Sunday 24 June 2012

Projects Old & New.

Sadly I did not make it to the Phalanx Show in St Helens. I had too much to do trying to sort out moving into my new flat there, and as time was limited something had to give. It was the show.

However I put the money I would have spent at the show to good use on eBay and at a local railway model shops, buying some terrain kits, paints and a few old Warhammer Fantasy figures.

 Because I think that bug has bitten again.

 I admit to having a Love/Hate relationship with Warhammer. I love painting the figures and I love the rules, and the fun element that is evident in both. But I hate the pricing structure,where you will pay more for a figure's in-game prowess than the figure itself is worth. I mean can you imagine having to pay more for a box of Italeri Tiger tanks than for their box of M4 Shermans? But that's the GW deal and one does not have to buy into that side of the game-system if one does not wish to.

And I hate most of all the gamesmanship that the Army Book system inspires in so many of the players. To their credit, GW have in the past tried to counter this with articles in White Dwarf telling the boys (it always is the boys) to behave and stick to the "spirit" of the game  but youthful testosterone and geekiness, coupled with the Army Books, does tend to bring out the worst in the little dears.

So whilst I love the game, I now stick to the core rulebook and don't bother with all the special stuff. Nor do I play against hard-core players.

On other fronts, my 20mm Assyrian Army is almost complete now, and painting should start soon. I am using HaT figures, which I think are a little chunkier and easier to paint than the lovely Caesar ones. I am also hoping to pick up a couple of the Assyrian Rams and Siege Tower kits out there. They are rare as hen's teeth but I have seen a couple and will order them next month. Rules will be Warhammer Ancients.

The 30mm Spencer Smith ACW project is also continuing, with some new purchases planned, and I must also remember to contact John Preece about some old SAE figures we had an interest in. That's on my to-do list, so if John reads this,....

Oh, and there's my Fictional 20mm WW2 project. I got rid of all the old stuff in my massive clear-out, but as soon as I had a decent income, it stared to revive again and I now have a half dozen AFVs and about a hundred soldiers to paint up. I am using the same theme as before, but this time I am being a little less ambitious and will limit myself to small-sized forces. I got too carried away last time and ended with scores of tanks and maybe a thousand figures in the Build and Paint queue, and that is almost a guarantee that the project will never really take off.

 The Victorian Steam Punk Battles remains a dream project. Again, it had not got beyond the purchase stage, and 90% of it went in my enforced clear-out. So work will start again as soon as I move into my new flat next week.

Monday 4 June 2012

Today I are being mostly back....

Well, I am back, and further blog posts will no doubt follow shortly. Watch this space... :-)