Black Powder

Unfortunately real life is taking its toll at present and I've not managed to pick up a paint brush for weeks, a situation I aim to rectify in the next day or so. In the meantime I've been pondering Warlord Games' Black Powder and whether to buy it.

I've got a pile of Perry's plastic ACW (unpainted at present) and various C19th uncompleted projects and was wondering whether this might provide some stimulus to get on with them (unlike the Lardies' They Couldn't Hit An Elephant!). Having read various comments about them I like the idea they are inspired by Warmaster but am wary how they would handle smaller battles on a 6' x 6' table.

I'm keen to give the ACW a go as Saul is quite interested in it and I don't need much more than we have already bought (just some cannon) unless we really get 'into it' and 'need' to buy some Iron Brigade, Zouaves etc.

Remembrance Sunday

Today is Remembrance Sunday. Saul recorded this version of the hymn O Valiant Hearts earlier this year and I have combined it with a montage of photos from the First World War as a tribute to those who have fought and fallen in the name of freedom.

O valiant hearts who to your glory came
Through dust of conflict and through battle flame;
Tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved,
Your memory hallowed in the land you loved.

Proudly you gathered, rank on rank, to war
As who had heard God's message from afar;
All you had hoped for, all you had, you gave,
To save mankind—yourselves you scorned to save.

Splendid you passed, the great surrender made;
Into the light that nevermore shall fade;
Deep your contentment in that blest abode,
Who wait the last clear trumpet call of God.

Ludus Gladiatorius

Sorry for the lack of posts, it's been a bit of 'hit the fan' week at work. Anyway as SWMBO is watching some murder mystery on ITV2 (should I be worried she watches so many?), I thought I'd take a couple of minutes to talk about the wargame we took and played in Tenerife.

Obviously you can't take a 6' x 4' table and hundres of miniatures with you to the Canaries, but we did take em-4's Ludus Gladiatorius which I'd bought Saul at Colours. Cracking little game and we'll probably buy the second one sometime.

The five pre-paints are nicely done and the game is simple but ingeniously challenging with the different gladiators using different attack and defence dice as well as having differing special abilities (which are restricted in what they are and how many times the gladiator can use them).

The game comes with figures, dice, chits and a nice glossy paper arena all in the box. You might want to devise your own travel case as the figures have separate bases and ideally need gluing to them (I used blu-tack) and you need a couple of pencils, plus copies of the gladiator character sheets.

If you're looking for a travel game that even your SWMBO might enjoy and can be played with the kids on holiday etc, then Ludus Gladiatorius is worth checking out.

Hallowe'en Scarecrows

Just back from a week's R&R in hot and sunny Tenerife (brain disengaged, no painting, one wargame - more on that tomorrow and several books read...)

As it's Hallowe'en I dug out these old RAFM Scarecrows I painted up a great many years ago (in enamels!!). Wonderfully sculpted miniatures, I'm note sure if they have any wargaming application but they sure were fun to paint...

Scarecrow on Tombstone

Scarecrow with Axe

Scarecrow Slasher

The Best of Battle

As I have stated previously I was a big fan of Battle comic when I was a kid (and still am as a big kid!). Having been struggling with a stinking cold this week that has prevented any painting, my disposition was cheered immensely by the postman who delivered the long awaited The Best of Battle Vol 1 from Amazon.

This anthology from Titan Books is great and at £9.99 fantastic value (in fact my copy from Amazon was only £4.99 so even more fantastic). At 288 pages it contains selections from D-Day Dawson, Day Of The Eagle, The Bootneck Boy, Rat Pack, Major Eazy, Fighter From The Sky, Hold Hill 109, Darkie's Mob, Panzer G-Man, Joe Two Beans, Johnny Red, The Sarge, Hellman Of Hammer Force, Crazy Keller, The General Dies At Dawn, Charley's War, Fighting Mann and Death Squad! Roll on volume two...

The really great news is that in adddition to the continuing reprints of the classic Charley's War and forthcoming Johnny Red, Titan also plan to release Darkie's Mob, Rat Pack and Major Eazy - brill!

When Skeletons Attack!!

Came across this on a bit of You Tube browsing and couldn't resist putting it up for inspiration.

Reminds me I must finish that Tomb Kings army I've got made up, all I need to do is spray it and dip...

Fragment

Not a lot of painting is being done at Bleaseworld at the moment for one reason or another (though strangely the postman keeps delivering parcels of stuff needing painting!). However, I have managed to finish Warren Fahy's highly entertaining book Fragment.

Marketed as 'Jurassic Park for the Lost Generation' it must be said Fragment has no link with Lost other than it is set on a Pacific island (indeed one wonders why the 'Lost Generation' can't just watch/read Jurassic Park...). Anyhow, the newly (re)discovered island is a biosphere of fragment of a lost prehistoric continent that has evolved is a totally different way to the rest of the planet. This is explained in typical Michael Crichton pseudo-science babble by a group of scientists that tend to get eaten by various carnivores on the island (I would guess this book has already been optioned by Hollywood and it will make a great summer blockbuster).

Whilst Fragment isn't going to win the Booker Prize (even ignoring the fact it hasn't been nominated) this is a good little "airport novel" (indeed I read over half of it at Paris CDG and on the plane to Bristol), with lots of interesting monsters and some ideas for games. SF gamers looking for inhabitants of a death world (or just some new xenos) will get something out of this.

Richard III's Birthday (& Other Important Anniversaries)

Today is Richard III's 557th birthday (that's a lot of candles) but (to my mind) more importantly my 17th wedding anniversary, so I better stop playing on the computer listening to Radiohead and go pour SWMBO a drink now Eastenders has finished!

A Blast From The Past...

I have started work on my Brigade Models ONESS Germans for Iron Cow and two Bristol Fighters for AirWar: 1918, but they don't look very interesting at the moment, in the meantime here's more from IronCow TV!

I came across a selection of photos David Manley took at Games Day 2001 and 2002 and the opening of Warhammer World 2002 which I've allowed iMovie to play with and adding the obligatory prog soundtrack.

The photos are quite interesting in that not only do they show some fine examples of participation games, but also a wider spread of games including Warmaster and even Battlefleet Gothic.

Hope you enjoy this while I slap various shades of green paint on white metal (I'm so fed up with green I started dreaming of painting up some Swiss Guard with las rifles earlier for a change!)

Games Day UK 2009

I took Saul to Games Day at the NEC on Sunday, taking up the offer of a parent's ticket for just £6. Despite having been to a number of wargames shows I think Saul was a little overwhelmed, it is a very intense and noisy show, with 7,000 gamers determined to fit in as much as they can in a short space of time.

There were a lot of really impressive games, heaven knows how many Stompas and Baneblades were in use in the gaming hall, but it must have been truly frightening. Ironically even these large models were often dwarfed by the scenery and other scratch built models on display.

I took a lot of photos and have compiled them into the traditional Ironcow TV video on You Tube complete with obscure prog soundtrack (this time some Prog Metal to reflect the younger audience!).

Purchases were relatively few. I picked up a couple of Christmas presents for Saul which will need starting soon and he grabbed a bargain of five various LOTR guides and Collectors guides at the end for just a quid! Whilst we had a couple, he decided he'd give them to a school friend who is into LOTR.

Both of us took the opportunity to make up some of the free scenic items and we now have a couple of impressive looking Interceptor Guns and rather a lot of Imperial baricades.

We also had the opportunity at the end of the day for Saul to meet Alex Stewart (nom de plume Sandy Mitchell), author of the Ciaphas Cain books. Saul is really into these and was amazed to find out that in Death or Glory, Alex had inserted a reference to a distant Imperium planet called Blease's World! We also learnt where the next book is set, but Saul has decided it is top secret so I can't tell you (but the anniversary release of a popular limited edition game is apparently purely coincidental!)