be frank though most of it has been rubbish.  The importance of being able to sit quietly and focus on something that you have control over should never be underestimated. 

Completed

Here's what I completed during the month:

• 6mm Iran-Iraq War afvs.  I based up the last four vehicles I'd painted last year.  I'd held off on these as I did consider using them for the Soviet-Afghanistan project but decided they'd be better for the IIW.  I also found a Command stand that just needed the ground texturing so I did that too.

• 20mm Platoon 20 French Indo-China War Vietnamese.  These were very nice miniatures to work on.  Nothing too fussy with a lot of character, they didn't take too long at all over a few sessions.  The vast majority of my Indo-China collection is Liberation Miniatures (who knows what happened to these?), but these fit in well enough and as much as I like the Liberation ones, these are better miniatures.

• While doing the above I also completed a pair of Vietnamese Water Buffalo.  I did some cattle the other month too, perhaps it's my new thing!

• Rebasing of 15mm 16th Century arquebusiers and musketeers.  The revamp of my late 16th C. collection continues and I've rebased the 16 landsknecht arquebusiers onto 15mm magnetised round bases.  I also based up four musketeers onto single 15mm square bases.  I've left the rest based in pairs on 15mm x 30mm bases, but having the singles allows for casualty removal.  My thinking is that the troops that are more static and keep in formation, such as musketeers and pikemen will be on square bases, with the skirmishers on round bases.  I did try basing some pike three to a 15mm x 30mm base, but the thought of rebasing them all has put me right off.  I'll be leaving the majority as is, but similar to the musketeers I'll base a few up singly.

• For this month's terrain task I based the last eight Noch Gaugemaster trees in my collection that I'd left during Phase 2 of The Great Tree Project of 2021 (details here, here and here).  I originally left these unbased for flexibility thinking I would place them on the bigger multi-tree stands where I needed them.  However, in five years I've never used the unbased ones as they're not stable enough, so it was high time to get them done.

• While the box of trees was down from the loft, I completed a task I'd wanted to do for ages, which was to repaint the base edges.  I'd originally painted them in what was quite an unnatural green colour (as shown on the left in the before and after photo below).  I mixed a much better shade out of grass green and leather brown Dulux paints I'd had colour matched to Vallejo colours. I'm much happier with them now.  I also did a bit of repair work on trees that had come away from their bases.

In progress

On the table as the month ends are:

• Four French Indo-China War Vietnamese artillery crew.  These are all painted and varnished, I just have to build the 105mm howitzer I got for them and then decide how I base them.  It's a shame these are two duplicate pairs, I really don't like the same figures in anything above 10 mm.  The recoilless rifle and crew (from the NVA range) also uses one of the same figures, so I have three the same.  I took a chance on these and unfortunately the other two crew have got AK-47s slung over their backs and one is too obviously NVA from the later conflict and not at all suitable for what I want.

• 1/72nd Airfix Bristol Blenheim.  I started painting the upper surfaces of the Blenheim before I went on holiday and it was torturous.  I really don't know why as I used the same paints (Vallejo Model Air RAF colours), and method I used for the other RAF fighters I did a few years ago, but the paint went on horribly.  With nothing to lose, I changed paint and used Vallejo Model Colour and Army Painter and this went on in one coat.  To my eyes the colours are as near as damn is and good enough for me.  At least now I can crack on with getting it finished.

• 6mm Baccus Seven Years Wars Austrian Grenzers.  After finishing off the painting last month I haven't done anything more with these.  I need to decide whether to base each unit on a large base and make it more scenic or use smaller ones for flexibility.  

Gaming

I had some more annual leave that I needed to take before the end of March, and with my better half not being available, I used it to play a trio of games: 

• Midgard 2nd Punic Wars.  I hadn't played for almost a year so got the Punic Wars figures out.  I used some cavalry this time and as always with this ruleset had a good game.  The Romans were favoured by the Gods (dice) and with their reputation reduced to zero, the Carthaginians had to leave the field defeated. 

• Verrotwood, Game 10 of my ongoing campaign.  Unlike the previous nine games, this was a very straightforward "kill 'em all" type game, but no less enjoyable.  I've started writing the AAR and should post it early next month.

• What a Cowboy.  This was my second game and I remembered to use the extras this time (Skills, Bonanza Tokens, Desperado Cards etc) and it gave a much longer and involved game.  I do really like it and it's definitely on the short list of games to be considered for my next campaign once I finish the Verrotwood one.

Ramblings, Reading & Research 

Our trip to Malta was my main focus for much of last month and the first half of March.  Both books I read this month related to this:

• First of all I finished "The Religion", Tim Willock's romp across Malta during the Great Siege in 1565.  I thoroughly enjoyed this.  The fictional characters are multi-faceted and he's woven them into all the key events from the siege, having them interact with the historical characters.  I really liked that he didn't portray either the Ottomans or Christians as heroes or villains.  On our holiday this month, we stayed right opposite the Auberge Angleterre in Birgu where some of the heaviest fighting took place and which is featured heavily in the book.

• Osprey Campaign Malta 1565.  There's a theme here isn't there!  I used this to guide some of our sight seeing when on the island.  I first read it over 15 years or so ago, it's a good summary, and it's also got a specific wargaming section at the back.

Since we've been back and with Salute almost upon us, I've been thinking about what may be next.  There's a few irons in the fire, so we'll see what happens during April.  

Incoming and Outgoings

I've not bought anything this month. I've put some pre-orders in to pick up at Salute which will save on postage and effectively pay for my entrance fee.  The one for miniatures is to finish off an existing collection, but there's always the chance/danger of seeing something on the day that will entice me down some rabbit hole.