Farewell And Picking Up The Pike Again

It's been a hard few weeks, but yesterday we said a farewell to my Mum.

Part of my blog was used at her funeral and my Dad used a few words I had penned for her obituary, which gave me pride and comfort.

Today I am picking up where I sort of left off on the day she died, having returned earlier from Partizan with a massive box of Perry ECW.


Determined to get myself straightened out, I just finalised this morning over a coffee, my final ECW  list which will be based on the early armies  because they are a bit more interesting.

Metal cost £1400.00
Painting Cost £3000.00

This is taking into account the discounts with which I have been kindly bestowed.

The approximate forces are:

33 Cavalry troops which will be used as regimental building blocks
6 Dragoon Troops mounted and dismounted
6 guns
6-8 units of commanded shot / Forlorn Hope
18 infantry regiments
Command

Cavalry troops are 6 figures to allow regiments to be constructed as needed, infantry regiments are a nicely proportioned 28-36 figures.

'Project: Pack It In At Fifty' is truly on course.

Just to be clear... Op: P.I.I.A.F is not about giving up, it's about being very measured in my approach. I don't have enough years left to paint silly little toy soldiers, and I have (like some of my Contemporaries of 37 years) really looked at what I want to spend my twilight years playing. The period of 1485 to 1660 is my real love, perhaps even more than fantasy, but I get zero joy from painting for myself; a byproduct of taking my first 7p per figure in 1983. So whilst I was very happy with the Italian wars collection, my dream set up is English Civil War. It was the first period I played where I really had my arse handed to me on a plate, and was the period I played with the likes of Darren Jon Ashmore, Togs Bamford, Keith Rhodes, and a bunch of other frothing teenagers who knew they were immortal. We reenact end it and gave as good as we got in punch ups, gaining the reputation as The Brightlets, the fanatical youth wing of John Bright's Regiment of Foote. So the notion of selling the Italian Wars for a very substantial profit to buy a bespoke collection of ECW in 28mm was a no-brainer . All being well the comm Saigon will begin next week and then I'll just have to wait for them to be returned and then get them based.

Once that's done, I will add 1 painted regiment of foot or two squadrons of horse per calendar month until I get bored.

And that is the plan...

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