It's Time to be Merry

If you have been following this blog of mine, my first year has been very quite for me with my hobby. But I would like to thank you for looking in.
Still I hope that next year it will be even better as I do have loads of things to put on here but it’s just getting the time to do these things with normal day to day life.
In the mean time I would like to wish you and your families, where ever you are in the world

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

The end of the year

This is the final list of all the things I have brought over this year for a grand total of £134:10 pence. This is the most that I have splashed out on my hobby over the past five years. Although there are some figures in the pipline from Hat which I want, but they do not seem to be in any hurry for production so I hope to have something to look forward to in 2010.

7 PAINT TINS £7.92p
1 SUPER GLUE £1.00
10 FIGURES (Boxes) £53.13p
2 SHOWS (Entry Fee) £16.00
4 BOOKS/MAGAZINES £42.48p
2 CONTAINERS £3.98p
2 DOORMATS £7.32p
1 COTTON PLEAT 99p
1 PASTRY BRUSH 28p
2 PKS MDF(For Basing) £1.00

The War Game Companion

Published by Ken Trotman Publishing 2008

Pages 86

I have finished reading Charles S Grant’s book, “The War Gaming Companion” and I must say what a great read it was. The book is a sequel to “The War game” which was first published in 1971 and although it is a reprint of this book, there has been some new additions to this book.

This time round the book has unpublished articles, letters and campaign accounts plus a quick gaming set of rules.

I must admit that I thought, like many of the other well known war gamers in this world that Charles would stick to historical battles. But no, Charles first started off with his dad in the American Civil War and then moved off to mid-eighteenth Century where they made fictitious countries, armies and campaigns. The book gives you reports about the counties and some of their battles. Most of the pictures are in black and white but there is a section where we do have some colour plates.

In other sections of the book we have how to make cheap simple terrain for the table and how to start a war game campaign. There are also some Table top teasers for you to try out and how to write your own table top teasers. This is a book that you should not be without.

Progress on Horse Grenadiers

Well I have at last taken up painting again after what seems a very long break.
I am not pleased with myself on the progress on these as they should have been finished ages ago, but I have been going bits and pieces over the last couple of months.

Back in February I started to paint this regiment which I was hoping to finish by Easter. Well by the end of March I had completed the first two batches of horses (16) but I was in a bit of a ponder about the troopers uniform. After quite some time I had made up my mind on how I was going to paint these fine cavalry regiment.

To date I have finished all of the 24 horses and near the end to the first batch of troopers while the second batch is now up and running. I hope now to get these done by Christmas or sooner.

Birthday Boy

I really do feel sorry for my family when it comes to my Birthday and Christmas.
I know what presents I want in the way of boxes of soldiers or books but if I can not find them in model shops and book shops, then what chance have they.
Still I have done very well this year as I took my partner to SELWG just gone and told her what I wanted.
So as you can see I was given this fantastic book called “NAPOLEON” by Matthew Fletcher.
It has a complete set of rules and army list with painting guides for your Napoleonic armies. A wonderful book full of coloured pictures all the way through. A must for Napoleonic fans.
Another book I was given was TOUCHING HISTORY by Paul Darnell. This is Issue 1-terrain and modelling for “the Napoleonic Spanish Peninsular War”. So it’s all about making terrain for your tabletop and boy I can not wait to start on my terrain projects.
Also I was given a nice little one arch resign bridge already painted by Battlezone. I also received some HMV Vouchers and a West ham piggy bank. Thanks to my family.

News from the Front

At last there is good news this week from HAT and that is they are bring out a new Prussian Landwehr and line infantry plus a command set which are all under development.
Although I think that the Airfix 1979 Waterloo Prussian Landwehr set is great, as it was their only real quality figure set. It is a nice change to have a different set on the field after all these years. The masters for the HAT figures look good.
But what has happened to 8174 Brunswick Cavalry since was saw the line drawings in March 2008 and 8197 Prussian Hussars since May 2008? I hope we will see these next year although I still have plenty to paint.

SELWG 09 Report

SELWG is back at Crystal Palace in London and with the entry fee still at £5 it seemed that they had not been away.
Although when I arrived the hall did seem a little empty since the last time I was there in 2007. All of the trade stands were very busy. With my shopping list in my hand I had a quick look around the floors first, but I was unable to pick up any of the Hat
Sets that I wanted. This is now a real problem as I might now have to wait for Salute next year.
The only thing off my shopping list that I brought was the Waterloo 1815 set of Line infantry Officers. For 10 figures the price did seem to be a bit steep at £7 .50 pence but it’s a very nice and crisp set of figures.

On the gaming front there was a great choice of periods but most of these seem to of come from this year’s Salute show? And a lot of WWII stuff.
The best Terrain award, if I could give one, would of gone to the Shepway Gamers for their WWII 20mm game of “The Hockwald Gap” 1945. The battle was against the 4th Canadian Armoured Division and the German 116th Panzer Division. The table layout looked fantastic and all hand made and the figures and tanks looked good. It’s a shame that my picture does not do it justice.

There were two Napoleonic games being played. One was from Too Fat Lardies with the Battle of Aspern-Essling 1809 in 15 mm scale. The other game, which was at Salute this year was also from the Battle of Aspern-Essling. Thunder on the Danube 1809 was from the Maudstone Wargaming Society but in 6 mm scale.

It was nice to be back at SELWG although the crowds were small this year it was great to get to the trade stands and have a decent look at their products. The only place that you could not get to is that famous Bring and Buy stand.

SELWG 09

This Sunday (18th Oct) I will be off to SELWG at Crystal Palace in London and I just can not wait. It has been three years since they last had a show there as it was closed to do improvements to the swimming pools for the 2012 Olympics.

Although I do not have a very big shopping list, I am hopping to pick up the HAT French Pontoon set and the French Light Ambulance set as I have not seen them yet at Modelzone in London. I will give a full report here next week and I will take my camera although getting pictures up on this site at the moment is impossible.

Update on my hobby costs

As you can see from the picture above that I have brought some strange stuff for my wargaming table over the last couple of months.
Firstly I have spent some cash on two doormats. One is a front doormat which will be turned into a wheat field and the second a ribbed mat, which will be turned into a ploughed field or two.
The pastry brush I can use as rushes for my rivers and ponds or for tall grass.
These did not cost much but my spending has slowed down. This is a list of all the things I have brought this year for a grand total of £120.60 pence.

• 7 PAINT TINS £7.92p
• 1 SUPER GLUE £1.00
• 9 FIGURE BOXES £45.63p
• 1 SHOW (Entry Fee) £11.00
• 4 BOOKS/MAGAZINES £42.48p
• 2 CONTAINERS £3.98p
• 2 DOORMATS £7.32p
• 1 COTTON PLEAT 99p
• 1 PASTRY BRUSH 28p

Where has this year gone

Hi All

I can not believe how fast this year is going. But I hope to get something up on here as soon as I can this weekend.
I thought that doing this blog would be easy but with the work load over the last three months and work and at home i.e DIY and gardening is all down to being just too tied to do any of my hobby.
Still I hope to get more done soon so I am sorry for the lack of entries.
Starting to looking forward to SELWG next month after a long absence from Crystal palace.

News from the Front

Great news today as HAT have released their 8103 French Light Ambulance and 8108 French Pontoon sets in the UK, although I have not seen them yet.
These two sets have taken years to produce and to get here, but I think the wait will be worth while.

As we come to the end of May already, my spending has slowed down but I have now spent over £100 so far this year. This is only due to the figures being available now in Model/Toy shops, which seems that I have been waiting ages for. More on this later.

Table Top Teasers Vol 1

Table Top Teasers Vol 1

Published by Battlegames 2008

Pages 76

These Table Top Teasers first appeared in “Battle for Wargamers” in February 1978.
I have played a couple of these at the old CWA on club nights and found them very interesting in the way the outcome was always different. So this book was a must.

I brought this book at Salute 09 for £10 and started to read this once I got the opportunity too do so.
There are 12 Table Top Teasers in this volume and they are mostly written by Charles Grant. The 12 scenarios all come from the Battlegames magazine from the first 12 issues.

The book is full of colour pictures and maps and if you are a solo wargamer then this book is for you, although some of the games can be played with two or more gamers.

Each of the scenarios are well detailed and will take you through step by step on how to set up with figures and scenery and how to play the game with information and maps. There is also a report of the game after each one.

There will be something there for everyone where ever you want a big or small game. This is the first special and I can not wait for volume two.

Painting

Once you have cut off the figure from the spur/frame by a craft knife, clean them up by removing any flash that remains on them from the moulds and then give the figures a good wash is soapy warm water for a few minutes to take any grease off. Once dry you are ready to paint.

I have never given any of my figures an undercoat of paint, although a lot of wargamers do. I think that the paint will still stay on and it will take you even longer to paint your army. But saying that, I do give the flesh parts a splash of undercoat with white, depending on the colour of the plastic.

Acrylic or Enamel Paint
I have been using enamel paints since I have started to paint my Napoleonic armies, which has been for many years and they have always given me great results. Well for me anyway. The main company then back in the old 70’s was Airfix. Now I use either Revell/Humbrol.
But there are some colours that you can not get hold of now in enamels. This is where I have had to turn to Acrylics i.e. for British crimson and violet colours and no doubt there will be many more in the future. Always make sure that you shake the tins well before painting and if need be, use a match stick to stir up the paint at the bottom of an old tin.

Brushes
Painting your little 20mm army means that the paint brushes do not have to be big, so you do not need to go out and buy every size of brush that you can find. If you look around in Stationary shops or craft shops, you can find little bargains here and there.
The only ones that you would actually want is a size 1 to do the main paint jobs like coat, trousers, hats, horses and the stands. To do the finer detail on the figure you will need 5/0 fine line brush. Always remember that after each colour to clean your brushes properly. That way they will last you a little bit longer. If they do start to fray at the tips and you need the point back again, cut the ends off and reshape the tip of the brush.

How to paint your figure
The way that I start my painting is to start from the inside and work outwards. In other words paint the biggest parts of the figure first i.e. coat/jacket then trousers or horse colour. Next step would be for backpacks, knapsacks or saddle cloths.
3rd step all the fiddly things like belts, boots, muskets, straps, hair, coat/saddle trim, hats. 4th step flesh and the last thing the stand.
What I have learnt from painting over the years is to do as much as you want. When you consider that you will be seeing the figure on the table about 3 feet away from you? Do you really need to see his eyes? The other thing is that once you have painted a few regiments, your confidence will improve and you will then want to paint more things on your figures, like buttons and medals for your officers.
Everyone has their own style of painting so do not be put off with your end result with what other people in the Wargaming World do with theirs. After all it is YOUR army so paint them as you see fit. Good luck

News from the Front

Over the last couple of weeks new figures have been hitting our shops.
In February I reported that Italeri was going to make a new set of French Imperial Guard Artillery.
Well the set is out but it is the same set that Esci brought out years ago. This is a great shame as we do need a really good set of these.
Also WATERLOO 1815 (Set 028) have released their Napoleonic Mounted Line Officers set. This set was going to be all English officers mounted but it appears that there are also some French mixed in. This is not a bad thing and I am really thinking about adding this set to my shopping list.
It is now well into April and I am still waiting for the Pontoon set from HAT. The set was supposed to be in the shops at the start of the year.

On the painting of the Horse Grenadiers work has stopped on these as I have not been able to pick up my brush for a while now. This means that I am now well behind with my painting schedule for this year as now the warmer months are near and the garden now needs attention.

How Much do we spend on our hobby?

Well this year has really been good to me as I have found a good supply in Norwich and now with Modelzone in London, Holborn have re-stocked their Hat figures. This has enabled me to find the figures that I have longed for on my shopping list.
As we entry the fourth month of April 2009 here is what I have spent on my hobby so far

• PAINT TINS 4 £4.35
• SUPER GLUE 1 £1.00
• FIGURES (Boxes) 8 £40.18
• SHOWS (Entry Fees) 1 £11.00
• BOOKS/MAGS 2 £32.50
• CONTAINERS 1 £1.99

TOTAL £91.02p

Although I have spent quite a bit now, over the next few months it will be just Paints, as I have enough figures to keep me busy. I have over 40 boxes yet to paint.

On that note my painting has not been doing too well as I have hardly had time to continue with the Horse Grenadiers. I have to date, two lots of horses painted and nearly the first batch of troopers. I hope to get them finished by the end of Easter.

Salute Show

With the new DLR extension from Woolwich, means that I can now get from my front door to Excel in an hour. This is great news.
Salute 09 was the best show that I have been to so far in the last three years that I have been going to, but the only thing that was a let down was the entry fee of £11 although the goody bag that you get when you walk in had a fantastic model from Black Scorpion of a Zulu War diorama and the usual six sided dice plus the official guide to the show.
The crowds were slow to start with but by noon the hall was buzzing.
No credit crunch here today as people handed over large amounts of cash. The thing that really caught my eye was the fact that there were a lot of company’s making 28mm scale figures, with the likes of Perry miniatures, Front Rank and Victrix and a few others all dappling with this scale. Even Hat are having a go.
For me I will stick with 20mm as I do not have the cash or space for the new scale.
The games where ever demonstration or participation, tended to be WWI or WWII but there were a couple of Napoleonic games going on.
So what did I buy? Well with my pockets full of pennies not a lot. I did find a couple of stalls selling the Hat figures but none that was on my list although I did buy a box of Prussian foot artillery.

I found the two books that I wanted. Battlegames, “Table Top Teasers Vol 1” and Charles S Grant, “Wargame Companion”. I have had a quick flick through both of them and they both seem to be worth the money.

A couple of days after Salute 09 I went to Norwich where I had found a toy shop that actually sold Hat figures. There I brought my second box of Hat Nassau Infantry and two boxes of Hat Middle Guard.
Back to work and in Modelzone Holborn, London had the biggest delivery of Hat figures for a long while. There I brought another box of Middle Guard, which I will paint up as Line Grenadiers and my Second box of KGL Dragoons.

After the Salute show and seeing people in Modelzone picking up boxes of figures, I wonder how much do we spend on our hobby. I have over the last few years been keeping a book on how much and I must say that most goes on Paint and brushes.
I will let you know how much so far this year next time.

Progress on Horse Grenadiers

Well I have neary finished the second batch of horses and the troopers are getting there.
There seems to be a problem with downloading the pictures to the blog at the moment.
So once I can do that, you will be able to see the progress on this regiment.

Not long to Saulte 09 now and I am really, really looking forward to this as we are only a few days away now. My shopping list is getting longer but the new pontoon set from Hat, looks like they will not be there in time for the show.

Update on the Horse Grenadiers

Hi All,

I am still doing DIY at home and have not done much in the way of painting over the past month. Although I have finished the first batch of eight horses and I have nearly finished the second batch. The first batch of troopers are going well but not fast enough.

I did try to take some pictures over the weekend but with black horses they did not come out too well, so I will try to get some up here by the end to the week.

SALUTE ZERO NINE

Well it's March already and this is one of my favourite months for me as it's not long now to SALUTE 09.The date 28th March 10 am-5 pm.

I have been to the pass two years at the Excel Centre in London and I must say what a show it is. This year the entry fee has gone up to £11 (Under 11's Free) In the goodie bag, that you get each year, (For the first 4,000 people) is a fine collectors set of the Zulu Warrior and British Rifleman in combat by Black Scorpion.

I hope to spend all of my pennys that I have saved up as there are a lot of new figures out there to buy. I will let you know what I brought.

Update on the Horse Grenadiers

After doing a lot of DIY at home, I thought that I will keep you up to date with the painting of the regiment.

The first batch of 8 horses are nearly done and I am happy with the result so far. As soon as they are finished I will post some pictures.

I have also started on the first batch of troopers. Although they do not have the correct uniform for Waterloo, I think that they will still look good on the table once finished.

1st Tirallieurs, Young Guard

Here you are, the very first pictures of the unit. The Young Guard are taking up position may be to take on the Prussians.

Although the pictures are not all that great with my digital camera,

I will try to do some more hopefully with better results.

These figures are from HAT and they are very easy to paint as there is not that much detail on them.

More New Sets

HAT have announced that they are to bring out two more Napoleonic sets. They are

• Prussian Infantry
• Prussian Landwehr

Although production has started on these sets, we will not know for a while when they will be released. It has been a long time coming for new Prussian sets.

The Infantry have only been through REVELL back in 1996 and although they have released them again this year, the price for these are about £1.50 more than their other sets.

The Landwehr first came from AIRFIX back in 1979. I brought three boxes of these back then and although I had one nick from the clubs break-in years ago now, I still have two left. One I have already painted and the next box will be used sometime this year.

Also ITALERI are to bring out two sets this year. They are the French Imperial Guard Artillery and Scottish Infantry. Some say that they are re-boxed sets from the old ESCI sets.

This could be another good year for Napoleonic sets.

Young Guard finished

Last night I completed the rest of the Tirallieurs Young Guard and now have a regiment of 45 figures. I will take some photos of these at the weekend.
That is also the amount of figures painted to date for this year.

As you know I am next going to paint the French Horse Grenadiers and I am nearly half way through the first batch of 8 horses.
I will also start to paint the first patch of 8 troopers and it has been another re-think on how I am going to paint these up. After reading up on this regiment, there seems to be many variations on uniform matter. Still as long as am happy with the final result.

Latest News from HAT

Good news from one of my favourite companies in plastic figures,
is that there are some new sets in production from HAT.

From their 8000 Series 1/72 Napoleonics they are making

• Prussian Limbers/Caissons and Wagons


• Brunswick Infantry


• Austrian Wagons


• Austrian Horse Artillery

I am certainly looking forward to the Prussian and Brunswick sets, which are much needed for my Waterloo campaign.

Next Regiment to paint

Hi All

I have nearly finished my second unit of Young Guard and I have started to think about my next regiment to paint.
Keeping with the French side, I have decided to paint the

Grenadiers-a-Cheval or Horse Grenadiers.
The figures that I will be painting are from the Hat collection
set number 8013. Although there are just 12 troopers and their mounts, I intend to paint two boxes for my unit.
So with 24 figures to paint, I will do them in batches of eight.
Although this box does not have the correct uniform for Waterloo
they will do for me.

Welcome to my Blog

January has already been and gone, so at last I have managed to get round to starting up this blog.
With my wargaming blog I hope to share the pain and joy of wargaming.How I am getting on with my Napoleonic army and to post some pictures as we go.
I have been wargaming for quite a few years now and too many to number. But since 2005 I picked up my old paint brushes and started to get back into my hobby.
In the first year I did well in getting 123 figures painted, but since then the number completed had fallen when last year I only painted 17 figures. This was a complete regiment of the 1st Life Guards troopers and their mounts.
So this year I got myself together and am really starting this year 2009, off to a really good start.
This Month, January, I have painted 35 figures of the next regiment which is the 1st Tirallieurs of Napoleons young guard 1815.
I have just 10 more to do to complete this regiment.
I hope to post pictures of them here soon.