SELWG 2019

Posted on October 13, 2019 by grumpyoldtin

I’m off to London in a couple of days time. I have two major objectives this year. Firstly to meet my new granddaughter Ember. Secondly to attend SELWG.

http://www.selwg.org/2019-show-1

This the annual wargames show presented by The South East London Wargames Group. Held at the Crystal Palace Sports Centre so everything is tinged by the sceny of chlorine. It is a small show, but after living like a hermit for most of the year it seems quite busy for me.

Hopefully I will be meeting some Oldhammerers and I will be going with my old gaming buddy Seb, writer of the blog

https://mugodice.wordpress.com

I am amused that the main image for SELWG has me handing out cards.

I have patiently visited all the traders websites and made my shopping list. Sadly this year the organisers haven’t got their act together and made a floor plan.

Paint a Bob

Posted on September 6, 2019 by grumpyoldtin

Another favourite thing. The Oldhammer Community Facebook page is running a “Paint a Bob” competition. During the month of September paint a figure sculpted by Bob Olley. To prevent any duplicity entrants had to post a photograph of their chosen model with this image as a backdrop.

I was undecided which model to pick, these wer my selections.

Ogre from Ral Partha
Skeleton from Essex
Chaos Dwarves from Essex

Sat at my desk this morning I decided on the Dwarves. Then I realised that they were a set of four, I dug the last one out.

#paintabob

Things that I like

Posted on September 5, 2019 by grumpyoldtin

There are things that I like. Sculpts by Bob Olley and Kevin Adams. Gnomes from Ols School Miniatures. And parts from Ramshackle Games.

http://www.ramshacklegames.co.uk

I don’t know what it is, but when I get a box of bits from Curtis my imagination gets fired up. This part might fit well with this, ooh and then if I add this etc. etc.

I’ve known about Ramshackle Games for about ten years, maybe a touch more. I started off getting some fantasy models.

In my Lead Mountain I have a mahosive squiggoth-like creature which is destined to be for my Orc Overlord.

Then a few years back Ramshackle Games had a Kickstarter for sci fi troopers. This was my starting point for my necromantic “Not Imperial Guard”.

You can see more images waaay back in my blog

Ramshackle also make vehicles. Here is my command APC.

Later Ramshackle ran a Kickstarter for the parts to assemble Jet Bikes. Obviously I sucumbed. I have only constructed one so far. Painting it would be nice.

Then I have recently been in the mood to bash up some tankettes for my Orks. Curtis, the ever obliging, helped.

Very recently I ordered some parts to make up a robot walker type machine. In the box was included a few other bits and bobs. This one was a personal project of Curtis’s for his Realm of Chaos warband. I saw it and it called out for a little floating platform. A sort of mini Slann.

Here is the walker.

And it is accompanied by a floating sensor/gun platform. Based on a Kinder Egg with extras from Ramshackle.

If you haven’t as yet come across Ramshackle Games do have a peek at the website. There is bound to be something there for you. Would free world-wide shipping be an incentive?

Just say I sent you

“I’m not the messiah!”

Posted on August 27, 2019 by grumpyoldtin

“Hello” to my new followers, or rather I should say “Hello” to my new random followers. I’ve visited your blogs. We have nothing in common.

I am a curmudgeonly old git with no social skills or graces. There are no pearls of wisdom to scatter before you. If you think that using someone elses quotes and random unattributed stock photos is going to set the blogosphere alight. well ….

Somehow I don’t see myself ever being an “influencer”. Already that word is starting to have negative connotations.

If you take the trouble to examine my site stats you can see that I barely have a handful of followers and lurkers, hello Ruth. I am certain that there are a couple of bots and one is a dog. Добро пожаловать мои верные товарищи-роботы! И собачий приятель.

I blog to keep sane.

I blog, badly, about a very dull niche topic.

I blog about nothing that would help you raise your blog profiles. In fact linking to my blog would probably kill your traffic.

So please

Feel free to unfollow.

Images are Copyright their respective owners. Used without permission.

What I did in my holidays

Posted on August 22, 2019 by grumpyoldtin

Every summer my Wife and the Boys drive down to Croatia for a holiday. Well somebody has to stay and tend to the chickens and cats. My chance to have a bit of time to myself and spread out and finish any projects that have been on hold for a while. I was a bit ill with a virus that made me very tired and demotivated so I didn’t do as much as I wanted.

Way back in 2011 I was approaching my redundancy at St. Martins and I used the time wisely. I made a whole load of these.

A plastic base, wire looped and glued into position, sand and PVA applied and primed in black. I didn’t do anything with them until now. This was the base build for some hedges. Following Mel’s videos on his YouTube channel I made a load of foam clump foliage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN16RxVNrvc Then following Luke’s videos on his YouTube channel I hade some flock. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsmD5774MOQhjYBkXqu3Jdw Using Luke’s videos I purchased some Tacky Glue, I must find somewhere here in Austria that stocks it because the postage was a killer. At my local DIY store I purchased some spray adhesive.

Stage One: paint base brown. Stage Two: drybrush base. Stage Three: apply Tacky Glue to wire and press on clump foliage. Stage Four: spray on adhesive and sprinkle with flock. I didn’t bother photographing these stages as you will get a better idea from the videos.

What I managed to do. There are some still to do but I had run out of clump foliage and the blender used for making it was awaiting a part from the UK.

Figure for scale, available from Heresy Miniatures

I must mention that Mel has been hard at work and recently had a Kickstarter to promote a book all about making wargaming terrain. If you missed it, or like me don’t have a form of money that Kickstarter recognises…. you can get on board herehttps://terrain-essentials.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders