07/02/2025
Napoleonic Spanish round hat brigade completed
05/02/2025
Vapnartak 2025
The first game gets underway. Just behind us was the Omaha beach game, whch was equally popular. As well as the game being busy, the society stand also did well so it was after 2pm before I had chance to look around the rest of the show
Hornblower v's Barbary pirates Yarkshire Gamers Italian Wars battle of Forli An Eagle of the Ninth game So an enjoyable couple of days away, Hammerhead is next at the beginning of March
31/01/2025
On the workbench - February 2025
So I'm working on:-
- Plastic 28mm Female Gunfighters -just needing a final wash and then basing
- Some Lord of the Ring style figures - slowly getting painted
- Robert Marion, The Swamp Fox - just need a bit more attention
- The test Aztecs - base colours applied - no progress
- Lettow Vorbek and askari command stand - almost complete
- Napoleonic Spanish round hat infantry - three units completed and two awaiting basing
- Three units of Napoleonic Imperial Guard skirmishers to replace some old HaT plastics
- Four units of Italian line infantry and one of skirmishers
30/01/2025
Some more Napoleonic cavalry rebased
29/01/2025
Napoleonic Spanish round hat infantry
17/01/2025
Napoleonic Prussian Kuirassiers 1813-14
15/01/2025
Napoleonic Spanish Maniobrera Horse Artillery
14/01/2025
Napoleonic Russian Artillery
05/01/2025
On the workbench - January 2025
- Plastic 28mm Female Gunfighters - now assembled and base coated
- Two units of Napoleonic Prussian Cuirassiers - after some trouble they now have swords added, and the horses are painted
- A single crew of the Spanish Brigade Maniobrera Horse Artillery - now underway and two crews instead of one
- Some Lord of the Ring style figures - now base coated
- Robert Marion, The Swamp Fox - base coated
- An extra Napoleonic Russian gun crew - well underway
- The test Aztecs - base colours applied
- Lettow Vorbek and askari command stand - underway
- and then.. start work on Napoleonic Spanish round hat infantry
04/01/2025
Plan for 2025
So this year I will be working on the following broad themes:
- Enhance existing armies
- 3D printing terrain (FDM)
- 3D printing vehicles and figures (resin)
- Continue to clear out all unwanted items, including painted figures
- Enjoy Games & Shows
1. Enhance existing armies - already planned are
- Continue rebasing the French Napoleonics
- then I will start on the Austrians
- 28mm Female Gunfighters
- 5 units of Napoleonic Spanish round hat infantry (1 of which will be skirmishers)
- 4 units of Napoleonic Italian line infantry
- 3 units of Napoleonic Young Guard skirmishers
- WSS Danish Cuirassiers
- Hanoverian limbers for the SYW
- Some Spanish medievals for the El Cid period
- plus the figures listed below to be 3D printed
2. 3D Printing Terrain (FDM)
- Test printing a Horsa using FDM
- Vietnamese hooches
- Western European buildings
- Spanish/Mediterrainean buildings
- New bridges (all eras)
3. 3D Printing Vehicles & Figures (Resin)
- Napoleonic Saxon and Westphalian Infantry
- Napoleonic Russian Artillery & Gunners
- Napoleonic Polish Lancers, French Guard Horse Grenadiers and Chasseurs a Cheval
- WW2 Russian paratroops
- Gradually replace existing diecast and other poor quality AFVs in my collection
- Working on more figures with the Resin printer using the more robust resin I have found
- Re-assess each existing period, army, and units to consider if I am really going to use them
- Maintain stash (figure and plastic bits box) at 3 crates and hopefully reduce the numbers
- Consider the future for my 1st version Springwood figures as I have the capability to replace them with more compatible figures to the 2nd edition
5. Gaming
- Continue supporting the Beacon Club and attending as many weekend events as possible
- Try to attend the same number of shows as last year
03/01/2025
Review of 2024 - part 2 - painting breakdown
Period |
|
Notes |
Napoleonic |
2,370 |
Completed rebasing the British, Portuguese Spanish and Brunswick armies. The French and Allied rebasing is well underway about 70% complete and unlike the British I have also replaced some whole units with 3D printed ones. Finally I skipped ahead and replaced my Austrian Commanders and also my Russian limbers. |
WW2 |
339 |
Heavily dominated by painting loads of figures and vehicles I have 3D printed in particular the Horsa Gliders, and Renault/Opel buses. I also rebased/reworked my Russian winter infantry and my Japanese SNLF. |
Medieval |
238 |
Mainly taken up with painting Saracens plus a few Crusader figures for the Mongisard game. Plus rebasing a couple of units of English archers |
ACW |
56 |
Rebasing Indians and some mountain men for use with Rebels and Patriots and ACW wagons |
SYW |
37 |
Prussian light troops all 3D printed |
Revolutionary Wars |
24 |
French and British dragoons for Egypt 1800 |
Terrain |
9 |
Extra terrain needed for the Montgisard game - bedouin tents, stream fords and n oasis |
WW1 |
8 |
A couple of Model T Fords, replacement hulls for my Lanchester armoured cars and Russian Putilov field guns |
Renaissance |
2 |
A gun and crew for the ECW all 3D printed |
Grand Total |
3,084 |
|
Type |
|
Notes |
Rebase/Rework |
2,187 |
Mainly Napoleonic British, French and allies but also Medieval, ACW and WW2 |
Infantry |
494 |
Again mainly Napoleonic British, French and allies, various WW2 to make up units, Saracen Infantry and Prussian Light Troops. |
Cavalry |
138 |
Saracen cavalry and French and British dragoons for Egypt |
Gunners |
67 |
Napoleonic British, Portuguese, Spanish and French Old Guard foot artillery. WW2 Russian gunners and an ECW artillery crew |
Commanders |
20 |
All Napoleonic, British, Austrian, Brunswick, Bavarian and Wurttemberg |
Riders |
34 |
Napoleonic Russian limber riders, WW2 French vehicle drivers and WW2 Russian limber drivers. |
Limbers |
31 |
Replacement Napoleonic Russian limbers were 3D printed and paired up with existing limber teams. A few extra Napoleonic British limbers, Limbers for my Spanish again 3D printed and finally 3D printed WW2 Russian Limbers |
Horses |
20 |
Oxen for Napoleonic Spanish limbers and horses for WW2 Russian Panje wagons, all 3D printed |
Vehicles |
18 |
A variety of buses, US 6x6 beeps, schwimmwagens, French light cars and a couple of Model T Fords, all 3D printed, except a pair of Latils |
Tanks/AFVs |
17 |
All 3D resin printed; US M8 scotts, British Light Reconnaissance Cars and Crusader gun tractors German SWS with wurfrahmen and then Staghound, Daimler and Lanchester hulls to replace some which were being to explode. |
Artillery |
16 |
Gribeuval Guns for my Napoleonic Spanish to replace the British ones I had been using, WW1 Putilov field guns WW2 Russian 152mm guns and a tst print of a WW2 British 5.5in gun |
Buildings, etc. |
8 |
Bedouin tents and stream fords |
Other Items |
7 |
Loads for WW2 Russian Panje Wagons and combat cameramen |
Aircraft |
4 |
Horsa gliders
|
Engineers |
3 |
British Napoleonic Sappers
|
Equipment |
1 |
An extra WW2 Russian Mortar for winter |
Grand Total |
3,084 |
|
Finally a big thanks you to all those who commented on my blog through the year, your comments help to keep me motivated.
02/01/2025
Review of 2024 - part 1 - progress against plan
Compared to my much looser plan than usual I have done the following:
- Rework/Rebase as many figures as possible - good progress for this year, but still plenty to do
- Enhance/Add some new forces to the collection - I ended, as I began, with no clear idea of what to start next, but tempted by several skirmish level games in 28mm.
- Maintain or ideally reduce the stash - had several purges on ebay, but missed out on a final purge for this year because of family issues, But the size of stash rose from 3,760 to 4,132 as I have printed a lot of Napoleonics for painting shortly
- Exploit the 3D Printer - Very happy with my final run of the year using solvent based 8K resin for figures, I'll certainly do more next year. The Creality FDM printer I bought for terrain wouldn't work and neither would its replacement and I subsequently received an Elegoo Neptune for Christmas which works so terrain will be in the plan for next year
- Enjoy Games & Shows - I think I completed an almost full schedule of visits to plenty of shows.
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 substantially completed
- 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 completed them along with some Jagers
- 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 - Although I successfully reduced to 3 crates but there is still more to do particularly as the number of items in the stash rose from 3,760 to 4,132 as I have printed a lot of Napoleonics for painting shortly
- 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 - some progress - but more to do
- components for houses and other terrain - not started yet - I was hoping to use the FDM printer for this - so this will be in my plans for 2025
- work on how to make/modify files to meet my specific needs - Quite happy with my skills to modify files, 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, plus verious figure conversions
- Continue supporting the Beacon Club and attending as many weekend events as possible - Completed - only two weekends missed 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, Phalanx, Attack, Other Partisan, Reveille and Recon.