After a looong –really unforgivable- break of nearly four years in which all manner of things have happened both in the real and my wargaming world, I finally managed to work out how to get back onto my blog. (I can almost hear all of you thinking ‘Shame.’ in a patronising, nay pitying manner as if I am some doddering, senile old fool…well not quite senile but…).
Anyway, as is said in Thespian
circles, on with the show. I have been to many shows in the intervening four
years –both wargames and music festivals- and basically have had a rip-roaring
time. Life is good, as is said.
However, where actual gaming is
concerned, I can count the number of games I’ve had at home on the thumb of one
hand minus one! Away from home I managed two, both at Posties Shed with the Rejects.
And a fine bunch of chaps they are. But painting, now that is a whole different
thing. I started slow, just to pace myself you know. With each infantryman,
cavalry trooper, artillery crew, vehicle, building etc. all counting as one
item, in 2021 I managed a pathetic 400 items, all of which were 6mm; a number
of Mongols (Rapier), the highlight being Rapier’s Qublai Qan’s four elephant
command post; more Renaissance chappies –mostly H&R- and a number of FPW
types.
2022 saw a slight increase in
production; up to a still miserable total of 709 figures, vehicles et al, most
of which were for a still incomplete GNW 6mm using the wonderful Baccus chaps.
2023 was a whole different thing.
Shedloads of Irregular RJW types of both Russian and Japanese using proxies
(British in caps), for the Japanese…in 6mm this works just fine for me. Plus a
fair number of SciFi chaps, vehicles and terrain –mostly buildings. The grand
total for the year was 1089 pieces.
Last year peaked at 1033 items.
This saw then the final scratch of my SciFi itch; some more Achaemenid Persians
–Baccus; a few Irregular Song Chinese –now on hold because Irregular have
stopped producing their 6mm ranges, hopefully this is only a temporary thing-
and yet another brand new period, only this time a completely new scale…2mm
Seven Years War (7YW), Prussians and Austrians. This is the result of me
finally giving in to the 2mm urge after seeing Ray Roussel’s splendid War of
Spanish Succession microchaps on his blog. (https://onelover-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/2mm)
So now I currently have about twenty battalions of infantry, six cavalry
regiments, a few gun bases per side and a terrain pack –all from Irregular and am slowly getting through them. This is the thing about my painting schedule…I haven’t
got one. I paint when I like what I like and if I ever do fancy a solo game I
have plenty of other periods and armies to play with. But in true wargamer fashion, I’ve
now ordered a couple of ECW 2mm Battlepacks, again from Irregular.
Now, cast your minds back to
before Covid. As a prezzie, my lad had organised a visit to the recreated
section of a WW1 trench, the brainchild of the historian, film advisor,
archaeologist and all round nice chap Mr. Andy Roberstshaw. Obviously, this
never happened… that is until last Saturday. Now I thought it was down the M20
near Ashford while my lad seemed to think it was somewhere in Surrey. Turned
out neither of us were right although I was geographically closer; it was
actually over the back of the Kent County Showground, a car journey of nine
minutes! Had a great time, interesting conversations covering all things
military in the area and some beyond. He can be found at https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1579398/.
Tours can be arranged at https://www.cemahistory.org/ Recommended.
So that’s about really everything wargaming. Apart from some piccies from the trench visit. I did ask about the huge number of trees in No Mans Land but Andy said that the local conservationists gave an emphatic NO! when he asked if he could remove them!
