Dispatched from the Front XXXIV - Twixmas Projects

I do enjoy the post Christmas lull, a couple of days down time and if I am lucky some painting time.

The last few months have been have been rather hectic with very little gaming and painting time, hopefully the next couple of days will give me the opportunity of kickstarting plans for 2025 and catch back up on several of the remaining projects from this year. I managed to get some undercoating done before the mist and cold set in.

With the 250th Anniversary of Lexington & Concorde approaching in April this gives me a focus to get the rest of the 10mm off the paint table and on to the gaming table. The AWI British Light Infantry and American militia have been hanging around for months having been side-lined by the Crusader project for the Cotswold day.

Then it's back more Crusades with still a whole bunch of Arab Cavalry and Christian foot to get through.

The family have been very generous, with some wants and some nice to have, although internally I did look at the boxes and think that's a lot of gluing and so many varied projects.

In no particular order - Russians for the Russo Japanese War, the Wargames Atlantic plastics will give a real boost for the Russian forces, the project might be getting a little too large for Sharp Practice so I might need to think about a new rule set?

Then there is the additional Sergeants for the Crusaders, I was hanging on for the release of the Baron's War plastics but the Fireforge sergeants will be just as good, the pack is really good value for money enough to give me 2 heavy spear units, a warrior unit and crossbow unit especially given how much cavalry is fielded against them.

A lovely kit from Rubicon and some much needed transport for the Africa Korps 88mm - which has been lacking game time.

If I can get through that little lot, then towards the spring.... Aztecs 

I have a whole bunch of Spanish who spend more time fighting the undead than anyone else, having sold off my Irish for the Plantation of Ireland, they need a new opponent. I blame Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook.

The Rest Is History | 384. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Adventure Begins (Part 1)

It should not be too much of a stretch to get these on the game table and the positive no cavalry to do.

Then.......Orc's nope no idea what I am going to do with these.... perhaps a tweak to the Excalibur project having read a little of Geoffrey of Monmouth's history of Briton could these be Ogres from the realm of Logres and followers of the god Orcus..... that sounds like it work..... (Blimey another rabbit hole..)

Right best get on.... this lot won't paint it self.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone.

I do miss an annual not sure you would get away with the 'For Boys' piece today.

I hope you all has some goodies under the tree.

Have a great Christmas everyone.

Christmas in the old west. - Dead Mans Hand

The pre-Christmas bash at the Wyre Forest club and a suitable festive affair as the Cinderella Cattle Company once again take to table top looking to spread some festive cheer with the barrel of six shooter.

The town of Santa's Gulch and 5 gangs are on the hunt for treasure, spread across the table are 8 barrels, the content of each have to be taken to one of the buildings on the table for a cash reward.

The challenge for each player is to find the barrel that fits the location, find the bible and drop it back at the church and the reward is $100, the razor to the barber for $25 and so on and so on.

With players coming on from all angles it was not long until the lead started flying. The Mexican's took an early lead grabbing a barrel from the hangman's platform, but the look on the face of the leader suggested it was not the prize he wanted.

Confusion in the stable as the barrels are mixed up and carrots for Midnight the best horse in town turns out to be fresh linen for the hotel.

Meanwhile my Cinderella men were making hard work of getting the bible back to the church despite the fact that they were a few feet away, barrels had to be rolled through the door and this was covered by a hotel full of angry Mexicans.

Grabbing a hostage the Cowboys moved out into the street as the gang made a run for the church door. The hotel guests took down to of the gang before one of the guys from south of the border fell out of the window as he got to his feet the Cattlemen put him out of action (the card features in Dead Man's Hands have some great touches).

With a number of gangs seeing their morale crumble it became a race for the final barrel and the cash prize. The keys to the jail and the $100 on offer. One Gang rushed for the barrel only to be blasted by a shotgun in the back.... Merry Christmas.....

In what some might say is a slight of hand the outlaws pull 3 aces giving them the initiative for the turn.

Sneaking round the corner, the Outlaws bumped into Jeff Lebar from the Cinderella ranch who was making a run for the barrel only for poor old Jeff to be gunned down. 

Just as it looked like the outlaws had won, the gang failed it's morale and decided their own skins were better than the money on the table.... Giving Howard of the Sackmen the win....

Great fun.... some lucky shots and sneaky play but nice to get the boys on the table for an outing and a great way to finish the last club of the year. 

Welcome to the Jungle.

Somewhat behind on posts of late.

The UK weather and the Christmas take over of my gaming space has slowed the production line, the Christmas elves have filled the garage with decorations and storage boxes, no sneaking off for a few hours gaming for at least a month.

I will have to content myself with prep for future projects and the growing pile of bare metal, not helped by guys at the club constantly coming up with new temptations to distract me.

Modern Africa looks to be back on the agenda for next year, with ideas floating around for Somalia through to the Congo or UN operations against the various warlords or factions across several states in the mid 90's.

I still had some Africa militia types tucked away and this was just the nudge to get them table top ready. I opted for a more formal uniform for these types to represent government or paramilitary types.

Figures are a mixture of Spectre miniatures, Gripping Beast & the Assault Group, making for an eclectic group of fighters.

The last remaining metal is a group of 'operators' - Special forces or PMC's.... which could be quite useful in future games.

Hopefully back in the swing of things in the next couple of weeks.