Projecting the Projected Projects

I realise that the heading of this post may appear to be somewhat cryptic but that is a reflection of the usual modus operandi of what passes for my thought process! I suspect that most gamers usually have several projects ‘on the go’ and I am happily no exception to that worthy principle. Having said that, I sometimes find having a mini project can be a useful fill in during those periods between phases of the main projects. A good example would during painting stages or waiting for the next batch of kit to arrive through the post. Now you would be right in thinking that I have a large number of full blown projects on the go and furthermore you would probably also be right in thinking along the lines ‘why on earth would he want to tackle something else on top of all the other projects?’ Guilty as charged I’m afraid – it must be the Magpie syndrome that most, if not all war gamers have when it comes to acquiring new and shiny things! To which………………………………..

I have in mind a very small mini project (I am sure we have all said that before….!) arising from the new range of 6mm Power Armoured Infantry produced by Brigade Models. These are lovely looking models and the plan is to acquire some Ground Zero Games (GZG) ‘Bugs’ as opposition for some rip-roaring ‘Starship Troopers’ type action. The figures come in bags of 24 for £2.50 so these will sit on bases of four figures on a 40mm frontage. The bugs come in 12s but are slightly larger so putting, say, 3 of these on a slightly deeper base will provide the opposition. I plan to paint the infantry in two basic colours so there will be a couple of forces that could even fight amongst themselves if need be.

This will merely be exercise and will not distract from the more serious business of the Balkan Wars, WW1 and various other assorted projects. Furthermore, I am boldly stating that this project will be complete ‘before the leaves fall’. Seriously though, they will need minimal painting and I plan to game with them using Space Hulk but with fire team bases rather than individual figures. Using this scale of figure will allow for the use of a lot more ‘kit’ in terms things like ‘walkers’, vehicles and such like. Adding the occasional small selection of extra kit is an easy way to expand the set up should I wish and this will also keep the collection ‘fresh’ in terms of gaming longevity.

A further example of a mini project will be the basing and naming of the next batch of ships and aircraft for Axis and Allies: War at Sea. There is not a huge amount of models to be tackled but it would still be an evening or two. There is no pressing urgency to do this immediately as I am still acquiring the kit I need but it still qualifies as a mini project.

I had mentioned the Balkan Wars above (and the WW1 stuff as well) and the state of play has moved along slightly from last weekend. I put the base coat on the horses and this was mainly to see how the effect I was using was going to look. I am painting these using a technique described by Frank Chadwick as ‘stain’ painting. This means using a diluted base colour for the main uniform shade and then using full strength colours for the detail. With just the base colour on it looks horrible but when you start applying the detail the figure really comes to life – and this is from a renowned ‘Non-painting Philistine’. Dare I say it, but I am almost enthusiastic about tackling the figures using this technique! It is probably not suitable for all types of painting but for 20th century flat coloured (i.e. non-camouflaged) uniforms it works really well.

I have also been busy with the Morschauser Afloat naval rules and will have the ship charts ready for Sunday. Once again, this has been a labour of love to a certain extent although my enthusiasm has flagged slightly whilst drawing up yet another set of ship specification charts! This part of the process is more informative than fun but has to be tackled nevertheless. Certainly I shall derive great satisfaction from seeing the finished article.

It will be an interesting couple of months on the project front then – I am hoping that no further distractions arise but then I guess that is one of the beauties of this hobby of ours!