On the bench

This is where I cover off on what I have on the painting or workshop benches, in the reading pile, or have been listening to while doing the above. So, as June closes out:

Painting

Focus for this weekend, Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings Hundred Kingdoms Steel Legion swordsmen - the latest unit I am painting up in my brother's  army. Six undercoated and awaiting paint - to match up with their unit mates (painted by someone else). 

Assembling/preparing/stripping

Warlord Games Caesarian Romans (with pila) - the box worth (24 of them) assembled and awaiting application of Vallejo basing texture paste on them pre-undercoating. (28mm ancients project, not specifically for any rule set). 

Buckets of miniatures swimming in stripping solution(s). This has a bit of a sad story to it: in 2020, a local gamer, who I knew in passing (we bought/sold some stuff from one another, and talked games projects over a brew), passed leaving behind a treasure trove of a gaming room/shed. This collection was sold and the funds donated to a cat welfare charity. I was bale to help out in a small way with the sale and also bought a fair chunk myself - terrain, rules, several WW2 15mm forces, and a bunch of Warhammer Fantasy Battles and Mordheim miniatures (going back to Citadel's lines from the mid-1980s (there are also some from the Milton Bradley/GW Battlemasters game, Harlequin and others mixed in). I have put aside some of the figures aside in their original state, a lot is in need of stripping. So I ma slowly working my way through using, variously, IPA, floor cleaner, and SMS Ultimate Paint Remover (superb stuff but expensive for volume and increasingly hard to get).  Another one to watch this space - I'll share photos as I get through tranches. 

In the pipeline

Silver Bayonet British and French unit boxes: Dean (of Olympian Games, the Canberra wargaming LFGS) and I have been talking about dipping into Osprey's Silver Bayonet and I had agreed to paint up the warbands for it (but have been dragging my feet). These are next up on the prep and paint pile. 

Pendraken 10mm ACW - when I was overseas I bought a few 10mm armies: for the Seven Years War (somewhat inspired by Sam Mustafa's Might and Power rules); Franco-Prussian War (immediately inspired by GrebB's posts on Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenges past: see here, although my curosity for the conflict was piqued by the colour plates in the Robin May/G.A Embleton book published by Almark in 1975 - the 10mm are an evolution of the converted 1/72 scale Airfix WW1 Germans and ESCI French Foreign Legion I painted up as a 13 year old); and, ACW - mostly because I thought that would be a good gateway to practice painting 10mm figures. Not settled on rules, although bought a copy of Regimental Fire and Fury.  

Reading

Aside from the obviously hobby unrelated (books on hybrid conflict and nuclear deterrence), I've been delving into old Warhammer Fantasy 6th-8th ed army books (Skaven and greenskins mostly), the more recent Horus Heresy Age of Darkness sourcebooks and the Kult Divinity Lost 4th ed RPG core rules. 

Another which I have been working through is The Art of...Tommie Soule, the 5th in "The Art of...." series of books published by Dave Taylor Miniatures which have been on Kickstarter and now in retail. Ive found all of the series exceptional, inspirational and at times intimidating for the quality of the miniatures brush work. But there is as much value in the thinking and lessons imparted by the authors - Tommie's is no exception being, in effect, a painting course in a book that drills down to the core concept of painting miniatures and encouraging (sometimes 'challenging' seems apt) to get the fundamentals perfected. Like I noted above, I'm working through it. Highly recommended. 

Serious bedtime reading, but I've been making my way through Quintin Barry's The Franco-Prussian War 1870-71 Volume 1: Volume 1 - The Campaign of Sedan - Helmuth Von Moltke and the Overthrow of the Second Empire. Bought at the same time as the above mentioned 10mm FPW. 

I guess audiobooks could fit in the below but I'd add those for Peter Wilson's The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy (which is also on the bookcase in hardcopy) - one of those that needs some concentration - and recently finished The End and the Death (Part 1) by Dan Abnett, the 8th book in the Siege of Terra sub-series to Black Library's Horus Heresy novels, with Jonathon Keeble's consistently solid narration. For me, one of the better ones in the Siege of Terra series (I'll admit I tend to save these as the background for household chores and garden work). Though I'd agree with anyone who'd say that this series is, after almost two decades, dragging out a bit (I remember reading the Flight of the Eisenstein in Kabul in 2007)....but its working its way to that end.  

Listening

Toa Tabletop (formerly Mud & Blood) podcast Carrion Company Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay actual play series season 3. My favourite bar non RPG actual play following the Carrion Company, an Empire-based mostly human mercenary unit. The sound engineering on this AP series is top-notch, a point of pride for the creator and were a reason I started supporting the creators on Patreon. Strongly recommended if you are into Warhammer, WFRP and/or RPG actual plays - I'd also definitely recommend starting Carrion Company at Season 1 Episode 1 (I still remember the opening 5 minutes and it sets the tone for the thing). (Kia ora and a shoutout to my mate Liam, the man behind Toa Tabletop).

Feeding my current Warhammer kick, the Laying Down the Lore podcast - its rude crude and doesn't take itself too seriously, but a light dive into Warhammer Lore (comes in two podcast flavours - fantasy and 40K). This has been my post-work relaxation listening when walking home, and has prompted laugh out loud moments (undoubtedly disconcerting for anyone I am walking near!). 

Sorry, Honey, I Have to Take This, now into Operation Feraliminal Resonance - a Delta Green actual play (for those unfamiliar with DG, 1. where have you been? and 2. think X-files meets Call of Cthulhu meets...). One of the better DG APs in my opinion though not in the same class as Carrion Company but a good fun listen with some genuine WTF? moments as not every (few) player character lives happily ever after. 

And a bunch of music...most recently Myrkur (Amelie Bruun).