100 blog posts!!! What are you going to get out of this?

Well, this is the big 1-0-0! 

100 blog posts.

... ok well actually this is going to be a REALLY short Blog Post :D

To give myself a reason to pat myself on the back for reaching this milestone I thought I would offer my services to the community.

So, I've decided to do this:

In one week after this post goes live (so the 30th October) I'm going to put the names of every one of my 'followers' (that's those who have chosen to follow my posts) into a hat and I'm going to draw a random name.

I am then going to offer that person my services to paint one unit of any scale. 

It may be a regiment of Napoleonic Infantry, it may be a Chaos warband, it doesn't matter to me what it is. You will send me the figures and I will paint, package and send them right back. 

The only caveat that I will make is that the troops must have a uniform look and not be a collection of individual pieces of art such as Games Workshop Grail Knights that all have their own costume designs completed by the V&A Museum staff!

I really felt that I wanted to give something back a bit because I really appreciate the experience that I have had through this blog and the social media communities that it has helped me be a part of. 

When I started this back in 2015 I thought that it just may be nice to have somewhere to record all of my colour schemes that I was using in my various armies but for me its become a lot more than that.

Over time I have made friends (albeit social media only) through my blog and it has helped put me in touch with a lot of people I thoroughly enjoy talking to who I otherwise would not have had the chance to talk to at all.

Ive met some great people like Johnnie and Kevin from the Flames of War Painting Group and Mark from House of Hengist and Achtung Panzer, Ljevid from Dropzone Commander and a lot more besides.

Now I think I probably get a lot more value from all of you than you probably get from me so I think I should in some way try to thank you all for being a part of this journey that I've been on.

Long story short: Follow my blog and in a weeks time you will be put into a 'prize draw' to take a little painting weight off of your shoulders... if you think you would like to of course. If you don't want to make use of my services I will certainly not hold it against you :D

Why do we do it to ourselves?

Thats a question that could (and probably will) open up a whole can of worms for a lot of people out there!

On the surface to an outsider we are a group of people who spend far too much of our lives immersed in alternate realities and/or events of the past and not enough time living in the real world...

She who must be obeyed hates that this is my hobby, ney; my raison d'etre! She resents the space that all of my gear takes up (and she hasn't even experienced the mountain of stuff I have in storage yet). She hates the time that it takes out of my day and resents that even when I'm not 'doing it' I'm spending my time thinking about it, slowly forcing her into a waking coma by caving in her eardrums banging on about 'it'.

In truth I think that most of my girlfriends from my past have had similar feelings.

...and I couldn't care less!

Contentious huh? Let me explain:

Roxi is probably one of the best things that has ever happened to me, providing more stability in a very stormy life than I have ever known. Every day that I get up I expect to find her kneeling down, sporting a wimpole, hands clasped together in prayer, desperate for relief! She actually does have the patience of a saint (I should probably qualify this point by highlighting the fact that based on the never ending conflicts that the Vatican state has found itself in with all manner of European powers through the ages, it seems to be very clear that Saintly patience is at best a cosmetic slap on to the deeper truths of power and greed!). I am lucky to have a partner who, even when hating what I do, more often than not leaves me in peace to attack my relentless list of self imposed deadlines without being stupid enough to get in the way of this flagellation.

There seems to be an issue of allegiance here; the Confederacy or Cymru? You decide!

When all is said and done however, history and wargaming are such an integral part of my character that if these two elements were stripped away I'm really not sure there would be much left behind that would be worth talking about (and its an obvious point that most human beings don't think that history and wargaming are worth talking about). I think I would probably end up being defined by my job, and whilst I love what I do for work (engineering on the railways) I am a staunch egotist when I state that there is more to this book than its cover! I would always rather talk about a tank than a train!

Just having an interest in models and/or history is not enough however. Just a passing interest does not, a wargames fanatic make! I would like to submit to you, the audience, that this particular cross that needs to be carried requires an addictive personality (Roxi keeps resolutely informing me that I have 'a problem' and that I need to go and seek specialist help!?!?!?) and a character predisposed to forming habits...

A Great looking Great War game going Great guns!

Whatever the reasons I am now deeply obsessed with completing painting and modelling projects, spend my waking hours reading, watching, digesting anything related to pushing pointy objects into soft things that breath or else blowing things up!

One of the things that really reinforces this love of history, well for me anyway, is keeping tabs on what others in the gaming community are doing. I love seeing what other people are painting, and talking to them about it. I love getting asked questions about what I am doing and sharing how I do things. Its a remarkably satisfying thing to have this self affirming and mutually reinforcing community packed with individuals, male and female, young and old who you may never even meet, but through social networking have a modus vivendi whereby you always have a wide and deep resource of knowledge that you can tap at any hour of the day.

Nice!

But still it is not enough. If the limits of our experiences were based on what I have said then wargames would be crammed with accountants and clerks, pushing numbers around a piece of paper and congratulating themselves on a good algorithm well done! Fuck that!!!!

There are a lot of facets to a love of wargaming. The aesthetics, the statistical probabilities, the technical innovations of the eras and/or genres and of course the raw competition of pitting yourself against others, but these on their own I do not believe are enough to keep us all coming back and flaying ourselves on the altar of wannabe warfare.

No caption needed!  Dougie Howser MD says it all!

So just what is is that keeps us all coming back to this?

Story...

Narrative...

The Tales of what happened...

They say that the history of warfare is the history of man. Story is, I believe, the greatest gift that the human race ever gave to itself. We know people, or as well as we can do, because of stories that are passed on down.

For me personally, story is probably the single iron rod at the core of my personality. I am obsessed with it. How to structure one, how to tell one and how to receive one. What works and what doesn't. A 10 year career in the film industry before leaving in disgust at many of the people I had met had at its most fundamental base a love, ney an all consuming obsession, with the method by which good stories are told.

How to tell a good story digitally...

Storytelling is some of my earliest memories with my mother reading me books such as Gullivers Travels and the Three Musketeers. The Hobbit was the first book I ever read on my own when I was four and starting to write and illustrate my own stories from a year earlier.

I even piss Roxi off by refusing to turn off bad films as I feel a story that has been laboured over, no matter how bad, deserves the opportunity to finish once started.

I love EVERYTHING story related...

... and it is at this point I would like to introduce you all to House of Hengist Comics, and their secondary site Achtung Panzer!

Their titular head Mark Landymore put this group together a couple of years ago with the express purpose of telling the story of the Second World War through war gaming but by focussing on the narrative dimension of gaming as opposed to concentrating on 'equal points' etc etc. Largely inspired by the 40-something generation cornerstone; Commando Comics this pulp history has provided a VERY fertile garden of possible stories all surrounding the events of the Second World War.

Now THATS what Im talking about!!!!

I came across these guys when I was drowning in Polish as they had just started their magnum opus with each battle they fought highlighting a different part of the Polish campaign.

Their methodology has evolved since then with news reports being given, introductory videos to the next battle and what actually happened in history.

A photo from one of Hengist's games with a motley rabble bulldozing their way through a checkpoint!

Its a committed process demanding of its players BUT I believe that THIS is the way forwards for wargaming if we want to keep attracting new blood to wargames market.

Every one of their videos I watch drooling about what they are doing wishing that I could be a part of it.

The videos may not be professional level quality with a lot of rough edges, but these 'flaws' only add to their charm.

You should all head over to their channel and start following the story of the Second World War. It will inspire you to achieve and create.

House of Hengist Battle Reports

You are, remember, only human!

P.S Pack a bayonet for personal use!

...because sometimes, an artist just wants MORE paints!!!!

The entire new paint collection in all its heady glory!

I have been painting miniatures and models for almost 30 years... give or take a 7 year hiatus at the start of my 30's

One would have thought that by now I would be toting the same quality painted miniatures as Mike McVey himself but no. For me, the ability to paint at that level just isnt attractive to me. What really ticks my boxes is producing entire armies of miniatures that are just good enough to draw the eye and get people talking. 

Im satisfied with this.

However I am a bit funny about the quality of what I will paint and what I will paint with. I really have a snobby attitude to poor quality product!

Some people drink, some do drugs, some are into travel, some follow footballers and some others are into some proper weird pursuits. For me, its paints! I would rather paint than do almost anything else in life.

Anyway, so to cut a long story short I was sitting at my desk wrestling with another Zulu regiment (have I mentioned by the way how much I hate painting these little bastards?) and I said to myself 'Self; you need more paints!'

There is just so much out there now to play with and try stuff out that I decided to grab a load of stuff for the projects that I have on the drawing board so let me take you around my latest purchases:

German Armour Colour Combo triples 1937-1945

 As anybody who reads my blogs or is forced to listen to my relentless rambling about my collections will know, the next big army on the drawing board is my Slovakian Army 1939 - 1941. Backing up this all too small Axis power however is my ever expanding German army.

Has any of this been painted yet? Not a bit of it by God!

My interest is the early war period and in line with this the right hand colour combo is for the early war German vehicles. The Late War German Colour combos however are almost perfect for two projects on the board. Primarily the colours are almost perfect for Slovakian armour with one substitution. The Dunkelgelb will have to go and I havent decided what I will replace it with yet. 

It occurs to me however that these three colours would be perfect for my Fallschirmjager splittertarnmuster... time will tell! 

ummm... yup! Clear doped linen!

 I havent been able to reach my Napoleonic French naval squadron this year, and in any case I want to partner this project up with learning how to photoetch brass so that I can put deck crews onto these 1/1200 ships but as is my usual want I ruminate on these projects long long loooooooong in advance working through issues and problems to find potential solutions.

One of the problems I have with my previous napoleonic naval ships is the sails and the decks. I liked them 10 years ago when I did them but now I just think they look shite! 

So I figured that along with my other weathering and tinting products I would try the colours for Clear Doped Linen along with another couple of other steps I'll let you in on in a further post.

A couple of loose paints and a thinner to try out...

 One of the things that is a constant source of irritation for me is the way pigments group together when diluted with water too heavily causing tide marks and such like. I've tried other solvents like Flow Release but have had little joy. I just wanted to have a bash using a high quality thinner specifically for fine grade pigments and see if I get any joy... haven't decided what to try this on yet though. :D

The two loose paints are linked to my Slovakian project. The uniforms are very similar to my Polish army's khaki green but I need a way to differentiate between the two forces and photos of modern reenactors show a somewhat greener cast to the uniforms than illustrations in books show. I figured that an adjustment in the filter used along with a highlight of a slightly lighter and greener colour may provide what it is Im looking for. You guys will get to see the results of this experiment all too soon, Zulus notwithstanding.

German Panzer Grey paint set.

 The other German Panzer paint set is a limited three paint collection. For most uses this may be fine and dandy at 15mm, however if I'm not satisfied with the results I wanted something that would enable me to really open up with the big guns. If it doesn't go right with three paints and I cant get it right with six something has gone desperately wrong!

German Field Grey Uniforms Paint Set

 I have a bucket of German infantry now and some of the German infantry I've seen painted up on the Flames of War Painting Group has really set a standard for me so rather than continually tunnelling through 250+ paints that I have I thought I would just buy a decent set of tailor made paints that I could deploy every time I need a Field Grey set of clothing...

Weathering powders, pigments, filters and washes...

 For the last 2 years I have been building up my ideas and plans for a batch of Dropzone Commander scenery and I anticipate that by next year I should have enough space in my office to be able to actually store it all.

The scenery project I have planned is very dystopian which just ticks so many of my boxes I'm not actually sure there is a word for the pleasure it will give me.

This means that rampant verdant arboreal growth and decrepit and derelict vehicles and human detritus are the way forwards.

I have rather a lot of stuff in a couple of boxes that should, by now, provide me with almost everything I need to create convincing mini-vignettes of an old human dystopian city-scape...

These two medium sets are just icing on the cake...

Uniform Definition Filters

 When I started out painting my Polish army way back in the day I was never completely happy with the colours that I was achieving... until I took a punt and put a Filter over the figures. This figure literally transformed the colour to an almost perfect recreation of the Polish uniform colour from 1939, on top of which after a bit of experimentation with thinning the Filter, how much to wipe off and leave on I was also able to balance the colour with the figure definition that I was achieving. Now I'm satisfied with the fact that my Obrona Narodowa are probably some of the best 15mm WW2 figures I've ever painted.

Uniform filters it would seem are the way to go. As I am not yet decided on which colours to use on my Slovaks I decided to take a chance with this Uniform Filter set. It provides two different colours with one of the colours (the brown) in two different strengths. This should give me enough alternatives to nail the uniforms the way that I want them to be.

Old & Weathered Wood Volumes 1 and 2, and the Realistic Wood Effects book

Last but not least, it should be said that at the start of the year I set myself a ridiculous amount of tasks to complete this year. By year end I will, with some confidence, be able to say that I failed in this.

However this is in no small part due to the fact that I just cant seem to put my Polish army to one side and in line with this sad state of affairs I have been so pleased with my Obrona Narodowa platoon that I've decided to expand it to a full company... and this means horse drawn carts!

I really wanted the opportunity to paint these wagons to look old and beaten up but if there is one thing I am not too flashy at it is emulating wood. I decided to take the plunge and buy one of  AK Interactive's instructional books along with the two acrylic paint sets and see what I could wring from these wagons...

Oh yeah, and there is of course also the fact that I will be able to use it on my dystopian scenery for Dropzone Commander and of course all of the wooden buildings that one finds in eastern Poland and the Russian front in WW2

So there we have it! New toys and I feel reinvigorated again....

Fix Bayonets!!!!!!!