I have come across a bit if a conundrum regarding Pike blocks, now a strip of pikes costs 44 pence on its own on a 20 x 40mm base it looks naff. So I would need two on there… like this:

So here we have 88p worth… problem I am having is the gap surrounding the pikes on the base… so I could double the amount …

This looks a bit better (we’ll apart from the slight overhang on the right). Problem is double the figures is double the cost. So instead of 88p it would become £1.76 per base. This is one base out of either a unit of 8, 12 or 16 as you can see it would soon add up. A 16 strong Swiss Pike block would come in at just over £28, as it happens at two to a base would still come in at £14… quite pricey for 6mm. I thought I had better make it clear that I am not criticising the pricing policy of the miniature manufacturer here, far from it…

I think my problem is I would normally just buy an irregular army, so in this case an imperial army and a French army at about £18 each. I think the problem is the new rules, well those aren’t even the problem. It is me getting used to a new system where I need to work out points and follow a basing system, rather than my usual 20×40 and 20×30 ironically these rules use both of these sizes. It is more a unit of Pike is 8 bases strong. Heavy cavalry are 4 bases strong etc, which is rather alien to me now I come to think of it.

It will probably do me good to stretch my wings a bit and do something different.

Apologies for the rambling… probably just tired… tomorrow is another day…. having just noticed the time,I am now into the tomorrow I just mentioned .

This evening started off on a roll. I got the 28mm ruins from the Frostheim set sprayed their base colour. I decided to do these in browns instead of my usual grey. For this reason I went and bought a chocolate brown spray paint, which turned out to be more red than brown…

I put the can in the photo to show the difference in lid colour and final spray. The can was a nightmare, it kept clogging. At one point I had to take the top off and give it a wash. It spent more time upside down than it did the right way up.

After spraying the above I set about getting the Baccus samurai onto the sticks, ready for the white undercoat. I had just started when I got the massage to say that this little chap heeded picking up…

He is a feral kitten, that we have been waiting for for about 9 weeks. He was caught this evening, so off we went to pick him up.

We are going to be getting a second one tomorrow, if it will be caught.

When I got back I finished getting them in their sticks… I will spray them tomorrow morning ready for a bit of paint tomorrow evening.

Of course I now have a problem, everything else was in fours or a nice even number so I had either yellow sashimono or teal sashimono… I now have three units… what do I do? Nightmare scenario…. the stress, the stress… as you might be able to tell, I may be a little OCD… actually easiest thing to do would be to paint it a different colour totally.

I am going to paint these in different coloured armour, so they will likely take four times as long as the ashigaru.

The one thing that dawned on me today was that I am probably going to run out of bases. My packet of two hundred 40x20mm seemed more than enough for many armies, problem is…I have now painted many armies.

And finally… this made me laugh!

Well I got back from the caravan trip safe and sound. I was a bit knackered, so I did a bit of painting on the Ashigaru still in progress. I then spent about 45 minutes hunting for the missing samurai then it kind of dawned on me that I hadn’t really had a look at what was left to paint… my only excuse is that they are very small and have exactly the same pose!

Well that is that conundrum solved , well as I said yesterday that I had been shown a company that does 3D printed miniatures for samurai in 6mm. So in true Stephen style I jumped in… I wanted some peasants and monks that would fit in with my Baccu models. So here we have them at 100% next to Baccus on the left and 2D6 on the right…

They are a little in the small side, so tomorrow I am going to go for 110% Up to 120% and see what I can do. These are probably the smallest things I have printed.

Well we made it to the camp site and settled in. Half the lights don’t work, the water pump is acting up and the electronic toilet flush… won’t. It’s not a biggy as there are good facilities here.

Okay our £700 caravan is letting the side down a bit as the rest are all at least five times it’s value.

I did manage to bring the 6mm samurai with me. I might not get any painted, but it would be good if I could get them onto their bases.

Yes tomorrow we pack up the caravan and head to where I work, well not exactly where I work, that would be weird. We’re going to the Skeld Campsite for a couple of nights. So there will be no painting for a couple of days until I get back Sunday night.

I have pretty much finished these, apart from the belt and rope on the milkmaid. I also got some more done on the Samurai (Ashigaru)… mainly sashimono and head gear…

I would have got the finished but at 22.00 the owner of the horses field dropped us a message to say he had put some weedkiller down to kill off the thistles… then realised that the ground couldn’t be grazed for a week. So I had to drop paint brushes and head off to the hill with the horses in tow. Not what I wanted to be doing, but it pretty much went really easily to be honest.

I also did a bit more on the Flintloque miniatures. A spot of colour here and there’s it isn’t really worth adding a photo each time.

I will still get to annoy you by adding to the blog, but therefore therefore be a miniature in sight… unless I manage to get something together, along with all the other stuff to do.

Tonight I bit the bullet and started the next unit of Ashigaru. Nothing special, just the same as normal, slap the paint on and hope for the best.

I also did some work on the 28mm Renaissance stuff, the cart now has a driver , although he is a little on the short side, but hey, short people exist.

I also did a tiny bit on the Flintloque miniatures, but nothing worth showing on here yet.

Tomorrow I hope to carry on with these and get some more finished.

Today I did a bit of electronic chopping and printed off the monster’s head. This was pretty much guess work based on a row of teeth in the lower jaw. I printed and voila I was about a quarter of a mm out.

Now glueing the head on wasn’t really going to work  by itself so I set about the miniature with some greenstuff.  So here he is with all body parts attached…

The greenstuff goes down his back about the same distance. Not exactly an invisible mend, but I reckon that once it is painted then it should be fine.

I also did a bit more on the Flintloque miniatures too… Still a good old way to go on most but two of them are pretty much finished…

I decided to print ruin 9 as my attempt to slice ruin five worked like a charm except I sent them to the resin printer memory stick which happened to be in the resin printer when I realised. In 19 hours it should be finished 😫.

The rest of the evening was spent watching YouTube videos on how to play the Men who would be King rules. Yes I am hopefully playing a wargame next Monday. The first in about a year and a half. We will be using my 10mm Sudan forces.

Tomorrow evening I am hopefully going to crack on with the Samurai etc. During the day I intend to carry on with the caravan checks to make sure everything is working as it should… today was the back supports, Tomorrow will be the front. One side took a 17mm socket and the other an 18mm. Luckily I had just gone and bought a new set, I decided I couldn’t be bothered doing it with a spanner. I managed to get my sockets and also bought a table saw as I reckon there is a fair old bit of wood cutting coming up in my future. It was my treat for being a good boy and sorting out the caravan and building the conservatory. It is now a standing joke here that shdn I do a major job I need a new tool to help me… seems I was owed one for the conservatory, my new sockets covered the caravan fix.

I decided to call it quits on the teppo and got them off their sticks ready for the next lot. I have two units of Ashigaru left to paint. One lot is now undercoated ready to get started tomorrow when the undercoat cures fully.

I also undercoated the 28mm stuff too…

I got some work done on my Flintloque miniatures too, but forgot to photograph them.

My next ruin is complete…

The tower part also come separately. This is what it will look like when the next bits come off the printer.

Once this is done there are a pile of cloister walls to print and then there is another large piece, which to be honest I don’t think I will bother with as it is on a curve and although it can sit on a corner of a table it would look weird on its own anywhere else. It will also take over a day to print.

I have about half a roll of filament left so will make a start on some houses and house ruins. I probably forgot to say, but I am wanting to run a Mordheim campaign either with my kids or at the club – hence the ruined terrain items (as well as the Frost kickstsrter too).

So to help me with my painting I have been watching lots of things on Netflix, Saturday night was Serenity, awesome film from an awesome, but cancelled series. Last night was Beyond the Wire. It was an okay film, probably meant to be be saying something profound about AI and the USA… but if it was…it didn’t sink in.

I also watched a Resident Evil animated series, which actually I really enjoyed. The CGI was pretty cool. I have the animated films on DVD, which I watch from time to time. I never had the game, and think I only ever played it once at my mates house so the actual background on the characters is a bit lost on me. I know Leon was a rookie cop, but after that I haven’t a clue.

This evening I started watching Stranger Things, it is supposed to be good and the first episode certainly lives up to the title.

I went into work today and ran up and down the stairs lots and totally knacked my left knee. On the upside I added 4000 plus steps to my daily step count.

Tomorrow I paint more 6mm Samurai forces, but for now I am going to head off and shoot things on the console.

So years and years and years ago I ran a warrants club in the school for the kids. One of the games I ran was good old GorkaMorka. I deliberately chose games where the kids didn’t have to buy a lot of miniatures, so Mordheim, Space Hulk, Necromunda etc. Although I don’t do 40k at all as have no interest in big battles, the a one worked for me. Upon saying that I really have no interest in Necromunda now… not sure why, maybe that ship has sailed.

Anyway back to GorkaMorka. ArgentBadger had put a post up about their order buggies and it reminded me of the funs we had playing good old GM. I have two remaining minis from when we played. These ever saw paint and to be honest, we’re probably hiding when the rest got sold prior to moving to Shetland… so here they are… the survivors of the Skid!

In typical GW style of the time they pulled all of the games I actually enjoyed playing. The bases on these irks were tiny so that they could fit in the trucks. I am actually now having to fight the urge to go and look on Ebay to see if I can get any more. Actually yesterday I was in a a second hand book shop and found a whole pile of old GW army books.. somehow I ended up with a wood elf one for £8… not quite sure how that happened! Probably my belief during lockdown shopping…of I touch it then it goes in the basket.

Anyway back to the truck… it might have a new purpose…

Actually the bears are going to their new home today. I will send the monster things off next time I am passing on my way to work… tonight more Painting, I am on a roll…I hope

Well this evening I actually managed to paint some things. First off the cart is just about finished…

In the background you can see the camp followers as well as the gear in the cart. I will have to get them all painted soon.

I also managed to get the Samurai teppo just about finished too…

I also got the 20 hour printout the bed too, I am in the process of a 22 hour ruin now… they go on top of this one…

It would have e been further on to be honest, but I had to move a socket in my wife’s office as she had asked if I old build in a sofa using a large cushion thatshehD been given. The socket needed dropping 20 cm but, in turni g off the power I buggered up the next print. Talking of wierd prints.. I was printing a purple of big monster bears to go with this lot…

It didn’t print properly and I thought it was due to running g iutkf resin, but nope, the weapons printed fully and they were above the head…totally weird.

And finally I got a good bargain at the charity shop today…

Not bad for £3.50.

Tomorrow I am heading into school to clear one of the upstairs store rooms as I am converting it into an office for council staff to use.