Hammerhead 2019

Off down the M6 and across the A50 to Newark Showground, for the first show of the year (for me). Last year's show was cancelled because of a blizzard on the day, and I missed 2017 because of some clash of diaries, so this was the first time I have attended since the show has been split across two halls. This seemed to work well, with plenty of room for the games and traders but no gaping holes. As usual at this show every game was designated as a participation event (apart from those in the DBA tournament). I didn't try out any of these, so I can't comment on their quality, but there seemed to be a fair amount of activity around most of the tables.

I had some specific targets, mostly around the game Rangers of Shadow Deep, which I have recently picked up. This is by Joe McCullough, the creator of Frostgrave and Ghost Archipelago. I find those settings rather specific, whereas RoSD allows you to use much more generic fantasy characters - rangers obviously, and knights, conjurors, rogues and so on. It's main strength is the scenarios which are put out, each with interesting challenges and different mechanics.

My first purchase was a bunch of dungeon dressing - treasure piles, tables, rubble and so on. These came from a vendor called Miniature Vault, which means, according to the packaging, that they are bulk purchased from Reaper Bones and repackaged for sale at conventions.

After a turn around the first haul, and a bit of lunch (pie and chips) I walked over to the George Stephenson Hall, which is the hall where the show used to be held in total. I got some more dungeon stuff from Ainsty - more substantial items like walls, pillars and doors. From 4Ground I picked up a couple of Dark Ages Anglo-Danish houses/huts - they should fit into the generic fantasy background. I also got a couple of packs of clear plastic circular bases (25mm diameter) which I now use for all my 28mm figures.

The final purchase was the biggest, a board game. I had hoped to find Pavlov's House, a solo game of defending a building over many days during the Stalingrad battle. However the only vendor there, Magister Militum, didn't have it with them, and I was quite happy to pick up one of the COIN (Counterinsurgency) series. I dithered between A Distant Plain (Afghanistan modern) and Cuba Libre (Castro's revolution) - in the endI opted for the latter, and I am looking forward to seeing how it plays - like all the COIN series it is designed from the outset for full solitaire play (though you can have up to three other players).

Back to the North West, the trip only spoiled slightly by Blackpool's progressive collapse to a 4-0 defeat at Bristol Rovers. Quite a bit of painting to do now, but also some rules reading.

The booty

Leven Old West buildings

At Fiasco in Leeds, back in late October, I bought one each of all the Leven Old West buildings - 18 in all. Actually a few more than 18 buildings, as a couple of the packs had multiple items. My overall intention is to build a town on a large base, maybe a couple of feet square, but I started out by painting them all up individually.

As usual the Leven buildings are a pleasure to paint, with nice details which show up well. On many of the buildings I was able to include signs (Saloon, Doctor etc) which I simply found on the web and downloaded to print. I think these really enhance the look of the whole thing, and help to establish scale and period. One of the "buildings" is the entrance to a mine, with rail tracks and general clutter - this is another nice model, but it may be a little tricky to include it in my townscape.

More Chicago

I built the two 4Ground Chicago Way models I picked up at FIASCO last weekend - the Shotgun House and the Garage. As always with this supplier the models are really nice and solid, double thickness on all the main walls so you get a sound structure and surface detail on both sides. The house is pretty simple, a straightforward rectangular building with one interior dividing wall with door, and a porch/veranda at each end. The garage was more substantial and complicated, with an internal office with its own flat roof, and then a large space accessed by double doors which would be the workshop, presumably. There's nice glazing for the windows, including signs for the front ones, and a long covered walkway going out to one side. All pre-painted, plus signs and posters to stick on when you're finished. I have five buildings in this series now, as well as other suitable city buildings; I am looking for appropriate mats or the like.

Fiasco 2017

Over to Leeds today for Fiasco at the Royal Armouries. This is my third or fourth year - it is not too far to drive, a bit over the hour, and it's also well timed as there's not a lot of other shows going on right now. I parked up and had a quick look around, then went looking for lunch. The docks area around the Armouries is very smart, all big new buildings or modern conversions of original warehouses - but it's a bit soulless. I walked over the Ayre and up into the older part of Leeds. I found a bar/club called Revolution - no doubt very trendy at night, but for a rack of ribs and apint on Sunday lunchtime, just perfect.

Back to the show along the Ayre - someday we might come over on the narrowboat and moor close by. But that is well in the future. For this year's show I had a few specific items on the list, and I got them all. The first target was some Old West buildings from Leven - I have an idea to create a western town as a sort of diorama. I'd like to try playing a gunfighter game at 6mm, but so far I am struggling to find suitable figures, and I had no more luck today. While I was at Leven's stand I als picked up an extra building, as I often do, just because I liked the look of it. In this case it was a big British pub, called The Push, apparently based on a real building in Beverley.

After that I wanted some more Chicago buildings in 28mm, having built a couple last week. I found some 4Ground kits at Colonel Bill's stall, and I got a garage and a shotgun shack. I was tempted by a large warehouse, but at £80 it was just a little too much.

My other targets were smaller. I got a pack of gangsters from Pulp Figures - Bugs Malarchy's Mob - who will obviously be fighting around the new buildings. And I went to Baccus and picked up the Fallschirmjager Nebelwerfers - they had sold out at Salute, and I didn't get to Joy of Six, so I wanted to get hold of it, though I am not currently painting WW2.

I got away after three, and home by about half four - it was a lovely day for the first day of winter, so the drive was no problem - a good day out all told.

Chicago Shops

For a bit of a change from painting 6mm I decided to build a couple of 4Ground models I have had for a while, possibly since Salute and perhaps longer. They are for Chicago in the gangster era, two small retail premises. One is a tobacconist, with suitable posters and flyers stuck all over it, and the other is a jeweller's, a little bit more sober with stone pillar work and solid-looking doors.

4Ground do good kits, with plenty of detail, and pre-painted. For some reason I am very happy to get pre-painted terrain, especially at this larger scale, while I am very keen to paint my own figures. These models have glazed windows, with painted lettering for the large display panes; I think these are the first models in this range with glazing.

Battlescale buildings

A new supplier of 6mm buildings, Battlescale Miniatures. This is run by a guy called Steve Clay, who is on several Facebook groups, and is based close to Stoke. I thought I would try some of his stuff for my ACW project, and as a change from Leven, and I must say it is pretty nice. The resin is quite shiny, and very hard, with no apparent bubbles or flaws. The surface detail is good, and I painted them up quite quickly, mostly layers of drybrushing, with a few little details to finish them off. The models I got are the Dunker Church, which was on the battlefield of Antietam, a Farmhouse with Annexe, a Gambrel Barn and a Timber Clad Homestead. Unlike soldiers, where uniformity is expected, buildings need as much variety as possible, so a good new source of supply is always welcome.