Plastic, Gnomes and Pixies

Well, I did wonder if that would get anyone's attention! If you are a fellow Brit reading this you should be more than familiar with the 'Grumpy Old Men' concept, where TV is prone to fill a 30 minute slot with talking heads of well known men {and latterly women} of a certain age and in the public eye. The concept is that they drone on for 30 minutes about everything that's wrong with the modern world, young folk, etc! It seems to me that the phenomena exists in abundance in our hobby too (have a glance at PMT and its like ~ well you know what I'm getting at I'm sure. I'm even tempted to join in myself sometimes: well, perhaps I will...
But first something more mundane: I've finished another French Infantry Battalion for my Wars of the French Revolution project, together with a General Humbert and ADC base and I've also based the 'Napoleon Crossing the Alps' which Matt kindly gave me for Christmas. I've also started a unit of Hussars for the French, the 2nd Regiment, and as I type the final two are sitting on the painting table awaiting the finishing touches. I only have one French Infantry Battalion to finish now, and I hope to do that next month before I pop of on a holiday for a break from the depressing British winter! I'll say more about our trip nearer the time, though the Agent says the tickets and documentation have arrived today!
I also have managed to play some games this month and even managed to win one, albeit narrowly and aided somewhat by Phil's poor dice and card draws!!! The win came on Monday in the SCW over at Phil's. He's not blogged it for technical reasons, so I feel its OK to post some pictures I took of his wonderful collection and atmospheric tabletop.

The tabletop battlefield

Republican International Brigade engage the Carlist Militia

Republican Anarchists attack the Nationalist's left flank



Pedro Aeroddo strikes for the Republican cause!

After a slow start to 2015 I seem to have recovered my painting muse and the old eye seems to be behaving itself rather better than usual, as I said when I started, so here are some pictures of the latest additions to the Wars of the French Revolution project, all Trent Miniatures unless stated otherwise ~



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Foundry 'Napoleon'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, back to where I started: I was reading a thread on the Lead Adventures Forum about the right size for a wargaming 'army', do note the last word there, as the answers seem to be overwhelmingly about 50 figures! I think that reflects the current trend in new rules combined with a move towards hobbyists who are cash rich but time poor. But an 'army' of 50 figures? Surely some failure to comprehend the meaning of the word there? When you look further afield the Forum seems overwhelmed with fantasy, modern skirmish {which I find  myself highly uncomfortable with}, Post Apocalypse and bl**dy Zombies! Wargaming? I don't think so myself. Where are the large multiplayer games with mounds of lead? Grimsby perhaps? Well, I know I exaggerate, but I do sometimes feel like one of a dying breed, patiently painting unit after unit to build up armies for what I would call a wargame, not a skirmish ~ although I do enjoy those too as you can see from the SCW game report above. But they are a different branch of the hobby in my view, and not a replacement for pukka wargaming with large armies of 28mm figures. Now, I feel better for that...

Toodle Pip for now!