Bottomless garage

Ok - so I have a lot of 'stuff' in the garage. In fact I am a bit of a hoarder when it comes to miniatures but still it is nice to find stuff that you have forgotten about. The latest find ....

The 'Reikland Reavers' if I recall correctly. Again it was one of my very first set of models to own. The arts of applying highlights and washes had still to be discovered but they were a lot of fun to play.  The elves were masters of the throwing game.

This week also saw me getting back to some painting. I just had to have a play with the Deathroller. What a great model. I have got some base colour on him and he is starting to look good.

Finally I spent quite a few hours working on my Warhammer Empire army. I can confirm that keeping an army of metal and plastics in a 'tray like ' box can be fatal. My wife dropped the box a couple of years back and the metal models made mess of their plastic counterparts. It took me a while but I managed to get the arms, heads, and bodies back into some kind of playable condition.

The thing about Warhammer is the fact that there are soooooo many models. When I first started to collect them I started painting the Spearmen. I really enjoyed it, especially choosing the colours. I went for the green and red combination which looks good on the battlefield.

I like the flags in particular. They really add something to the unit and needless to say the trays are essential for moving so many models!

Christmas Gaming

Well Christmas is just around the corner and the recent Dark Templar posting has prompted a rummage in the garage. A trip back in time to when I first started playing. It was in the summer of 1988 when I first discovered 'The Orcs Nest' in London and my first Games Workshop models - the Game 'Blood Bowl'.

This is the second version of the game. The first is in the box at the back of the picture. I played a lot in the first flat that I stayed in. We had up to 15 people living in the house so no shortage of opponents!! Great fun. Then some years later when living in Tunbridge Wells we returned to the game. (Painting skills were dreadful - obviously!!)

In TWells there were 8 of us and we played for a few months and then drifted on to other things. As usual, towards the end of our playing cycle, I had just purchased some new models that never got any playing time.

My first team were the Dwarves.

I remember trying to paint the eyes - OMG! They became a bit dull to play though. Slow moving etc. I had just purchased the Deathroller before we stopped playing. Crying out for paint!!!

Orcs became my main team. Well I am an Orc at heart. They are versatile and can do some serious damage on the ground.

Got to love those Blockers and Blitzers. I even have a few unpainted models in the box but we can look at them another time.

I also have some Humans, Ratmen and Amazons - so much to remember ;-)

Christmas could be fun this year!!

Now where did I leave that Warhammer army - ah yes - I remember.......there was a bit of an accident.... my wife dropped the box they were stored in about 3 years ago. Carnage - do I dare open the box - I think I will get some more glue before taking on that challenge!!

Does your mother stitch?

Malcolm had seen it all before.

Once he sounded his horn the war band rushed forward to engage the enemy. Conn & Diarmuid had applied the body paint and would soon be wailing on some unsuspecting Roman. Finn had taken on the leadership duties and his stature encouraged him to use the double handed axe, his favorite toy. Fergal was more traditionally equipped and Fiacha was deploying his usual 'Does your mother stitch?' tactic.

Fiacha lowers his body position and charges forward. The confused opponent not sure how to defend would move his shield to the side expecting a crazy slash from his sword but at the last minute would find himself impaled on Fiacha's helmet.

'Stitch that!!' would be the shout.

Hail hail the Celts are here

And so it was that the word got out ...... some short arsed, pizza eating, ice cream licking, garlic smelling premadonnas were in town. The boys put on some colour and came down from the hills.....

'Hail, hail the celts are here, what the hell do we care, what the hell do we care'

The druids spoke to the winds and called for the aid of the gods. The Morrigan roused and cast her gaze to earth. A flock of crows gathered in the trees their cries loud for all to here.

The Morrigan was here and there could only be one outcome!!

The Spartans are coming

I enjoyed assembling the Salute 'give away' model. He has some excellent detail. I thought he looked a bit lonely on the painting tray and so went online to find him some buddies.

They turned up yesterday.

He has his own gang now :-)

The models seem to suit him fairly well and I have not had problems fitting the weapons which seems common with the 28mm stuff I have had to date.

I need to choose a colour scheme and I am wondering if my green stuff skills would be good enough to try and mould the rams head onto the shield. Emmm.

Salute 2013

We visited Salute 2013 at the weekend and it was really great. So much variety and the really large crowd appeared to be spending lots of money. Great for the hobby.

As part of the handout pack we received a 28mm model with 2 possible assemblies. Earlier in the week I assembled mine (didn't look at the pictures or the instructions obviously) and this resulted. I think we can call it the third way.

I really liked it, but I had lots of bits left over. Yesterday I went to the car and took out the magazine that came with the pack and a very different assembly emerged.

I had missed putting the head under the mask and didn't realise that the figure should be standing on statue.

Its funny what happens when you actually consult the instructions. My DIY has always had similar problems ;-)

Tribesmen of Germania

So I have had a look around to get some inspiration for the painting.

This seems to be the direction that should be taken. I think they look good. I like the bright colours and the use of stripes is cool.

After a few hours this is how my guys are looking. Still plenty to do - but coming along nicely.