Tuesday, 15 October 2024

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!






10 comments:

Donnie McGibbon said...

I do like the hex tiles, they look really good. Very nice books and some good loot as well.

Mark Cordone said...

A nice haul. I'm especially interested in the potential Crusades project.

pancerni said...

Quite a selection of good reading. The tile looks good and look forward to seeing these in your gallery.

Aly Morrison said...

Nice looking tiles David…I didn’t realise that they came in blue.
Now you’ve got me thinking…

All the best. Aly

David Crook said...

Hi Donnie,

Hexon is really good quality and for me is definitely very versa-tile.... :-) The show loot was quite restrained - mainly as my budget has taken a hammering recently - but the two naval books were definitely worth the money!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Mark,

I will be honest and say that I have had a potential Crusades project in mind for several years now....

Something DBA/Portable Wargame based or even, as is more likely, Command and Colours Medieval.

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Pancerni,

The Hexon will certainly be featuring soon!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Aly,

You can get them in plain blue, black or a mud brown colour and being unlocked they are cheaper. A standard box full will cover an area 4ft by 3ft.

Go on, you know you want to!

All the best,

DC

The Jolly Broom Man said...

Hexon have done great service on my game board for years. Definitely worth the expense. Cool books too DC.

David Crook said...

Hello there JBM,

I have a bit of history with Hexon in that I owned several sets of it - blue, grass and desert, along with roads, rivers and hills - and in a moment of madness disposed of the whole lot.

Such is the folly of youth (actually I was in my late 50s but you get the drift!)….

I had been looking around for ages for a decent hexed cloth that was NOT seascaped but without any luck so opted to get the blue Hexon again - and I am very pleased that I did.

I will be able to get my 6ft by 4ft table covered when needed although usually my 5ft by 3ft suffices.

The books are really useful and I reckon that certainly for the ironclads I have everything I need reference-wise.

Now just to build them!

All the best,

DC