Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

I started the month finishing off the 20mm Pz IVs from Early War Miniatures that I'd been painting in August.  I bought this pair at Salute in April.  I didn't start working on them until June.  One of them had the wrong turret and it took a few attempts in contacting EWM to get the correct one sent through.  They're what I'd call classic wargames models.  Made of resin hulls with metal turrets, barrels and accessories they're sturdy and will take handling during a game well.  I think originally these may have been Skytrex models but if anyone knows for sure please leave a comment.  They needed a fair bit of clean up but there's very little assembly to do, just glue the 75mm cannon barrel in and then add what stowage you want.  EWM provide a nice selection of stowage but I didn't add too much as the PzIVs in the photos I was looking at (from vehicles of the IV SS Panzer Korps on the Eastern Front in summer 1944), didn't have a lot on them.  I didn't

I'd decided at the end of July that as soon as I'd completed those in progress, that I'd be having a break from painting figures.  I've kept to that.  I'm not a summer person and I’ve struggled for motivation this month.  It’s not helped by my hobby table being in a South facing room so my hobby time is limited to evenings, by which time my eyes are frazzled from work.  I'm hoping to get my mojo back and accomplish more next month.  However, I did update my Ovelists ( gaming and doing ) inspired by the Hobby Support Group, and that made me feel a bit better seeing the items being checked off.  Completed I've not managed to fully complete much this month.  These were almost done at the end of last month: 28mm Warlord Games WW2 Germans Grenadiers.  The main colours were done and it was a case of doing the camo on the Zeltbahns and the details.  I made one as an SS NCO using arms from the Early War Germans and a head from the DAK set.  The two partisans use per

When I started this Ovelist business I'd separated out the gaming side from the "doing".  The original plan is  here  and check point 1 at the end of April is  here  with the "doing" update for check point 2 here . As of April I'd not played any games and as I wrote in check point 1 this is mainly due to not having a dedicated playing space.  I therefore revised the gaming Ovelist, using genres or periods that I want to play rather than being too specific.  Here's what the revised gaming list looked like at this point: I'm pleased to say that in this period there's been a big improvement: I've played the following: First Anglo-Sikh War.  I've got quite a nice 20mm collection for this period but I've never played a game.  I finally got round to playing a small game using Black Powder, which was also my first game with this rule set.  It worked well enough and I'll be aiming to play again using more of my collection.  Verrotwood . 

As we're now at the end of August it's time for me to do my Ovelist check point 2.  The original plan is here and check point 1 at the end of April is here .  The gaming update is here .   As is my wont I've confused matters.  In  April I decided I wasn't going to do the Sci-Fi 28mm project and replaced it with Second World War Eastern Front.  Very shortly after I changed my mind and did the Sci-Fi figures.  Therefore, to incorporate all this mucking about I've now got a 3x4 Ovelist rather than the 3x3 I started with.  I have added an Odds & Sods box for those bits and pieces that aren’t part of a project and a New Projects box as you never know when the muse will strike.  This is what I'm sticking with for the rest of 2024 (for the moment anyway). The size of the tick shows how complete a project is.  In the case of the very large ticks that project is considered complete - I've finished all the figures I had for these and don't intend getting anymo

  Introduction  The Uncoiling of Beiysss and Wisentii are drawn into the Verrotwood once again.  The wind carries the sound of the lunatic cackling that can only mean a Twister is about.  They heft their weapons and set off to look for the ancient being and gain Favor for their gods.   The Uncoiling of Beiysss Wisentii Set up The Riddles is an encounter that appears in The Blood & The Riddles supplement by Mike Cruchett.  I played it as the third game of my Awakening Campaign.  (The AAR for the first two games are here and here ).   The encounter centres on the Trickster, an ancient Chaos being.  The cultists have to land blows on the Trickster to gain Favor.  However, the Trickster will either savage the cultists in melee or engage them in a riddle which can prove deadly.  A really clever  innovation is that although it has only one Defence die and is relatively easy to hit, the Trickster can't be damaged.  When it is hit it automatically relocates to another part of the fores