01/02/12 - Hertsblue

Started by Leon, 01 February 2012, 07:37:53 AM

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Leon

01 February 2012, 07:37:53 AM Last Edit: 16 May 2012, 02:20:51 AM by Leon
ABOUT YOU

Name:
Ray Lucas

Location:
Cheshunt, Hertfordshire.

Do you have a pic?
No, it would seriously affect my other career as a cat-burglar.


PAYING FOR IT!

Current occupation:
Salesman

What would your ideal occupation be?
Retired - preferably with a shed-load of cash.


GETTING INTO IT!

How did you get involved in wargaming?
I read Lawford & Young's Charge sometime in the mid-sixties and also picked up the Featherstone books, but it wasn't until I went to South Africa in '72 and joined a club that I played my first game.




What was your first figure?
A 25mm Minifigs Chasseur a Cheval of the Imperial Guard (plus 11 others)

Do you have a favourite period/genre?
My great love is the Seven Years War. It's the ideal wargaming period - pretty uniforms, long straight lines of soldiers and half a dozen major nations involved.

How big is your figure collection?
Must be over the 15,000 mark now, of which about 4,500 are 10mm.

And how big is your unpainted lead mountain?
Not that big actually. In the old days I used to melt down unused figures and re-cast them as what I needed so what I have now tends to be fairly recent.

Do you have a favourite model in your collection? And do you have a pic?
Yes




I built this little farmstead in the late seventies. It has been fought over on dozens of battlefields, from the Seven Years War, up through Napoleon's Wars to both World Wars. Considering that it's only made of card on a hardboard base it's lasted very well.

What is the most important aspect of wargaming for you?
Probably the fact that the hobby has so many facets - painting, constructing terrain, writing rules, researching periods, and actually playing the games. There's something for everyone.


PLANNING IT

What project are you currently working on?
I'm about to embark on my Burma 14th Army to take on the Japanese.

And do you have any long-term projects on the go?
Yes, my 1866 Prussian army corps and its attendant foes. About half-finished and still waiting for completion.

Do you have any wargaming influences?
The work of the late Bill Brewer gave me the incentive to improve my painting skills. I never did reach his standard, however.


BUYING IT!

Do you buy scenery, or scratch build it?
I tend to buy things like trees and hills, but I love constructing buildings. You'd recognise many of my buildings since they were modelled on originals copied from Military Modelling or Wargames Illustrated.

Which figure range is at the top of your request list?
Currently WW2 in slouch hats for my 14th Army.

Which individual item is at the top of your request list?
Lack of individual items doesn't really bother me. There's always a way to work around any missing items - scratch-build, convert or adapt.

Which wargaming websites do you visit regularly?
Pendraken is the only one I come back to regularly. All the others I visit when the mood takes me.

If someone handed you £100 right now, what would you buy?
I'd blow the lot on books.

What has been your biggest one-off purchase?
The £120 I spent acquiring a friend's collection of 1/200th buildings.


PAINTING AND MODELLING IT!

How many hours a week do you paint?
It varies. Some weeks it could be 6 - 10 hours, others (particularly in summer) hardly any time at all.

What kind of technique do you use?
Base 'em up, spray 'em black, slap the paint on.

Do you have a preferred brand of paint?
Up until about ten years ago I used artists' gouache - fine so long as you varnished everything. Then I went to acrylics. I have to confess that I use whatever I can get hold of.

Do you have a painting area?  And do you have a pic?
Yes




Have you had any painting/modelling disasters?
Oh, yes. Being a fairly ham-fisted bod I've had my share of spilled paint or solvent on newly completed figures.

Do you have any painting/modelling top tips?
Never push yourself to complete a unit or model. If you find yourself getting tired or impatient stop and go and do something else.


PLAYING WITH IT!

How often do you get to game?
Not as often as I would like - mainly due to work and health issues. I look forward to having more time available in the near future.

Do you belong to a local club?
I am currently secretary and a former chairman of the North London Wargames Group.

Do you have a funny wargaming story?
Only that in the eighties I made up the obligatory batch of rubberised horsehair trees. A friend saw them and asked to borrow them for an upcoming convention game. The convention duly passed and the next and the next. He finally returned my trees - ten years later. I hereby claim the longest loan of equipment in the history of wargaming.

And have you had any wargaming disasters?
Many and many. Some of my opponents would claim that I am a wargames disaster.

Do you prefer short games or long campaigns?
I'm on the side of the big battalions. For me wargaming is about hordes of figures sweeping across the board. If it's part of a campaign as well, so much the better.

Do you have a wargames room?  And do you have a pic?
Yes and yes.




How do you store your figures?
When LPs were made of vinyl the record shops used to sell natty cases that would each take twenty or so discs. All my older figures are stored in home-made drawers in these.  Since they no longer make them I use the ubiquitous box files, which are easy to customise and of sufficient depth to take two layers of 15mm or 10mm figures.


READING ABOUT IT!

What are you reading at the moment?
Fergal Keane's Road of Bones - the epic story of the seige of Kohima 1944; The Burma Campaign by Frank McLynn - an account that focuses mainly on the wrangling amongst the high command in that theatre; James Hamilton-Paterson's Empire of the Clouds the sad story of how the British lead in aviation after the Second World War was comprehensively blown by a combination of short-sightedness and sheer stupidity.




Do you have a favourite book?
Anything by Patrick O'Brian.

Do you buy any wargaming magazines, and if so, which ones?
I subscribe to Wargames Illustrated.


WATCHING IT!

What are your 3 favourite films?
Tora Tora Tora
Battle of Britain
Trading Places (just to prove I'm not a total warmonger)

And your 3 worst?
Anything involving horror - I have never found dismemberment even vaguely entertaining.

What are your all-time Top 3 TV shows?
1. The West Wing - deep, clever and funny.
2. Yes Minister/Prime Minister - brilliantly acted and allegedly very accurate.
3. Dinner Ladies - anything Victoria Wood writes always has me rolling in the aisles.




And right now?
About the only thing I watch regularly at the moment is Death in Paradise, entertaining whodunnits in a glorious setting.


LISTENING TO IT!

Who is your favourite band?
I'd have to say Queen.

And favourite album?
I haven't bought an album for the best part of twenty-five years. I lost interest in current pop music sometime in the mid-eighties. Now I only listen to music in the car or first thing in the morning.

And your 3 favourite songs?
Too many to name.


NOT RELATED TO IT!

What other hobbies/pastimes do you enjoy?
Reading, writing (mainly wargames related stuff these days), photography and keep-fit (a losing battle).

What do you drive?
A Ford Boring

Are you a breast or thigh person...  ;)
Actually I'm more of an apprentice dirty old man.

And who are your Top 3 Totty?
Sadly, most of the women that appear in the totty thread look about fourteen to me. Ho hum...

Do you have a favourite quote?
Everyone's mad but thee and me - and I'm none too sure about thee...

If you could do anything, what would it be?
I'd buy Chelsea FC and pour money into it. Oh, hang on, someone's already done that, haven't they?



8)
www.pendraken.co.uk - Now home to over 7000 products, including 4500 items for 10mm wargaming, plus MDF bases, Battlescale buildings, I-94 decals, Litko Gaming Aids, Militia Miniatures, Raiden Miniatures 1/285th aircraft, Red Vectors MDF products, Vallejo paints and much, much more!

Steve J

As always good to read others thoughts etc on the wargaming hobby.

capthugeca

Second that!

I wonder how many of us have been inspired by Bill Brewer. Some years back I was a policeman in Peckham and used to regularly pop into the Rye Hobby and Stamp Shop to watch him painting.
Life is too important to be taken seriously.

goat major

Great interview. There is something very satisfying about the look of big battalions SYW games isnt there ? I wish i had the painting stamina to do it properly.

Only disappointment is discovering what the 'blue' in Hertsblue really means  ;)
My blog: https://goatmajor.org.uk/
My twitting: http://twitter.com/goatmajor

2014 Painting Competition - Winner!

Techno

Great interview !

Cheers - Phil.

Duke Speedy of Leighton

and I thought the blue was for rowing for his University!  :P
Great interview, lovely to find out what makes people tick
You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

Hertsblue

Quote from: mad lemmey on 01 February 2012, 05:06:52 PM
and I thought the blue was for rowing for his University!  :P
Great interview, lovely to find out what makes people tick

I didn't actually go to university, Lemmy. They muttered something about "fundementally stupid".  :'(
When you realise we're all mad, life makes a lot more sense.

www.rulesdepot.net

nikharwood

Woohoo! Finally ('bout bloody time  ;)) I've discovered I'm not the only Chelsea fan here (I was born there)  8)

Nice interview Ray  :)

Techno

Quote from: nikharwood on 01 February 2012, 08:58:39 PM
Woohoo! Finally ('bout bloody time  ;)) I've discovered I'm not the only Chelsea fan here (I was born there)  8)

Nice interview Ray  :)
No..... not the only one Nik.... as well as Ray
Cheers - Phil (But I wasn't born there...Well 'Sarf' to be honest.) ;)

Hertsblue

Quote from: nikharwood on 01 February 2012, 08:58:39 PM
Woohoo! Finally ('bout bloody time  ;)) I've discovered I'm not the only Chelsea fan here (I was born there)  8)

Nice interview Ray  :)

Actually Nik I was born in the Westcountry (South Devon to be exact) but I've lived the last forty years in and around London. Started to support the Blues in 1964 :-bd
When you realise we're all mad, life makes a lot more sense.

www.rulesdepot.net

nikharwood

That's almost the opposite of me - born in Chelsea, grew up in Dunster (West Somerset) & am now living here again  8)

Leon

I think you two should stop this glory-supporting and just support Exeter...  :d
www.pendraken.co.uk - Now home to over 7000 products, including 4500 items for 10mm wargaming, plus MDF bases, Battlescale buildings, I-94 decals, Litko Gaming Aids, Militia Miniatures, Raiden Miniatures 1/285th aircraft, Red Vectors MDF products, Vallejo paints and much, much more!

goat major

Good point Leon. As Boro fans we know what it's like to be constantly accused of glory hunting......
My blog: https://goatmajor.org.uk/
My twitting: http://twitter.com/goatmajor

2014 Painting Competition - Winner!

nikharwood


Leon

Quote from: goat major on 02 February 2012, 10:15:20 PM
Good point Leon. As Boro fans we know what it's like to be constantly accused of glory hunting......

So true...  :D
www.pendraken.co.uk - Now home to over 7000 products, including 4500 items for 10mm wargaming, plus MDF bases, Battlescale buildings, I-94 decals, Litko Gaming Aids, Militia Miniatures, Raiden Miniatures 1/285th aircraft, Red Vectors MDF products, Vallejo paints and much, much more!