Merry Christmas!

Hoping you, your family and friends have a peaceful festive period and that Santa brought you lots of exciting new wargaming presents and not too many boring clothes!

The miniature is Armorcast's St. Nick Bot with Machine Gun, which may be familiar to watchers of a certain animated SF TV comedy...

(Victorian Month) Here Is The News...

Despite the hundred and one things I need to do before tomorrow (including rescuing the kitchen from the mess I have made cooking two meals before SWMBO gets home from work!) I grabbed a few minutes to finish off the last miniature from the Design 28 Miniatures V6 Jack The Ripper pack.

A simple but rather nice figure of a man with new sandwich board, it was a very straightforward paintjob, the only problem being to decide what to paint on the boards. Tempting as 'Mars Invades!' was I went with a Ripper theme.

Right, back to the festive prep!

(Victorian Month) Gentlemen's Club VIII

Blimey it's wet and windy outside! After braving the ravening hordes at ASDA to buy the sprouts and parsnips for Xmas dinner I finished the last of miniature from EOTD-01 Gentlemen's Club from West Wind. This set has been much more fun to paint than I expected as I hadn't been too taken with the initial four sets of Empire of the Dead miniatures and it was the Requiem Kickstarter that hooked me.

Here are the second batch of four Gentlemen...

And here is the Club ready to go into action and thwart threats against the Empire! Vampire Clan next Gad!

(Victorian Month) Gentlemen's Club VII

Bit of a busy morning today as I manfully fought against a runny nose and aching sinus to not only finish off my second Orcs in the Webbe Advent Calendar contribution (Sharke's Barsoom, should be up tomorrow) but also paint the seventh member of the West Wind Gentlemen's Club set...

This one is a right character in his hunting jacket and fez. I have seen some wonderfully painted versions of this miniatures in tartan trews but I'm not up to that level of skill so went with a green hunting jacket and brown lounge trouser look, which seems to have worked.

Ok, time for a Lemsip!

(Victorian Month) Gentlemen's Club VI

Happy Solstice everyone, grabbing a few minutes earlier I managed to finish off the sixth miniature from the West Wind Gentlemen's Club set, just two more to go...

(Victorian Month) Gentlemen's Club V

There were a couple of things I did not resort to the internet for that I wanted to buy SWMBO for Christmas so after dropping her at work I popped up to The Mall. Even at just gone 9am the car park was filling up with people and I was reminded what a miserable experience Xmas shopping can be. I enjoy hunting out, buying and giving the presents, I just dislike the lemming process of shopping. To make things worse the things I wanted to buy weren't there so in the end I went home and bought them off Amazon. They'll be here Monday...

So to cheer myself up I painted another of the Empire of the Dead Gentlemen's Club miniatures...

(Victorian Month) Gentlemen's Club IV

Beautiful sunshine in Sunny Bristol this morning so I cracked on with the West Wind Gentlemen's Club with this wonderful masked vigilante type. As he is wearing a mask I decided to go with a largely black look, using blue to lighten the colour.

Half way through the set now, great miniatures...

Off to Donnybrook?

It was a bit too gloomy to do any painting today so I sat down with a cup of coffee and the latest copy of Wargames Illustrated. Amongst the tanks was an interesting article of a forthcoming set of skirmish rules for the period 1660-1760 called Donnybrook, not a period that normally captures the mind, but one I have had a passing interest in due to driving many times across the Somerset Levels through Sedgemoor.

The main reason I haven't dabbled in the period previously is the need to have lots of miniatures, but Donnybrook is an interesting looking set in that you only need to have 20 to 40 figures a side not the usual 200 plus. The WI article contains lots of details on the rules which are propelled by a random card turn sequence (a mechanism I particularly like and have included in the first draft of Darke Lands) and you get to use various dice types (D6, D8, D10 etc). I must say I am quite intrigued.

Of course as well as Sedgemoor, the first three or four decades see the English Army in Tangiers, fighting in the War of the Grand Alliance and the basic uniforms are such that many units can be used as regiments from other countries armies (eg. English Guards can be used in French, Dutch and Jacobite armies). Irregular troops can be used as mercenaries, rebels or bandits...

The release of Donnybrook is imminent and as soon as pre-order details are available I will buy a copy as even if I don't use them for their specified period, the core system is based on a Colonial game and should work for most pre-vehicle periods.

(Victorian Month) Gentlemen's Club III

The latest miniature from West Wind's EOTD-1 Gentlemen's Club set, inspired by some of the more colourful coats worn by the richer characters in Ripper Street I went with this fetching lilac coat. I did enjoy painting it but with hindsight it does seem a tad vulgar for a British gentleman, perhaps this character can be a guest of a club member, maybe visiting from America? :-)

(Victorian Month) Gentlemen's Club II

Having enjoyed painting up the first of the West Wind Empire of the Dead figures at the weekend I decided to paint another from the Gentlemen's Club set! I hadn't planned to paint them one at a time but it is fun. They are beautifully sculpted figures and it is enjoyable to paint something slightly different than the Copplestone school of Foundry (not that I don't like this particular sculpting style, but a change is as good as a rest etc.)

(Victorian Month) Gentlemen's Club I

Despite a host of festive preparations needing doing I was determined to grab some time to slap a bit of paint on something despite the horrendous light today here in Bristol.

As Victorian Month had ground to a halt I picked on one of the undercoated West Wind Miniatures from the EOTD-01 Gentlemen's Club box.

A nice simple figure I went with a green-grey coat to contrast a slightly red-brown beard, with odd splashes of colour like the blue-grey scarf. Hopefully I will be able to grab some time to paint the rest of the set by the end of the month.

Dwarf Schutztruppen!

I undertook the Great Christmas Present shop today. After ten minutes on Amazon(!) I checked my emails to find Bob had sent through photos of the first three packs of Darke Lands miniatures - the Dwarf Schutztruppen! There are a couple of tweaks needed but I am very happy with these. I better get on with the rules writing...

Books Are The Best Medicine?

After a week of nagging pain from a toothache no amount of Sopadol stopped me being in agony at 3am this morning so it was off to the dentist and I am now one wisdom tooth and fifty quid lighter (I thought the tooth fair was supposed to give you money!)

Banned from hot drinks, solid food and a medicinal brandy for 24 hours I have tried to ease the ache in my jaw with some retail therapy on Amazon with another book for next year's Torch and beyond project...

...and an interesting looking book on the 43 Group which I saw reviewed in the latest Labour Research Magazine at work. I'm not hugely taken with the VBCW background but this might see me dabble.

The Fall of Denmark

Today was the first of Saul's university interviews necessitating a trip to Southampton. Whilst he regaled them with music technology mumbo-jumbo I sat in the Uni cafe with a cup of coffee and my iPad, onto which I had last night downloaded Oliver Hayes The Fall of Denmark 1940, one of the Bretwalda Battles series of short e-books.

At around fifty pages it didn't take long to read(!) but was quite interesting although it would not have taken much research to flesh it out a bit more. Hayes refers to the Danes using 20mm and 37mm guns, it would have taken minimal effort to note these were 20 mm L/110 Oerlikon and 37 mm L/37 Bofors anti-tank guns... That said the e-book only cost 75p so perhaps I am being overly pedantic.

From a gaming point of view  the invasion and capture of Denmark may seem to have little potential but there was some notable resistance from the army, notably by the Royal Life Guards at the Amalienborg Palace, at Sølsted and the military base at Harderslev. That the German invaders suffered over two hundred casualties, lost six armoured cars and had six others along with four tanks damaged demonstrates that the shortest military campaign was certainly not just a parade into Copenhagen. For gamers interested in the mass armour 'car park' games like FoW, the invasion of Denmark offers nothing, however platoon and section level battles using Bolt Action or similar have potential.

20mm Danish infantry in action at Salute 2012

Aside from the historical fighting there are also some interesting hypothetical possibilities which could make it an interesting theatre for gaming from the Danes not surrendering so quickly with the King following General Pryor's recommendation to keep fighting until the British or French could land troops to the German raison d'etre for the invasion (to forestall an Anglo-French invasion which would threaten the northern German border).

Danish infantry April 1940

Operation Black errr... Wednesday?

You may recall that the interweb seemingly thwarted my attempt to pick up a copy of Battlegroup Kursk during Plastic Soldier Company's Black Friday sale. I eventually managed to make contact with Will at PSC through Facebook and he graciously honoured the discount which means a pile of rulebooks and supplements will soon be winging its way to Blease Towers. The only concern is that SWMBO sees the big parcel arrive and assumes it's a Xmas present for her! :-)

Meanwhile in Umbongodwongoland...

Any hope of grabbing some time to paint anything today has evaporated in a lunch hour lost to Survey Monkey and over fifty pie charts! However I have grabbed five minutes to let you know Craig Andrews' has published my short Panzerfäuste scenario in his Advent Calendar which provides rules for the Black Hat Halflings I painted up earlier in the year as colonial troops. The scenario and rules can be found here.

Avanti!

Having had one of "those days" including a business trip to London for a meeting which could have been replaced by a six line email, then Dad's taxi duties to was nice to get home just over an hour ago to find the postman had delivered an early Christmas present just in time for some bedtime reading...

A Desperate Venture...

I have been pondering what to use the Warlord WW2 sprues I picked up in their sale recently and have decided to use the US and German troops for an Operation Torch and beyond project. I have always had a fascination with the Tunisian Campaign and reading the Last War Against The French piqued my interest in the invasion of Algeria and French Morocco.

So this morning has largely comprised of surfing the internet and buying a small library of books from Amazon. I already have some on Tunisia but have decided to fill in the blanks regarding Operation Torch itself.

I'm not planning to get down to this until sometime next year and I would like to source some 28mm French troops but I am looking forward to snipping the bits of plastic off the sprues and slapping some paint on.

A Little Transparency...

Whilst concentrating on matters Victorian my mind does wander and I have been thinking about the growing (unpainted) Judge Dredd collection.

As you will have seen from earlier posts I have based the few miniatures I have painted on industrial bases, having a plan to base some of the miniatures on Cursed Earth bases for games outside the Big Meg. Whilst this would necessitate painting two lots of Judges with different bases I wasn't too fussed as the Kickstarter is providing a lot of Judge miniatures.

However, watching the video for the Battle Systems™ Sci-fi Modular Terrain I was impressed with the clear acrylic bases on the miniatures they used so decided to order some from Fenris along with some more of their excellent cobblestone bases. Unfortunately in my enthusiasm I ordered some 20mm ones not 25mm ones but I quickly stuck Judge Dekker on a clear base and photographed her on a few different terrains.

The photos aren't brilliant and the miniature should be pinned rather than attached with just glue but it shows the potential advantage for multi-environment miniatures like the Judge Dredd ones...

(Victorian Month) The Landlady

Along with Jack, Design 28 Miniatures V6 Jack The Ripper pack contains a man with sandwich bard (no doubt to carry the headlines of the latest murder) and a woman in dress, apron and pistol. I'm not 100% sure what she is supposed to be but I have decided she looks formidable enough to be the landlady of some Whitechapel gin parlour and painted her up appropriately.

Victorian England is not renown for having an exciting palette of coloured clothing and it is even more limiting when it comes to working class characters. Consequently the landlady is painted in a black dress with white apron (slightly grubbied up), I gave her blonde hair for a splash of colour.

On a related note the postie delivered a copy of Donald Thomas' The Victorian Underworld, an interesting looking book about criminal activities in Victorian London and the police response. Should be full of great gang and scenario ideas.

(Victorian Month) The Ripper

Well it wouldn't be a proper Victorian Month without a model of Jack the Ripper would it?

The sourge of Whitechapel here is a Design 28 Miniatures figure from their V6 Jack The Ripper pack. The good news is that the range is available from Black Pyramid here. I will certainly be ordering some more figures soon...

Painting was very straightforward, I decided on a largely sinister black look, highlighting a dark grey drybrush with some buff to provide some contrast. It is worth using buff or sand to lighten grey as it produces a more natural result and is not as stark as if you added white.

I decided to paint the doctor's case brown leather for a bit of contrast.

I am really pleased with the end result, even if painting was quick and easy.

(Victorian Month) Clockwork Robot

Continuing Victorian Month I have now painted up this Clockwork Robot I picked up last year. At 50mm tall, it is certainly quite imposing amongst regular 28mm high miniatures.

The model is one of Reaper's Chronoscope range (50063 Jeeves, Clockwork Robot) and is a wonderfully detailed model which with a bit of care can be bent into a number of poses.

Painting was straightforward, black undercoat, drybrush with some old GW Tin Bitz, then a lighter drybrush with Vallejo Oily Steel. Eyes dotted in with some red. Simple but effective.

(Victorian Month) Gentleman on Steam Powered Penny Farthing

View Halloo!! Victorian Month starts in tip top fashion with this wonderful Gentleman on Steam Powered Penny Farthing.

Great fun to paint, the model is from the Design 28 Lord Fecitt and Hunting Party set and the base from Fenris Games. I understand that Black Pyramid Gaming have taken over Design 28 but can't find any reference to them on their website. I have dropped them an enquiry by email to see if the range is still available.

Work continues apace on more Victorian miniatures...

Fon Female Warriors II (aka Amazons)

Despite the distraction of basing up and undercoating some miniatures yesterday for Victorian Month I did finish half the remaining female Fon warriors from Africa Month.

As previous the miniatures are from Dixon and i used my rough drybrush, wash and highlight technique on them. They won't win any competition prize but they good enough at normal viewing distances.

Hopefully the final eight won't take too long now...

December is... Victorian Month!

After the success of Africa Month I have decided to stay in the nineteenth century and so declare December (with its hot chesnuts and Dickens' stories) to be Victorian Month!

I've primed a couple of sets of the Empire of the Dead figures and have some other ones earmarked for Victorian shenanigans from RAFM, Design 28 and Ironclad now mounted on cobblestone and paved bases. Looking forward to this!

I also have bought the Kindle editions of In Her Majesty's Name and Heroes, Villains and Fiends for a smidgen over a tenner on Amazon so will be giving them a peruse later this afternoon. They should provide inspiration even if I don't use the rules.

In the meantime I will get back to finishing off the final sixteen Fon Amazons for the Dahomey project.