10mm Mongol Project –painted so far

Just thought I’d take the opportunity to update anyone who is interested in the running total of the armies I have for what I am calling my 10mm Mongol Project. This has been running for several years now –on and off- but it’s only recently that the painting mojo has returned with a vengeance. It’s getting so bad I’ve even set up an Excel file to record when, how many and in what scale I have painted in any particular month. For January it stands at 64 cavalry and 17 infantry, split between Mongols and Polish. 

Here is a table outlining all of the complete units I have painted so far. I will update it as and when more are completed, probably on a monthly basis.

Nationality	Manufacturer	Troop Type	Units	Figures
Mongol	Irregular	EHC	1	21
	Irregular	HC	3	63
	Irregular	LC	7	12
	Pendraken	HC	1	21
	Pendraken	LC	1	12
		Total	13 cav	129 cav
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	2 +crew
		Total	4 cav/12 inf	47 cav/331 inf
Khwarazmia	Irregular	HC	3	63
	Irregular	LC	3	36
	Irregular	MI	1	30
		Total	6 cav/1 inf	99 cav/30 inf
Poland	Pendraken	HC	2	40
		Total	2 cav	40 cav
		Grand Totals	25 cav/13 inf	315 cav/361 inf

Unit the second

At this point I think I should make it clear that I have a very limited knowledge of heraldry apart from the odd word here and there, therefore I hope the reader will indulge my possibly long-winded explanations. This is why I have used the Anglicised names for everything rather than try and be clever by using the Latin ones.

Another point to clear up is that all the standards I have used are completely conjectural –as far as I am aware- and have been made up using the clan charge on the clan background. I am not even sure that some of the shapes of the standards are contemporary either –they may be more modern, but in the absence of any accurate depictions, I will stick to any type of design I think looks alright.

Here is another unit of with three bases of differing clans of Polish nobility.

First up with an azure blue field, yellow horseshoe surrounding a cross charge is the Jastrzębiec clan. This clan had lands in the region of Sandomierz. Jakób of Raciborowice, who was castellan of Sandomierz at the time, was killed at the Battle of Chmielnik.

The second base with the white flower on a red field is that of the Poraj clan. This clan is one of the few with a flower as its charge and I have taken a little artistic license with this one. They had lands in the area of Kraków but the first recorded mention wasn’t  until 1358 but I like the charge and hope that the clan is old enough to be included in the roll of 1241.

Third up is the Leliwa clan with a charge of star above a horizontal crescent moon, both in yellow on a blue field. The clan had lands in the regions of Kraków, Poznan and Sandomierz in Poland, as well as holdings in Wolyn and Podolia in what is now the Ukraine.

 

  

And here is the whole unit.

By the way, I’ve cracked the grammar problem. I simply write the information as a Word document and then copy it across. Mind-blowingly simple when you think about it but I hadn’t until this post. (I know, if I had a brain, I’d be extremely dangerous.)

On another note, work has started on the first unit of levy infantry but there is no break from cavalry as I have also started the first LC unit of Pendraken Mongols.

Something I just had to do

You know when you get an urge which won’t away until you’ve sorted it? Well I have just sorted one. Earlier this month, in fact last week, I had a package drop through the letter box and inside were my figures from the brand spanking new Pendraken 10mm Mongols range.  Now I know I said this bit was all supposed to be about the Polish but... the new chaps were an itch that I just had to scratch.

If you fancy 10mm Mongols then you can’t go far wrong with these. The detail is great, attention to detail is good and the poses are quite dramatic for the scale. This first mingghan is the first of two heavy cavalry mingghat units. This will be slightly smaller than the other two with only 2 HC and 4 LC mingghat making a total of 101 cavalry in this, my third tümen.

The Polish are coming along apace as well. I have two-thirds of the next nobility unit finished and as well as the final third from that I have started on the first of the infantry levy units. The rest of the army turned up earlier in the week so in total there will be 240 infantry and 85 cavalry in this army when it’s all finished..

On another note, I was quite chuffed with MWBG this month...I was mentioned three times. Not only because of the last in the first series of Mongol articles that I have written but also in the Editorial and also my name was used for the Pendraken quiz.

So, here it is.

Some Background Material

I thought it might be an idea that instead of just giving you pictures and some notes on heraldry, it might be a good idea for a brief synopsis of the Mongol campaign in Poland in 1241.

Once the campaign in the Russian Principalities had drawn to a successful conclusion the Mongols turned their eyes towards the main object of the campaign which was the conquest of Europe. While a large proportion of the army was to cross the Carpathian Mountains from a number of different directions and invade Hungary, a smaller force of two tümet was to head northwest, alongside the mountains, and into Poland to stop the various Polish armies from interfering with the main Mongol invasion force.

Note: I have used the more Anglicised spelling of the various names for the sake of convenience.

Three royal princes, namely Kadan, Baidar and Orda and grandsons of Chinggis Khan, were chosen to perform this task. They rode through Red Ruthenia and into the southeast of the country via Lesser Poland burning and pillaging as they went to draw attention to themselves. Poland, which at the time was divided into a number of duchies, all ruled by members of the same Piast family, was slow to respond, Lublin was taken and the province of Sandomir was mostly ravaged before any real resistance could be begun. The Mongols then split their forces to try and to create as much trouble as they could, Kadan riding north towards Warsaw and Masovia while the other two headed south westwards in the direction of Krakow and Silesia.

There was a battle at Chmielnik in Sandomir on 18^th March between Baidar and Orda and a local force which resulted in an overwhelming Mongol victory. From there the two headed for Krakow. They destroyed most of that city before moving onto Wroclaw where they had agreed to meet with Kadan. He had not long defeated a Polish army at Tarczak on 19^th March when he received a message from the others saying that a Polish army was forming at Liegnitz and that another, reputed to be 50,000 strong, was marching to join it. Kadan set off and the two Mongol tümen were reunited at Wroclaw on 1^st April.

Unaware that the reinforcing army was not too far away, Duke Henry II of Silesia with his army rode out of Liegnitz and rode to a plain southeast of the town where he was utterly destroyed by the Mongols.

Their work complete, with no remaining force in Poland capable of disrupting the plans, the three returned to the main army.

First of the Many

By using my usual basing system of 60mm x 40mm I reckoned that, to make it look good, I could have between 5 and 7 knights and followers on a base. Then I decided that, to start with at least, I would make each base a family or clan with the option to increase them to full 3 base units at some date in the future if necessary.

Now I find a glitch in the system. I cannot post the grammatically correct looking name of some of the clans because Blogger will only allow me to use English characters so apologies in advance to any and all Polish speakers who might tear their hair out at my pathetic attempts at the language. However, if you look closely at the clan name in the link it shows the correct rendition. Underneath each clan description I have supplied a link for those who wish to go to the Wikipedia page that supplied the coat of arms and most of the history of the clan.

So, here is the first unit of the army:

The first base on the left is of the Odrawaz Clan. They had lands in both the centre of the Poland just south of Lodz as well as lands in Red Ruthenia -the border country between  Poland and what is now the Ukraine, quite close to Przemysl and the Carpathain Mountains, and Lesser Poland. The capital of Lesser Poland was Krakow. Due to this geographical split it is possible that they could be represented at both the Battle of Chmielnik and any actions around Krakow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odrowąż_coat_of_arms

 

The base in the centre is from the Korczak Clan.  Apparently, the charge is of Hungarian descent and the three lines represent three rivers, the Danube, the Tisza and the Sava. Most of the bearers of this emblem were from Red Ruthenia.   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korczak_coat_of_arms

The unit at the rear is the Debno Clan. I can find no knowledge about the clan apart from the fact that it existed, quite possibly in this form, at the time of the Mongol invasion. The notes on the heraldic page say that it is a modern interpretation and my take on this is the cross without the 'w' style of emblem in the lower right quadrant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dębno_coat_of_arms 

A word on Polish heraldry

The first thing to note is that heraldry of the Polish nobility (or szlachta) of the early to mid Thirteenth Century is that it is nothing like the heraldry of western Europe. Theirs is much more basic in design and stems from ancient tribal markings to denote territorial boundaries and ownership. For longevity, these would have to be simple to carve on wood or stone, so the heraldic designs are usually a series of lines or gentle curves. For example, one clan –the Korczak Clan from the Kraków area- has a series of three white lines with each succeeding line shorter than the one above on a red field. Another example is a stylised white arrow, sometimes with lines across the shaft, again on a red field, as used by the Lis Clan. All of this will be made clear as the entries are written. I will also include some relevant notes on the heraldry as well as a picture of the heraldic shield as they are displayed on Wikipedia for the clans I have used.

The devices used are specific to a single clan which is made up of a number of families, sometimes not even from the same area of Poland. For example, there are about 1740 names or families that make up the Jastrzębiec Clan (or Herb Jastrzębiec in Polish) and there were no differences in the device used by various members of the family; they all carried the same device on their shields. These types of changes were gradually worked into the system at a later date, sometime around the time of the Polish Commonwealth of the Seventeenth Century.

Another thing about Polish heraldry is that the predominant colour for the shield is red with the charges mainly in white but sometimes in yellow. The other colour is blue and in Polish heraldry blue means azure or sky blue. Again, this will be made clear as I progress.

New Year, new project

I have left the blog for far too long so now, with what I think is an unusual project I will be able to document proceedings.

Since moving down to Kent, as written about in previous posts, I have painted a few plastic Medieval Russians. Then I started painting my 10mm Khwarazmians. Finished all that I had of them and painting went off the boil for a while, not because I didn’t have anything to paint, it was just that nothing seemed to inspire me. Then at a chance meeting with Henry Hyde, the editor of Miniature Wargames and Battleground magazine (MWBG), I happened to ask him if he would be interested in any articles on the Mongols. Since then I have written six; the first three about the Mongol Reconnaissance into Georgia and southern Russia in 1219-1221 -the third article will be in February's issue- and the following three about the 1241 campaign in Europe proper. As you will be aware, writing them has taken a fair wedge of time. Alongside that, the writing of the articles has inspired me to start writing a book on said campaign, my magnum opus if you like. At the writing of this post I have written over 25,000 words and am about halfway through. The only foreseeable problem is that I am no historian –not on a professional level anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I can write and I would like to think that I can make things interesting, but have had no prior experience. I am not attempting to regurgitate dusty minutiae ad nauseum, but trying to put my slant on how and why things happened. Whether or not it ever gets published will be another matter but I hope so.

So, moving on.

One of this year’s resolutions was to try and spend at least one hour a day painting, and so far, after eleven days, I have been successful. My latest project, 10mm Medieval Polish, was inspired from two different directions. Firstly as an adjunct to writing about them –the chapter on the Polish Campaign is pretty much finished- and secondly because I happened onto the Pendraken forum about a new Kickstarter project for a Mongol range. I pledged some cash to what I considered a worthwhile cause and then proceeded to have a look at their Early Medieval range. I found knights on caparisoned horses, backup cavalry in chainmail, infantry with spears, bows, crossbows, most of which had heater shields but I could work with what was there. So then I had a look at the Saxon and Norman ranges for some levy types. Norman cavalry with kite shields for variety –bosses would need to be filed off, peasant infantry with round shields and spears etc. Again, all figures I could work with and all very nice looking little chaps to boot.

It just so happened that while I was running all this through my mind the MO phoned and asked if I wanted any figures as a Christmas present. Funny you should mention that, I replied and soon an e-mail was flying through the ether with the required codes mentioned. They arrived in time and then I had another stroke of luck. Ever since I can remember my birthday has been the 12^th January so when I got another phone call from the same son asking if would like to finish off the army as a birthday present I nearly did a back-flip with unashamed joy. (Kids, you can try this at home, for a 58 year old man this is not a good idea, trust me.) So now I am the owner of a 99% complete just-started-painting 10mm Polish Medieval Army.

And that is what I intend to do –keep an ongoing account of the army as it grows.

Just a few things to be going on with.

Since the last post I have been a very busy little chappie. After having my wargaminig mojo reinstated after the Sittingbourne do I have painted 102 infantry and 12 cavalry in 25mm and 30 infantry and 121 cavalry in 10mm. This means that my 10mm Khwarizmian Army is well underway with 3 LC, 3 HC and 1 infantry units all of 3 bases each although I will probably need to get some more infantry for that. I have also now got a 21 figure kesig (guard) unit for the 10mm Mongols so this army now totals 84 LC in 7 units, 96 HC &EHC in 4 units and the single unit of 21 kesig. Still to paint for the Mongols are 36 LC making another 3 units. Might need some maore to make up the second tumen. The 10mm Chinese are coming along nicely as well with 36 LC in 3 units, 21 HC in 1 unit and about 200 infantry in units of spear, bow, halbard and crossbow. the Chinese cavalry can also double up as Khwarizmians should the need arise and the Mongols can be any steppe nomad army you can think of.

And now for a 10mm pictorial update.

Mongol remounts

A Mongol tumen in battle formation. HC in the front, LC behind ready to ride forward. General and remounts in the rear. 

Another view of the Mongol tumen. HC in line in the front.

More Mongols

Khwarizmian HC

Mongol kesig

Chinese (foreground) defending against Mongol attacks.

More Russians

An update on the progress of the Medieval Russians. The latest is a unit of foot druzhina and are all from the Strelets Russian Army of Alexander Nevsky (Box 0082). The only extra work has been to glue some of the shields down and use brass wire for some of the spears; these longer weapons have gone in the rear rank for protection.

NB. I cannot recommend strongly enough to KEEP YOUR FINGERS AWAY FROM RUNNING SUPERGLUE. I suppose I am preaching to the converted but guess what? I tried to hold a figure and unbeknowingly my left index finger and left thumb became stuck together. Fortunately the glue had not set properly so I could pull them apart but it was close...and painful. And then, bu**er me, I went and did the self same thing the following night. Not only that but the stuff is a real swine to get off afterwards. Obviously as you get older, the learning curve becomes more like the shape of a tortoises shell rather than a mountain peak!

It hasn't shown up too well but there is brass edging on some of the helmets...

 ...and the two blokes in the middle of the group are wearing brass armour, honest.

I know I said I was not too enamoured with painting icons but I did a quick T and triangle job and I think it looks okay. Took all of five minutes.

That now leaves me with two units left, one of militia and the other of smerdy. Both are prepped with undercoat and stain and are ready to go.


Retail plug alert:
By the way, I brought all my Russians from a very local company Andy's Models -local as in 15 minutes walk away from my house. Have a look if you are after plastics http://www.andysmodels.co.uk/ and, to see what the set looks like, go to the Plastic Soldier Review at http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Index.aspx

Painted Plastic Russians

I thought I would share some pics of my latest project, the plastic Medieval Russians. They are based, as are all my chaps now, on 60 x 40 bases from Warbases.  All of the standard bearers  have had their spear or sword removed, the hand drilled and a piece of brass wire inserted as a standard pole. All standards have been hand painted by yours truly.

 A unit of mounted druzhina manufactured by Mars (Pack 72059, Russian Medium Cavalry). There are 12 figures in the box so it works out quite nicely. All of the cavalry have been both pinned and glued to the horses before painting.

 This is a unit from the Suzdal smerdy levy (peasants). Made by Mars, they are the Lithuanian-Russian Light Infantry (Pack No 72060), there are enough figures in the pack to make two such units plus the smerdy archers below. I found out after they had all been painted and based that the chap on the far right has a separate shield, (I thought there was something strange about him). Gluing just to the paint is not good so I've decided to leave it off on him but use them on the next unit. 

A unit of Novgorod Militia. The standard is from the Republic of Novgorod so is probably more modern than the thirteenth century but I like it and other contemporary flags, apart from religious icons, are difficult to find. Although not too obvious from this angle, it has one of those Russian three bar crosses plus extras on it. These are from the Stelets Medieval Russian Militia (Pack MO48). There are enough to make two such units from the box.

A unit of smerdy archers from Ryazan. There should be a boyar type figure in the middle of the flag but my thinking was that he might have been added at a later date and anyway, as smerdy they wouldn't have had too finer standard, if any. These are from the same Mars pack as the Suzdal smerdy above. The third figure from the right is from the Stelets Medieval Russian Militia pack. These and the cavalry are marketed as being from the first half of the Fifteenth Century but I have used them otherwise it would be boring with only the two Strelets boxes to use for the whole army, especially as there are only 6 cavalry in a box.

So in numbers I have three infantry units -total of 48 figures- and one cavalry unit- total of 12 figures- completed in just over a month of painting for about an hour per day. On the workbench I have another unit of militia, one of smerdy levy and a unit of foot druzhina left to paint -another 54 figures although the druzhina are already half painted. There are 6 cavalry in the Russian Army of Alexander Nevsky box and I will probably use 3 of them as an army command base. 

So for an outlay of about £25 I've got the lions share of a complete 1/72 scale Russian Medieval Army of 102 infantry and 12 cavalry. Not bad, eh?

  

I've decided that another box of the Strelets Medieval Militia, one of the Mars Lithuanian-Russian Light Infantry and a box of Tartar Light Cavalry should be enough to see me through. It would give me a total of 11 infantry units (186 figures)  and 2 cavalry units (21 figures). Of course, for that price I could always add to it at a later date. 

A BIG Catch-Up Post

Well, I tell you, so much has happened since my last post nearly 10 months ago that I don't know where to start. So, the news in no particular order -family first:

In February this year we finally took the plunge, upped sticks and moved south to Kent, an absolutely beautiful county full of greenery, fresh air and of course, history. A far cry from the more industrial midlands. We are now completely settled in and loving every moment. Ten minutes walk from the town centre where there is every major outlet except that in amongst all of them are some independent traders and some original half timbered buildings. There is even a stone building that dates back to 15 something or another.

YO got herself married in April, her and her affianced decided to take it abroad and tied the knot in Sorrernto, Italy. Ma Subs and myself went over for the week and, to be honest, for most of the time the weather was sh*te...apart from one day, the day of the wedding. Perfect blue, cloudless skies, excellent food and with Mount Vesuvius as a backdrop, what more could one want? MO -who by the way got himself married last November at Browns in Mayfair, quite a swanky joint and now lives in Chingford- managed to get there but his wife couldn't make it as she had been on the wrong end of an RTA and had been shunted into an estate agents window the day before they were due to fly out. Bit of a dampner but fortunately, she has made a full recovery. OO couldn't make it due to prior work commitments. For everyone that couldn't get to Sorrento they had an English reception in early June so it meant another trip back up to Brum -the previous expeditions  up the M1 had been in March for a suit fitting and April to get the plane from East Midlands airport for Sorrento. More than 250 people turned up and it was an absolutely fantastic night.

OO moved south with us, lived here for a while then got himself a job in London so has moved into a flat in Woolwich. So now it's just Ma Subs and moi rattling around. She was extremely ill back in March and spent a week in the local hospital, fortunately she is well on the mend so it's all good now.

Wargaming wise, since Derby last year, where I went probably for the last time because it's at Donnington Park quite close to the racetrack and, similar to Salute, it's in the equivalent of an aircraft hanger but noisier with the cars going round the track. Didn't enjoy it too much. The only real upside was a pre-arranged meeting with a number of wargamers on the WD3 forum; really great bunch of people and a good couple of pints were enjoyed by all. Met up with a gentleman I had not spoken to or even thought about for at least 25 years -blimey, doesn't time fly when you are having fun- after finding him on t'interweb. Amazing. He now lives just over the river in Essex so we are in the process of arranging to have a game in the next couple of months.
 
Last month my mate -who moved here in August last year and once again only lives across the road- and I went to Broadside in Sittinbourne where -long story short- he bought some Medieval Polish and I bought some Medieval Russians...in plastic. Now before you completely poo-poo the idea take a look at some of the pics below. Using a new painting system of white enamel undercoat, brown wash to accentuate details, block colours and then another brown wash for shadow, since early June I have painted 48 infantry and a dozen cavalry; for me it's almost speed painting!. I'm so impressed with this new -to me at least- method that I am going to try some 15's or even 10's later...I will keep you updated.

These two are just a taster. I have taken other pics but they are still on my camera so I will post some more next time.

That's about it for now, I'm off to enjoy some lunch in the sunshine in the county known as the Garden of England.

Derby again!

I tell you something, the last year has shot by, but unfortunately, not much has been started or finished on the wargaming front. I reckon my total to date since last October is 15 15mm figures, some 15mm vehicles and some 6mm SciFi skirmish figures, models and terrain.

And that is it!

Pitiful, absolutely pitiful.

But the good news, such as it is, is that I finally found the box of ACW 115mm figures I have been hunting for for ages. You will never guess where I found it.

Just to the left of the fan on the shelf above the printer is some rolled over A4 paper...you can just see the edge of the box on the left of the sheets. The bl**dy thing had been right in front of me for the whole time. Cavalry, wagons, generals, artillery, infantry, the whole lot, it's all there. Wonderful. Now all I've got to do is add it to the 'things to be painted' list. As you can imagine, I chuckled...not at first mind.

Family wise, MO has got himself a role as the voiceover for a certain crisps in a tube company sponsorship thingy. Basically, films on Channel 5 over here in the Old Country for the next few months will have his voice and parts of him on screen as the ad break starts and ends.

Now to Derby. I'm really looking forward to this one because it appears that a number of the WD 3 Wargames forumers?? including yours truly are having a meet in the bar -where else, I ask you- for a few wets. Be nice to put more faces to the avatars. I caught with a couple last year and they will be there this time as well.
   Also, I have decided that I will get some different opposition for my 10mm Mongols. As you know I have a sizable Song Chinese Army to face them but I intend to get some Khwarizmians; I've e-mailed Mr Kay at Irregular and they should be waiting for me on arrival. Can't think of anything else I need at the moment apart from some static grass and flock. I intend to take some pics of the games as well; I took a load at last years show but never got around to posting them.
    This could conceivably be the last Derby that I get for a few years, as soon as we have sold the house we are moving back down south, Kent to be a little more precise. Loads of good shows down there (apart form Salute which I can't stand) -Tunbridge Wells, Reading, SELWG, and more than a few in my native county, Essex.

Just to let my myriad -??- of followers know that I am still around, just extremely busy but nothing to do with wargaming.
I was trawling through some of my favourite blogs earlier and came up with this on Take the High Ground. This gentleman has some brilliant terrain ideas and it's well worth a visit. Anyway, he had found this on someone else's blog, so I thought I'd nick it as well, hopefully no-one will mind.


1. Favourite Wargaming period and why?
 Medieval in the Far East, especially the Mongols and their enemies. When I first started in wargaming back in the early 1970's there was a series of books in Southend Library about Great Commanders written by Dupuy and Dupuy. They wrote one on Genghis Khan and I have been fascinated by the Mongols ever since.

2. Next period, money no object?
 Napoleonic Wars in 28mm.

3. Favourite 5 films?
In no particular order: A Bridge too Far, Zulu, Waterloo, Blazing Saddles, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

4. Favourite 5 TV series?
 UFO, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Primeval, Firefly, The Sweeney

5. Favourite book and author?
 The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. An SciFi novel about an interstellar war that takes place over centuries because of the speed of  light and the aging at different speeds thing. Cleverly done.

6.Greatest General? Can’t count yourself!!
This may surprise a few people (not) but it's Subedai Bahadur, (a Mongol who was the logistical mastermind and brilliant strategist who was the brains behind most of Chinggis Khan's later campaigns and indeed the European invasion of 1241).

7. Favourite Wargames rules?
 A set of Napoleonic Rules specifically written by a mate of mine -I still have the original -for the old Mini Figs 5mm blocks.

8. Favourite Sport and team?
 Football (the real one), West Ham United.

9. If you had a only use once time machine, when and where would you go?
 The Battle of Mohi, 1241.

10. Last meal on Death Row?
 Steak and kidney pudding followed by Spotted Dick with Devon Custard.

11. Fantasy relationship and why?
 Maggie Gyllenhaal, marvelous role in The Secretary.

12. If your life were a movie, who would play you?
 Michael Palin.

13. Favourite Comic Superhero?
 Beast from the original X Men.

14. Favourite Military quote?
 'Beware Marshal of what you do', Marschall Blucher (Prussian) to Marshal Davout (French) as the former moved towards Paris after Waterloo.

15. Historical destination to visit?
 Loads spring to mind. Probably Mongolia, Malta or Rhodes.

16. Biggest Wargaming regret?
 Not enough hours in the day to keep up with my projects, wargaming and otherwise.

17. Favourite Fantasy job?
 Author.

18. Favourite Song Top 5?
'Man who Sold the World', David Bowie -his version not Lulu's
'Apache', Shadows
'Nights in White Satin', Moody Blues
'This Flight Tonight', Nazareth
'Atomic', Blondie

 19. Favourite Wargaming Moment?
 Using one of the old WRG versions on a books under cloth terrain, I elected to use a line of hills. My LMI Ancient British infantry could go over them but my mate's HI Assyrians couldn't. Downhill charge off the table he goes, what a plan thinks I. Rolled to charge with the warband on the far right. Decided it didn't really want to play anymore and ran away...followed by the rest of my warbands. At the end of the third move I only had 2 units of LI and 1 of chariots left on the table! Funny now but not so much then.

20. The miserable Git question, what upsets you?
 A lot of things. I am getting more cynical and intolerant as I age. Governments, large and multi-national companies, mis-use of the English Language, footballers who play act or deliberately cheat, lack of manners and social skills, the majority of television -especially soap operas and 'real life' programmes to name but a few. (Ask Ma Subs, she probably has a list somewhere).

Back in the top flight -football that is, nothing to do with flying

What an afternoon. Just finished watching the Championship Play-off Final and West Ham won. Really good game, commiserations to Blackpool but quality counts and West Ham had it all over the pitch. I bet half the street heard OO and myself when the Irons scored...twice. The Premiership beckons. And there is still the European Champions Final tonight. Never really taken to Chelsea but as they are the only English team in the final I hope they win. I'll watch it anyway.

Been otherwise engaged (Pic and script heavy)

Weeelll, to be completely truthful, after Derby for some reason that I still can't put my finger on, the bottom dropped out of my interest in wargaming in general, figure painting and blogging -hence the time lapse. For a time I was writing and committing most of my notes and role playing systems to for an RPG SF game begun back in the 1980's and well before the availability of pc's. Post Christmas that was done so I cast about for something else to do. Got interested in Mr Angel Barracks 6mm SciFi and made a few bits of scenery and buildings for that to go with the Irregular stuff I painted.

These are some pics of terrain buildings and a couple of cd based chunks of scenery. Two single storey, semi-detached habitats followed by a larger unit. Then there is a workshop unit with a small storage yard and one of those ubiquitous roller-shutter doors. After that is a storage tank for whatever the colony needs to store and finally there is a small unit. The buildings are made from thick card on two faces and cereal packet card on the other two. the tops are cut from small corrugated card strips found as packing at work. (Note to self, need more card.) Details are from hole punched paper, sticky labels and the pipes are straws and the middles of cotton buds. The external pipe on teh starage tank is just a piece of sprue with a bend in it. Painted in a functional grey scheme with a thin wash of deep red over everything to show that the sand gets everywhere.

Now I must apologise for these next two pictures. The ones above were taken directly from my pc but these two are from my photobucket site and I haven't got a scooby on how to re-size them.

Now here a few pics of some stuff I did ages ago but never got round to taking any pics of. The ECW are 6mm and the Romans are 10mm, all Irregular. 1. Imperial Roman HC.

2, 3 and 4. The Earl of Essex's and Lord Saye and Sele's Regiments of Foote from the ECW.

5. Two troops of Essex's Regiment of Horse.

6. Two Imperial Roman Cohortes.

7. Numidian cavalry, Imperial Rome.

I now need to make another apology about the layout of this post. Blogger has changed everything and I can't seem to work out how to get the script lined up with the relevant pics. Sorry. BUT I'M BACK! It seems that after two weeks off work with a bad chest infection combined with the viral thing that's going around meant that I could catch up on my DVD collection. Re-watched all my Mongol DVD's amongst others, my painting mojo seems to have returned and I am painting some Ancient Brits to go up against the Romans pictured above. Roman total painted currently stands at 4 legionary cohortes of 42 figs each, 1 auxiliary cohort of 30 figs, a heavy cavalry unit of 24 and a unit of light cavalry 18 strong. Still to paint are another two units of auxiliary infantry -1 spear and one archer- all Irregular and some ballistae from Pendraken. Facing them I have 1 warband of 27 painted; I based that up to see what it looks like and have another 30 painted (Irregular) and about the same amount of Pendraken half done. I'm also halfway through six chariots. I'm thinking of using Impetus as a ruleset because it fits in with my basing style and I've read good things about it.