Picking up those brushes again.

Hi and welcome to the occasional mutterings of Dave Doc, a military modeller and some time gamer. Gaming and model making has given me a real education, History & Geography(obvious really), Artistry, Politics, Economics, Logistics, Project Management -you try building miniature armies without the last 3.

I will use the blog to record my creations & the odd occasion I actually do some gaming.

I have always been inspired by the aesthetic side of gaming. Playing on well constructed terrain using excellently painted units is always a joy.

Monday 4 December 2023

AWI - new little project time

 This one has been on the back burner for a while. After playing the  Little Wars TV rules fur ACW (Alter of Freedom) and enjoying them I decided to pick up the AWI set “Live free or die” . I also picked up an army pack from Pendraken which I have finally started some work on. Of course me being me I want to do some larger units - the 10mm allows for  that nicely . Altogether I think it’s only about 600 figures or so a side - and I have roped in a few if the club guys who jumped in also buying some ready painted at the latest show bring and buy.

I have worked out a simple paint method over a white base with some speed paints and thin washes . This cut down the time to do the first British battalion . This was a 7 base unit - the 43rd Foot - chosen just as it had white facings which cut down paining time.


Bases are 40x20 with 10 figures per base. Most orbats have 4-5 bases per unit but there are some that are 7-8 . It may be a case of making up a few extra command bases for flexibility and to save overpainting infantry , 


I have the remainder of the army pack ready to complete which will be another 4-5 base unit plus some cav and guns . In the meantime I have ordered up another few battalions of Brits - in particular enough for a large highland unit. 

Aim is to build for Bunker Hill sometime next year. 

While sorting out the stash I also came across the ACW reinforcements so these have been cleaned and prepared - enough artillery to boost my existing forces to around 24 guns per side - will limbers etc . Also found a lot more cavalry than expected so I will double my existing forces there . 

The artillery stash is ready to go!.





Sunday 26 November 2023

Gaming - Battleground show

 This weekend saw our group meet up for our regular contribution at the Battleground show in Stockton on Tees. This show is well run and organised by guys at Pendraken and it continues to increase in numbers attending . 

We were putting on a fictional game from the War of the Spanish Succession using one of our guys collection of “paper boys” from the Peter Dennis/Andy Callan books published by Helion. 


Initial set up in the morning mists around the village of Papier Mache . 




We had some good chats with people who were surprised by how effective the figures were especially “en masse”.

We also encouraged some youngsters to throw some dice across the day too - they seemed to enjoy it . 





The French took the town and the supplies held there 



Stash for the days was limited as I hadn’t really gone with a shopping list and I have plenty of stuff in the to do pile - but when does that stop us usually.  . Some paints , some bases , and I picked up a few painted 15mm buildings for the WW2 collection from the bring and buy.