2013 Review

Hoi There!

This is most probably the final post for 2013 and as many bloggers are doing: I will take a little step back and reflect on this years' hobby ventures.

The one regret I have concerning the 2013 Hobby year is the small amount of games I've played. The only true wargame I've attended was the 7YW Black Powder game I won from Pijlie at the IMPACT convention. I also played quite some games of X-wing, but for some reason I cannot find them to be a real wargame as more of a board-game.I will have to do something about this in 2014.

Paintingwise the year has been quite good. The 7YW Austrian army is nigh on finished, I have managed to paint up quite some French Napoleonic Horse regiments and some small projects along the way as well. A glimpse through the posts for 2013 will show you what the latter were, I'm not going to go into detail here right now.

While I still have a large amount of GW models lying on the unpainted-pile, I am fairly confident that I will not buy (at least certainly NOT for the full prise) any of their products in the future. The company's antics are just about enough for me at this moment in time. The miniatures they produce are still really nicely done, but all the other stuff is just utter bollocks!

Old year's Eve is usually one of my most productive days regarding painting, but with Arthur at the age of 2 and needing a lot of attention I will not get anything done until he's asleep. So what projects are currently on the workbench? For starters I am painting up an English Regiment of Foot for the 7YW, basecoated as well, are the following mini's:
- some Battletroops DC troops
- 5 Dark Angel tactical Marines
- 5 Deathwing Terminators
- A vignette featuring Murat and his ADC's
- A WW1 German vignette
- two gladiators
- some Star Wars fighters
- A Napoleonic French Artillery battery.

These will never get done today I'm afraid, but I will try to have a go at them.

This brings me to the BIG project of Salamanca. Usually I place updates in the appropriate "other" blog but for once a post here will have to suffice. Progress is steady but slow as I have been expecting anyway. The boards are all landscaped and I now need to find time to sand them and spray-coat them. After which painting will ensue. My biggest concerns are the placing of the figures on the boards: will drilling holes, fracture the layers of coating? Besides that I'm really bothered by the adding of scenic details like flock and vegetation. What colours do I use, in what amounts and do I put this on before or after putting the figures in place. Regarding the figures I am seriously lacking in usable French and Portuguese figures, but the huge amount of British figures needed will see me painting on for some time yet so HäT or any other producer has some time left to get cracking on some decent sets.

Well that's all for so far from me, all that's left for me to do here is thank you all for the great year of 2013 and wish you all the best for 2014!

Cheers Sander

Listening to: "the Top 2000" on the Radio

In a Galaxy not that far away!

Hoi,

Some time ago I mentioned obtaining some great old OOP West End Games Star Wars figures. In the time between then and now I've been painting some of them up and thought I'd show them here. Now I have quite a lot of Tatooine flavoured stuff so I based them desert-fashion. That said I do not yet have anything resembling desert terrain so the figures are photographed on my usual grass matt which feels all wrong.

 Now without further ado:

Some desert-dwellers

Staff at the Cantina

Mos Eisley Residents

Jabba's Muscle (certainly not his brain...)

And finally the proverbial Local Yokel, about to have his Galaxy turned upside down...

I still have quite a lot of Tatooine themed figures awaiting basing and coating but had to order more bases from Renedra. Amongst these are about all the available Bounty hunters including the famous Boba Fett...
Talking philosophically about these miniatures: at the moment I am more into them from a collecting point of view. As such basing should not be a problem, but my present collection has two main angles. These are Tatooine, as already stated, and some space-station/ Star Destroyer kind of theme. The latter needs an all together different approach base-wise. No real decent bases are available so I need to get converting or get my friend Mark to laser me something. I might just know what that should be but I am keeping it to myself for now.

Anyway hope you like these and keep your eyes peeled for more in the (nearish)  future!

Cheers Sander

Listening to: "Blunderbuss" by Jack White

The Saga continues and Seasonal Greetings!

Hoi,

Huzzah the Holidays have arrived, 2 weeks off from work. Well I need to correct some tests, but other than that I'm free as a bird. So Sunday evening I have managed to finish my regiment of Napoleonic French Dragoons. Since they are Italeri figures, and the paint doesn't adhere to their plastic as well as to HäT's or Ceasar's, I wanted to give them a spray-coat of matt varnish. My spray-can was empty so I took the lad along and went to the local GW retailer. Funnily enough this shares it's premisses with a flower-shop and is run by two twin-sisters which I have come to know fairly well over the years. While the rants against GW policy has been going on for years the ladies have always been pretty positive and have had a very large offering of the assortment for sale.So when I went on the look for the varnish cans, one of them appeared at my shoulder and said: "take anything you want it all has 50% off". A bit flabbergasted I asked why the huge sale. "Oh we've had enough of GW's antics, we're closing the GW section of the shop down." And voila another one bites the dust!

This shop, located in the heart of a thriving neighbourhood organising and participating in diverse conventions and tournaments is finally forced to close down. They are thinking of still offering a table or two for youngsters to come and play on but all good things must come to an end I guess...
Si due to the sale, no varnish in the house alas, I went away with December's WD (got it for €4,- but that's still too steep a price imho) and some paints, and a very nasty gut feeling!

Still tonight is Christmas Eve and while the rain is positively hammering the windows and I'm a bit queasily anticipating tonight's over-copious diner, I thought, let's put up a post with some nice pictures of the newest regiment of dragoons. They depict the 13th regiment, which was faced yellow if I'm not mistaken. Since they still have not been varnished no flock has been added yet but otherwise they're all ready to go.

Very Merry Christmas to you all!

Cheers Sander

Listening to:  

Napoleonic Brits!

Hoi,

One of my all-time favourite sets of HäT figures is the Peninsular British. Here's is my first truly complete regiment of them. The command figures are test-shot figures so they are missing the King's Colour which ill follow soonish.

enjoy!

Cheers Sander

Listening to: "El Camino" by the Black Keys

Back in a galaxy far far away, with some more Napoleonics!

Hoi There,

Another, rather too long, period of real life catching up with me.This did not prevent me from both painting and obtaining new figures. I have painted some Napoleonics and bought some HäT sets from the E23 release, on which in a future post more, and some OOP West End Games Star Wars miniatures.

The boxes shown below are the Heroes of the Rebellion and A New Hope collectors boxes and usually these sell for over $70,- I was able to pick up both for under $20,- each. The boxes were in very nice condition, all figures were accounted for and even the original foam and astonishingly the paper leaflet containing the in-game statistics of the figures were present!

Apart from these I have been able to scoop up 2 lots of blisters of the same range from e-bay at a very good price with some more characters I'd really like to add to the collection. Funnily enough I owned a good deal of these figures some years ago. I had bought them with gaming in mind and was frustrated by the lack of rules and figures available back then (as well as cash) so I sold them on. Now I have decided that gaming is not my main priority but painting and collecting is, so here they are. Keep your eyes on this spot for future posts on painted Star Wars stuff.

So what Napoleonics did I paint? Well it's HäT again! I came round to painting up two bases of Württemberg horse artillery. 

They paint up really well, but since I wanted more then 4 crewmen I split up the last crew in the box. The guns are left separate from the base in order to literally limber them up. Limbers and teams will come from HäT's Austrian train set, in due time. The howitzer barrel is from the Austrian artillery set as well.   

Cheers Sander

Listening to:

Steampunk?

Hoi,

While browsing youtube I found these really cool clips!

Arms race


and


Airlords of Airia

cheers Sander

Lest we forget...

Hoi,

In remembrance of those who have fallen for Freedom and the Future of our children...

Yours Truly Sander

A to Z Blogger Book Review

Hoi,

Prompted by a bumper-load of new books and the example of Monseigneur Rosbif, I thought I'd have a go at my Book A to Z. 

• Author you've read the most books from:

Undoubtedly Terry Pratchett! The first 25 Discworld novels had me laughing my behind off, out loud, in public, says it all doesn't it? I cannot exactly point out what group of characters are my favourite but Wyrd Sisters is definitely my favourite of the series.

The latest book he co-wrote "The Long War" is lying on my bedside table waiting to be finished but other books are far more attracting at the moment... Why is this? I don't know but it seems Pratchett's condition is seriously affecting his ability to build in layer upon layer upon layer of storylines and punes or plays on words ;-)

• Best sequel ever:

I'm guessing the Battletech novels by the esteemed Michael Stackpole, Lauren Coleman and several others. These bring such a depth to the background of a great tabletop game that this has drawn me in closer then the mini's or the game-play would ever succeed to do on their own.

• Currently reading:

Part one of the Star Wars Dark Nest trilogy, as well as Pratchett's The Long War as well as From Eylau to Friedlund.

Yes people: I read several books at once, probably because my interests and concentration are like a butterfly: flying all over the place

• Drink of choice whilst reading:

Tea, no doubt in my mind, mostly Lady Grey by Twinings!

• E-reader or physical book:

I have Samsung Galaxy Tab thingy on which I have about 30 Battletech novels and around 100 Star Wars novels (thanks Tobs!). Still I'd prefer a real book over the electronic wannabe any time!

• Fictional character you would probably have dated in high school:

Jeeze, well I really wouldn't be able to say since most of the books I read don't feature that much real life women, I'd go with Daenerys Stormborn or Thuvia of Mars. But whether they´d see me standing beside the road I seriously doubt.

• Glad you gave this book a chance:

Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines, was a real laugh but looked like another Hobbit rip/off, which in a grand way it is!

• Hidden book gem:

Soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars by Hourtoulle. I got this from my parents and it is probably my favourite uniform-plate-book.The colours and the composition of the plates are just brilliant!

• Important moment in your book life:

Salamanca by Rory Muir this book is just SO complete in it's description of the battle that when I was looking for a battle to depict in a 1:72 diorama and stumbled along this gem I just knew in an instant it had to be Salamanca 1812!

• Just finished:

The Rebel Force, Star Wars series by Alex Wheeler

This is a series depicting the lives of Luke, Leia and Han in between A New Hope and ESB. Am not impressed but read on anyway, I'm that compulsive in my reading...

• Kind of book you won't read:

Literature with a capital L: it always gives me the impression I am missing the point. A book might seem to me to depict the life of a man and his dog and actually be about his existential angst or whatever...

• Longest book you've read:

The Silmarillion surely felt like the longest book, but I gather I', supposed to count pages, well in that case it's probably the Dune series by Frank Herbert.

• Major book hangover because of disappointing endings:

The Han Solo Trilogy by A.C. Crispin: it was just a dumb 80's cartoon or fantasy book with just such a bad bunch of plot twists, like you can't do anything cool with the Galaxy far far away that you have to drag in unbelievably silly fantasy aspects to keep it interesting? And the end of the third book reads: The Beginning (because that's where A New Hope starts).

• Number of bookcases you own:

- 3 IKEA Billy's containing "Hobby" books,
- 2 of the same containing "Normal" books
- 1 of the same containing Youth books from when I was a small lad.

• One book you've read multiple times:

Lord of the Rings, by Tolkien

Do I need to explain? No I didn't think so. That said I have read almost all my Pratchetts several times as well and most of the Battletech books are up top their second read too. Yes I eat them!

• Preferred place to read:

LOL! Just like Mr Rosbif, the place I read the most is the toilet, the place I prefer to read at though is my study. It's just that I would like a decently comfy chair to do the reading in...

• Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you've read:

"No Worries!" 

The Last Continent, Pratchett, Doubleday

• Reading regret:

That I probably won't be able to finish all the books I want to read before I leave this world...

• Series you started and need to finish:

See above

• Three of your all-time favourite books:

In no particular order:

- "The Lord of the Rings"

- "Wyrd Sisters"

- "I am Jade Falcon!" 

• Unapologetic fanboy for:

The John Carter books by Buroughs.

• Very excited for this release:

Nothing really...sorry!

• Worst bookish habit:

Starting to read a book and before it's done starting to read two more...

• X marks the spot - Start at the top left of your bookshelf and pick the 27th book:

"Agincourt"by Juliet Barker, funny story this. As it happens I saw a documentary on Discovery or National Geographic about her work and she was telling a convincing story of her take on events in said battle. The book was at that time not available here in the Netherlands so when visiting London I went to Waterstones and there it was and down-priced as well. As it happens without noticing I bought a signed copy left over from a signing session she had done at this particular Waterstones store.  

• Your latest book purchase:

See my post on the Crisis!

• Zzz snatcher book (the last book that kept you up waaay too late:)

I am actually a bit ashamed by this but that had to be the Hungergames books... as a read only the first one is actually pretty good, the rest is meh meh, but I just had to know how it ended...

Well that's my book-review 

Cheers Sander

Listening to: Nothing, had to keep my wits to write the above ;-)

Crisis 2013

Hoi,

As announced, yesterday (Saturday November 2nd) I visited the Crisis Gaming Convention in Antwerp organised by the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp. Travelling with my brother was an immensely pleasing experience as always and since he and my dad have a knack of always finding the perfect parking spot we had a place just in front of the Hall's entrance.  As is my wont on events like this I head out like a headless chicken and forget to ask for handouts or explanation from the demos I attend and so just snap the camera away any old how. I have spoken to many old friends and even some new which is always pleasing.

Some general views of the proceedings in no particular order:

These guys were displaying an incredible Blood Bowl stadion:

Level of terrain and detail was enormous this year:

And here's our Friend J-W (aka Pijlie) getting the 8th Army kicked out of Africa by the Jerry's, while attending the Too Fat Lardies Demo.

There were a bunch of guys doing an absolutely stunning two storey Warmachine game which was just so beautiful it took a great deal of time to really appreciate and see all the details put in.

As always I stopped for a nice chat with Crush the Kaiser gurus Paul and Ian and Ian's lovely wife. Martin, from miniatuurwereld.com dropped by but sadly we I never got to speak with him longer since I was in a heated discussion at the moment. We'll make it up Martin!

This table really made me realise I need to start painting French Line Infantry regiments

As J.W. has stated in his blog this Japanese/ Samurai demo-game took my breath away the terrain is just amazing in its details:

There was a HUGE AWI or FIW table complete with heaps of boats which also drew a big crowd and was immense fun to look at:

This Dropzone Commander table also caught my eye for it's unusual and nicely done scenery:

Well that about rounds up my pictorial report, more pictures are available at the TSOA Facebook page. All that remains for me to do at this stage is show you the day's booty. I must say that this was one of those few times where I returned with 1/3 of my budget still in my wallet... not that I wasn't tempted to spend it but: I managed to remain in control.

Yep believe it or not but I only ended up buying two blisters of old  West End/ Grenadier Star Wars figures: Cloud City Charters and Rebel Operatives and NO other miniatures... correction I also bought a FFG HWK290 but since it comes painted and all it doesn't count.
I specifically went over board with books this year some of them I had been looking for for some time like the "British Sieges of the Peninsular War" and "Wellington 1812". Rounding the lot up is paint and a load of bases, both regular Victrix bases as well as Microart slate bases for my John Carter figures.
The only other big purchase were a box of KR X-wing trays which I have already loaded up and stored.

It was a great day even if we had a flat tire on the way back!

Cheers Sander

Listening to: "immersion" by Pendulum