Death warmed up anyone?

 Well I completed these chaps this morning even though I feel like death warmed up. They represent the 69th New York who were famous? for taking their boots off before a fight to relive what their ancestors used to do. From experience I wouldn't recommend it. Some sneaky rebel just has to stamp on your foot to scupper your intentions. Nasty......

 They were a pleasure to paint. Given the current shopping situation I should have foreseen buying a couple of plastic storage boxes, I slipped up there.Unfortunately since both myself and my wife are  definitely under the weather so I cant expect her to get me a new storage box anytime soon.

On a more positive note, several months ago I was very lucky to buy some unpainted Mini Figs that had belonged to Eric Knowles who was one of our first generation wargamers from the early 1950's. Yes they are a tad stiff looking but I like the simplicity of the sculpts and hope Eric is looking down from Wargamers Valhalla and approves the look of the regiment. They are part of Newcastle's Whitecoats. I only wish I knew which regiment contained the miners from County Durham that fought at Marston Moor and never came back from the battle. It would be nice to have a little back story for some of the units.There is something very poignant if you have a little bit of a historical link to a unit in ones army albeit a very tenuous one. 

Anyway I appear to be sweating up again, so time for a very hot toddy and a handful of paracetamol.Luckily I was able to stockpile a few bottles of whiskey. Keep safe and keep washing those hands.

Lists, lists and more er,... lists.

 I think most people living in the UK will be feeling a bit like me, which is unusual given how I always feel out of step with the majority. Basically the whole virus thing is quite surreal and dreamlike but in a bad way. Ive been in isolation for 8 days now following my return from London in an effort to be a good citizen and because Im in a high risk group. Who would have thought insanity was high risk. [sorry just a bad joke really]

 Anyway like all good wargamers I've set myself a list of tasks to complete in the hope that the country will be recovered after Ive completed them. Ignoring my garden list and my writing list I will concentrate on my wargaming list. Initially I was just aiming to paint up the odd unit as fillers for my armies but as the reality has seeped in I've expanded that to include terrain, additional units and eventually a new small project, except I am waiting for the figures to be released.

 I would imagine a lot of wargamers will be trawling the internet looking for things to paint [ amazing how one ignores painting the odd room] I picked up a painted unit of Mini Fig renaissance crossbowmen which I repainted and added to to create a unit of Gascon crossbowmen. A lifetime ago John had a similar unit which I always admired, mine aren't as good as that but the figures are still very nice.

 I also purchased a badly painted ECW regiment which I have repainted as a Tower Hamlets regiment, yes its a bright red and not a brick red, but they would have looked right if they had been in the Alec Guinness film.

 As regards terrain. At probably the last wargame show I will attend in 2020, I bought three large hills from the Tree Fellas. They were a fair price but the wrong colour for my table, so I re did them as well. Finally I picked up a lovely renaissance tower which I touched up. The creator lavished a lot of love on the building which was scratch built. If my wife was to stand about for any length of time she'd probably get a coat of paint as well.

 The moral of the story is, keep busy where possible. A bit of advice I was given many years ago by an ex con was concentrate on one day at a time and ideally focus on one hour at a time if possible. Dont think about the months because time will drag. So using an old cliche, one step at a time my friends, and remember there are a lot of poor people a lot worse off than you and your toys.

That bloody virus thing, discuss.

 I havent posted for several weeks which was a deliberate choice. Sometimes one feels pressured to write 'something,' anything really to prove one is still in the game.Frankly I didnt feel I had anything that was relevant to say so basically got on with wargaming ie playing a wargame each week and some really great fun was had albeit very bloodily fought affairs.

     Anyway  I now feel I should put pen or keyboard to print. This weekend has been a series of disappointments beyond ones control due of course to the Armageddon that is reported as Corona-virus. I was due to enjoy a weekend of quality music in London but inevitably due to the said virus the whole thing was postponed. This was followed by the postponement of my long planned trip to India, well its been reported as a postponement by the travel company when in reality it is a cancellation but they refuse to use that term due to the financial implications of such a decision. Im not complaining and one should simply accept this as a minor price to pay for ones reported potential death as portrayed by all forms of the media.

 What does worry me is the potential effect on wargaming in general. We are in the main a graying hobby and lets be brutally honest there a lot of wargamers who really arent that fit and I dont just mean the veterans. There are a lot of younger wargamers who struggle to see their feet never mind tie their shoelaces. All are potential victims of the said virus. So I can foresee a cancellation of all major shows which are a great source of pleasure for me, second only to actually wargaming itself.

Witnessing how Europe is tackling? the crisis I can see 2020 being a very long year with few pleasures, a bit like I imagine life was in Cromwellian England. So I think there will be more painting activity and less reports of shows for a long time. On a brighter point I have been pottering away with various painting projects albeit varied and basically filling out some bits of my armies.

 This artillery piece and crew is an interesting piece [well for me it is] I purchased this badly painted item from E Bay and began repainting the crew. One figure I immediately recognised as a Warrior figure but the other three crewmen I cant identify. They are lead and whilst a little crude they do possess a lot of charm. The best discovery was the actual gun itself which is handmade from balsa and tin with commercial wheels and a plastic barrel. It is a lovely thing and someone expended a lot of skill creating the carriage and wrapping it carefully in thin strips of tin. I hope the maker is still alive because I would like to thank the person who made such a lovely thing.

 Which leads me onto this foot regiment hat I also purchased from E Bay. Again the figures are lead and are exactly 25mm tall. I have no idea who made them but once repainted I love them even though no civil war regiment would have ever been that well dressed. I have flagged them as Taylor's Royalist regiment. They looked very cavalier-like to me and exactly how I would have expected Hollywood to depict the troops. No doubt they will fare badly at their first outing.

 The Mini Fig officer was a rider that John gave me out of his spares box. He was part painted by him in the early 1980's and deserved promotion to a general officer with a command rating of eight.