Blather, Waffle and Poppycock!

[fsn]

2021 is Nobby's Year of Napoleonics. With just 10 days to go, the score is*:

• 3392 Infantry
• 774 Cavalry
• 329 Artillery with 64 guns and 45 limbers
• 164 staff

I've finished the British, Brunswickers, Prussians and Wurttembergers. I'm four units away from completing the Bavarians.

I've broken my own rule and started painting Austrians before the Bavarians are finished, and then there's the Poles so far unloved. I've also started buying the Russians, so it looks as if 2022 may well have a Napoleonic tinge - especially if the Spanish and Portuguese are released. I suppose I may eventually get around to getting some French. Having said that, I quite fancy doing Italians, or Danes or maybe something from the Confederation of the Rhine.

Lawks, I need a change though! I've got some Late Romans / Early Saxons to paint, and a few hundred C16 Japanese, but I really fancy doing something with an engine**. Did I see mention of some Arab/Israeli's in the pipeline? I've also got some super-special medievals which will be fun to paint.   I'd like to see the Amazons (for "Of Gods and Mortals") come out in 2022.     

What is everyone else planning for next year?






* I can paint so many because

• I live on my own and can spnd many hours painting without distraction
• Reference materials are summarised and cross referenced with paint numbers
• I don't spend hours adding walls, fences or living Bonzai to bases
• I have a system which maximises my paint efficiency
• They're not particularly well painted, but are OK at arm's length. 

** Oooh! I've got some Raiden Viet Nam aircraft to paint ... that would be a great palate cleanser   

[fred.]

Great work Nobby! That's some epic progress for the year. 

I'm not surprised you are wanting a change - some small planes would seem a good choice. 

[paulr]

Wot Fred sed

      

[Techno II]

Well done, Nobby !

But how long will you be able to put off painting some Knights, Nuns and Monks ?

Cheers - Phil.

[fsn]

But how long will you be able to put off painting some Knights, Nuns and Monks ?

Not long. I'm trying to be good and finish off the Bavarians before turning to the C15. Though I may discover an order of Bavarian nuns who fought at Hanau in 1813. Certainly, Xmas eve will be a prep day and Xmas day will be mail and cassocks, plate and habits. 

Only two more sleeps!

[Raider4]

What is everyone else planning for next year?

Planning? Truthfully, nothing.

I have a 'plan'* to try and downsize all of the accumulated crap that clutters my home.

This includes most of my miniatures/wargaming stuff. None of it's really worth anything so isn't worth eBay-ing. Seems a shame to just dump it though.

Also, all of my model railway stuff. Some (quite a bit, actually) of this is worth selling, but I'm scared of being shafted on eBay by some cockwomble.

Most likely - I'll do nothing. /sigh


* a vague intention, really

[Heedless Horseman]

Raider4. Not always ebay. Sold some railway engines to a Model Shop years ago.. and got maybe 20% of cost return. This was the good stuff... Britannia Metal or Rare Hornby 'limited' issue.
Ebay auction now... 'might' get a LOT more.. but a gamble.
I needed the cash.

[Big Insect]

I am also in the down-sizing (clearing out the cr*p) mode of thinking.

I have an (infamous) wargames cupboard that is like the Tardis and it just seems to overflow extra wargaming bits and pieces like a washing-machine with too much soap powder in it.

The thing I am short of is time however (all donations of spare time gratefully received - just email me directly). As when I start - with good intentions- to have a clear-out, I get started and then get distracted.

There's stuff in the cupboard that I bought under the following circumstances (in plea of mitigation)

A). Lovely figures but a fear that they were a bit 'fringe' and that the manufacturer might go out of business (& subsequently did)

B ). The wargames club started a new project/rules set /fad and we all bought figures to participate - [strike the following as applicable]: Border Reiver or Frostgrave or AK47 or predreadnought 1:3000 naval or Dreadfleet or etc.(fill in your own variants here).

C). I went to a show and there was a fantastic demo game of that era/battle/scenario etc and I bought part of an army at the show (as the trader had run out of all the figures) and then never got around to ordering the rest or the rules or the idea of painting 2000 6mm Chilean liberation wars uniformed troops was all too much in the cold light of day back home!

D). I had forgotten I had already bought the army. Yes folks this is a genuine case. I bought a 15mm Ancient Sertorian Spanish army and then found a fully painted and based army I already had at the back of the cupboard ... the 2 were so strikingly similar in composition that my only consolation was that I was at least consistent - even if the 2 purchases were 10 years + apart

E). I'm keeping these 'spare/extra' figures/units/vehicles etc just in case they change the army lists (yet again) and I need the figures to make up the extra/new units

F). It seemed like a really good bargain on eBay (hmmm ... that is very very very rarely true)

G). I have it in one scale (usually 15mm) and it would be nice to use it in 28mm/20mm/10mm/6mm etc.etc.etc.

H). It was on a Bring & Buy at a show and was such good value (& is now gathering dust unplayed with in the cupboard)

I). It was an army I had, and loved, early on in my gaming 'career' but I rashly sold it (for a reason I couldnt remember) so I bought a replacement (only to remember why I got rid of it). So it now languishes in the depth of the cupboard doomed never to see the light of the table top or the clatter of dice ever again

J). It was a present (from the kids, well meaning wife/relatives, guys down the wargames club on a significant birthday) and I am such a softy that I cannot part with it

K). In a similar vein to J). it belonged to a departed mate (usually sold by his widow) and I wanted something to remember him by

L). I've tried to sell it on eBay / at a Table-top sale or a Bring & Buy - but nobody else is daft enough to buy it from me. NB: I even have stuff I have tried to give away free, only to have other gamers look at me at shows with the utmost suspicious, as if I was offering them free samples of highly addictive drugs (which in effect I am doing of course)

M). I love the army, it was great under rules v.3.1 but that was 10 years ago and now in rules v.9.7 it is totally useless, as some 'muppet' has claimed to have done some ground breaking historical research that found that all their war-waggons had square wheels - you know the kind of guff.

N). I cannot remember why I bought it ... so getting rid of it might be dangerous as the moment I do get rid of it I'll remember why I wanted it

O). Nobody will want to buy 3 armless trolls I bought to do that fantastic conversion (that is in the cupboard somewhere unfinished) but it seems a shame to bin them - as "you never know when they might come in handy" [boom-boom]

And it goes on & on & on ....

The wife is threatening to make us down-size when I retire in 2023 and has thrown in that tempting phrase "you might even be able to have a wargames room" ... note the critical word in all that "might"! But we'll see.

But I have 2 weeks off this Xmas and have told myself I will dedicate a few days to trying to contain the overflow from the cupboard out into my Study, as a concession towards domestic good will. But I suspect my new years resolution will fall by the way-side quickly once I start opening boxes.

Hey ho ...

[fsn]

I had a massive downsize in 2013 ... when I found Pendraken. Everything went that wasn't 10mm (15mm, 20mm, 6mm, 28mm, 54mm) ... and now I have more figures in more ranges than ever. *le sigh*

[Raider4]

Hey, I resemble (some of) those reasons!

Cleared out the outbuilding a couple of weeks ago - took 47 tins of house paint to the tip . . .

All kept, 'just in case' we need to do a touch-up or another coat. Of course, we never did.

Some must have been decades old.

[Big Insect]

Cleared out the outbuilding a couple of weeks ago - took 47 tins of house paint to the tip . . .

That's yet another project - I suspect I'll find at least that many tins of old dried up paint in the shed ... but I just cannot bear to look in there!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Just broken through 5000 figures this year, only 900 are mine!

[Heedless Horseman]

Good Gracious!  I have Just achieved promotion to Colonel !   
Harrumph!
Right Then.
Junior officers: We shall commence a new regimen of No 'Talking Shop' in the Mess. Frivolous, Inconsequential 'Chit Chat' only.
I have donated 3 bottles of 30 yrs old  Port as celebratory gift to the Mess, along with associated Biscuits and Cheeses. (Recycling WILL become mandatory, in line with environmental policy.).
Black Bottles are WELCOMED, as with Green and Blue... there will be NO DISCRIMINATION in the Mess.

Gentlemen, Please Take Note:
Mess 'activities', such as 'Zulu Warrior / Dance of the Flaming A******s', will no longer be acceptable.
Ludo, Dominoes or a Quiet game of Cribbage should be quite adequate for relaxation.
Painting... in tasteful Watercolours, will be encouraged as 'Out of Mess' activity.
FP1 will be reintstated for infringements of Mess Rules.

ALL RANKS should note that there will be will be a STRICT accounting procedure for items such as Fragmentation Grenades implemented forthwith.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Oh dear, gets to colonel and thinks he can boss us around...
Field Marshals- get him!

[FierceKitty]

Don't worry, My Lord. He'll get himself soon enough. Just leave some rope where he can find it.