The Times, They Are A-Changin'

It's a curious year for me. I'm making massive inroads on several projects such as my 28mm ECW project, which was sent to the painter and is going to be completed and with me by October, which itself is just around the corner.

I decided that I'd paint 90% of the horses because they are Essex Miniatures and despite the fact that I generally don't paint for myself, the Essex castings are a real joy to paint.

After 20 hours, I have 81 horses done:

My painter sent back the first units of ECW, a couple of weeks ago, as 'test pieces' before throwing himself into twelve regiments of foot, 12 of horse and two of dragoons:

Although I insist that the models are returned with a a high gloss acrylic anti-UV varnish, used by graffiti artists, I matte them down myself using a professional grade art varnish. I am really happy with the test pieces and so I am looking forward to the first 200 pieces arriving at the end of the month.

As you can see, the infantry, dragoons and artillery are a mix of Warlord, Perry and Foundry - all metal.

On the matter of horses, I remember when I first met Roger, he showed me a long shelf in his war-games storage room (lucky lad to have that at 15) which was covered in Connoisseur horses which, he explained, were painted according to the Gilder method, using oil paints.

Fast forward 35 or so years, and I am using a similar method, using acrylic bases mediums.

I being by taking 4 or 5 different 'horse shades' of Kobra spray painted base coat the models. The next stage is (wearing gloves) to apply a good coat of Rowney FW acrylic pigment, and then using lint free material, buff most of it off. You'll already see at this stage, that you have a rather nice horse flesh finish.

Then, stick them down in groups of six on 20mm batons, ready for painting. Then, paint the under shades for the hooves, eyes and manes, noses too, if like me, you like that look, and the socks. Then block in the reins and tacking. Highlight the manes, socks and noses, dot in the eyes and you should have 6 good -looking horses in 60-90 minutes.

After 4 decades, I have decided to get rid of my fantasy collection. I realised that I've not played a game since August of 2019, and I also tend to think of fallen friends and idols, and that makes me get rather maudlin, ponder my own mortality and from there it's a slippery slope.

I also realised that despite owning a fantasy miniatures company, I have none of my own models yet, so my mid term plan is to start over again, using my Satanic Panic Miniatures Hobgoblins. But not yet.

I've decided to go back to one of the classic, and develop an AWI collection, using the proceeds from the disposal of my fantasy. I've started with a Continental force of 14-16 regiments of 30 or so models, with a few guns, cavalry and the usual bits. My wife, who disposed of her massive Dark Elf army, did the same with British, Roger has threatened to bring in the Hessians, and as I write, my brother is being shown pictures of Frenchmen :)

I'm doing a lot of thinking about the 80s recently, and although I can't quite order those thoughts into a series of writings, there's something there that needs to be recorded. I'm really trying to find a way to empirically show just how great the 80s were for gaming, but also despite the sources and community which existed, how outer and underground gaming was. That made it much more interesting and gave the feel of being part of something secretive and almost arcane.

I am taking the whole of August off, so I am hoping to be able to do some serious thinking and writing. I need to do this, because as I say, I am thinking a lot about the things I've done, people I've met and the choices I've made, for better and worse. My life really has been based around gaming in a way that very few people will experience. I need to reassure myself that my life has not been wasted, but moreover I want to use the experiences of the first 50 years of my life to pull those experiences into some really positive quality time involving friends, family and little lead dollies.

My purchases have been limited of late. Apart from the AWI, I have bought a copy of 'Mystic Wood', a classic game I played in 1982 when I found out that one of the 'hard lads' at school was a closet gamer, and three of us used to go to his house at lunchtimes and play this whilst demolishing a few cans of soup and a loaf of bread, saving dinner money for spending at Games Workshop, Beatties and Redgates at the weekend.

Ah, simple pleasures...

TTFN