Friday 16 September 2016

Winner! well the bronze anyway....

Hi all

Before I get onto the topic of this post, I will be cutting the amount of posts I put out from next week.  This is due to the start of uni for my last year and it's already shaping up to be a hectic one, with lots of clinical placements and assessments amongst the plethora of essays and reports and all the while I'm still employed full time by the Trust so have to work a 37.5hr week (which with late sign offs inevitably rises passed the 40hr mark). As you can imagine this will impact on my blogging/gaming, so I will have to restrict my blogging output in order to get at least some time at the Wargames table! I'll try for twice a week which will be Monday and Thursday, but will more likely be just once a week - Monday.  I will still be reading and commenting on my fave blogs so I won't totally disappear and I've prepared a couple of posts already including an ATZ the board game batrep so da Gobbo will still be about.

Anyhoo a little while ago I put out a post celebrating Big Lee's 2 million views on his blog Big Lee's Miniature Adventures, yes that's right 2 million - jeez!  Anyway as well as a congratulatory post it also entered me into his prize draw and I got picked out! YES!!

The prize was a £25 e-voucher for Warbases, now I have looked at their website quite a few times over the last few years, particularly when the esteemed sir Michael Awdry produces one of his wonderful vignettes and adds those little hidden details, you know a little pheasant here, a rabbit or two there. I also admire the casualty markers my gaming buddy Chris "Naps" Thorne of the Nerd Herd uses in our Black Powder games.  So it was with great excitement that I went storming over to Warbases and started shopping, here is what I got.


yummy loot!! So what's in the pile of goods you may ask, so here we go.  We have a pack of pheaants, a badger, a pack of foxes, a pack of rabbits, assorted dog models inc bulldog! 8 large polygon mdf bases and 12 casualty/pin markers with 12 16mm trays and 24 perspex inserts (12 pin and 12 casualty) all for just over £25 - total bargain!!

Thanks Lee you're a total legend!!!

But this post isn't finished let me show what I did in a fit of uncontrolled excitement in the 24 hours since receiving the bundle.

The casualty markers are 30mm, the smaller size, I could have got the 40mm which would have fitted the insert with more space around the edges, but I didn't want them to be too intrusive on my games.  Painting the tops of the markers and the 16mm trays with GW Mournfang Brown, I then glued the inserts to the top of the marker. Finally I used a ballast and static grass basing technique to blend with my other figs and board.  I gave the perspex markers a quick coat of very watered down black paint and wiped the excess off leaving the inscription coated in black and making the words easier to read, I prefer this technique to what some other gamers do which is to use a wax crayon as my way is quicker and just as effective.


Now I can use the "Pin" inserts for my Bolt Action games and the "Casualty" markers for my Black Powder games, or I can just turn them over and use the blank sides as generic markers.  Alternatively I can use them to hold "order" dice for BA or an ordinary 16mm dice for PEFs in ATZ or any other game.  They are also useful turn counters!!


with my Bremen Field Battalion for BP

for BA, my Commando find themselves receiving fire and becoming pinned
Next up was the polygon bases, I got these with a very specific reason, "Pass" tokens for Bushido. Some factions particularly the militaristic Prefecture of Ryu make extensive use of the Pass token. You can also gain them when you're faction is outnumbered in the game and they can be played instead of moving a miniature.  This can be very useful as activation control is vital in this game. You of course can use anything from a dice to a slip of paper to a matchstick, Damon and I have been using D10s (of which I have loads).  But me, being me wanted something bespoke so I sprayed the tokens black using a very smelly car primer!  I then gave them another coat with Vallejo black as the spray isn't very absorbing and makes paint run off....

Following that I used a small 15mm base to make a white circle in the middle of one side and then hand painted a Yin Yang symbol.  This was then given a sprayed seal to protect it.


On the other side I looked up the word "Pass" in Japanese Kanji and painted it on.  It was only after I finished all of them did I think that I might have used Pass in the wrong context, but looking up similar words it seems I'm not far off, phew! Again I sprayed a sealant on to protect it from the hard use it's bound to have.  As you can see with the paint pot in the background these tokens are fairly big, this was very deliberate as I wanted a very visual token as they don't go on the table top and sit at the side of the game and need to be seen by your opponent easily.


And there we have it, my Warbases prize used almost immediately.  I already have plans to use a lot of the animals as I need to rebase my woods and trees.

My thanks to Big Lee for the prize and again I tip my hat to the unimaginable number of 2 million hits, check out his blog here, I promise you, you will not be sorry as he covers a massive array of topics!

hope you enjoy
dGG

20 comments:

  1. Hey, no worries about working; except I feel sorry for you and your work load. I don`t know how you find time to write and paint, and blog and comment at all, "fair play to you" as they say in Ireland. Do what you can, or more importantly, do what you feel you want to... everyone understands I`m sure. Thank God my Uni days are long behind me *shudders at the thought of the sheer work I had to do* I`m in a similar boat too, the coming weeks - possibly months, as I have two rather heavy writing commissions I must perform, and this will limit my own time on line as well... actually, quite considerably. My priority, and always has been, are my two clubs: one of which I run with a couple of close friends, and the other I attend and help out with as and when asked or/and needed. Of course, I also run (and attend) a regular rpg and wargame group at home (smaller, but still running into six, eight, ten people each week). This last is helped immeasurably by Hils, Tar`, and Dave, but it still needs careful attention to keep the games fresh and interesting. Hils helps when she can, but she is still only half way through a series of operations for her hips, knees and back... so she helps when she can, and sometimes the sessions are cancelled if she’s not feeling top notch (Hils has an acute form of aggressive arthritis, which you`d never even tell, as she’s so active, youthful, young looking, amazing and a bundle of energy {note, the brownie points I just scored}, and she never complains, and so it’s hard even to tell when she’s not feeling so good and in pain... but I can always tell (doesn’t stop her swimming 80 lengths in the pool every day, gym, and long walks). But yeah, all in all, it’s a hectic time ahead, so you may not see me as much. Tar` will probably write a lot more too, over at `the cupboard` to take up the slack.

    Congrats on pulling a win, I have no doubt its well deserved. Those condition marker bases are marvellous and I`m envious hehe, they really are very useful and what’s more, they look completely amazing. I`m impressed.

    I was delighted to see some of your historical pieces. Wow, I wish you`d do/show more of this stuff. Your Bremen Field Battalion are simply delightful.... Ooo please tell me they are Picton`s Fighting 3rd. I have a thing about late Napoleonics (specially The Hundred Day War): and I have a bit of a soft spot for that ill dressed, foul mouthed Victorian gentleman and his famous `exiled` Iron Sides. Have you got a miniature of Sir Thomas Picton himself, uuh... uuuh... yeah.... have you? I didn’t know you played BP, wow, we have more in common that I realised. How do you find the rules and the BP presumption of needing a HUGE able up which to set up and play?

    ... AND you play BA, WOW, Know I`m hugely impressed. Moreee moooree... MOOOOREEEE!!!!! Those British Commandoes are superb. I like the canoes. Are they British, the lighting is dark so I`m not sure, but they could be French? They could be De Gaulle`s guys? Though even bet they`re Brits. Few years back I bought the Warlord Games Pegasus Bridge Collectors set, and I absolutely adore everything about it. My third or fourth `next to do` project is Warmington-on-Sea... Mainwaring and his motley crew, and their carious whimsical antics “Whatever you do, don’t give him your name Pike” *chuckles*

    Excellent stuff Andy, and good luck with the forthcoming studies, work, and stuff.

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    1. in all honesty Steve, you'll probably see more pics of my non-Bushido collection - which is vast I hasten to add, just because it will be a better alternative to not posting at all. I must admit it would be a nice change of pace to just to dust off and showcase some of the other stuff I do.

      My Napoleonic stuff is all made up for Black Powder which I find a nice simple set of rules that lends itself to easy friendly games that aren't competitive or driven by a points system. We literally just pour a load of minis on Chris's huge gaming table and fight for the day! Chris uses Scenarios based on historical battles to spice things up and we mainly use his huge collection of minis interspersed by meagre (in comparison) amount of Brits. He is currently painting up a literal shed full of Austrians to fight his huge French forces. my Brits are a little less historical as the majority are drawn from the Buffs which were drawn from East Kent where I live though they did feature at Corona they didn't feature in the 100 day war as they were out in the West Indies at the time. But they are Kent's own so I raised a couple of Battalions. I did raise some others and I will show them if you like, The officers who run my motley crew were all made up by me....sorry...

      The BA stuff are Brit commandos from the Warlord range and they are very nice set which I just had to have to back up my green beret BA force

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  2. My best wishes for your forthcoming studies Andy. I too work a 40+ hour week and hobby time is valuable as a result. Nice to see some of your other genres on show too :-)

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    1. Thanks Blax, as I said above to Steve you might get to see more of my non-Bushido minis which I game with infrequently but still love playing.

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  3. I do understand that real life must come first and I wish you all the best with your studies. I really don't mind what you show on your blog or if you cutback your posts to just one per week. Just appreciate your free time and make the most of it. We'll still be here and we'll support you as best we can.

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  4. No no, don't be sorry, it shows more imagination to make up your own... do you do what I do too, and give the personalities and characteristics (I`m afraid I even go as far as to make up my own banners, family mottos, family trees, and various imagined and half imagined... loosely based on historical... family histories).

    Id love to see more of your Buffs, yes please.

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    1. not quite so involved as that although they are normally named after family members and I do effect a rather good upper-class drawl when positioning them on the battlefield...

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  5. HHAHHAHAa, oh so true, has to be done.... hey wot old boy!

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  6. Congrats and a voucher well used. I must admit I am just a little bit jealous as this was the prize I most valued. Curses. Oh well maybe next time.

    At least you are using everything wisely and to good effect.

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    1. Thanks Clint, I must admit to being v pleased with the prize Clint and immediately knew what I wanted to use it for!

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  7. Hey do what must be done and post what you can. Congrats on the win by the way.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks Roger, I'll try my best but cannot promise anymore than that. ;-)

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    2. As you say your posts will be less frequent I thought I'd better finally join your list, so as of now I'm now an official follower of your blog, and have added it to my Blogroll, so I won't miss any of your posts from now on.

      Cheers Roger.

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    3. Much appreciated Roger, seems a bit strange to welcome you aboard as you already comment frequently anyway but welcome ;-)

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  8. Cograts on the win. Those Warbases' animals are pretty cool.

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    1. Thanks bud, they are pretty cool and they will appear on some rebasing of my woods

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  9. Congrats on the win and a very useful bitof kit for your tokens - they look great.

    Once again real-life interupts our hobby - sheesh.

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    1. Thanks mate.

      Yes as always real life gets in the way, although this weekend I managed to put out 3 posts ;-)

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