Progress against plan 2026 - Q3 review

Well the second half of the year didn't start well and I have had various problems interupting the flow of painted figures. So my progress was only 732 items completed, whcih fells like an improvement on the first half's performance until you take account the quantity of rebasing. Breakdown of progress so far:

1. Reworking my Napoleonic Russian Army - underway
2. Enhance existing armies- underway
3. 3D printing terrain (FDM) - started, but lots of learning to consider, I will use the FDM printer again now the colder weather has arrived
4. 3D printing vehicles and figures (resin) - Both runs of the year completed
5. Continue to clear out all unwanted items, including painted figures - Good progress up until Q2 but stagnated after
6. Enjoy Games & Shows- OK so far ignoring the food poisoning at Attack

Amplifying the above:

1. Reworking my Napoleonic Russian Army

• Rebase existing Russian Line Cavalry - completed
• Decide whether to replace or rebase existing Cossacks - tested rebasing and decided to stay for now with existing cossacks
• 3D print Infantry to replace Version 1 Springwood Infantry - all now printed
• Rebase Version 2 Springwood Infantry, plus new 3D printed officers, etc. - completed
• Decide how to replace existing Militia (HaT) - decided to sell and have sold them, I have printed some extra infantry to replace them

2. Enhance existing armies - already planned are

• Napoleonic Saxons/Westphalians when I can find suitable STL files - still have not found suitable files
• 28mm Wild West terrain including a mine (non MDF) - completed
• Some more 28mm Gunfighters including some Indians- have printed mounted Mexicans and a stagecoach
• 28mm Gangs of Rome figures.- not started
• Some Spanish medieval infantry for the El Cid period - completed apart from some crossbowmen
• 3 units of Almoravid Heavy Cavalry - completed
• 3 units of SYW British Infantry - completed
• 4 units of WSS Spanish (Walloon?) Infantry - not started
• 3 units of WSS French Cavalry- completed as Walloon cavalry and painted another 4 French units I acquired
• Legion Nautique for the French in Egypt 1800 - printed I now need to paint
• Hanoverian limbers for the SYW - completed
• a couple of units for the SYW - I decided on Hessians and have completed them.
• Assemble and paint Wild West buildings received at Xmas - I have assembled and painted them apart from some signage. I have also added some purchased buildings and have started to paint them.
• Support the stash reduction by painting useable items - started

2. 3D Printing Terrain (FDM)

• Test printing a Horsa using FDM- conducted a digital test and decided it was feasible
• Vietnamese hooches - Completed
• Western European buildings - not convinced by the files I have
• Spanish/Mediterrainean buildings - not convinced by the files I have
• New bridges - not started

3. 3D Printing Vehicles & Figures (Resin) - in the summer

• Napoleonic Saxon and Westphalian Infantry - not found suitable files yet
• Napoleonic Russian Infantry - Completed - all printed
• Maybe Napoleonic Russian Cossacks? - not needed
• Gradually replace existing diecast and other poor quality AFVs in my collection - slowly clearing them out, quite a number went when I sold my winter troops

4. Continue to clear out all unwanted items, including painted figures

• Re-assess each existing period, army, and units to consider if I am really going to use them - cleared out my winter terrain, various naval projects and my 15mm West Germans
• Sell the identified surplus, probably on ebay - sold quite a lot now, but need to keep on selling
• Review stash (figure and plastic bits box) aiming to reduce from 3 to 2 crates by painting or selling the excess - no progress yet
• Identify replacement STL files for my 1st version Springwood Prussian figures for 2027 - not convinced by the files I have found so far

5. Gaming

• Continue supporting the Beacon Club and attending as many weekend events as possible - OK so far
• Try to attend the same number of shows as last year - Only Attack in Devizes over the summer, the number of shows are definately decreasing.

On the workbench - October 2026

So my problems have continued, after more tests they have found out that I have Osteoporosis, so yet more tests, etc. Also we having been sorting out the house ready to sell. The net result is that painting is well behind schedule. However I have exploited the recent warm period to get some more resin 3D printing done.

Looking ahead I have family commitments so I done expect to get much finished, but I hope to work on:

• Paint the wild west buildings acquired at Games Expo - I have only painted the clapboard so far
• Russian Pavlov Grenadiers - a single new unit to to complete my grenadier brigade - this has been started
• A pair of German Jagdpanthers - just base coated and stowage added
• Replacement hulls for some Japanese tanks that exploded - again base coated, but having trouble matching the previous colours I used
• Russian Gaz bus - base coated
• Then work on 4 units of Spanish Infantry for the WSS

Sounds plenty in my current situation

WSS French Cavalry - a bit late but...

They missed the month end deadline due to other commitments, but here are my War of Spanish Succession French Cavalry made used the Strelets figures with the same name. Rather than building a historical formation I just picked some units that had nice uniforms.

Regiments Aubusson front and Montberon behind

Regiments Royal Allemand front and Nugent (Irish) behind

Napoleonic Russian Infantry - the work starts

First off for my Napoleonic Russian army upgrade, reworking and rebasing my second generation Springwoods. I 3D printed suitably sized command teams from Kojak (link). This produced four guards battalions and three grenadier battalions.

The Guards two battalions each from the Semenovski and Ismailovski Regiments

Close up of the new command figures

The Grenadiers one battalion from each of the Tauride, Ekaterinoslav and St Petersburg Grenadier Regiments

I found this useful reference for the Grenadiers

On the Workbench - September 2026

Well it's been an evenful period since I have last had to consider what's on my workbench and at least I feal like I am on the recovery path. So looking at what's in the stash and what I've worked on (or not) since June. here is my rough plan:

• 4 more units of WSS French cavalry - horses are painted. (from my latest purchases)
• Paint the wild west buildings acquired at Games Expo - these are undercoated
• Russian Napoleonic Guards and Grenadiers - these are underway, a mix of rebasing and new command figures
• Russian Pavlov Grenadiers - a single new unit to to complete my grenadier brigade
• A pair of German Jagdpanthers
• Replacement hulls for some Japanese tanks that exploded
• Russian Gaz bus
• Then maybe work on the Spanish Infantry for the WSS

A few pictures from Attack

Attack is always a good local show with a good cross section of traders, which always makes it well worth visiting when I am in the area to visit family. It also is useful to meet up with old friends and catch up on the gaming scene in the South West.

Only a few games caught my eye.

Hastings played with "On Bloody Ground"

Nice to see a Rapid Fire game - Operation Varsity - I've still not played this scenario

Battle of Ethandun or Edington 878 AD

English siege of Ile de Re 1627 skirmish game

Lovely French & Indian Wars

South East Asia Jungle Huts

Hurrah, it seems a long time since I started painting these jungle huts, but at last they are finished and I'll be using them for my WW2 and Vietnam games. They are all 3D printed and the basis was a set of excellent files provided for free on Thingiverse by Rubicon (link). All I needed to do was scale them for 1/72.