A Year At the Sharp End

It's amazing how fast the year has flown by. Lots of good games played so far this year with Sharpe Practice II predominating.

Ah, Spain! What a great place for a battle

The Peninsula has been fought across, down, through and across again! We tend to play large multiplayer games of SPII (really 3 or 4 side-by-side games) where we all have our own Leaders and act on the card draw. For example, a Red Leader 1 card means that we each get to use our Leader 1 (if we are Red of course).
A lot of games have been with my friend Gavin who is definitely a "more is better" gamer hence the large number of figures, players and the 15ft x 6ft table we play on. And you will never see an unpainted figure on the table in our games. We enjoy the look of the game as much as the gameplay. Scenery is important too, lots of lovely buildings (Gav's again) used but most of the figures in these photos are mine!
The lads from Odin's Night club have been involved in a number of the big games, along with a variety of other "gentleman gamers".

Experimenting with double size units

As well as the big games we have been experimenting with tweaking unit size, mainly for visual impact. Those French columns sure look impressive in double size! Easy enough to do, each casualty takes off two figures, that way you get a bucket o' dice experience too!

Look at that column!

The 'thin red line' facing downs the hordes of French conscripts makes for an exciting game. In this particular scenario the British cavalry are shown at the point of breaking through the French supporting unit which you can see fleeing near the curve in the road. The British held, Napoleon's boys ran. Cracking game.

Pumpkin helps with the painting

I have been painting pretty consistently this year (for me) getting through British Light Dragoons, Light Infantry, Line Infantry and various bits and pieces. Always with the help of one furry painting buddy or another. Sometimes the generously shared fur gets in the way of a perfect paintjob but meh, c'est la guerre.

Brigade Lights in progress

I have been adding to my Napoleonics armies steadily too so my painting queue keeps getting longer (funny how that works) and I especially like the Brigade miniatures figures I have picked up. Lots of character. Perry Miniatures and Warlord Games metals have made their way onto the pile too.
Gavin and I have been playing a fabulous Dawns and Departures campaign in the Peninsular, with superb (and hilarious) moderation by Man Cave Paul. Some of the Hornblower/Sharpesque "despatches" (orders) between our named leaders have been nearly as fun as playing the game. Next round of the campaign is about to start as the first phase played itself out.
We have made a slight tweak to the casualty recovery chart, sliding eveything one dice pip into a deadlier outcome. We just felt that not enough attrition of forces was happening.
I can't wait to get the next game underway.

Goodbye 2018

Another year, another squillion miniatures have passed through my hands. Some of them have stuck around. The lead pile has actually decreased (slightly) as I have clarified what projects I want to work on.
As you can see by my sidebar total, I haven't exactly set the world on fire with my painting total this year. And most of that was in November and December!

Italian Stallions

Italian 15mm was the major part of the beginning of the year. I swore that I would never paint 15mm again several years ago but the temptation of Battlegroup wafted past me by Man Cave Paul and Dux was too strong to resist. I bought most of my army pre-painted but as always happens, I just needed a couple more miniatures...
Needless to say, my man cave is now awash with tiny Italians.
Later in the year I decided it was time to finally bite the bullet and build some Napoleonic forces. encouraged by excellent games of General D'Armee with the Carpenter men and Sharpe Practice with Paul, Dave, Alan, Phill, Aled and especially Gavin.
As mentioned in a previous blog I took it as an experiment, used three different techniques and ended up with a process and a result I am happy with.
It didn't hurt that I had a beautifully pro-painted force to inspire me as well.

A gorgeous Indian Mutiny game

I had the chance to play a lot of games in 2018 (part of my don't let the opportunities pass by policy) including a cracking couple of huge games at Gavin's, a big Bolt Action and a superb The Men Who Would Be Kings Indian Mutiny game.

Marty and Paul both hosted terrain making and painting days. No better way to spend a lazy day than hobbying with good friends, helped along with adult beverages. Some really nice terrain was the result (despite the aforementioned beverage consumption!

Superb Sarissa built at Marty's

I can't forget Slaughterloo. Dave K hosted a 6 (or 8?) player game of my favourite system. And this of course inspired me to paint more forces.
The very end of 2018 saw me get involved in two Challenges; the first was the Painting and Sculpting Miniatures (in association with Footsore) 30 Minutes for 30 Days November challenge. What rollicking (and sledging) fun that was. And the discipline was was so helpful to my overall output.
I found that challenge the perfect lead in to The Challenge. I have decided that despite previous years' bad luck, I would give the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge another go. I have been pushing myself to do at least the 30 minutes a day I started in November, helped along with painting days with Paul, Alan, Aled and various other Odinians. So far so good.

My first AHPC entry for this year

Overall, this has been an excellent hobby year, made all the more so by my great friends in Odin's Night Games Club. You people really make life more fun.