Future Gaming Objectives

It's been a surprisingly productive year in terms of toy soldiers. Especially as, for various reasons, I took about 4 to 5 months off any sort of gaming during the year!

This year I've completed the first stage of my EIR, reaching about 1,100pts. Then I completed ~1,400pts of Celts to face them. I've also managed to get my WW1 project off the ground, though not too much has been achieved so far. But I did manage to attend the GB Evesham event back in June which was a real hoot.

So what might I be planning for next year? Well, leaving aside personal objectives like promoting world peace and reducing my carbon footprint, I have...

Primary Objectives

• Spend more time painting/gaming with my family. I've a stack of plastic figures they can slap paint on, then dip. I've got plenty of Romans and Celts to play skirmish games with. Then there's my fairly extensive collection of LotR figures. It's enormous fun and basically free entertainment. Just a bit of imagination is required to think up some good scenarios and simplify the rules.
• Expand my EIR to at least 1,500pts, preferably 1,750pts. Then I can always top it up with a few hundred points worth of Celts if I need a 2,000pt army for an event - if required.
  
• Add at least 3 more chariots to my Celts, plus another unit of Warriors, possibly the fanatical type. This will give me an army of around 1,750pts thus making possible larger and more fun games of EIR vs Celts WAB.
• Build a proper WW1 (Late War) BEF force of 1,000pts and try to get along to another event. This has become surprisingly important to me. Probably because taking part made me feel more like a 'proper' wargamer ... whatever that really is!
  

Secondary Objectives

• Build some WW1 style scenery - possibly even get on with my modular terrain - though I shall probably make a bunch of barricades, craters, barbed wire sections, etc, for gaming on a 'flat' table first.
• Build either a Celt farmstead or a Roman villa.
• Make better woodland and rough ground sections. These will be such that they can appear on almost any battlefield.
• Attend at least one wargaming show, hopefully two.
  

However, a lot depends on more important external factors, e.g. family, work, finances, etc. Plus there are also the vagaries of the wargaming world itself. For example, if the new 'WAB 2.0' rules, the 'Rome' supplement for WAB or 'Over The Top' for TGW ever get published then priorities will almost certainly change.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to everyone!

Dipped Celts

Here's a few pics of my recently completed Celts. The figures are mostly Warlord Games with a few Black Tree Design.

The first pic shows the basic painting style I use for dipping. White undercoat and block colours. Only the skin and the metal areas get two coats. For the skin I use a base of GW Dwarf Flesh followed by a quick higlight with Foundry Base Sand Light. The metal areas get a first coat of GW Chaos Black followed by either GW Mithril Silver or GW Burnished Gold.


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Now the figures have been dipped using Army Painter strong tone, brushed on. Ooh aren't they shiny!


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A quick spray of Army Painter Anti-shine spray (tip - shake it really well) and a nice base makes all the difference!


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Clearly, to get ahead you ... er ... need to get a head!?


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Basing - 3mm ply bases (20x20mm) from Litko - highly recommended. Covered in a mix of sand and grit. Base colour of GW Bestial Brown, followed by highlights of GW Vomit Brown and GW Bleached Bone. Add a few clumps of static grass to finish off. For these character types I'll also add a few pieces of woodland scenics foliage, since they'll be front rankers.

I now have just in excess of 1,400pts (~160 models) in my Celt force so I think I'll give painting them a rest for now. I'll try to find time to get them all out and take a few whole-army shots for the blog.

Wargame-o-meter #3

A month since my last post where I list my gaming interests in order of current priority and once again things are quite different...

1. The Great War
That this now tops the chart probably has quite a lot to do with a planned visit to Arras at the end of the month with some good friends from New Zealand.
Anyway, I've dusted off my copy of Warhammer Historical's The Great War and had a good read - again. I know from my experience this Summer at GB's Evesham Front event that it's a cracking good game. I really enjoy painting the figures from Great War Miniatures. Checking my figure collection and the 1917-18 BEF lists I reckon I've got almost 600pts. I'd really like to attend more of these one day events but first I need to get my 1,000pt battalion painted!

2. Celts
Almost at 1,500pts now. Just a few figures to finish off, then a big session dipping and basing about 50 figures.

3. Romans
Plan is to quickly paint up the remaining troops for my 1,500pt target using the dip and Warlord's figures. They're built, primed white and ready to paint.

4. Scenery
Earlier this year I had a burst of excitement for building WW1 scenery, but only half finished a number of items. Now I see that Scarab sell very reasonably priced barbed wire sets ... hmmm!?

5. Napoleonics
Still hanging on in there ... definitely a project for next year at the earliest. But I just can't resist those splendid uniforms. Watching 'Sharpe' DVDs doesn't help either. However, my wife is more than happy to watch Sean Bean swashing his buckle!

But ... what with all the build up to the festive season, school plays, shopping, etc I'm not sure exactly how much time I'm going to get for painting in the next few weeks. Perhaps I ought to pull my finger out and post a few pics of all my recent work - after there's only so much Rhubarb that people want to read.

Happy (Festive) Gaming!