Devizes Attack Show Haul

 I went to the Attack Show in Devizes yesterday with my gaming friend Speckled Jim. It was quite fun, but no impressive demo games to marvel at unfortunately. 

I did spend too much money though...

A big bag of Redoubt ECW castings from Grubby Tanks. Some musket rests from Warlord, bases from Products for Wargamers, brass pikes, heads and a rather nice roadside shrine from Bicorne, and a bundle of Melniboneans from a trader called Tom ( I don't know his business name). 

And it's raining here in North Somerset at last..... Hooray!

WHAT'S GOING ON?

 Just a roundup of things that have been happening.

It was Colours at Newbury Racecourse yesterday, and I took Broadsword Miniatures  to add to the Oakbound Studio stand. 

Geoff busy with a customer.

I had my best day trading ever, mainly thanks to Martin Hackett ( author of the old Fantasy Wargaming book) buying a large goblin army, so thanks Martin.

It was very hot, but not as bad as I feared, and we were quite close to an open door on the first floor of Newbury Racecourse stand, so got the odd gentle zephyr to cool as down.

I managed to get away to do a bit of shopping.

From top left... some spears and a horse from Gripping Beast for a Bretonnia project. Box of flock and 6 bramble patches from The Last Valley, an old Osprey book with some lovely colour plates of jousting knights, 2 packs of Colonel Bill's ECW vignettes to paint for sale, 3 figures from a rummage box and some Wraiths from Crooked Dice.

So not too excessive. I left a bit earlier than Geoff to get home for my oldest son's 21st gift giving. It's his birthday on Monday but he has to be back at camp , so we shifted things forward a bit.

What better gift to give a Light Dragoon trooper, than a 1796 Light cavalry sabre?

Finally , I've added a few more painted groups to the Broadsword Miniatures page.

RIP Ian Heath

 I was sad to hear about the death of Ian Heath today. I can't claim to have ever met him , of even know what he looked like, but his WRG books were and still are absolutely seminal wargaming works. As a youth ( with spare time) I would spend hours poring over the illustrations and descriptions of armour and battles.

And here is the late Mr. Heath, picture posted by The Perry's.

SPOONFEEDING RANT

 I don't think I've ever ranted on this blog, but I'm of an age it's considered acceptable, or even expected. So here goes...

I've recently joined a few historical wargaming Facebook groups, mainly to find out what's going on and to look at other people's Italian Wars armies. This was about a week ago, and in that time I've seen several posts along the lines of "I'm new to the period...what figures do I need and how should I paint my army". 

FFS, go out and do a bit of research! You don't even have to spend any money as it's all online,  but you could even buy a book or two, and read them.

Back in my day ( I've always wanted to use that phrase) we had George Gush's Renaissance Armies and an Osprey book and that was about it other than the library ( do they still exist?), but now everything you could possibly need is available at the click of a button and still these people need to be told what to do.

Even on fantasy FB groups, I see similar questions. USE YOUR IMAGINATION.

It seems to be a general trend as well. Every day now at work I get the phrase "what should I plant in my garden?" Countered by "What do you like?" The response being invariably "I don't know."

Would these people go into Sainsbury's and ask "What shall I have for dinner?". Only a matter of time until that happens.

Gaahhh.

SOME PAINTING

 One of the issues I've struggled with in the past few years is having too many projects on the go and not enough time. When I do get the chance to do any hobby stuff, I'm overwhelmed by the list of things I'd like to get on with, so usually end up not  doing anything at all. Added to which my painting room is so untidy and disorganized, I find it a bit depressing to be in sometimes. A good hour long tidy up uses up valuable painting time, and invariably the room reverts to chaos again very quickly.

However, I'm often inspired by other bloggers, not least Secundus at IRON MITTEN blog. This guy always has several inspiring projects on the go at once, remembers to take pictures of work in progress and posts regularly. Well worth a look if by chance you haven't seen it.

I'm going to try and take a leaf out of his book and post figures even before they are finished and more general hobby stuff. 

I grabbed the nearest lithic from the foothills of the lead mountain, which turned out to be some primed minis I prepared last year for part of my Robin of Sherwood project. I've been painting for a few years to build this collection up , but never posted any of them...that is going to change and I'll hopefully show what I've done so far over the next few weeks.

These minis are going to represent Owen of Club and his hairy rabble.

They appear in the first two episodes ( Herne's Son parts one and two) of series 3 of Robin of Sherwood, and are kitted up for battle towards the end of part two 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qnyVAUOI6kQ&t=2782s

from around 44.50

 Standard 80's  barbarian attire, rags, fur, studded leather and backbrushed mullets, as seen in Highlander and Braveheart. Owen himself is played by the lupine Oliver Cotton, shown here surrounded by Sherwood outlaws.

Happily , there was a figure available of Owen. I can't remember the name of the manufacturer ( Loaded Gun Miniatures?) and I snapped him up. I added a shield and a proper Roman groin protector/cingulum as the original mini was lacking a proper one. Owen and his nobles wear a sort of leather lorica segmentata and plaid to distinguish themselves from the grunts so I made a few up using Warlord legionary sprues and Gripping Beast Viking parts, with green stuff fur here and there. The circular chestplates are 15mm shields. Green stuff fur was then added.

The grunts were constructed either using the plastic sprues mentioned, or were Scythians? from Black Tree, which happily were clad in fur and had bowl like helmets just like Owen's men. Shields from EM4 match the cowhide shields or targets used. More green stuff fur was added.

Work in progress. Lots of dull muddy colours drybrushed cream. They will then be washed with Agrax Earthshade.

More to come soon hopefully. In the meantime a shot of the painting table in all its unholy chaos.

and the foothills of the lead mountain are creeping ever closer.

A NEW VENTURE - BROADSWORD MINIATURES (Hinchliffe Fantasy Range)

 Recently I had the opportunity to purchase the rights and existing moulds to a classic old school fantasy range, The Hinchliffe FA range designed in 1979 by Peter Gilder, a demi-god of wargaming in the 70's and 80's. Needless to say I jumped at the chance to get this fun and quirky range back into production and the existing moulds and master figures duly arrived at Broadsword Towers.

Currently about a third of the 100 figure range have usable moulds and I plan to get these into production as soon as possible. The remaining codes in the range should fit onto 3 more moulds which will be produced when funds allow.

Some of the weird and wonderful old school characters which will 

be re-released in the future.

For a look at the full range check Lost minis Wiki

HERE

I have teamed up with the excellent Geoff Solomon-Sims of Oakbound Studio and we have clubbed together to buy a spin casting machine which we are collecting in a week or so. After that I should be taking orders for the first re-releases. Initially orders will be through the blog here (I'll post contact details at the appropriate time), but will hopefully soon be on the Oakbound site.

There is a new page on this blog to showcase the figures (visible on the web version only for some reason),so do check that via the tab at the top of the page. In the future it will be regularly updated with pictures of the Hinchliffe fantasy range and, hopefully soon, bespoke Broadsword Miniatures.

I'm really excited to be getting this classic range back into production and maybe contributing a bit to this great hobby of ours.

An Anti-Paladin in hospital

 Some time ago I acquired a large lot of old Citadel figures, some of which had the dreaded leadrot. The seller wasn't a mini collector and I got them at s good price so I didn't make a fuss. They languished a few months on my desk looking folorn until this morning when they were sent to a spa bath of Mineral oil and pure Turpentine. Here they are recuperating before being undercoated. The mix of oil and turps had a very distinctive smell which instantly reminded me of going brass rubbing as a child.

CHEERIO TERRY.... AND THANKS.

I had to post briefly about the sad death of my favourite Python, Terry Jones

Hilarious chap and brilliant medieval historian and of course screenwriter of Labyrinth. Obviously there are the well known Monty Python sketches which spring to mind, but for me the scene that captured his humour and medieval interest was from his TV series Crusades, in which he attempts to interview the descendant of a goose which led one of the pilgrimages to the Holy Land. RIP Mr. Jones.  

TWO COOL CARDS

Yes gentle reader, your host enters his 51st year today with some trepidation and puzzlement to where the last 25 years went. My 2 youngest sons each made me a Fantasy related card, first some Wheelies by Arthur from The Citadel of Chaos ( we have just backed the Kickstarter to get figures of these).

Secondly by George is a picture of Brag from The Trigan Empire. We are all huge fans in our house and are delighted to hear that the stories are going to be reprinted next year. Phrases from the one book we have already are frequently bandied around.  Such as "silence his lying tongue", " throw him to the nobras" and " cease your idle chatter" ( my favourite).

I'll post pictures of my gift when I've made it.

WISTMAN'S WOOD

Managed to get back to one of my favourite places yesterday, WISTMAN'S WOOD on Dartmoor. Last time I was there was 20 years ago.  I took a few pictures for terrain reference.

NEW STUFF ON EBAY

Greetings everyone.hope you are all having a good Christmas. I've just listed a heap of stuff on ebay if you would care to look...trying to finance a new 54mm project 1/32 Pacific War.

Hope to be back soon.

REST IN PEACE - JOE DEVER

I've not had much time to do anything over the past couple on months, let alone work our what blogger have done with my dashboard, but I've just heard the very sad news that Joe Dever has died. Mr. Dever's fantasy battles inspired me to get into fantasy wargaming more than any thing else, and I still very much hope to get my copies of his games finished in the near future. I had a feeling that he might be ill as his periodic appearance in Wargames Illustrated showed that he had lost a lot of weight and was not looking too good.

I am really quite gutted by his death, and offer my sympathies and prayers to his family and friends.

Thanks for the inspiration Joe.

MERRY CROM-MAS FROM THE FROST GIANT JARL

I didn't have time to paint a Christmas figure this year, so had to plunder one from the collection. This great old Ral Partha figure is a giant in my Warmaster Chaos Marauder army where he towers pleasingly over the 10mm warriors.  I've got a few more of this chap waiting to be painted for my Pre-Hammer armies.

Wishing you a Splendid Winter Solstice

and a Merry Christmas

DRAGON RAMPANT

I have high hopes for these rules which arrived today

I've only had time to look at the pictures, and the bespoke artwork is excellent (I won't show any here as a spoiler to those of you planning to get a copy), but  it gets off to a good start with the frontispiece picture

Some Minifigs Valley of the Four Winds Orcs!!

1978 figures in a 2015 rulebook....huzzah!!

BATHING HOBGOBLINS

I've been a bit busy to post recently, but thought I would show a WIP on the Thistlewood front. Below are the remaining figures to finish - 20 elves (there are 40 here for future LOTR games) and the villagers. (plus a couple of vintage trolls which sneaked into the picture)

I recently bought a pile of 80 Minifigs hobgoblins (for my future re-creations of some of Joe Dever's early fantasy battles) which were encrusted in gloopy paint. I haven't had much luck with the Dettol procedure, finding the paint gets even more tacky and tar like as I curse and am overcome by the toxic fumes. I thought I would try immersing the first 10 of these chaps in a jam jar bath of Mr Muscle oven cleaner. In 2 days the paint just dissolved and the figures looked almost as good as new....huzzah! 

Before and after

BTW, I saw some late 70's fantasy figures on ebay, described as "Bronze Age" meaning 1975-1980ish..... does anyone else know about this categorization?

Finally a shot of my lamentably untidy painting desk. Bottom right is a Hinchliffe catapult to be an extra for the King's army.

CAVERN CRAWL

I've  been looking covetously at Dwarven Forge cavern systems recently, and come to the conclusion there is no way I can afford them, so will probably have to make my own (although I might treat myself to a stalagmite set). Back when I used to play D + D on a regular basis, I always used to enjoy mapping out cavern systems for players to explore, with fiendish monsters lurking in pools or behind rock formations, but it wasn't until I actually started caving for real that I realised just  how unrealistic role-playing caves are.

About 20 years ago I used to go caving once a week in the Mendip Hills, not far from where I live and poked about in a number of different caves, all of which would present some challenges to an armoured adventuring party

Birthday Squeeze in Swildon's Hole . Note the caver has had to remove the one piece of equipment he is carrying (his lamp battery) so he can get through to the next part of the cave.

(Image from Dudley Caving Club's blog)

The traverse at Eastwater Cavern, a smooth surface, but at a 40' angle ready to slide you down into a crevice

(Image from WAYA blog)

The Drainpipe in Goatchurch Cavern (wiggly)

(image from Pinterest)

Swildon's Hole sump 1. A short underwater passage, adventurers would need to hold their breath for 30 seconds

(pic from Carbis Bay Crew blog)

These are some of the more extreme passages (not the most extreme, it has to be said), and there are areas where one can walk upright, and indeed large and wonderful caverns

The Throne Room in Stoke Lane Slocker (I never did this challenging cave!)

(Image from Dudley Caving Club's blog again)

 but they are all connected by tortuous narrow passageways involving crawling or wriggling, with no level floors and plenty of piles of boulders to clamber over.... which would make for an exciting (and literal) Dungeon/Cavern crawl.

The point of this rambling is that I am getting a real itch to get back underground. I chucked my kneepads and helmet away when we moved house  6 years ago, but I am getting a whispering in my head to lure me back down below...............

Entrance to Swildon's Hole 

one of the fascinating things for me is that an innocuous little hole like this can lead to over 9000 metres of cave passageway, 167 metres deep.... but could you get down with plate armour and a 10' pole?

TRADING POST ESTABLISHED

Having finished painting 400+ 54mm English Civil War Figures for a school project

I am cranking up the Fantasy engine again and hope very soon to get stuck into some Oldhammer, Prehammer and Skinthammer projects. I have far too may figures to deal with, but there are a few more that I reeeeeaaaaalllly need (there is always room for a few more figures). Click on the link at the top right of the page to be transported to Windy Jape's Liquor Emporium (or in fact to see a list of the few rarities I am seeking). I hope to get around to putting photos of the boxes of surplus stuff I have to trade with in the very near future.

FRAGILE LIFE

I've just read this post  over at Mark Hides blog which sums up pretty much how I feel all the time. Mr Hides is of a similar age to myself (47) and has captures that past-mid-life spectre that is hovering over all of us...the old enemy Time chipping away as our measured span. One of the many things on my 'must do and see before I cark it' is now beyond reach with the sad death of YES bassist and co-founder Chris Squire at the age of 67.  I'm not sure when I was going to see YES , but I had a vague idea I would in the next couple of years.

Inevitably with the constant feeling of a limited life span, time seems to pass even quicker and I have a Damoclean sword continually hanging over me about all the gaming projects I want to complete but know I never will ( as well as important stuff to worry about like bringing the kids up, keeping the Mrs. in her usual good mood etc.). Faced with a bloody mountain of figures it all seems rather futile. I am currently ploughing through several hundred 54mm Toy Soldier style ECW figures to help with a school project next year, but once they are finished I hope to fling myself back into Fantasy stuff, with Oldhammer, Prehammer and Skinthammer projects brewing (or rather looming).

How I feel most of the time.

 (This picture, along with the rest of the gatefold pics in my brother's copy of the Yes album Fragile, used to fascinate me. In fact I think it's safe to say poring over the Roger Dean illustrations and designs aged about 8, had a lot to do with my future Fantasy leanings)

In the meantime I'll be raising a glass To The Heart of the Sunrise and drinking to Chis Squires memory and musical legacy.

A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU (IF YOU HAVE BEEN BEHAVING)

A tale my father used to tell me was of a mountaineering aquaintance who was hiking in the Alps, presumably in the late 1940's at the same time my Dad was hiking about Europe. This intrepid fellow was making his way along a lonely snow covered track one Christmas eve , when he heard galloping hooves behind him. On turning he could see nothing, so continued on his way, no doubt eager to get to the nearest gasthof for a glüwein and germknodel .Cocking an ear he heard the hoofbeats again getting nearer but still no sign of any animal coming along the track, hurrying on, the traveller was just coming to the village when the hoof beats sounded loud behind him...now severely frightened he took to his heels, and felt a mighty blow on his back as the galloping sound passed over him and continues toward the village, yet no sign of any beast was there. Stumbling to the inn, he managed to find a bed for the night, but in the morning, upon examining the back of his jacket he finds a cloven hoof mark burned into the fabric.......

Perhaps it was this chap Krampus, my Christmas figure for this year. I have just finished painting him, and after a few day of grotty behaviour from the 3 boys, I can sympathise with this tradition which you can read about here . A nice figure from Reaper, complete with birch twigs for swatting naughty children and washtub to carry them off to Hell.

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS. I'm painting a lot of 54mm toy soldiers at the moment, primarily for a project at my oldest son's school next year (they are studying The Battle of Lansdown), but after that I hope to get back painting some Prehammer toys. In the meantime here is an old Christmas figure which didn't feature on this blog, an early 80's freebie from Citadel

WHITE DWARF WISDOM issue # 30

The fantasy gaming boat is being re-floated in my world as I start to paint some non-glossy figures again (for really old school shinyness see my Conan blog ) as well as running a new dungeon for my 2 older sons to explore. I say new, new to them, the excellent The Licheway from White Dwarf 10 (so far the attrition rate is high with a dead thief and druid littering the corridors).

A bonus of pulling out the old WD's is the chance to scan over the letters pages and chortle at the arguments that seemed so important then. Of course it's easy to look back and laugh with hindsight and I mean no disrespect to the author of this letter from White Dwarf 30 from April/May 1982

Dear WD

could you please not start up a department devoted to micro-computers without even taking an opinion poll because I am sure the majority of White Dwarf readers do not possess micro-computers.

For instance no-one in our D&D group of about 5 people has the slightest inclination to buy a micro-computer for seventy pounds which is practically useless unless you buy extra 'chips' to increase its performance and price. 

Personally, I think a department on the subject would be a waste of space and money. I hope others feel the same.

R J Leedham

well Mr. Leedham, they certainly do (or did). I had no interest in computers back then and rapidly got bored with the family ZX Spectrum, an antipathy which has lasted into middle age. Still it has to be said Mr Leedham was a little off the mark.