David Bickley's Wargames Blog

The occasional ramblings of an average gamer, journeyman painter, indifferent modeller, games designer, sometime writer for Wargames Illustrated and host of games in GHQ.



Friday 3 November 2017

The infamous ‘Lead Lump’!

As you can’t fail to have noticed there has not been much noteworthy activity here in GHQ, at least not of the sort which might be mentioned in polite society or in front of the servants! What little painting I have managed this week has already featured in the previous post and current progress on the Mutton Chop 1938 British infantry has not progressed very far as yet. So, I thought I might give the old ‘Lead Lump’ an airing and reveal to passing interest what I hope to be painting up over the next eight months or so. Of course it’s all for existing projects and is an eclectic mix, as you might deduce from the long list of labels!

Unusually for me nothing has been in the queue for all that long a time. Probably the longest waiting are my three Union infantry from Dixon Miniatures which I bought earlier in the year from Spirit Games over in Burton-on-Trent. There are also a few dismounted cavalrymen too, somewhere.

Staying with the American theme there are several units for both the Rebels and the Crown waiting their moment in the sun. They are mainly from Foundry of course and will raise the strength of both sides to something more suited to our Black Powder games. Apart from three new guns and crew, which Phil is painting for me, there are two Militia units and two Continental units for the Rebels, while for the British there are two regular Infantry Regiments and some Light Infantry. There are also some Perry Miniatures 16th Light Dragoons, including the rather nice piquet duty set. As I was given the Washington figure from Dan at WI, sculpted by Matt of course, I’ve made up a small command base featuring him. That will probably be quite high up the queue for painting this month!

As will be my last element for the French Horse Artillery in our Wars of the French Revolution games, the Eureka Miniatures caisson and horse team set. I’ll leave off the riders though for now as the two groups of three gunners look awkward to paint and I don’t currently feel up to the challenge. Anyway, when the battery is deployed for action we remove the horses’ base and position the caisson just behind the guns, so leaving the gunners in situ on the caisson would look odd to say the least. I’ve also got more Trent Miniatures’ figures for the project in the form of French Hussars and Chasseurs, but they are way down the ‘to paint’ list at present.

For our 1938 -1940 games; the VBCW in Wolverhampton & South Staffordshire, the Blandings setting for 1940 and the less fanciful general Operation Zeelowe games, I have some Foundry Wehrmacht figures and some Warlord Games BEF figures.

When I see it all laid out like this it really doesn’t seem so daunting I find. I don’t much feel up to sustained painting yet but a little cleaning up and spray undercoating might get done when I’m back from the Doc’s later. Tootle Pip! David

12 comments:

  1. That's a big one for you. To scared to get all mine together, don't think the floor would take it all in one place :~)

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  2. Replies
    1. In truth I find it much less than keeping all in blisters.

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  3. Hope the recovery goes well. Very scary I won’t be putting my lead in one place althogther anytime soon ! I do have a friend who takes the approach that as soon as he buys something he bases and undercoats it, the idea being they aren’t hidden in boxes...actually not a bad idea😀

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    1. Mending slowly I think Matt. I’ve been storing the figures like this ever since I retired, I do genuinely find it helps me make progress.

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  4. I think the basing and undercoating is a good idea but not one I seem able to implement, nice eclectic collection, best to take it easy I'd say, a bit of cleaning and priming isn't too taxing.
    Best Iain

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    1. I came to it late in my wargaming career after I retired from teaching. It works for me.

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  5. not much then. be all done by Xmas 😉

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  6. Last time I started to place all my unpainted figures in one spot, the foundation started to settle. A mistake not to be repeated!

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