La production de figurines, malgré les progrès immenses de l’impression 3D, est étrangement en déclin. Cela s’explique évidemment aussi par la guerre…
Le siège de Rome 537
If you need an english version it’s not too much to foto the five text sections which are conveniently sized and then select scan and translate options in your smart phone.
Also Chariobaude has an excellent WordPress blog which I discovered way back in 2017 covering fantastic painting of late Roman miniatures.
Fortunately John over at “just needs varnish” reminded me that Dave Stone’s challenge started at the beginning of July.
Last year I had a very fruitful time in fact my challenge ran into the end of September! It did not do my figure painting any favours though.
Yet I had so much scenery waiting to be done it proved to be a rich vein.
Well this particular ore vein is still rich.
So far that is two churches and a railway station finally out of their boxes and just about built.
Painting may be a stumbling block – I get quite hesitant about colours. Cold north or warm south…..
* Could be I have drawn loads of early pacers who then fade away……..
I wonder what else will come from the pit of scenery?
The thing about one hour wargames is it’s genuinely “pick up” attraction. If you want to throw dice, move figures and get that war game with a purpose feeling for minimal preparation, then I find it’s a winner.
Yes, the mechanisms are abstract but you have to compromise somewhere and Neil Thomas rules generally offer that blend of compromises I like.
These battles were prompted by my reading atlas of the civil war and discovering Robert Sneeden – a Union Cartographer. https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2025/06/05/a-game-wow/
Rebel forces enter the fray
Rebel victory
So the second battle ends in Royalist defeat. It’s all square and all to play for…..
The royalists needed to escape through the town and up the great road……
And so victory to the rebels in the action and also the short campaign.
Today of course saw the end of 3 days of fighting at Gettysburg – the great Union victory which along with the capture of Vicksburg saw the war finally turn against the Confederate Southern States.
I was gifted this seaplane in a poor state. It was found in a clearance box at a car boot sale.
Some minor repairs to the floats struts plus my first ever plane support – magnet and all, then my current favourite background thrown in for good measure.
Fauxterre 1930 is my “nearly mechanised” campaign – long in the planning with little progress on the armies.
Essentially Rugia is under attack and their coastal command have had to draw in naval resources to cover potential invasion activity by their arch enemy Gombardia.
No idea about the kit or the plane modelled. I thought about a repaint but for now it’s fine for my solo campaigning – only my eye is offended if at all.
Who knows I might even actually build another plane after last year’s (2023/24) inaugural camomint 1939 reconnaissance spitfire in AHPC14.
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2024/01/from-lorenzo-reach-for-sky-camomint.html
Onwards and in this case upwards!
When I think about it this first half of 2025 has like 2024 been dominated by AHPC – analogue hobbies painting challenge. By contrast I managed only two shows yet one yielded one of the few games I have played.
That was a cowboy shootout using homemade rules…..
Not surprisingly it was Hammerhead at Newark.
Then I had a game of “what a cowboy”. My opponent loved “what a tanker” and reasoned WAC should be as enjoyable. Well that proved not quite the case. We will play again but it has slipped down the list.
Actually there is no list and until today my gaming had been quite limited.
Then I had a spur of the moment, moment no doubt brought on by quite a bit of reading about battles fought.
In this case ACW – I am reading western theatre actions at the moment.
I also have been reading my Colorado purchase – a soft cover book of maps showing the whole ACW war.
In the book are some contemporary maps by a certain Robert Knox Sneeden. He was a Union mapmaker who not only spent time as a confederate prisoner but was also a watercolour artist. Clearly he had a good eye! And by good fortune his maps and diaries have survived.
So taken with his work was I that I simply made an entry for today’s game in his style.
I played using one hour Wargames book, rules and scenario plus solo options for set up. Figures were what I fancied fielding!
Frank over at tankrants asked for some pics of the railway.
Here are a couple.
Since AHPC finished in March like last year my wargames activity has declined. I didn’t even make it to partisan. So VAP and Hammerhead proved to be the two shows attended in the first half of 2025.
But I am getting ahead of myself. Last year the war gaming fell away due to a month long road trip round the southern Rockies. It recovered to be very productive during Dave Stones season of scenery challenge.
Well this year I am away this summer but the real stinger has been two glorious months of a dry uk spring complete with sun and warmth. What more could you ask for?
Well my garden seedlings and plants needed rain – so I had to substitute that for lots of watering can events.
Really it’s been fantastic weather and no complaints given how our normal maritime climate often delivers wet and windy and cool temperatures. – sometimes all at once.
The fine weather also meant the garden railway got an early run out. And this meant some long overdue building work started.
So modelling but “not as we know the scale of it JIM!”
And yes I have managed a little bit of figure painting in the end.
So this is a long post to say, not much miniatures painting this spring and zero wargames done!
Mind you I have been reading quite a bit which is always ominous for my plans.
“News from the front sir, the April breakthrough failed………………for gods sake why?…………. ……………………………………..Apparently a lot of kit just wasn’t ready sir……………………..}#%^*^<~|~\{}{]}#$$ ………..ranted General MukerZpreeeder.
Oh well, it was worth a try.
Sadly the very fine weather meant all manner of outdoor activities took hold this month.
Maybe there will be an afv August – don’t hold your breath though.
Still there is always John and Zauberwurfs mighty works to appreciate.
I just missed the end of AHPC15 with some 1848 era artillery.
Rather than park them like last year I decided to get these Properly finished.
An AHPC15 entry again and this time it was in pursuit of one of my pet projects. Fauxterre 1930 is a catch all for my 20th century escapades. I started with ww2 but have inexorably been drawn to an earlier time period. Basically I want the look of armies from the 1930’s. So thats most of the kit available in 1939 but also kit that went out of service after 1930 as countries mobilised for impending conflicts.
My recent lorry posting covered the origins of this project.
https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2025/04/13/the-painting-portrait-25f-logistics/
In this “later” between the wars period 2pdr guns were fine as were 37mm Anti tank guns – the bofors version being the subject of this entry.
First to Fight make a lot of kit I can find a use for and these anti tank guns caught my eye. They are slender and making them is not as easy as the few parts you get suggests. Complete with figures – I particularly liked the prone gun aimer?
Fauxterre 1930 remains a slow burn project not least because it started out as a “bricks and mortar” project – buy things from real shops by walking into them.
In this case these AT guns came from Monkbar Models in York, North Yorkshire.
Also from the same shop – the venerable airfix 6pdr with Bren carrier.
The Wargaming Erratic 
