The Painting Table -December 2022 and the 2022 Review.

I'm merging the December Painting table update and the annual review into a single post this month, so eyes down here we go!

HQ's and Generals for Altar of Freedom

The headline news is that the Huns have finally left the table.  Fully painted and based as of 27 December.  To quote the late great Douglas Adams "I love deadlines.  I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by!"  Although the deadline for getting the Huns off the table has passed so many times this year it no longer had the energy to go woosh.  I also got all of the 2mm castings I purchased in November done so I have finished the year without increasing the size of the lead pile, for I think, the third year in a row.  I even found time to finish a single 28mm figure as well.

15 completed cavalry brigades for AoF

It’s also time to take stock of 2022. No matter what else I remember about this year, first and foremost it will always be the year we lost George.  However, sad as that was there are other things to recall too so let’s look at some of them.  This was the year when we started to put Covid-19 behind us.  As a result Sealed Knot re-enactment returned to something like normal.  I made it to the August Bank Holiday event, although Mrs E arranged matters to prevent my taking the field.  She did this by the simple expedient of going off site in the car with all my kit inside!  Probably for the best as the display field was a very steep hill side.  I’m more hopeful of taking part in events in 2023.

I managed some actual wargaming during the year too.  Both the solo games I blogged about and latterly some remote gaming via Zoom with Trebian’s Monday Night Gamers, you know the ones who meet on a Tuesday evening.  I also played my first games of ADLG version 4 following an invite to spend a day in York getting to know the rules from Paul Dawson.  By my count I managed one western shootout, four Tuesday night games (spread across history from Alexandrian by way of the Reconquista to Normandy in 1944 via the French Wars of Religion), and two games of ADLG.  I even won one of the ADLG games albeit with some substantial mentoring. 

In the autumn I began attending a modelling club, which had started recently, here in town.  It has an interesting mix of attendees ranging from GW Warhammer kit builders through diorama makers, model truck and train makers to me with my Wild West town builds.  Most of the Warhammer fans have never actually played a game and were unaware of historical wargaming as a hobby (The GW blinker effect as I have taken to calling it) they were stunned that you could by figures without needing a mortgage too.  My Wild West shootout stuff has created some interest in trying a game though and there is talk of them even playing  some actual Warhammer.

My painting has taken a bit of a backseat to modelling this year and I have made my first 1/56 scale scratch built buildings as well as my first MDF kit in that scale.  In fact the uncovering of the 28mm old west figures in my lead pile earlier in the year has triggered a return to skirmish gaming for the first time in nearly half a century!  The 2mm ACW project will be complete soon I only need the models for the outstanding artillery units to be done.  

I suppose I should look back on the objectives I set for the last year if no other reason than I don't actually recall what they were!  So I'm guessing I may not have done particularly well in meeting them.  (Brief intermission while Elenderil changes screens to check the 2022 spreadsheets).

BBC test card F - This takes me back

Intermission over we now return to our program.

My objectives for 2022 were adjusted mid year to remove the War of the roses DBA armies and the armies and enemies of EL Cid DBA armies.  What was left was this:

• Complete the 2mm ACW armies
• Create a base line Hunnic army
• Reduce the lead pile
• Recount all the figures |(for ego and insurance purposes)
• Play some actual wargames!

As mentioned above I haven't quite finished the 2mm ACW armies so that's a narrow miss.  Rolled over to 2023 ready for some games with real life opponents.

Base line Hunnic Army I'm calling done as I have sufficient light cavalry and need to add some heavy cavalry and subject allies.  New objective required for 2023 of complete the Hunnic Army.

I have played some actual games - so objective met there.

In terms of the lead pile I have 84 less 6mm castings than I started the year with.  So only the odd 1,200 6mm figures left to deal with!  2mm/3mm is down by 25 3mm vehicles although I have painted way more 2mm ACW than that but these were the November purchases so in strictness those 882 figures balance out (maybe I should count castings rather than the figures they represent in future?).  Lastly the 20mm plus lead pile is down by 7 foot figures.  So The lead pile has shrunk -objective met.

And I recounted the completed figures - another objective met.

All in all I did better than I thought, and as an aside creating and publishing objectives has actually kept me close to being on track over the year.

So without further ado here are some objectives for 2023:

• Finish the 2mm ACW armies
• Play some face to face games of Altar of Freedom using those armies
• Complete the DBA Hunnic Army (probably going for the army of Attila)
• Complete a DBA Gothic army
• Reduce the lead pile
• Attend some wargames shows (Vapnartak and one of the Newark shows?)
• Finish painting the 28mm Wild West figures
• Build at least a small main street for 28mm gunfights (lets call that a minimum of six buildings/corrals)
• Finish Painting the 6mm WW1 aeroplanes

That should keep me going for a while.  So that's 2022 all wrapped up onwards we go for another trip around the sun.

A walks not a walk without squirrels

 A dog related tale or possibly tail (woof woof).  

Since George’s death Barney has been an only dog.  While he has missed George, he hasn't been pining.  In fact, he seems to be a more 'cheerful' dog as he gets longer walks now that we don't have to take George's arthritis into account.  He gets a long walk to the local park every day and is able to have a good run, off his lead, while there.  The real bonus is that he isn't barking at other dogs as George is no longer there to start him off.  Even better he has been playing with a few of them which wouldn't have been possible with George along.

Now that Barney can be allowed to roam free he has discovered the joy (and frustration) of squirrels!  It is a very mild autumn up here in Humberside and the squirrels in the park are still very active even in December.  Barney has taken to stalking them and then making a final mad dash over the last ten yards to try to catch the little grey devils.  To date he has been unsuccessful because of trees.  Squirrels climb them you know, and Barney considers this unsporting rodent behaviour.  This does not stop him trying though and he does seem to be considering tree climbing lessons as an option.

So, life goes on without George.  We miss his cheeky behaviour and the way he always came to greet us if we had been out, clutching something in his jaws with his little stumpy tail wagging ten to the dozen.  We don't miss his choice of things to bring to greet us with quite so much, I actually liked some of those cushions.  The local hedgehogs are sleeping more soundly as well, now that he isn't getting up in the wee small hours to chase them around the garden.  So to finish here are a few pictures of George in his last year, cheeky until the end 😛.

George (like Snoopy) considered the saddest sight in the world to be an empty dog dish

Faster my good women I must be at the park before 2.00pm

George hoping that there is food on the table

I have tagged this post under 'George and Barney' at some future point I suppose I will have to change that to something like 'Our dogs', but not just yet.

 

The Painting Table - November 2022

The suspicion will have been growing amongst you that the late delivery of the November update must mean that little or no painting progress has been made since the last update.  Even worse is the fact that this month’s photo shows a painting table without any spare space upon it.

The table of shame.  Now with added 2mm figures

Sadly your suspicions are correct. The Huns have not left the table! Neither have any Wild West shootists. I have, however, been buying so there is a real danger that 2022 may end with an increase in the size of the lead pile for the first time in years. I don’t know if I should be ashamed or proud! I’m going to go with proud on this occasion though. That’s because I have moved closer towards completing the 2mm ACW project. Just before the end of November I ordered the figures and tents needed to complete the Federal, and Confederate cavalry, commanders and HQ bases. Or so I thought. I miscalculated the tents needed to make up the required number of HQ’s. As Generals tend to object to sleeping in ditches I suppose I will order more when I order the artillery.

The good news is that the Huns did get some brush time and only need flesh and bows doing now to be done.  I also finished the painting of a couple of shootists bar the varnish and shader.  I also cleaned up the bases of the 2mm order and got them primed.  Lastly the Livery Stable had the straw added to the floors of the horse stalls and straw bales made as scatter terrain.  So not a total loss then.

Yes it's a scale model of a pile of straw!

The plan is to get the 2mm figures done in December just to have the ability to say that the lead pile has shrunk.  At least a couple of shootists are going to be finished too.  Last but not least I’m going to finish the Huns.  Really, I am…definitely gonna finish them…this time, for certain, probably.

Ukrainian guests - moving on

Although they obtained visas for the Canadian equivalent to the Homes for the Ukraine scheme our guests have actually decided to stay in the U.K. and have found a rental property in our town.  Mum had visited a few larger British towns and cities, but didn’t like them.  I think she found them too crowded and a bit frantic compared with home in the Ukraine.  London which she had expected to like was far bigger than the cities in Ukraine and I think she felt a bit lost amongst all the other nationalities living and working there!

She has been lucky in finding a small property in the town centre closer to her work and her son’s school, at a reasonable rent.  While living with us she found work in a local restaurant’s kitchen (albeit at minimum wage on a zero hours contract) so she was able to save a deposit and the initial rent.  The local council has been really supportive giving a grant to help with costs of furnishing the place and acting as guarantor.  So as of yesterday she has her own home.

The last six months have had their ups and downs but overall Mrs E and I have been pretty lucky with our guests compared to some other hosts.  Mum has been great about cleaning up after she has cooked and has kept their room clean and tidy.  Others have not been so lucky with their guests and FB forums for hosts have numbers of posts asking for advice about guests who are traumatised, unable or plain unwilling to work towards becoming independent.

This is a refugee situation involving a first world nation in the 21st century which has made it different to past crises. Like other modern conflicts it is a ‘televised’ war so our guests are more in touch with events at home but unable to influence them.  What we have really noticed is the impact of the internet for our guests.   The son can take lessons from Ukraine remotely and although dad had to stay in Ukraine thanks to the wonders of internet telephony mum could speak to him every day via video calls.  The connection hasn’t always been great and over the last few days there have been times when calls didn’t go through, probably due to Russian attacks on infrastructure, but it is far better than say the situation of refugees from the Bosnian war in the 1990’s.

I honestly don’t know what her next steps are going to be.  Her husband is not liable to conscription due to his age and job but can’t legally leave Ukraine.  She doesn’t want to go back as there is no end to the war in sight and attacks on civilian infrastructure look set to continue.  Yet it is unclear whether she can stay in the U.K. after her three year initial residence visa ends.  As things currently stand any time accrued in the U.K. under the homes for Ukraine visa do not count towards residency consideration.  So after three years she could be told to leave!

Mrs E and I have by turns been perplexed, annoyed and confused by the differences between Ukrainian ways of doing things and our own.  We have torn our hair out trying to navigate the various systems and procedures put in place by central government while being really impressed by the time effort and commitment put in by of our local government and various charities such as the Red Cross.  Yet overall it has worked far more smoothly than might have been the case.  There have been issues mostly around parenting techniques but it could have been far worse.  The house is our own again while at the same time it seems very quiet without our guests.  

Whether we would do it again is currently a matter of discussion.  We are pretty clear that if we did host again it wouldn’t be for a parent and child. While we meet the accommodation requirements for a mother with a child under 12 we are not happy not to be able to give them a room each. At the moment it’s nice having our house back and not worrying about mum going out to work or to language classes and leaving her son alone without checking if we are available to keep an eye on him.  On the other hand we feel as if we have been selfish about about wanting things done our way in our home, which if you think about it is odd.  Cognitive dissonance for the win eh?

Barn raising completed.

Well Livery Stables actually but let’s not split hairs. I’m calling this build finished.  Internally I added stalls to give cover and outside I have added some scatter terrain in the shape of straw bales (well a horse gotta eat).

The roof tiles before painting

The roof was covered with home-made shingles (timber tiles if you haven’t come across the term before).  These were cut from cardboard as short strips with some irregularities in the tile lengths to create a nice visual effect.  I used a grey card and then painted it yellow ochre using Windsor and Newton galleria artist's acrylic paint.  Over that I painted a thinned Burnt Umber which I immediately rubbed off with tissue paper.  This darkens the yellow ochre and creates areas where lighter paint shows through, creating a worn creosote effect.  The topmost roof I did more to, but I decided that less is more and didn’t replicate the effect lower down.

And after

I then started on some scatter terrain items.  First up are straw bales.  These are simply blocks of balsa painted yellow ochre with finely chopped sisal string glued all around.  I also intend added sisal ‘straw’ into the stalls inside the stabling.  The stalls themselves are bass wood with matchstick bracing.

A few straw bales around the place add character (and cover)

With the roof off you can see the stalls I added

I have started some extra scatter terrain using DAS airdrying clay.  These will be a pile of loose straw and some bags of grain.  I'm just waiting for the clay to dry and harden at the moment to see if these have come out OK.  I am going to need more 'straw though, so you will have to excuse me as I need to nip off and start trimming sisal string into 28mm straw stems!  

Remembrance Day - I'm remembering a man I never met

It needs a bit of TLC after a century on display

 As far as I know my grandparent's generation came away from the Great War having suffered less personal loss than many of their contemporaries.  In that generation I only know of one combat death; the man who would have been my Great Uncle had he lived, or perhaps is still my Great Uncle despite my never getting to meet him.

That man was Rifleman Tom Hartley service number 26979 of the 1/6th King's (Liverpool) Regiment killed on 30th November 1917 aged just 20.  He has no known grave but is commemorated on panel 4 of the Cambrai Memorial at Louverval.   I have seen only one photograph of him, and he looked shockingly young almost a child in a military uniform.  I do have the bronze plaque issued to his parents after the war which hung on my grandmother's wall until her death when it passed to my mother and then to me.  Not much to remember a life he never got to live.

De Lancy is expanding

The town has added a livery stable courtesy of Warbases’ Cactus Creek buildings range. I also thought an improvement to town sanitation was required so ordered an outhouse as well.

The Livery Stable kit comes as three large MDF sheets and one smaller one, but without any assembly instructions.  The kit includes are some quite thin parts such as window frames and roof supports, so it’s important to use a craft knife to help break these fragile parts from the MDF sheet.  Assembly was fairly straight forward even without an instruction sheet but it’s worth dry fitting all the parts before reaching for the wood glue.  

I started by glueing all of the window frames to the walls as it would have been near impossible later.  I then built the main four walls of the stable (hint make sure to get the hay loft floor in place at the same time) before fitting that assembly to the base.  I then built the roof of the hay lost which was the hardest part of the build as getting the roof panels flush with the supports took a bit of brute force!  This simply sits on top of the hayloft.  I then added the two lower roof panels simply clicking these into place so I can access the interior more easily.  The supports for the roof panels to the outside areas were then placed and the panels clicked in place which essentially completed the build.

To fully complete it I want to cut a hatch in the floor of the hayloft and add stalls on the ground level.  I will also need to create some fencing for a corral and a couple of water troughs.

Now we have somewhere to stable the horses

It’s a lovely MDF kit for the price point.  Not as detailed internally as a Sarissa Precision building but more than good enough for what I need and as I said I can add those details later.  The roof panels don’t have any detail etched into them which I suspect is deliberate to allow a printed paper roof texture of your choice to be used which is my next job.  All in all, £20 well spent.

The outhouse was a much simpler build consisting of four walls, two roof panels and a square former to keep the walls square.  There is also a large circular base that I probably won’t use.  The only slightly tricky bit is getting the two roof panels placed correctly as one has to slightly overlap the other at the apex.  Given that every old west building would have an outhouse (or more for hotels and saloons) I can see that I’m going to making a fair few of these.  For variation I will probably use a couple of other outside buildings from other Warbases ranges.  There is an Eastern European outside toilet and a couple of small sheds that will work.

I’m led to believe that the Cactus Creek range is intended to provide a lower cost option than the competitions offerings.  They meet that objective by offering less details in the model.  To be honest given the number of buildings even a small Old West township will need I can live with that as the trade off on cost.  I’m going to be using some buildings from other ranges alongside these ones, after all we wouldn’t want to start a range war…or would we?