Tag: warhammer

Categories
life wargaming

On the High Street 23b

York is a good place to visit as a Wargamer especially if you like History. Aside from all the sites concerning the Roman, Viking and Later Medieval periods, there are still real shops where you can buy things for your hobby.

Bookshops have still been dissappearing at a fair rate, yet Amnesty International reopened their York book store which involved moving across the river to a new revamped premises.

On the model front you can still get a good range of stock,

  • Warhammer in Lendal – does what it is says on the tin – well packaging!
  • P&S Hobbies sell large scale models – boats, trains and planes but also a lot of kits including 1/72. Their miniature figure stocks have been shrinking though.
  • Monkbar Models sell large railway related ranges alongside extensive military model kit ranges and collectible ready built aircaft and vehicles. Their stock figure ranges – notably 1/72 have also been shrinking. No.2 Goodramgate.
  • Boyes General Store does a a good range of hobby tools and paints and many Warhammer boxed sets. They no longer carry Airfix or Perrys post lockdown.
  • Down whip-ma-whop-ma gate is the OG gaming store which is ideal for your RPG needs
  • And by Ousegate Bridge is a board game cafe – Geek Retreat
  • Travelling Man offers a massive range of Board Games along with selected RPG lines.
  • The Alma Cafe on Coppergate sells some Irregular Minatures – 40mm figures
Board Game Cafe – next to Ouse Bridge, 3 Low Ousegate.
RPG gaming store 1.5! Whip Ma Whop Ma Gate – what a street
Boyes everyday shopping plus warhammer and loads of paints and hobby tools – 35 Goodramgate
Don’t be fooled by the for sale sign – thats the upstairs office suite. P&S Hobbies are a large scale specialist covering boats, planes, trains and military interests. Good source of scratch build parts including balsa wood – 4 Walmgate
Amnesty International reopened a bookshop in York in 2022 which has more space and is less cramped. 19 Micklegate.
No question – if its board games – then this is the destination. 74 Goodramgate
Need a break then head to Alma Cafe. 6 Coppergate.
In the gifts area you can inspect and of course buy some 40mm Irregular Figures
Of course if you pick Viking Festival weekend then you get some live vikings strolling round town.

So if your visiting York check out these traders and give them some valuable support. And remember February is the Month for Vapnartak Wargames Show and the Viking Festival.

Of course the centre piece of Medieval York is the Minster which on a sharp winters day looks fantastic.

Or you could visit the many other churches in the city and take in the glazed windows.

Categories
basing

Do bases matter that much?

Do bases matter that much when it comes to miniatures used in wargaming? By current standards they clearly do with plenty of trade offerings available and a wealth of DIY advice online.


Also the preference for elements without individual figure removal permits more imagination to be applied around a base. Perhaps the exception is skirmish gaming but even here you have the option of sabot bases providing the individual figure movement while retaining the convenience of the larger element base which can still be given varying levels of decoration.


My basing journey has been pretty basic. Back in the dim and distant past I painted desert or green paint onto cardboard bases. I still have them and they work after a fashion. The figures are 25mm. They look a bit tired though.


I think this figure is a citadel adventurer from the 1970’s when my painting hand was patient and my eyes still worked! note the ageing gloss varnish.

Then I started a 15mm phase and actually paid for painting including basing. The quality was good but somehow they did not grow on me. They look accurate but……

15mm Essex Byzantines professionally painted with matt finish and understated basing!

I did some of my own and I was even less happy!

And then I caught the plastic fantastic bug and returned to simple painted bases for some 1/72 scale figures.

Zvezda Russian Cavalry cruise past some positively ancient 20mm minifig french napoleonics and giant 25mm tradition russians

In the middle of this phase I moved into 28mm figures and thought they needed something extra. As it happened despite all the wealth of offerings and advice in all the various magazines and books I had collected, I stumbled across the humble warhammer guide in one of their rulebooks – maybe shieldwall – where they recommended simply gritting the bases, basecoating and drybrushing once. Somewhere I found a suggestion to use budgie grit. I tried it and painted it up, except no dry brush, but added some static grass and…… I was still underwhelmed. There is no pleasing some people.

Perrys 28mm Continental Burgundian Pike on DBA bases

I then had another surge of plain painted bases when I reworked more of my old 25mm metals.

You can see them next to the Zvezda Russians above – Minifigs French circa 1972? and Tradition Russians from the mid 1970’s. The bases they replaced were very dark green painted airfix box card – the figures have been transformed in my view, although unbelievably garish – they cheer me up!


And then I decided to do some mediterranean normans. Coincidentally I had watched both British cycling, Le Tour and La Vuelta races and the penny dropped. All my scenic basing had generally used dark green/dark brown earth (or grey brown for 15mm) colours – and I had not recognised why I liked the bright green bases beyond their simplicity. British cyclists rode through dark earth countryside with bright greens but La Vuelta cyclists went through fantastically bright coloured soils of many hues and even with brighter green shrubs and trees on top. (well except in the picos mountains in the north).

So I got my paints out and started experimenting – and so I have now found what I want for my Normans. Well until the butterfly lands on the next flower…..

In my next post I will share the results.