Leibster, Romans and other matters!

Firstly, I must apologise for not yet responding to comments on the 'Action' post, and to the nominations for the Leibster Awards that is currently doing the rounds. I'm not really a big fan of such awards to be honest, but what does mean an awful lot to me has been the fact that I have read some very positive comments about my humble blog. To those who have taken time to write and post such comments I thank you. I'm not sure I can participate in these awards, such matters I still find difficult to motivate myself to get involved with, but what I would like to do is to write a few words about the blogs that I most enjoy and why they give me so much pleasure in following them. I hope this does not cause offence to anybody I might miss, I read quite a lot of blogs and enjoy them all!

Right here goes, a few words about my 'top three' blogs:

Hinton Hunt Vintage Wargame Figures -  I have been following the development of Ian's project for several years now and it's been a pleasure to watch that amazing vintage collection grow. Long may it continue.

Joy and Forgetfulness-  I was late coming to this fine blog, but I now await every new post with eager anticipation. Mr Kinch of course writes so well, it's just a pleasure to read his words. I enjoy the humour and the glimpses into his 'real world', and I am completely envious of the small circle of enthusistic gamers who meet to play games on the Kinch table. I love the pics, the funny hats, the cigars, the cats and the numerous bottles of Port that seem to accompany the games ....... Life is too short to waste, and I just wish I could have half as much fun playing wargames as Mr Kinch and his fellow C&C players obviously do.

Prometheus in Aspic - Firstly this blog is a fantastic recourse for anybody interested in Commands & Colors Napoleonic. I must have spent hours reading back to the early posts on C&C and I learned much about the game this way. It was of course Tony who introduced me to C&C at a time when my own enthusiasm for wargaming was again on the slide, and it's no exaggeration to say that it renewed my passion for the hobby in a way I never felt possible after so many years in the wargaming Wilderness. I have had a lot of help and support from Tony - whom we referred to as my 'Personal online C&C tutor' - and the gift of a set of fine wooden C&C dice is something I treasure. You are a Gentleman and a scholar my friend, and I'd just like to say thank you, it means a lot.

There are many others, Ross Macs fine blog, Steve the Wargamer, and Steve the Stoke City supporter, Wargaming in 28mm, Rafas Project Leipzig and his main site that also contains huge amounts of information for the Peninsular fan such as myself.

Whats them Romans doing here?
OK, so this is very much a Napoleonic blog, but as I am considering a Rome v Carthage set up for C&C Ancients next year I thought I'd share a couple of pics from a current painting commssion I'm engaged upon. Of course, the ECW project remains ongoing, with 20 bases completed now, although I have somewhat neglected my ECW blog of late, the intention is still very much to use the C&C/ECW variant rules as written by Tony. The current commission is very large, possibly up to 3000 Baccus 6mm figures to be painted and based up for C&C Ancients. I'm enjoying painting these figures and getting more of a feel for 'ancients' gradually. Images dont show the completed bases, only the sand/grit first coat. A Baccus 'basing kit' came with the  figures and I have to say it's very good and of course perfect for the scale with very fine sand/grit and short strand static grass as well as a foundation wash and mid/highlight shades, it even comes with its own little pot of PVA, a product I would now recommend to anybody basing 6mm figures. The casting themsleves are superb, no other word for it really. I believe its one of Peters later ranges which would explain the crispness of the castings and the incredible detail.