Yet Another New Trick For An Old Dog.

I've started to notice I was having problems painting figures in the evening even with my desk lamp  , I usually paint in the morning benefiting from the better light but with the British weather especially at this time of year I was having to use my table top lamp to see properly . I was talking to my brother in law who ties flies for fishing and he has used a magnifying glass/lamp for years and swears by it ! . Now I have tried one before and couldn't  use it with any success , he suggested I needed one of the modern generation lamps so I had a look on EBay and Amazon . He had cautioned not to get a small one , so I ended up ordering one with a 120mm lens .

The lamp arrived very quickly and needed no construction ,  the base clamping to the work surface with a 'G' clamp . I must admit it took a while to get the arm set up in the right position for me to focus and co ordinate the paint brush , but  I'm rather impressed with it and the lamp is one of those 'day light' bulbs which helps a lot , I'll report back with how it's going .

Christmas Goodies.

Well I've weathered Christmas - had a grand time in Derby with my wife's sisters and families , lots of food, drink and joviality . I got mainly 'useful' presents such as new walking boots ,tee shirts , socks etc . I did however purchase the above rules for myself - they are the 'Arthurian' version of Songs Of Blades And Heroes and they may be the way to get my 28mm figures employed , I'll hopefully get around to reading them this weekend .

The other thing was a  total self indulgence ! - 'Mars Attack' - it was on offer at half price from 'Mantic Games' (£24) - so I couldn't resist it ! . I have had a quick look through the rules which look fun and simple , so I can't wait to have a go with it .

The game is based on the 1996 Sci-Fi comedy film by Tim Burton (which got mixed reviews , but I though  not bad )which took as it's inspiration the 1960's bubble gum collectible cards.

I can remember collecting these whilst at my Secondary School - you know the sort of thing - you got a chunk of hideously pink bubble gum and about three card (think there was about fifty in the series) which you had to swap with your mates to get a full set .

The big selling point to us lads was the graphic violence , however the school banded the cards as too horrific - (remember dear readers this was another age) and all cards found in school were confiscated, so trading of them had to be done off campus . I don't think I ever got the full set . I'm not sure if I'll bother to paint the figures , but will get some photos of them to put on the blog soon . 

A Merry Christmas To All !

Season's greetings to all in 'bloggerland' !.

A Skulking Way Of War.

I haven't got all the figures paint yet for this project but I decided to have a go with what I have ready. The British force - Captain Morgan and 8 men of the 60th Royal Americans , Lt Featherstone with 6 men of Gage's Light Infantry and 4 frontiersmen .

The French force - Captain Camembert  and 8 men of the Regiment Rousillon and 13 Red Indian allies. The French mission is to get half their force from one side of the board to the other , the British is to prevent this.

The Royal Americans under Capt. Morgan advance through the heavily wooded terrain . As I was playing solo I diced for the entry positions of the various groups and drew cards - red for British , black for the French to activate the units .

Two of the Frontiersmen creep forward cautiously .

The British fire a volley at some hidden Frenchmen - killing one .

The Redskins dash forward to break through the British line .

The 'Long Carbine' speaks !

A quick update on my wet palette , it seems to be working very well and apart from a accidental spillage of grey paint is very satisfactory . The only thing I've noticed is that certain colours ( mainly metallic )seem to need stirring as the pigments separate somewhat .

Another New Trick For An Old Dog.

I've heard of a 'wet pallet ' but had no idea what it was till I saw a video on You Tube explaining it , it's a method for stopping your acrylic paint drying out and even keeping it moist over several weeks ! . Now we know how quickly acrylic paint dries out on a ordinary pallet and I find I have to keep topping up my paint over a painting session several times and I probably waste as much paint as I use . So I thought I must have a go at this - you can buy 'wet pallets' from the art/craft bit of EBay but they are rather large and quite expensive , on the video the chap makes one out of a Tupperware box , kitchen roll and some baking parchment . I couldn't find baking parchment at my local supermarket , so I ordered a 'wet pallet' refill from EBay  for about £4 which has some of the absorbent paper and parchment . I pinched a small Tupperware tub from out camping equipment (hopefully my wife will not notice ) cut the sheets to size added some water to soak into the bottom layer - tipped out the excess and laid the parchment paper on top , I them added my blobs of paint as above .

When your finished you fit the airtight lid and I'm reliably informed the paint remains usable -  you top up the water now and again . The figures are 10mm AWI Hessians for scale , I will report back how this experiment works . The video is -

https://youtu.be/96mjmqWTPfM?t=6s

Playsheet for 'Close Wars'.

Hope this makes sense - not a lot to them .

Wargaming Humour No.32

The Author ( distinguished by his grey beard ) tries  to explain Old School gaming to the younger generation . (print found on the web)