Saturday, 13 April 2019

A mixed bag.

Still no "Forbidden Fortress" game report I'm afraid, but here's a quick round up of what I have managed hobby-wise since the last post!
First off, here's a contingent of the Ii clan on the march to support their allies the Takeda (you may remember that the Takeda clan were having a tough time of it in the Test Of Honour clashes with the Mori clan).
The Ii were well known for their red armour - intended to intimidate their opponents, but also making the ideal subject for what's been a 'speed painting' exercise!!
The trees they're marching past are also a new addition. I'd seen someone using cheap trees from China and thought I'd give them a try, basing them up on mdf scatter bases I had to hand. At £5.85 including postage for TEN trees I think they're an absolute bargain.

Now, talking of speed painting, I've acquired a few minis from Greenbriar Games "Folklore: The Affliction" game, and two ghostly types only needed a prime and a wash to make them 'table ready'.
I thought this one would make a pretty good Yūrei (Japanese ghost) for my Sengoku era fantasy setting.......
 .... and this one provides me with a Banshee that will be useful for Witchfinder General (or even D&D)

I'm going to stray from gaming now, and mention my "other hobby", which has taken very much a back seat since I succumbed to the siren call of the Dice Gods once more.
Because of the dry sunny weather and time of year, my services have been required out in the garden, and oh dear, my narrow gauge model railway is showing severe signs of neglect!
It puts me in mind of the state of the Tallyllyn when it was 'discovered' after years of closure by Tom Rolt (sparking the whole concept of Railway Preservation), and even though it's not been touched in months I thought it looked kind of photogenic.
 I might have to re-visit these scenes once the line's back in running order,
 or maybe I'll try and photograph the "volounteers" as they set about restoring the railway!!

And that's about it for this post, other than to thank you for visiting, and inviting your comments which as ever would be most welcome.

25 comments:

  1. Great looking additions for your gaming Greg, the photos of the railway look great, as if nature is trying to reclaim the space

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    1. Many thanks Dave, it's been frustrating not to be able to get any gaming done, but the painting and modelling has provided a bit of compensation :-)
      As for the railway, nature is indeed in the reclamation business! Everything except the locomotives and rolling stock are exposed to the great outdoors permanently, which just adds to the "just like the real thing" vibe :-)

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  2. Loving the railway Greg, perhaps a little video of it some day when its running :)

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    1. Cheers Frank, and I'll certainly be granting your request for a movie :-)
      In fact, here's one from two years ago - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-qXt4nGIXg

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  3. Nice posting, Greg, with much to admire. I'm pleased to see you're not neglecting your railway.

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    1. Thanks Bryan, the railway obviously took a back seat once the wargaming addiction kicked back in :-(
      But hey, who says we can only have one hobby? :-)

      Oh, hang on, they're both "modelling" pastimes so maybe it is just 'one' hobby ;-)

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  4. Great stuff Greg, and you've clearly got a lot on your plate currently with that railway renovation ;-)

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    1. Cheers Simon - I've had a lot on my plate work wise over the last couple of weeks, and doing a "general tidy" out in the garden has brought the state of the railway into stark focus, and yep, there's plenty to be done (but not until the weather warms up a bit!!) :-)

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  5. That Banshee is awesome Greg, now on my shopping list! The shots of the railway look amazing, very atmospheric.

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    1. Thanks Michael - the "Folklore: The Affliction" minis are just a smidge larger than the majority of 28mm ranges, but for supernatural entities, I reckon they pass OK as 'larger than life' characters.
      Also be pre-warned that they are cast in a slightly softer plastic than many other gaming minis - not TOO bendy to make them impractical, and they do take (and hold) paint OK.
      The above caveats aside, there's some interesting sculpts in the range that are great for WfG :-)

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  6. The first shots of the test of honour stuff isn't helping my resolve for not buying into that game.

    What scale is the garden railway? 7mm or gauge 1? This I would love to see more of as a narrow gauge fan, oo9 collector and starting to dabble in gauge 1.

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    1. Cheers Mike, sorry for putting temptation in the way, but now is a great time to consider "Test Of Honour" since version 2 is on its way.
      The game is no longer supported by Warlord Games, it's gone back to its creators at Footsore Miniatures, and the fully backwards compatible new rules will be supported by some awesome new miniatures ;-)

      The railway is 16mm to the foot, but running on 45mm gauge track, representing a 2'6" gauge line. I first started in narrow gauge modelling with OO9 (many moons ago), and also did a bit of 7mm. When we moved house there was no room for a proper layout (but I'm dabbling with a micro / shunting puzzle layout at the mo) and going outdoors was the obvious choice.
      Great to hear you're a fellow fan, and I'll gladly share some more of the Westwood & Loscoe Light Railway on here :-)

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  7. Great additions to your forces for ToH and much to kie about the atmospheric pics of the railway too.

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    1. Many thanks Joe, they've been hurriedly put together for Test of Honour, but the ultimate intention is to use all the samurai stuff with other rules too, depending on the "size" of the skirmish - and yes, I'm now looking at how to go about building a castle for the local Daimyo :-)

      Glad you like the garden pics, I know model railways are very much a "Marmite" topic ;-)

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  8. Brilliant stuff Greg! And your RR (and the video!) look fantastic despite the months of neglect - I think it even enhances it a bit :)

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    1. Cheers Ivor, I consider myself a below average painter, and I'm generally crap at weathering - it's nice to have Mother Nature doing the job for me :-)

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  9. I love your garden. Reminds me very much of our own rambling expanse (except you have a cool train layout in yours *I`m so jealous* )

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  10. PS: I REALLY adore your red Ii clan. That`s super speed painting, and darn spectacular looking if you ask me.

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    1. "Perchance it is not dead, but sleepeth" - with the summer approaching I REALLY MUST get that railway back in shape! ;-)
      Did you ever do any more with your plans for an indoor layout?
      I read your "Funny Little Wars" posts and couldn't help but think about doing something out in the garden - I've found 4inch action figures don't look out of place :-)

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  11. "Perchance it is not dead, but sleepeth" OOoo Lynton & Barnstaple )

    Actually yes, I completed the indoor layout and used it to play a complete Very British Civil War campaign (with 20mm Irregular Miniatures figures), then the layout got taken up (was/is all free standing terrain) when I moved my games room: but it WILL play a part in the blogs one day for sure. Sadly the entire collection of photos and files I had for the layout and the games were lost when I dropped and broke my old external hard drive.

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    1. Ouch! Sorry to hear that :-(
      You've now made me actually get around to moving my own external drive. The cats have knocked it over twice, and after your tale of warning I'd better not risk "third time UNlucky"!

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  12. hehe, yeah that's e-x-a-c-t-c-t-l-y what happened, a moment`s slip and I lost an entire terabyte of files. Suffice to say, my new one is shock proof ^^

    ooooh yes, cat`s have a habit of upsetting the apple cart from time to time don`t they.

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    1. They do indeed - but I've watched them walk across the mantlepiece without disturbing a single ornament, so methinks they knock stuff on my desk over on purpose! ;-)

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    2. HAHAHAHAHAhaahahahahaahhaa, oh so true. Just like our cat, which incidentally is called.... um..... Cat. Well, makes sense, right?

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