Hobby Update March 2025

Well. here we are. Another month has passed, and so we have another hobby update. So, lets get started

Books 

Finished up a few books the first one was this

This is a collection of stories of the list survivors. The author does a good job of avoiding repetitiveness while keeping the stories intact. Most of the stories in this book are people who are not depicted in the movie or the original book, with the exception of the other Helen, not Hirsch, that was a maid for Amon, and the Rosner family. Outside of that it's all different people. It gives a whole new dynamic on how the list was made, and why people were on it. It also gives a bit of a different perspective on Schindler's legacy from those he saved. To some a beloved hero, to others a flawed hero, to a few just another Nazi, and some opinions in the middle. Definitely worth a read.

Then there was this masterpiece

The story of the fighting east of the Barrikady in Stalingrad. A very detailed, but highly readable, day by day account from the start of the German offensive, to the end of the Stalingrad pocket. Daily manpower and casualty reports, as available for both side, good details on the fighting, with great maps, some imposed over recon photos of the battlefield. A must read for anyone interested in Stalingrad.

And lastly we have another Ostfront book somewhat combining the two themes above

A nice little read to fill in the blanks on the Bielski brothers. Got me motivated to do some partisan raids using 02 Hundred.

Purchases

I did happen to buy quite a few figures this month. Sorry, no pics but here is a detailed account.

Picked up 12 Fireforge mounted sergeants for use in SAGA, probably get double duty as Crusaders and sergeants in Chivalry.

Picked up 41 Perry Koreans. I have been wanting to put together a skirmish game surrounding the strife of the princes in early Joseon Korea between Yi Bang Gan, and Yi Bang Won for succession. So I caught some on FB and nabbed them right away. They will be a great start.

I had bought into a KS that featured the Monkey King and those figures arrived last month. They were doing physical prints through a third party, and they did not come out to well. Lack of proper curing, bent weapons etc. They are working on replacements so we will see how it turns out. I am a big fan of the Sun Wukong character in the Journey to the West Saga. The characters in the KS were really cool, but they had left out Wuneng and Sha Monk unfortunately.  Wuneng with his muck rake would have been super cool. You can see the figures here

I picked up 12 Perry archers for SAGA Chivalry. Sometimes its easier to just get a couple sprues.

I also has placed an order with Alternative Armies for more Renaissance 15mm figures. I found I was short some Swiss, and some Italians, and I added in some Italian pike for good measure, hey, they were on sale. 82 figures total. 

Then I picked up some ACW figs from Stone Mountain. I am wanting to run a New Market battle, so of course I needed some VMI cadets. Now if someone just made a flag for them. And I was short some cavalry dismounts. Another 87 figures.

Gaming

Nothing much to report here. April should be the start of some gaming. Got the SAGA AOC league starting at the end of the month, and planning some MESBG in a couple weeks also. So, stuff to look forward to.

Painting

This month I got a decent amount done. I average about 200 a month, but I fell a bit short at 177. This included the following;

16 28mm Samurai

66 15mm Confederate

85 15mm Italian Wars

10 Silver Bayonet (British Unit)

Like I said, a decent amount but short of expectations. I did get a lot of basing done on my Italian wars project, here are the Imperialists first

The cavalry and general are all Alternative Armies/TTG figures, depending on when I bought them. The pike is all Mike Models. Most of these figures were painted 30 years ago, and originally based for Gush. Now rebased for Impetus. The small pike unit was recently painted using Army painter Speed paints, as were the back ranks of the other two pike blocks. Georg von Frundsberg was a recent addition as well.

I also have some Spanish

The top picture are Spanish lancers/gendarmes from TTG, the next pic we have Spanish Rodoleros from Roundway, and the last four pics are all Mikes Models. The pike, and the black and red painted shot were dome years ago, everything else, including a handful of pike were recently painted.

Here are a few Swiss/French/Italian

Top pic the front and back units are Roundway figures, the middle TTG/Alternative Armies with TTG command figures for all. The rest of the figures are TTG/Alternative Armies, my packs were all TTG but Alternative Armies makes most of these not, but not all. The shot in the first pic, and the French Archers in the second are all newly painted. The rest were done with the others and rebased for Impetus. I should have the rest of the Swiss, and most of the French done for next month. 

As a side note, most of the flags above, with the exception of about 1/3 of the Landsknecht flas, are from Pete's Flags. You can find him on FB or eBay.

That is it this time 'round see you next month!

Hobby Update February 2025

 I had set a goal for myself to post at least a monthly update, yeah, well, I was sick the end of January, then busy catching up from that. This time I am a bit slow but sort of timely anyway. So lets get started!

Books

I usually have several books going at once, typically 4, but currently 5. I did finish a couple good ones last month. First was Kearney's March by Winston Groom. A well written popular history of the period 1846-47. Lots going on with the beginning of westward expansion, and the Mexican War. If you are looking for some lighter reading on the period I'd recommend it. 

The other book was Schindler's List. I never like to get my history from movies, so after watching the movie again in January I picked this up off eBay. While the movie does follow a lot of details from the book, there is a ton more in the book to explore. Particularly several characters in the movie, and who they were composites of. Quite a good read for those with interest in The Holocaust.

Purchases

I kept these to a minimum in February. Mostly supplies. I have been trying to add a few bottles of speed paint because I am really enjoying painting with them, particularly my 15s. I did pick up the Bolt Action v3 rule book, I plan on getting into that sometime this year.  Another purchase was this 3D printed Italian villa.

At this point everything is loose so I'll end up using one of the buildings, sans porch, for the Mirabello in my Pavia game later this year.

I also picked up some Alpini Wepons teams for Bolt Action the Haleth and Hama box set for MESBG off an eBay retailer

I also found some Bolton Flayed Men on Goodwill

I'm not 100% sure what I am doing with all the GOT stuff I've picked up over the last couple years. I may try out the game, I may even do them for Midgard. We will see what happens. The figures are really cool though, and should be really fun to paint.

Gaming

This will be short, none. I have been kinda busy, and the last three weekends have been taken up with basing. Mostly what you will see next.

Painting

Painting in February went really well. About what I can expect from here till retirement anyway. I managed to get 196 figures painted. A bunch of odds and ends really. Had to take a break from my Pavia figs because I ran out of primed figures. I was able to prime again last week and got a couple boxes primed so I'll have more to paint for that project in the upcoming weeks. I did run out of primer so that's on this months shopping list.

It sometimes takes me a month or two to get basing done on figures that I have painted so this part will always be behind in that respect. First up, some Numenorians for MESBG

Isildur, Elendil, and a King of Men

A Last Alliance Army would not be complete without some Elves

Elrond

More Elrond

Gil Galad from Davale

Elven Guard by Davale

Of course there are more of the plastic Elves and Men, they just all look the same. The Davale stuff I got off Etsy 3D printed. I could not pay the prices for that horrid GW Gil Galad, not to mention the fact most of the spears break at the hands. This seemed like a better and more dynamic option. I am thinking my next ME army will need to be Mordor.

Next is the Spanish Unit for Silver Bayonet

I really enjoyed painting these. Mostly used something resembling the slap chop method. They are a mix of speed paint and acrylics. Then I also have a Ranger for Rangers of Shadow Deep.

He is a nice figure, that came with the last book they put out. It'll probably be awhile before I play either of these since I have no monsters. Had a good time painting them none the less.

I also did a few of the metal Alpini from Warlord Games.

These dudes are so easy to paint. It helps that the main webbing is the same color as the uniform. 

Last are some tanks for the Spanish Civil War

Minairons vehicles

Resin Panzer 1s

A Metal Pz 1. This sucker is hefty.

T-26s this one is captured and reused by the Nationalists

These were fun to paint, once I got things right. You see, the Pz 1s were all painted panzer grey. That is, till I saw a post in a SCW FB group showing them in a three color camo. After a little research I found that yes, they did use camo during that period. They turned out ok in the end. Just needed a little extra work.

Well that's all I have for this month. see you all next time!

2024, The Year That Was.......

Here we are, almost 2 weeks into 2025. 2024, was really strange year. Very chaotic, I suppose the death of our son-in-law in March set the tone. Helping my daughter out, moving her back in,  a bunch of dental work, setting up our first Takticon convention, and my wife becoming an American citizen, kind of made it a crazy year. But, that's all behind me, and we are on to a new year, and a new year of gaming. 

At the end of  2023 I set out some goals for 2024. So lets take a look and see how I did.

Here were the goals

Complete my Mexican American War Project

Complete my Last Alliance Army

Complete the figures that I have on hand for the Peninsular War

Complete all my 20mm vehicle kits

Get all the painting done for Pavia so I can start playtesting the scenario

Complete all my 28mm Japanese terrain for the samurai

Paint one 15mm ancient army

Complete the AWI project

Start my 15mm project for the '45

Start my 10mm 1864/70 project.

Considering all that was going on I think I did ok on my goals

Complete my Mexican American War project - Really this was to be a cleanup of the stuff I have left on hand and finish up a few units. I have some random stuff left to do, but, most of the project is complete. Just need to finish this up, Quite possibly this year.

Complete my Last Alliance Army for MESBG - This is mostly done. Working on the last figures right now. They will be done this week.

Complete my figures on hand for the Peninsular War - This was a bit too ambitious. I did not realize how many I had. I bought enough 15mm figs for Albuera, or so I thought, and had a second order to flesh out the forces for Talavera. I got about half done, most of Albuera. The rest may get worked on this year.

Complete my 20mm vehicle kits - Yeah, no. started some but no where near wrapping these up.

Get all the painting done for Pavia -  I have most of this done. I am finishing up the Imperialist forces in the next couple weeks then I'll get them based up and take account of what I have and still need. I know for sure I need to do the Landsknecht pike for the French, but I think most everything else is done. One good thing was that there was an Italian wars scenario book published last year that included orbats for Impetvs, that will save me a lot of work in formulating the game.

Landsknecht Pike for Pavia

Complete all my Japanese terrain in 28mm - I did about 1/3 of it. I still have a bunch of Sarissa stuff to build, a couple printed buildings, 3 hovel bldgs, and the Sarissa castle.

Paint one 15mm ancient army - Didn't happen

Complete AWI project - Did not start this

Start my 15mm Jacobite project - Did this and painted all the figures I had on hand, including some I had purchased this year

Start my 1864/1870 project in 10mm - Started thinking about this but never got too far with it. Not sure where this is going.

I did get some Romans done for SAGA here's a few pics

In retrospect this was probably a pretty aggressive plan, like I usually do, but it did not survive first contact with real life. I am happy with what I got done. Probably struggling with storage more than anything at this point. I'll get it figured out. I did not keep track of painting last year or purchases. I am already changing that for this year, tracking my painting so far. Looks pretty good at the moment.

Goals for 2025

I have struggled a bit with this. I have plenty to do, but other than getting Pavia done for the fall, and playing more. I don't have anything I want to set in stone here. Planning is gearing up for our second Takticon convention in November, and I have been thinking of games to run at a couple of shorter events as well. I think I am going to leave it at that, and maybe try to double my painting output over my purchases this year, or better.

I am planning on posting at least once a month going forward, we will see how that goes.....