The view in the Legatus's road last Friday afternoon
I realised that I haven't posted for three weeks and in that time everyone else whose blogs I follow seems to be turning out stuff at an amazing rate.
Two things have stopped me progressing on my painting. Firstly, both my wife and son have gone down, at different times, with some of the nasty viruses around at present so I have been running around looking after them, getting medicine and plying them with drinks (they both got very dehydrated). I'm not feeling too brilliant myself this evening and I had a nasty fall at the weekend on the ice underneath the snow in our drive. I've been limping around for nearly a week and literally bumped into local WAG Louise Redknapp today in the doctor's surgery car park, as my ability to change direction rapidly to avoid other people is much diminished. Although if you have to collide with one of the neighbours...
The question tonight, therefore, is what is the best way to treat pain and a cold: Lem Sip, Rioja or a Vodka Martini? All three, I suspect, may not be a good idea.
We haven't been hit as bad as some parts of the country with the snow but four inches was enough to bring most of the transport to a halt here for a day at least. The Legatus lives on a cul-de-sac so we don't get enough through traffic to clear the road of snow properly. At least we didn't end up with a BMW in our garden like the family at the top of the drive. Rear wheel drive cars are rubbish in the snow!
The second thing that is taking up my time is work. I am dealing with an imminent visit from Colombia which means that stuff keeps coming in until about midnight, so I am tapping away doing emails instead of painting. I did get some painting done at the weekend and at least the snow helped provide rather brighter light than of late.
Actually, I have nearly finished a small unit (8 figures) of Copplestone Back of Beyond cavalry. I'm hoping a bit of work this weekend will see them finished. I think the Russians I did a few months ago have got me interested in the period again so I might prepare some more during Dancing on Ice on Sunday. Added to this are the new Empress "Jazz Age colonials" which currently only consist of three packs of Afghan tribesmen. I picked up the widescreen (as opposed to the dreadful pan and scan) DVD of the Tom Selleck film High Road to China this week. This rather underrated film, slated at the time for being sub-standard Indiana Jones (Selleck was Spielberg's original choice for the part), features a British camp in Waziristan, Waziri tribesmen (led by Brian Blessed!) and a final battle between warlord Chinese forces. It is very unlikely that you will ever get a more Back of Beyond film than this! They even got the five coloured star on the Chinese officer's cap right! Painting these on 28mm figures has proved something of a challenge, I have to say. All this has got me thinking about Waziristan so I hope Empress eventually produce some suitable British, Indian Army and Gurkha troops. Copplestone make them but they come from the period when his figures were huge so I don't think they will match too well.
I've been buying a few more figures (as if I need any more) and today this whopping box of Matabele arrived from North Star (there is nothing like a big heavy box with a Nottingham post mark). These are entirely Giles' fault and there looks to be about three years worth of work in here. I also bought some Perry French Napoleonic light infantry on eBay as well as, at last, my second Copplestone elephant which I need for my stalled but not forgotten Zambezi campaign. Or, as my particular friend Sophie pointed put the other day, Zambesi if I want to adopt period correct spelling. The rest of my Crusader American Civil War regulars turned up (North Star is not the place to go if you want instant gratification - unlike Copplestone, for example) and I based those but ran out of spray undercoat. This has now been rectified and I plan to move them along after my Back of Beyond cavalry.
I also based some of my Empress ECW cavalry figures and was surprised to find that they will work perfectly well with my existing Renegade figures. They are delicate, however, and I broke one of the horses off its base but Empress came to the rescue with replacements so I took the opportunity to pick up a few pikemen. I haven't looked at these compared with the Renegade figures yet but, again, they look quite large (although slimmer than the Renegades and with smaller heads).
Finally, today, I picked up the Black Powder supplement on the Peninsula War which is filled with the most delicious looking photographs. I must not get distracted from Waterloo and Quatre Bras, however.
So, I think my cold is getting the better of me and I will retire and hope I feel up to finishing my cavalry tomorrow!
The question tonight, therefore, is what is the best way to treat pain and a cold: Lem Sip, Rioja or a Vodka Martini? All three, I suspect, may not be a good idea.
We haven't been hit as bad as some parts of the country with the snow but four inches was enough to bring most of the transport to a halt here for a day at least. The Legatus lives on a cul-de-sac so we don't get enough through traffic to clear the road of snow properly. At least we didn't end up with a BMW in our garden like the family at the top of the drive. Rear wheel drive cars are rubbish in the snow!
British base in Waziristan (well, actually, Yugoslavia)
Actually, I have nearly finished a small unit (8 figures) of Copplestone Back of Beyond cavalry. I'm hoping a bit of work this weekend will see them finished. I think the Russians I did a few months ago have got me interested in the period again so I might prepare some more during Dancing on Ice on Sunday. Added to this are the new Empress "Jazz Age colonials" which currently only consist of three packs of Afghan tribesmen. I picked up the widescreen (as opposed to the dreadful pan and scan) DVD of the Tom Selleck film High Road to China this week. This rather underrated film, slated at the time for being sub-standard Indiana Jones (Selleck was Spielberg's original choice for the part), features a British camp in Waziristan, Waziri tribesmen (led by Brian Blessed!) and a final battle between warlord Chinese forces. It is very unlikely that you will ever get a more Back of Beyond film than this! They even got the five coloured star on the Chinese officer's cap right! Painting these on 28mm figures has proved something of a challenge, I have to say. All this has got me thinking about Waziristan so I hope Empress eventually produce some suitable British, Indian Army and Gurkha troops. Copplestone make them but they come from the period when his figures were huge so I don't think they will match too well.
Matabele!
I've been buying a few more figures (as if I need any more) and today this whopping box of Matabele arrived from North Star (there is nothing like a big heavy box with a Nottingham post mark). These are entirely Giles' fault and there looks to be about three years worth of work in here. I also bought some Perry French Napoleonic light infantry on eBay as well as, at last, my second Copplestone elephant which I need for my stalled but not forgotten Zambezi campaign. Or, as my particular friend Sophie pointed put the other day, Zambesi if I want to adopt period correct spelling. The rest of my Crusader American Civil War regulars turned up (North Star is not the place to go if you want instant gratification - unlike Copplestone, for example) and I based those but ran out of spray undercoat. This has now been rectified and I plan to move them along after my Back of Beyond cavalry.
I also based some of my Empress ECW cavalry figures and was surprised to find that they will work perfectly well with my existing Renegade figures. They are delicate, however, and I broke one of the horses off its base but Empress came to the rescue with replacements so I took the opportunity to pick up a few pikemen. I haven't looked at these compared with the Renegade figures yet but, again, they look quite large (although slimmer than the Renegades and with smaller heads).
Finally, today, I picked up the Black Powder supplement on the Peninsula War which is filled with the most delicious looking photographs. I must not get distracted from Waterloo and Quatre Bras, however.
So, I think my cold is getting the better of me and I will retire and hope I feel up to finishing my cavalry tomorrow!
Best of British with the impending illness...but you are lucky to have the distraction of figures to paint!
ReplyDeleteHope you're recovered soon, Legatus. For those of us not in the know, what is a "WAG"?
ReplyDeleteFMB
WAG is short for Wives and Girlfriends and refers to the female consorts of professional footballers.
ReplyDeleteGoogle her. She is quite impressive!
Hope you feel better soon the snow has just arrived here yesterday!
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have a lot going on on different fronts!
Sorry to hear you are not feeling so well, hope your gettung better (cold & fall) soon.
ReplyDeleteI recall my old Uni lecturer, telling us two things about colds - if you dont treat them, they last a fortnight, if you do treat them they last 14 days... treating them makes you feel a bit better though...
And the main thing he said that was bad about colds, is quite simply sleep disturbance... you cant sleep, so you feel shit all the next day... his answer; Whiskey or in other words a 'hot tody'. Enjoy!