A Long Due Update (Happy New Year 2024!)

Blog Update

First of all, Happy New Year 2024! I haven't updated this blog since January 2020 in favour of releasing YouTube videos, however, the more YouTube videos I release, the more I realise that blogs and videos are very different media that serve different purposes. Based upon the traffic this blog gets, it is clear that blogs still remain much more searchable than videos. I suspect that it has to do with limitations on how YouTube videos are scraped for words, versus the written text of a blog. 

Anyway, enough shop talk. 

Life Updates

A lot has happened since my last update on the blog in January 2020. First, my wife and I managed to secure excellent employment with a tech company in California, which later morphed into a role that is largely on the road. This then led to us making the decision to move to the cooler climes of Washington state. The impetus behind this was my wife's family moving en masse to the Dallas area in Texas. Since we weren't keen on swapping the dry, hot Bakersfield climate for more-or-less the same, we moved North and were able to purchase our first home. 

We are now a household of 2 dogs near the sea, and loving life up in Washington.

 

Playing Games

One unintended outcome of the move to Washington is that I have found a regular gaming group, just across the border in Canada. How I met the main chap from the club was certainly serendipitous. In November 2022 I happened to be at Warfare in Farnborough, in the UK. I was in the UK ostensibly for work, but managed to stay over the weekend. I took the last-minute opportunity to attend the wargaming show with some purchases in mind. (I ended up spending about $500, so only small purchases) 

 

I had stopped for a pie and a cup of tea at the little snack area, when a man with a "North American" accent approached me and asked if he might share the table with me, since there was nowhere else to sit. I obliged, noted the accent, and asked him where he had come from. He said, "Vancouver, Canada." To which I said, "oh, I live 15 minutes from Vancouver." What luck! We chatted for a bit, and it turns out that I can see his town from my house, I am just across the water from him. Well, this led to emails and some sessions with the fabled White Rock Gamers, and the rest, as they say, is history. 

Having a regular gaming group to play with has re-invigorated my hobby as I am playing almost every week, and more importantly, playing historical wargames again! 

Examples of the stunning games we played in 2023:

A very small part of a very large Leipzig refight using Shako 2

Canvas Eagles

Action in the Sudan, Battles for Empire

My dastardly gunman finishes off a helpless supine opponent in What A Cowboy

Painting Miniatures

2022 was a very fruitful year for me in terms of painting. Especially considering that I was jumping off from a position of inertia. 

I'll share some snaps in this blog post, but they are but a small sample of everything I have been working on. Suffice to say, the prospect of playing with my miniatures has turned up the tempo. 

 

The numbers are as follows:

• 28mm = 21 Infantry
  
• 15mm = 42 Infantry
  
• 10mm = 24 Infantry | 3 Artillery & Crew
  
• 6mm = 36 Infantry | 3 Tanks
  

By project:

• 28mm Seven Years War = 6 Infantry
• 15mm Carthaginian Army = 24 Infantry
• Warhammer 40k Eldar = 5 Infantry
• 28mm Early Imperial Romans = 10 Infantry
• 6mm War of Spanish Succession British = 36 Infantry
• 10mm Franco-Prussian War French = 24 Infantry
• 10mm Franco-Prussian War French = 3 Artillery & Crew
• 15mm American Civil War Confederates = 18 Infantry
• 6mm World War II Polish = 3 Tanks
  

Goals for 2024

The Great Hobby Reawakening™ is well under way, but these are my goals for 2024:

• Get a gaming table set up in the basement, nothing fancy, but I would like something around 8 x 6 feet-ish. Initially I will use mats or cloths for coverage, but I would like to try my hand at MDF boards. 
• Finish up the Pendraken 10mm Franco-Prussian French force that I have and begin work on the German opposition.
• Paint up the Republican Roman opponents for my 15mm Carthaginian army. I ordered some from Old Glory 15's on January first.
  
• Finish up painting the remaining Baccus 6mm War of Spanish Succession British army that I bought in 2022. 

 In Closing...

I am on holiday in Greece at the moment, in the quest for some sunlight, and will only be home again at the end of the month. I am hoping to make more regular contributions to this blog in the coming year.

Mustering Forces: A Lick of Paint

The next phase of the muster has commenced. Yesterday they got their bases sanded, and today they got their under coat. I decided that I am going to pop the MG34 team on a lozenge base like the prone figures, but I didn't have any to hand. I have ordered some from Warlord Games which should be here soon. Progress!

Mustering Forces: A Hobby Update

I got back from Greece on Sunday night and immediately set about mustering the forces for my Dukla Pass scenario. I have all the assets for both sides, I just needed to get it assembled and painted. So yesterday I broke out my box of 28mm World War II stuff from the Oorlogskuur (The War Shed) and got out the Gebirgsjäger I needed, plus all the potential Polish forces that might appear in the scenario. Glue and the Xacto knife were wielded and in no time I had this box full of miniatures ready for basing.

Apologies for the poor picture. A quick list of what inside.

Germans: A kfz. 13 Adler armoured car, eight riflemen, an MG34 team, an Obergefreiter.

Polish: Ursus armoured car, ten greatcoated Polish infantry, light and medium mortar teams, MMG team, anti-tank gun, sniper team and anti-tank rifle team. 

A fair bit indeed. The next step is to base the lot, and then undercoat.

I figured, while I was at it, I might as well get some of my 15mm stuff assembled too. This time Finnish and Soviet vehicles for a Chain of Command scenario idea I have. 

Again, not a great photo, but I wanted to show that I had done something. Some Soviet armoured cars and armour, which was used by both sides. There is also a Finnish Vickers 6-ton. I am going to do most of this in Finnish livery, but the twin turret T-26 and one BA-6 and one BA-20 for Soviets. These chaps will get their undercoat at the same time as the 28mm stuff. Hopefully I will be able to get my scenario played soon enough. 

Where has the summer gone?

My last post was in July. The reason for this quiet spell is simple, I went to California to get married to the lovely Lady K, and as a result have done nothing wargaming related in the interim. So what follows is a short of "What I did on my holidays" post, and then some thoughts on wargaming plans going forward, I hope this isn't dreadfully dull.

Once school was over in July, I flew over to Bakersfield, California and began preparing for the wedding. Family members and friends started arriving a little before the big day. The first arrival was my favourite cousin who lives in Australia, she treated me to my first ever NFL game. It was a preseason match between the Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Cowboys. She is a Cowboys fans, hence our t-shirts. I am more of a rugby man, but being at the first game the Rams played after moving back to Los Angeles was something special. Additionally, the game finished in spectacular fashion with the Rams clinching it in the dying seconds. I would definitely go again.

We were only four rows back!

The Memorial Coliseum is worth visiting any time. 

We then headed up North to San Francisco, to meet my then future brother-in-law, who is a massive San Francisco Giants fan. He arranged for us to go and see the Giants play the Pirates at AT&T Park. After the intense excitement of an NFL game I worried that a sedate baseball match might prove a little dull in comparison. However, I was happily proven wrong and I thoroughly enjoyed my first encounter with "the national pastime." Between hot dogs, "Take me out to the ball game", and "rally caps", it was a fantastic evening out. As a lover of cricket, baseball isn't too far from my chosen sport, but different enough to be interesting in its own right. 

My dear friend Lydia has flown into San Francisco and came to AT&T Park directly from the airport to meet us. After the game we set off for Stockton where we crashed for the night before moving to Yosemite National Park. Now anyone who has ever used a Mac will be familiar with the vistas of Yosemite, they are often used by Apple as desktop backgrounds, but nothing can prepare you for the true scale of it all. 

"There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods." - Theodore Roosevelt

After this bachelor party getaway, we headed back south to Bakersfield for the wedding. Still more foreigners with thick South African accents descended upon the city and met with the raucous hordes of Greeks and Arabs of the local Orthodox Christian community as it was all hands on deck to make the arrangements for the big day. 

In our jam-packed little church I got married to the lovely Lady K, whose father married us. As with most of these sorts of things it is a blur, and the very next day we headed off to Los Angeles to fly to Vancouver for our honeymoon. Vancouver airport is absolutely amazing, and the city didn't disappoint either. We spent the next week going on Zodiac rides, going to various waterfalls and I even managed to haul myself up Grouse Mountain one morning early.

After an early morning Grouse climb, I enjoyed a coffee in the early morning chill before all the cable cars brought the hordes of tourists up. 

Awesome views from the top, and the cable car ride down was stunning.

 I would definitively visit Canada again, I think that Vancouver is a perfect destination for outdoorsy type people and I thoroughly enjoyed walking and running in the various city and national parks. Sadly we didn't have long for our honeymoon and head to head back to Britain because I started my new teaching job in London. However, before we did leave, I managed to get a picture of the world's largest tin soldier in New Westminster.

Lady K is smiling because, thankfully, none of my "toy soldiers" are this big.

That is all for now gentle reader, I am afraid I am very much still in the "adjusting to the horrific London commute" phase of the new job, and haven't even looked at my miniatures since arriving back from North America. 

Long Awaited Update

I have not had much chance to paint or play recently. With the workload on my current course, and all the usual things that life throws our way, time has been in short supply. In lieu of painting, I have been using the opportunity to read up on various topics, ranging from the English Civil War, to the Russian Civil War, and of course, the Polish campaign of September 1939. 

In the last few days I found a few hours to put paint to miniature, and the fruits of my labour are shown here:

I finished this Ravenwing Veteran Sergeant a while back, but I haven't had a chance to photograph him in the light box yet with the snazzy camera. I have another Ravenwing biker who just needs his weapon arm and shoulder pad finishing. 

I bought some Agema Velites from Northstar in their January sale and painted and assembled these fellows in no time. They will be making an appearance in my YouTube video review of the Agema Velites boxed set.

A work-in-progress British staff officer from Great War miniatures. A pleasure to paint. He will be part of my BEF lot. Not much movement on that front, but then I indulge myself occasionally with this project. 

Polish infantry! Yes, they are coming. Their bases are done, and I have made a start on their uniforms. I'm reading a lot about the campaign, and I would love to finish up with the forces necessary to play the battle of Lviv. 

Three sections of 15mm American riflemen for the Italian campaign. These chaps are just waiting for a highlight and then I can finish off their bases with some static grass. I'm planning on using these guys with Chain of Command and I Ain't Been Shot Mum from TooFatLardies, in particular the supplement Sicilian Weekend which will give the project some shape.

Finally, some Frenchmen being based. These three companies will be brought up to strength when I pick up another box of Perry French. I can't wait to try out Sharpe Practice II, again from TooFatLardies, from what I have seen so far it looks great. 

2015 In Review

Well, it is over. It often helps to take a moment to pause and reflect on what has been achieved over a given period, so that changes can be made, if necessary, but also to rationalise why things went the way they did. Hobbywise, 2015 was the year of not getting much done for me. It started very promisingly and then devolved into nothingness towards the tail of the year. On a personal level it has been a year of immense change. A new career and a lovely lady who spends half her time living on another continent have certainly required some adjustment on my part. One thing I have noticed is that, because I am in the United States for my holidays these days those periods are utterly lost to me in hobby terms. Perhaps this can be remedied?

So, enough reflection, what was the damage for 2015?

- 35 Finnish Infantry (15mm)
- 7 Polish Infantry (28mm)
- 1 Dark Angels Apothecary
- 2 Ravenwing Bikes
- 1 Ravenwing Attack Bike
- 3 Terrain Pieces (28mm)
- 1 WWI BEF Infantryman (28mm)
- 2 Horus Heresy Era Ultramarines
- 10 Vikings (28mm)

Hardly a great showing, but then I never really had much traction after January. However, it isn't all bad news, there are several miniatures that are on the verge of completion on my painting desk, so a solid weekend of effort should get those into my 2016 completion list. Another positive is the fact that I am now based in an environment where I can paint with less hassle, meaning I can actually get it done.

Here are some pictures of completed miniatures:

Poles defending their homeland. 

I've really enjoyed painting these fellows.

A Much Needed Update

I have been incredibly quiet on the hobby front of late and the reason is simply a combination of the summer and a massive career change. The summer is nothing new, I have always expressed the belief on this blog that the fine weather of the summer is meant to be enjoyed, and so I do. 

Scotland

However, a glorious summer is now very much behind us. The cold, rainy, windy nights have set in, and nothing has really happened here on the blog. This is because in September I became a student once more. The change was rather abrupt and I was the last one onto the course, so much so that I only sorted out accommodation three days before my enrolment and arrival.

Conisburgh Castle

You see, once upon a time, when I was a young man, I made the somewhat "interesting" decision to read a degree in Latin and Classical Greek, which was made in those heady days when university was affordable and learning for the sake of learning was still something people did. Graduating with a first, I tried my hand at postgraduate study, but the financial side of it proved ruinous, for by this time the fee structures had changed, and so I headed into the real world of work. More recently I was working in engineering and thinking hard about my future, when it occurred to me that what I really wanted was to use my degree daily. My Latin and Greek were fading and I yearned for the joy I got from constantly engaging with the Classical world. And so, I decided to become a teacher. 

Back to University this autumn, a leafy Homerton College, Cambridge, awaited me.

And so I have embarked upon that career and am currently engaged in a PGCE in Latin and Classics at the University of Cambridge. The course is, by all accounts, intense and thus far I found this to be the case. My days are long and my downtime divided between planning lessons and studying for essays. Naturally, painting has fallen by the wayside, more so because I don't have a dedicated workspace. I had to move to Cambridge for the Christmas term and won't return to Oxfordshire and my painting desk until January. So in the meantime, I am very much dissuaded from putting paint to model by the lack of decent light and my familiar painting desk. 

Homerton College, Cambridge.

That said, everything is not lost! I am reading voraciously, mainly around the Polish campaign of 1939. And that naturally informs the continuing project, even if there isn't any movement on the miniature front. My most recent addition is Polish Armour of the Blitzkrieg, a lovely gift from Lady K, who seems to indulge my historical researches with alacrity. So I am working on it all, promise. Hopefully as the days grow even more miserable and cold I will be driven indoors and huddle around my bedside lamp to paint.

A good read with loads of pictoral information.

Video Update... Hobby Update V: It's Been A While

I filmed a short update this morning. 

A Voice in the Wilderness

Where have I been you might ask?

Well, in truth I simply have not had a moment for the hobby in the last month or so. This is due both to being inordinately busy, but also due to a lack of priority. In the last two months I have been on one hell of a fitness kick, and as a result have lost two stone. So rather than sitting and painting I have been exercising. Furthermore, I've been on courses on my weekends so time hasn't been an abundant commodity.

That said, I haven't given up on the hobby by any means. The Ravenwing miniatures I was working on are still patiently waiting for me, as are my World War II Polish Infantry. I suppose what I really need to do is set aside an hour or two per night to get things done, but competition for my time is only getting fiercer.

What I have been doing, though, is trying to sell some of my old bits and pieces that I have no need for. Firstly to liberate space, and secondly to generate a little money. I'm looking to offload a bunch of classic Eldar stuff over the next while, including some metal Harlequins. If anyone is interested, do let me know.

This weekend I will be delving further into the boxes and trying to shift some Lord of the Rings stuff too, if time allows after a weekend on the ranges, see what I mean? Recently I have been thinking about the viability of "holding on things", and in all honesty, I need to downsize my collection. Obviously we all dream of hoarding all our bits and then one day getting around to doing x, but sometimes the smart thing to do is just cut and run.

I'll be advertising things on here first for a few days before listing them on eBay, so that readers get the opportunity for a bargain first.

Terrain Haul from Northstar Figures

Northstar Figures are currently having a very generous sale, do yourself a favour and pay their website a visit, Nick is fantastic chap so spend you money freely. (Disclaimer: I get nothing from Northstar beyond exceptional service.)

I made a video of the things I bought...

In addition, Black Tree Design are still holding their January sale. 50% off infantry and 20% off cavalry. I took advantage of the sale to buy some medieval civilians, Anglo-Saxons, and German Gebirgsjager. Go have a look for yourself.

Gaming on a Budget

I find myself in somewhat of a bind at the moment. Usually, I can do whatever I please hobbywise. I rather fancy basing these figures, trundle off to the massive bag of sharp sand, microwave it. Giant bottle of PVA and applicator brush, we are ready to roll. Sadly, I can't do that now. I don't have sharp sand, I don't have PVA, or even a brush to apply it with. And in a further twist of fate, I don't have a little place to work on my little toy people. How very sad.

I think we often take for granted the kind of hobby infrastructure we build up around us over the years of painting and modelling. In the UK I have an extensive collection of paints, basing materials, and figures. There are few things I can't do with a quick rummage. Things are very different over here. I thought to get on with my first Hobby Progress Challenge Unit over the Australia Day weekend. Upon closer inspection of my figures though, it turns out that not only did I not remove all the necessary mould lines (naughty me), I only based some of them with sand before leaving. The problems are twofold; firstly, I don't have a hobby knife, and I somehow don't think my trusty penknife is up to the job. Secondly, I have no basing materials. One might ask, "why don't you simply paint the figure and base them later?" No. Once I lock down down the basing for an army, I always base first, not the edge or the static grass, but the sand and painting it. Since as it involves drybrushing, it can be quite messy, and the last thing you want to do is to spend hours lovingly working on a figure only to mess it up with errant strokes. This is a personal workflow thing, but I just work better this way.

Now, both of the above problems are fixed by a simply visit to Irresistible Force in Tana Merah, however, it also requires treasure, of which I am a little light at the moment. Our hobby isn't cheap by any measure and I think that until you find yourself without that cushy £25k+ per annum job it is difficult to appreciate just how expensive it can be. I think that not since I was an impoverished student have I felt the weight of the prices we pay. And this doesn't simply extend to Games Workshop, the hobby is expensive across the board. I wonder how teenagers afford even one boxed set? Never mind the paints and the other ancillaries that are required to actually do anything with it. Woe are we. Nevertheless, to remedy the situation I set about compiling a list of things I need, perhaps I should have had this list before I went make my first purchase:

- Hobby Knife
- Basing sand/gravel
- Static grass
- PVA glue
- Some more paints and washes
- Pin vice

Some things in the above list were more important than others, the Pin Vice was a luxury, but one I really wanted. The trick was now to try and source these items for as cheap as possible without compromising on quality. So, on Wednesday I set off with my cousin who was simply curious about the hobby to Irresistible Force. Firstly, I had been there the week before Australia Day and still there hadn't been a replenishment of stock. So I had to get a little creative with the paints and inks I wanted, hopefully it will all work out in the end. I also couldn't resist, I saw this and had to buy it.

The figures are gorgeous, and my cousin, who spent an hour in the store with me ooo'd and ah'd, she might just play a game of Dreadfleet with me. So that was an impulse buy, naughty me. Other than that, the only thing I really still need to progress on with my Dark Angels is some PVA glue which I can get at any craft store cheaply, but I just haven't gotten around to doing that as I have been busy job hunting etc. I did manage to finish a Tactical Marine in the space of an hour, barring the basing of course, so progress is being made. What I now need is a little box like paint station that I can store away and bring out as and when I want to paint, so as not to offend me housemates and H who I am sure don't want any of the living spaces littered with Space Marines. But that is a  topic for another post.

So for now I work away at my Tactical Squad, and read. I finished Battle for the Abyss the other night at around 2am as I couldn't sleep. And I am onto Mechanicum...

This Week in the Hobby

Each Truancy - Joy to the Enemy; Hero Labour - Attack on the Bourgeois. 

Those of you who follow my good friend Jim over at Whispers of Chaos will know that he recently started doing a weekly blog post series entitled The Week in Hobby <insert date here>. You can have a look here. One reason for this sort of scheduled posting is to generate content which is the lifeblood of any blog, but more importantly, to develop the blogger as a writer through repetition and practice. I am guilty of lapsing into "occasional blog syndrome" so I salute my colleague Jim and wish him all the best. In the shadow of his efforts I am going to try the same thing here at Zen and the Art of Miniature Painting. This Week in the Hobby (notice the slight paraphrase) will be an attempt to document my progress and generally develop some musings on the hobby as they happen.

I have now been here in Queensland, Australia for almost a week. I have some work lined up working at a local tavern, and have managed to get most of the admin side of life sorted, bank account, tax number, mobile phone. So far the major impediment to everything has been the intense heat, which as the gentle reader could well imagine, came as a bit of a shock upon leaving a rainy and cold Britain. Nevertheless H and I are adapting well to sitting in the shade by the pool side drinking industrial quantities of water.

I have had a cursory look around the local area for a gaming store, and it seems that I have been lucky enough to be just down the Pacific Highway from Irresistible Force in Tana Merah (irresistibleforce.com.au). I am hoping to pop down, pick up some brushes and paints and make myself known during this week. From their website it seems that this establishment features a dedicated gaming lounge, and that just seems so awesome, very Firestorm-esque. As my previous post explained, I haven't brought much over with me, but those Dark Vengeance Dark Angels are amazing, and I can't wait to start painting them. In fact, I am rather tempted to join the Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge which sets the aim of painting 1000 points in six months, followed by another 1000 points. Until I get hold of a Codex: Dark Angels though, I am not committing. One of my major concerns is the heat, especially how it might affect things like resin and paint dry times. I don't like it when paints dry too quickly. On the upside, H and I have a spacious room featuring air conditioning, so being able to control the temperature will certainly help. I will however need to pick up a decent lamp for painting by. 

So, the mission for this week is:

- Get painting supplies, Dark Angels palette mainly.

- Sort out a decent lamp with white light.

- Arrange a painting spot, probably on the floor initially, using the TV table. 

- Make contact with local gaming personalities. 

- Start reading the 40k Rulebook.

- Get a Dark Angels Codex.

Quite a long list, but all small jobs really. I am going to get the Rulebook and Codex in digital format on my iPad as I don't have the means to store books really. Another secondary task I have set myself is to do book reviews of Horus Heresy novels. I really want to write reviews for Fulgrim and Descent of Angels as I feel I have something to say.

Let's hope that I can establish some sort of routine amidst the sun and games.

+ Carry on citizens +

Where have you been?

I haven't posted in ages, and that makes me sad. Sad, because this blog is the manifestation of all my hobby progress, and no posts equals no progress. It seems that real life has largely gotten in the way. Since July things have been hectic, at work we were opening a new store, massive overtime, then I went to Australia for three weeks, no painting. Then I got home, spent three days doing a stock take, and then I was off to Denmark for a fortnight. When I got home some time in late October, I needed a rest. Recently things have settled down (after moving a store yet again), but now the Christmas rush sets in.

Luckily, I have snatched some moments to work on my 30k Ultramarines, but I could do with a hobby day. Time to get some stuff done for the Dark Pact, which frankly has stalled on all fronts due to changes in people's lives.

Hopefully my next update will be less despairing and more productive.

Playing with the Citadel Wood

I finished the Imperial Navy Marine landing party the other day. They are all varnished and waiting to be photographed, but sadly I haven't had a chance to photograph them properly. Photographing miniatures can be a real challenge. If the weather is fine, natural light from the sun usually does the trick, but this is England. Indoors things get complicated, even with a good light source shadows can ruin your shots, no matter how good your camera. One solution is to build a lightbox, but space is an issue for me and frankly I haven't had the time to make one. Furthermore, to take really nice pictures a tripod is ideal, and I don't have one. I am hoping this weekend, in between felling a pine tree in my garden, to sort out my rig and take some pictures. I'll post my how-to and where I learnt about it all when it is done.

In the meantime, I have been basing my 15mm WWII Russians, again I'll knock up a tutorial showing a step by step when I get an opportunity. I wasn't keen on the first technique I employed, so I decided to try a little something different and am happy with the result. Again, I'll do a post on it as soon as I can.

I've also got the terrain bug again, and with the Marines done I can start thinking about my scenarios for them. Terrain is a must for me, so I got started on a Citadel Wood I bought a while back. It really deserves a post in its own right, but here is what I've done on the base us far:

So there, proof I am still ticking along. I have the weekend off so I hope to get some photographing done so that these posts aren't just wordy.

Carry on.

A Tough Month Ahead

July looks to be rather unfriendly with regards my painting schedule. The reality is that I do not have a single day off, bar a few Sunday afternoons, when I go to Mass anyway, until August. This is due to working Monday to Friday and a heavy Army commitment on the weekends this month. However, the monetary benefits will certainly be a reality next month!

So basically this is a heads up that I might not get too much new stuff up on here, though I will try and push on. I have almost finished a rather leisurely painted Dwarven Thunderers unit, and the first half of my Old Guard Grenadier Battalion, so I might be able to round those off in the few hours I have to myself in the evenings.

However, in lieu of painting, I will try and get some reviews up on here. Well, not reviews, but thoughts on things I have bought recently. I wasn't planning on purchases, but the combination of my birthday in late June and a desire to see the new plastic sets in the "flash" have made me buckle. Addiction. In any event, I have already shared my thoughts on the Black Tree Designs Romans, so expect more poorly thought out thoughts on figures.

I got hold of 60 Perry Foundry Early Imperial Romans, which are my favourite, for about £20, an absolute bargain, on eBay. These are for the planned Northern frontiers army. I also thought I'd get my hands on some Warlord Roman Veterans to see how they scale, and just what they look like since I find pictures on the web seldom give one a real sense of the figures. I also got some Celts and got a cheeky box of Perry French Infantry out of curiosity. However, I have been really busy so the boxes are still sat unopened on my shelf.

On another note, my friend James from the Whispers of Chaos Blog put me onto the Bad Dice Podcast, a *spit* Warhammer podcast. I was, however, pleasantly surprised and am enjoying listening to the back episodes when I go running or at the gym. Even if you aren't a Warhammer player, which I am not, I'd recommend it as one gets some insight into the scene and frankly it makes me want to actually play.

So a rough one ahead, but we will grizz it out and hope for the best, stiff upper lip, what-what...