A busy week...and a couple of painted figures

Canada House, eh?

Well, it's been a busy week for the Legatus; especially as regards work which involved several receptions, chairing an event for some Canadians and giving a training course to some government people.  Alas, the reception I attended at the newly renovated Canada House on Trafalgar Square meant I could not take up Eric's kind offer to visit his shed on Monday. 

The view from the conference room

Unlike the FCO, who are hounded by the Daily Mail every time they spend money on an embassy or an event, the Canadian diplomatic service realise that promoting a positive image of your country is not best done by economising on everything.

The British Columbia room

Sensibly mobilising lots of private sector sponsorship, they have taken the period interiors and modernised them through the use of modern Canadian art, furniture and some truly splendid Canadian-designed modern rugs.  Many of the rooms have been themed to reflect Canada's provinces and I was given a special tour of them.

Many of my fellow bloggers have been celebrating the life of Terry Pratchett.  Although I met him once and found him charming company I have never been able to get on with his Discworld books.  This is not because of any problem with Sir Terry's writing ability (far from it) but because I have an issue with certain types of fantasy.  This extends to wargames too.  Basically I like my fantasy to be "realistic", if that is not a contradictory term.  It must exist in a conceivably possible universe.  In fact, the more it is like our world the better.  So, despite enjoying all things Middle Earth, things like magic in wargames, and even monsters, make me less inclined to buy into it.   It's all just too silly.

But, of course isn't all fantasy silly?  The Old Bat would think so.  She thinks all fiction is "silly made-up stories" (she only watches factual programmes on TV).  Anything reeking of fantasy provokes snorts of derision. We live in a world where fantasy films have, however, become acceptable, whereas when I was growing up fantasy was low-budget nonsense for children.  Now, of course, with the Lord of the Rings and, especially, Game of Thrones it is acceptable for adults to admit to watching  and (to a lesser extent) reading fantasy.  Game of Thrones has some magic and, of course, dragons but it is possible to imagine a world like that existing.  Sir Terry lost me from the outset with the world on the back of the elephants on the back of the turtle.  Clever.  Funny.  But I couldn't get over this initially ludicrous concept.  A leap from reality too far for me.  I think I am also hampered by my non-literary mind.  When I read a book I see a motion picture in my head so, basically, I only like books which provoke motion pictures.  Books where the words themselves are there to get you to think (rather than just propelling the plot) are beyond me. I also can't relate to books where the author addresses the reader directly (sorry, Jane Austen).  It destroys the magic of the imagined world, oddly.  So my brain is unable to cope with any literary tricks or conceits.  It doesn't work like that!  I am stupid airport book person.  I actually wonder if I have any critical faculty as regards books at all!  Still, many (most) of my (far more literary than I am) friends love Pratchett's work and he is obviously much missed.  Even Playboy had a eulogy to him on their website!

Goodbye to all that

The lead pile was added to this week with a big box of two armies for West Wind's new War & Empire rules.  I bought a Spartacus slave army and a Roman republican army to oppose them.  I was attracted by the very nice 15mm figures in the Kickstarter but when I looked at them in reality I decided that buying them was a  mistake.  Firstly, they are very small "true" 15mm figures which makes them, for me, too small to paint.  Secondly, the basing for the rules means that the figures stand on comparatively large bases - three tiny figures on a 40 x 30mm base, for a warband.  This makes them look like gaming tokens and not a representation of a real army.   I am still unable to get over my irrational hatred of element basing which is why skirmish games are much better for me!  So, it's straight to eBay with this lot and I'll just take the hit on the cost.  No more 15mm for me!

Don't go running!

I've spent a lot of time at my sister's this week as she was out running last weekend, tripped over and broke her wrist.  Not a little crack either; the bone snapped completely in a Smith's fracture (where your hand bends inwards on impact rather than the more usual outwards) and she will need a plate and pins to fix it.  So I had to go over and do her shopping, change some light bulbs and open her orange juice.

The bone is completely displaced

Fortunately for her pain management programme, she has found that the ubiquity of screw-top wine bottles these days has meant that she can open wine one-handed, at least!  Hooray for modern technology!

I intended to have a good few hours painting today but the light was awful.  Nevertheless, I did a a little bit more on some Afghan Wars British.  Artizan have come out with a whole load of new exciting packs, including Afghan regulars,  and I did succumb to the first Corps of Guides figures but I am trying not to get any more until the ones I have got are finished!

I have also been making slow but steady progress on the four figures I need to finish my first Lion Rampant unit of Carolingians.  I did finish this dismounted general this weekend who will see service somewhere in my Lion Rampant force.  It has become obvious that I need to paint more units than just the basic 24 point force to give me some alternates.

Finally, I also finished the first of my North Star pirates: Anne Bonney, needless to say, who was a feisty redhead (something the Legatus has rather a lot of experience of!).

Hopefully, I will get a few more figures finished this week.  I have a couple more pirates, a slave girl, some Neanderthals and some Argonauts well on the way.

She can tickle my ivories any time

Today's music is Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, performed by German-Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott (very much an Axis of gorgeousness).  With her potent mixture of German legginess and Asian delicacy she reminds me of my acquaintance Kiều Khanh (the German-Vietnamese Miss Vietnam 2011).

The Legatus enjoying cocktails with Miss Vietnam and her friend in Hanoi

Today, Pictures at an Exhibition is mostly heard in the orchestration by Ravel but the piano original is stunning too.  This is a live recording, which I don't usually like, but there was no noise from the audience at the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg, at all.  This was one of the first classical pieces I can remember hearing.  It was played during a school assembly when I was about eight and I rushed home to my mother to ask about this brilliant piece of music by a man called Mussolini!

There is a wargames link to Pictures at an Exhibition as one of the pieces is called The Hut on Fowl's Legs, which was the dwelling of the legendary Russian witch Baba Yaga.  Eastern Front Studios actually make a version of this scaled for 28mm figures.  Never have I been so tempted by something so utterly useless for any wargames I might contemplate, especially given my views on fantasy.  In fact, the whole thing is really rather Terry Pratchett!