Allan Quatermain and another blog!

I can't start a new year without a new blog so I have decided to lump all my steampunk and other Victoriana into a new one called Legatus' Victoriana Wargames.  This will cover In Her Majesty's Name, Empire of the Dead and anything else which is nineteenth century skirmish based and outside Africa (I have a hankering for Wild West this year!).  One of the things I want to do this year is go back to the neglected blogs and try to do at least one thing for each so they don't look quite so sadly abandoned.

Of course, this brings the number of my wargaming blogs to 22.  Some people have wondered why I don't consolidate all my posts into one blog.  Well, apart from the fact it's too late to go back at this stage, I really like having separate ones for each period as I am often reminded of something I have half finished by looking at the various blog titles and thinking something like "now, where is that half finished unit of Carthaginian veterans?"  I set up the first blog to focus my painting (hollow laugh) and I do find that even if I don't do any painting I can at least do something on one of the blogs (especially if I am abroad).  

The first proper post (I have copied my other appropriate posts across too) is of my newly painted West Wind Allan Quatermain.  I have to acknowledge that Sofie's Paint Table Saturday is giving me a boost to get stuff done at the weekend and I am now evolving, for 2014, a process of working on one unit and one character at a time. 

I'm also going to note down the music I was listening to when I wrote each post.  Today it is the Symphony No 1 by Lars-Erik Larsson a hugely underrated Swedish composer who sounds like, as Sophie once put it, "Sibelius with tunes".   His piece Dagens Stunder (The hours of the day) is one of the most atmospheric and melodic pieces of music I know and deserves to be much better known.

First Unit of 2014 - Warriors of Erebor

Well, largely thanks to Sofie and the inspiration of her Paint Table Saturday, I finished my box of Erebor Dwarves from The Hobbit (more about them here).  I haven't finished this many figures in one go since last March when I did 12 Darkest Africa Askari.

They were reasonably quick to paint but probably because I didn't obsess about as tidy a finish as I could.  I really need to use my limited painting time to get more done!  Next Dwarvish job is to repaint the bases of my Grim Hammers to match.  Then I better get some orcs!

I've also nearly early finished another Empire of the Dead figure too with just the metallic paint to do!  One thing that was putting me off getting on with my painting was that when I varnished Irene Adler she came out rather shiny.  No matter how much I stirred the varnish it stayed with a silk finish.  Worried about having shiny dwarves, I opened another tin of Humbol varnish and this was fine so I gave Irene another coat and she is fine now too.

Mr first figure of 2014 and glug!

The light has been just awful lately, as we suffer almost constant inundation, so although I finished this Empire of the Dead Irene Adler figure a few days ago it has been too dark to photograph her.  This is my second EotD figure and she was, like Captain Nemo, lovely to paint.  I might try to finish my IHMN policemen next but they will need good light to work on, given the need for some quite subtle shading.  I have given up on the Erebor dwarves for a bit as I cannot see detail on the black undercoat.  I bunged off an order to North Star this week for the sample pack of their new Biblical range Sea People.  As there was quite a high minimum postage cost I bought the Brick Lane Collective for IHMN too.  Given North Star's leisurely service they won't be with me for several weeks, I suspect, in contrast to some figures I ordered from Australia (more about which shortly) recently which arrived in about five days. 

No, it's not the river it's the A320

We had to go off to my parents in law today as they live on the Thames and the water was not only rapidly approaching the back of the house from the river, it was coming up from the land side from the flooded main road, the A 320.  I think they have about nine inches leeway at present.  We're hoping the water goes down soon but it's not due to subside for at least 36 hours.

The water gets close to my parents in law's garage

The big job today was to get the Bentley raised up so that the water can't get to it.  So we spent a lot of time constructing ramps, cutting blocks and jacking it up six or seven inches or so.  Hopefully this should be enough!

Guy tries to locate the swimming pool.  The Thames is visible on the right.  And the left.  And in the centre.

I'm glad we live on a hill but even we got cut off for a morning this week when the main road flooded right across and the police closed it.  We have only had a bit of rain today but I can't remember the last time we had such sustained rainfall and high winds for so long.  It's getting on for three weeks now.  

Finally, continuing with the watery theme, I was wandering through Mayfair about twenty years ago and I saw this brilliant WC and washbasin in a posh bathroom shop.  This was in the days before digital cameras, let alone camera phones so I couldn't record them in all their tasteless loveliness but I often thought of them (strangely).  It is my birthday tomorrow (the anniversary of the invasion of Zululand in 1879) and I jokingly told my wife I wanted the"girly loo" for the cloakroom downstairs.   Now the Old Bat doesn't have many good qualities but tenacity is one she has in bucket loads.  So she proudly announced that she had eventually located a shop that sold the "girly loo" and, amazingly, it was located here in Oxshott, less than half a mile from the house.  Now, of course, if you want to sell tasteless bathroom furniture then a village largely populated by Premier League footballers, golf and tennis champions, Russian Oligarchs and Americans is ideal.

So, the Old Bat actually went into West One Bathrooms and enquired about the girly loo.  "Yes, madam we can get one for you.  Do you want a white, a black or a gold seat?  No, you have to put in your own concealed cistern.  No, you have to buy all the plumbing separately.  The washbasin doesn't come with taps, either."  So, the cost for the piece without plumbing including VAT is - £10,000.  Each.  It could have been worse.  The bath my wife wanted was £20,000. 

Now I've seen pieces of so called art in some of the world's trendier galleries (the Vancouver Art Gallery springs to mind) which aren't a patch on this bath.  However,  to be worth the money you would really need someone appropriate to set it off.  Not very many famous people share my birthday but I'd be very happy to watch Countdown's Rachel Riley, who does, recline elegantly in it.

Rachel: We enjoyed seeing her get fitter by the week in Strictly Come Dancing last year

Finding Nemo

 Lots of teeth!

When I got my big box of West Wind's Empire of the Dead Requiem figures I couldn't for the life of me remember which figures I had ordered.  I then had to go on several trips so just based up all the individual figures and decided to work out who was who afterwards.  

One figure which was quite easy to identify was Nemo, especially if you have seen The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. I decided to start work on him as the first of my Empire of the Dead figures and I finished him today.  As ever, I am finding it easier to concentrate on character figures at present rather than trying to paint units of anything but this does mean my slow painting speed has now become glacial.  This is my first completed figure in five weeks. 

This is the first West Wind figure I have ever painted and I found the level of detail excellent with hardly any mould lines and no flash.  I'm looking forward to doing some more.  They have now issued an entire Captain Nemo and crew set with Nemo dressed more in the manner of the Disney film of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  Looks like I will have to get that too.  Then, of course, I will need a Nautilus!

I have actually based a figure today which will be my first attempt at a Finecast one. I may see if I can get him done (or at least started) tomorrow.

Empire of the Dead!

There is nothing like getting a nice big box of soldiers in the post (unless you are my wife who is trying to persuade me to pay for a new kitchen floor, a new bathroom and an extension and therefore hates me spending money on anything at the moment).  In addition, Charlotte's old school has written to me suggesting I donate a useful item to the school.  They have suggested a lacrosse goal set (£3000), or an infrared spectrometer (£7000) or perhaps a 2D laser cutting machine (£20,000 - no wonder 4Ground buildings are so expensive).  Good grief!

Anyway, I could, truthfully, claim that these were ordered months ago. Yes, my big box of West Wind's Empire of the Dead has arrived.  I think it is about fifty figures (or about six month's painting if I really go at it).  They are a bit slimmer than the Northstar In Her Majesty's Name figures but, critically, they are the same height and the heads appear to be a similar size.  I haven't even taken any out of the box yet as I have literally just got back from Copenhagen (I have to return next week).  They look very nice and hopefully I can get one started, at least, at the weekend.  I intend to mount them on washers rather than the slotta bases they came with (I hate slotta bases) but this will involve some tricky trimming of the metal bar at the bottom.  However, I managed this OK with a samurai figure I ordered the other week so hopefully it won't be too tricky.

I managed a bit more painting on my Lost World characters last week and hope to finish two of them this weekend.  Yes, I have now dropped from aiming at six figures a week to two.  Oh well.  

I missed SELWG again due to being in Denmark and now it looks like I am going to miss Warfare as well as I will be back in Colombia but at least I am visiting Cartagena, pirate capital of the Caribbean!  I've based a trio of pirates to celebrate!