Mojo Gone... Hobby stalled...

Hello, well...it's been almost 4 months since my enthusiastic last post about painting Republican Romans. Sadly, that's the last wargaming-related thing I've done.

Life has become embroiled in a hideous mess of extremely busy work schedules, marital breakup and associated legal joys and pending house move and all the mental health struggles that come with such massive changes to life. Interesting times...

To be honest, I'm not sure when...even if...I'll paint or game again, as at the moment I just can't be bothered. I've even started selling off the lead and plastic mountain! Crazy, huh? The little hobby time I do have these days is being used thrashing a guitar to within an inch of its life, which is immensely therapeutic and I can settle to that and enjoy it, which I can't say about the gaming and painting hobby at the moment.

Please understand that I'm certainly not here bemoaning the state of the world and begging for your sympathy - not at all! In fact, despite all the negative vibes around here at the moment, there are some very positive things going on in my life, both personally and professionally, which is really great and I am incredibly grateful for it. It's just that I have next to no interest in the hobby at the moment and I thought that anyone who still follows this blog ought to know a bit about what's going on. I do hope to get back into it a bit once I get moved into my rather lovely new house - hopefully by February if all the legal crap goes according to plan - so we'll see if that restores my mojo somewhat... I suspect it'll take a while longer before I'm in a place to do much, but we'll see... Never say never, eh?

Anyway, I hope that any of you out there still reading this have a jolly fine Christmas and an excellent New Year! I can assure you that I shall certainly be doing my utmost to make the best of it and do the same. There is the threat of a game of Dux Britanniarum happening locally over the Yuletide season to which I may attempt to visit for nostalgia's sake and for hopefully a bit of mojo re-awakening, so hopefully I'll see you all in 2019 with at least something on the hobby front to report!

Until then, take great care of yourselves and may your dice always roll high!!

Season's Greetings!!!

Just a quick post to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

In 2016 I will be playing much Dragon Rampant (finishing my High Elf war band at the moment and about to get stuck back into my Wood Elves plus my Mythical Greek and Egyptian Undead war bands.) I will also be playing more The Men Who Would Be Kings, plus rebooting the stalled Dux Britaniarum campaign with Mike 'Trouble at t' Mill" Whitaker. Add to that more War & Conquest (watch for news of another all dayer for that at Peterborough Wargames Club) and putting on another demo/participation game at the second Hereward wargame show, plus writing more W&C army lists and doing an article for Wargames Illustrated magazine and I'll be a very busy wargamer in 2016!!!

I do hope that you'll join me on my journey through my various projects in 2016 as I hope to blog more of it next year than I have in 2015, all being well!

Whatever you are doing over the festive season, enjoy yourselves...

Still here...

Hello everyone.

Firstly, many apologies for neglecting you all over the past 3 months. This has occurred for a number of reasons. First, real life got in the way, as my Dad was very ill over Christmas plus my Windows PC died, leaving me without a decent computer.

Fortunately, Dad has recovered well and I now have a spangly new Mac, so the PC issue is solved!!!

But, on the gaming and painting front, things have slowed down. Well, that's only party true. I am still gaming regularly, but I am afraid to report that my painting mojo has departed completely! This has been prompted by a few factors, some of which include the trials and tribulations of real life, but also because I came to a few realisations over Christmas.

1. My eyes are in a shocking state. I can now no longer easily paint on top of black undercoat as I cannot distinguish anything. This came to light when trying to paint High Elf cavalry models...I just can't progress with them. I can solve this for the rest of the Oldhammer Elves by undercoating white and layering up on that, but those cavalry...

2. I have realised that I have not got the time to game all the stuff I have to paint. This means I am being forced to make a few tough decisions about what to keep and to finish/continue painting and what to ditch and sell. This is not that easy and it has further depressed my painting mojo as some things I enjoy painting probably aren't worth finishing as I'll never game them - Lord of the Rings Elves and Orcs leap to mind, as I can't see myself ever doing much with them...shame...

3. I have simply spent so much time painting that I am a bit 'painted out'.

4. I have no deadlines to paint to! Nothing like a deadline to focus the brush!!!

All this means that progress with stuff is painfully slow. I am still doing the occasional hour on some Oldhammer Elves (a squadron of chariots has been started, including the original 80s Elf war chariot!!), the LOTR Elves (I just can't let 'em go...) and my Colonial Brits and Pathans, but at the mo it is very 'occasional'.

If you have any tips for regaining painting mojo, do let me know...

Gaming-wise, the Dux Brit campaign has stalled due to other club commitments for Mike and I, especially Mike who is heavily involved in preparations for Salute, although I suspect the upcoming raider supplement will jog us back in! Also, I am about to run an Arthurian WAB campaign similar to the one I ran a few years back (you'll find it in the blog archives if you search), which should prompt some posts and maybe even some more bad pseudo-Dark-Age poetry!!

Do pop back occasionally - you never know, I may still have something useful to say :-)

100,000 Page views!!!!

Well, I'll be jiggered!! I've finally passed the 100,000 views mark!!!

Thank you so very much to all my visitors, both regular and occasional for all of your support. Without you, my blogging would be utterly pointless!

Please visit me again in a day or two for news of a rather nice little prize draw to celebrate this little milestone...

Back In The Land Of The Living...Just!!!!!

Greetings one and all. Apologies for lack of updates over the past 2 weeks. I had planned to post some pics of painted models, as I had several awaiting completion and had planned to do those over the holiday period. Sadly, a flu virus intervened and utterly wiped me out for 10 days!!! Truly, 'twas a mighty and most virulent virus, made worse by the fact that we were on a family holiday at the time...Great!!!! :-(

Hopefully, I am now on the road to full recovery and I hope to resume some painting and gaming next week. Next posts are likely to be the final practice game of Dux Bellorum before Salute (gaming that one on Monday evening) and I do hope to eventually post some pics of some Colonial Sikhs, a Saxon standard bearer and a new bunch of Elves...plus of course the next Dux Brit battle, where I attempt to salvage an iota of pride and throw Mike's Saxons back from the walls of Linnius...That last one is coming after Salute.

Talking of Salute, if any of my esteemed readers are frequenting the show this year, please look out for the Newark Irregulars banner, as that'll be where you'll find me demoing Osprey's Dux Bellorum rules. Please do come over and say 'hello'!!

Gary Moore - R.I.P.

Another of my guitar heroes from my teenage years bites the dust...

R.I.P Gary...

Happy New Year!

Well, hello one and all. Happy New Year! Sorry it's taken me nearly a fortnight to get around to that!!

So...2011...b*gger me, how did that one sneak up on us, eh? And, more to the point, what is going to happen on this blog in 2011??

Well, the repetitive strain injury is no worse, although I haven't painted in weeks and haven't had a proper session on the guitar in a while either. Now Crimble is out of the way, I can at least get the painting kit back in the lounge so I can try a bit now and then when I get a mo in the evenings, not that I seem to have much time spare these days...

So, what's the 2011 plan? Well, changes are afoot from what I thought I'd do in my last message: My wargames club is going to run a WAB 2.0 Late Republican/Early Imperial Roman campaign around Easter and I do want to paint a new unit of Auxiliaries to go with my Sulla Romans. I have a load of Foundry Greek peltasts and will be using them (to fit in with my 'Sulla in the East' theme). Ideally, I need to layer paint them to match my Caesarian legionaries, but I may do them in the style of my (on hold) repo Romans, so basecoat, dip, one highlight...depends how the arm holds out and how lazy I get/how little time I end up with!! Once they are done I will have 3500pts of Romans which is cool. I did field them all in a game against my mate Grahame's EIR last week and won a close-run victory in a 5 and a half hour epic encounter!!

I have also been on the hunt for alternatives to WAB for Age of Arthur. I have found two great little sets for skirmish type games (Brytenwalda - http://brytenwalda.blogspot.com/) and Tod Kershner's 'Pig Wars'. Both are light years away from WAB's systems and need far less models. Pig Wars is especially good for multi-player games. If you want a copy of Pig Wars, join the Pig Warriors Yahoo group where you can contact the author and receive a download of the rules for $10, plus access to various additioanl files in the Yahoo group's file section. Well worth a look!

Anyway, along with these, I have been writing my own rules for the period - sort of GW Lord of the Rings in scale (30-60 models per side, large scale skirmish). I now have almost enough to playtest, I just need to type up a couple of playtest scenarios. Some of you already know about this and have offered to read/playtest, which is kind! Expect to receive an email shortly! If any others fancy a look, let me know. I am not claiming that they are great...they may not well even be reasonable, or even remotely playable, but it has been a fun and very interesting experience writing them! If you do have a read/play, you'll see bits of Triumph& Tragedy, bits of LOTR, bits of WAB...all given my unique 'twist'. Am hoping to start my own playtesting shortly as well, so watch this space for further info...

Talking of Arthurians, I do have a hankering to paint some more Age of Arthur stuff and willbe doing a few more Franks/Saxons this year, enough to do a warband for each of the rulesets mentioned above, but not a full WAB army yet. I also want to do a unit of Wolftail warriors and Arthur's cavalry based on Cornwell's books. They'll be useable in the skirmish rules and might see light of day in aWAB army at some point. It may take me months to do them, but I intend to have a go!!

I also intend to do a bit more with my colonials. I intend to get 2 or 3 squads of Brits and another mass of Pathans done in 'dipping' mode this year. I have half a Sikh unit basecoated already and intend to finish those this month.

Finally, on the back-burner are the Repo Romans, as I'll not have time to do them this year and gaming the era isn't high on my priority list this year. Also, I do intend to paint 2 more El Cid units: Knights Hospitaller and spearmen in the livery of the Hospital to join my 'Alfonso the Battler' El Cid force. These will wait til late in the year if I do them at all this year...

So that's me so far. Hopefully I wil get my a*se in gear and post more this year. Thanks to those who still follow this blog. I appreciate it.

Cheers
Andy

Quick update...

Hello one and all. So sorry for lack of updates recently, but I have been on a self-imposed painting ban since attending the Warhammer World campaign weekend with my El Cid army. This is because the frenzied painting spree that had lasted from June til the end of October has aggravated an already unpleasant repetitive strain injury in my right arm. This is impacting on all my hobbies, as guitar playing doesn't do it any good either - not good when one has gigs booked and needing rehearsal for!!!

So, basically, I have stopped painting, or, at least, I had til this week, where I picked up a brush just to see what happened. I managed 90 mins before it hurt, which is good...that's 85 mins more than when I stopped painting in October!!

Anyway, the El Cid force now stands at 2500pts, so I don't need to do any more to it, although at some point I do want to paint a unit of Knights Hospitaller and a unit of peones in the livery of the Hospitallers to give the army an early 12th Century Aragonese feel (Alfonso 'The Battler' introduced the Hospitallers into Spain in the early 12th century.)

However, my next job is to finally finish the 4 Saxons I promised someone I'd do for him in August. They are over halfway complete, so should be easy to get done in the next two weeks, even with a limit of no more than an hour at a time painting. Then it's Colonials time. I aim to get enough Anglo-Indians and Pathans done to start trying out Triumph and Tragedy with a couple of chaps at wargames club early next year. These are being painted in the same way as my Repo Romans that have now been temporarily shelved, so 'basecoat, AP dip and one highlight' jobs. Have just picked up some Pontoonier Miniatures British - very nice models!!!

Once those are done, I need to paint a unit of peltasts to join my Sulla era Romans as we have a club campaign starting in April and I need some 'auxiliary' infantry (I figured Greek types would suit the overall 'Sulla vs Mithridates' army theme and have had the models for ages but with no deadline or no event, I hadn't painted them before) , then it's back to Repo Romans, probably midway through next year.

One thing is certain though...no more mad frenzied painting-fests...the doc has already told me that the arm damage is only going to get worse, unless I do everything in extreme moderation or simply stop everything altogether...the latter is not an option!!

Spam part 2

Hi there.
Seems that, in my efforts to prevent spam, I made it impossible for anyone to post comments! Try it now. It should let all registered users (incl open ID) to post and I have set up moderation, so that I can see in advance if any crap arrives and thereby filter it out!!

Let's see if that works!!!

Cheers
Andy

Killing the SPAM!!!

Hi
Just to let you know that I am still here and that normal service will shortly be resumed. To prevent the zillions of Chinese spam comments on the blog, only those registered can now comment on my posts...if I've set it up right!! I'll monitor this and see if I've done it right! If no-one comments, I'll know I've c*cked up somewhere and I'll sort it!!! Please try to comment and I'll see what happens!

Sorry...blame the idiots who are spamming me out... :-(

Justinian Byzantines to come shortly!!

Andy

Still Here....

Hi All
Just a quick post to let you all know that I'm still here!! I'm just not getting any painting done at the mo. I've also only played two wargames since August (both WAB Bretwalda games at my club) and got trashed in both...

Anyway, just to say that I still have Colonials as a work in progress. I still intend to paint some more Welsh and Saxons for Age of Arthur and I am dragging out my half-purchased but never started Republican Romans, inspired as I have been by Aventine Miniatures fabulous new range and by Phil Hendry (see his blog to the right in my blog list) where he gets the most amazing results on 3rd Century Romans using Army Painter dip and LBM shield designs. Accordingly, my Romans will follow his lead - watch this space over the next 6 months as I attempt to put together a force with which to play WAB and Crusader rules...

In other news, my son is 18 months old, nearly walking (yup...he's a lazy blighta, just like his dad...LOL!!) and becoming a right typical 'little boy'.

I hope to do some painting next week, which may result in more finished colonial Brits... Pics as soon as possible, but don't hold your breath, as life has a habit of getting in the way here at 'Hawes Towers' these days.

All the best to you all.
Andy

Still here...

Hi Folks
Sorry for lack of updates recently. Am in the middle of rehearsals for a Thin Lizzy tribute gig in October, so most of my limited free time will be taken up with that til then. However, I have undercoated 50 or so Northwest Frontier British/Indian trops and 150 or so Pathans ready for painting - am basically going to use Army Painter dip on them, as it works beautifully with the sort of colours I'll be using on these chaps, especially the Brits with all that khaki!!!

I hope to get the 1st Company, 67th Foot done in the next couple of weeks - well, it's only 12 models and, as there is minimal highlighting (only the black boots!) it's all single basecoat and dip, dip, dip!!! Might even get some of the Pathans done too just to see how they work out. Models are Castaway Arts for the Brits/Indians (plus Perry mountain gun) and Pathans are Old Glory and Castaway Arts.

The rules I'll be using are adapted LOTOW Alamo rules, using ideas 'borrowed' from Dan Mersey's superb article about a similar approach in a recent issue of 'Battlegames' magazine, plus some of my own additions. He has a fabulous non-player system for native hordes, so basically, as long as the scenario is sound, one can play it solo, or in a multiplayer format, all can be the Brits, which is cool!!! Anyway, it's all a bit 'in progress' at the mo, esp writing the additional rules down, but I'll keep you posted with ideas as they come and the playtests I intend to do for my 'additional' bits.

I will get back to 'proper' painting later in Oct with some more Arthurians and El Cid alongside the colonial stuff - I just bought some 'ballasteros' for my El Cid army, so they need doing, plus I want to finish my new mounted Welsh teulu and do some more Saxons/Franks...

Stay tuned...
Andy

Decisions, decisions...

Well, it's been a busy old week. Painting has occurred, but I haven't finished those Andalusian archers yet - shame, as it was excellent weather for photography this evening.

However, there is less need to rush through the El Cid models, as I took a long read of the Hot Lead scenarios last night and realised that taking an El Cid army would, for me, be incredibly stupid...You see, each scenario pits 1500pts against 1000pts in unbalanced scenarios and while the 1500pt army might have done ok, the 1000pt variant I'd come up with was useless for at least half the scenarios. To be honest, the 1500pt one wasn't great and, as I came last at Cold Steel, I would like to be not last at Hot Lead, so have opted for an Arthurian Welsh army - however, not my usual cavalry-fest, but an infantry based force with Saxon allies (well...I wanted an excuse to field those Franks again and the idea was always that they could sub as Saxons if you ignore the heavy throwing spears on some of them...)

So, I will still be painting El Cid, as I want to complete the army...just not quite as frantically as I would otherwise have been!!!! I do need to mount the Saxon/Frank character on a round base and finish half a dozen new Welsh Teulu, so that's what'll take my time this week and next, then it'll be back to the El Cid, I promise!!!!

Bretwalda update tomorrow night, all being well....

Delays, Illness and Misery...

Hi All
For those awaiting news of Bretwalda Round 4 or indeed some newly painted figs, apologies. I have been laid low for the past couple of weeks with, first, a stinking cold, next, a throat infection, and now, (hopefully finally) an ear infection which has resulted in a perforated eardrum (OUCH!!!!!). Consequently, all is not well chez GeetarheroAndy!!! :-(

As a result, Round 4 of our Bretwalda Arthurian campaign will take place in two weeks time, and, once the dizziness resulting from the mangled eardrum has subsided, painting of my El Cid Christian jinetes will commence, as I am determined to get 1500pts of 'em onto the table , hopefully by July for the 'Hot Lead' gaming day at Gripping Beast - a tall order when you consider that I still have to paint about 30 infantry and 16 cavalry!!!!

Wish me luck...

Andy

Wassup wiv da WAB Forum??

Is it just me and a dodgy interweb connection, or is the WAB Forum knackered?? I couldn't get on it all day yesterday and it's still down today? Gremilns afoot somewhere, methinks!!

On a brighter note, go to Warhammer Historical's website see link on the right...) to see my prize-winning Age of Arthur scenario 'Heirs to the Kingdom' in all its glory! Yes, I won their recent scenario-designing competition and my entry is on the website...

Marvellous!!

Also, check out the next issue of Wargames Illustrated for the Cold Steel report and double page spread of pics of my army! haven't seen the mag yet, meself, but have seen the article proofs... It looks fab!!!!

Oh dear, oh dear...

Ok, ok...so this ain't a wargaming post. Sorry, but I can't believe what I just saw on telly a few mins ago...

That bloody Eurovision thing where Lloyd Webber is writing the song that's gonna win us the title?

Ok, so his Royal Ugliness did the smart thing and roped in Diane 'I wrote just about all the best 80's power ballad AOR pop/rock tracks' Warren to help him...bloody genius move that. The girl is a phenonemanl pop songwriter. I know some folk think of it as sanitized pap, and they may be right, but when it comes to pop/rock songs that sell bucketloads, our Di is the one...

So tonight we get to hear this masterpiece of musical genius that will, doubtless, win the big Euro contest...

Well, I have news for Mr Lloyd Knobhead... That song is the most over pompous, West End theatre-ised poop I have heard in a long while. The thing sounds like it was written for a show in a second rate London theatre!! By the sound of it, Ms Warren may have written the chorus (by far the best bit of it!) but the verse is all typical Lloyd Webber show stuff and with the big schmaltzy production and that oh-so-formulaic key change....I just wanted to throw something at the telly....

Last place and 'nul points' beckons again, methinks...

Oh well, time to go and dig out those 80's John Waite, Cher, Bad English and Aerosmith CDs to hear Ms Warren in all her glory again...

On the painting front, a break from all things WAB....I have just assembled the models for a new Mordheim warband. I've gone with Norse...a rather less 'chaotic' Chaos Marauder-type warband, which has been fun with the old plastic glue and stuff. Did me a cool conversion of a 'Wolfen/Ulfwerenar' (depending on what version of the list you read) from a Chaos hound body (top half and legs) and a plastic Marauder's arse, along with a LOT of Greenstuff...

At our club, we usually start with 700 point warbands rather than the official 500, as it gives folk a chance to upgrade a few models and means that you get interesting lists quickly, rather than waiting for 8 games before your warband becomes cool.

Pics to come eventually....

My latest miniature!! :-)

It is with great pleasure that Lucia and I announce the arrival of our son, Cameron Jack Eric Hawes (Cameron cos we like it, Jack after my grandad, Eric after my dad) into this world....

He arrived today at 4.52 am after just under 10 hours labour. It wasn't easy and he needed a bit of help, but he's here and he and his mum are now doing nicely. His dad is still in a daze!!!

Without doubt, my finest work yet... :-)

A Rather Spiffing Surprise!!!

Bought the new 'Wargames Soldiers & Strategy' mag while on a shopping trip in Stamford yesterday (buying a host of jungle animal toys for Junior's 'jungle themed' nursery, dontcha know...)

Anyhooo, I knew that this issue contained an article by James Morris about the Picts, so I figured that was a 'must read' (and I was right...outstanding article...easily the best written I've seen in that magazine and better written than most of what currently appears in WI as well...Informative, suitably 'informal' writing style, backed up with a wide variety of references, good bibliography and minitures guide...top stuff...Well done, Mr Morris, sir!!)

Anyway, was reading through said article and there, on page 44, was a LARGE picture of a unit of my Northern Welsh Combrogi (taken at 'Struggle for the North' last year, I believe!!) Bugger me! Bit of a surprise!! (although, I knew that Mr Guy Bowers had taken quite a few shots of the army on that day...)

Other pics in the article are from the League of Ausberg's Arfur collection, (amongst others) so am in esteemed company there!

Anyway, I had no idea that was gonna be happening til I read it, so thank you, authors, photographers and ediitors of WSS...

World domination surely awaits......

Back from hols.....

Hi All
Just got back last night from a week's hols in Gran Canaria. Last hols before the 'Hawesling' arrives!! And jolly nice it was too...

Anyway, now I'm back, you can expect a pic or two, as I'm off work all week and intend to do some painting. I have just completed a Welsh Lord conversion (a bloody good one though I say so myself!!) that I started before going on hols so as soon as I've stuck the static grass and whatnot on his base, I'll drag the camera out. Am going to tackle the other two lords (including a new army standard) along with some of Tony's Saxons and some Teulu conversions over the next couple of weeks. I also have a Saxon Lord that I want to paint...it's the GB one with the axe and the head in his hand... I've added a casualty model to his base...sans head, of course and I think he'll be fun to paint!!

The basic idea is to do some additional figures to create a less 'Roman' looking Welsh army to use for late 6th-7th Century scenarios, so these guys wil replace the more Romnao-Brit looking guys in my current army. I have some more combrogi to do that with as well. In fact I've finished the first 5 and they look good with their 'Celtic' clothing. I'll take pics of those when I get a moment too.

I'm also looking at the possibility of doing some sort of Arthurian mini campaign at the local wargames club early next year (involving the 'character-heavy warbands' idea that appeared in Wargames Illustrated or on the net somewhere late last year) and some extra Welshies will give me the ability to field three different warbands for use by those players at the club with none. I'm thinking of about 500pts of troops and about 250-300pts of characters (no Rex, Dux, Cynings, etc...just the 'middle level' heroes and below) doing skirmish scenarios (using the skirmish rule adaptations from Age of Arthur). Then there's that Tristram and Iseult scenario that I'm working on as well...

By next January, there'll be at least 4 players at the club with Arthurian armies, two of us with 5 potential warbands between us... Anyway, that's why I'm painting extra Welshies and why I'll be doing some Saxons and hence why the El Cid got put on the back burner once I realised I'd never get 'em done for WHW in May this year... Nobody at my club does El Cid so there's no point painting them yet if I can't play with them!!!!

Right... Off to the painting table...

See ya...

Progress and stuff..

Thanks for all the kind words and good wishes either in replies to the previous post or in the emails. Very kind!

Impending daddyhood is a marvellous (if slightly scary) thing...

Anyhoo...back to painting and stuff.

Am pleased to report that I've been allowed out to attend Salute this year. I'll be mostly found hanging around the Newark Irregulars table where apparently some big Dark Age Welshies & Saxons thing will be going on. (@James & Steve: I promise not to drool too much over the wonderful figures or make too much of a nuisance of myself cheering on Cadwallon and his evil Saxon ally, Penda the pagan!!!!!!)

The rest of the day will be spent trying not to buy too much and working out how to get what I do purchase into the house and past the missus!! She's being really brill at the mo, despite the associated tiredness, etc, that come with being preggers. I know that I should not rely on this though and will really try not to purchase too much stuff for fear of unleashing the beast that lurks within...

As for painting, Tony's Saxons are being based and undercoated along with some Welshies and Saxons that I'm doing for me. I can paint those in my sleep and as they are all on foot, that'll cut the painting time down. I can paint horses really well, but they take me a bloody AGE to do, so some 7th C Welsh and a bunch of Saxons will be much easier than El Cid things...and anyway, one can NEVER have enough Arfur figs!!!!

I'm doing a few nifty conversions too. Most of them are GB attacking Teulu that I've...erm...chopped!!!! I love GB figs. The new Saxons are the dogs floppsy bitz, but the 'Welsh Teulu attacking' are a bit crap really...well, no...you see...hmmmm....it's the heads that do it...they just don't look right to me! Not up to El Soapster's usual standards IMHO (sorry Soaps...) So anyway, I've removed the offending heads and replaced them with some suitably 7th Century-ish Saxon and Romano-Brit helmeted heads from West Wind (am going for the idea of a Welsh kingdom that trades with as well as fights with its saxon neighbours, hence the Saxon helmets). They look bloomin' great and fit in BEAUTIFULLY with the GB standing Teulu, (which I've left as they are cos they are fab models all the way!!)

Anyway, those are what I'm gonna be working on now, so expect a few 'in progress' pics soonish after Easter... I've decided to use James Morris' idea of doing spirals on the Welsh shields. I'll let you know how wise that idea is once I've tried a few!!!!

Right. I've an hour til the wife returns from Aqua-natal (???!!!!!) so time for a bit of painting before dinner!

See ya...