But all the above was helped by the participants. As with the previous two years, the game was played in the best possible spirit and the evenings, spent in the Denison and the Forge, were great fun, even if I couldn’t face drinking anything by the third night!

So here is the venue:

And these are the fine fellows who did battle:

From R to L; Tim.W, World2Dave (in front), Count Belisarius, Essex Boy, DarkLord, Paul, Valleyboy (front), Marshallney, Buff Orpington, Goat Major, Norman D Landings (on the spiked fence), Peeler, Tim Hall, Purple. These all being their WD3 names of course!

And this is the game in full flow (picture by Goat Major):

I had a bit of a disaster with pictures as my phone decided to ‘lose’ about 800 of the photos on it! I managed to recover some but by no means all. And I think I’ve nicked a couple taken by Goat Major.

The report is broken into several parts.

1. The Silence of the Lamms – the action on my flank told by one who was there!

2. The Mercenary Gallery – pictures of the troops people brought (minus the ones my phone lost!)

3. Union Gallery – Tim’s Union troops

4. Rebel Gallery – Tim’s Confederate troops

The latter two galleries don’t really do Tim’s collection justice. It was a pleasure to play with such lovely troops. And Mercenary gallery is missing pics of a few peoples troops for which I must apologise and blame my bloody phone!

So that was Ayton 2013. A great weekend. Great company. My liver will never be the same….

Next year the plan is for a return to the C18th with Henry running the show. I have a LOT of 28mm SYW troops to paint for this and I really best start now!

The standard is a single flag rather than the two I use in the C18th version and merges the two with the symbols of the Kindgom of K’ha’Ramel in the upper quadrant to honour their service in the great Byzarbian Campaign.

Currently working on the artillery crews…

Lots still to do….

Jaegers

Jaegers

Jaegers

Rather than base them singly I went for 50x40mm two to a base. 50mm is my standard frontage for my 28mm and I figured skirmishers based in pairs works well. I may consider re-basing some of my other stuff…

More to come soon. Only four weeks to go ’til the game!!!!

So how does the new show compare? If I remember correctly the first Stockton show of the year was the smaller of the two and todays show was similar in size to that with the entire show contained in the main sports hall at the Southlands Center (SMOGGYCON uses another 2-3 smaller rooms in addition to this). I quite like single space shows but it does restrict the number of gamers and traders. There seemed to be a few empty tables, no doubt due to the weather (or threat thereof) but overall it seemed pretty busy for the three hours I was there.

There were a good number of demo and participation games and overall the standard was pretty good. I particularly liked the Guisbrough Gamers Wild West game. Some lovely figures on show:

Guisbrough Gamers

The Section 8 gamers had a very neat 10mm WW2 games using Blitzkrieg Commander rules:

Section 8 – WW2

And the Brompton Bankers AVBCW game had some very interesting figures on display:

Brompton Bankers AVBCW

I only had a few hours at the show but it was friendly and enjoyable. And they had a good leaflet that gives good details on who is where in the hall so hopefully I’ve got all the pictures captioned correctly!

There is a gallery with more pictures here: A Call to Muster 2013 Gallery

As ever with these types of venue, the lighting is bloody awful! Most shots were yellowed out and I’ve tried to adjust them but accept that the colours may not be brilliant!

Purchases were very few, just six packs of MDF bases and a Vallejo paint. I’ve got plenty of lead to paint at the moment! There was a traditional Bring and Buy which although not large looked very well run and I hope it was a success.

So, although not a big show, and maybe missing some of the big name traders (I was hoping for Caliver books!), I had a good time, chatted with a few people and got the bits and pieces I went for. I hope the show becomes a regular fixture on the calendar and I’ll be there next year!

and I wanted to keep the vaguely Germanic theme and pointy helmets do the job!

I’ve only painted twelve so far (three more stands to do) but it’s a start. I have Jaegers and artillery and uhlans to do next! And almost six weeks left to do it all!

No problems…

This year was more of a social visit as I had very little on my list to buy. On that front it was a great success. I met the usual WD3 crowd and even partook of Mr Peeler’s DBN Borodino game (of which more anon). As usual it was good to catch up and chat. I had hoped to meet a few people from the BKC/CWC forums but as no one knew what anyone else looked like I fear we passed/ignore each other at the designated meeting time. Next time!

The show seemed to follow what may be a recent pattern. Busy ’til about 1pm then a tail off and pretty well quiet by 2pm. Couple of traders commented on this too. It wasn’t empty at 2 but the peak was definitely passed.

I had several wonders down the table top sale area and for most of the morning this was pretty jammed. It seems to be working as a bring and buy alternative. A few seemed to have the usual over the top prices but most seemed happy to shift stuff and haggle. I do fear some of the real bargains will be appearing on eBay soon though…

Table Top Sale

The above was at about 13:30 and although there were a few empty tables there were still plenty of people passing through.

There was the usual good selection of demo games. Some I’d seen at other shows in the latter half of last year and others seemed familiar from York last year but the standard was good and in places excellent. I concentrated the photos on the ‘new’ stuff to me and the few that really grabbed me.

Mr Peeler’s DBN Borodino was excellent fun. Using 15mm figures and the DBN rules this allowed Borodino to be refought on a small table and in a few hours. Things were going well for the French until I took command of the dice and proceeded to roll a good string of 1s which pretty well crippled the attack! Excellent fun and a good bunch of chaps for the East Coast Wargamers.

DBN Borodino

The highlight game for me was The Bunker Wargames Holiday Centre ‘The last stand of the Rani’ which had some excellent figures and terrain.

The last stand of the Rani

The other game that really grabbed me was the Ilkley Wargames (I think/hope) 40mm Prince August Old School/New School game using Sam Mustafa’s Maurice rules. A very striking game.

Old School / New School

It was good to see the usual section for younger gamers to keep themselves occupied (though there were quite a few kids involved in other games) and there was an excellent little Dr Who game:

Dr Who

There are more pictures of these and other games in the York 2013 Gallery .

Purchase wise I was quite restrained. I needed a pack of GHQ T34-85s to allow me to do another battalion for my Syrians. For once I was able to resist a large Baccus purchase and just grabbed a single pack of 1806 French to enable me to re-base (yes, EB, re-base!) the three units of 1806 French I have and add the extras to fit my 6mm ImagiNation basing style. And Andy at Old Glory kindly brought along his stock of Jackdaw figures for me to look at. I wanted some ‘specials’ to add to the huge pile of 25/30mm C18th stuff I have for my ImagiNations. Seeing as he’d bought them it would have been impolite to not buy anything so I grabbed the French High Command, the On the Road command and camp followers pack and the ‘Ball’ pack so I can have some posh people in the rear watching the action!

And finally it was good to yet again meet Ian of the Blog With No Name and collect my ASL Scenario Pack (LFT7) I won in his recent draw. Nice to see Ian and sorry we didn’t catch up later and have a proper natter.

So, overall another good show from the York crew. Thanks!

NB. As usual, all mis-labelling of photos and errors in the text etc. are mine alone. Feel free to correct and I’ll update accordingly!

So, first up, 6mm ImagiNation. Last year I got Ian Willey of the Blog With No Name fame to paint some Baccus 6mm as opponents for the 6mm versions of my ImagiNation forces. He did one unit for me back in September and I was rather pleased with the results so in trade for some 6mm buildings I got him to do another three units. Now these were finished and delivered months ago! It has taken me until now to paint the Adler mounted officers, the flags and then base them all. But, finally they are done! Here are all four units. The units are all French themed with grey coats and then turnbacks and leggings in a facing colour. The four so far are red, green, blue and orange. The first unit had reversed colours for the drummers. The other three have them in blue. I shall sort out a logic for that later!

6mm ImagiNation

6mm ImagiNation

6mm ImagiNation

6mm ImagiNation

6mm ImagiNation

6mm ImagiNation

6mm ImagiNation

6mm ImagiNation

I’ve stuck with the original plan of a unit command stand but have added a couple of extra figures to the new units. This does at least give me a starting force.

And although not part of my 666 Plan I also painted up a unit of T34-85s for my Syrians:

Syrian T34

Syrian T34

Syrian T34

Syrian T34

The models are all GHQ from a recent purchase from the States that had been stripped. I did a white undercoat, Russian Green base. Lightened Russian Green heavy dry brush, Pale Sand pattern, Sepia wash, Pale Sand highlight, then detail with a white gel pen. Tracks were just painted dark grey. Bases were painted Canadian Maple, then PVA and bird cage sand with a watered PVA to seal.

I almost have enough for another unit but three tanks have broken barrels so I may need to just buy a pack at York or try and beg round the forums for spare barrels/models.

Anyway, nice to be productive again!

I’ve done the basic camo and wash on the T34s so just need the last dry brush and detailing on them:

And I’ve based up the command stands and added the basing material to all three units now for the 6mm. STILL need to do the flags though…

And I also realised that my last post was post 300 for the blog, making this 301! Quite a tally really over the years. The blog started as an ASL blog in November 2006 so six years and counting is pretty good I think… I’m also getting close to 80000 visits. This is only since I added the Site Meter icon (and I can’t remember when that was!) but I may try and do something when I hit the 80K.

Hopefully a little more progress next week as well.

I still have the flags to do for the three units but can at least move the basing along.

As I now have my 666 Plan (full details coming soon, honest!) it seemed to make sense to do something completely different! When I bought a load of GHQ WW2 microarmour at the end of last year for my Western Desert plans there were also some T34-85s available so I thought I’d grab them to add to my Syrians. There should have been enough for two battalions but a few were missing barrels so I’ll either need to try and replace or just buy a pack to complete the second unit. Anyway, undercoated and basecoated. Next up drybrush, camo,  tracks, wash, drybrush and detail. And base…

Back to the ImagiNation stuff. I have started my first Altefritzenburg unit. Still a way to go…

But this gives an idea of where they are heading:

And finally, I took delivery of some Timecast goodness via the CWC forums. The start of my Cold War urban bases:

Done to Timecast’s usual high standard, I only need to paint all my stuff to match now!

Hopefully I can get a little more done tonight or at the weekend.

Highs

Well, it has to be Ayton again! The weekend in May (the Jubilee weekend) was yet again a weekend of great figures, a great game and great company throughout. You could not wish for a better bunch to game with and a better atmosphere. There are some pics from the game in the Ayton 2012 gallery, and the actual battle is written up by the ever faithful Private Lamm in his Journal entry. Getting everything painted and ready for this meant that at least the first few months were productive and quite a few boxes were filled in in the Painting Master Plan.

I did manage to add to quite a few other projects over the year. Added to my FUBAR forces even if I didn’t manage a game!

Started to recreate my ImagiNation forces in 6mm and was quite pleased with my converted Adler SYW lancers!

Savage Swan Uhlans

And added numerous bits and pieces to my Cold War Commander forces even if I didn’t manage a game this year!

D-30s

I even started recreating the Savage Swans in 15mm Romano-British form!

So I think there were a lot of good little outputs this year. And it ended on a high with the final meeting of the Tyneside Club where we pulled together the Ayton troops again for a little Byzarbian Interlude!

The cavalry of the Sultan Pasha arrive to help?

Myself, Ken and Phil did battle for a wagon train and it ended a hard fought draw (well, that’s what MY reports say!).

I made a good few shows as well and as with last year these seem to be moving more and more towards social gatherings rather then just an excuse to buy stuff. It’s been good to meet up with the denizens of various online forums and chat with traders. I look forward to the 2013 calendar.

So overall, not a bad year in a lot of ways.

Lows

The real downside has been the lack of games. The two big ImagiNation games and a small AWI participation game at the Pendraken Birthday Bash: and that was it. Not a good tally for the year even if all three events were great fun. Towards the end of the year my painting enthusiasm definitely went AWOL. Haven’t painted anything for a couple of months and although I feel I’m heading back in the right direction with sorting my painting space, until I come up with a PLAN things are still a little vague.

Slight Diversions

The title of the blog was chosen with care! I’ve wanted to do a 10mm project for a while and this year I’ve started (or at least spent on) three. I bought a huge pile of Pendraken Sudan figures. Then sold them. I bought some Italian WW1 figures. And sold them. And I have a pile of 1st Schleswig-Holstein War figures and these I still have and these will get done. Just maybe not this year!

I also almost made a start on my GHQ WW2 North Africa project, then realised it would be madness with everything else going on! I was almost tempted to sell the lot and concentrate on the Moderns but I picked up so much of the stuff quite cheap it would be a huge expense to ever replace them. So they stay….

To be honest, the 15mm Dark Age dabbling is a diversion as I’ve only got a dozen or so figures painted and no one else plays the Lardy rules and in a lot of ways the enthusiasm boat has sailed…

So we move on to…

Plans

Now, several yeas ago, after my bemoaning the lack of games that year, my wife said I should aim for six games the following year, one every two months. I think that following year I managed three games so it wasn’t too bad! But this year, 2013, I’m going to aim for something similar. But with a slight twist.

Six games. Six periods. Six painting plans!

I want to use the potential for six games to drive my painting. Either adding to existing forces to enable a game, starting a new force, or even just completing terrain to make a game possible. So here are the six:

1. 28mm C19th – This will be the troops for this year’s Ayton game in May. Spencer Smith FPW figures. It won’t be a huge force, just the Savage Swans redone in another period! Plus a few Ottomans
2. 28mm C18th – There is another WD3 gathering in Scotland in September. I am still hoping things may change and I can actually make so I shall paint new troops (mostly the Old School stuff recently acquired) to take and if it doesn’t happen then I will arrange another mini-WD3 game at the Tyneside Club
3. 6mm SF – I have enough for a game and enough scenery but there are a few more bits I want to paint/add and some thoughts on rules. But I intend to have a game this year either solo or at the club.
4. 6mm ImagiNation – I want to complete enough of the 6mm figures to get a small game going. I’ve enjoyed doing these and it will be nice to use them. Likely with Maurice rules which I’ve wanted to try for a while.
5. 15mm AWI – Now this may seem a strange choice given their lack of activity over the last couple of years but I do like the period and the recent B&D Miniatures releases have got me wanting to paint a few and have a game. Plus, Stephen, at the Club should be a suitable opponent!
6. Cold War Commander – despite having painted and based quite a lot over the last year I didn’t play a single game! So the plan with this lot is to finish off troops for both sides, finish off terrain and then get a game going. And the VERY tentative plan might be to do enough to put on a demo game at Border Reiver in September.

So there you go. Now I’m not going to commit to the demo game until I KNOW I can do it. If Wd3 Scotland happens then I will be painting towards that and it may be madness trying to run a game the week before! We shall see. Sometime over the next week I will produce a list of actual targets and replace the painting plan to the right. Then it becomes official and I can start preparing the excuses for not hitting the targets!

So on to 2013 and I hope a few of you pop by to keep an eye on progress. I’m going to TRY and be a little more active on the blog. If I’m actually painting then it shouldn’t be an issue.