Rain, Rain, Go Away

...and come again - NEVER!

Well, OK, maybe a little bit of a shower at night to top up reservoirs etc, and to ensure crops and gardens are watered. Just don't come during the day at weekends when I need to hit models with spray paints and varnishes. Do we have a deal?

As you can probably guess, I'm a little frustrated by the weather today which has kicked my plans into touch. I had hoped to post some finished work this evening, but I can't do any spraying so that's out of the question. I'll now either have to put up with an open window (and associated cold in my flat) one evening this week or keep my fingers crossed for dry weather next weekend. I'll probably put up with the open window one evening, just to clear them off my paint table!

I haven't quite decided what to do instead yet, so I took some pictures of what was going to be sprayed.

Mongol Light Foot

These just need to be sprayed with matt varnish and for the bases to be flocked.

While doing the last stages on the Mongols, I decided to finish off the...



Civilian Spaceships

that I'd started painting many, many months ago.

These just need to be sprayed with matt or satin varnish and to have flight peg toppers glued underneath.

I also decided to paint up another big beast spaceship. This is the Dallas Class Refinery Ship which is just over 5 inches long.

It also needs a coat of varnish. I'll probably go matt, then use brush on satin and gloss for the spheres and pipework.

Seven Years War Russians

I thought it would be a good idea to paint a couple of test figures for the Russian infantry. These were going to be sprayed with red primer. The figures are spares.


Since my last post, I have had some goodies arrive. I'd placed an order with Adler for various strips of 6mm ACW figures to see how they would fit alongside the Baccus ones. The cavalry definitely won't work together; the infantry might just about. I could get away with Adler mounted officers on infantry bases as brigade commanders. I'll definitely raise a few regiments of Adler cavalry as they have a good variety of poses/weapons - Baccus just have sabres drawn; Adler have them with pistols, carbines and shotguns as well.

I also placed an order with Timecast for some Old Glory 15s Koreans. It's probably a bit more expensive per pack than ordering them direct, but there weren't enough packs for me to qualify for discounts and it saved me on postage and the inevitable extortionate admin fee from Royal Mail for import VAT. I'm still waiting for 2 packs as they were out of stock and I'd just missed their pre-Warfare restocking order.

These will provide the remaining figures I need to field "legal" armies for the later period (for FoGR I need Righteous Army and warrior monks), and to max out the Korean light cavalry.


Second Game of Art De La Guerre

I got in another game of ADLG last week, this time with my Alans. I decided to try something a bit risky to see if it is workable - the light horse swarm. I'd say that it doesn't work that well as light horse are very fragile and can quite easily be destroyed as they only have 2 cohesion points. It might work better on a table without a lot of terrain, where they have a chance to get around the enemy flanks. Unfortunately, for this game one flank was closed down by forests and forested steep hills.

The beige bits with trees are forest; the hills are steep and forested; the green bits are brush

My opponent had played a few more games before than me, one of them coached by the rules' author. I think that was how he had picked up a rather cheesy tactic that I'll have to try to remember. As charges occur in the movement phase and can be carried out at any time, if you can move a unit around a flank and behind (within 1 base width) of enemy units which can normally evade, it prevents them from doing so when they are charged. He used that to devastating effect against my light horse.

I also learnt another rule I'll need to remember. Allied corps have to check at the start of the game to determine if they are "hesitant". It is therefore useful to place an allied unit in ambush near to where you expect your opponent to advance. This is because if they come within 1 base width of the ambush marker, the ambush is revealed and the hesitant allied corps will stop being hesitant and come into play. Yes, you guessed it - my light horse managed to advance within 1 base width of his ambush, revealed it and activated the previously hesitant allied corps.

A third thing I found out (note to self - read the rules properly) is that disorder doesn't remove the ability of spearmen and pikemen to nullify the impact of mounted troops. In the club tournament, all three of my opponents are fielding heavy foot spear or pike armies against my mounted army. My only chance is to get onto their flanks and rear as it will be very difficult to shoot down 4 cohesion levels.


Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge V

With just under two weeks to go, I'm starting to get myself organised.

15mm Seven Years War Russians - primed and ready to go; schedule worked out
6mm ACW - primed and ready to go
ESU fleet - prepped; ca[ital ships need assembly; all need priming; need to decide on colour scheme
28mm Wars of the Roses - still on the sprues in their boxes. I have worked out what units I'll be making up from them, but haven't decided on livery schemes yet.
Anti-Hero entry fee figure - I think I know what I'll be doing for this; I just need to source the figure(s)
Other bits - I'm thinking of painting some 15mm SciFI as well. These might be a good mini-project to take down to Sussex to paint over the Christmas break.


Curt has decided to try to control the chaos this year by setting up a blog just for the Challenge. All the challengers will be able to draft their own posts (and upload photos) if they wish. He will then review, edit and post them.

We've each been assigned a day when our entries will be posted. Mine will be posted on Saturdays if you want to keep an eye out for them.