Limber Fortnight

~ anthony ~ 3 Comments

I have not adopted a new fitness regime nor have I decided to embrace Yoga for the week, rather inspired by Der Alte Fritz and his Limber Day, I have decided to embrace the fact I need want to have limbers represented on my ACW battlefields. Since I have given myself a fortnight (two weeks for those who don’t do English-English slang) to not only base all the limbers I have, but also some wagons, which can serve as both objective markers and heavy ammunition resupply markers if I use the Fire and Fury rulesets.

The plan is to have these done in the next two weeks. Which given that it is approaching the end of my work year, may not be the most realistic as it’s usually the craziest time at work*. But a deadline is often just the inspiration I need, even more so, if I state it rather publicly, rather than just set an arbitrary number in my head that I can soon forget or ignore. (to help with this I have scheduled a post in 2 weeks, that will either be an update of said goal, or a post with a rather hollow sounding question, how did I do?)

So what do I have to do?

Set up ready for the basing and final painting touchup to begin.

And do I need anything more?

Probably more base colour paint, so a trip to Art Friend is in order. And looking at the above photo I realise I am 4 limbers short for both the USA and CSA forces if I want to field one per gun model. But since I don’t have them at this time, they will have to be the subject of some future post.

ACW Bases: PVA draft animals. PVA brown art sand. Raw umber wash. Naples yellow dry-brush. Custom flock blend along edges to give impression that the base is a road. (NOTE: two parallel dirt trails split by grass is a feature of car driven tracks, with wagons the grass line was where the draft animal walked, most wagons being single drawn.)

* Added to which I do get the second vaccine jab later this afternoon, and I have heard that it can give some people a few days of illness, so hopefully this will not be the case and I won’t lose any more time to COVID, but even if I do, small price to pay for being able to travel home and see my parents.

Lest we Forget

~ anthony ~ 1 Comment

They shall grow not old,
as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them,
nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun
and in the morning
We will remember them.

On the 25th April 1915, members of the Australian New Zealand Army Corp landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula at what was to later become known as ANZAC Cove. Today on this day we remember those brave souls who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country, not just in the Great War but in all conflicts. Although today is specifically one of remembrance for the fallen of both Australia and New Zealand, personally this day is one in which I remember all, regardless of nationality, who have served or continue to serve.

In my country it is unusual for servicemen to receive acknowledgement while in uniform, not so in other countries, and maybe non so much as the United States, so in borrowing a turn of phrase oft uttered in America, if you have served, continue to serve, or even one day hope to serve: Thank you for your service.

Miniature Wargames – 453

~ anthony ~ 4 Comments
Miniature Wargames 453 Jan 2021.

I probably have 3 years (possibly 4) of unread Miniature Wargames sitting on the shelves in my painting cave, I know they are unread because many are still wrapped in the plastic that covered them when they arrived in the post, which for any number of seemingly valid reasons I kept up my subscription without actually reading them. Something I plan to redress.

I recently flipped through the last 3-4, and will return to give them an in depth look in time, but at first glance I have to say that the Magazine I remember is not what it once was, whether this is a good thing or a bad will have to be decided as I “catch up” on my reading. But for now I have moved a stack into a more reader friendly area and starting at Issue 403 (when the current cover design was introduced) and I plan to peruse them until I am up to date. I expect that some of the contents therein will inspire some musings here as I moved forward.

To whit,

In “The Last Word”, (issue #453) Colin Rumford and Richard Marsh talk about project inspiration and from whence it came. For me Napoleonic’s was the first period I ever gamed, starting with 1/72 ESCI figures, inspired by a High School History teacher, Bruce Quarries famous book and with one of my oldest friends my fledgling steps in the hobby began with battles in the Peninsular. I dare say ACW was a slow boil where I took a number of tepid steps until I fully committed but the catalyst for the “all in” was after a number of years as an expat the simple act of finding a like minded opponent. WWII Europe in 20mm has existed as part of my collection from almost the beginning and the rules of Rumford and Marsh were a big part of that, though lately I am hankering to focus more on Malaya and the Far East (by way of simple geographic inspiration) but I see no reason why their rules would not work just as well. (though someone I know through a friend has suggested Chain of Command as a nice set of rules)

Prior to the current situation I was content to just plod along painting what I like at a glacial pace but now I find that being denied the choice of finding opponents that I ironically actually have a hankering to do just that. Sadly I am not sure I can get excited about Warhammer or Flames of War, which seem to be the most popular options in this part of the world, or thus a quick google search has led me to believe. So maybe I need to search a little deeper.

And in all that I wonder what will inspire me next? (the Vikings TV series is all ready to accompany my 28mm Dark Age efforts, but what will be “next”?)

Until I decide that I have some back issues to peruse, and inspiration to strike.