Category: wargaming

wargaming is everything from gaming on the table top with dice, painting figures, reading history, collecting figures, scenery and rules through to geography, politics, art, crafts and imaginative writing……..

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miniatures painting wargaming

Afterglow I – AHPC16

I have had a successful third year in the analogue hobbies painting challenge.

I kicked off with some Fauxterre 1930, trucks 1/60 scale lledo models

This year the challenge was less heavy on a theme and returned to a greater focus on the painters choice.

The theme was about rebellion and resistance – 3 subjects and in my case the first was 1848 Hungarians rebelling from the Austro Hungarian Empire (Hat 1/72)

In my case that focus on figures paid dividends as I got plenty done.

A second theme entry was the Duke of Berwicks Irish Regiment (strelets 1/72) the wild geese

In fact it’s my most productive AHPC so far. The constricted theme helped.

More Fauxterre 1930 trucks by PSC in 1/72
Tumbling dice 1/72 English civil war figures – Covenanters made my third and final theme submission



These Covenanters were painted in standard block method

A show freebie king Stephen in 28mm

King Stephen was painted with contrast paints

A scratch build of an 1848 Hungarian steam engine using 2 Airfix Stephenson rockets in 1/72

I had made the steam engine for AHPC15 but it missed that boat because it was only part finished by the end of the challenge

This was a garden rescue figure – games workshop era elf – another contrast paint excursion
40mm Vikings by Irregular Miniatures who retired their business this Spring

I used a combination of block, contrast and washes for these figures

Two “days past” OO gauge railway model transporters carry as it happens John at Just needs varnish gifted Renault tanks for Fauxterre 1930

https://justneedsvarnish.wordpress.com

Johns Renault tanks have some campaign colour while most of my AHPC16 trucks are fresh from the factory

1/76 Airfix Morris tractor and bofors anti aircraft gun

At this point the challenge entered its last month and you can see entry photos prep seriously declined…….

Three 1/72 plastic soldier company Opel blitzes
1/72 plastic soldier company Valentine tank
Hat miniatures 1/72 World War One British lancers

Just for fun I returned to using static grass without applicator.

Mardav printed 20mm Italian support group

These Italians got a mix of craft paints, contrast paints and dry brush to get the green I wanted- they too are rookies with shiny new helmets

Left to right antitank gun, medium machine gun and a light mortar
The challenge was a success
The ones that got away!

My idea for “afterglow” is mainly centred around what nearly got painted during the challenges. In this case 1:72 strelets War of the Spanish Succession, French Dragoons which were fun to paint. I really like the sculpture work in this range – the wild geese Irish also being from that range.

The uniforms were done in Vallejo yellow ochre topped with deep yellow while the bags and cuffs were done in Oxford blue
The horses received coat d’arms chestnut brown followed by citadel contrast gore grunta

My 1700 era armies are based in a toy soldier style – these are perry bases from the 28mm box sets

Paint What You Got ran in parallel to AHPC and I aim to post about an “afterglow” for that too.

Categories
wargame shows wargaming

A Brace of shows

My wargaming year invariably starts with Vapnartak in York followed by Hammerhead at Newark on Trent.

A normal queue at VAP
The queue at Hammerhead was shorter than I expected though

I was going to do one post about these shows but have decided it’s a bit confusing.

So there will be two separate posts. The most notable thing was numbers, queues to get in were shorter or more efficiently cleared!

But then both felt less “crushed”. In the case of VAP yet again there was this odd mix of available space and some crowded areas. It’s almost as if traders get their usual spot and if there are any “no shows” then there is no rejigging.

Having some participation games right next to the crowded bring and buy felt ridiculous given the bags of space elsewhere – all paid for by someone of course.

In contrast Hammerhead filled its spaces although some “late no shows” occurred because the new show runner – Caliver books offered them out again at the last minute. There were no obvious gaps so I assume there was some juggling to avoid gaps.

Anyway two enjoyable shows to get the wargaming year off to a start. Except my wargaming year has certainly shifted to starting in the autumn and finishing in spring once my two winter painting challenges are done. But that’s another story.

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Book Reviews wargaming

World Book Day

Here are some of my recent purchases. Needless to say I adore books.

This set of rules have been on my mind to buy for a few years and then I read another bloggers post about it and took the plunge on the most recent 4th edition 4 years after the FINAL edition! It will feed my Fauxterre 1930 gaming.
Although I have the original “the wargame” rule book primarily for sentimental reasons I was intrigued to discover this book covered the campaigns background in the rule book as well as that behind “Charge or how to play wargames” (my favourite rule book from the seventies) – when I first got a library copy.
A Christmas present about a period I find intriguing and suitably “dark” as in we know so little……
Just the other day I finished Duffys earlier renaissance/early modern period book on fortress warfare. I had owned that quite a few years and only now read it cover to cover. So why not start on the next book.
Categories
miniatures painting wargaming

Paint what you got part 5: the last knockings*

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.

Lots of figures!

Only joking – that’s a hammerhead participation game.

The reality

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.

I quite pleased with the cavalry as they look a bit brutal in the raw plastic

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.

Categories
miniatures painting wargaming

Paint what you got part 4: more cowboys – the Van Stevin gang

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.

This is Frank James erstwhile leader of the bauxite gang
He is part of blue moons “slice of Americana” range

On with the Van Stevin gang led by none other than Pieter Van Stevin himself.

Pieter Van Stevin – a no nonsense Dutchman living in Dawson Colorado the boom town coal mine near Cimmaron New Mexico in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.
Blue moon markings on Jesse James

The rest of the gang are

Mexican hat – from Mexican Hat, Utah
Laddy
Mr Brown
Beardy
Tash
I decided to give Pieter a faded Union jacket being a devout Protestant originally from Grand Rapids West Michigan by the Great Lakes
The Van Stevin gang who are down south on the Santa Fe trail southern route running through Kiowa Indian lands rich with Spanish Pueblo adobe mud buildings.
What’s that……..
Huh the bauxite gang……

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!

St James Hotel
The old jail
Pick your room – yes you can sleep in the same room used by Jesse James
Wyatt Earp gambled here – the original cast iron ceiling feature still has bullet holes in it from the odd argument
No you can’t handle the dice – you cheetin’ @£@(*

The southern Rockies are worth a road trip. I did mine in 2024.

Categories
wargaming

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.

https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/tag/mid-19th-century-wargames/page/2/#:~:text=The%20Painting%20Portrait%2025a%201848%20Bavarians&text=The%20portrait%20approach%20should%20enable,a%20ball%20topped%20pin%20head.

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.

Klim class Intra planetary trader from AHPC15

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.

Categories
wargaming

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

Pinky bauxite
Rhett bauxite

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

Magnus
Sid
Lim

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)

Categories
wargaming

Paint what you got Challenge Pt2 – Citroen Avant

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.

Categories
wargaming

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.

Categories
wargaming

Toy Fairs

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.

Toy graveyards are common even at the flashiest store
I was almost tempted but 20 quid was too much
Not many games at these shows anyway
But lots of toy cars
Some collectibles of course for the discerning customer – not me of course!
I don’t remember this set
Building graveyards too
25 quid gets you a low loader but of course you get that JCB as well!

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.

A classic toy shop window of the high street – now a rarity

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

A card market hall by super quick models
Card and plastic goods shed make unknown
Some more bin end lorries

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…….

Two kits for a fiver in a slightly upper class bin end! I only wanted the truck but this stall only sold combined packs no splitting

Second visit of the three I picked up some strelets sets at York Monkbar model shop.

Monkbar price match hannants from what I see so buying just a few saves me the postage. And I get some fresh air and a walk into the bargain

And finally I bought some more “bin end” lorries at York Toy Fair.

More bin end Lorrie’s which I can’t resist for some reason

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.