This is the record of a few projects, obsessions and other works-in-progress. Over time, expect to see history, pseudo-history, fantasy and science fiction. It might keep me on track (no promises!), it’ll offset my rubbish memory (just how did I create that shade of blue?), and hopefully it’ll be interesting to others. This blog started in 2021, […]
Violent Vegetation and Fearsome Fungi
Maritime May has started: figures are being cleaned, based and primed. First, though, I need to clear the decks (appropriately enough). As an aside: this post should have gone out at the very end of April, but was delayed by some building work around Chateau de Syllabub. (Should any goody-goody superheroes or suave British secret […]
More Planning Applications
This post picks up where A Matter of Town Planning left off. By the end of the Comments section, I’d pretty much talked myself into repainting the rendering on the two remaining Conflix buildings. Here they are in the header image above. It’s not that obvious from the photo, but I’ve applied a pinkish wash to the “Merchant’s House” (the […]
Salute 2024
Saturday saw the 51st “Salute”, the South London Warlords‘ annual show, at ExCel in London. Four of us rose at an unprintable hour, and were in the queue in plenty of time before the doors opened. The queue didn’t disappoint: even 30 mins before the published start time, it already snaked back and forward multiple […]
Good Enough to Eat
Several gamers have already written about miniatures that defy the usual warnings against putting them in one’s mouth. See, for instance, Arthur and Charlotte Harman’s articles on edible casualty figures and scenery. [1] I’d expected that people would have written related pieces on using the figures themselves for gaming… but drew a blank. In an attempt […]
A Matter of Town Planning
This is a slightly odd post – odder than usual – because most of the work is being done by other people. (The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that this a great concept! 🙂 ) The 28mm buildings in this post are all from the Conflix range by Bachmann. I’d seen […]
Bardic Reinforcements
Warlord Games‘ flag sheet handily includes a second pair of ensigns for Sir Henry Bard’s Regiment of Foot, so that determined which unit I’d paint next. (On this monitor, the uniforms are looking quite blue-ish; they’re somewhat greyer in reality). The approach was the same as before, if a little slicker this time. Each of […]
“Suspicious Shadow Sighting”
From the private memoirs of Colonel Charles Carruthers, Mummerset Light Infantry (“The Scrumpers”), Fort Syllabub, 18xx. “The revolt by the Rumpi Shah couldn’t have come at a worse time – not that there’s ever a good time for such things. Even without Lt Holdingham-Back playing hide-and-seek with the locals, Fort Syllabub’s garrison was severely understrength. […]
2023 Retrospective and 2024 Plans
Happy New Year! This is the 3rd annual Retrospective – it must be a Tradition by now! It’s unlikely that my predictions for 2024 will be any less fanciful than those for previous years… but we’ll start with 2023. This time last year, I was celebrating the return of regular wargames shows, battlefield walks etc. […]
“Honey, I Shrunk the Bard!”
Last year, I posted about my progress in painting a unit of Sir Henry Bard’s ill-fated infantry in 28mm for the ECW/BCW. With an “Epic Pike & Shotte” starter box in front of me, absolutely rammed full of sprues, I thought I’d begin with replicating that unit – a solid block of pike, with two […]
Where Gribblies Dare (part 2)
I did wonder whether this should be titled “Consumed by Gribblies?“, since it’s the first post for a while. The break has been for largely mundane reasons – and there was a similar hiatus last year. Hmm… Most recent painting has been at 1:1 scale, for instance. I’ve also been reacquainting myself with my garden. […]
Despatches from Fort Syllabub 