30/10/2024

The rest of the French Napoleonic Line rebased

As previously mentioned I expanded my existing four battalions into five by adding in the extra resin command figures and some left over Grenadiers from their rebasing.
Overall I was short by just two fusilier figures so I added in a couple of 3D printed figures that were a close match and they are shown in this battalion.

25/10/2024

Extra ECW Artillery

A small boost for my English Civil War army is a second gun and crew, all 3D printed and scaled up to 28mm from the masters in 15mm.
For ECW the difference in detail doesn't seem to matter to much.

22/10/2024

La Garde au feu

It has taken some time to get to the point where the rebasing and upgrading of the French Imperial Guard and friends is complete. The figures are a mix of my old hard plastic Springwoods and some newly 3D printed command figures.
The Old Guard Chasseurs
Old Guard grenadiers
3rd "Dutch" Grenadiers
Italian Guard grenadiers (left) and Velite Grenadiers (right)
Saxon and Westphalian Guard Grenadiers
Foot Artillery of the Guard, I bought some files so I could replace the old Italeri figures, even though they had already been rebased.

17/10/2024

Booty from The Other Partisan

Still no inspiration on what to start next but lots of inspiration especially around either Victorian style Jack the Ripper or Sherlock Holmes or possibly Gangs of Rome. My purchases were moderate
The aquisitions and my plans are
  • The Mars Russian Dragoons look good enough to make some Prussian Cuirassiers for 1813
  • The 76mm Putilov will go to my RCW White Russians who are short a few
  • The 100mm M14 was widely used after WW1 by various nations including the Italians and there are lots of possible uses
  • The Latil Field Cars will go to my WW2 French as I have been unable to find any I can 3D print
  • "The Road to Carentan" has some nice scenarios for my US paras and I may try one at the club on Thursday
  • Plus some top up paints

14/10/2024

Trip to "The Other Partisan"

Simon from the club very generously offer to drive us over to Newark for "The Other Partisan" so Andy and myslef joinied him for the trip. It was a great day out and here are the pictures I took

Boondock Sayntes - Tip and Run in East Africa
Derby Wargames - Operation Goodwood
Ficticious AWI battle
Lutzen
Vietnam (in the Lard Zone)
Sharp Practice
Simon Millar - WSS version of King & Parliament
Old Pikeys - Market Garden
Yet more WSS, lots of eye candy
Perry's - Aboukir Bay
The Bodkins - "after Zorndorf" SYW
A few extra pictures from my phone after both my camera batteries died.

03/10/2024

Progress against plan 3Q24

Well on the way to ending the year with 2,226 items completed, however about two thirds of those were reworking/rebasing.

Compared to my much looser plan than usual I have done the following:
  1. Rework/Rebase as many figures as possible - underway but still plenty to do
  2. Enhance/Add some new forces to the collection - still looking, but I've still not seen anything to tempt me into a new period, but tempted by Gangs of Rome or some variant on Wild West gangs.
  3. Maintain or ideally reduce the stash - had another purge on ebay this quarter
  4. Exploit the 3D Printer - Just completed a new print run using 8K resin with very good results for figures. The Creality FDM printer I bought for terrain wouldn't work and neither would its replacement so I'm back considering what to do
  5. Enjoy Games & Shows - underway with plenty of trips. The Other Partizan and Recon are planned.
Amplifying the above:

1. Rework/Rebase as many figures as possible.
  • Start on the Napoleonics (this may take a couple of years to do) - I made a start on the British last year - I've completed the British, Portuguese, Brunswick and Spanish plus my figures for skirmish games. French are now well underway
  • WW2 Winter Russians - Completed
  • Early War German Fallschirmjager - Completed

2. Enhance/Add some new forces to the collection in no particular order
  • 15mm DBA Italian wars army (for the forthcoming inter-club tournament) - bought a Hungarian army but it didn't have all the necessary options, so I sucessfully used some borrowed "Florentines" for the games - This project is now shelved and the Hungarians sold off
  • 28mm Female Gunfighters - not started yet
  • Add a unit of WW2 Japanese SNLF - Completed
  • Extra units for the Crusades - Completed
  • French Dragoons for Egypt 1800 - Completed
  • Modify the SYW Austrian Grenz to use for Prussian Frei Korps - I bought some specific figures and have just printed them
  • Some extra Aztecs for skirmish games - not started yet, but I have trialled a couple of 3D printed figures
  • Various figures and terrain need for Montgisard 1177 - completed and sucessfully ran the game at both Vapnartak and Phalanx, but I now need to think of a new scenario to offer
  • WW2 BEF infantry (I plan to 3D print the extra needed figures, etc.) - I decided that the print files available were not good enough so the project has been shelved.

3. 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 - Sold off my Boxers and Wind & Lion colonials among several others
  • Reduce the stash (figure and plastic bits box) from 4 crates to 3 - Reduced to 3 crates but still more to do
  • review my 1/300 collection and decide its fate - Cleared out all my old WW1 and WW2

4. 3D Printing - the bulk of my immediate needs have been printed so I will work on
  • gradually replace existing diecast and other poor quality AFVs in my collection - slowly underway
  • components for houses and other terrain - not started yet - I was hoping to use the FDM printer for this
  • work on how to make/modify files to meet my specific needs - underway, I've enhanced my 1/80 Waco and I've created a similar bath-tubbed Horsa glider that has printed OK and now been painted
5. Gaming
  • Continue supporting the Beacon Club and attending as many weekend events as possible - underway only two weekends missed so far due to other commitments
  • Attend at least as many shows as last year - The list of shows completed are Vapnartak, Hammerhead, the Easter big game. Now attended Phalanx and Attack this summer.

02/10/2024

On the workbench - October 2024

The year is rushing by and so I plan to work on:
  • Complete the 28mm ECW gun crew I 3D printed now I have also printed a gun
  • A British desert and Russian Model T for WW1
  • Finish the Crusader gun tractors now I have sorted out the markings
  • Rebase the Imperial Guard and other Allied Guards including the newly 3D printed command figures
  • Rebase the remaining French Line Infantry, this will include repainting some Guardsmen and Grenadiers
  • paint the 3D printed Napoleonic Austrian Commanders
  • Maybe restart the 3D Resin Printer using 8K resin to produce some more figures