Onwards!

  Hello all, at this time of the year a lot of us bloggerists like to look back and review the whosums and whatnots they have completed or been a part of during the last 12 months. I would also do this but the past year was a bit of a bust hobby wise. It started ok, with pike and spud making an early appearance.

The pike (the beginning of a 15mm Italian wars project...more on this in a mo...)

And the spuds (the first part of a still in progress Turnip28 project).

   I then spent February piddling about with some tiny blocks of bumpkins:

 Some 2mm test bases for a fantasy pike and shot faff or other (note I did get 2 armies done but didn't blog about them).

 And then...

  That was about it until December, where I rebased one of the few finished units I actually completed in the year:

 New pikes, same minis, different bases.

 Ho and indeed hum. The year was not exactly a vintage one for blogging, real life well and truly got in the way and that's understating it quite a bit. However behind the scenes I have been more productive than it would seem. I have painted 2 full 2mm forces, a few 10mm forces to go along with them (2mm for mass actions and 10mm for skirmishes). I have all but finished my force for Turnip28 and built and undercoated a few more, I have also painted 2 small sci fi forces in 15mm scale for me and Sprinkling 3:the revenge to game with... I just didn't take pictures and was not in the sort of head space to want to write about it. I realise this sounds a bit like the school kid who really does have a girlfriend in a different town but can't offer any proof but I have been painting just to keep a grip on myself, the hobby time really has been a lifesaver this year.

  

  So that's the year that was ( that can well and truly get in the effin' sea), what's next year going to look like?

 Honestly? No flippin' clue but below is a list of projects that 1) I would like to at least do something towards, 2) will help my butterfly brain keep some kind of focus and D) be entertaining to read... possibly.

- I would like to keep on going with my 15mm Italian wars project. I almost have my 2nd pike block finished (swiss this time). I plan to paint small detachments for each force, maybe a pike block, shot unit, some artillery or cavalry etc that can be fielded together in whichever way I fancy ( such as the shifting alliances were during the period).  I intend this to be a slow burn project I can dip into as I reckon painting all those pike may well send me doolally if I do too many at a time!.

 (At least I've coloured mine in!)

- Finish my Turnip28 force and paint up the rest I have built and get them on the table.

 It's a great looking set of rules, and one I'm itching to get to grips with. Again I will probably dip in and out but hope to get enough done to get some games in by the end of the year.

- Crack on with more of my 2mm/10mm olde albilande bits so I can finally get some campaigns in my home brew setting done.

- I got given a copy of Xenos Rampant for Christmas which should be perfect for me and Sprinkling 3: the revenge to finally get some games in, this has school holiday project written all over it.

- The other rule book I got this year was the fun looking 

 A simple looking game for campaigning walking dead style ( groups of survivors competing over dwindling resources during a zombie apocalypse). This could be a great intro for the other folk in the house, I have ordered some red box 1/72 minis so we can build our own groups and use some of the boys toys for terrain into the bargain. Again this probably will be during the school hols.

 

These two boxes should let us build plenty of forces.

- Remake my paint set. Some of you may recall I made my own Paint set a few years ago. Well after quite some time I think I can do even better so plan to get a bit mad scientist and make a new one. This time tweeking the consistency of the paint and using a triad (base/shade/ highlight) system for each each colour or shade thereof a la Wargames foundry.

I have already ordered the dropper bottles I will need and have started to eye Mrs Sprinks paints with menaces.

 That should give me plenty to be getting on with, I'm probably missing something and will undoubtedly get distracted by umpteen new shiny things as the year progresses but you know what they say about the best laid plans...

  ...'till next time...

...

Holiday hobby haul

  Hello all, I hope you are having a restful and pleasant holiday period so far. I don't normally do this kind of post but this year the big red bearded sack lugger out did himself, as the picture below will attest:

 Lots of great stuff! Yay!. 2 Osprey books covering major battles of the Italian wars period (Pavia and Fornovo) which sorts out my holiday reading and should help with next year's hobby plans ( more of this soon) and a couple of rule books for possible games with the Sprinklings in Last Days by Ash Barker, which is a zombie apocalypse survival game (providing rules for creating your own groups of survivors and playing campaigns raiding each others territory and avoiding zombie hoards) and the latest in the rampant series, this time a sci fi themed set. This will be great for sprinkling 3: the revenge as we painted up a couple of forces together last summer but have yet to do much with them so this will provide a nice simple set to game with. Also my sister gave us a Diplomatico rum gift set. Which is nice.

 Oh and in case your wondering

  Yes I did get some novelty underwear!..

     ...'till next time...

Pike, one block of

  Hello all, long time no blog and all that (6 months, bloody Nora!). I couldn't let the end of the year  pass by without putting digit to screen. I've not been completely bone idle hobby wise this whole time, I will try to do a 'what I've painted while I've been away' post before the end of the year but I had some precious minutes of daylight this afternoon so had to get some snaps of my latest 'throwpaintatsomethingandhopeforthebest' effort while I had the chance.

  I was recently looking at my half finished (and in some cases half started) bits a week or so ago and came across my 15mm Italian wars stuff. I had previously painted a single pike block for it about half a lifetime ago ( well January) you can see it's original form over here. It struck me that it needed longer pikes, it was too small and needed rebasing for the rules I intend to use it for. 

 So now after rearming, reinforcing and rebasing it looks like this:

 Sorry about the dim pictures, the light was rapidly buggering off. I'm really pleased with the way they have turned out, so much so I may even paint another one!. The pikes were originally dress making pins which were 1) too small to read as pikes at 15mm scale and C) bloody deadly to anyone that tried to handle them. I saw this post and after the great brush hunt (otherwise known as a trip to Wickes) I promptly nicked all his ideas. I think it looks more like the period length of pike (3-7 meters apparently) and they are far kinder on the fingers, they even ping back into shape if knocked which is a plus. Anyway 

 To the lot of you, I hope you and yours have a great festive period and with a bit of luck I will post again within the next 6 months!...

...'till next time...

'Quick, he's broken cover!'

    Long time no type!. Its been ages, blogging has taken a back seat the last few months as has hobby stuff in general. I feel it necessary to apologise for the lack of engagement over this time with all the blogs i follow, i have not been commenting as i normally would, ive been reading them and they have been as enjoyable as always. The reason i have not been active can be found over on my new blog over here. Nothing gaming related but it will go some way towards explaining my absence since Feb.  Hopefully normal service will resume soon. Heres something to keep you busy while you endure another wait.

                                                                      and why not?!.

...'till next time...

An experimental 2mm session

  I managed to sit down for an hour or so this luncheon (choice of word Sprinks, choice of word) And paint the 2mm minis I based up in my last post. 

The start of the all new Royal Crivinshire army.

A couple of irregular foot regiments ( in the setting a collective of troops raised/press ganged into service by the same patron are called a regiment regardless of size)

.

A regiment of common horse.

And finally the collected power of the Crivinshire nobility (some of whom I definitely did not accidentally glue onto the base backwards).

  The bases are ment to be drab but look far more washed out in the pictures than they do in the flesh. I have tried to give the impression of the ground being churned up where the troops have marched ( or clippity-clopped) over it but I'm not sure how well this worked. 

  Right, now to order two armies worth of 2mm stuff!...

...'till next time...

The cutting of the corners

   Hobby time has been rarer than purple hydra droppings of late, I have however managed to grab a quick half hour to conduct a little experiment.

 First I think a small sprinkle from the shower hose of context may be in order. As all three of my regular readers will know I do like to bodge together my own settings in which to game. One such setting that I keep returning to is that of Olde Albilande. Now I may not have been able to physically hobby lately but the tiny squishy pile of biological matter I call my brain has not been idle oh no, it's returned to this festering isle with some quaint remodeling and ideas for campaigns yet to be played. Now this is a good thing (to me at least) but would require a bucket load of painting to be done. The thing that has always hobbled my plans to make this kind of thing a reality is the volume of miniatures needed. In my normal choice of miniature scale that is...

  But there exists a scale where painting up an army or two in a matter of days is very achievable, a scale in which I have dipped enough toes to have a decent working knowledge of just how wet with possibilities it is. I speak of course of 2mm, where all men are modelled equally (tiny) and impressionism is everything!. My arrival at this decision went like this:

 Brain (B):dooldalbilande,dooldalbilande,dooldalbilande,dooldal...etc

Me: Eh, sorry I wasn't listening.

B: you never do, that's why your life is such an utter pile o...

Me: Shut up or I'll start drinking again, see how you do with even less cells.

B: Bloody charming!. That's why I never talk to you anymore.

Me: did you want something?.

B:Yeah actually, I was saying dooldalbilande,dooldalbilande,dooldalbilande,dooldal...

Me: This again?, Look I can't be bothered to paint 4 whole forces just to play a campaign.

B: 6 forces.

Me: what?

B: 6 forces, I made some changes.

Me: well definitely not then, think on you useless  squidgy tosser!.

B: You never do what I want.

Me: that's because all your ideas are mental, listen to me: I DO NOT WANT TO PAINT FIFTY BASQUILLION MINIS!.

B: You don't  have to I have a good idea.

Me: For once.

B: Piss off, no you can do each army in 1:1 scale in no time.

Me: Have you been drinking?.

B: No just listen for once. What about 2mm?. You can paint loads of them.

Me: You may have a point there... I'll alert the media.

B: oh do fuck off, it's a good idea though isn't it?.

Me: maybe...

And on it went. I did however have some reservations. I can do lots of pretty cheap forces in no time but if I'm doing this I'm doing it in 1:1 scale and I'm taking time to do it to the best of my abilities (which isn't saying much!). 

  I went looking for inspiration and stumbled upon this post on the rather good Roundwood's world about modeling and painting some thirty years war forces. Now this approach to creating bases in 2mm really caught my interest. So the above experiment happened:

Some bases in the Roundwood style. They are ment to be from Old Albilandes early pike and shot period (about 1570 in our time, sort of after the Italian wars but before the Thirty years war)

Two infantry units, a mix of pike and handguns. The first has pike blocks between ranks of shot with two small 'folorn hope' units out front (in Albilande these units are normally made up of the least popular handgunners). The second is more of a loose formation with shot out front and on the wings. 

A unit of 100 Knights (the nobles still insist on charging about on horseback like it's the thirteenth century or something)

  A unit of  reiters in three ranks ready to unload a barrel of caracole on someone.

 I snapped these while the glue was still wet but hope to get them painted up soon. I'm pretty happy with them so far, I think a table full of these could look rather great so long as I manage to paint them effectively. The idea is to do the required forces in this scale to game some big battles then maybe do smaller forces in 10mm (or maybe even 15mm) for in between battle skirmishers.  Well that's the plan anyway...

...'till next time...

Ramble ahoy

   A bit like everyone in January I have been spending time polishing off leftovers. Not just the last few mince pies, chocs and cans of grown up fizzy stuff but also a project I started BLOODY MONTHS AGO!, namely these:

They are a block of 15mm pikemen from venexia intended to be used as test pieces for a possible Italian wars project. I have painted them as Papal troops and have used some of the excellent banners from petes flags. 

 The reasons I abandoned the project in the first place were many, mostly a mix of frustration with the sculpts (soft details and the fact it's a bugger to try to line up a pike in both hands at the same time), the number of miniatures required to make the unit (44,  but a pike block needs heft), my butterfly brain wanting to do several other bits. Now I've been thinking about this while finishing the unit off and I think I know what the root of these issues was. 

  I think it's my own perceived lack of skill when it comes to painting. When I look at the photos the models are perfectly serviceable as gaming pieces. They look fine. Not spectacular, not likely to turn any heads but I'm pleased enough with the finished result. They are, to coin a well worn phrase 'table top standard'. And you know what? I'm happy with that. I got annoyed enough to put the miniatures away half painted because I wanted to achieve a level of painting I can't realistically do especially when batch painting 40+ models. What I should do is stop expecting perfection and instead enjoy the painting process for what it is.

I also painted some Landsknecht shot.

  When you really dig into it there are two major points that back this up.

1) Most people's hobby time is taken up with painting if they want to play games with fully painted forces. This means (to me anyway) that it is important to appreciate and enjoy the act of pressure free painting as it will be taking up most of my relaxation time.

2) I reckon a high percentage of miniatures fielded on the tabletop across the world are what their owners would consider 'table top standard'. I think this is because people mostly have limited painting time, abilities that are always improving and the fact that unless you are playing games with a low model count you really don't have the chance to do your best work on every mini you take a brush to.

 So I think we should do more to take the pressure of ourselves and eachother when it comes to perceived standard of painting. The brilliantly painted models we see all over the web and in many miniature publications are used because they are really nice examples, often by pros, they are not even close to the average. It's great to have these to aspire to but we must keep in mind that we don't have to match them.

  What I think I'm driving at is that you can easily put yourself off of painting by putting too much pressure on yourself to achieve unrealistic standards. Painting is a skill that takes time to learn, you need to pat yourself on the back for each project finished not beat yourself up for mistakes you make. I'm going into 2022 with a no pressure approach to my hobbying and am determined to get better at enjoying every part of it.

Ramble over...

...'till next time...

Grimdark potato men of the apocalypse

  My last post was in October. This will not do.

  I included the above as my hobby activity tailed off rather dramatically at the end of last year. The whole year, well specifically from may onwards was what can only really be described as shite, a bag of to be precise.

That's the one.

  It began with Sprinkling 2: son of Sprinks tourettes symptoms going utterly Tonto overnight, cue one manic phonecall from her indoors and a mad rush home to help and the tone for the rest of the year (and as it seems the foreseeable) was set. Dealing with the emotional fall out, the British medical system, the schooling system and working full time has rather taken a toll on the family that has made toy bothering rather less of a priority. However...

  It is also a very welcome distraction in all this and I haven't been totally away from the brushes. I have been daubing around the periphery of a 10mm ancient British force as well as trying to pluck up the motivation to start my 10mm halfling drug cartel for fantastic battles (it's a good idea, honest!). But recently my head has been very much turned in a more... vegetably direction:

 It's a game of Napoleonic post apocalyptic warfare on a proper grimdark setting...with vegetables. If that doesn't hook you nothing will!. You can download the rules for free here (Turnip28 rulebook). And I encourage you to do so. The game has a very small model count and troops are made by kitbashing any bits you fancy up to and including from the Napoleonic period. Crossed with veg. (Read the rules, it makes sense honest).

 I ordered a few sprues from the bay of E and set to knocking up a few bits and bobs:

 The first members of the 14th East Splaffington irregulars, aka the Spud-U-likes.

  I took my inspiration from the idea of seed potato roots sprouting from my troopers, hence the thick 'eyes' on them.

A unit of Brutes, big, dumb close combat thugs, as in the setting everything is run down and broken I decided they would fix melee weapons to old muskets with rope and roots, however being a bit slow they would just bung another layer on when things got loose hence the 'birds nest' type fixings.

  A force is led by a toff and his toadies, above are my toadies all riddled with roots and mucked up good.

I have gotten rather into this so have two more units ready for priming. More of these soon.

Anyway that's all there is to report for the moment, hopefully this year will see a bit more hobby activity but my breath is yet to be held!.

...'till next time...