Friday 20 September 2019

X marks the spot

A bit late on the keyboard this week, been a bit lazy of an evening, well, not lazy just got back to painting and have hit on an excellent TV series which needs to be watched and not painted to, more below. X-Wing at the club this week as Simon has upgraded to Version 2, he fielded a Scum and Villainy force while I sorted out two Rebel and one Imperial force as I thought the games would be short and sharp with me on the receiving end.





The game kicked off with me flying four X-Wings and the bad guys turning up with a Y-Wing, two Headhunters and a Firespray, I kept my squadron close and their first salvoes took out the Headhunters who seemed to rashly put themselves in harms way without the support of the other two ships. A really good and unusually effective start to one of my games, I now turned on the Y-Wing and she too hit the deck or whatever passes for the deck in space. I had now lost one of my X-Wings but was still well ahead as I turned on the largest ship on the table. Simon now led me a merry dance as I at last returned to normal and found it hard to gang up on the Firespray, however I was slowly taking off shields and hull points, I lost another ship but had the Firespray on the ropes and it would only take one more shot to put it out of its misery. Simon now made a mistake and flew his ship off the table, it was a Rebel win. The game had also lasted for the whole evening, we hadn't pushed things and took it easy but all the same the time flashed by unoticed. A good night.

I mentioned I have been painting and I am getting on with the French grenadiers, I also yesterday received my 'characters' from Black Tree Design for my British Chain of Command jump off points, I couldn't wait and am painting them in tandem with the Frogs. I was quite impressed with the figures, I got some Germans a while back and though they were so so, but these really are nice, I had to wait about three weeks but that was no big deal.



I am back at my terrain this weekend, I think I have made a mistake putting some of my buildings on large bases and am going to take them off, this kills two birds with one stone, they will be easier to fit on to CoC maps for the campaigns and be easier for me to store. I have also gone for another building and some walls from Charlie Foxtrot, I only have small dry stone walls and need proper 'posh' walls as well, I had been tempted to make some but that will have to wait as I couldn't be bothered sourcing materials.

I took up Mel the Terrain Tutor's Kickstarter for his terrain book, so I hope to improve a lot of my terrain when I get it next year, it is on track and I get updates. I cannot say the same for the other Kickstarter "In Search of Hannibal" a graphic novel written, or not being written, by YouTuber Lindybeige and which is now at least three years behind with no sign of the end of the tunnel. I enjoy his channel but he needs to get his finger out and concentrate on the bloody book, reading behind the lines I also feel the graphic artist is running out of patience as well.

I mentioned the TV above, I have found two series which I can now watch, not sadly to paint by as they are so good, "The Loudest Voice" and "City on a Hill", Russell Crowe is simply brilliant in the former and Kevin Bacon is good in the latter. I also watched "The Mule" recently about a 90 year old drug runner and I read the other day of two Brits aged 75 and 72 being picked up for the same in Portugal, perhaps my working days are not over. 






16 comments:

  1. Your work at the painting desk is progressing nicely. I am a fan of BTD figures and like their WWII figures a lot. Unfortunately, the USA operations have been dealing with a huge snag and I still await an order placed in May. Sigh. I still need to see The Mule. Looks like a typical Eastwood movie theme of late.

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    1. I don't know if it helped or could help you Jonathan but I used toppriority@eoeorbis.com to get in touch and coincidence or not got my stuff a couple of days later. I am quite happy to unconditionally like Eastwood's stuff much like anything John Wayne is in, it may be an age thing, Rowdy Yates?

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  2. Thought you had been off playing pirates when I read the title. The Frenchies are progressing nicely. That was a quick delivery by BT by all accounts, it would have been brilliant in the old days ;~)
    Herd 'em up, move 'em out.

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    1. The last thing I need Phil is another period. According to the grapevine BTD has had problems, but I am now happy and very pleased with the figures. Rawhide, another one I always remember is the cook, "Wishbone".

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    2. Wishbone, that's the one I was trying to think of, but thought he was from Wagon Train. The new Byzantines came from Aventine while I was away, they are superb, not as I wish to tempt you or anything ;~)

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    3. Charlie was the cook on Wagon Train, I think he is the one I actually remember. Not sure about those Byzantines, they look lovely but I have never seen them depicted with that long armoured skirt. My own preference would be a later army, no matter, I am not adding a sixth force for War and Conquest.

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    4. I think they appear in the Montvert book, I only have the couple of Osprey books, will have to dig them out but do not recall seeing any depicted. Infantry with shorter mail will also be done according to Keith.

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    5. I used to h ave the Osprey book and the artwork was beautiful, but I have never seen anything that looks like those troops. I may have noticed somewhere they are meant to be dismounted cavalry, but even that doesn't make sense. Byzantine art usually only lets us see palace guards without armour, not many depictions of actual battles or troops as far as I recall. I would love to have seen what they looked like in 1453 defending the city.

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    6. I shall not get too hung up on it, I just like the figures. They will do for me.

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    7. I shall look forward to seeing them.

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  3. The X wing game models and mat look very sparkly and appealing but the Grenadies de France are shaping up nicely.
    I'd be very interested to see the before and after versions of your buildings, on a base buildings always look great as a vignette but always seem to be seperated from the table top by their base not blending in, a bit of a conundrum really.

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    1. X-Wing is a very clever game and a lot of fun, usually too clever for me, but it is also a great money spinner, like all Star Wars franchises. A few posts ago you would have seen the start and end of a couple of houses, no plans for any more at the moment.

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  4. Speaking of TV, have you watched the Spiral series?

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    1. No, I'll look it up, Gommorah is my foreign fix at the moment, superb.

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  5. The French are coming along nicely. What is next for your SYW armies? Not many Wargamers' at your club it seems, just gamers judging from what's played.

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    1. I hope to play (solo) a game of Honours of War to see what they are like. As for the future I will have to see, sadly I do not have the luxury of weekly opponents here at Casa Anderson so I do wonder when and how often they will see the light of day.

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