Well this is how far I got tonight on the Sisters of Battle…

The more astute of you will realise that they are pretty much the same.

My eldest got a Nintendo Switch for Christmas and they have found a family game. We spent about three hours playing together. The idea is that we can all use an electronic device and answer questions or take part in other games.

The best one was Quip It where you have to make silly answers to questions… the best one was name a magazine where a nude centrefold would not be appropriate… we ended up with Lego Magazine, which had us in hoots!

As today was such a lovely day, we went to a beach about a 20 minute drive away. So it took us 45 minutes to get the kids in the car, 20 minutes to get there, 5 minutes or so to get down to the beach and three minutes before my son misjudged the speed of an incoming wave and got extremely wet (photos tomorrow) so back home we came. What was a bit unusual was a couple with their little one watched the whole incident and then proceeded to have a photo shoot. Needless to say they got wet too!

Well that was a bit of an interesting Christmas Day. Pressies opened here, some yummy 85% dark chocolate to my good lady and I, smarties and coins for the kids, then off to in-laws for lunch and more presents. As the dog is a sneak we checked the room for any Chocs lying around and found nothing.

We came back two hours later to find she had somehow found our dark chocolate and ate the 60g bar. So a phone call to the emergency vet and as we had got back pretty quickly then we were in with a chance. We took her over and after a quick injection of an emetic she threw up all 80 grams of it and is now as right as rain.

The Vet said that although the darker chocolate is more toxic, it has less fat so that it lasts longer in the stomach. The other good thing is that we feed her once a day in the evening, so the only thing was the chocolate in her stomach.

So all in all a bit of an eventful afternoon.

Most of my pressies were to help me on the console to win at War Thunder. I am saving up to buy a Jagdpanther 😂. The fandoms I have been playing of late have the tactical acumen of a stunned kitten. I generally get blown up trying to cover their suicidal attacks or because of their suicidal attacks they have left my flanks and rear open to nasties.

I did get a couple of good books from my in-laws…

I do like this one from the Great War book…

So anyway, I hope you have all had, are having, or are going to have a Great Christmas.

I am going to try my luck with my Low tier tanks then off to bed I go. Haven’t got a bloody clue what day

Okay not exactly the most festive of things 🥴, but as I dropped my mates present off today before the big day tomorrow, he asked me if I would make his box of battle sisters over the Christmas break.

I said I would and here they are in all their rather militaristic glory…

To be honest they would nearly make me want to play 40k (but not enough to jump in). We will probably be using them in the 40k RPG that he has.

So I just checked with NORAD and Santa is. He has evidently just left Rome in Italy…

I am now going to give you my Top five Christmas Musical pieces…

1. Gaudete – Steeleye Span: https://youtu.be/tKT5_TlQ4GM

2 Il Dulci Jubilo – Mike Oldfield: https://youtu.be/VCvz7uflMIU

3. I Believe in Father Christmas – Greg Lake: https://youtu.be/yfY4b1NszpY

4. Oh Holy Night – various: https://youtu.be/qrUB9AEnnEc

5. Mary’s Boy Child – Boney M: https://youtu.be/cmm1gt_2SkQ

I could quite easily compile a list of Twenty, but haven’t the time. I heard ‘oh Holy Night’ coming out of Durham Cathedral one dark, snowy winter’s night and it was one of the most magical sounds I think I have ever heard. I sneaked into the back to listen to them…it was amazing, sent shivers down my spine then and still does every time I hear it.

So let me know your top five. Fairy Tale of New York was almost there, but Boney M knocked them off the list (perhaps controversially).

So as I finish this off. I just want to wish you all a very merry Christmas however you celebrate it.

Yes I got the elves off the print bed today and they seem okay. A mounted female and a guard of some type.

I also have decided to have a bash at a GW Grail Knight over the festive period. Don’t ask me why, when I have poop loads to paint already

And finally, for reasons know only to myself, or actually I don’t know why… I am having a go at printing a moose… the type with antlers not the Scottish small timid thing.

Ye gods I am knackered, buggered and other words to mean extremely tired. Last time I felt this tired was when my eldest had reflux as a baby and we didn’t sleep for 12 weeks. Thankfully my holidays start tomorrow… schools in Scotland are going back into lockdown for kids returning on 18th January. Staff are in so it’s going to be online learning for the time we get back.

Tonight I managed to get my Totoro printed for my daughter, problem is the feet fell off and liquid resin went everywhere… okay a total exaggeration there, some resin dribbled out. I then washed and cured it only to find that the dribble bits meant that the feet wouldn’t go back on. It took me about 20 minutes in my zonked state to realise what the problem was. Thankfully it is sorted. I will get a photo tomorrow. (In case you were wondering Totoro is a cuddly character from an animated film by Studio Ghibli). My daughter loves it so I printed one for a Christmas gift. I just have to paint it now.

I also got some wolves and puppies printed off, this will be for my next diorama. Somehow something weird happened on the howling wolf…

As you can see his back end is totally missing.i have printed two of these already and had absolutely no problems, so I haven’t a clue what is going on.

The other wolves will be in the front of a cave….

Now to be honest I think I am going to redo this lot again as the details are a bit soft. I will have a play around, not too much as I only have about 150ml of resin left. (Time to order some more methinks) right now I am printing off a few elves to see what they look like… hopefully I haven’t just reprinted the ones I started with! I am now having that creeping doubt that Iforgot to delete the file from the card!

I probably won’t get too much done tomorrow night as I will be running about wildly shouting Freedom, think Home Alone when he realises that he has made his family disappear!

Tonight I managed to get a smidge more done on my 15mm Japanese villagers…

I also got the last two French cavalry printed as well as another elf (well actually the dismounted version from yesterday)…

I am not sure what happened to the right hand horse, but it looks a bit weird.

Tomorrow I hope to have some dogs printed, the elf I printed today has lost half of his bow, but the cannibals seem ok.

Tonight I have managed to get the French cavalry finished, the last of them is curing in the light as I type this.

Now that these are done then I can print some of the things that I want to do, this is in no way a complaint as I said I would do them for my mate, but as the officer was on his own then I managed to squeeze in a mounted elf. I got the dismounted version done with the French cavalry too…

On the plate now are some of the cannibals for my Neolithic games.

Oooh the other thing is that this post is on my 500th day of posting in a row.

So whilst mooching in the loft I came across an old cardboard box and these fine chaps were in it.

These were the reason why I got into Warhammer all those years ago. I just loved the aesthetics of these. I built up a large force and played various campaigns using them. I had the spear armed ones above as well as the same number of mounted archers. Two units of 10 bow apiece and the same with the the spears, a unit of waywatchers and wardancers plus eagles, warhawk riders a couple of mages. I then had a freeman and some dryads to finish off the force.

I then got Lizardmen and Brettonians mainly the boxed game and built up from there. I still have a pile of knights and squires unpainted, but the rest are long gone. The woodelves are still my favourite army and I have kept them for old times sake GW then go and muck everything up and elves don’t exist anymore etc… not that I am bitter and twisted about it.

As you can see from the above, I never did get them finished. One day I might relieve my younger days and get them done.

I managed to get another couple of cavalry printed and started on the officer.

The two riders is something I have never seen before, I do feel sorry for the horse!

Knackered this evening so got nothing done, especially when I was eating dinner at 20.45. I didn’t get in until about 20.30. Hopefully I will manage something tomorrow.

Bugger it, my back has gone. Therefore I am unable to get anything painted tonight. I have however managed to get some more of the French cavalry sliced. I suddenly remembered that the slicing software can cut the files. This has been A whole lot easier to work with. Things would have been easier if I had used a mouse as I can zoom in with it.

So today I printed off a couple more mounted dragoons. These came out okay. I do need to replace (or strain) the ISO to avoid any weird bits floating around in it as the wash cycle is taking place.

I had a play around with the miniature builder for the Printing Goes Ever On Patreon.

So there are lots of options to choose from, this is a screen grab…

And this is my version of a cavalryman (elf)…

Hopefully tomorrow I will carry on with the painting. Tonight I have six infantrymen on the build plate.

It was my eldest 15th Birthday today. They are now called Sam, but were originally Beth. They came out as non binary in May, which is why sometimes I say my daughter, sometimes my son and sometimes my eldest. Poor soul has sciatica, which is crap at there age. They are also in the middle of tests at both school and the doctors. Yesterday was birthday takeaway. A very nice Chinese meal. We finished it off at lunch time today.

Now that the old Zero is warmed up again then I have been busy printing these French cavalry for my mate. So far I have 4 dismounted and one mounted done. Problem is it is taking forever to split them up accurately and then a good old while printing them out.

The flag holder took over 7 hours to do as he was so tall. I could have put a second mini on there and in reality I meant to print the other single as a test and as I wasn’t wearing my glasses I couldn’t see the small writing on the screen…

So here we have the dismounted troops…

And the mounted dragon…Avec un drapeau.

The barrel of the rifle had a bit of bad luck when I removed the supports, but otherwise it has come out ok, and the size isn’t massive like I thought it was going to be.