Another brick in the wall...

Looked after the boy on Sunday, the day before the term starts in earnest, and wanted something to take my mind of the gnawing sense of impending doom that I inevitably feel at such times.  Lo and behold, on the book shelf in the front room, the answer loomed large.  Two hours, and some intense occupational therapy, later...

On a wing and a prayer...

Approximately 130 models on undercoating sticks waiting for the fickle English weather to be suitable for undercoating.  On the left a sizeable Gates of Antares Freeborn force (the skimmers are out of shot) and some more reinforcements for my US infantry.  There are also 20 Frostgrave minis in  the queue as well.

Most moist...

I didn't manage to blog yesterday - I was too knackered, but I did manage to get a bit of modelling done.  I cleaned the mould lines on some more little green guys and started to clean up an MG team for my US infantry.

This morning, whilst waiting for my brother to arrive, I managed to finish the first MG team and complete a second.  My boy's been pestering me to go fishing since catching an eel at a taster day a few weeks ago so, knowing next to sod all about about fishing, I asked my brother for help.  Armed with a 4.99 fishing rod, a bag of bread and three boys aged 6, 4 and 2 we set off into the drizzle.

After 30 minutes we had our first bite and a fierce struggle with a carp during which my brother kindly taught all three children the word 'bastard'.  To be fair, the fish had nibbled that many pieces of bread from the hook that we felt that they were beginning to take the piscine (see what I did there).  The fish were coming so close to the edge of the pond that, in frustration, my brother laid down next to it in an attempt to flick one out (fish that is).  An hour later and the boys were getting a bit distracted, but we were about to witness an epic battle of man vs nature which landed us the little chap below (released safely back into the water).

There's something wrong with our bloody ships...

I went to the flgs last night for a game of Armada and ended up playing my old WH40k nemesis.  He's a good bloke, but always takes tough lists and plays to win. I took an ISD 1, a Victory 1, a GSD 2 and a raider. I also took Howlrunner with two Tie squadrons.  My opponent took two guppies with Ackbar and a tadpole plus numerous squadrons.

The first game I hung back and essentially got bent over the table.  The second game went slightly better, in that I decided just to drive everything down my opponents throat.  I still lost, but I'm going to claim a moral victory because I destroyed Ackbar on his flagship by shooting the nuts off him and then driving over him with my ISD.  My victory was short lived because the other guppy was really nimble and got behind the ISD, destroying it in short order.  I lost everything except the Raider, but gave everything else he had a good mauling.

Not bad for my second and third games of Armada.  I managed to position my GSD in such a way, in both games, that it did nothing.  In hindsight, I think I may trail my GSD behind everything else in order to try and deliver a counter punch once the initial clash is over and the opponent is trying to fly around behind my ships.

Now you see him...

A quick update...

My lovely wife was looking after her best friend's son today so I managed to another day modelling.  I used green stuff to gap fill on 30 US infantry.  This comprised two sections of ten men for a second platoon, with support from two more bazooka teams and a sniper team.

Following that, I managed to clean the mould lines from some Goblins.  They're going to be used in a  long term project that is still in it's initial stages (started during the summer of 2014, which is my typical rate of progress).

Two shaman and a warboss.

Tanks for the memories...

My wife and son went on an excursion to a castle today with friends, giving me some free time. Below are the new additions to my American Bolt Action force which is loosely themed around the Ardennes Offensive.

Eating area secured!

I was rushing to get them finished in time so instead of pinning all of the metal stowage in place, I used my tried and tested method of bodging it with green stuff and strong super glue. Job's a good 'un!

Hello? Is this thing on? Tap, tap.

My blog is going to feature war gaming quite heavily.  It may also contain references to the 1980s; how much better everything used to be, and 'I remember when all this was fields.'

I would put a photo in at this point, but it's beyond my ken at the moment.

My name is Steve and I'm a war gamer - I've been clean now for 12 seconds, sorry, wait...what? Reset the clock.  I started my descent into the rabbit hole during the early 80s when I was 8 or 9 and I discovered the Fighting Fantasy books in my small country primary school.  The end of the school year was marked by someone bringing in Talisman and a small group of us playing until we were forced to go to lunch.  A copy of the original D&D red box set (a birthday present from my Nan) snared me hook, line and sinker.  This was further compounded by my discovery of a small model shop in the provincial Cornish town where we were forced to go on weekly grocery shopping trips.

These trips were lightened by '10 minutes' in the aforementioned model shop where I would ogle the revolving blister pack stand and its plentiful bounty. Back then this included Citadel's Doctor Who, 2000ad and nascent Warhammer and Rogue Trader lines. My first independent purchase was a blister of skeletons which included the one emerging from the ground.

Fast forward to today. I'm just about to turn the wrong side of forty and it seems my journey down the rabbit hole is only accelerating...