Celebrating Milestones

Just the briefest of posts to help celebrate the 'Laughing Ferret Lab' reaching its most recent milestone of 200,000 page views, a splendid achievement and no mistake.   I am particularly delighted as David, the proprietor of the esteemed, aforementioned weblog is a tremendous talent and jolly nice guy to boot.  Hugely generous in his praise of others, David has extended this generosity further to include a marvellous giveaway, all of which you can read about here.

 The 'Laughing Ferret Lab', is a treasure trove of creativity, but particularly renowned for its truly exceptional 'Blood Bowl' teams.  In the time that I have been following, I have been transfixed by the imagination and quality of the execution of the teams that David has produced; some personal favourites include:

the ingenious 'Aslan's Asskickers',

the truly awesome 'Mystic Knights of the Congo Bongo'

and most recently, the 'Hurston Oilers' 

...but if I had to pick one?

Part of the giveaway invites us to highlight a past update that "you like- something you enjoyed or think is useful, interesting, weird, or whatever criteria you have.  Just to get the older stuff noticed again."  Impossible thought I; just a cursory look around the pages will leave you salivating at the sumptuous work and then I remembered a wonderfully useful tutorial that I followed as part of my American Civil War vignette, 'Through the Swamp'.  So those of you that ever feel the need for a spot of Spanish hanging moss need look no further than here and I will happily testify to its effectiveness.

So here's to the 'Laughing Ferret Lab', 200,000 page views, but I suspect that there will be a lot more to come!

Now while we are on the subject of milestones and giveaways, I feel it only fair to direct you to yet another splendid weblog, 'Canister and Grape', which has just surpassed 50,000 page views.  What is interesting here is that it is run as a collective, with the chief protagonist been the ever enthusiastic 'Millsy'.  A wonderfully diverse selection of loveliness on show there is something for everyone here.

28mm Flashman & his Lady

It will come as no surprise to regular readers of this humble weblog that on completion of the final chapter of the current reading material,  a spate of frenzied activity is often to be witnessed here at 'Awdry Towers' as I scour the lead pile for something suitable to represent recently shelved story.

If the truth be told this example had already been spied at 'Salute 2013' in readiness for just such a moment, but sadly I had left it too late in the day to purchase him and the vendor, 'SHQ Miniatures' had sold out.  Unperturbed at retuning home empty handed, (if only that were true!) I duly ordered the elusive miniatures from the company's website and before long Flashman himself dropped onto the doormat.

These are great fun, characterful sculpts perhaps even bordering on the comic, befitting of the characters from the story.  Flashman resplendent in his cricket whites, sabre slung over his shoulder looks every bit the gentlemen, but Elspeth, his lovely wife has an expression that suggests that she is less than impressed with our cowardly antihero.  

The miniatures are reassuringly 'chunky' and although perhaps devoid of the extensive detail that we have come to expect from current sculptors were still hugely enjoyable to paint up.  They are, however, a little on the tall side!  Listed as 25mm, they dwarf a Perry American Civil War rioter positioned next to the happy couple for the purposes of scale.  Still a fun addition to the diverse and ever growing collection and good to see a little Victorian frippery once again gracing the pages of '28mm Victorian Warfare'. 

Book Review#18. - Flashman's Lady

Flashman’s lady proved to be another absolute gem in Macdonald Fraser’s series, this time seeing our cowardly rascal of a hero set sail for adventures in Singapore, Borneo and Madagascar.  The opening chapters concern themselves with Flashman’s prowess at cricket and the rivalry between himself and the dashing Don Solomon, who proves to be a worthy adversary in all matters from womanising to wickets.  This ultimately leading to a literal and metaphorical voyage of discovery for all concerned as they travel to the enchanting, but troubled waters of the  South Sea Islands.

I have clearly gone about the whole series in completely the wrong order, reading them as an individual book is passed on by a generous friend or  I spy a special offer at the local bookstore, but that doesn't seem to spoil my enjoyment of them and in fact 'Flashman's Lady' proved to be a fast paced and totally outlandish tale, yet strangely accurate in its historical detail.  For example this was to prove my first introduction to James Brooke, the White Rajah of Sarawak; surely one of the most interesting and exciting nineteenth century gentleman adventurers there has ever been.  This must have been a fictitious creation of Fraser's thought I, but to my surprise he isn't!  

The joy of discovering another fascinating facet of Victorian history aside, 'Flashman's Lady' proved to be one of my favourite tales in the series so far, this may of course be down to its inclusion of my beloved game of cricket, who would have thought Flashman achieved the world's first hat trick,  and thoroughly deserves its four crowns.

A Monster face-palm...

... for an epic fail!

It was all going so well!  Everything was going to plan, the support from the comments was truly uplifting, but then came the lake!  I had thought that this was going to be the 'La pièce de résistance', a real 'wow-factor' element, but what is it that they say about a pride and a fall?

The plan was simple, paint the lake bed in acrylic colours using a tried a tested formula - dark for depth, light for shallows.  Once done a whole myriad of extras was to be added including a ramshackle boating jetty or fishing platform, weeds, reeds and the occasional aquatic plant.

This was all going to be encapsulated in some 'Woodland Scenics E-Z Water', to represent the lake; what could possibly go wrong?  The 'E-Z Water', recently purchased during our 'Modelzone's' closing down sale, is a non-toxic modelling product that you heat and pour, it really is that simple.  Having primed the area with acrylic paint and prepared shuttering, all that remained was to pour on this magical product and then sit back and enjoy what was going to be a deluge of congratulation from the loyal following that '28mm Victorian Warfare' has amassed.*

*Please note that I have deliberately over egged the congratulatory bit for artistic licence; one would never take such things for granted, that would be positively ungentlemanly! 

My advice to you all, 'Always read the instructions'!  Yes this product is safe and yes it is non-toxic, but oh my goodness it is incredibly hot a sticky when melted and what was the line, in the clearly printed instructions, that I had overlooked due to a bout of manly brashness ? -

"take care not to melt foam or plastic structures."

I might as well have been pouring napalm onto my prized and exalted gaming board, "what had I done?"  As the surface of the lake bed melted, the foul and viscous liquid seeped out from the resulting fissures - a total disaster!

I was of course mortified, but with a dented pride and a very sore finger*, I resolved to think on this ecological catastrophe in the cold light of day and sulked off to bed.  These final images show the devastation that remains of the lake bed now that the 'E-Z Water' has returned to a very solid state; back to the drawing board then!

*Yes I knew it was hot, but did that stop me trying to turn the tide of inevitability with a carefully aimed finger prod? - oh no it didn't, yes it would appear that yours truly really is that stupid!

Home Turf

Buoyed, as I was, from the very generous and encouraging comments left on the previous post, 'On the subject of gaming boards', I endeavoured to push on with the terraforming of the new gaming board over the weekend.  Firstly a brown base coat, followed by a succession of dry brushed  colours left the surface looking a little like the Martian Red Planet, complete with craters! 

Some very useful advice from Andrew of 'Loki's Great Hall' fame, saw me revisit the '4Ground' wood sabots in a bid to make a better fit.  They are so tight that the slightest bit of detritus from the painting and construction phase can cause havoc with the siting of the bases, something I should have been more mindful of in the first place! 

The playing field was flocked appropriately and the process of detailing began in earnest with the rocks and pebbles painted to match my standard basing technique.

There are now some fearsome, water filled potholes on the track down to the lake!

The wooded area in situ and, as luck would have it, some of my earlier birch trees* were 

 based on the same sized base to fit the sabot.

*'The Wood for the Trees'

With just the lake bank to work on, T-Rex enjoys a run out the paddock!

On the subject of gaming boards...

Although I've been painting miniatures for a couple or three years now, a sensation akin to ice water running through my veins occurs every time someone asks, "what rules are you basing them for?" or "when are we going to see a battle report?" The truth of the matter is that I just didn't know where to start or how to go about organising a game.  Now, however, with my immersion into the madcap world of 'Crooked Dice's' 7ombieTV a playing surface is required and what better opportunity does a chap need to fashion his very first gaming board?

I could of course just thrown a green baize over the dinning room table, but I've always rather fancied one of those stunning looking tables that grace the pages of such hobby related editorials like 'Wargames Illustrated' the only problem is scale, 'Awdry Towers' isn't as expansive enough to cope with a 6' x 4' playing area and I'm simply not brave enough to suggest to the Saintly Mrs. Awdry that we have our supper on our lap in order to allow me to reenact the battle for 'Rorke's Drift'!

"Stop chucking that bloody cutlery at me!"

It was while avidly following Clint's ('Anything but a One') progress on his very own gaming board project, that I suddenly realised size isn't everything!  He was constructing a fabulously detailed terrain board on a modest 2' x 2' - this, I thought was the answer, compact and bijou!  And so it was that my bespoke board started life as a couple of sheets of blue foam (James, from 'Exiles Wargames Painter' has found a superb source for this most useful building material here.) glued to some 5mm foam board; lightweight but structural sound.

The rest should have been a simply process of just terraforming, but 'oh no', I decided that I wanted my board to be timber framed, enabling me to drop in any future boards that I might fashion and allowing variation to my miniature gaming scenarios.

Now when did the wife say she was back?

After what felt like a couple of hours scurrying around in the blistering heat of the loft, I came across some suitable looking off-cuts, of what was once one of IKEA's finest, and set about them with every tool I possess; so much for measure twice and cut once!  With much sweating, snarling and a modicum of bad language I managed to piece together the frame, complete with internal side runners to allow the board to fit flush with the surface - it is fair to say that at this point I was feeling a tad smug!

With the frame safely constructed and the rough edges sanded down (I knew that detail sander would be useful for something!) I was able to get back to the job of preparing the board.  The scenario that I'm looking to game is essentially a flat area with some light woods and the bank of a lake.  Once sketched out and the '4Ground' wood bases placed foe effect, it was just a matter of hacking away with the bread knife.

The lake bank established, I added some sand to texture the paths and some small stones here and there to add a little variety.  Household filler helped to fix the wood templates in place and a light covering of some textured masonry* paint helped to seal everything together nicely. 

*leftover from my recent bout of D.I.Y. fever which has fortunately subsided without any lasting damage!

All that remained was to 'Paint it Black' in preparation for some colour that I hope, if not distracted by the cricket, to apply over the weekend.

First illustration from Illustrated London News 1913, showing Wells measuring a move with string.

We're back!

Now safely returned from a lovely week's rest and recuperation with my family, thoughts are already turning to work and the start of a new academic year.  This is all well and good, but looking at my hobby 'to do' list, I am horrified to see that I am falling behind schedule - so much to do and so little time!  

24th Regiment shako plate found at Isandhlwana

That said en route to the family pile we took advantage of our somewhat detoured route to pay the briefest of visits to the The Regimental Museum of the Royal Welsh in Brecon.  This is of course  of particular interest to yours truly given that the Royal Welsh is the modern day incarnation of a number of notable regiments including the 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot, whose history is intrinsically linked with the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879.

The museum, run by an incredibly friendly and dedicated staff,  is crammed full of artefacts from all eras of the regiment's history and well worth a visit if you are in the area; I imagine those with a interest in Victoria's little wars will find it almost obligatory to hum 'Men of Harlech' as they go round, I know I  did!

The extensive medel collection includes nine of the ten Victoria Crosses awarded to the 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment during the Anglo-Zulu War.

"If it's a miracle, Colour Sergeant, it's a short chamber Boxer Henry point 45 caliber miracle."

The flag that flew over the forward supply base at Rorke's Drift, January 1879

Even the Saintly Mrs. Awdry was impressed! 

Artefacts included most major conflicts, including the First World War.

The Regimental Mascot, Taffy III

Who couldn't resist having their photographs taken behind a Vickers Machine Gun?

Just a cursory glance of my blog roll informs me that a great number of those wonderful web logs that I follow have been very productive during my week's absence from this cosy corner of the blogosphere and I will try and spend some time this morning catching up, but that 'to do' list isn't getting any shorter!

Men of Harlech stop your dreaming

Can't you see their spear points gleaming

See their warrior pennants streaming

To this battlefield

Men of Harlech stand ye steady

It cannot be ever said ye

For the battle were not ready

Welshmen never yield

From the hills rebounding

Let this song be sounding

Summon all at Cambria's call

The mighty force surrounding

Men of Harlech on to glory

This will ever be your story

Keep these burning words before ye

Welshmen will not yield