Friday 29 June 2018

Just a game of soldiers ?

I am in something of a reflective mood right now. Phase 1 of our planned relocation to Spain is complete, we have a new home in Ador, Gandia, bought and paid for, that we are currently furnishing, and we look forward to many happy years here together. It was a huge step, to sell up and move to another country, not to be undertaken lightly, but we both feel very much at home here already and have not a single regret ..... well possibly the English Ale, but at least I found it in cans! 

The new house has an 'underbuild' actually a large garage with access down from the main house, it is fully finished with plastered white walls and tiled floor to match the main upstairs, far too nice to use for the car which can sit beneath the integral porch to keep the sun off it. Domestic negotiations are still at an early stage, but I have made my case for the occasional use of this space for the playing of the wargame on a temporary table as and when not in use for visiting family extra accommodation. We are going to have the roll over garage door replaced with double patio sliding doors so it will become the perfect multi function space.

I very much doubt that I will want to play much more than a good old fashioned simple game of soldiers with my 40mm Napoloenics, although I do still intend to paint and expand them. I'd like to build them into 24 figure battalions for the infantry and 16 for the cavalry, with the artillery being a couple of pieces each. I have sufficient figures here for about 4 such battalions per side with a bit of extra painting work, a very good start. I really just want to be able to take them from the display shelf, place them on the table and fight a simple battle in an hour or two every so often.

I set up a 24 figure battalion for  a few pics below, together with a couple of French guns and crews, I think 24 figures looks about right in this scale?  I have a bit of basing to do this week having managed to find a supplier of such materials nearby, card, glue, filler, ruler. Stanley type knife etc.











21 comments:

  1. Good to hear you are settling in.

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  2. 24strong units looks great to me and a multi function space even better!
    Best Iain

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    1. Hi Iain, I'm still playing a round with unit sizes... I have another idea now! Main thing for me is that I want to expand this collection and enjoy getting back to painting again.

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  3. I think the occasional short, fun game with lovely figures, pretty much hits the mark, a sentiment that I am coming to myself. My boardgame collection will do everything else I want.

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    1. The more I think about it Norm, the more I come to the conclusion that my days of playing wargames with lots of big battalions are well and truly over, I crave the kind of small, 2 hour game that I used to enjoy on club nights at SELWG way back. A few infantry battalions some cavalry and a couple guns on the table and time to pack up at the end with a conclusion reached.

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  4. Gorgeous figures! I'd still make the argument for a more permanent 5x7 table so that you've got some space all ready to go when the mood to toy soldier strikes you. Otherwise, the tendency might be to cave in at the mere thought of having to set up and opt to do something else instead rather than play a game of soldiers. In any case, happy to hear that everything with the house is in order. When is move-in day?

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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    1. Hi Stokes,
      My plan for the space is a wargame table that can be set up and left for a few days as required, then stored away when visiting family need to be accommodated.That won't be too often as we will have two spare bedrooms anyway, but it may need to be used for storage too, at least until we get sorted out... who knows, it might become a dedicated hobby room down the line. We have the keys and will be there tomorrow for a delivery of furniture, it's all rather exciting again :)

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  5. Lovely looking figures, as ever Lee. They'll be beaut in 24-figure battalions.
    Great to hear that the move went well. The house fits around the wargaming room, surely, ha ha!! :)

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    1. Thank you James, seems a shame not to utilise such a space for wargaming!

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  6. Beautiful paintwork sir. The faces are wonderful.

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    1. Thanks Michael, I love them, but the paintwork is not my own, I bought these ready painted and plan to expand them.

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  7. They look very good, best wishes for the new life and setup!

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  8. Good to see the plans for miniatures and house are progressing well.

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  9. Just noticed you've moved to Spain. Welcome to Europe! Been in France 4 years now and the only thing I miss is decent pork scratchings,...so not too much of a loss.

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    1. JBM, I had not realised that you live in France. So far so good for us here, we did spend a couple of years researching it, but actually making it happen felt like a huge adventure. I miss draught English Ale, but I can live with that:)

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  10. You are lucky to have a large underbuild as part of the house, though it does make it more attractive for use as another bedroom. Lack of storeage space, let alone wargame space, is a wide spread problem for ex pats here in Spain. This is paricularly true with relatively new builds.

    When we came out looking at prospective properties we had an extensive "wish list". Top of that lists was space for a 6x6 foot wargames table and sufficient space for storeage of the wargames army. This was 12 years ago, and most available options were "on plan". So we were able to include either an extension or an underbuild at the planning stage. We settled for a combined underbuild/extension.

    Fortunately my wife is also my wargame opponent, so the wargames table was actually more of a priority than an extra bedroom. I suspect that I am particularly lucky, and most wives might not have similar priorities. Despie this I had to give way and allow part of he wargames room to be used as a utility room.

    regards

    Paul

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    1. Hello Paul,

      I'm sure I read all of your early posts on your move to Spain as part of our research, I recall the early pics of your visits to the site of your house before it was built? Going to be moving in over the course of the next week or so, very excited and I have already planned my painting spot as I am really missing what was as much a therapy for me as a hobby.

      Hope to meet you soon,

      Lee.

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  11. I will share this with my Wife! You are right, I need to Man up. Thank you for your best wishes.

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