Here are some of my recent purchases. Needless to say I adore books.
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World Book Day
Author: lorenzoseventh
Wargaming in an erratic style
I got distracted yesterday – the last day of “paint what you got”. Instead of knuckling down with some final painting I legged it to Newark for Hammerhead. That’s Newark, Lincolnshire, old England.
Anyway I did finish a few more pieces although there is no “painting portrait” show as such.
Only joking – that’s a hammerhead participation game.
So “Paint what you got” has been very productive with a lot of miniatures stuck in the paint queue making it over the line.
I finally finished B & B miniatures Prussian limber. 20mm Franco Prussian war figures. Sadly the business shut its doors last year I think?
Then there are 3 wagons from Irregular Miniatures 20mm ranges – I think these were all ACW. I have a couple Hat miniatures ww1 French artillery men on them.
In the background two types of cavalry but from the same company. Strelets are a Ukrainian company who make plastic injection figures.
In this case the figures are from their Crimean War series – British Dragoons and Russian Lancers.
I had only minor tweaks to the models before a paint job transformed them to 1848 Prussian Dragoons and Lancers
The lancers are 5th Westfalia
The dragoons are 3rd Neumark
I have a very good funcken uniform book for 19th century European armies. It covers the transition from coatees and shakoes to frock coats and casque type helmets.
*the phrase last knockings as well as knocking off at the end of the day relate to the end of something – a task, process or activity and completion.
I have had a productive “paint what you got”. This winter I opted to use the challenge to tackle a big paint queue of part painted figures as opposed to the mountains of untouched miniatures.
It means I have progressed some 1st Schleswig Holstein War figures while some oddballs have made the journey to “wargames ready”.
These cowboys are clearly the latter.
So this lot are again “many years ago” Triples Sheffield purchases long before what a cowboy/dead man’s hand appeared. The leader is a “blue moon” character as sold by Old Glory in the UK while the gang are Dixon miniatures from that great Yorkshire firm – Dixon Miniatures.
The “blue moon” leader (again) is in fact Jesse James while the bauxite gang model was in fact Frank James, his brother, that I wrongly attributed in the previous PWYG painting post.
On with the Van Stevin gang led by none other than Pieter Van Stevin himself.
The rest of the gang are
A bit about Cimarron. Cimarron sits beneath the Sangre de Cristo mountains in northern New Mexico. Its fame nowadays relates to the St James hotel whose regular visitors included Wyatt Earp, Buffalo Bill Cody and Jesse James amongst others.
At its height it was on the Southern leg of the Santa Fe trail to which it gave its name. Taking the Cimarron route was risky as it crossed New Mexican desert with no water holes. Still the mountain route to the north through Raton and Taos required dismantling of wagons to physically lift them up rock faces at certain points on the route. Tough choices or what!
The southern Rockies are worth a road trip. I did mine in 2024.
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Fragment 26/1
Last year I started some posting ideas around bits of things which did not really make a post but when combined with others could justify a post in their own right.
After the first two fragments of 2025 things sorted of dried up a bit. Or rather my focus was on specific miniatures or gaming posts.
I am going to have another try this year and ironically the first driver is the same as last years – magazines. And with further irony the second idea mimics fragment 25/2 – books.
However to kick off 2026 fragments I am going to mention painting challenges. These have kind of taken over my painting activities to the extent that three define my painting year.
First up is “paint what you got”. Now this challenge by Dave Stone works for me because it drives me to dig out what I have either half painted or abandoned. It has proved its worth.
Second is the Analogue Painting Challenge. I took this on at no14 and so I am on year three.
https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/tag/fantasy/
This challenge has caused problems in that it got my ideas flowing and instead of reducing the lead mountain I ended up scratch building models during the challenge as the “themes” caught my imagination.
On the positive side I have found a use for those magazine freebies and indulged in my recycled household junk heaps to create spacecraft.
I also think it propelled me into painting a background for my model displays – retiring the painting pedestal in favour of the painting portrait. In fact I even produced a sci-fi background last year.
Ahpc invariably overruns well into spring so now absorbs about half my painting year!
https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2025/04/26/the-painting-portrait-25k-ahpc15-leftovers/
The third challenge is Dave Stones scenery season which runs over the summer. Or in my case summer into autumn. This has proven a godsend as scenery production was nil and an ever increasing list of kits, models or ideas were tying me up in knots.
https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/category/scenery/
So three challenges which basically cover the whole year of my painting activities.
Maybe in another fragment I will say something about the impact of these challenges on my painting activities themselves.
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Paint what you got – cowboys
These figures are by Dixon except The leader who is none other than Jesse James modelled by Blue Moon 2007 slice of americana distributed by old glory in the uk.
Both ranges remain the cowboy figures of choice in my view. They have superb character even if they are slightly oversized.
Rusty Maguire’s Iron Ore gang all together the blue moon Jesse james figure centre is slightly slimmer and taller than the fulsome Dixon figures.
Facial details on these figures remain stunning given these mouldings are decades old.
The gang is led by Rusty Maguire…..
My figures were bought at the last Sheffield triples show. And then they joined the lead pile.
The bauxite brothers
During lockdown they finally got white primed and then craft paint red sienna washed.
https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/tag/contrast-paints/
Now they have had some extra washing with Windsor and Newton sepia ink plus the odd brown/cream clothing picked out.
The original very Matt sienna paint reminded me of Rusty iron so that gave me an idea for names – after all you have to give these wonderful characters names!
The ore brothers
I varnished them with Vallejo Matt varnish and then top coat of Vallejo super Matt varnish.
Not sure when these guys will get out and about – but watch out – they carry a lot of lead😁
Based on old coins they received a pva coating then “games workshop” era stoney sand.
The gang……..
Rusty Maguire gang leader
The ore brothers
Limonite (Lim)
Siderite (Sid)
Magnetite (Magnus)
The bauxite brothers
Pinky
Red (Rhett)
ACE models seem to have reputation for accuracy and detail. This was my first kit by them.
The kit went together well and I am happy with the result.
Yet the glazing element was not modelled- you got some paper outlines to make your own.
I think because it’s a car and to be honest a small car sold in a standard sized kit box and at a standard price (excepting low cost vintage airfix/hornby) the omission of some glazing or say a driver feels a bit mean. Maybe we are spoiled by airfix in terms of content.
Back to the vehicle I have given it a simple green finish and have yet to decide on transfers/markings.
I made my glazing from some delicatessen hard plastic packaging. Was it German sausage or French charcuterie – I can’t remember!
I scratched the rear window to imply it’s cracked while I added some cardboard wipers to the front screen – again these are a feature of the vehicle yet omitted by the maker.
So another Fauxterre 1930’s vehicle joins the growing car park.
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Paint what you got 2026
It’s that time of year in the uk when the short days encourage indoor hobbies like wargames and there is no better way to improve your figure painting volumes than by joining a challenge or simply painting with friends online or face to face.
This years “paint what you got” has me trawling the paint queue rather than the metal/plastic mountain.
https://wargamesculptorsblog.blogspot.com/2025/12/paint-what-you-got-20252026.html
So first up are these Danish Guardsmen in their 1848 finery.
By 1849 they had swopped the late napoleonic style red coatees for dark blue tunics following the fashion set by Prussia and Piedmont in the early 1840’s. However they kept their bearskins.
So these figures show the twilight of the “Napoleonic style”.
I used British grenadiers from Strelets Crimea range. These are 1:72 plastic injection mouldings. The style is squat and bulky – note Strelets figures vary by sculptor.
Generally plastic injection figures look far better painted so don’t be put off by your visiting plastic soldier review. Indeed the reviews are candid but then again Pauls Bods blog https://paulsbods.blogspot.com/2021/03/vikingsaxon-shield-wall.html shows you that even the most unpromising figures can be transformed through a decent paint job. Pauls Bods site has numerous plastic examples of exemplary painting.
Finally strelets are an Ukraine company and continue to produce a vast range of figures and have done so throughout the Russian invasion.
So as we approach yet another unwanted anniversary go buy some Strelets, preferably at your nearest bricks and mortar model shop.
It has become a habit of mine to visit toy fairs in Doncaster and York at Christmas and New Year.
Sometimes you get a bargain but mostly the prices are way too high for wargaming and anyway you’re likely to be paying for the classic box or venerable package.
Then again it is a trip down memory lane – when a toy shop was found on every high street across the country.
Mind you, you can still get to an excellent bricks and mortar hobby shop in York which is full of model kits and trains.
So this holiday season I managed three trips and came away with some useful purchases after all.
First up from Doncaster I got some buildings and railway wagons
Two quid each for the buildings and three vehicles for a fiver: they were on a table tidily arranged so not graveyard prices. I can’t find the railway wagon picture and now their store away……probably to be forgotten! Finally from Doncaster…….
Second visit of the three I picked up some strelets sets at York Monkbar model shop.
And finally I bought some more “bin end” lorries at York Toy Fair.
These work out a quid each from bin ends. Toy graveyards used to be 50p or less but jumped during Covid and now range between one and two quid a pop or with discount if you buy a few together.
If you’re lucky there are still bin ends selling at 50p. There was one at the Doncaster Show.
So quite a satisfactory haul.
February will see normal service resumed on the Wargames show circuit starting with Vapnartak.
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Intermission 25h
A mix of sunrises and sunsets
Narrative
The Corinovans are in retreat, “B” division has been destroyed holding the coastal city of Viana and now inland, “A” division is dangerously exposed to isolation by the rampant Gombardian forces.
Remnants of “B” division and elements of “C” division in retreat, continued to try and intercept Gombardian thrusts on “A” division’s eastern flank.
My previous Fauxterre post covered the strategic situation that lead to this action.
The game
Essentially this is an escalating engagement and I simply used the scenario from Neil Thomas’ “An introduction to wargaming”. His World War Two rules reflect his simple yet interesting approach you can find in his more popular books like one hour wargames, C19th Century European warfare or ancient and medieval warfare.
The rulebook offers four scenarios
Encounter
Frontal assault
Surprise assault
Escalating engagement
I opted for an escalating engagement action reflecting the chaos of a rapid advance experienced by both sides.
I took the real world unit lists in the book and came up with two slightly different lists for the Gombardians – plenty of armour like Germans while the Corinovans were more likely to field infantry like the French.
I used my own table for observation – everything had an observation rule to help cause friction that’s required for a solo game.
The scenario set victory conditions based on three shared objectives – the winner having two or all three at the end of the game. I had a count down variable tracker but this had not expired when one side patently had run out of forces.
The three objectives were the
Town
Sawmill
Orchard
Both sides quickly acquired either the sawmill or town.
It remained simply to fight it out for the orchard.
As the table was created first before selecting the scenario it was also the case that the opposing forces diced for arrival points.
Each side had 9 units and deployed 3 units to start but I also applied scenario requirements that all six remaining units arrived on an improving odds dice throw each turn.
Here is some of the key action.
The action now centres on the walled orchard
The battle moves toward a conclusion
The Gombardians had arrived with armour which fits the scenario of a fluid front in the campaign situation. But they did not have enough infantry to take on the Corinovans in the congested orchard area.
The army lists therefore helped create an asymmetric game and the armour heavy force on this occasion lost.
The Wargaming Erratic 