Friday, April 03, 2020

Dispatches from the front VI

Lock down continues however reading through the various blogs it feels like gamers are finding some great ways of entertaining themselves as days turns to weeks. 

We have a houseful here it's great to have everyone home back from university and schools but I am grateful for the refuge of the garage/office/man cave as three teenage daughters does not make for a peaceful house.
With limited external distractions no one seems to mind the added paint time I have been motoring through the various projects, selling off spares and bringing to the paint table half finished projects. 

Not sure why I have the sudden urge to re-read and game Robinson Crusoe... :-)


The down side of being in doors is the urge to purchase new it's. I have a major project looming in the summer but right now a couple of small purchases to bolster or complete the ranks, with reinforcements rushed in from Warlord, PeterPig, Midlam & Foundry.
A good job as it sounds like a number of businesses are being forced to mothball, I do hope these minor purchases help with cashflow and allow us to see them all come back in the future.


It been great to reacquaint myself with Platoon Forward! and get the WW2 stuff on the table, I was surprised at how well it played. There were enough mechanisms to create uncertainty and stop you cheating yourself and that prized unit or character you spend ages rolling up.

Osprey have been doing some great offers of late and the free PDF's are a great way of keeping people interested, the latest offer of Frostgrave and the solo campaign of Dark Alchemy might mean an outing for Ghost Archipelago in the weeks ahead.

Several of us at the club have kicked off a Diplomacy campaign using pbem.


This was on my wargames bucket list for years, it will be interesting so see how it plays out with a full compliment of 7 players... Having drawn Turkey you can expect to face the some skulduggery from the main Western Powers....
The first move has already thrown up some interesting conversations over e-mail.



After a number of extra's painted up for Fantasy March - What of April?

Keeping with my theme of a painting a different project each month, this month I am shrinking in scale and will be looking to make progress on the Red Dragon Project and some extra's for the WW2 Germans and Russians as the recent solo campaign highlighted some gaps in my forces and another batch of unpainted stuff like these below.

Welcome to small scale April....


Stay in doors all.

13 comments:

  1. Banished to the garage then Stu?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep.
      Prompted some interesting questions on skype to my back drop.
      But I am getting plenty of prep under the view of the camera :-)
      Cheers
      Stu

      Delete
  2. Great post Stu ...three teenage daughters...I only have one just shy of 21 and that's bad enough when combined with her mother...my son and I try to keep out of the way as much as possible! Reading about your recent purchases made me smile, as at work, we have had sign written courier vans stopped by the police and asked if all their freight is "essential"....obviously, the answer is "yes" ....how can they prove otherwise? A colleague was asking in Teams if it was ok for us to redirect electronic gaming equipment from Australia to the companies Reps private address as the receiving company was closed, causing intense debate for fifteen minutes.....but multiple cartons of lead still get through!😄

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Doing my bit to keep the economy going.... at least that's what I tell the wife.
      As quick as I am thinking I am completing projects, I seem to find reasons to buy more..... I think I have a problem :-)
      Cheers
      Stu

      Delete
    2. Don't worry, we all have that problem mate...keep calm and carry on painting I say!

      Delete
  3. Good to hear that you are safe and well. Trying to refrain from ordering too much as the Saintly Mrs. Awdry is here too and will undoubtedly discover my purchases! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I got away with it Michael I claimed it was dry pasta :-)
      Best wishes
      Stuart

      Delete
  4. Yes, trying to get any gaming related activity is a challenge for all of us, but we can at least try. Looking forward to finding out what your big Summer project is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At this rate Steve it could be May...
      Cheers
      Stu

      Delete
  5. I only have one teenage daughter - and the other two are 10 and 8! Plus, the kitten is a girl, so I am truly outnumbered. Thank goodness for sheds! The Diplomacy game by e-mail is a great idea.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A slow start Nath but the e-mail traffic as the first turn on Diplomacy has been staggering, a great way to keep gamers talking, who knew their could be some my potential combinations and alliances in a single turn.
      Let's hope we stay friends once the map moves are made :-)

      Delete
  6. Diplomacy, it always bogged down when we played it I hope it works out well, good choice for PBEM as no dice!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Let's see Captain.
      I never knew my club mates were so devious :-)
      Cheers
      Stu

      Delete