Looking ahead.

I'm slowly settling back into my old routine of painting regular hours again. I have painted more figures for 'Old John' - 20mm Strelets plastic command set and ACW's and I continue to work on my 28mm painting method, it having been quite a few years since I painted in this scale. I'm trying to improve my faces in this scale without going to far into eyes etc as I like the simple effect from a light brown base and a sunny fleshtone. This method is used by Scott MacPhee, who I consider to be one of the very best painters of 28mm AWI figures and who's style I am quite unashamedly trying to emulate, although I'm not there yet. (click here to see the original post and pictures that inspired me to try this).

While I am waiting for the Fife and Drum stock to arrive at Crann Tara - the range being only previously available in the US - I'm playing around with a few more Perry plastics. Those 'advancing' Brits were annoying me! Something not quite right there, so I decided to try the trail arms option and consider it a better pose, it certainly makes painting easier as the advancing pose covered much of the front of the coats and the lace etc and it was hard to get the brush tip where it was needed. I'm in the process of painting the new arms, having removed the old ones with no damage done.

My painting environment has improved too and I'm sure it's helped to give me the boost I needed. I'm back upstairs again in the spare fourth bedroom (some may recall this had been used as an 'art room' by the kids for many years and was covered with paint on all four walls and the ceiling! It's only small at 9' x 7' but I have everything together up there again now and have room to keep a Commands & Colors game set up so that at any time I feel like it I can play a few turns to keep my hand in. I'm planning to enter the next Vassal competition of cc.net so I'm also working on Vassal. There are fewer distractions upstairs and I'm finding I can paint for several hours again at a time with of course coffee breaks etc.  The view from the window is quite pleasant, and even on hot days like the last week there is always a cool sea breeze blowing through.

On the subject of Commands & Colors it would seem that exciting developments are in the planning  and testing stage. Following the Prussian expansion will be the much discussed "La Grande Battles" expansion and then the "Generals, Marshals and Tacticians" set. As Richard Borg  posted recently:

 "All I can really state on this subject is "Wait for it". Leaders are about to take a very bold step forward, that is when the Generals, Marshals and Tacticians details are released by GMT. Right now it looks like La Grande Battles along with the Generals, Marshals and Tacticians rules should be out sometime next year.Fans of the Napoleonic game will not be disappointed!"

I'm sure all fans of the Commands & Colors Napoleonics game will welcome some development of the 'leader' rules.

Anyway, here area few random shots taken over the last few days as I have settled back into the old art room, I need to buy a new table top to give me the length and size I want  but it's getting there. Note my new C&C plastic block storage boxes, just right and incredibly cheap on eBay, I paid £8.00 for 20 boxes ( they are sold as business card boxes and are perfect size), I can see exactly whats in each box and set up time has now been slashed! I'll be ordering more for the Austrian expansion and they are useful for many other things hobby related no doubt.

C&C storage solution.

For 'Old John' .

Test paint - plastic Perry's in hunting shirts.

Arm replacement service.

View from the 'art room'as it used to be called. You can just see the Dymchurch sea defenses completed a couple of years ago, and without which we have no doubt that we would have been flooded during the Spring tides and strong winds. The new wall is 1metre higher than the old one it replaced.