Blogging Restart

 After a absence of four months I am restarting the blog. I know the internet has been filled with speculation and unfounded conspiracies relating to this catastrophe but I will set the record straight 😁

 In March there was a re-arrangement of my household which caused what was to be a short interruption but extended due to laziness, a lack of things to post, a secret project that took my hobby skills elsewhere and a three week adventure in Europe from which I have recently returned.

The secret project will be revealed in January next year, the laziness was caused by an excess of Napoleonics to be painted, and the three week adventure in Europe to be reported on in due course.

To get myself back on track I decided on a terrain project as this always helps my hobby mojo. So reviewing 2025 purchases of a Chinese VSF army I have completed the additional terrain necessary to play it once I get around to painting it.

First up some appropriate buildings.

I purchased two European type farm houses in MDF and added the bits in white to make them a bit more Chinese influenced.

This is the sort of thing I was looking for.

This is my final result

And the second building with some French colonial oppressors for scale

 

I also bought three Great Wall card models that can be placed in a line for my own Great Wall. These stretch 90cm together so will look OK on the table. Here the French are place holders showing how the walls are just the right size for 10mm. The large tower can fit an artillery piece while the rest of the wall will easily fit 6 bases of infantry.

So while these will never win any awards they work quite well for the few times they will be used. 😂

My travels in Europe took me to Amsterdam, Bruges, and Brussels so look forward to posts on each of those. When in Brussels I took the time to go to Waterloo for the day so may do a post just on that.

Other hobby news. 

I purchased the Pazzoot Retreat from Moscow campaign and Pendraken miniatures so hopefully when that turns up I get cracking and paint it, although I will also need to get some terrain for it as well. 

For nostalgia reasons I have also purchased the rereleased Airfix Romans and Gauls, and the Robin Hood and Sheriff of Nottingham sets as well as the medieval castle. The plan for these is to make HoTT armies  to add to the other 1/72nd scale HoTT armies I don't use.

I also have purchased a 1/144 scale Landing Ship Tank, which is a particularly pointless purchase but does have an amusing (to me anyway) story - of years of longing, inspiration, success, rejection, regret, and finally redemption -  to go with it.

And also I have started my British Napoleonic army so hopefully this starts to appear as well.

So a full line up and I hope to keep up a regular 2-3 posts per month.

Napoleonic Parade

 Normal programming has returned.

A parade of my French and Dutch Napoleonic armies.

Both have had their bases freshly flocked to make them presentable on any wargamers table!

The French Army was painted in the second half of 2025 while the Dutch were painted in late 2022 or early 2023.

All figures from Pendraken in 10mm

A bird's eye view* of the battlefield. The French force in the foreground are attacking the Dutch across the river who are defending their windmill.

* actually one of the Montgolfier brothers.

I have updated my terrain as well. With new streams and rivers and roads that have all been flocked on their edges to blend in better as well as being based on  1mm magnetic adhesive paper. This lies a lot flatter than when thicker material I used before. 

I have also made some additional fields and bought some cows and sheep to add for scatter terrain.

Just the Dutch

And the French from overhead

French from their front

Closeup of M. Napoleon surrounded by his favourite things. The Old Guard to the right, the Grenadiers to the left, and the Grand Battery to the front. (and a nice place to sleep behind him)

French from the side

Dutch at an angle

Atmospheric shot of the French through the trees. (Ridley Scott will be quietly jealous)

Now he will be furious.

There is a lot of the little buggers!

Not so many Dutch.  Where are the damned British!

When will the British turn up? When will a game of Napoleonic's be played?

Stayed tuned ..... but not soon.

I think we will be going Victorian before we go back to Napoleon. (And maybe fast forward to the 400th century, but nothing is set in stone it is all written in the sands of the desert 😁)

Penguin Parade

 My penguins first appeared in Arrival of the Emperor in November 2018, a mere 7 years ago.

While creating my Disney Princesses I thought about what I could do with them once more.

Finally some of them have been armed. 15 angry Penguins ready to fight to the last fish. Their shield is cleverly designed to slide on snow. You might think you are safe when they are on a hill far away but thirty seconds later they are cutting you off at the knees!

The Antarctica Guard

Individual designs on their shields.

Swords, shields and spear/standard from Wargames Factory Skeletons sprue. Snowflake designs from the internet. Flag is a semi-official flag for Antarctica (I didn't know they had one either) 

I am assuming once global warming gets going the penguins will get angry. Living in Australia I think we may be one of the first targets.... after New Zealand of course....watch out Keith!

A more respectable parade of Napoleonic's soon.