Apologies and other such fumblings

Well; real life (and also other gaming projects) took a bit of a toll over the second half of last year, but in the midst of it all I put in an order with Ironclad and snagged a bunch of their lovely minis. Some Prussians and whatnot, which will be going to wards my Ruritanian/Astro-Hungarian Empire forces (some for use on Earth, some for Mars...), and few other things.



 And then I got another set of Northstar miniatures for IHMN, this time the 'Whitechapel Anarchists' set. Still havent played a game, but maybe someday!



And I've just put in a Reaper order - mostly for other games projects I have to admit, but including a couple of Steampunk-esque figures - possibly for use as some of Kaptein van Dango's Sky Pirates, maybe - because I had to really.



Yes, there will be photos - at some point; no, none of this currently has any paint on at all.

Shameless photography in lieu of real progress

The Royal North Surreys have been sitting in my painting tray for weeks now, without a photo of their latest paint; and also un-photographed are the (now undercoated) Aetherines I bought from Brigade a month or so back.

As the men of the Royal North Surrey check the perimeter, Captain Carruthers and Lieutenant  Pootling-Twelp confer with Captain Yates of UNIT, and sometimes the Northdale Rifles; Sergeant Bromsgrove looks on, while Colour Sergeant Jeffries guards Ensign Jensen and the Company Colours (flag from the Warflag site - a generic British flag from the Napoleonic Wars looked like the best bet - http://www.warflag.com/flags/napoleon/napbritain1.shtml ).

Captain and men of the Royal Aeronautical Corps "Aetherines", wondering why they are not currently in their habitual natty blue jackets and trousers. Simply because I haven't gotten round to painting them, that's why.

Bobbies from Scotland Yard, with their English Electric Truncheons, and officers of 'Special Branch' (I'm sure it was called the 'Special Irish Branch' at this point) with rifles, Inspector Le Strange (probably), the Good Doctor and the Consulting Detective, from North Star Military Figures' new 'In Her Majesty's Name' range.

Lord Curr's Company, a quixotic and mercenary company of ne'er-do-wells, disgruntled ex-servicemen, and aristocratic adventurers, including Lord Curr himself armed with an 'Arc rifle' (electric rifle), from North Star Military Figures.

Having recently taken delivery of North Star and Osprey's new 'In Her Majesty's Name', both the figures and the rulebook, coming so soon after my purchases of 'Various Victorians' and the Brigade Games British in Rebreathers a month or so ago, I feel quite faint with excitement at the cornucopia of VSF-y leaden goodness (they probably don't put lead in any more, probably showing my age there).

I certainly have a lot to paint in the coming months - and hardly a red coat in sight (it's quite possible I will paint up one of the 'Incorrigibles', Lord Curr's men, in a Rifles uniform, so I can use him for the Northdale Rifles or UNIT as necessary).

Others of Lord Curr's men I can easily see being pressed into service should I ever get any further with my long-touted VBCW project; they're very versatile figures I think, some of them could be from any period from about 1870-1940 or there abouts.

Family tree

Whimsy's family tree This is a draft of the family tree of Whimsy Pootling, circa 1895. No painting so far this week (been ver' busy with real life), but soon I hope...

Latest acquisitions

Well, it's been a quiet old time of it since October, I really haven't got any painting done, but in the meantime I have done a few other things. Had Christmas and got several groovy new gaming-related things - the GASLIGHT Compendium and the Dictionary of Imaginary Places, for starters - and with a bit of spare cash I managed to accumulate, I've ordered and otherwise bought some new minis.

First up, from Baker Company, a company I didn't know anything about until the guys at the Lead Adventure Forum recommended them, come 9 British command figures (from their Zulu War range) - an eight figure command pack, and an Ensign:

These include a Glengarry-wearing officer, who will be joining my UNIT troops as their commander, Captain Yates, allowing me a bit more freedom with what I do with my Commodore Lethbridge-Stewart figure - in GASLIGHT games, he'll probably become a Group Commander, I'd think.

The package arrived extremely quickly, and even got a discount because the original shipping charge was more than the actual postage. Great service from Baker Company!

Next, from the lead-pile of the inestimable Whiskyrat, respected denizen of Lead Adventure Forum, come some minis I've been calling 'Various Victorians and Manly Chaps (Mostly Moustachioed)'. Some are moving slightly into Pulp territory, but I don't care.

 Some will see service as regulars, some civilians, and some, very likely, as militia-types, colonists resisting the counter-attacks of Martian, Venusian or Atlantean natives.

Is it just me, or does the chap in the middle have a tiny head? I may give him a pith-helmet to see what happens, but it does really look small compared to the others. No idea which manufacturer it's from; most of these figures are Foundry I think, but I don't recognise this one.

Also from Whiskyrat is a somewhat amazing Warzone 'mini' - though the term has little meaning for something this size - a 'Mercurian Maculator', also known as 'Giant Gorilla with a Gianter Gun'.

Taking the Various Victorian and the Mustachioed Manly Chap for scale, this gorilla is about 36' (getting on for 12m) tall. Trying to justify this in game terms may be a little tricky, though in some ways the gun is the easiest bit. Obviously, it's been converted from a big gun on an aether-ship. So now I have a size for aether-ship guns - about 13 or 14'. How to stat the model for GASLIGHT however is another question.

Finally, this morning my order from Brigade Games arrived - 10 British Troops in Pith-helmets and Rebreathers, and an Officer for the same with some kind of hand-held Maxim gun, who will be my first unit of Aetherines. No pics of them yet but they're the ones I posted in October as a wish-list. well, now the wish has come true!

Thanks very much to Danny at Baker Company, Whiskyrat, and staff at Brigade Games - you've all made me very happy! 

Of course, now I have to actually paint them... expect sporadic updates!

More Martian Wars troopers

As I'd painted up one of these chaps, I decided to try my hand at a few more; unfortunately, the khaki wasn't quite right, they look a little greenish compared to the chap on the extreme right of this picture,who was the first one painted. I think they're looking rather good, can't wait to get their Astro-Hungarian counterparts painted up so I can maybe get some Martian action in.

I've also been bitten by the Brigade Games bug - they have a  great VSF range, including these gems -

- link to Brigade Games here (check out the 'VSF - GASLIGHT' as well as the 'VSF - Steampunk' range, even more beauties there!)

These guys are proper Pith-Helmeted Victorian British, in breathing gear - just as I was planning for my aetherines (which are still on the modelling table...). Of course, now I'm going to get these rather than faff about building the breathing apparatus and they can go up against my Westwind Prussians-cum-Ruritanians, who also have natty breathing gear. I love it when a plan comes together...

And to inspire myself, I have to post this pic that I found trolling round the web but sadly now can't remember where it came from, otherwise I'd be saying 'hey this is _____'s groovy picture!' with a link to the artist's page and whatnot. It's a German-looking mechanical cavalryman and is most lovely - in a grimey, diesel-y sort of way...

Martian Wars trooper - test scheme

This is one of the Warzone Imperial troopers from Prince August Miniatures (link to the bag of 80 Imperial and Bauhaus minis here), which will be one of a bunch of British Space Empire troopers - slightly later than the usual 1890ish VSFery, these are for an early 20th century project around the 'Fourth Martian War' of around 1910.

Not been a lot of action for the last 2 months or so, partly because of the self-destruction of my old PC, but hopefully that will be changing as of now...

WIP Aetherine hero

I completely forgot to post the WIP of Sergeant Jack Ironbridge, heroic Sergeant of the Aetherines of the Royal Aeronautical Corps, in his experimental battlesuit.


Anyway...



... here he is.


When I looked at the photo I saw a couple of bits where I was a bit messy with the Aetherine blue - but needless to say I didn't notice on the model, as I am an old man with bad eyesight.

I'm hoping that his comrades of the Aetherines will be making an appearance soon... but regular readers of this blog will not, I trust, be holding their collective breath waiting for them to appear, they are behind the Dwarves in the queue. That's right, the UNIT troops were a rush job. I pushed them through the system especially fast. Only about 7 months...

Polls have closed, the masses have spoken

Thanks to those who voted in the 'Name my UNIT commander' poll - 4 of you means a 33% turn out which isn't bad I guess! - the extremely difficult tallying has gone ahead and the result is a resounding victory for 'Commadore Archibald Frazer Lethbridge Stewart'.

I'm very glad, as that's the answer I favour too. That means in a stunning reversal of tradition, I'm not going to ignore this result and do what I think is best anyway! I'm going to respect it and do what I think is best anyway!

Hopefully there will be more shenanigans soon, I've been a bit busy of late, but, it was ever thus...

Orc does some painting shock, no pictures not so much of a shock

Well, this month I actually managed some painting. Unfortunately as far as my current list of projects goes, it wasn't my gaming stuff I was painting.

Firstly, a 1:1 scale terrain project, to whit, the house. Redecorating upstairs has meant 1-any paintbrush I've been using has been far too big for minis, and 2-all my gaming stuff is currently in boxes in the loft. Curse you nice looking house!

Secondly, and somewhat more congenially, because it was outside on a sunny day with my friend Lyracian, I spent a very pleasant Thursday afternoon undercoating 50 rather funky Mantic undead (see the whole Mantic range at their site here), as the fulfillment of a birthday promise - having been skint at the time of Lyracian's birthday, and as he had a Tyrannid army in need of painting, I gave him a token entitling him to an afternoon painting session. A few months later and he's moved on from 'nids to skeletons, but never mind, I finally got to help him turn some lead (or rather plastic) into slightly-more-painted plastic. Hopefully, he'll finish them soon and put the results up on his blog (Tales of a Gamer, somewhere over on the left...)

Yet another month or more goes by...

...and an odd six weeks or so it's been since my last update.

A couple of days after I last posted, my friend Rob Marriott died suddenly. An artist, a gamer and a thoroughly nice bloke (as well as a maker of a fine cup of tea), Rob was also, through his insistence that I should play Warmachine, the guy that turned me on to the lovely minis produced by Privateer.

Thus, in a very real way, Rob is one of the inspirations for this blog, because it was in part my conversations with him about minis and gaming in general that lead to me kicking around the ideas that became the genesis of 'Rivets and Whimsy', and pretty directly the Warmachine minis have been an influence on my thinking about Victorian gaming, technology and aesthetics - hence some pics of them on this very page.

I never did play Warmachine with him, and I will always regret missing that opportunity. Farewell, Rob, I hope you're having a blast wherever you might be now.

Things and stuff

Well, May has almost departed us and hardly has my paintbrush touched paint in the last 6 weeks or so, such have been the demands of what I laughingly refer to as 'real life'.



Here is a little teaser for what will be coming up over the next few weeks (I hope) - actually it's an old WIP shot of my much-talked-about but rarely seen Colonel Hammond-Mustard, who also doubles as one of my Ruritanian officers.

He's one of the leaders in my GASLIGHT force that I'm slowly assembling; which brings me on to the new GASLIGHT Compendium - I'm hoping to get it as soon as the hard copy is out; the PDF is already available from many a reputable online retailer.

I have managed to find another unit I can add to my forces - either pro- or anti-British, I'm not sure yet. But I managed to pick up a game called "Impact" (in fact I got the expansion, "Impact - Battle for Wolf Ridge" as well) from a local charity shop. It's a funny game, there are various spring loaded weapons in the sets, and missile fire is resolved by actually firing little rubber-tipped bullets and knocking your opponents' models over; hand-to-hand is handled similarly to chess or draughts or something. But never mind, it's the figures I was after.




Within, as well as about 15 humans and some robots, armed with futuristic weaponry, there were also about 20 dino-lizardy types, mostly with weird rifles. The humans will no doubt see service for my sci-fi gaming, but the lizards might make a nice substitute for the ubiquitous Kroot Parrotmen of Cytheria that everyone seems to be doing.





There are about 15 Lizardmen similar to this, including a couple with smaller weapons. Also included in the Lizardman force were 4 larger more dino-like models with shoulder-mounted 'missile launcer' type heavy weapons, very odd affairs that seem to be made out of some kind of animal. Whether I use them as enemies or allies (perhaps Venusian Lizardmen Sepoys, for instance), or both, is yet to be decided. They may even be found on Atlantis, I suppose. I might even be able to do an entire Atlantean engagement, Lizardmen v. Morlocks, that would be fun.




Seen here with an Ironclad Brit for scale, they seem to be fine (size-wise at least). Maybe some repainting might be in order, but frankly as I'm rubbish at painting perhaps I shouldn't bother.

Yet more excuses

Well, what do you know? Not only did I not manage to get my first entry in to the Lead Painters' League, I haven't posted any pics of my Aetherines or UNIT troops either. I can only plead being busy, but I hope to begin rectifying the situation soon. Honest.

Another one of those 'excuses' posts...

... real life has been getting in the way a bit. Some of it good, like my friend's 3-day stag party. Some of it less good. Some of it interesting, but very time consuming (step forward essays on re-evaluating excavations of The Breiddin hillfort, and concepts behind Anglo-Saxon memorials; and an exam into various aspects of the Iron Age). Some of it time consuming and very dull.

About the most exciting thing I've done hobby-wise in the lasy few weeks is buy some liquid poly.

Anyway, the Aetherines should be soon joining the ranks, if not of fully-paid-up soldiers of the Queen, at least of chaps in training and being kitted out. I'm determined I'm going to do something with them this week!

Oh, and the GW Sentinel that is I hope soon to become an Armoured Lancer has at least moved from the loft to the living room carpet. I really must do something about that...

Well that's the summer more or less over...

I say, it's getting beyond a joke. No sooner had I complained that May was gone and I hadn't done anything, some sinister (and probably foreign) fiend made off with June, July and half of August too! Dashed bally rotters, that's what they are.

My Dwarves in the Service of the Queen-Empress are still languishing in their box... err... barracks, my King of Ruritania is still only half-painted, and I am very behind with my frankly not-very exacting schedule of getting units ready! I'd hoped to get a bit of VSF gaming in over summer but alas, it has not yet happened.

I have been playing some 40k and painting fantasy Orcs and making terrain though so I've been doing some gaming stuff... too easily distracted I suppose. Well, the Atlantis campaign over at Lead Adventurers is getting back on track, let's see if that can keep me focussed on VSF. Onward and upward!

Blimey where has May gone?

Assignments and exams have kept me very busy this last month - the last thing I had to report was my Dwarves in Pith Helmets arriving. Well, I've not even got them out of the box yet (OK I have, but I put them back in again).

Normal service will be resumed when I am no longer a Prisoner of the Fiends of the Ivory Tower. Or at least, when they let me out for summer.