All Quiet on the Hobby Front

"Heeeeeeere's JOHNNY!"

There has been a distinct lack of hobby action of late, and like Jack Nicholson's character in "The Shining", cabin fever is setting in...

A combination of family commitments and it just being too damn hot (or humid, or both) have meant I haven't been to the club for weeks and painting has been a write-off. Why try painting when the paint on your brush dries up before it touches a figure? A slight exaggeration, but it's been consistently hotter and muggier since summer officially finished at the end of February, and that kind of weather is not conducive to painting, as you probably know all too well.

Anyway, things are looking up; I'll be going to the club this weekend and will probably play French this time. Several new players have been investing in British armies, so I'll give them some target practice. The Italians I painted up late last year will probably get their maiden run on the battlefield (queue routing markers!).

Because there's been a flurry of British regiments being created, there have been quite a few questions being asked on numbers and basing, and I realise my regiments are undermanned. My focus for when I get my mojo back will be to upgrade my British line regiments from 10 to 12 figures and Highlanders from 12 to 15 figures. I'm also planning to retire some of my older units and replace them with Hagen metal figures (marching and action) and the new Strelets Highlander range. The problem is, though, both ranges have problems: the Hagen figures don't have elite company figures, while the Strelets figures don't have centre company figures! I had ordered some Hagen marching light infantry to use as elite company figures, but when I got the parcel in the mail I found that they'd been replaced with extra centre company marching figures, instead. Consequently, I've used Milliput to make shoulder wings on a few figures. I'll see how they look once I start painting them. I've also laboriously carved off the shoulder wings from the majority of the Highlander figures, too.

Also, I will need to re-base my Spanish infantry, which I mistakenly based on the larger 2-rank base, instead of the standard 3-rank continental infantry. Plus, I plan to boost the numbers of Spanish infantry so that I can field a complete 1500 point Spanish army! "Why?", I hear you ask; well, I have a soft spot for the hapless Spaniards who kept getting up after being knocked down again and again! They embody the image of the plucky underdog, which appeals to my sense of justice. Plus, I have an ambition to win a game with them one day; if I can do that, then I know I'll have made it as a player! That's the same reason I'm still plugging away with the Neapolitan project, too.