Thursday, 6 February 2025

Goodbye to all that.

 Well, I saw my lovely English Civil War armies leave my control last weekend. It was a real struggle, but needs must. Actually, that's not strictly true, but it seemed the sensible thing to do and thin out my collections.

 They weren't getting much use and I couldn't justify painting new armies, ie Trojan armies when I wasn't using the armies I already had. Anyway, it's done now. So move on quickly. I know they have gone to a good home and will be well looked after.

I hadn't been well, yet again but had to travel to the York show to hand over the armies. A promise is a promise. So I took down some other stuff, ie. painted figures used in Xenos Rampant to also sell, killing two birds with one stone as it were. I will admit it was a struggle and I had a wobble on a couple of times, although that me down to bumping into the Westerhope posse. Imagine a nasty gang in balaclavas and you will know what I mean. 

I sold the figures before I even got them on the table.

 York was a strange show in many respects. Granted I wasn't firing on full cylinders but it was different. Numbers were definitely down on other years. Trade stands were certainly down in numbers, although talking to Dave Thomas he said he had been very busy and actually cracked a smile.

York was never a show about top-quality games. For me, it was about being the first big wargame show of the year and buying stuff. However, Ken from Yarkshire Wargames was there with his lovely Italian Wars stuff, which was good to see. I never took in the other games to be honest. But I will say the gents from the York club had definitely improved the smooth entry to the show, so very little queuing was involved. 

What I also noticed was the tabletop sales area. Usually at York this is mobbed. There is always a large number of people selling stuff. This year? Not so much.I know the lads from York had clamped down on traders exploiting the tabletop sales area, so that might be it, but again it was a lot quieter.

I dont think you can draw too many conclusions from this year's show. It could be less money, it could be people were put off by previous years of mass numbers, I think it was just one of them things. Still I survived the day out, talked the legs off a few poor wargamers and was tucked up in bed by 4.00pm. Wargamers,we lead wild lives. 


 

Saturday, 18 January 2025

A once in a lifetime sale.

 I have too many armies. I admit it. Something has to give before my joists do. So I intend to sell my English Civil War collection. Sadly it isnt being used and probably never will. I expended a lot of love creating both sides of the conflict but on top of that, I wanted to create the armies that John and I used in the 1980's.

                                       Like most projects I do I went over board with numbers.
There are 936 infantry and 328 cavalry. Naturally, there are a lot of commanders and artillery pieces. I also painted up a couple of regiments of peasants and will include them for free. I will also throw the guns and commanders in for free. The majority of the figures are Hinchliffe, naturally, but there are smaller numbers of Mini Figs, Garrison Miniatures and the odd figure from Eagle Miniatures. Additionally, I managed to source a couple of foot regiments owned by the late great Stuart Asquith.  
I am not giving them away, well apart from the peasants, generals and guns but would like a reasonable return on the figures. That means a fair price. So if anyone would like to contact me, lets see if we can come to an acceptable agreement.   
I will be attending the York Wargames Show unless the weather strikes again, which would be a great time to talk through a deal



















                Foremost figures are probably still the best for animation.

                                                      Lovely Hinchliffe goodies.









                              These peasants will be free, something you rarely get nowadays.



                                                                  Mini Figs. 



Thursday, 2 January 2025

Good Riddance 2024. Please let 2025 be a much better year.

                          Good Riddance 2024. Please let 2025 be a much better year. 

Usually, I would write a decent review, well I think so of the year that was going. But in a lot of respects, it would be a pretty miserable and negative thing and that's one thing we definitely don't need.

   One can only hope things are a lot more positive this year. However, in 2024 there were two great sets of wargame rules released. One was the Never Mind the Billhooks supplement, Fantasia which I have really enjoyed, especially building a large old-school fantasy army. And then we saw the release of MIDGUARD, written by James Morris. I knew they would be good after talking to James several years ago, and they are for so many reasons. They are fun, very playable and offer some great opportunities for wargamers to use obscure armies. Yes, that includes me. I have always wanted an excuse to game the Trojan Wars and Midguard is perfect. 

 The painting of these armies will take longer than usual, courtesy of my back, but I refuse to give in to the damned thing. I will get there. The figures I am using are naturally the lovely range from Redoubt Miniatures and because of James Morris, I invested in a few Lucid Eye figures, which my wife bought me for Christmas. Luckily there was a great sale before Christmas so I could choose a few extra figures.

  I know it's the New Year but I will not be making any promises, predictions or new resolutions that will never come to fruition. I've let myself down so many times that it's pointless saying I will do this or that, knowing full well I won't. 

I do hope to intend more wargame shows this year, starting with York, naturally, well unless the sky falls in again like Middlesbrough. So this is the briefest of reviews, sorry.

I saw this image and it reminded me of yesterday afternoon when I finally got to have a decent drink. Sadly there was no semi-naked dwarf, but there were some very strange apparitions thank God. Because of illness, all Christmas plans were cancelled, so I had to make up for a lot of enjoyment in one afternoon.

My 6mm Napoleonic set up.

My 6mm Napoleonic set up.
Austria 1809.

Austrian Hussars

Austrian Hussars
Hinchliffe figures

Austrian Grenzer

Austrian Grenzer
Austrian Grenzer

Smoggycon 2013

Smoggycon 2013
Smoggycon 2013

Smoggycon 2012

Smoggycon 2012
Smoggycon 2012

Smoogycon 2009

Smoogycon 2009
My French getting another beating