Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

September has been busy all round including hobby wise.  I'm very pleased with what I've done and enthused with my ongoing projects.   Completed The end of the month saw the release of  A War Transformed, the Osprey rules for a "folk horror" First World War game.  I liked the look of this since it's announcement and it's encouraged me to revisit the Germans that I'd built in 2021 ( here  and  here ) and make some improvements which you can see here . I finally finished off the 15mm Landsknecht pikemen and halberdiers.  Lovely little fellas full of character there's lots more pics here . I completed two batches of Victrix Unarmoured Romans.  I enjoyed doing the first batch so much that I'd started on the second batch as the last coat of varnish was drying on the first.  More pics of them here and here .  To make the 6mm Seven Years War game that I played look a bit more interesting I knocked out some quick roads.  Details a...

As soon as I'd finished off the Landsknecht arquebusiers and musicians ( here ) I cracked on with the  remaining 33 figures.  This was 30 pikemen/halberdiers (they're the same figure you just get the halberds if you order that code) and two officers and a standard bearer.   I haven't attached any of the pikes or halberds to the figures yet.  This gives me a lot of flexibility in what units I can field, but was a right pain in the arse when taking the photos!  I'll have to glue the majority in place before I attempt to use them in a game.  As before the majority of the figures are based in pairs on 30x15mm  bases with a few based  singly on 15x15mm bases to allow for casualty removal.  The two figures based on round bases (above left) can be used as either Sergeants, Officers or Standard Bearers which class as characters in Donnybrook.   The pikes are made from a broom bristles.  They worked very well although the paint has...

August has been a good hobby month.  After my return from holiday  last month  and finally grasping the nettle that was the 15mm Landsknechts I've made some steady progress.  Completed I've completed the six Victrix warriors from the Dark Age Archers and Slingers set that I'd started at the end of July.  I really enjoyed working on these, I can't praise Victrix figures enough.  You can see more of them here . 15mm Grumpy's Landsknecht officers.  These were lovely little characterful chaps.  I painted these while doing the first batch of pikemen/halberdiers, but as they are based individually I could finish them off. 28mm Wargames Atlantic Second World War German Sentries.  I knocked out a couple of sprues of these.  There's more pics and my thoughts on the kit here .   On the back of reading about the Seven Years War I had a look at my collection, specifically the terrain.  I've never been that happy with the tree sta...

On my return from holidays I cracked on with some of the 15mm Grumpy's Miniatures Landsknechts that I'd bought last winter.  I'd ordered one of each of the characters variants (officers and musicians) and a whole load of pikemen, halberdiers and arquebusiers which came with a good variety within each type.   I'd been after these since 2011 after buying some of Grumpy's 16th Century Portuguese to use as officers for my Elizabethan collection.  I believe the moulds have changed hands a number of times and I couldn't find a seller.  Periodically I'd search for them with no luck until Eureka Australia starting selling them.  I wasn't keen on paying the post from down under, but luckily to my joy I found Eureka UK were now selling them.  I'd just sold a few painted 28mm WW2 LRDG for a very good price and I immediately reinvested the cash. I went with a grey primer thinking that this would give a good neutral base to start from.  It was a poor choi...

I was away on holiday for the first two weeks of the month.  I took some figures to clean up but didn't get round to even looking at them, so I had a complete break from normal life 😃. It's done me the world of good and I've really pushed on since being back.  Completed I've nearly finished everything that was on the table prior to my holiday:  15mm Grumpy's Landsknecht  arquebusiers and musicians.  I made life difficult for myself by priming them grey and then ended up giving then a white coat base coat so that the colours stand out.  The lesson for the next batch is just use white primer!  I found them a bit daunting at first, but as I got more colour on them I started to enjoy painting them more and more and am enthused enough to start on a new batch straight away.  Overall I'm very pleased how they've turned out and will do a post on them soon. Native American Mound Builder Shaman.  Once I put my mind to it I polished off this chap quite...