I seem to be on the mend, I can do a bit of typing but have to wait until Monday night before I can maybe ditch the sling, I haven't tried painting yet but may do after Monday. Unlike most people I do not put my guys on pieces of wood or cork tops or whatever because I just never have, and although I tried it once and it is a great idea, I was just not comfortable with it, so I simply grip the base, and that might not be a good idea yet.
I have just been asked to do the maps for two more books, five for the book above, so it is back to the Eastern Front we go, which is apt as we still have our heating on here and it is June. There are eleven maps for the second book "Putty. From Tel-el-Kebir to Cambrai: The life and letters of Lieutenant General Sir William Pulteney 1861-1941" described by a subordinate as "the most completely ignorant general I served with during the war" so it gets off to an intriguing start.
I also stopped to wonder just how much of my money collecting an army consumes, obviously it is quite a bit between soldiers and all the rest of the paraphernalia which goes with the hobby so I have decided to keep a book on the Roman project. Now, I bought a whole pile of new paints for my Dark Age armies so they are not counted, only what I require for the Romans, also I have around six or seven decent brushes at the moment which will also not require replenishing for the time being, so far then we have this in good old British pounds:
Soldiers/transfers 162.00
Drills/pins 9.49
Grass tufts 14.60
Basing grit 5.25
Bases 15.10
Paint 3.44
Book 8.00
Anti-Shine Varnish 12.00
Super-Glue 5.00
Grand total £235.88
Still to come is the other half of the army, wire spears, more primer, more glue no doubt as you never get to the bottom of the damn tube, and more paint for basing plus sundry other bits and pieces not yet thought about.
As wargamers I think we tend to only look at the cost of the dollies, but it's worth considering the rest of the stuff, i.e. bases, paints, transfers, etc as it can add quite a bit to the total cost. Still, it's not exactly an expensive hobby - I have colleagues who sail, dive or fly as hobbies - the numbers they bandy about are scary!!!
ReplyDeleteIndividually it is not as much as I expected, but it's not finished yet, should I add in the game mat, the roads etc. but then look at the rest of your stuff piece by piece Matt, and the cost of replacing them, painted, now you are looking at a nice boat off the coast for the summer :) not as much fun though.
DeleteClearly enough money left over to buy a round in November 🍻🍻🍻
ReplyDeletePhil, I am sure my lawyers pointed out at the time, one round per year as per national characteristics, clause 56543a.
DeleteI just hold the bases of my figures when I paint them too. there are enough stages involved without gluing them to things and then having to detach them.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest cost with a new army is always books. I always end up buying half a dozen books or so for research
I tend these days to get my research books second hand or through the library, one to save cash and two to keep the service in the village.
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