NEW ARRIVALS

I have been getting some painting done recently, but have been distracted by the arrival of these 2 little fellows

Nibbins on the left, Mavis on the right. We couldn't decide on a name for one cat ("I'm not having a cat called Nibbins, it sounds too stuffy and  Victorian " "Mavis is a daft name for a cat. it reminds me of my old aunt"). Happily there were 2 black cats in the litter so we had both. The name Nibbins comes from The Midnight Folk by John Masefield (the prequel to the better known Box of Delights ). He is a reformed Witches cat who helps Kay Harker locate the treasure and thwart the evil Abner Brown and Sylvia Daisy Pouncer (just occured to me that they would have made good cat names). They were born on Friday 13th September and came to live with us at Halloween.

Arthur has been having a go at sculpting his own figures. Here's a rather jolly troll.

STILL ALIVE AND RUMINATING

After a very long break, I have finally got around to posting something. I have been taking stock of my figures and have come to the conclusion I have more projects on the go than I can possibly ever finish, and more figures than I can deal with. I have been selling quite a few items on ebay and generating cash.....to buy more figures :-)

I have narrowed the project list down to about 9 which I can hope to deal with, most of which I already have the figures for

54mm ECW (got enough figures to be going on with)
54mm 18c (ditto)
54mm 1911 Invasion of England (will be casting my own with luck and time)
28mm Battle of Lansdown (all figures purchased to do both armies)
28mm Elizabethan skirmish (all figures purchased)
28mm Robin of Sherwood ( need to source specific characters, so keeping an eye out)
25mm Old style ECW (figures unpurchased but available from Minifigs)
25mm Old style Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age (presently collecting)
1/72 Battle of Wimpfen (all figures purchased)
1/72 Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age (hope to collect small armies with the boys using historical figures)



 so now I am just collecting a few specific fantasy and old style ranges

Minifigs Valley of the Four Winds (just need about 8 figures to complete the set)
Minifigs Swords and Sorcery
Hinchcliffe Fantasy
Minot Heroic Age
Ral Partha Wizards Warriors and Warlocks
Ral Partha Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age
Heritage The Lord of the Rings
Garrison Swords and Sorcery
Minifigs ECW and TYW

of these the last four are still in production, the others are going to be ebay finds and bits boxes at shows (and any donations from generous readers).

I have always been a big fan of  the Conan the Barbarian tales by Robert E Howard but up until now have never got around to collecting armies to fight campaigns in the Hyborean world. Spurred on by Mosstrooper's lovely shiny figures, I decided to have a crack at painting a Garrison figure in a toy soldier style

A Nemedian spearman leaves home to join the invasion of Aquilonia

I like the shiny smooth feel of the figure after a liberal coat of Yacht varnish and 3 days drying. More will follow, the vague plan to build armies of now more than 50 figures for each country, and also individual characters for role playing.....

THE FATHER OF WARGAMING

Normal service will resume here soon (once fantasy project is complete) but I have just read that Donald Featherstone has died so thought I should post about it. I am pretty sure many readers were set off on the wargaming hobby by this gentleman. I shall raise a glass and a paintbrush/some dice in his memory this evening.

A FIELD IN ENGLAND

Earlier in the week I picked up a copy of Metro at work and read a review of this film which is released at Cinemas and on DVD on Friday. After watching the trailer I popped over to Amazon and ordered the DVD which should come on Friday (it's also on telly on Friday too, but we don't have one),

Apart from being set in the Civil War and reminding me of various drug taking escapades in my ECW re-enactment days (many many moons ago I hasten to add) the filming looks to capture the English countryside perfectly reminding me of Robert Westall's Devil on the Road, presenting a rather eerie picture of England in the seventeenth century. The release date is 5th July, The 370th anniversary of The Battle of Lansdown.

IT'S HELL, BUT SOMEONE HAS TO DO IT....

A slack few weeks on the painting front here at Mercurius Atticus, most of my efforts have been on fantasy stuff over at my other blog where things are going great guns. I have been finding time to paint some more flatpack 54mm houses during my lunch break at work, that is until the last couple of days when it has just got too hot in the polytunnel where I set up my improvised painting station (to the amusement of my colleagues). I will post pictures soon when finished.

On the subject of work, we have been flat out at the Garden Centre, having our busiest Spring ever, which is just as well after such a dismal year last year. Start at 7 ish watering and then from 8.30 dealing with stock and customers until 6 -6.30pm . Mind you, it's not a bad environment to spend the day in

Yesterday I did an hour and then stopped for breakfast, surveying the shop floor

but at the end of the day I had to crash out when I got home with heatstroke, just not used to hot weather. Could be worse though...

THE STARS ARE STILL PROPITIOUS

...or so it seems. Popped over to the Lincombe Barn Wargames group tabletop sale in Bristol today, primairly to pick Robin up some Lord of the Rings Haradrim (which we did at a good price), and also got him some Chaos types.

As I am into 54mm at the moment there wasn't much for me but I did land a haul of books.

All Civil War, and mostly unread by me before. The little grey one is the Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson. Back in the late 70's I used to get With Pike and Musket from the library on a regular basis and gloat over pictures like this

splendid inspiration, I would dream of being able to do a layout like this with metal figures (some still available from Minifigs, Spencer Smith and Hinchcliffe).  I am very tempted to get some 25mm old school ECW armies... 

THE STARS ALIGNED

I often read on forums and other peoples blogs how they stumbled across rare or really useful figures and terrain at carboot sales and model shows, and generally assign it to their good fortune and my rotten luck that I never come across any such goodies.  A militaria collecting friend of mine once picked up a WW1 hexamine hood at a boot sale for 5p and at the same sale a set of aluminium cutlery from the Third Reich each piece stamped with a swastika and eagle for 25p... I ground my teeth with envy at the time.

However I had a small stroke of luck on Thursday when popping into a local junk shop found these fellows for £3 each, not  bad for 54mm metal cavalry figures

3 suitable for my ECW stuff and 2 for the Trompenburgers. I have not come across Del Prado figures before and they are quite nicely painted, although I will be re-painting at some stage. Gustavus Adolphus has lost his sword but I should be able to replace this.