Major Ballsup's Hobby Shed

Keeping up my tradition April is time for the first update of the year.  The gaming update for the same period is  here .   At the start of the year this is what the projects board looked like (detail  here ): And here's the updated list as of the end of April: As always big ticks are for completed projects, little ticks show how many months I've worked on something for that project.  The only changes since the start of the year are: The 16th C. Revamp has been completed, but I've added some more figures so it's now just 16th Century. I've added a new project - Fall of Granada.  This is a period I've wanted to do forever it seems, well at least 30 years since I travelled round Andalucía.  The starting balance as of January 2026 was : 28mm - 6 figures (all Verrotwood) 20mm - 45 figures, 1 gun, 1 aircraft (all French Indo-China War) 15mm - 7 afvs (all WW2) 6mm - 368 figures (44 Iran-Iraq/1980s, 9 1980s afvs/aircraft; 240 Seven Years War; 84 19t...

2026 will be my third year of using the Ovelist approach to track my hobby progress.  It's working for me so why change it.  As before I've split out the doing from the gaming ( here ).  The list is mainly determined by what I've got outstanding as we start the year and then modified as I complete these items and acquire more.  Here's the starting point: The starting balance is: 28mm - 6 figures (all Verrotwood) 20mm - 45 figures, 1 gun, 1 aircraft (all French Indo-China War) 15mm - 7 afvs (all WW2) 6mm - 368 figures (11 Iran-Iraq/1980s, 33 1980s, 9 1980s afvs/aircraft; 240 Seven Years War; 84 19th C. French Colonial) All of the above are additions to my existing collections and there's a square each to cover these.  My collection covers such a wide range of periods that I have more than enough getting these rounded/finished off to last me the rest of my life, let alone starting anything new.  However, as before I’ve left a number of squares with quest...

Well that was 2025. Where did the year go?  The gaming update for this period is here . The image below is how the Ovelist looked at the start of the year, the detail is  here .  Here's what it looked like at the end of April with the detail  here .  Here's how things at the end of August (detail here ): And here's how the doing Ovelist looks as 2025 ends. The balance at the end of August was: 28mm - 9 figures - all Verrotwood 15mm - 6 afvs - all WW2 6mm - 302 figures; 5 afvs; 5 aircraft - all Iran-Iraq War It's now: 28mm - 6 figures - all Verrotwood 15mm - 7 afvs - all WW2 6mm - 368 figures; 44 figures 5 afvs; 5 aircraft Iran-Iraq War/1980s. 240 figures Seven Years War.  84 figures 19th Century Colonial.  I've completed the following this year: 28mm - 37 figures 20mm - 39 figures 15mm - 1 afv 6mm - 266 figures, 43 afvs. I bought a fair few 6mm figures in November, but overall I don't have anything that's been hanging around for too long.  I've no...

Two thirds of the way through 2025 and it's time for the second update of the year.  The gaming update for this period is here .   The image below is how the Ovelist looked at the start of the year, the detail is  here .  Here's what it looked like at the end of April with the detail here .  And here's the state of play at the end of August. As is my way I've tweaked the Ovelist. For this latest version large ticks are still for projects where I've finished the miniatures/afvs etc. I've avoided the term completed project as in reality they don't exist!  Small ticks show how many months I've completed something for that project.  However, the small ticks now also indicate which month.  There's three rows of four which corresponds with how I divide the year.   The previous balance at the end of April check point was: 28mm - 30 figures (8 Verrotwood, 10 WW2, 12 Old West) 20mm - 15 figures (15 WW2) 15mm - 2 afvs (2 WW2) 6mm - 311 figure...

As is my tradition April is time for the first update of the year.  The gaming update for April is here .   At the start of the year this is what the doing Ovelist looked like (detail here ): And here's the updated list as of the end of April: Big ticks are for completed projects, little ticks show how many months I've completed something for that project.  The only changes are: the 1980's project has now solidified into The Iran-Iraq War project; and I've added a square for The Old West.  This is a project I've been adding to for 20 years or more and I've recently picked up some superb Native Americans to work on. The starting balance as of January 2025 was : 28mm - 43 figures (21 Norse Age, 8 Verrotwood, 10 WW2, 4 Burrows & Badgers) 20mm - 24 figures (24 WW2) (this was 26 but 2 had missing/broken bits so I binned them) 15mm - 2 afvs (2 WW2) 6mm - 44 figures (11 WW2, 33 1980s, 9 1980s afvs) The current balance is: 28mm - 30 figures (8 Verrotwood, 10 WW...

After a successful 2024 using the Ovelist approach I’ve been mulling over what to do this year.  Strangely this has been quite difficult as I cleared far more than I bought and haven’t got too much to work on.  As before I've split out the doing from the gaming ( here ).  Here's the 2025 doing Ovelist: The starting balance is: 28mm - 43 figures (21 Norse Age, 8 Verrotwood, 10 WW2, 4 Burrows & Badgers) 20mm - 26 figures (26 WW2) 15mm - 2 afvs (2 WW2) 6mm - 44 figures (11 WW2, 33 1980s, ; 9 1980s afvs) There's a square each to cover off all the above.   I’ve also got the perennial Terrain square.  I like fiddling around making terrain and my tables sorely need improvement.  While the outstanding figure count is so low I want to try and spend more time on terrain and produce or improve at least one item each month.  Another square has been allocated to getting my 16th Century collection ship-shape and ready to game with.  I’ve looked at...

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...

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 ...

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...

You can read week one here . Day Eight (30/05) Having got the bases to a reasonable point, albeit still far from finshed, I had planned to get on with the trees today. However, when I sat down at the painting table I changed my mind and decided to get the bases done and dusted. To start I glued two different shades of static grass onto the bases.  I was quite careful with this, sticking patches on to link or break up the flocked areas. Close up of two large bases with two shades of static grass added Once the grass had dried I added two different shades of finely chopped lichen onto the bases. As with the static grass this was quite deliberate. I took some care to glue some lichen round any bigger stones. With lichen added Next I stuck  some self-adhesive static grass of three different heights and three different shades onto the bases. I used moss, green and battlefield mix all from Tajima . I then finished off by adding some self-adhesive bushes.  After a break for anot...

Years ago (so long ago that I can't recall which year) I picked up a great big box of trees at a very good price at a local wargames show.  All of them had thick wire trunks with some tape wrapped round, leaving varying millimetres of wire to stick in a base. They've served me well as they were simply stuck as needed in my terrain boards which are made of layers of polystyrene roof tiles.  However, over the years the tiles have now begun to  look combat weary. Additionally I've been working on making some flat terrain mats to lay on a table so there's no surface to stick the wire in. To keep up the good work of the last year in getting stuff done, I decided to finally sort this out and base all the trees. I wanted to do this with minimum of cost, but make some good looking terrain pieces that had some flexibility Day One (23/05) First step after rescuing the box from the loft  was to check what I had. There's 19 large trees 14cm tall, 7 medium at 11cm tall and 4 sma...

With the completion of four Wargames Atlantic Partisans (pictured) I've completed 100 figures so far this year. That was my total for all of 2020 so I'm chipper about that. Here's the breakdown: 28mm - 24 total Oathmark Dwarf Infanty (5) Victrix Vikings (8) Warlord Games WW2 Red Army Infantry (7) Wargames Atlantic WW2 Partisans (4) 15mm - 10 total Eureka WW2 Japanese (10) 10mm - 66 total Newline Designs Republican Roman Velites (30) Newline Designs Republican Roman Citizen Cavalry (12) Newline Designs African Heavy Cavalry (12) Newline Designs Spanish Cavalry (12) The 10mm certainly helped to get the total up as I can turn these around quickly.