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.



Monday 26 September 2022

Winter is Coming!

As I write this I'm sitting out in the 'Summer Palace' {aka the family room extension off our kitchen} enjoying a sunny late summer morning, so why is this post referencing winter you may ask? The short answer is that I've been stocking up in the Lead Pimple/Lump in preparation for those long winter evenings to come. I've been prone to SAD most of my adult life it seems, I really detest the long dark evenings, so having lots of figures in store ready to go under the brush has proved a useful antidote over the years.

As chum George can testify I had been toying with two new 28mm imagination armies, he'd even kindly worked up some flag prototypes for me, but in the end courage failed me and my lists in waiting were put away. Instead I have been building up a stock of figures to expand my SYW armies. 

Firstly, I bought more French figures from Foundry s Casting Room Miniatures offshoot: a Line Infantry regiment, already underway as Bretagne; two new Grenadier battalions for the Grenadiers de France and the Royal Grenadiers; and extra cavalry and dragoon figures to convert 12 figure regiments into two 8 figure ones. At the same time I have found enough British Grenadiers to populate four more bases lurking in said Lead Pimple/Lump!

While any sensible chap or chapess would probably regard that as enough to be getting on with for several months, even years, muggins here got well carried away. Two orders to Gripping Beast, for Front Rank figures, and one to Foundry have seen the beginnings of a small Hanoverian force. Jon is largely to thank for the decision here as he gifted me some Foundry cavalry which could make up a Hanoverian dragoon regiment in both mounted and dismounted iteration. I've added a small Hussar regiment from Foundry to these just for the colour if nothing else. The Front Rank contingent provided two Hanoverian foot regiments to which I'll later add to make a brigade I hope.

Getting carried away I also made an order to North Star for some Crusader Miniatures Prussians which with the addition of British officers could make more Hanoverian infantry, or even perhaps a small Prussian brigade to fight alongside the Hanoverians and the British! Of course the Hanoverian element will need some artillery so I added them into the two orders as well as a mounted General and his ADC to command the force. 

When finances permit I intend to make a further order to Front Rank/Gripping Beast for more Hanoverian figures while the issue of flags I intend to solve by free downloads I found on the Internet. Now, right now I have no capacity to store any of these once completed here in GHQ, so something will have to be moved on. Right now the favourite choice for such relocation would be my Late Roman/Arthurian/Saxon collection so I'm open to sensible offers if anyone is interested... When all is said and done, winter is coming after all.

16 comments:

  1. Good to see someone else is planning on plenty of Winter painting too! So nice plans there and so easy to keep adding to the pile as I know from experience. I don't suffer from SAD luckily, but since retiring, I've noticed that I'm a lot happier seeing so much daylight compared to when I worked in a brightly lit workshop without much natural light.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No substitute for natural sunlight is there SteveJ?

      Delete
  2. It's just as well you don't live in Darkest Rawnsley🙂

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed it is. The trees would all be out for a start, not to mention the hedge! See you later today!

      Delete
  3. You show great foresight in planning for the long, dark winter months. Surely you must need a few more to act as safety stock to reduce change of outages? Remember, winters are long. And dark.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Although I don't suffer from SADS ( my dad did though) I have been in that mood myself lately; I have the urge to clean and prime models and I find myself planning for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cleaning up figures, a task only next to rebasing in the pantheon of awful hobby tasks!

      Delete
  5. I will show off the flags on the blog. Unusual for me I also have a growing pile in the drawer and like you am about to order more after my latest game.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You have a pile, at last! Now you are a proper wargamer. See it grow in retirement!!

      Delete
  6. Such a plan for winter…..I’m still clinging on to autumn for a while yet. Storage is a real challenge and I need to shift on some stuff but I don’t know how you can bear to sell stuff off , I find it really hard !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am no keener than you to sell, but needs must, for the space even in GHQ is finite...

      Delete
  7. Will winter the be the fuel for your hobby once more Mr.B? ;-D

    ReplyDelete
  8. It’s always a wise thing to stock up with essentials before winter sets in…
    I see Claymore Castings has started a Seven Years War range…

    All the best. Aly

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your endorsement of my strategy re logistics is welcome! Saw the CC range but am holding fire as Crusader are cheaper! I'm only a pensioner remember.👴🏻

      Delete