This blog was supposed to be about two things:
1) The next play test of the Return to the River Don rules with modified command and control
2) The completion of my next SCW unit, the International Brigade battalion "Los Americanos".
Still that was the plan at the start of the week. However having aged parents sometimes interrupts things and my father going into hospital (nothing life threatening but unexpected however) threw a spanner in the works. This means lots of driving back and forwards in the evening to make sure everything is okay and so on. It isn't a problem really, - my father is quite good company if I get the chance to sit and chat with him. Plus my brother bought him the latest copy of History magazine which has a long article about armoured trains in it, so I'll nick that when he comes out.
So Los Americanos stalled a bit and now (Sunday morning) they are finally sitting on the desk with the sand/polyfilla drying out. I postponed the RCW game as I didn't have the time to re-do the rules and put together the scenario (although Phil says my idea of a scenario is to get all of my toys and put them all on the table at once. I say this isn't true, but in any event if I've painted stuff why should it sit in boxes not being used?)
As it turned out I was off visiting duty on Friday evening as Miss Trebian went over to see the grandparents and keep them amused. So I drove up to see Phil and pick up my purchases from Warfare. I try to pre-order from Mr Pig to get the shows discount and as Phil does the SoA stand at most shows I have a willing courier.
My order was mainly a gap-filling job. XIVth Army gun crew for the 25pdrs I got at Derby (no Piggy stand there), extra HMGs for the SCW, plus gun crew and a few T26s. Well 8, actually.
I think I may have rather over bought the armour for my SCW armies, but I love the look of that inter-war kit. Still, I won't put it all out at once. Honest Phil. And I need T26s for both sides so I can do those Fascist tanks with the wrap-round spanish flags painted on the turrets. So 8 isn't too many really.
So we had an evening of wargaming chat on subjects covering game design, figure basing and so on. Phil and I have very different ways of working on figures. You'll all know my method if you read my early blogs. Phil may have a routine but I can't discern it. Whatever it is he produces lovely stuff. He seems to set figures up on the bases before he paints then. But he doesn't always glue then down. My rule is if you see something on my desk on a base the glue is either drying or has dried. That's not the case on Phil's workbench. So, sorry for picking that base up and I hope you find the other frame gun soon. It must be there somewhere.
Final note - I've agreed to do a version of The Elephant in the Room together with Phil's Greyhounds in the Slips as the SoA's incentive game for next year. Why do I do these things?
Does anyone know what the copyright rules are on using photos of pre-painted figures in a publication for sale?
1) The next play test of the Return to the River Don rules with modified command and control
2) The completion of my next SCW unit, the International Brigade battalion "Los Americanos".
Still that was the plan at the start of the week. However having aged parents sometimes interrupts things and my father going into hospital (nothing life threatening but unexpected however) threw a spanner in the works. This means lots of driving back and forwards in the evening to make sure everything is okay and so on. It isn't a problem really, - my father is quite good company if I get the chance to sit and chat with him. Plus my brother bought him the latest copy of History magazine which has a long article about armoured trains in it, so I'll nick that when he comes out.
So Los Americanos stalled a bit and now (Sunday morning) they are finally sitting on the desk with the sand/polyfilla drying out. I postponed the RCW game as I didn't have the time to re-do the rules and put together the scenario (although Phil says my idea of a scenario is to get all of my toys and put them all on the table at once. I say this isn't true, but in any event if I've painted stuff why should it sit in boxes not being used?)
As it turned out I was off visiting duty on Friday evening as Miss Trebian went over to see the grandparents and keep them amused. So I drove up to see Phil and pick up my purchases from Warfare. I try to pre-order from Mr Pig to get the shows discount and as Phil does the SoA stand at most shows I have a willing courier.
My order was mainly a gap-filling job. XIVth Army gun crew for the 25pdrs I got at Derby (no Piggy stand there), extra HMGs for the SCW, plus gun crew and a few T26s. Well 8, actually.
I think I may have rather over bought the armour for my SCW armies, but I love the look of that inter-war kit. Still, I won't put it all out at once. Honest Phil. And I need T26s for both sides so I can do those Fascist tanks with the wrap-round spanish flags painted on the turrets. So 8 isn't too many really.
So we had an evening of wargaming chat on subjects covering game design, figure basing and so on. Phil and I have very different ways of working on figures. You'll all know my method if you read my early blogs. Phil may have a routine but I can't discern it. Whatever it is he produces lovely stuff. He seems to set figures up on the bases before he paints then. But he doesn't always glue then down. My rule is if you see something on my desk on a base the glue is either drying or has dried. That's not the case on Phil's workbench. So, sorry for picking that base up and I hope you find the other frame gun soon. It must be there somewhere.
Final note - I've agreed to do a version of The Elephant in the Room together with Phil's Greyhounds in the Slips as the SoA's incentive game for next year. Why do I do these things?
Does anyone know what the copyright rules are on using photos of pre-painted figures in a publication for sale?
The frame gun fell no more than an inch or two (and was sitting amongst some Byzantine Cavalry!) ...
ReplyDeleteThe phase that follows 'shopping' might best be called 'composition' (this can take minutes or months, and often involves a lot of setting figures and bits on bases experimentally to see how best to arrange them).
Without 'composition', you won't know what conversions and modifications are needed!
The point at which a method become a routine is the point where both become the enemy of innovation.
I think that's a suitably unintelligible point, so I'll sign off.
Looking forward to the SCW stuff ...
Phil
(Garford modelling post just up at
http://pbeyecandy.wordpress.com/modelling/ )
I'd never really thought about "composition". I tend to think of figures as part of bigger units, so how they sit on an individual base is less important than how the bases all fit together.
ReplyDeleteWith or without composition I know the number of ocnversions I require is, as my old boss used to say, a round number....unless the whole unit is being decapitated.
I am not clear on where I can find a copy of the Return to the River Don rules.
ReplyDeleteDear PMG
ReplyDeleteThey were puiblished in WD's Nugget sometime in the last 12 months. Othwerwise they're probably not on a website. If you let me have you e-mail address I'll send you a pdf.
Trebian