Wednesday Workbench 24 November

 Apologies for the lack of posts since Salute. I decided not to do a post of pics of the Salute games as I hadn't taken very many, they didn't cover that many games and other bloggers had done much more comprehensive posts.

As for WIP stuff, I'm slowly plugging away at figure prep ready for this winter's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge:

That's the Imperial Romans prepped and primed. I do need to touch up the primer, which I'll get done tomorrow.

Part of the lack of progress has been down to me having the expected sore shoulder and "feeling like crap" reaction to having my Covid booster last week and my annual 'flu jab yesterday. I'm also dealing with a gas boiler which keeps switching off - I've got an engineer booked for tomorrow, so hopefully the fault will be sorted and my flat will be warm again.

I got a parcel in the post today:

Or is that three parcels combined?

But you're not interested in white boxes, it's what's inside that you want to see:

It's the order I placed with The Assault Group about a month ago. There are seventeen packs of WW2 Japanese and a pack of dogs. They'll be joining the prepping & priming queue.

Salute 2020...errrmmm...2021 - The Loot

 Today was Salute 2020...according to all the merch. The reason for that being that the original April 2020 date being lost as a result of Covid lockdowns.

I arrived at the ExCel Centre just before 10am, but decided to finish the book chapter I was reading before going in. By that time the queue for Covid pass checks at the doors had completely gone. I think I got into the show itself about 10.20 and quickly realised that things were very different. It was still a large, stuffy hangar with crap lighting, but it was much less packed than normal. 

I heard from someone who'd spoken to the Warlords that there were only around 4,000 tickets sold, about half the normal attendance. Added to that were several wide open spaces where companies (some of them big names - 4Ground, Gripping Beast, Hasslefree) had pulled out and (as a rough guess) about 60% of the games had also not turned up. That did mean that it was slightly less warm and stuffy than normal, but the main benefit of less people and more open space was that the crowd noise was much lower than normal.

Of the games that were there, there weren't many that were particularly impressive to look at. There were also a few repeats from previous years.

I did get to have a chat with a few of the traders who I haven't seen since 2019. I'm hoping that they had good sales despite the reduced number of potential marks...errmmm...customers.

I did get to have a chat with various bloggers etc, including at the 2pm meet-up. Speaking of which, here's a photo of some of us (a few more turned up after the photo):

I'll add names at some point. For now, you'll just have to deal with the queasiness caused by the sight of Ray's bare legs!

As for my loot haul:

I didn't get everything that was on my list, but made up for it with a few non-list purchases. The bits I couldn't get at the show will get ordered online this week.

Offensive Miniatures

Three packs of rioters/demonstrators to annoy my Mega City One Judges.

Bad Squiddo Games

I had seen these in Annie's recent kickstarter, but as it was the only pack I was interested in I didn't back the campaign. Rather silly of me - I'd have saved myself a couple of quid I think.

Warlord Games

Out of six packs on my list, this was the only one they had with them.

Minibits

Debris of War

Who doesn't need more barrels and crates?

TT Combat

Yes, more shipping containers. And crates, And big generators. Sadly, most of the items on my list weren't available at the show.

Eureka Miniatures UK

My pre-order of some Papuan porters and Japanese infantry for my New Guinea project. 

"Hang on, what's that she's hiding underneath the bubble wrap?"

Nothing to see here, move along...

Donnington

Some Mongol medium cavalry, some Georgian heavy cavalry and some individual Romans to use as level 1 leaders for "Infamy, Infamy!".

And of course the Salute figure and die:

I'll probably hold off on posting my photos of the games until Monday.

Eve Of Salute Update

Well, it's Salute tomorrow and I will be heading to the ExCel centre for a spending spree. I probably won't be taking photos of all the games this time - I've learned my lessons from past years, but will inevitably end up with pics of most of them. My simple rule this year is that if they don't have a sign identifying who they are and what the game is then they won't get a photo; it's just too much hassle trying to work out who and what they are when there are so many games at the show.

I do have a small shopping list and a couple of pre-orders to collect.

However, the post title does mention update so I'd better get to that part. the eagle-eyed among you (who may also have realistic hair, posable hands and a big scar on one cheek) will have noticed that there hasn't been a "Paint Table Saturday" or "Wednesday Workbench" post since I finished the Koreans and Chinese last week. Basically, that's because there wasn't really anything to show you.

Mostly I have been prepping figures, part of my "getting ready for AHPC XII". A considerable time ago I bought a load of extra figures from Lancashire Games to boost my Early Imperial Romans and Germans up to full armies for ADLG. I've managed to get partway through prepping them this week and should have them fully prepped, onto painting sticks and primed by next weekend. There are also a few British airborne figures that need a bit of prep work - they will be for painting prior to the Challenge.

On top of that, I got the new batch of jungle scrub mix made.

Finished: 15mm Korean and Ming Chinese Additions

 

And they're done, at last! They took me a bit longer to complete than they should have, but at least they did get me back to painting figures after my sojourn making terrain.

Korean Armoured Infantry

Korean Heavy Spearmen

Korean Levy

Korean Light Cavalry

Unit 1

Unit 2

Here is a photo of a base from each "unit" with one from the first unit painted a few years ago:

As you can see, I've kept the same three main colours (blue, magenta, orange) for their clothing, but used for different parts.

Due to pack sizes, I have ended up with two spare figures:

I'll probably use those for a baggage camp base.

Ming Chinese Levy

All figures are 15mm from Old Glory 15s (purchased through Timecast).

I haven't decided what will be next up on the paint table. I'll have to have a rifle through the piles tomorrow.

Wednesday Workbench 03 November & Traveller Ships Kickstarter

 

I haven't quite finished the Koreans and Ming Chinese. Mind you, the only thing left to do is add static grass to the bases, which I'll do tomorrow morning.

Some goodies arrived today:

There were also some paints, but you don't want to see those. The baggies above contain the bits I need to make up another batch of "scrub mix" for jungle terrain. I will probably get that done tomorrow or Friday.

Traveller Ships Kickstarter

For those with a yen for Traveller or who like starship miniatures, 2nd Dynasty launched a Kickstarter campaign this afternoon to produce a range of Traveller ship miniatures, focused on the smaller "adventure class" ships. the miniatures will be in two scales for each ship - 1:270 (X-wing scale) and "tactical scale" (designed to work with 1" hex grid games).

NB - these will be STL files for 3D printing, not physical miniatures

The Kickstarter link is: (linky-link)

So far the six core ships (Type A Free Trader, Broadsword mercenary cruiser, Gazelle close escort, Type M subsidised liner, Vargr corsair and Type S scout), and five stretch goal ships (Type A2 Far Trader, Type J Seeker, Type K safari ship, Type L Laboratory Ship and Type R subsidised merchant).

Some of the pledge levels include ships and add-ons from their previous campaigns, including their 28mm Type S Scout.

I couldn't resist, so I've backed it. I guess that means I will need to buy myself a 3D printer at some point...

Paint Table Saturday 30 October

 

I know what (some of you) are thinking - "That table looks far too clean and tidy!". Please rest assured that this is a very temporary state of affairs and it will soon be looking very cluttered and messy.

I finished painting the Korean cavalry yesterday and hit them and the Ming levy with Klear/ink last night. Today I used the airbrush to matte varnish them and the Korean infantry. After leaving them a few hours, I popped them off their painting sticks, sorted them out into "units" and then glued the figures onto bases.

A couple of the figures refused to stay upright, so I ended up using some "kicker" to quickly cure the superglue. That is why you can see white patches around some of the figures' puddle bases.

Tomorrow I will be adding basing texture. They should all be finished by Tuesday.

Thursday Workbench 28 October

 

I forgot to do a "Wednesday Workbench" post yesterday, so you've got a "Thursday Workbench" post instead. I was meant to be at the club this afternoon & evening for an ACW ironclads game, but my lower back was "out" this morning. Luckily a few hours laid flat on my back seems to have sorted it. I had planned to do some shopping in central London before the game, but that will have to wait until next week.

In the photo above you can see the Korean light cavalry that I'm currently working on. They're almost finished - just the metal bits and some touch-ups (mostly hands) to do, then I can hit them with my Klear/ink wash, hopefully tomorrow. The Ming Chinese levy were finished a couple of days ago:

They will also get their Klear/ink wash tomorrow.

On Saturday I will be hitting all of the figures from this project with a coat of matte varnish; I should also make a start on the basing.