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.