Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

It's now almost a fortnight since Salute 53, Europe's largest one day wargames show.  It's taken me a little while to unravel my thoughts.  This post isn't a review of Salute (see Storm of Steel and Big Lee's Miniature Adventures YouTube channels for two excellent reviews), it's my personal take. Much has been said and written about the show.  Salute represents where the hobby is at.  And it's dominated by Sci-Fi and Fantasy.  That's just the way it is.  I started out as a historical gamer pre-Warhammer, when Games Workshop just imported and sold other people's games.  Warhammer passed me by as I was into guitars and girls by it's release, so GW games mean next to nothing to me (apart from Warhammer Historical).  However, GW changed the hobby and with so many companies run by ex-GW people it's inevitable the GW "way" dominates the hobby and therefore dominates Salute.  This is very much how it is with the traders.  You can feel the ...

As there's been so much talk about it both from outraged historical gamers, and enthusiastic fantasy gamers, I recently took some time to look at Trench Crusade. After watching some videos, browsing the official website and skimming the "lore" and rules, I have to say I don't know what the fuss is about from the historical side of the hobby.  I really don't.  It's clearly an alternative history game.  It has nothing to do with any real history and doesn't pretend to.  Even a cursory glance at any of the material would swiftly confirm that. Therefore I'm at a bit of a loss as to why it has caused such an outpouring of bile and derision.  Is it because it's been so successful?  Is there a feeling of injustice in that historical companies just don't make that sort of money after all their painstaking research?  Unfortunately that seems to be the way of the world, look at all the fantastic artists, musicians etc. that never received the rewards th...

Here's the final summary against the original 2023 plan ( here ), which was revised at the end of August ( here ).  New projects for 2023 Late-Romans/Pre-Arthurian (28mm) -  👍 👍 After a late start on this project I've made some good progress. 13 Germanic warriors and 8 Romans  are ready for action with only the shields to do on another 6 Romans, with another six Romans started.  I'll  be working on  these and the command figures for both forces in 2024 and then I'll see about cavalry.  The South African Border Wars (1/300th)  -  This new project wasn't on the original 2023 plan, it snuck up on me in the summer and after a bout of intense enthusiasm it left me almost as quickly  😄 .  For the moment this one is parked, not abandoned as I still have interest in it. A War Transformed - This was another project which wasn't on the plan.  I've said enough on this in other posts.  It didn't cut the mustard for me, sold o...

I didn't do a revision to the initial 2023 plan at the end of April (the first third), mainly because I felt I hadn't stuck to it.  I'd definitely gone down a couple of rabbit holes.  Over the last six weeks or so I've refocused and got back on track so I thought I'd revisit the plan. New projects for 2023 Late-Romans/Pre-Arthurian (28mm) -  👍 I've started to look at this properly now with a first batch of figures in progress.  I'd already more or less decided to go all Victrix prior to seeing the early renders of the  early Saxons in 2024 which really settled it.  I'll  be moving on the Wargames Atlantic sprues, they just don't measure up to Victrix.  The South African Border Wars (1/300th) -  👍  This new project wasn't on the original 2023 plan.  I'd been looking for a small scale, larger scope project for awhile and this grabbed my imagination.  I'd bought and painted examples of most of the afvs used in the conflict...

Well we're already a third of the way through 2023.  Salute has come and gone and it's time for me to assess where I'm at hobby wise against the plan I made at the end of 2022.   New projects Late-Romans/Pre-Arthurian (28mm) - 👎 Abject failure here I'm afraid, I've not touched this at all. Research, research, research Make a start on assembling and painting figures Existing projects Ragnarok (28mm)  Assemble and paint another Norse force using Victrix figures - 👍  I added another 6 figures and I have around the same number to do.  That should give enough variety when creating each force. Collect appropriate character and monster figures - I haven't bought anything else for this. 16th Century Western European Wars (15mm) - 👎  Another failure, I haven't looked at this either. Research, research, research Start painting Grumpy's Miniatures Landsknechts Purchase/make specific terrain Warmaster Revolution (10mm) -  I've completed enough figures for ...

Happy New Year to everyone.  It really seems only 5 minutes ago that we were starting 2022.  Where did 2023 go?   As is my wont for hobby purposes I shall be splitting the year into three sections of four months with Salute at the end of April being the first key milestone to work towards.  I'm starting the year with the largest amount of plastic/resin/metal that I can remember.  I started 2022 with only 24 20mm figures to paint.  I'm starting 2023 with 321 unpainted figures in 10, 15 and 28mm scales.  New projects I'm starting the year with a brand new project.  You can read about it here Late-Romans/Pre-Arthurian (28mm) Research, research, research Make a start on assembling and painting figures Existing projects Ragnarok (28mm) - this is a project I started a couple of years ago but I’ve become very enthused by it again Assemble and paint another Norse force using Victrix figures Collect appropriate character and monster figures 16th Centu...

And that's the end of 2022.  Was it a good year?  I found it hard going in many, many ways.  Thank goodness I had my family and the hobby to fall back on during the difficult times.  Here's how I did against the plan I published at the beginning of September. Existing projects Anglo-Sikh Wars Complete movement trays and add flags for each unit -  Completed.  👍👍  All the movement trays are painted and textured and all the infantry standard bearers are now fully employed with a flag to wave.  I suppose I should have done the cavalry guidons but I couldn't find any info so I put that off.   16th Century Western European Wars (15mm) -  No progress.  👎 Make scenery to go with English church model Purchase/make specific terrain Look at buying more figures to extend the collection back to the 1540s and also for the Irish Wars - I didn't buy the figures to do this but in buying the Grumpy's Landsknechts I have now got more flex...

Not too much hobby activity this week, family, food and films have all been on the agenda.   I've started working on some figures for the new Ragnarok force I'm building.  The basis of these are from the Victrix Dark Age Archers set but I've got spares from the Viking set to use as well. Incoming! Santa left a couple of nice books in my Christmas stocking. This will be the last post of 2022.  The round up of the last part of 2022 post is up on the blog and news of a new project and my 2023 plans will follow in the next couple of days.   Thanks to all the people who've viewed the blog and those who left comments.  I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year and all the very best for 2023. Dr B

When I tried this blogging lark before, I wrote a piece about three principle factors that impact hobbies -  money, space and time .    Six years on and I think that this piece is more relevant than ever so I thought I'd do an update on how these factors have changed for me in the intervening years. Money is such a hot topic at the moment which everything seeming to get more expensive by the week.  I've been lucky (ie. worked hard and been careful) and have disposable income.  However, as I wrote back in April this year hobby costs have risen and this has modified my purchasing.  So the financial impact on the way I approach the hobby has increased. Space has always been an issue and as I've kept adding to my collection and become interested in yet morenew periods, there's been even more of a squeeze (literally) on the space I have available.  I've had to make a conscious effort to limit my book buying over the last year with bookshelves groaning unde...

As we start September here's the outline plan for the last third of 2022.  Like all plans only time will tell if it survives first contact! Existing projects Anglo-Sikh Wars Complete movement trays and add flags for each unit 16th Century Western European Wars (15mm) Make scenery to go with English church model Purchase/make specific terrain Look at buying more figures to extend the collection back to the 1540s and also for the Irish Wars Algerian War (20mm) Repaint helicopter models WW2 Italy 43-45 (15mm)  Work on bases for the MDF buildings I repainted in the summer  Repaint water tower building Zona Alfa/Last Days Zombie apocalypse (20mm) Work on MDF buildings Make specific terrain/scenic pieces Fantasy terrain (28mm) Make terrain/scenic pieces that can be used for Celtos, Warmachine/Hordes and Burrows and Badgers Decide what to do with unused 28mm figures Continue blogging Improve on storage Finish the 1/48th Sopwith Camel model New projects Start a new project in 6mm...

Incredibly we're already into the last third of the year so it's time to review how I've done from May through to the end of August.  The updates are in italics but the rest was copied verbatim from 01/05's post.  Existing projects Continue with Sikh Wars project (20mm) Complete the EIC Sepoy regiment currently in progress - Completed. 👍 Chip away at the lead pile adding more units - This has been my main focus and I'm pleased to say that I've eradicated the lead pile for this project completing all the figures I had.  That's 98 figures in 20mm.  👍👍👍 16th Century Western European Wars (15mm) Make scenery to go with English church model - No progress.  👎 Purchase/make specific terrain -  No progress.  👎 Purchase more figures to extend my collection back to the 1540s and also for the Irish Wars - No new figures purchased. ☝ Algerian War (20mm) Finish making terrain  - I painted up all the hills and rocky outcrop scatter. 👍 Paint up last few ...

Here's the latest thinking for the second third of 2022: Existing projects Continue with Sikh Wars project (20mm) Complete the EIC Sepoy regiment currently in progress Chip away at the lead pile adding more units 16th Century Western European Wars (15mm) Make scenery to go with English church model Purchase/make specific terrain Purchase more figures to extend my collection back to the 1540s and also for the Irish Wars Algerian War (20mm) Finish making terrain Paint up last few ALN figures Repaint helicopter models WW2 Italy 43-45 (15mm)  Work on MDF buildings Make specific terrain/scenic pieces Rework all figure bases Zona Alfa/Last Days Zombie apocalypse (20mm) Work on MDF buildings Make specific terrain/scenic pieces Purchase more zombie figures Burrows & Badgers (28mm) Work out warbands for existing collection  Make specific terrain/scenic pieces  Purchase more figures Decide what to do with unused 28mm figures Continue blogging New projects Continuing lookin...

We're a third of the way through the year so it's time to look at how I've done against the initial plan set out in January. Aspirations for existing projects Continue with 20mm Sikh Wars project  Complete EIC infantry regiment (remaining 24 outstanding figures) - completed January👍  Add more units - I bought a load of new figures in March and have since completed another Sikh regiment , some British skirmishers and started an EIC Sepoy regiment👍👍 Focus on the following periods with special attention to terrain: WW2 Eastern Front 44-45 (1/76th) - nothing done👎  WW2 Yugoslavia 43-45 (1/76th) - nothing done👎  WW2 Italy 43-45 (15mm) - nothing done👎  First/French Indo-China War (20mm) - made a base and surround for an Indo-China village  and added some indigenous tribes fighters 👍👍 16th Century Western European Wars (15mm) -  some research but no painting Zona Alfa/Last Days Zombie apocalypse (20mm) - nothing done 👎  Decide what to do with ...

A very quiet week hobby wise.  I've not had any solid blocks of time to do much, just grabbing the odd 10 minutes here and there.   Painting/modelling   I've started cleaning up the next unit for the First Anglo-Sikh War project.  This is a regiment of 24 Sepoys which will join the Anglo-Indian forces.  I don't like cleaning up figures much, so doing this in the short bursts of time I've had for hobbying has worked quite well. Research & Reading I'm pressing on with "The Commotion Time" which tells the military history of rebellion in the West Country in 1549.  A really good read about something I previously knew nothing about. I wrote a post about the rising costs of the hobby which sparked a bit of debate on TMP.  You can read it here .  After writing this I'm even more convinced that any new projects will be in the smaller scales.  Although I love  skirmish games I hanker after something that looks like a real battle, bu...

 A news item on TMP prompted me to check the Empress Miniatures website and there I found that a pack of 4 figures now cost £8.00, meaning a single metal 28mm historical miniature has now broken the £2.00 mark.  I can remember when 28mm metals first went above £1.00 each and there was a lot of grumbling.  But now £2.00 - Ye Gads! Looking at the cost of the "best" 28mm metals (Perry's, Empress, Foundry as a sample) they currently average out at £1.69 for a metal figure.  Perry's are the cheapest at £1.33 each, Foundry next at £1.75 and as mentioned Empress at £2.00.  Whether a Paul Hicks sculpt is "better" and "worth more" than one of the Perry twins is a matter of personal taste.  I have some of all three and many more sculptors' work besides in my Old West collection and they are all lovely figures and have their own merits.   The cost of everything is going up so it was inevitable that miniatures did.  It would seem a lot of hobby companies...

It’s exactly a year since I started this blog.  I thought I’d do a little reminiscing on the 1st birthday.   When I started I didn’t have any vision or aspirations other than using it as a hobby diary.  It was a place to document my hobby activity and air my hobby ramblings.  I’ve stuck to that, only posting when I’ve completed a piece of work and there's only been an occasional rambling, thankfully any readers would say.  And I’m pleased to say there has been some readers.  OK I can’t tell if anyone has actually read anything, but at least they’ve looked and there’s been well over 12,500 visits which isn’t too bad.  I’m fully aware that most of my interests are “talk about niche" as someone on TMP pointed out.  Niche within a niche hobby - I’m happy with that.  My hobby world doesn’t currently include the perennial favourites of Napoleonics, American Civil War, anything Games Workshop related or the Normandy campaign of WW2.  And t...

Happy New Year to everyone.  Here we are 2022.  If the last couple of years have shown us anything maybe making plans is daft but you need somewhere to start don't you? Prior to 2021 I always used to split the year into 3 sections of 4 months with Salute at the end of April as the key milestone to work towards.  The time before Salute used to be finishing off existing stuff.  Then I'd have a big splurge at Salute.  And the rest of the year would be wondering why I bought so much as I worked through it. 😆  There's no Salute in 2022 but I'm still going to plan the same.  Plans for first third 2022  Aspirations for existing projects Continue with 20mm Sikh Wars project  Complete EIC infantry regiment (remaining 24 outstanding figures) Add more units Focus on the following periods with special attention to terrain: WW2 Eastern Front 44-45 (1/76th) WW2 Yugoslavia 43-45 (1/76th) WW2 Italy 43-45 (15mm) First/French Indo-China War (20mm) 16th Centur...

It seems only moments since I wrote my half year report  at the end of June and here I am summarising 2021.  The Covid pandemic still impacts all aspects of life.  I returned to the work place briefly before the work from home instruction was issued again.  No complaints from me.  Let's see what transpires as we go through January.  Achievements 2nd half of the year Completed 99 figures - 64 20mm, 29 15mm and 6 28mm. Based all my medium deciduous trees. Based all my large conifer trees. Based all my palm trees. Made a load more scatter terrain for jungle games and spruced up my old jungle scatter terrain. Based all my small trees for 6mm on temporary bases. Made some hedges for 6mm games. Made some fields. Had a go at making a jungle terrain mat (still needs work). Made multi-figure movement bases for my 1/76th SHQ WW2 collection. Added magnets to the bases of all my 28mm WW2 collection. Researched a lot of potential new periods.  I've read about the N...

My retail therapy is continuing.  The first delivery this week was One Faith, One Law, One King - French Armies of the Wars of Religion 1562-1598 from Helion.   I'd expressed my interest with Helion in the title prior to publication and was very pleased when I received an email announcing it was now available and offering a £5 discount.  My order was placed straightaway on Friday and the book arrived Tuesday post free.  I'm happy with that.  I've had a glance through and this sort of information is gold dust in the English language.  The colour plates aren't great but the rest of the book is.   On the same day my order of 3x1mm neodymium magnets arrived.  I've been looking at how to base all my single SHQ WW2 20mm figures so that they're easier to use when gaming and wanted to try out something using magnets.  I won't say anymore as I'll be doing a separate post on that soon. On Wednesday my order from Butler's Printed Models came....

It's been a busy couple of weeks but not on the hobby front.  We're about to have some significant work done with the replacement of our central heating and water system which has taken a lot of time to prepare for.  Additionally the good days of working from home permanently are over.  All this has scuppered my planned excursion to Essex Miniatures to stock up on 16th Century figures.  However, I have bought a few things online. First up was these bits for an Old West game.  I'd recently set up my Old West buildings and thought they looked a bit dull so got these bits to add some more interest and character.     The Warlord Games plastic farm animals are sadly underwhelming.  There's a good variety of different types of beasts but the two sprues are identical.  And the sprues have a lot of mould lines where you really don't want them such as down the animal's faces.  For all the prep work I'll have to do I wish I'd bought some meta...