The figures keep coming.

I am determined to shrink my metal mountain,by hook or by crook.
 So the last couple of weeks I have tried to be more disciplined in my painting,and it seems to have paid off.I have finally finished my Jackdaw French Guard unit,seperate arms and all.
 I found these a bit hard to paint,but I do like them.
 I also dashed of a unit of the Hanoverian British legion,and also I repainted a unit of Hinchliffe Austrians,that I picked up a while ago. The figures were cheap at a pound a painted casting,and now that I have touched them up they look pretty decent. The Jackdaw figures are so big that I couldnt fit six figures on the base, but I like the irregular look, the French guard,werent the best when it came to dressing,during the Seven Years War

  

I also did a few of the Jackdaw British personalities, and after buying some Foremost horses, I painted my Imaginary! Duke,resplendant in the yellow of his ducal arms.

After checking my painted units,and the metal mountain I have decided to concentrate on mounted units,as I am a bit light of these. These chaps are Jackdaw French Dragoon types,again big figures,but full of life.

Finally I have been painting casuality bases to stand behind the units, these bases are really good value at 60 pence a base,with the casuality numbers going up to 12,so plenty of scope for slaughter.

So all in all a fairly productive month,just another half ton to paint,before this project is completed.

I am mainly watching;

I am currently cat sitting,so between eating copious amounts of chocolate,and swilling tea, I thought I would take time out to watch my latest dvd purchase, 1612.
 This film is a Russian film about the Time of Troubles, prior to the start of the Romanov dynasty.
 It is in Russian,with sub titles, but strangely I thought it added to the film.
 I got a tad confused about the hero's ability to go from downtrodden serf,to Spanish speaking warrior,
 [ but remember Orlando Bloom in that crusader film] and I must admit I liked the film.
 This film is a 15 rated, god knows how, the scenes of gore are pretty graphic,especially the scene where our hero discovers chain shot.
 On the record, I love Polish winged lancers ever since Taras Bulba ,and this film has got them in respectable quantities. The costumes are pretty accurate, and the battle scenes are well done.
 If you need a bit of Renaissance encouragement,this film is worth a punt at £6.00, thats about 4 Foundry figures,by my reckoning. 

Monday was my birthday..

My birthday was on Monday,I wont say how old I am, but the clue is in the amount of nasal hair I can now grow.Anyway to celebrate that,my wifes' birthday and the house warming we held a party at the weekend.
Invited was various people from numerous walks of life. The interesting thing for me,was the reaction from the male guests,when they entered my war games room.

Ive been very protective over the years of my hobby. I have always worked in what are perceived as macho type jobs,and the last thing I needed was some smart alec remarks from some co worker,which would have inevitably led to problems. As I have matured I am less circumspect,and frankly don't really mind anymore.

 Anyway,it was interesting to see the reactions from people,questions such as,how do you play,what are these chaps,how do you paint them,etc,etc.
To be fair even taking into account simple politeness,the reaction was good.
My point is, war gamers don't spread the word sufficiently enough anymore about the hobby.
Years ago, I staged an exhibition in my local library,in the hope it would drum up interest,the mistake I made was it was a static exhibition. Needed is someone to be present to take questions,and generally drum up support.
 I would argue that there are a lot of people out there who are looking for a hobby,but there is very little information about to point them in the direction of wargaming.Oh sure there are several magazines,how many people know that. There are still a fair number of shows,but who are aware of them,only wargamers I would argue.
 Anyway,I received some nice presents for my birthday,most importantly a regiment of Stadden Prussian Grenadiers,and what giants they are.I cant wait to paint these fellows.
I also received Dr Summerfield's The Saxon Army in the Seven Years War. What a cracking book this is.
 I have always had a soft spot for the Saxons throughout their troubled history,from the Great Northern war to the Napoleonic wars. This book is full of beautiful plates of the army,and shows the various uniforms adopted by the army from the mid 1700's onwards.Well recommended.