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The Day Arrived

Well Claymore arrived and off we set. It was an easy run across to Edinburgh, but to be honest getting to the Granton campus on the bus was going to be a bind, so we blagged a taxi.

We got there about 45 minutes after opening so we were straight in… I was pleased with the entry cost at a fiver for me and three quid for James… more money to spend on toys …

I managed to get some photos of some of the games…

Now I knew that a couple of my friends from the Shetland club would be there putting on a game as they had moved onto the mainland, But what was more amazing was my old club was there from when I lived in England. I was stood there thinking Tyneside Wargames club, that was my club, I turned around and three of my old mates were stood there, now they might have just said oh yeah we remember you, but they said, can you remember the time we went to the show in my red Citroën…i had forgotten that I once owned a Citroën. So it was a lovely surprise. I also got chatting to a guy running a Frostgrave game. I mentioned I was down from Shetland and Lo and Behold his whole family was from Shetland, and the guy he was playing against also had family from Shetland.

I did buy some goodies, I could have gone mental but decided to keep the sensible hat on.

Well sort of kept the sensible hat on. The top box is full of fifty Mantic Zombies and a truck that was a bit of an impulse buy.

Miniatures wise I got some 10 mm Samurai apes from Pendraken, these are the Warband pack, but they will be based as HOTT, like my other packs I have got in the past.

I picked up twenty 2p multi stands for various of my games, I was going to order them online, but as Warbases was there I thought I might as well get them postage free. I also bought some MDF coins for Strength and Honour. Sadly I never got to play a game at the show as James was beginning to flag a bit.

I also picked up the Pavia book in the bring and buy. James was given an inflatable 17 pdr shell. Which he was quite chuffed with.

As it was also his trip he wanted to go to the zoo, so we spent the afternoon in there…

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Made it…

So we made it to the hotel in Glasgow. We are on the top floor, sadly not the penthouse, but it is still a long way down…

By 10.45 we had nearly done 11000 steps, our train was an hour later and we have pretty much walked all over Glasgow so I reckon we must have at least doubled that, if not tripled it.

My feet and calves ache a bit now!

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D +1

So we made it ashore and are breakfasting in Macdonald’s as James has never been in one. We had to be off the ferry by 08.00 but we’re twenty minutes earlier so mooching around the empty streets of Aberdeen until 09.00

Train to Glasgow is 11.45 so we are wasting time … about to head off into the busier streets of Aberdeen now.

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H+3

So our adventure has begun, with the slight cock up of me leaving my phone on the kitchen table. Technically I could have got home and back to the ferry, but if there had been any delays then I would have missed the boat. Luckily my son has his, and after I added some credit then we are back in communication.

Anyway we did get a nice sunset as we passed between the Shetland mainland and Fair Isle…

Unfortunately James is feeling a bit under the weather, which is a pity as he used to have amazing sea legs.

Internet is a bit naff on the ferry so only one photograph…

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H-9

Yes today is the day I escape the island for the first time in about four years.

Sat in a cafe in Lerwick for a while as one of the cars is in getting some tyres done. Estimate is two hours instead of the expected hour. 😢

I have to be on the boat by 18.30 at the latest, so a bit of time left. The two eldest want me to take them shopping as they are being left home alone for the evening as Esther is off gallivanting to Montrose.

I have had a look at the Claymore site and a few manufacturers are there who I spend my money with. So I reckon I will be coming back with 3,6,10 and 15mm stuff🤪.

Weather isn’t looking too bad for this evening…

Books packed, films downloaded sweeties and drinks for the ferry to be purchased later.

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New Parcel and Digger Fun

Today was digger day and it was good, but a bit stressful, fun. Fun because it was a digger, stressful in case I cocked up and broke it or dug the bucket in too deep.

You can certainly tell where I have been now, but it was a bit annoying that it had heaved it down yesterday so I was playing with a lot of water too.

I could do with a tonne of gravel to go into the few remaining holes, but that will have to wait.

Anyway after diggering I got to open a couple of parcels. The first being a new pair of shoes and the second being some bits and pieces of terrain…

Two sets here, river and road plus pond and swamp (double sided) and a 2×2 mat

Already have some of the Battle Systems terrain stuff, just never got around to building it or showing it off on the blog…

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Final Thirty Six

Today I cracked on and bit the bullet to get the last thirty six undead based (actually there were thirty eight 😉). I had to force myself to get the last dozen done.Tomorrow I am going to go to town with the rust etc…

My youngest and I are now on a count down to our trip south. Thursday will roll up soon enough, but tomorrow my hire digger arrives to get the potholes flattened out. So watch out for digger photos tomorrow.

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Keep on Basing, Keep on Basing

So this evening I wasn’t in the mood for a massive basing session so I did a set of 24 Zombies.

I think I have double this number to go, then onto the rust, verdigris and moss on the miniatures that need them. Then tufts and a Matt varnish.

This afternoon we went to Reawick beach with the kids and dogs. You can see the post Here.

This morning however the air turned blue above the printer shed. I decided to fire up the filament printer to start doing some buildings for the various scales and as you might have guessed it decided to playbsilly buggers…the blasted thing wouldn’t push the filament through. It isn’t a blockage, it looks like there is an issue with the extruder itself. I have an aluminium top on it, but for some reason the guide wheel is not engaging with the filament meaning that although the grooved bit is doing its job, it isn’t pushing against anything so it is basically just spinning and gouging out the filament.

I spent ages redoing test, after test but it just wouldn’t play at all, so in desperation I have ordered a direct drive extruder along with a bed levelling probe.

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Basing Spree

Tonight I eventually bit the bullet and made a start on basing the undead army…

So this is half of the forces I painted. I will hopefully get the rest done tomorrow and varnished later on…then it is onto the rust and moss effects.

To be honest the Base Ready range from Geek Gaming certainly certainly helped with powering through then.

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A Ghost Diorama

Well I have achieved very little over the last couple of days, mainly because I am feeling knackered  and lacking motivation. Hopefully I will crack back in with things tomorrow.

Now the regular follower of my blog will know I do like my Samurai forces and indeed I am printing and sort of painting 15mm forces for games of Ronin. So far I have got everything from 6mm – 28mm

Some of the collection

So whilst doing sod all on the painting front I have been playing Ghost of Tsushima on the console. You play the main protagonist Jin Sakai who is a Samurai defending his home island from the Mongol invasion. So as the game had progressed I am becoming less of a Samurai and more of a brutal, killing machine. My honour seems to have gone out the window as I throw various explosive devices into the midst of my foes, or drop on them from a rooftop and stick my katana through their torso. To be fair though I am good at saving the peasants from the evil invaders. So they think I am awesome…one of the characters in game did think I was enjoying it a bit much and said as much after watching me take on a Mongol force.

The graphics are absolutely gorgeous and whilst playing it it dawned on me that I have everything I need, except for some Mongols to do some kind of diorama… so watch this space and see if I ever do manage to get it done… remember the woodland Indians diorama from a couple of years ago… nope neither do I… I only remembered about the miniatures when I was hunting for Samurai pictures for this post…

This is the armour I am going to recreate in the diorama if I ever actually get it done… I have a Battle of the Five Armies to do too!

Right off to sneak into a Mongol encampment and emm stop them being naughty!