Under the Tree

Firstly, a very Merry Christmas to all readers and commenters on the blog.

(Hmmm... these ornamental Christmas scenes happen to fit nicely with my Little Britons!)

It has been quite a year... and I will do a full review in due course.

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here, with the tree up and the kitchen cupboards full and the fridge and freezer at bursting point.

Under the tree, I have three wargame-related parcels (gifts from me, to me!)...

I just wondered if anyone else does this?

Or... if you have been brave enough to trust others with your Christmas hobby list, what are you expecting (or hoping for) under the tree on Christmas morning?

Whatever the day brings, Merry Christmas, one and all!

Terrain and Buildings

The past couple of weeks, I have been scratch-building some terrain and making adobe buildings for the Kaimenistan expedition.

The hills are made from styrofoam (using a simple styrofoam hot cutter) with some sand and stones for texture, and several layers of emulsion paint from a dark brown to a very light final highlight.

The bits of cork bark were added to MDF bases, tetrioned, and then given the same paint treatment as the hills.

The mountainous peaks were a set of plastic ones made by Kallistra which i picked up at the York show around 5 years ago. They've been waiting to be 'tarted up' since then, and I final got round to it, and painted with the same method as described above.

The buildings are mainly scratchbuilt, very simple. The gatehouse is a Sarissa MDF piece, as are the two towers, and the domed building is one of Renedra's adobe kits. The whole lot was given a simple colour scheme, and it seems to work ok. I left them 'unbased' to give maximum flexibility.

I have still got some extra details to do, such as ladders, pots and jars, and other paraphernalia to give it a 'lived in' look.

Although I had my Back of Beyond project firmly in mind when creating this, the whole set up will, of course, serve for many theatres and periods... I can see my ancient Successor armies fighting over it, for example, and my Colonial troops.

The Renedra building, in a certain light, looks like it is some sort of christmas cake, with an icing covering! Well, it keeps it festive! 

Finally, I added a bit of flock to indicate sparse patches of grass, typical of the region, and the picture shows the British contingent arriving to garrison the town.

And so, the Back of Beyond project moves forward! Next up, some more troops...

Take the High Road?

 Progress with the Back of Beyond project continues, and following the recommendation of one of our commenters, Jonathan Freitag, a couple of posts ago, I ordered the DVD, High Road to China.

An enjoyable couple of hours on Friday evening... ok, it's an 'average' film, but plenty of enjoyable bits for the wargamer, and a few decent battle scenes to get the creative juices flowing.

I'm currently working on some buildings for the project... hopefully something to show before too long.

Did anyone order Chinese?

The build up of forces for the Kaimenistan (pronounced Ky-men-istan) expedition continued this week.

As yet, the composition of the sides is rather shrouded in mystery. The Brits shown last time, of course. But who will they fight? Who will they ally with?

Meanwhile... a Chinese warlord is amassing forces on the border, and threatening to extend his influence west into Kaimenistan. 

So, here is the first unit of Chinese infantry:

These are Copplestone figures. Lovely to paint. And fairly simple... so i was able to speed paint them; Fifty Shades of Brown-y- Grey.

More of these to come.

A couple of Chinese officers also...

I'm also working on a whole load of buildings, and other terrain items too. Inspiration is coming from all angles. Not least frequent visits to the now archived Major General website.

With so many possibilities for this project, it's difficult to keep it in check. I'm already thinking planes, trains, automobiles ... and boats.

Rules will be the popular "Setting the East Ablaze" which have a certain flavour and ethos which fits for me.

So, back to the workbench. Thanks for your interest and comments. 

New Project - Welcome to Kaimenistan

Thanks to all who commented last time, and for some interesting guesswork about what the new project might be...
40K indeed! Lol! 

So, welcome to Kaimenistan (pronounced Ky-men-istan). Somewhere in the Back of Beyond, circa 1920s.

I have long wanted to own a model Rolls Royce Armoured Car, so that's where I began (Empress Miniatures).

Then came a Lanchester Armoured Car (Empress Miniatures) which I painted a slightly different shade of tan/ buff.

For both armoured cars, I added my own 'decals' and also the 'campaign clutter, boxes, tarpaulines etc.

As for the figures... I began with some Sikh infantry, and British officers (Copplestone Castings).

And then, a Naval detachment (Copplestone again).

and Naval Officers... Lt Gieves, Lt Hawkes, and an as yet unnamed character...

Here is the British force so far...

I have enjoyed pottering around with this. Painting units of 10-12 figures certainly makes a change from the larger Horse & Musket battalions I'm used to, so it is satisfying to be able to get something complete in fairly quick time.

The other thing I am noticing about this project is the range of activities involved... not just painting figures, but modelling the armoured cars, and making buildings. I am even contemplating some plastic kits which will really test my skills as I haven't built such things for decades.

More to come soon...

Changing Gear for a Bit

Thanks to all who commented on my previous post... some interesting viewpoints. It's all a question of personal taste, in the end, and no one approach is right or wrong.

Meanwhile...

Over recent days, I have been reflecting on the past six months of painting output...

It began with the Successors project, and after a short interlude in the 18h century with the Oldenburg Regt for the Pils-Holstein collection, continued with the Napoleonics (French in bicornes).

Recently, however, it has started to stall a bit...

Now, there are a couple of reasons for this, perhaps; mitigating circumstances, if you like 

- namely, the recent deterioration of my cancer prognosis (bad news, but them's the breaks, as they say), 

and the recent arrival on the scene of a new relationship (good news).

But, notwithstanding those things, I was also mindful that I'd turned my 'hobby' into a bit of a painting slog... a feeling that has been heightened by the lack of even a feint chance of getting any games just now, and for the foreseeable.
It doesn't take long for us to start asking: So, what's all this painting for?

To the rescue (and they don't know it yet)... the members of the Virtual Wargames Club. 

You see... each week, members send me pictures of what they've been up to hobby-wise, and I have the immense pleasure of preparing the weekly show n tell presentations for our meetings. 

I am constantly amazed and inspired, every week, by the inventiveness and the broad range of periods people play. Most of all, I am buoyed by the level of enjoyment people can derive from even the most modest collections, projects, and games.

This got me thinking...

The upshot is that I decided I needed a new injection of something fresh, alongside the Napoleonics but very different in style and approach, to offset the slog with some escapist fun. After all, it's a hobby. Right?!

I wanted something skirmish-y. But not a traditional skirmish of a few figures per side. Grand skirmish, I suppose you might call it.

I wanted something outside of my normal realm (so not one of the mainstream periods).

I wanted something which would allow my imagination to roam a bit wild.

I wanted something which would allow me to add ad-hoc units as and when I fancied painting them.

I wanted some hardware... not just figures.

In short, something very different than I have done in the past. 

At the same time, Steve, my chief wargaming buddy and confidante, was also having similar thoughts.

And so a fresh project is gestating, and we're almost ready to bring it into the world. 

More news on this soon...

A Question of Style

At a recent meeting of The Virtual Wargaming Club, we discussed style and design. 

The club meetings always have a broad mix of periods and scales, but also a huge variation in styles. The design approaches are indeed eclectic. 

It got me thinking. Many people have a design style that they use for all their wargaming projects. 

Yet, I tend to decide on a 'look', a presentation style, that's particular to each specific project. 

No more is this evident than in the look of the terrain, and in particular the colour of rivers. By way of example, here are a few of my projects to illustrate what I mean.

Now, don't let's get too bogged down in the true 'realistic' colour of water, or how rivers 'should' be presented... (I suppose being 'bogged down' should in fact be reserved for marshes anyway). 

When starting a new project, do you decide on a deliberate 'design style'? 

Or do you just do it in your 'usual way.'? 

Food for thought...