Filling up the edges

By dint of several tactical disposals over recent weeks I have been able to address a few holes in the collection - some of which I have already detailed on the blog - and so am now at the stage whereby I can call a halt, at least until something else heaves over the horizon!

Aside from the assorted books acquired to support the ironclads - the latest of which feature later in this post - there has been one single large purchase.

Two boxes of Hexon blue goodness along with twenty single hexes - enough to cover 6ft by 4ft with 4” hexes. The colour is possibly a little dark for aerial games but that will not stop me using it!

I have (re)invested in some blue Hexon tiles for use with both naval and aerial games. 

There is, inevitably really, a bit of a back story to this in that I have owned a similar quantity of the blue tiles in the past but moved them on some years ago as I wanted to use a cloth instead. I have been on the lookout for a cloth for ages but have yet to find one that is suitable and so I finally decided to revisit Hexon. I prefer a plain blue rather than ‘seascaped’ as it suits my models better and of course, it means that I can avail myself of the Hexon terrain range for islands and shorelines etc.

I had a long chat with Mr Kallistra at The Other Partizan (which is where Mr Barnes spotted me!) and found out a lot of useful stuff about how to produce your own bespoke designs using the plain tiles.

Another couple of titles have found their way into my collection of naval books - one new and one secondhand, the latter I have Joppy of Steam, Steel and Torpedoes fame to thank for bringing it to my attentions - and of course there is the small matter of my Other Partizan loot.

A great doorstop of a tome and very ‘Brassey’s Naval Annual’ like. As soon as I knew of this books existence I simply had to get a copy!

Everything you wanted to know about RN Victorian cruisers but were afraid to ask - a great companion to the author’s title on battleships of the same era.

A surprisingly modest selection of loot from the Other Partizan. The two crusades titles will support a long distance project I have in mind, as will the Viking title. The MDF bases will naturally be used for ship building….

My Victorian naval project for DTPIW now has pretty much all the research material I am likely to need so I can park that for now. The plans are with Warbases for the ships and so work on the masts can commence in advance of the arrival of industrial quantities of MDF.

It is a great feeling knowing that for at least one project - DTPIW - I have everything that I need to complete it.

It is now at the serious part and I cannot wait to plunge into it!

Once again many thanks to Joppy and I promise I will get the errata tackled asap!