Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

It's the end of the year and time for the third and final Ovelist "doing" check point.  The original plan is  here,  check point 1 at the end of April is  here , and August's check point 2 is here  The latest gaming update is  here .   This was how the list looked at the end of August: And here's the end of year position: As usual the size of the tick shows how complete a project is.  In the case of the very large ticks that project is complete with no figures left to do.  That’s Imperial Rome, Late-Romans, Verrotwood, WW2 Partisan Warfare and Sci-Fi.  The only failure was that I didn't do anything on the South African Border Wars project.   Between the end of August and the end of December I did the following: Imperial Rome - I've completed all 175 Roman and Ancient Germans for this project.  I also made unit bases for them all for Midgard.  This is the project that I'm most pleased with.  I didn't start th...

The gaming Ovelist original plan is  here , with check point 1 at the end of April here  and the end of August check point 2 here .  The "doing" update is here . The first part of the year had been a gaming failure.  I picked it up from May and this is what the gaming list looked like at the end of August: And here's what it looks like as we end the year: During the period from September through December I was very targeted in my gaming, ticking off the remaining squares and played the following: Second Punic War.  Thanks to the release of Midgard I finally got some of my 10mm collection onto th e table .  The AAR is here .  Fantasy Skirmish .  I had a really enjoyable game of Sword Weirdos.  I think it's impossible not to enjoy the Weirdos.  The AAR is here. 10mm Fantasy Battle.   I had my first game of Warmaster Revolution using the 10mm Ogre and Chaos Dwarfs armies I completed in 2023. The AAR is  here .  I also got i...

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'...

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

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 ...

Here's what I've been up to this week. Painting/modelling The first part of the week I was finishing off the regiment of 24 20mm EIC Sepoys from Newline Designs for my Sikh Wars project.  You can see about them in more detail here .   I've been trying to decide on the colours to repaint the bases of the figures I'm going to use as proxies for Algerian ALN fighters.  This will also determine how I paint the terrain I'm planning to build so it's important to spend time on it.  Research I've been reading Black Earth by Timothy Snyder.  I read Bloodlands years ago and it's one of the best and worst books I've ever read.  Best in that it's so well written, absorbing and interesting and worst in that it's about one of the bleakest periods of history.  Black Earth is similar.  It's not light reading.  However, if you don't read about these subjects I think that you are never going to understand the principle drivers of the Nazis and the So...

First full week of work since the Xmas break so less hobby time but still made some good progress. Painting/modelling The majority of hobby time this week was spent painting a regiment of 24 20mm EIC Sepoys from Newline Designs for my Sikh Wars project.  When I left them last week they had been cleaned, primed, based and the bases textured.  I managed to do the majority of the painting this week. Just the final details, varnishing, bases and flag and they're done. Sepoys in progress.  I also dug out all my odd 20mm figures to see what might make suitable Algerian ALN proxies.  I'll be working on these once the Sepoys are done. Research Continued looking through all my French wars of decolonisation books and wrote a piece on my interest in these conflicts - read here .   Had a brief look into other modern wars with French influence such as the conflicts in Chad. Purchases My first purchases of the year arrived. A Savage War of Peace - with all those thoughts...

As a bid to use the blog as my wargaming diary this year I'm going to try and do a weekly summary of what I've been doing.  I tend to only post completed items and then it doesn't look like I've done much.  So here we go for the first week of 2022. Gaming Got in a cracking game of Donnybrook set in The Old West - read about it here Painting/modelling Did all the prep for the last Newline Designs 20mm Sikh Wars unit which is a regiment of 24 EIC Sepoys. EIC Sepoys based, sand added and primed Managed to finish the fencing to go round my Old West farmhouse -read about it  here Research Had a good look through all my French wars of decolonisation books.   Organised some of my PDFs sorting out the Korean War titles particularly.  Had a brief look into Central and South American wars of the first half of the 20th Century (are we going down the rabbit hole?) A positive start to the year with plenty of hobby activity. 

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...