Apologia

So what happened? To be honest, various things. First, and most importantly, the boys found an interest in fantasy and sci-fi games.  I thought that they might like skirmish games set in pirate and fantasy settings, but this spiralled into Frostgrave, X-Wing and a couple of other things (in the queue, and at the moment not even out of the box, are "Blood Red Skies" and "7TV", which Hugo picked up at Salute last year; and, I fear, the new "Harry Potter Miniatures Game" has cough Hugo's attention).  That meant that I sent most of last year painting figures for various fantasy/pirate games which I felt I couldn't really post on TQ.  That was a bit daft really, as pirates count as "historical".  Anyway, I really enjoyed working through my Foundry pirates leadpile, adding to the collection with some sculpts from Musketeer Miniatures (now Footsore, I believe) and North Star.  This all expanded into "Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago" - I bought the books and "Nickstarter" stuff, painted up a fair few of the official figures, and even dug out some unpainted/half-painted old Citadel Amazon and Slaan figures that I've had sitting around for 30 years.  Visiting the local pet shop to acquire scenery with the boys was fun, as was making my own palm trees and ruins scenery pieces.  This was all good stuff and I was getting close to a stage where we could start playing F:GA when the second thing happened...     

Last November, Hugo (who is 9) came home from school saying that he was really enjoying "Warhammer Club". I assumed this was some sort of computer game club, particularly given that he said it was all about robots in helicopters fighting spacemen or something like that.  A couple of conversations later I realised he was playing Warhammer 40K, albeit in a very basic way. I dug out a large box of un- and semi-painted Space Marines from my youth and, yes, this was indeed Hugo's new obsession (I had to explain what a Space Marine was - he really did think they were robots; I never worked out the "helicopter" bit).  So since then I’ve been painting GW stuff round the clock - Space Marines and Necrons mostly. And buying relevant gaming mats. And building 4Ground sci-fi scenery. And spending too much time (and money) at GW Chelmsford and on the Element Games website. Again, I didn't think that all this GW tomfoolery was worth posting about; although I realise now that the story of how an historical wargamer pivoted to paint power armour, lightning swords, "Doom Scythes" and worked towards what became his "Warhammer birthday party" in early January with 11 of his friends might have made an interesting series of posts.

The Hawk Lords - Hugo's chosen Space Marine chapter

Thirdly, there have been some practical issues.  Something's wrong with my camera and/or pc and it's proving very difficult to upload photos for posting.  Work and the routine of family life have seemed much busier, which has eaten into my painting time; but the reality, if I'm honest, is that I just lost the habit of blogging towards the end of last year and I realised that I wasn't really missing it.  I found myself taking a rest not just from this blog but from forums and other places I used to visit quite regularly as I felt I'd almost changed hobby.  I think at the back of my mind was a feeling, as noted above, that TQ has always been about horses and muskets, and that fantasy and sci-fi skirmish games wouldn't sit well here.  But I didn't realise how long I'd spent away from historicals, and I can see very little but 40K and Frostgrave for the forseeable future, to be honest.  The reason is simply the chance to do something miniatures-related with the boys; and also because chances for historical games are very rare these days, and at least if I paint figures the boys will actually play with then I feel that what I'm doing has a practical purpose.  Let's face it - most of the historical stuff I've painted over the past 15 years has largely remained in unopened boxes...

My Christmas project -  4Ground sci-fi scenery and 25-year old (at least) Mordian Iron Guard figures. 

One of the games at Hugo's birthday party - "Space Marines of the Caribbean".  One of my aims at Hugo's birthday was to show the boys what "real" scenery and terrain looks like.  There were quite a few "wows" and parents asking where the mats come from.

The other main game was "Assault on Precinct 4P" (that being Hugo's form name).  Necrons v Imperial forces.

So I've actually been very busy since my last post.  Maybe I'll post some photos of the current status of Hugo's "Hawk Lords", Monty's Necrons and, err, my Cadian "Blue Helmets".  Maybe I'll post pics of Foundry's pirates range, pack by pack, if anyone's interested in this sort of stuff.  Maybe I'll even post about the Continental Light Dragoons I painted at the same time as these militia, and then completely forgot about.  And did someone say that the Perries had released some more AWI?  Nah, that can't be right.

I've been making lots of palm tree scenic bases too.

A collection of North Star's Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago metal figures.

I've really enjoyed painting all these old Foundry pirate figures.

Close encounters in the Ghost Archipelago.

There is no feeling like discovering a use for stuff that's been in the leadpile for what must be almost 30 years.  Citadel Amazons from the mid-1980s, sculpted by a certain Alan and Michael Perry (whatever happened to them?)  

Every fantasy game needs a giant ape.

Foundry's "Treasure Island" characters - I see a couple of American militia colonels here...

A pirate type from North Star, with pet dog and pet chimp.

I think the pirate figures are some of the best sculpts Foundry produced.  A very talented chap that Will Hannah.