Border Reiver 2022

 After nearly three years of not going to Wargame shows, it came as a surprise from a friend's FB post on the Friday, before the Saturday that a show was on. After a quick exchange of messages eventually three of us arranged to travel to the show the next day.

An early start saw us arrive in time to join the small queue before the venue opened.

My immediate reaction upon entering was that there were far fewer games and stalls than in previous years and even by the time our little party left, the 'crowd' was much smaller than in times past. I still managed to see a lot of friends and familiar faces around the stalls and games.

Here's the photogarphs:

Shiny Games UK - new to me, selling fantasy

A space fantasy game.

Heavy Gear -Blitz-  (I have no idea either)

Dougie's Wargaming Blog Show - WW2Platoon Action

Another game I have no idea about.

Westerhope's superb Italian v Brits in the desert game.

What the Italians (above) faced.

My local group's game (I'm not a member).

The only stall I bought anything from !

A rather good looking WW1 balloon busting game

War of the Roses participation game  superb figures.

Another participation game, Wild West (obviously)

Intersting merchandise - haven't a clue who it is though

Some of the fantastic selection of  'Helion' books

An Ancients' Chariot type game - Hittites ?

Pirates of the Aegean game - Tyneside Wargames Club

BIG spaceships

Small scale WW2 game.

Viking invasion type game.

Another WW" desert game, DAK i the picture - great scenery.

Yet another sci-Fi fantasy game by South Tyneside Tabletop games...

...and another rather static (Marvel Protocol Crisis?)

A Halloween stall - who'd have guessed ?

A very good Jacobite  rebellion game.

Great paint-jobs.

A Gothic participation game set in a cemetery, by the enimatble Mr Wiley.

The not so crowded hall,

No queueing at any stall, unsurprisingly.

 

I have no loot to show from this show, as my only purchases were cake slices for my wife and the evidence disappeared quickly on my return to home.

The show wasn't such a disappointment as might be though, I saw some old friends for the first time in several years, saw some very good games as well as some that were not as good. The predominance of Fantasy wasn't surprising, but their presentation wasn't that good either.

I noticed the usual detritus littering tables, dice, rules, drinks etc. and the lack of prominant notices indicating the game and the participants. 

We were there for about an hour and a half and the hall hadn't got any busier to any noticable degree, but we had a good time and it was our first show in well over two years ! Roll on Battleground (if I can get a lift).

Not A Real Post

 Whilst this may appear to be a real post, it really isn;t and has nothing to do whatsoever with our hobby. This last week I have been resting and recuperating from the last operation (or procedure if you wish) and have managed absolutely nothing hobby related. I really do need a rest from the hobby I've decided, I have enough figures of many armies over many periods and don;tneed any more; I have buidling in many scales with enough for 28mm figures to filla table 8 foot x 6 foot; I've slapped on paint to literally thousands of figures and don't need any more tbh. 

This is not to say that I have given up blogging entirely, I just really do need a break from it and consequently will only be posting something when I have somehting to post about !.

In the meatime I will try and catch up with all of you who have far too much energy and enthusiasm for painting, modelling and blogging and will try and continue to comment on the blogs that I normally do comment upon.

That's it though, possibly for a while.

 

Another week...

...and another illness, or so it seems when I got my results in fro a blood test I did a couple or so weeks ago.  It hasn't been a good week , going to the pharmacy numerous times to find my prescriptios (new, old or pending) either absent or missing items or both. Tody though it was all sorted for me and I am now the (not) proud owner of two new medications and the correct doages for an other medication.  If I did running (which I don't) I'd proabbly rattle. With another visit to the opticians under my belt (a minor repair job), a mdeical appointment over the telephone and two hoe tests I had to perform and despatch off (for the samething but to go to different places), it hasn't been a great week. It was all topped off by being given another eye appointment - a regular yearly thing and tomorrow I'm back in hospital for a minor operation to remove a 'stent' (I don't know either), the residual part of my operation back in May.

All in all you can probably tell that I didn't get much of anything done this last week.

I did manage to get harry/Brad looking a bit less like he'd been 'Tangoed' , but it was a quick fix that I wasn't too endeared about.

 I also found the 'iron' grill/frame that fitted over the 'jail' window. It had been flattened on the floor  and didn't reform well, It took a whole day of searching to find the remanants of the bird feed wire mesh to replace it (still to do.).

Here's a few photos of my 'none' week:

Harry/Brad looking  a bit better imo.

Still looking strange, but not orange!

Attempted fixing of squashed mesh (failed)

Bird feed mesh ready to be cut.

And that's it, a bit on the slim side of next to nothing - my heart hasn't really been into the hobby this week (again), but  I have tried to keep up to date with others' blogs.

Thanks fo rtaking th eitme ot visit and as always comments are welcomed and appreciated.

Six Down, One to go ?

In a week where I mostly looked at and made notes on version 1.4 of the gladiator rules "Blood on the Sands" by Frank Sultana, I did very little else until the weekend. I decided I needed something to post about and decided to finish off Harry Luck (aka Brad Dexter) from the original version of the Magnificent Seven. His clothing was shaded and highlighted and his face done with a bit of a heavy hand as he looked more like Donald Trump than Harry ! I'd forgotten to highlight his face with the pink fleshy bits, but it's all I've got for this week.

 

Here's the photographs:

With the camera flash on I didn't think he looked too bad

Boring side view

Boring other side vew

Really boring rear view

The Magnificen six - and now you see just how 'tanned' poor old Harry/Brad is !

So in a week where I managed to not even really finish a figure I have very little to show.
The 'problem' I have with this project is that I had the realisation that I'll probably never see it all come to fruition and thus my enthusiasm dwindles as time goes on.

Thankd for taking the time to visit and as always comments are welcomed and appreciated.

Speedy Gonzales - NOT

 My enthusiasm for this week's painting wained as the week went on as I've mostly been painting roofs - just the two of them. I'm now up to painting highlighting or putting washes over them for the fifth or sixth time ( I lost track). The original intention was to highlight the darker mustard coloured with, progressively,  two lighter ones.  Unfortunately the yellows I chose turned out to be mostly greys - a Yellow/white problem I have with my eyesight and generally I see these as almost identical shades. I tend to see all colours much  paler than they should be (red/orange is another problem). A wash of another yellow ochre just about fixed the problem, but needed two washes and finally, to give that grim look I washed with a charcoal (black would have been far to harsh imo). 

The finished "Blue House" roof is shown, in situ, above right.
I 've also done some remedial modelling on the "Blue House's" front window,  the "Jail's" front window and roof, and the roof of the "Shack".

Here's the photo's:

The two roofs' progress

Spot the problem...No?...

...How about now ?

Window sorted (and bonus obligatory blurry picture)

"Jail" window now has board across the bottom

Jail roof, with pots acting as an aid to roof removal

The "Shack" with its new roof

I also gave Harry/Brad some shading but that's for another day.

And that's it then for another week, not much I know, but I'm happy that I got anything done !

 

Thanks for taking the time to visit and as always your comments are welcomed and appreciated.

Down Mexico Way...

So this week, whilst slowly melting and the usual real-life interuptions of two Birthday parties (One a Poker evening and the other my youngest granchild's two year old birthday party).  As part of the above activities I also managed three long(ish) walks, about as far as I can manage currently and was very pleased with myself. Most of the week I've been house painting, models, not the larger 1:1 scale ones.

The inside walls have all been done, some tidying up on the outside walls  and their plasterwork has all been done.There is still a lot of tidying up to do on window  and door frames etc., but nothing major. However the two pantile roofs are still to be re-painted and then the whole of the three-building block will need a lot of dark washes and some highlighting too, before being called 'finished'.

Here's the photos of the bits  I've done this week (with the jail plasterwork complete above) and I found out it does take quite a while to paint all the walls !

The shack, interior walls and floos done !

The shacks rear and entrance wall finished.

Rear of the 'blue' house finished.

Internal walls completed

Interior of the 'jail', note the window cage top left.

Pretty boring photo of the rear of the 'Jail'

Very boring pic of the end wall of the shack.

It may not seem a lot by most gamers, but I can guarantee that I've spent more than ten hours this week painting ! (Which is a lot by my standards).

That's it though for this week, no doubt next week will be more of the same (sorry).

Thanks for taking the time to visit and of course your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.