LINCOMBE BARN TABLE TOP SALE

I took myself off to the Lincombe Barn Wargames club yesterday morning as they were having the annual tabletop sale. You can take along unwanted stuff and hire a table to sell it...a great idea and the ideal place to pick up some bargains. Last year there wasn't much I was interested in at the right price (people were expecting e-bay price sales) but this year I came away with a decent haul

Book on American folklore £1 (I like these 'dip into' books)

Cross of Fire dvd 50p (quite a good film  based on the murder of Madge Oberholtzer in 1925 by prominent Ku Klux Klan member D C Stephenson).

Lord of the Rings Painting Guide £1 (bargain of the year. Published by Heritage Models in 1979 I've bid for this on ebay before but the price shot up to £36!!!)

Games Workshop Steam tank £1 (Why did I buy this? Nice model though)

2 boxes of Airfix ACW figures £4 for the oldest boy (he's amassing ACW armies in 1/72, all donations gratefully accepted).

Huge SPIDER model 50p. I have a plan to bild Morgoth's army in 1/72, and this will do well for Ungoliant.

There is always something that I wished I'd bought and didn't, and this year it was a copy of  the book Gods and Generals , which I meant to go back for but forgot. Otherwise a very successful trip. There was a bod selling Osprey ACW books which I would have bought for £1 each (they were pretty dog eared, but he wanted £6 a piece). 

NEW BACKDROP FINISHED

I've just finished painting a new backdrop for my forthcoming Conan and Lord of the Rings projects  on the reverse of my more rural 18c countryside backdrop.

A distant mountain range with a lilac sky (many good fantasy skies appear to be this colour)

Frazetta's Conan in battle with Frost Giants

Safe and Sound on the Sundial by Rodney Matthews (I have this poster on the attic door)

I also did a couple of desert backdrops too, as I hope to start painting some Stygians soon.

Here's how the backdrops stay up. They are made of 3mm MDF

the other more rural side

they come apart for easy storage (or at least are meant too, but the feet get a bit stuck sometimes).

I need to make some fantasy terrain now in a Swords and Sorcery style.

THE BATTLE OF FIVE ARMIES (or what have I let myself in for now)

It's safe to say that I don't need any more projects on the go at the moment, not having enough time to concentrate on one, let alone nine  or ten , so I was astounded to hear myself saying to my 2 older sons (Thing 1 and Thing 2)"Why don't we collect the armies to re-fight the battle in The Hobbit?" Needless to say they thought it would be a good idea (particularly as I would be stumping up for the figures).

The Battle of The Five Armies by John Blanche

in A Tolkien Bestiary by David Day

We decided on 1/72 scale mainly for cheapness and there are a couple of companies producing really nice boxes of figures at about £6 for 40 odd figures. I need to sit down and work out exactly what we need to get, but I reckon we should be able to do the battle on a scale of 1:20 for under £100. Thing 1 already had some Light Alliance Dwarves on the go so these will form the basis for Dain Ironfoot's 500 grim warriors, and we have been sent a bundle of Caesar Dwarves by a kind fellow blogger (thanks Douglas).

Great figures based heavily (or copied) on the Lord of the Rings films. 

Not bad painting for a 10 year old (he's now 11, but did these last year for a Moria game).

I am thinking of doing the elves first using Caesar figures, and then there are an awful lot of goblins to do..