The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge 7 - The Prep

This year's 28mm Prep

Getting and keeping the painting "mojo" is never easy, this year as usual I have had fits and starts of acrylic action. I've found that having a focus and sticking with it has been the key (easier said than done, I know), this year's massive Jutland paint and build focus has certainly set the tone, can YG carry on in 2017 !

2 boxes of Fireforge Templar Knights

Project Jutland has been hailed as a great success but it was in fact a massive failure in that the 2016 project was supposed to be 28mm Crusades so let's have another go !

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC) is now in its seventh year and is something I have been planning on taking part in for at least the last couple of years but each time I have failed to engage my backside into drive in time to get registered. This year I was ready and managed to get my name on the list of participants.

A mass of 28mm Horse (Crusades, SCW and AWI)

For those who don't know the AHPC is a bit like an Alcoholics Anonymous for painters, a self help group for the sable fanciers of the world, if you like. Organised by the wonderful Curt and his faithful Minions, the participants set themselves a painting target for the next three months and off you go.

Goodies and baddies for "Blakes 7"

There are all sorts of side challenges, prizes and "theme" rounds involved, just the sort of thing to keep you enthused. The entry fee is a painted figure which this year is supposed to be a team or group effort (Still looking for my team if anyone has any ideas) and on the back of that Curt donates to a charity. It's all for fun and it should be a great way to keep the Vallejo flowing.

Woodbine 28mm WW1 Indian Infantry

The rules allow the cleaning and priming of figs prior to the main event so that is what I have been doing and what the photos on this post show.

Some EotD

I've been painting a unit of 15mm SYW Figs every 10 days for the last 3 months so I have no plans to stop that, but as those units are only 16 Figs I will continue to prep them as I go. Start each 10 days period with a new unit and then only start something else when they are finished. Let's see how I get on.

1/2400 HMS Ark Royal 1915

The wind down from Jutland continues with this lovely little addition to the collection, a 1/2400 scale model of the first ever ship specifically designed as a Seaplane Carrier.

The model is from the US company WTJ and I picked it up earlier in the year with my last batch of Jutland ships. It's about the size of a small Light Cruiser and comes with two planes sculpted on board, one on the fore deck and one emerging from the hangar. A great little model and a must for any WW1 Naval collection.

The real thing saw action during the Great War in the Dardanelles flying in support of the Gallipoli Campaign as well as launching an (unsuccessful) attack on Goeben in the final year of the conflict.

It's amazing to think how far aircraft carriers would come in the short time between the World Wars.

Not much Naval painting on the go at the moment, I've got an Armed Merchant half done but not rushing with it. I've joined the The Seventh Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge this year after forgetting to join first the last couple of years, hopefully it will keep the painting juices flowing through the winter.

Saxon 15mm SYW Minden Infantry

One of my main focuses this year was to try and keep up a steady flow of finished units in an attempt to keep a level of discipline to my painting. So the idea was to complete a unit every 10 days and only start on other units once that "weeks" unit was complete.

I have to say that even with other major projects on the go it has really kept output up and there is a small, but noticeable dent in the lead mountain. I have got through quite a bit of Seven Years War this year (approaching 300 figures) getting some British Infantry and Cavalry done along with some French Guard. Next up out of the box file full of 15mm Figs was the Saxons Infantry contingent from Minden.

This week I based up the 5 battalions of 16 Figs each that have been completed over the last couple of months. Two of the units are Mini Figs the other units are a bit more unusual.

A long time ago, in a Galaxy far far away, well about 25 years ago, the members of Leeds Wargames Club were looking to move into 15mm SYW and decided collectively to commission their own figure as a generic basic Infantry type to cheaply fill out the "meat" of the Infantry Battalions.

The figures were made by Steve Royen former owner of Hallmark Figures, they are true 15mm, ie considerably smaller than todays 18mm fare. The idea at the time was to use the Mini Figs command packs to complete the units.

These first two units represent the two Kurprinzessin Grenadier Battalions who formed part of the Saxon Infantry Contingent at Minden, these are all Minifigs.

Next up is two shots of the Prinz Sachsen Gotha Battalion which is comprised of the "home made" figures and some Minifigs command figs, the later have been reworked since the original plan was hatched and they are larger than the old traditional style. The pose of the command team is a sloping advance which makes the fit slightly better.

Two shots next of the Prinz Anton Battalion, based on 40 x 20 mm bases.

Finally we have the Graf Brühl Battalion in all its glory. The flags are made by Maverick Models and I am going to reserve my judgement on them for now. Great service and communication from the company, they also allow you to buy individual unit flags rather than buying a sheet of 3 and throwing two away.

My issue with the flags is the finish, I ordered the "effect" type and it does not work very well in this scale, it detracts from the detail on the flag and I am sure that the standard flat finish would be much better at this size. I will certainly be ordering from Maverick again as the price and selection is good, I will just avoid the effect type. I am already halfway through the next unit of the 14 Saxon Infantry Battalions in the French Army, the next 5 are scheduled just after Xmas.

28mm "Princess Bride" Style Miniatures Review

The 4 fig set

When I saw these fantastic figures recently I just knew I had to have a set. The film on which they "may" have been based is without doubt one of the greatest motion picture of all time.

If you meet someone for the first time and just say "Princess Bride" to them and they look blank, walk away. If they "know" their face will Light up and they will quote from the film and you, you will have a friend for life. You either get PB or you don't, a mix of fairy tale, fantasy, action, romance (is this kissing book ?) and humour, it is just brilliant.

The figures themselves are heroic 28mm in scale, metal and represent 4 of the main characters in the story. They are made by a new company (to me anyway) called Antediluvian Miniatures.

If you click on the link above it will take you straight to the figures, they are not available separately but in a set of 4 for £16 plus reasonable postage.

Fantastic turn around time, they arrived 3 days after ordering, the box contained not only the figures but a bag of Haribo, perfect to munch on when watching the film for the 127th time.

"You seem a decent fellow.... I hate to kill you"

The first figure the hired swordsman is stood sword outstretched in a lunge, the details and character are fantastic, all the figures are very cleanly cast (the pictures show the figures straight out of the box) and I only found a couple of small pieces to trim away before priming and these were supporting sword scabbard.

"You seem a decent fellow...... I hate to die"

Next up our hero and "Dread Pirate" again a lovely cast, thin but then so was the character.

"I only doggy paddle"

Then we have the Giant, suitably sized of course.

"Never get involved in a land war in Asia"

And finally our Sicilian "mastermind"

Great figures, I recommend them to anyone, really looking forward to painting these up. Not sure what I will use them for, I'm sure I will be able to work out something in 7tv or EotD for them.

Project Jutland - The Podcast

A few weeks back I had the pleasure of chatting with Andy and Greg from the Man Battlestations site based in the US for about an hour about Project Jutland and Naval Gaming in general. It was great fun speaking with the guys and the podcast has come out great. Click on the link below and have a listen, I am on after about 30 minutes. 

http://www.manbattlestations.com/blog/2016/11/09/episode-12/

If you haven't come across Man Battlestations before the guys run a cracking site on which they cover all manner of Naval matters from Historical to Fantasy to Space based games. There is a monthly podcast a blog and a forum to look at on the site so get down there and check it out.

1/2400 HMS Courageous 1917

With the madness of Project Jutland over I wasn't able to go cold turkey and just suddenly stop my 1/2400 WW1 ships habit, medically it would be dangerous !

So with reference material to hand I selected a number of ships to supplement the Jutland collection. There are a few Dreadnoughts who weren't present due to mechanical issues plus the ships which entered service afterwards.

HMS Courageous is one of those ships along with her "sisters" Furious and Glorious which was high on my list of wants. I picked up this GHQ model on a recent visit to Wargames Emporium in Sheffield.

It was an interesting painting phase on this, firstly it wasn't in a batch of twenty or so ships as I had done with the Jutland work, this was on its own. I also decided after some help from people on the net to have steel grey decks on the ship, apparently wood decks weren't fitted to save weight. The overall look therefore is a bit different to my previous fare.

Completed in November 1916 she was classed as a Cruiser but was really an attempt to push the high speed low armour Battlecruiser idea to its absolute limit. Armed with 4 x 15" guns she could definitely pack a punch and with a top speed of 32 knots Courageous was a full 11 knots faster than the battle line and 7 knots faster than the "fast" Battleships of the Queen Elizabeth Class.

But there was a down side and that was armour, effectively she was somewhere between an Armoured Cruiser and a light Cruiser, the 3" belt armour would stop the water getting in but not much else.

She saw action in the second Battle of Helgoland Blight in late 1917 and certainly adds a different dimension to WW1 Naval games, I look forward to seeing her in action.

I currently have Ark Royal and an Armed Merchant Cruiser in the ship yard and plan to finish off a ship every couple of weeks or so to get myself off the habit.

It's the WW1 Gaming Event at the Armouries this weekend so I might see you there.

Project Jutland - A Grand Day Out

FIASCO Leeds Royal Armouries 2016

SMS Derfflinger in action.

A quick update on the Project as this week saw the first public outing for the game, my local wargames club in Leeds has run the FIASCO show for many years and it seemed like the perfect place to get all the models on the table for the first time, after all most of the committee have been involved in the playtesting at some stage getting a table wasn't going to be an issue.

There was never any real intent to game the action on the day, club members are busy with various bits and pieces during the course of the show so dedicating time to rolling dice would be a bit difficult.

I had ironed the cloths before hand but that and an uneven table weren't ideal, we also had an issue with our projector which didn't work as we would like as it was too bright in the corner we were in but Soldier on we did.

The table is 8 Foot wide at the flag end and then 12 ft deep before a 12 ft x 4ft end T to allow the end of the German line to fit on. Even with this size of table there wasn't much space left, you can see how close some of the British Ships are to this end and the rear of the German line was 3cm from the far corner.

The set up was based on the above map showing the Fleets at 18.30 just as the big guns opened up prior to the first turn away by Scheer, it's the best time for getting the maximum amount of ships on the table on the table at one time. Queen Mary and Indy sadly stayed in the box so their are just 248 ships on the table.

The 5 Minute Fleet hoping it doesn't see action

Our gunnery ground scale is 1cm = 125 yards and with Marlborough opening fire at 13000 yards this is how the actual game will look. With visibility being a key factor in the refight we can afford to flatten the T out to make a 18 x 8 game for the attempt at this action. It will mean about half of the German High Seas Fleet will start off table but as it can't be seen anyway it's not really an issue.

We had lots of people come up and chat about various aspects of the game. It was great to talk to people who had followed the progress of the Project on this blog, I think there was only about 20 minutes in the day when I wasn't chatting to someone. I did notice a few people who came up whilst I was mid conversation and my apologies to those I didn't get to speak to.

British Line

German Line

So next time out it will get "for real", back at the Royal Armouries for their WW1 gaming weekend where we will be hoping to do some gaming ! If your around come and say hello.