Une journée au bord de la mer.

A day beside the sea. With the sun in the sky where better to visit. This time revisiting a place we have been numerous times - Cancale.












Oysters anyone? They don't come any fresher than here, from the beds to you via the market at the quay .








A fine lunch was had at "Chez Victor"






Mrs D , not actually sharing the oysters...


My Sardine starter... But I guess you don't really want to see the rest so I will leave you with




It's back to Blighty this weekend with a call in at Partizan to meet up with friends.

Normal blog content will resume next week!

Une promenade autour des remparts

Or a walk around the ramparts of Dinan. Walking the town walls today gave a real feel for the history of the town. It must have had deep pockets to build such fortifications , trade to protect and pay for it.























I could not however get this out of my head most of the way around. The taunting Frenchmen from the Holy Grail!







And after Loki posted recently of the figures from Northumbrian Tin Soldier the Knights that say Ni!







Around the town are some real old half timber buildings






Well after a mornings exertions what better that a pichet of the local cider.







And a tartlette fraise.






It's a hard life this holiday lark...

A short intermission

It's time for a short break to recharge the batteries. So I am now enjoying myself in Brittany.







Out of the gates to the river side port at Dinan.















I have some gaming related reading to catch up on in between sleep , exploring and sampling the wonderful food.
















I shall be along to Partizan , looking to play in a couple of participation games and pick up a few bits to add to my gangster collections.

Orinoco Miniatures , my prize.

My prize for coming third in this years Analogue Hobbies painting challenge was kindly donated by Michael over at Orinoco Miniatures. It was a pack of each of their current ranges. Some very nice figures covering some little known (well to me) conflicts in South America.









They are really clean castings, and look as if they will be a joy to paint up.



Michael also supplied some rather fine flags for the period from Flags of War.. The ever present Irish!





Time to source a bit of reference material.

A big thank you to all the sponsors of the challenge for their wonderful prizes.

A few New projects.

I have pretty much cleared off the paint desk and the workroom has had a spring clean ready for some new projects.

So I been to the DIY store to pick materials to make the mine boards. The large parcel from Ainsty has been fully unpacked so I am ready to crack on. The aim is to get this done for taking to Scarborough at the end of June.








I have also prepared up the box of Teutonic Knights which will go off to the lads at Brigantes for completion.





I have some Gangsters out with Brigantes to be completed as well at the moment and have just orders a few top ups.

I could not resist these lads for some background entertainment in the new Speakeasy. So I ordered a set, and a few others from Bob Murch.





I also took the opportunity to get hold of a copy of Go Strong in the Desert by LT Col. Mike Snook , as it's currently on a reduced price offer on the Perry website.
The back half of the year will be spent doing the colonials for the Sudan.




Finally I am on again with the large AWI highland unit , which has been one of those not wanting to be painted kind!




I think that is enough to be getting on with!

Paint Table Saturday

It's been a few weeks since I shared the table, so here is an update.

The Spanish Dragoons , a bit more done, but a decent session planned for these tomorrow should see them done.




Repair work to the stagecoach following a "fall from height" dropping the box while unpacking at Blog Con 2.. I have remade the suspension on the coach from brass tubing and soldered it all together. It won't be coming apart again!!



And here is the "left field" entry..Teutonic Knights by FireForge .. Been in lead/plastic pile for a fair while. The Grand Master figure Ulrich Von Jungingen had laid on the shelf for ages ,and while moving him into the display cabinet it reminded of the box of figures sitting in the cupboard all forgotten. So out on the table they are to be built. Lances will be replaced with metal rods for robustness. I will be sending these of to the guys at Brigantes shortly.



Oh and just in case you have not seen Ulrich.. Here he is.



Have a great weekend everyone.

Mancave addition

What with the growing number of painted figures, especially the larger 54mm ones I thought it was time to get hold of a display case to show them off and keep them pristine. It has also managed to hold the 28mm stuff as well. So I was excited to receive a large package today, and with a few minutes work it's mounted on the wall in the man cave. It is 16 inch by 30.








It might need an extra spot light in the corner of the room in the future , especially as I am going to have to order another case when the good lads over at Brigantes Studio finish off the various Bootleggers, Gangsters,G Men and Policemen I dropped off with them at Blog Con 2. I decided I wanted to supported their bold adventure and I know I am not going to get the time to do that little project over this year. It will let me work on the bits required to get a game up an running ... Working title "Public Enemy Number 1".

Well I think I have better get my finger out and get back to some brushwork!

Spring Blog Con part 4 - "Get Carter" and the round up.

One of my highlights for the day was getting the chance to play a game using Sidney Roundwoods wonderful WW1 kit.

We were given a small night time trench raid scenario where the lads from the Northumberland Fusiliers had to rescue a much loved fallen and captured officer... That would be Carter. With wonderful touches such as the Big Men being named for various Newcastle United players or managers it had a real human feel.

I had a a squad of bombers and some trench cleaners - equipped with various nasty implements to aid them in their quest .. We only had to through the wire without attracting the sentries attention overwhelm the poor quality front line troops , pick up Carter and leg it back across No Mans Land before the inevitable German counterattack arrived.

It was a close run thing with the balance not turning to last few turns in favour of the Germans when Von Smallhaussen (aka Stumpy in the previous Cowboy game) turned up and foiled our plan.

The rules used were Two Fat Lardies Mud and Blood which played really well. I picked up a set of these at Xmas for some 14-18 projects of my own coming up so it was a further inspiration to get this project moving some time this year.

So here is the eye candy that is just a part of Sidney's collection

















































Wonderful stuff

It was a really good day out. Great to meet up with Curt who also presented with my very own Mountie all the way from Canada - cheers Curt!















As much as the games were great it was the guys that made the day with everyone out to enjoy themselves , time spent just talking and laughing over our common mad hobby.. Staying over and catching a meal and few beers was also just the job!

For the Old Hammer guys Paul and Stephen .. Let's work on getting a game in of that as well next time.

I look forward to catching up again at Blog Con 3 ...looking at a Southern venture this next time.

Let's get planning!!!