Merry New Year!!

I do so love Trading Places, such an excellent film.

Just a quick, last post of the decade, not that I go in for all of that "movement of the planets" stuff, more that I wanted the last 10 painting points for these guys.

It might have been more but Wolfenstein just keeps on getting better the more I play it :)

The Starship Crew. found setting the scheme quite hard work to be honest. Hopefully it comes across as the retro Trek thing I was going for with the coloured jackets.
They could possibly do with a couple of last bruch strokes but i'm concious of over working them.
I shall ponder!
Elsewhere, Wasps deservedly beat Quins and Sarries finally took a loss.
Meanwhile i'm off to the panto tonight and then the sort of in-laws for new year. I'm being abandoned come Sunday but there's Rugby, X-Box and toys to keep me off the streets.

Merry New Year!!

Ho, Ho, Ho.......

.......Green Giant??

Another christmas almost gone. The weird way that the days have fallen this year have been quite kind, giving ten days off for three days leave. Mucho grande!

So after yesterday with the family i've had a particuarly pleasent cave-day.
Watched most of the first day of the second Test against the Saffers (translation: Cricket) and then later Northampton giving Worcester a good shoeing (Rugby).

In between I've got the cellophane off of the newly acquired Wolfenstein and finished off Security Team Zeta.

I'm a big fan of WWII first person shooters and have always enjoyed the Wolfenstein license with it's Nazi-Occult storylines with an excellent Hellboy look and feel.

The latest incarnation has moved on significantly, picking up a lot of features seen in the top titles. There's a large Stadt to roam around at will and enough extra missions parrallel to the main story to add variety.

By earning rewards you can upgrade your equipment but with limited resources you have to choose carefully. The main departure is the development of occult powers for our eponymous hero to go with his exceedingly strong jaw-line.
Not got too far yet, but with ancient medallion in hand I now have the ability to slow time.
Good stuff.

Meanwhile in a galaxy an indeterminate distance away, if you need hired goons on a budget and everyone else is busy then maybe, just maybe, you'll be forced to hire; Security Team Zeta

Sourced from Heresy the investigation team lines up as follows: (l-r) Dwayne B - Tech, Alysa - Logistics, Quimby - The Chief, Quade - Interventions and Hudson - Demolitions.
Sgt Blok, centre, leads the Strike Team, who are highly trained in laying down indiscriminate firepower to minimum effect. Bonnet catches and bar optics beware!


So another 20 painting points in the bag just in time for thier potential deployment.
Off to Twickenham tomorrow for Wasps vs Quinns. Not too shabby :)

Night of the living and soon to be dead

Last night was Clones roleplaying once again and in line with our new souped-up storyline it was a classic firefight though I did manage a bit of a twist....... which pleased me greatly!

Following thier successful tunnel-running escapade the full group rendevoused and headed for the designated delivery point, a small abandoned farm, in an isolated valley, at sundown.
What could possibly go wrong!

The employer sent a drone to perform the pickup which was quickly shot down by TWO separate groups who then both advanced on the farm, and each other. Clone scavengers versus droid supported enforcer types, both sides looking to "strike a deal".

The tension ratcheted up pretty quickly with no-one looking to fire the first serious shots.
The Quarren acted first, charging out to take on a few clones that he felt had moved in a bit too close.
Obviously bouyed by his newly found close combat prowess he obviously rolled a big bunch of single digits prior to recieving a stiff beating!
With a full blooded firefight breaking out nobody could decide who to engage so it quickly became personal choice, with mixed strategies and loyalties coming to the fore.

The droid-boys offered a cool 10 grand so easily that many had trust issues but the clones were proving particuarly effective warriors. With the clones finding increasing support amongst the group a last minute deal was done as thier glorious leader made good his individual escape with thier main asset!

Next time round a few wounds need licking as well as some particuarly savvy negotiation.
A good night :)

Meanwhile i've found some excellent wheeled APCs to bolster the clone's armoury. They're from the new AT-43 Oni range and I really like the look of them.


I've previously not been very keen on pre-painted figures but have softened my stance given some of the AT-43 releases.

With a bit of extra work they come up very well and are priced very competitively for what you get.

So, I can pick up the individual vehicles or there's an army starter box set with a mix of vehicles and infantry.
The Oni are basically undead samurai / yakuza and would fit into the Star Wars universe very well providing a classic dark side protagonist.
More importantly, I like the look and feel of them as a whole.

I've played the game previously, some time ago, and found it to be based on a nice simple mechanic, producing a quick flowing game.

I started this blog talking about being more efficient about my gaming and getting more bang for my buck.

AT-43 and The Oni fit this very well, almost TOO well. We shall see, though I don't trust my resolve at all......... why would I?

Send in the Clones

As previously mentioned i've finally finished my first major blog project, the Rogue Trooper inspired Genetic Infantry, which will be found some use within the Star Wars: Clones roleplay.

Initially I knicked the idea from a Kevin Dallimore article in WI quite some time ago for use with Two Hour Wargames sci-fi rules 51-50 though they've also seem some table time as a Necromunda Orlock gang.
With 32 troopers in total I currently view them as an elite recon platoon designed to operate behind enemy lines causing chaos and confusion disproportionate to their numbers. Think Brandenburgers, SOG or SAS.
Three five man fire-teams utilising shoot and scoot, rather than straight down the middle, with plenty of close assualt firepower.
The saboteur section. All the kit required for thier hit and run strikes plus a little bit of style a la Miami Vice!
The brains trust, as previously posted plus the youth section who were brought to my attention by Jon as excellent Juve figures for Necromunda.

Overall, i'm very pleased to have them all done, though not complete obviously!
They do feel in need of some heavy support. I really fancy sorting them out a GW Valkyrie and some form of wheeled assault vehicle, probably wheeled (not found one yet!).
I reckon that the trooper sections could do with a small command section as well. Hasslefree have some tempters.

All of this will be written into and driven by the Star Wars roleplay so for the moment all i'm quite happy....... quite :)

Baa Baa Black Sheep

After having endured a particular lack of actual rugby at the last Wasps game I had my faith restored this weekend watching the Barbarian claim a well worked win against an admittedly second string All Blacks.

There was plenty of running the ball, kicking to the corner and 5 tries versus just 4penalties at an almost capacity Twickenham crowd baying for entertainment.
I scoffed a large pre-match Wimpy, including Brown Derby, and the day was well worth the rain and the monstrous queue for the train home!

Back in the Premiership, Saracens kicked thier way to a close victory yet again (Booo) and Wasps edged out Leicester at home (huzzah) though the boot dominated yet again!

Meanwhile, in the world of TOYS it's been a pretty good week :)

Last Tuesday saw an evening of "Star-Hulk" for the Clones campaign.
This saw the group battle thier way through a complex of sub-terrainian tunnels to locate and salvage an advanced data slice Space Hulk styl-ee.
The protagonists were a small horde of spidery maintenance droids for which I painted up 16 Necron Scarabs on pennies inspire by the Replicators from Stargate.
Having the party hook into the tunnel's motion detection grid then allowed me to have great fun using running the Space Hulk "blips" at them.
Everything was a bit on the fly but the guys were pushed hard for a reasonable result and a good time was had by all!
Being a bit of a pedant I also took the opportunity to paint up the plastic door stands as well as black in the edges of the doors themselves. They looked good though I now need to black in all of the board sections and ultimately the counters as well. Just as well I reorded Tango and Cash the other night. Gets me a few more PPs though..... a few!

Elsewhere, one decent evening with the brush WILL see the Clones project finally finished. I can already feel the warm glow!

Plans continue at pace for Star Wars and Security Team Zeta is almost basecoated with paint scheme decided. Chrimbo will be utilised to paint the Jap Marines, though initially ear-marked for Space Hulk whilst the Zombies project continues to fester!!

For the mo photos are on hold whilst I have "issues" with my home internet provider.

UPDATE: Bloody Virgin (eh?) ......five whole days without t'internet at home and 15 minutes on hold that seemed like forever.

I have FINALLY finished all of the clone this evening. As it's getting on a bit and a school night i'll post at the weekend.
That's another 10 painting points. A review seems to be in order.

Meanwhile the 'tasche has finally been laid to rest having raised £225. Well pleased :)

BANZAII!!

I rather enjoyed Toys on Tuesday night :)

Got in a game of WWII Battlefront in the run up to the start of the Pacific '44 campaign and even after a month it all came back rather easily.

My Jap Marines took on Charlie's US Marines in a stiff skirmish for a jungle village.
I had entirely infantry, primarily as I'd left the heavy stuff at home, against a mixed USMC force and the result was particuarly bloody.
My numerical superiority was soon felt as were my limited AT resources, so Charlie's Sherman along with my inaccurate artillery became the deciding factor. With infantry to ermm.....burn? I put in several assaults on the tank and eventually a pole charge found a weaks spot.

A very narrow, very costly win. Now I just need to paint the little chaps!

Meanwhile the 'tasche has thickened up nicely. A few more donations coming in, including a couple last night, and the missus has purchased me a beard trimmer as a counter to my intent to keep it until new year.

Otherwise all the effort feels like it'll go to waste....... nothing to do with another month of chin stroking, oh no!

A bit more hobby prep this week. It's all for the roleplay session next week and I want to keep them under wraps for the mo. I'm SO funny!!

Meanwhile I picked up the Decemeber copy of WI today, motivated by Battlefront's Nam project, and the first flick has been impressive. I actually WANT to read just about all of the articles. That hasn't happened in a year or two.

I noticed a little text box mentioning GW's upcoming 20mm WWII release... intruiging!!

Beer and boardgames tomorrow night round at Ian's, which is always a good craic and then a weekend away with the girly being pampered so a bit of both. Not too shabby :)

Like the Murphys..........

........ i'm not bitter!!

Wasps got hammered by Saracens yesterday afternoon in a game of two halves. No...it really was.

The first half was fairly decent given the horribly sodden pitch and featured actual Rugby which, apparantly, has been a scarce commodity at Vicarage Road so far this season.

Plenty of aerial first off, but that seems to be par these days. Our backline was a touch shaky and Sarries picked up a opportunistic try but a try all the same. 13-6 at the break was fine as we were palying a lot more actual Rugby and were well up with territory and possesion.
A few penalties had held us back but we just needed to click.

The second half was 40 minutes of boot and the ref's whistle..... only one side was getting pinged and they weren't wearing black.
A direct quote from the Sarries fan next to me "What exactly have your front row done to piss off the ref so badly?" Whatever that 40 minutes was is wasn't Rugby :(

We kept playing for the full 80 but Sarries bossed the scrum, the line-out and played the ref far better than us. We were trying to play more rugby than we could manage and had no plan B.

22-6.......... i've ALWAYS preferred Guiness.

Still, a good day out with the missus, her bro, the lovely Anna and I got to do some shouting. I've also finally finished painting all of the Clones scavengers, the end is in sight, and it's toys tomorrow night.

Top of the mornin' to ya!!

BlackJack!!

i.e. 20 and 1 combined, of which there were plenty of Tuesday night!

Aaron rolled a few 20s whilst Rob and Charlie rolled a horrific number of 1s. It was immensly amusing for all of us and something of a coup de tat for Mr Christian whp proved immensely capabale all evening. Wonders may never cease.

With a somewhat snappier plot-line the temporarily reduced party picked up thier new contract briefing and plunged headlong into a bar-brawl of chaplin-esque proportions.

Charlie repeatedly blasted the smeg out of the ceiling and then shot Rob point blank whose own efforts seemed to somehow assist the Gammorean brawler beat him to a bloody pulp.

Mr Christian, he who previously hasn't been able to shoot a barn door, became Reno: Unarmed and Dangerous, beating all comers senseless with a stick!
This included an enraged Wookie and then the Gammorean, who at the time was looming execessively large over Charlie, who had somehow managed to ensnare himself in a stun net!

After patching up some serious bruises a spot of surveillence was called for, covering a meet and following on behind.

Aaron bluffed his way into a security station and a natural 20 later had the entire security net at his disposable. Must have been one of those "back doors" from the movies.
The follow involved Rob's scout crashing his speeder bike at the very first opportunity, possibly due to an excessive load of painkiller, at which point Mr C once agian saved the day.

Elvis had left the building!!

This bloke, Stuart Tinner, also rolled a natural 20 hitting the cross-bar with a drop kick from 30 metres in his SOCKS!! This won him £250'000 and a number of admiring cheerleaders.

Well done him!
This was at half time as Saracens took on the Boks at Wembley winning by one point with a 77th minute drop goal. With a 45'000 turn out and a thriller of a game they've pulled off a stunning spectacle.
Begrudging admiration is due, but it still feels wrong!

It's now Friday night, yes it's taken me that long to tap this out, and i've managed to secure a few more hours with the brush tonight. Just a few little bits to get done first so i'll push off.

TTFN :)

Pretty in purple??

Ermm........ NO

Rarely has an England win been greeted with such apathy. That's it for me on the subject, there are plenty of column inches dedicated to the topic elsewhere.

Elsewhere Wasps beat Gloucester AGAIN and Sarries lost :)

On that note it's the tour match against Sprinboks tonight and of the 44 on the team sheets 32 are Boks. That's far far too much Biltong for my taste.
Personally i'll be recording it, as it's roleplay night, and will watch it later in the week having no idea who i'd rather have win.

Meanwhile, i've had the worst of the 'tasche's trimmed away and feel much the leaner for it. I also did the ironing last night to let me spend Thursday and Friday getting some decent time with brush in hand for what seems like ages.

As previously mentioned it's the next installment of Clones tonight. The aforementioned plan has been hatched and even committed to paper. If only I could be so diligent with learning the rules.

Oh well :)

Roller-coaster of....erm, love??

Wins , losses, sales, purchases, the lurgy and some fairly impressive fireworks, it's been a busy week of sorts.

Jonny 9, Australia 18. England's talisman made an emmensely strong return to international rugby, though behind the soundbites it was a performance of individuals, some better than most, against an actual team.
Shame, strong start but the second half was painful.
Wasps beat Irish though so not all bad, for me at least.

I made my first e-bay sales on Saturday, the last of the Empire army, and they did better than i'd hoped. That's another £120 burning a hole, though i've got plenty on the TOYS plate for the mo.

I did find a US site selling individual Star Wars Clix and i'd loaded up on 15 useful individuals for just over a tenner. Potential postage of £30 pulled me up at a rate of knots. No sale.
A Wasps training shirt with name and number is tempting me severely........ for chrimbo, obviously!
Not a lot of hobby action i'm afraid as the weekend didn't workout as planned. A friday night out on the Coke (cola) and quality time with the missus saw to that!

Unfortunately I've been off work with a virus since yesterday. I must have been bad 'cos I even missed toys at the club last night.
I have at least managed to finish off basing the Star-Clix today and do a few bits of prep today, so back to work tomorrow. Ah well. With the Clones roleplay the next jobs have been offered up and the chaps have decided to pursuse a sabotage contract, with Beastie Boys vid to the fore.

We had a feedback session last time and a little less talk and a little more action has been requested. Elvis and I are more than happy to oblige.

I have a PLAN.......

Touch... Pause.... Engage

Here's Jonny!!

The autumn internationals start tomorrow with a much depleted England line-up taking on the apparantly mis-firing Wallabies at HQ. My day has been built around it!

Only one Wasp, Tim Payne at tight-head, in the line-up but injuries have ravaged us badly. Though this is no excuse for our appaulling defeat to Leeds last Sunday at home, briefly known as knock-on central.
We constantly turned over the ball, went backward in the scrum and lost an appualing number of our own lineouts.

All praise to Leeds who scrapped hard from the start and held on for the win that I can't help feeling that we simply handed over. Following on from the mauling we gave Gloucester the previous week it was like watching a completely different team.
Still, third in the table is still a very good start to the season so far.

Two weeks of the Anglo-Welsh now and then Premiership away to Sarries , to which I have picked up tickets.

Speaking of Sarries, I and many other's I know, including Sarries season ticket holders, have become increasingly worried about the overt Afrikan-isation of a long established British club.
I read an interview with Nigel Wray, the chairman, and fair enough the South African investors are all about finance as is making the club more appealing for South African ex-pats but it just feels wrong!

Am I jealous of their unbeaten Premiership run, of course, but thats not it. They've got there by beating everyone they've played even if only closely and via some dodgy ref decisions. That's rugby, that's sport.
It's the manner of it, the manner of everything. Not what they're doing but how.

A strong, relativley negative, kicking game.
FOUR high profile games at Wembley with a Springbok tour game.
The stated intention to leave Watford for somewhere better.
Agressive marketing and the ability to cut away "dead wood".
The desire to win at all costs and ugly if necessary.
The cheerleader and THAT anthem.

I do however acknowledge the amount of work that Saracens do in the local community with amateur teams, coaching classes and school visits.
All extremely laudable.

All things that other teams have done previously but the collective just comes across as too much.

I can't get away from it becoming a potential loose-loose situation.
If Saracens are put back on thier heals then little has been gained whilst the souls of the club has been put at massive risk.
If Saracens make the top four then well done to them but how many other of the "lesser" teams will employ the same methods. That would surely risk Premiership rugby as a whole, wouldn't it?

Rant ends

Mo-tivation's what you need....

.... if you wanna' be a record breaker...YEAH!!

So, for some bizarre reason, mainly a combination of boredoma and curiosity in all honesty, i've decided to grow a 'tasche for Movember.

Movember is a men's health charity, primarily involved with prostate cancer. I've never grown a full 'tasche before so this should be quite interesting. I'll update my profile photo as a tracker.

The missus was away in Seattle for work last week which gave me the chance to get a head start on it and actually she's been nicely supportive of my good intentions. Well, her fault really for leaving me unsupervised :)

I had Monday as a day off this week, having worked Saturday, and was really quite productive basing and prepping the Japs, Starship Crew and Security Team Zeta. Not a lot of 'tasches involved but I have some green stuff knocking about!

Last night was Clones roleplay round at mine and the chaps completed thier second contract with some aplomb foiling the biker gang's train-jack thusly securing the combat droid and it's errant handler in the process.

Admittedly Charlie did almost die fighting Kid Zero, the gang leader, and now sports some impressive scars, after Rob shot him "accidentally", but overall a good result with cash in the bank.
Zero did save his own skin but i'm sure he'll be back at some point.

I've also been rather impressed with the general quality of the Star-Clix. A quick bleached bone dry-brush and basing them up has produced some good results. 1/4 PP each seems fair and has opened my account for November.

No real hobby time 'til the weekend now. The missus is busy most of the day and can't get round before about four. Terrible, i'll just have to paint toys solidiers and watch Johnno's boys take on the Aussies then. When will she learn.............. :)

It's the little things in life.......

Last night I went and saw Zombieland with Mr Harnett.

It's a decent, entertaining, though fairly standard event with some good laughs and some fairly speedy undead.

Seven out of ten, i'll think about the DVD once HMV have it on sale.

Part of my motivation for going came about thusly;

The Star Wars: Clones roleplay has pushed me toward the clix figures and thier excellent combat maps. This brought me back into contact with thier relation, Horroclix.
We've played a number of very enjoyable zombie games at the club, fitting nicely with my re-awakened skirmish muse.

So whilst working up plot-lines for Clones i've slowly come up with an entire gameboard for a survivalist vs zombie type thing. It's in Jerkwater USA, a 1970's back-water desert town. I know which Hasslefree figures i'm using for the party, what scenery pieces I need from Ainsty and Copplestone.


The Horrorclix figures sort out the protagonist and possibly provide the quick play ruleset required. It's all been a bit, well............ infectious?

I recycled £50 of the Empire wedge into Clones-clix this week at Orc's Nest and whilst having a quick chat with the bloke (no....really, though I did start it and he was taking money from me at the time!) I was told that the Horroclix UK distributor had gone bust and you couldn't get it any more other than E-Bay.

So imagine my delight when I found it all cut price on Amazon! Sensible restraint quickly buckled under the weight of yesterday's pay day (with back pay bonanza) and my fear of them selling out or disappearing.

£20 has got me a starter set and three boosters. The fever subsides.......for now :)

Move along, move along

My one toys purchase at GamesFest4 last Saturday was this chap.

He's a room alarm Stormtrooper with two phrases and a "realistic" blaster sound effect. The motion sensor has a four foot range and he comes with a Han Solo blaster to shoot back with. I bought some batteries yesterday and the evening disappeared all to easily.

Tuesday night at the club was a bit sparse but I got my first proper run out with the World at War rules that we're using for the Pacific '44 campaign. As Rich promised they're fast, fun, furious and fuck'n deadly. I approve :)

I also picked up my Jap platoon (15mm Old Glory) and oh so slightly hooky rules from Shaun. £40 all in and all done. Result.

Also being added onto the projects list are the Star Wars crew and the Star Wars security force I picked up from Heresy for generic roleplay use. They arrived within a couple of days and had a thank you note and a boiled sweat packed in with them. Very pleasing :)

With these projects being added i've decide to not base the Bone Griffon fleet. They looked fine out on the table on Saturday and if I was really bothered I would have done something about it by now.

With the Empire army gone I sorted through all of my cases last night and tied the workstation making spce in both areas. The clones are now very close to being a completed project at about platoon strength which is all i'll require.

Shaun is also keen on making a return to some impetus gaming, linked here http://www.dadiepiombo.com/impetus2.html
Always liked it, though the 15mm Greeks I had sometime ago have been B&B'd sometime ago.
We'll see how much interest we can drum up at the club though the breadth of options may bamboozle many. Fantasy or historical? What period? Matching period? 15mm or 20mm?
Probably a new year project.......probably

That warm and fuzzy feeling.....

....that can only be a wargames show!

GamesFest4 was a local show, with lots of local people, in Watford.
The club, Enfield Gamers, attended ostensibly to try and recruit some new bums on seats. It was my first show for ages and I was all rather keen come the big day.

The show itself had a bit of everything with wargames, roleplaying and re-enacting all present as well as a number of sci-fi / fanatasy authors and artists in attendance including a rather lost looking Jervis Johnson and Steve Jackson relaunching the Fight Fantasy roleplay books.

Ambling around the slight muggyness of many large men with too much facial hair it quickly became apparant that by covering all the bases the show felt very "thin" in almost every way possible, which was a shame as the level of effort from the organisers was patently genuine.

Going against conventional wisdom the trader stands were located centrally and the gaming tables around the outside of the room. Being late entrants we found ourselves squeezed up against a wall. Not too many recruits to be had then i'm afraid and we'd actually PAID to attend.

On the positive side we all had a decent lads day out and most of us found a bit of hobby impetus chatting about potential projects and generally being enthused about toys.

Shado. Mike and a couple of the other guys took part in the 4oK doubles tourney, which featured a great deal of folical foliage, as you can see above and all in the best of humour of course!

We ran one solitary chap through a game of the Uncharted Seas, though Mr Christian finally gave in and bought a fleet. Rich's Pacific '44 game looked and went down much better with a cople of us getting to roll some dice prior to the campaign. Another up!
For myself I sold the guts of my Empire army on the bring and buy, walking away with £200 of folding to re-invest in Star Wars clix, assuming I can track some down!

Sweet sorrow really, an analogy for the day as a whole, as I put a lot of time and effort into the army with some very nicely painted units but I simply have no motivation to play the game anymore and they hadn't rolled dice in anger for quite sometime :(

There are a few decent bits left to possibly stick on E-Bay and more to simply get shot of including an awful lot of sprue. It's the plaster effect, I don't want to do it but I know that I have to.

Ah well, Pacifc '44 at the club tomorrow night. Onwards and upwards.....BANZAII

Stay on target!

The Star Wars: Clones roleplay campaign has been giving me a great deal of motivation recently and is producing some good results.

The session last night was very enjoyable, at least for myself, with all of the players getting fully involved. Leaving the storyline fairly open ended has created a bit of extra work and has required some pressured decisions on the fly but it's given me great focus.

Last night's action revolved around a small settlement of religious types and the group's need to get a 1000 credit bounty from them to ingratiate themselves with the biker gang that they need to infiltrate. After a short round of talking the players ended up in quite a strong debate as how to proceed and had pretty much decided to use the point of a blaster to increase the profit margin.
Absolutely fine by me, such decisions are what I'm using to produce new storylines.

Just as safety catches were being flicked to OFF a rogue natural 20 strengthened the more peaceful path and Mormar, leader extraordinaire, dictated his will.
End result is nil net profit but a group of religious zealots on-call. Fun for all the family :)
All this has pushed me to find that extra painting time I mentioned previously to which en Arnie has been cleaned up along with his mugshot. I seem to have rediscovered my muse, it's all been terribly satisfying.
I'm particularly pleased with Gunnar-girl in her pink tracksuit, I think it suits her Croydon face-lift hairstyle. Jean-Claude doesn't seem to own any tops but never mind. Almost all of the scavenger clones are finished now, I just need to write them in to a storyline or two!

For the shotgun brothers, Bo and Luke, I just need to drybrush and flock their bases so I'm claiming the painting points already. That's 12 so far for the month, three times my result for September.

Looking onwards, as ever, i've been browsing around for some non-comm character types for use in future missions and an order has been put in with Heresy. I've also got my beady eye on some of Hasslefree's excellently characterful offerings but common sense, though suitably strained, has contained me so far.

The club are attending the Gamesfest 4 show in Watford this Saturday in an attempt to bring in so new blood. We're going to be showcasing The Uncharted Seas and Rich J's Pacific 44' campign, of which more at a later date.

I shall also be attempting to sell off a large chunk of my Empire army on the bring and buy. Any proceeds are likely to be plowed back into any suitable Star Wars 'Clix figures I can find. As it's combined with a comics con I shouldn't be dissapointed.

I shall let you know.................. may the Farce be with me... always :)

Asta La Vista Bay-bee

That's right folks, I've actually been painting figures and I've been lov'in it, lov'in it, lov'in it. Have some work in progress b'hatch!

Having spent the afternoon of yesterday's day off watching some of the weekend's rugby form the painting table I've base-coated and washed down ALL of the remaining clones and started the highlight work.

Going for the blue skin-tone has reduced the available palette to a lot of natural, earthier tones without a few stand-out reds and off yellows. This in itself has helped unify a fairly rag-tag bunch and has proved a satisfyingly different project.

With "Arnie" here, the moment I base-coated the skin I just had to go for the whole 80s Miami Vice look, which I've always felt suits any future look particularly well.

I'm not particularly happy with the photo and feel that I have had differing results throughout the blog to date so that's a WIP as well. I'll ask Jon, he'll know.
Just got the skin highlighted on these three, who are particular favourites. I'm particularly pleased with the pink tracksuit on the gunner girl and the desert camo trousers on molotov mike. I can barely wait to get back to them, but will have to as life once again intervenes though not always negatively :)
The anti-tank chaps will have to wait their turn for a bit as working in smaller batches has really helped me kick on. After that a section of their trooper brethren lie in wait followed by some touch up and repair work for those previously completed.

Maybe then some transport will be considered and the the Hulk box will get some lovin'.

Speaking of which it's toys at the club tonight so I'd best be off and away...........

ZARJAZ!!!

The last couple of days have been quite impressive hobby-wise.





Another Tuesday night Star Wars roleplay session and a couple of hours progress painting the clones last night. All very pleasing :)

A reduced group on Tuesday gave good focus for a spot of slick surveillance and infiltration of the Small Numbers biker gang, posing as potential recruits.

With the nominal party leader away the Jedi was forced to the fore and did an excellent job ably assisted by a natural 20 thrown for force manipulation just at the right time. New friends have been made, at least temporarily, intel gained and all without a single shot being fired or a punch thrown. Quite remarkable.

Last night I found about 90 minutes to finish of some block detail on 7 clones and got them all washed down.

I'm quite determined to do the same tonight after sorting out some dreaded "domestics".

With the weekend taken up by work and some quality time with the LADY I've got the day off Monday and intend to make best use, otherwise known as painting in front of the telly!!

I'm really enjoying the whole Star Wars: Clones project / campaign and has taken me back to a golden part of my youth (soppy!). As such I've finally given in and gleefully taken out the subscription for 2000AD and the Mega-Zine that I've been eyeing up for sometime.

For slightly less than than £12 per month I get a weekly dose of thrill-power delivered to the door an a monthly Mega-Zine. The cherry on top is my subscribers Judge Dredd mug!

Happy days :)

Top of the world Ma!!

This weekend I have mainly been climbing up and down hills, in an apparent attempt to get my legs to fall off, and eating Haggis!



This was all accomplished in the rather wonderful city of Edinburgh. Arriving for a late lunch Friday and staying til Monday afternoon the girly and I were wondering if we'd have enough to do.
In the end we barely scratched the surface!

The guidebook had various suggested tours but we quickly discovered that it assumed rising at the crack of dawn and marching through the attractions at a ludicrous rate. No thank thee ye wee printed scally!!

Edinburgh castle was a given but held several unknown gems, particuarly the Scottish War Museum which reduced scale simply guaranteed a higher level of quality.

My personal highlight was scaling the 250m summit of Arthur's Seat, which even small children and the infirm can manage. We managed the longer "Radical Path" on the way up and settled for the tarmac path on the way down!

To give some blog relevance I felt massively inspired by the Napoleonic Highlander displays and also purchased a number of artists brushes to try out, at a fraction of GW's price I might add. Northern thrift indeedy!!

Such distractions will attest for a paltry FOUR painting points last month though in my defence an amount of "block work" has been completed. I need to make more of my evenings and will be pushing myself for at least 5 painting hours per week at the very least.

Meanwhile, we've played an eight man multi-board game of Space Hulk at the club, see Enfield Gamers link on the right and the next installment of the Star Wars Roleplay: Clones campaign is set for this evening.

As is often the way just as I will myself to knuckle down to the projects in hand several other sparkly gems roll my way. Rich J is looking at playing some WWII Pacific skirmish in 15mm which would, obviously, cost very little in time or money...... obviously. Jon also tempts with talk of Malifeux providing a very in-depth review on his Boneyard blog (link to your right). Some stunning figures allied to an intriguing dice-less card based system.... damn him.

Hoots man, there's jooce loose aboot this hoose!!

Bolter Drill

Tuesday was toys night down at the Enfield Gamers and several of us played through a game of the re-released Space Hulk, my first, taking the first mission from the book.

Seeing everything out on the table really drove home the very high quality of the "product" as a whole. Given that they're all a maximum of three piece, the figures are simply awesome, both the Termies and 'Stealers. I quite simply couldn't find a weak one.

The game itself remains Fast, Fun and Furious keeping a slick set of mechanics that are true to the game's heritage. "Moments to learn but a lifetime to master "we were soon learning various game strategies, mainly the hard way.

Initially progress was fairly easy for myself and Charlie whilst Jon built up his "blips" at the two main choke points. With the heavy flamer clearing the way over-confidence quickly cost us three Marines, including the assault cannon

With 'Stealers closing in on all sides some stunning Marine dice making the most of sustained fire victory belonged to the Blood Angels but at a high price.

The game also helped my motivation as I want to complete the clones before working on my copy of Hulk. With a couple of weekends away lined up i'm having a day's leave tomorrow, primarily to get some painting in.

I'm going to have to be overly sensible and batch up the clones into fives in order to make some progress. I shall let you know.

Back in Black!!

It was the London Wasp's first home game of the season on Sunday and I made it three games in three weeks which can't be bad.

Accompanying me was the missus along with her brother Will and his wife Anna. As it was my suggestion I sorted out the tickets and keen to impress we ended up three rows back at about the 35m line. Following previous visits to Twickers and Wembley returning to Adams Park was far more intimate, though no less atmospheric especially as we were only 10ft from play.

Elsewhere the game has been described as stodgy and i'd have to agree with both teams keeping the ball on the floor for long periods and line-breaks a first half rarity.

Worcestor Warriors were the visitors and spent the first half knocking on and being turned over whenever they produced any menace though defending well enough to negate Wasps undoubted dominance in terms of both posession and territory. At half time 7-0 to Wasps looked inadequate.

The second half sparked up a bit as Cip's kicking became more of a weapon with a pair of drop goals and a penalty stretching the lead as Wasps took control. Dom Waldouck was impressive as well as Paul Sackey returning from a broken leg with a busy performance.

Tom Varndell remained man of the moment scoring a 8oth minute try after Dom W broke the line once more and placed an excellent cross-field kick into Varndell's path. He, and his shorts, have two new female fans.

23-3 was a final scoreline that did a dis-service to Worcestor's undoubted efforts but Wasps put in a far slicker performance and deserved the win. Next week is London Irish, undoubtedly the premiership's pundit's choice. Oggy, oggy, oggy.......