Christmas Presents and more painting

So it is the eve of New Year's Eve and time to review the year.
It's been a weird year, my blogging has decreased, death of Google + dramatically reduced my traffic and removed all my comments, my painting has slowed down, although I have painted an entire early WW2 French army, plus loads of stuff in Analogue Painting Challenge IX. I have actually run out of lead mountain, OK so that is a lie but it will be gone by the end of Challenge X.
I have a very large 10mm 7YW project with Matt (inspired by the Battle of Blenheim display at 2018 Battleground Show, and I have just started a Samurai skirmish campaign that I plan to leave set up for the next 12 months in my painting room. More of that in the next post when I have finished the village model. James is running a noble charitable campaign, For Joshua, and so far I have contributed a 10mm Lizardman army  but I expect to paint more for him.
Gaming wise I've done a bit less than other years as life has interrupted the plans of some of my gaming mates. Hopefully there will be more in the next 12 months. I have still managed quite a bit with highlights being the dungeon battles with Matt, the D-Day battle on 6th June was probably the best battle I've ever been involved with. I've also got the To the Strongest bug, despite the fact it looks like you are playing bridge the rules work really well with no stupid things that ruin it (so far), it usually only takes one dumb ass rule to taint a game. I also put on my 1st participation game at Hammerhead and it went well, tropical island, sea plane, dinosaurs and giant spiders - what could go wrong.
The highlight of the year was the trip to Paris with Dave and James to make a film for Netflix - how cool is that.
It is now a tradition for my to buy some of my own Christmas presents at the Battleground show. i went this year with no real plan and it was a mistake. I ended up buying things for the sake of it

Picts - Newline and Black Tree via Col Bill

The Banana Splits - Crooked Dice - how cooll will these be

10mm Prussians - Pendraken

Some Ashigaru and Koreans 2nd hand

Finally Challenge X has started with a bang and I've painted loads including finished the 2nd army I bought in 1987 - a viking army called Auden's Ravens

Won't win the Challenge - either Miles will pip me onthe last day or Noel will win by a million.

Hope you all have great 2020 and see soon

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge X

For the last 6 years I've spent my winters taking part in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, so I've spent the last month prepping. This is my 1st post of  Challenge X and true to form I've painted an entire 10mm Lizardman army. This is part of the For Joshua project set up by James of this parish and MadTin Hatter fame. The link to the project can be found here. This is a very noble cause and I would like you all to go and visit the site, please.

The project will build a massive 10mm fanatsy battle using Pendraken 10mm figs and will tour the shows in 2020 before being raffled off.

For my part I decided on a 10mm lizardman army from Pendraken, who offered us a generous discount.

The whole army - note I still can't take photos

So I primed them green, I even used spray paint, and started painting them yesterday morning. Today they are finished and varnished.

3 wizards on brontosauruses. These dinosaurs didn't come from Pendraken but in a cheap bag of dinosaurs for a friends daughter

The missile troops, archers, slingers and crossbow lizards

The cavalry, lizards on Allosaurs

Spearlizards

Lizardmen warriors

These were great to paint and the casts are really detailed. for this bunch of beauties I got 200pts

It's that time of the year again

The 10th Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is due to start just before Christmas

I haven't signed up as I've been "promoted" to the Thursday minion. It is a great honour to serve the Snowlord and may even be one up from being one of the Daves in Paris

There are some differences this year including a map that the challengers have to navigate through by painting figures. Cooke's Crevase features and I think that geology will be involved.

Overall it will be 3 months of mad painting.Only one problem. My lead mountain only contains 10mm figs and the figures at the bottom of the pile that I don't want to paint. On the upside it is the Battleground Show on Saturday and it has become a tradition that I buy my Christmas presents their and then tell my family what they owe me. Can't wait. Helps that we are putting on a game - 28mm North Africa Bolt Action. I've also been spying out Carnivale rules and there is a participais that a reason to play hte gametion game on so I may sneak off and play that. I do fancy the terrain - 

Paris and all that

Better late than never. Last week Dave, me and James trooped down to Paris to make a Netflix movie. As regular readers wil know it wasn't for my photographic skills. Dave had been contacted by a French film production company, an actual famous one. They were making a Netflix / HBO documentary and needed to recreate the battle of Omburman. Dave has all the worlds stock of painted Sudan war figures and they planned to use these. Me and James were labour.

Proper big film set with crew of about 10, all waiting on us to do this

This

and this

and this. All the bases were masked with sand, we used 20Kg and something in the sand blistered my ears when i rubbed them with my sandy hands. Not good for geologist to be allergic to rocks

The finished table with the boom crane holding the camera. 

It was too high and caused the camera to bounce so we dismantled the whole thing and rebuild it a ankle height. Never ever wargame at ankle height unless you are 12 and have functioning knees and back.

In 3 days we saw 400 yards400m of northern Paris and mainly ate burgers and cheese. It was utterly knackering and I had the best time. It was fascinating and everybody was lovely and very professional, in the good way.

 So the painting challenge 10th event is approaching and I shall be engaged. It may not be my normal deranged attack on the lead mountain for 1 simple reason. i am very low on figures. i have a 10mm Austrian 7YW army to paint and a lot of WW2 15mm troops and tanks but pretty much that is it. Luckily it is the Battleground show and shopping must be done. Also James beautiful charity painting event will help to add to the paint mountain.

Still I must clear the decks and get rid of those 1/2 painted figures that have been hogging my painting table since the last one.

The Old guard are doing 28mm Bolt Action North Africa and i have painted my entire Desert Rat collection. 1st up a 5 man LRDG section

Then a regular section. Can merge these to a 10 man veteran section. The rest of my Perry Desert Rats are performing as Port Vale in my VBCW collection

I have finished my Pontic 15mm army with these 4 bases of pikemen

The army is very big and I might buy some Romans to fight them

Finally this Turtle Shaman, Oogway from Kung Foo Panda, is from Mr Lees and was fun to paint

I like to test my skills with so nice large figures and Mr Lees stuff is really fab and demands skills far in excess of my ability

Battle of Hereford 1055

Sunday I went over to Matt's Dungeon and we refought the 1055 Battle of Hereford. AElfgar Earl of Mercia with Gruffyd ap Llywelyn, mercenary Irish Viking’s, Welsh and some of the Earls personal hurscarls attacked and sacked Hereford. Hereford was defended by Normans, yes Normans or Norman style Saxons lead by Ralph de Sudeley (the timid) and Saxons from Hereford.
It was our 1st chance to play our Dark Ages armies and my Picts doubled up as the Welsh, looked OK. The Welsh were mainly poorly armoured spearmen with light cavalry and a large number of Viking mercenaries. The defenders were well armoured infantry with some heavy cavalry with less well armoured Saxons around Hereford. We fought using Kings of War, which I really like but never win when we play.

The battle field, really need a wide angle lens for this.This is my left with the Welsh facing the Normans. The objectives are the village at the bottom, the cross in the centre and Hereford at the top

The mighty City of Hereford with Saxon defenders

The Viking Mercenaries with Saxons facing Hereford

I'm attacking so I attack with light cav and skirmishers to the fore

The Vikings advance

In the centre matt unleashes his cavalry against a horde of spearmen

Matt advances with is supposedly crappy saxon knights in front of Hereford

In the cente the light cav are flitting back and forth and Matt's line is losing cohesion

Lots as spear on horse action around the cross

I approach Hereford

All kinds of hell breaks loose in the middle

The knights and the spearmen are still fighting but I'm wavering

Not anymore, I've run off

Disaster the 2nd of my 3 hordes of spearment has legged it. 

The crappy Saxon knights are causing bloody hell with the Vikings

I scavange around in my unused troops box finds a horde of war dogs. They finsih off the main unit of knights and then eat the 2nd smaller unit

Looking thin in hte centre, the light cav have done a good job here

Matt allowed an extra horde o welsh to rock up, i was out pointed at the start and it seemed sensible. I brought on 2 hordes and neither of them moved but matt did attack this one 

The Saxon knights have legged it, maybe they were crap after all

Final throes in the centre, i've basically won the centre but Matt holds the village on the left. It's all down to the right and Hereford.

Cross the river, Kill the saxons

Here we go

Here we go again

Here we go again

At the cross in the centre Ralph the timid has been fighting against Boudi, barely dressed Welsh warrior woman (she is a Hasslefree figure so is bound to be barely dressed, and Gruffyd and has legged it - so he was timid

I've made it across the river (ish) but too late. Game end

The result was a draw and it was a great game.