Back to painting and more thoughts on campaigning.

After problems with my eyes, now hopefully sorted out. I picked up a brush for the first time in two months this lunchtime. I listened to the After Hours Paint & Chat with Matt, for company, and did a little more work on the 4th New York.

I restricted myself to just one  hour, this allowed me to correct a couple of errors in the already painted figures, as well as assembling six more. I don't normally assemble until the torsos are painted, but for this half a dozen, I am experimenting, as having the figures already fully assembled, makes more sense.


The initial six are now almost complete, just a little highlighting here and there.

The next six, some with arms already part painted, from using my old method. A drummer, officer and standard bearer, as well as three more musketeers. I am going for twelve man battalions, all on single bases, this will allow for use in skirmish games, they can then be placed on movement trays for any other rule sets for larger battles. I may increase the unit to sixteen figures, but that is not settled yet.

Happy to be back painting again, and looking forward to doing one hour a day for the next week or two, after that, if no problems, then I can slowly extend that time, though I doubt I will paint in an evening in just artificial light. A perk of being retired, I can have most afternoons to follow my hobby.

I have also been giving a lot of thought to my campaign game using the Marlborough Starter sets currently on pre-order. I still at the moment, plan on using a map of Ireland, and also keep the names of all the counties, towns, rivers etc. But may transform Ireland into a continent, the counties becoming countries.

Culm, as the island/continent is currently known, suddenly offers a huge potential for a really in- depth campaign. Each country would have its own government/royal family/president/dictator etc. as well as armed forces, economy, diplomats and natural resources, to name but a few.

No longer a small island of two countries, which of course, would limit any future actions, one side may be rapidly defeated and so the whole thing would end rather abruptly. I have no intention of building armies for thirty odd countries, restricting myself initially to just perhaps three or four, gathered in one area of the continent. As time passes, alliances or incursions, may well drag other countries into alliances with the belligerents or perhaps neutrality, who knows?

I am at a very early stage of developing, what could be a huge project. It is even possible that some parts of the continent, are at a less advanced stage of development than others, could I use my Wars of the Roses, Arab, English Civil War and American War of Independence armies too?

Lots to think about.