Completed Challenge and a bit of SciFi history

Again, using the same link as above, you will see that I have completed the challenge and posted the pictures as proof. These SciFi figures were bought on E-Bay from what appears to be a small unlisted company but are quite nice little figures. A few months ago I had an idea of resurrecting my SciFi RPG system that was written way back in the 80’s with a friend, John Priest, which we named StarQuest.

Now this chap is quite a character. When I met him he was a occasional member of the Circle Battle Group in that his work took him away a lot of the time. He was a Special Effects fellow who did some work on the film Labyrinth, having a hand in making the little fairies that Hoggle swats and also worked on the small wall based worm character.

So I bought a few figures online but am still looking for generic RPG-type SciFi figures rather than the omnipresent chaps in battle armour and festooned with all manner of nasty weapons. That project is still bubbling away.

Anyway, not only have I finished the figure, I thought that, in line with the rest of the world, I would make a charitable donation. I chose the Combat Stress Appeal Charity championed by Henry Hyde as the recipient. They can be found at http://www.combatstress.org.uk/ .

MickS.

Wargamers equivalent to the Ice Bucket Challenge.

If you go to Wargames Directory Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/groups/373015629496598/?ref=ts&fref=ts

you will notice that I have been challenged by Richard Watts aka 'Eccles' on the WD3 forum to paint a single figure, any scale, any period, and post a pic on the page by Friday 12th August. Now as you are probably aware, akin to many other wargamers I have a lead mountain -nothing new there- but do you think I could think of one single figure to paint that was not part of an army? So, earlier today I had a quick rummage, dismissing 6mm as too small, 10mm as I have no single figures waiting for paint, no 25/28 to speak of so that only left one scale 15mm. then I remembered I had ordered some 15mm Sci Fi figures for a yet-to-start RPG campaign that I co-wrote -along with a friend named John Priest- back in the 80's and have never got round to playing. So now I have a 15mm Sci Fi figure prepped and ready to go once the undercoat has dried. There will be pics on the above page when I have finished the little chap.

MickS.

Latest Additions and some thoughts...

I am still plugging away with my Mongols Project and as you can see by the latest chart below, the numbers are increasing all the time. The new order from Irregular arrived a few days ago so another unit of LC for the 2nd tuman and another of Chinese MI Spear will soon be added to the list. I also sent to Pendraken for a bag of their Arab infantry to go with the Khrazmians whom as you can see are still sadly lacking in infantry and unfortunately, I can't use anything as a substitute. I reckon it's about time I had another go with my rules to see how they are working...and of course to jog my memory on how to use them. 

The latest batch of articles are almost ready for Henry, I am just letting them sit for a week before I proof-read them prior to e-mailing. I also have to take some pictures but the lighting set-up in Narnia is not quite of photographic quality so I will have to work out something there. I have three angle-poise desk lights so at some stage they might be called into service.

Nationality	Manufacturer	Troop Type	Units Infantry	Units Cavalry	Figs Infantry	Figs Cavalry
Mongol	Irregular	EHC Keshik		1		21
	Irregular	MC/HC		3		72
	Irregular	LC		11		135
	Pendraken	MC/HC		1		21
	Pendraken	LC		1		12
	Command				1	13
		Total		17	1	274
Chinese	Irregular	HC		1		21
	Irregular	LC		3		36
	Irregular	HI	2		84
	Irregular	M/LI (X Bow)	4		114
	Irregular	M/LI (Bow)	3		60
	Irregular	MI (Spear)	2		66
	Irregular	Rocket	1
	Command				8
		Total	12	4	332	57
Khwarezmia	Irregular	HC		3		63
	Irregular	LC		3		36
	Irregular	MI	1		30
	Command
		Total	1	6	30	99
Poland	Pendraken	HC		4		80
	Pendraken	MI levy	2		60
	Pendraken	LI X Bow	1		21
	Pendraken	Inf Peasants	1		38
	Pendraken	LI Bow	3		64
		Total	7	4	183	80
		Grand Totals	20	31	546	510

Another thing I have been toying with is Russians in 10mm for the Mongol Project. To my knowledge no single manufacturer makes them so it would be a matter of mix and match existing ranges.

Some of the Irregular Arab cavalry (TC3) from the Medieval Range have the conical style of helmet which I have already used for the Khwarizmians and would be useful for boyars and some druzhina while TC22 and TC23 can be used for the lower classes of cavalry. For variety some of the earlier Dark Ages Range TDA10, 11 and 12 are also reasonably compatible even if the kite shields are a bit too long. For infantry, TC24 with the different shaped shields would make reasonably well kitted out town or city levy with some TDA1, 2, 3, 4 and 9 infantry mixed in. Again, the kite shield is a little long but hey. Any kind of generic peasant spear/axemen would do for the LI contingent.

Using Pendraken figures, EMM2 cavalry is useful but not overly so, personally, I would only use a few as the little chaps do not have helmets. EMM4 infantry are good –I have loads of these in the Polish Army- along with the command EMM3. The Saxon Range AS1 – 6 are useful and can mix well. In fact I have mixed both Irregular and Pendraken in the same units to give more variety and so far so good.

MickS.

More Updates.

 

    The first two articles of Series Three for Henry are finished, just need proofing before sending and the painting is coming along as well. The last 17 Mongols are finished and the lot are based and packed away with their fellows but...while I was basing I found that I had a standard bearer over. So you know what this means? Correct, another order to Irregular for 10 Mongol LC –I already have an officer figure lying about- and that will be a sixth mingghan for the second tümen. Also, I have painted another Chinese unit, this time of infantry spearmen and the bases are drying as I write. But again, I have found that I have 23 remaining spearmen. So, when the order for the Mongols goes in I will have to add another 7 spearmen to the list. Checking the numbers (including the new figures) I will have a the following totals to paint; 90 Chinese infantry, 12 cavalry and two rockets all of which are from Irregular plus 67 Polish infantry,15 cavalry plus 30 Mongol peasants and 45 Mongol cavalry from Pendraken. Couple of weeks work should see them off. Hah!

   So while I am painting stuff for the Mongol project my mind is wandering. I have realised that the tinterweb is a double edged sword in that it’s great for basic research but the stuff is at your fingertips...literally. I’ve been looking at WWI in the east, Zulu Colonial (I blame the current repeat of the excellent Shaka series for that one) and also a solo WWII Campaign.

Now bear with me because there is a logical train of thought for the last. Several weeks ago, we went camping in Sussex. On the way back we went a different way and drove through Tenterden and that area. This got me thinking. Some of the buildings were old when Charles I was a runtling so they won’t have changed much. Loads of variety even for home made 6mm buildings, with the bonus that I can make it look like the real thing –even down to the terrain. This gave me the idea of a What If? campaign set in late 1944 or early 1945 after D-Day failed and the Germans invaded England via Kent. Not long after I was perusing through the local Works shop in town and found a modern reprint of the 1920’s equivalent OS Landranger map in 1:50,000 scale of the area around Maidstone and Royal Tunbridge Wells. Excellent! I have a German SS Division at 1:5 which works out at 15 Panthers and 30 Mk IV’s plus Recce, AA, SP Art etc now all I need is an Allied army because I have a few Shermans from my far eastern Americans (unfinished), some lorries and ½ tracks but that’s it. More Shermans, Fireflys et al will be required to see this project get off the drawing board. Keeping my eyes open at any show Bring & Buys.

Another option for a campaign is based on the old WRG Game-in-a-Bag, The Empire of the Steppes, well, using the map anyway. So I got it copied (for my own use so I don’t ruin the real one) and marked it up with the right states and countries...and that’s as far as that one has got as well.

This is the problem of a solo wargamer. Focus. To my mind it’s just a word that I use but don’t necessarily follow. This is why the Butterfly Effect is prevalent as I flit from one idea to another. Most of them will probably never happen but...

Keep painting,

MickS.

Potential fame (and hopefully fortune but I doubt it) beckon.

Well, not long I had an electronic conversation with Henry Hyde at MWBG magazine and he said he would be quite happy to have some more articles on the exploits of the Mongols, so there is a result. Who knows, today MWBG, tomorrow...probably carry on with everyday life. So now although I am furiously scribbling away, you will be pleased to know, I am getting back into the painting thing. It's taking a lot of time to find bits and pieces that I need following the re-vamping of Narnia but I'm slowly getting there. Finished off another 7 Irregular 10mm Mongols of the 2nd tumen last nght and undercoated the remaining 17 meaning that once they are done all of my Irregular Mongols are painted, Wahoo! This will give me a total of 259 Irregular Mongol cavalry figures. After that I can carry on with -in no particular order- the outstanding Chinese units that I have found, the remaining Polish and the Pendraken Mongols of my 3rd tumen.
  I am starting to get back into the one hour of painting a day syndrome although it was a bit tricky what with the World Cup and all, but now the  matches are few and far between I can carry on. Also, a really big bonus, I finally managed to find my painting radio, so now I can listen to the football while I paint and then just watch the late evening highlights. Result! 

Wives are a Godsend...sometimes

Now you may not know this, but I have a man cave which is known by the family as Narnia because they have to go through the coats to get down the stairs...clever ennit? When we moved here in February last year all my stuff came down the stairs and was stacked or shelved anyhow. To give you an example: I have five shop-bought bookcases which I naturally assumed were fine for my books. Put them together, set them up against the wall and found they were only good enough for paperbacks! So my main collection was lying flat on the shelves making it an absolute bu**er to find anything. There were boxes everywhere and it was almost an assault course to get to my computer and painting tables. Plus it was damp because the bloke before had filled in the cellar window with dirt so there was no through draft to keep it dry. It's has been on the to-do list since last summer.
    Three weeks ago I was given an almost brand-new piece of carpet plus underlay that would fit, a new double-glazed window and my mate over the road gave me a 20l tub of white satin finish paint. None of this was lost on Ma Subs!
   Last Thursday I had to go to a specialist docs about the old ticker which was shown in a previous x-ray to be a bit bigger than it should be. So, with no small amount of trepidation, off I went to the vets for an ultrasound scan thing. Shouldn't have worried, the very nice lady said that apparently x-rays are notorious for enlarging things...no, don't even go there!...and that there was absotively nothing wrong with the old ticker. So there I am at a bus stop after just seeing mine disappear around the corner and I do the decent thing and clock in to give Ma Subs an update. Everything was going swimmingly before she says 'By the way, you are starting on Narnia when you get back  and we are all helping.' When she says 'we' she means our lad, my mate and his missus and her good self. What a bombshell! Now she knows -bless her heart- that I need a kick up the jacksy to get started on a project of this decorating magnitude: so I got one. Despite my weak and insincere protestations we got going and now it is nice and airy now the dirt from the basement window opening has been shifted (a mare of a job), painted, carpeted, shelved and even better, I have a large enough space in the middle for my wargames table. Result! The amount of cr*p that has been binned is amazing as I have been ruthlessly downsizing. When it's done I'll put up a couple of pics, (I forget to do the 'before' bit so you'll have to use your minds eye to visualize that state it was in before...and believe me, you won't even get close.)

...So that's why it's been quiet...

The second article about Leignitz of the second series of my Mongols in Europe has been published in this months Miniature Wargames/Battleground so I am quietly chuffed. That nice Mr Henry Hyde has used some of my pics as well. I have some ideas for a third series but I'll have to run them by him first.

Happy painting,

MickS.

Just a Quickie.

Just to let you know I am still around although the painting has dropped off a bit due to me trying to get more of my book written. During April I did no painting at all and so far this month I have finished off another cavalry unit -the Hospitallers, Basorya and Jastrzębiec clan plus nearly all of the first unit of lower-end-of-the-scale levy which are mostly unarmoured and unshielded. Once they are finished I will only have two infantry levy units to go...plus of course a general figure (forgot about him) and that will be the whole lot done.
 
Going to the Sittingbourne show tomorrow week to see what's about and have a goss with some people I knew from back in the day at Southend..

More 10mm buildings for Eastern Europe

I wasn't overly satisfied with the basing of the church in the last post so I decided to rebase it. Trying to keep everything in multiples of 60 x 40, the church was put on a 120 x 80 so as to be the focal point of the village.
The walls around the church yard were made from balsa strip and had the tops rounded over slightly to remove the block effect. The tree is one I had made from the debacle with clump foliage.
   Since then I have made another 3 1/2 buildings, all on their own little bases -either 60 x 40 or 80 x 60.
   The roofs are all made from scored cereal packet card and the same effect was used on the walls of the barn. The bases have had the edges Dremeled to give them an uneven chamfer. The walls of the other two buildings are made from cocktail sticks/toothpicks cut to size. To make them look authentic the logs should really alternate on the ends but I couldn't be ar*sed to do all of that, which is why only the sides project beyond the walls. The widow and door frames are made from strips of card cut to size. All of the fences have been made by splitting toothpicks lengthwise and gluing them down with the flat side against the uprights -made from pieces of coffee stirrer. The corn field is made from a piece of Poundland self adhesive carpet covered in watered-down PVA.
   On the base with the cut planks I have made a pit saw out of cut down toothpick and a piece of paper with serrations cut into it. Unfortunately, making the pit would have been a problem so I left it out.

Now I have the makings of a village that will work for most periods from Medieval right up to Modern (including 10mm WW 1 Eastern Front using Pendraken figures which I have decided could well be my next project). The rules I am not too sure about so I might end up writing my own.)

By the way, inspiration came from two sites. The first is of a wargamer.
http://pygmy-wars.50megs.com/home.html

and the second is one that he recommends and I would second his recommendation for anyone wanting inspiration on buildings in rural Russia.
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/prok/

The church at Legnickie Pole...my first 10mm building

The church, which is now conveniently the museum of the battle of Liegnitz, was built as the Church of Holy Trinity and the Blessed Virgin Mary  at the end of the thirteenth century but looks older. This is a photo from the site -unfortunately only in Polish- and can be found here. According to the spiel (using Google translate) the church was burnt down twice during the Thirty Years War but was rebuilt both times. Link to the Museum website is    http://www.museo.pl/content/view/1118/377/

My model, which has been altered slightly for one reason or another is based on this. Luckily, and for a change, there are pictures on the net that cover three of the four faces with only the tower aspect left out.

Using the ubiquitous cereal packet card I marked out the various walls. You may notice the porch walls aren't on there just yet. 

When I was in Wilko's the other day I grabbed a 'sample' of a piece of wallpaper that was a reasonably good representation of stonework, bit regular but not too bad. Using PVA I glued all the pieces onto the paper making sure that the lines of 'stones' would be horizontal to the ground.  Once it was dried I cut out the windows using a new craft blade.

The tower was glued together first to use as a square base and stuck to an oversize piece of card  that will be eventually cut down to be the base then the other three parts were glued to it. Once it had all dried I realised that the smaller of the the two had been put on the wrong way round and the door should have been on the other side but then I did say it was based on the real thing. (That's my excuse anyway.) You can also see the buttresses that I added to break up the regularity. The 'brickwork' wallpaper can be seen to good effect.

The whole building has been given a coat of chocolate brown undercoat and after various dry brushes and washes to show different colours of stonework this is what it looks like. The base has been trimmed, textured with sand and painted. In both of the larger buildings I have glued ordinary stones to add some weight to the model. 

Here is my method for making tiled roofs. Long strips of cereal box card are scored more than half the width with the back of a craft knife blade. Starting from the bottom, strips are glued down with the next layer overlapping the previous. The edges of both sides have been exceeded but it doesn't matter because it can be trimmed when the glue has dried.

Da,da! The almost-finished model. Everything is done apart from adding some areas of flock on the base and possibly some ivy climbing up one or a couple of walls.Fascia boards of card have been glued along the ends of the roofs to cover the lines of tiles.

PS The white bits in the lower picture have since been painted.

Some catching up to do (blogwise that is)

 Since my last post I have gone to town a bit but up until now haven't documented any of it. I have painted another unit of levy infantry from the town of  Jędrzejów -see also the archers below- and four units of light infantry, three archers and a crossbow, all of which are briefly documented below.

As the units are all basically the same I have only taken photos of the different standards for each of them and left off the other bases. All the standards are conjectural by the way.

On the left is the only unit of crossbows in the army while on the right is the standard for a unit of archers. Both are from the town of  Jędrzejów on the border between the states of Lesser Poland and Kraków and puts it 21 miles (33km) to the west of Chmielnik so if it fought anywhere it was more likely to be at Chmielnik.

The second photo is of the other two units of archers. The unit on the left is from the Lubomirski estates from south-eastern Poland while the right hand unit is from the estates of the Jastrzębiec clan.

From the beginning of January I started to keep a record on my painting progress, so another Ecxel table was produced. In that month I painted 64 cavalry and 17 infantry; in February I got better and painted 33 cavalry and 76 infantry.

Now it’s mid March and the painting has slowed down a little –only 6 cavalry and 59 infantry to date- but that’s because in my hour a day I am making a few bits of terrain. I have started with a model based on the church at Legnicke Pole which apparently pre-dates the Invasion. More on that in the next post.

Another quick update

I have sorted out an Excel program which does all the number crunching of my Mongol Project for me. Here is the latest as of February 28^th. So now all I have to do is keep it up to date and then copy it across each time. Isn’t technology wonderful?

Nationality	Manufacturer	Troop Type	Units - Inf	Units -Cav	Figs -Inf	Figs -Cav
Mongol	Irregular	EHC Keshik		1		21
	Irregular	MC/HC		3		63
	Irregular	LC		7		84
	Pendraken	HC		1		21
	Pendraken	LC		1		12
		Total		13		201
Chinese	Irregular	HC		1		21
	Irregular	LC		3		36
	Irregular	HI	3		130
	Irregular	M/LI (X Bow)	3		84
	Irregular	M/LI (Bow)	3		60
	Irregular	Rocket	1		8
		Total	10	4	282	57
Khwarazmia	Irregular	HC		3		63
	Irregular	LC		3		36
	Irregular	MI	1		30
		Total	1	6	30	99
Poland	Pendraken	HC		3		60
	Pendraken	MI levy	2		60
	Pendraken	LI X Bow
	Pendraken	Inf Peasants
	Pendraken	LI Bow	2		30
		Total	4	3	90	60
		Grand Totals	15	26	402	417