Spanish hobby plans!

We are here in Calpe for 6 weeks and our property hunt begins in earnest with plenty lined up to see. It was hot enough yesterday for my youngest daughter to get a touch of sunburn on her shoulders despite parental warnings.

View from the roof terrace towards Calpe and the Mediterranean.

I have two hobby related projects planned for life in Spain. Firstly, 18mm Blue Moon Napoleonics, and a newly acquired game - 'Sails of Glory' that recreates ship to ship action in the Napoleonic period. For those who have not seen it, the game features superb models of Napoleonic fighting ships, and the game can be further expanded by a whole range of different ship models. They come pre painted and are very nicely done, but I intend to add a little more detail to them in due course such as staining the sails, basic rigging, ratlines etc. I may well use the models with a different set of rules such as 'Action Under sail' and must admit it was the quality of the ships that attracted me to the game. I acquired my set at a discount from Dave Ryan due to a slightly damaged box corner, and then added a further two larger ship models, one French and one British, the latter being HMS Victory as I simply could not resist them. Once settled I'll feature this game and a review on the blog.

My Blue Moon order arrived from Andy Copestake at Old Glory and the figures are superb, I would say easily on a par with AB Miniatures. With the Peninsular War in mind and to reduce postage going forward I ordered a fair few packs as you can see below! Some pretty serious painting lies ahead. I have decided to base them conventionally in units of 16 figures to begin with, but may expand in the future. I'm trying to decide on a set of rules to use.

The quality of the Blue Moon figures is superb. Thanks to 'Big Andy' at Old Glory UK for getting my order out in time to make the journey to Spain.

I have settled on a painting area - my box of paints and brushes all survived the long journey intact - the light is so good that I wont need a painting lamp here. I had my eyes tested for new glasses before we left the UK and was delighted to be told my close sight was perfect, and even my distance sight had improved slightly, I had expected some deterioration. So as usual I remove my glasses to paint figures, not bad for a 60 year old.

Now to try and source some blu tac and superglue out here, and I want to order new brushes and MDF bases may have to come from the Uk possibly.

I'm also delighted to say that I'm only 20 minutes away from Parcent where Paul of the 'Napoleonic Wargaming' blog lives, and we plan to meet up for a coffee when he and his wife are here in Calpe on one of their weekly shopping trips.

Finally......... the Rioja is beautiful and less than half the price of the Uk!