Testing Times… Tintin and STS…

Greetings…

I’m posting this for two reasons…

One… To show you the test paint jobs I have done for my planned Tintin project and a little reworking on some STS figures.

Two… To see if Blogger will let me 🤔🙄.

These represent Syldavians…

I’ve gone for a rather Soviet look… With nice simple bases.

These are some of my Shiny Toy Soldiers Schleswig- Holstein figures…

As I was putting them out on the shelves I realised that this collection is all over the place… Mixed basing style and sizes, some quite yellowish varnish and more figures than I really need/want for a game

So I thought I would try a quick bit of tidying up on these as well…subtle shading with a bit of lining out…

Similar to what Greenwood and Ball used to do back in the day…

I’m in no mad rush to do more with the STS stuff at the moment…The butterfly is heading for Tintin 😁

All the best    Aly

New Year Catch Up and plans for 2026

Greetings…

Well it’s taken longer than I thought to get this post written up…

I think it’s just been one of these years…

For me it started of with Flu… And a hospital visit.😳🙄

I’ve also had two Cataract operations… Which I must say has made a massive improvement to my life.

I have now got some decent prescription reading glasses for my close up work , but on a day to day basis I don’t need really need any glasses at all… ( I do however carry a pair of shop bought £3.99 readers in my pocket… just in case😁)

The house has been ( and still is) a bit of a building site… but the Cellar is now finished as is the work on my Wargames Room…

The only thing to do is get all my books and toys back on their shelves… This has been a slow process as I have had a rather bad Fibromyalgia flare up which has made moving me and objects rather painful.

Bit by bit I am getting there…

Most of these boxes are now empty and all my toy soldiers are where they should be…

Painting as a result of all this has been at a minimum… but I have assembled quite a few figures in preparation for my retirement…

Yup!

Retirement! Hurrah!… The plan is April.

So! 

What are my hobby plans for the future?

I have planned out/ prepared/ front loaded for 6 - 8 projects/Collections.

In “All Plastic “…

Khazar Wars… Two forces for Lion Rampant…Khazars v’s Rus… Victrix Miniatures….8-10 units a side, all assembled while I was waiting for my eyes to heal…

The first thing I painted after the operations was a test unit for the Rus.

The Hundred Days…

Two moderate sized forces…All plastic… Made up of units that I think are pretty, based up in a way that will hopefully allow me to use a number of different rules systems.

I have already treated myself to a painted unit by my chum Mark Hargreaves at Over Open Sights.

http://over-open-sights.blogspot.com/2025/09/vive-l-empereur.htmlOver Open Sights: Vive L' Empereur!

In “ Metal “…

Pyrrhic Wars…

This is probably one of the bigger planned projects…

Four factions… Each 8 - 10 units strong…

Pyrrhic, Hellenistic Greek, Republican Roman and Carthaginian…

I have all the castings I need ( well probably more than I need 🤔)

Vandal Wars…

Vandals v’s Byzantines… Two forces for Lion Rampant 8 - 10 units a side with options for expansion.

I also have all the castings I need…Maybe 😆

Of course let’s not forget the Late Romans that I have just acquired from my friend David Bickley…

I have some rebasing to do… But I do have all I need…. Yeah!… Maybe 🤔🤣

Tintin…

A small project using Mark Copplestone’s beautiful “Marks Little Soldiers “

https://www.copplestonecastings.co.uk/list.php?cat=23&page=1Mark's Little Soldiers - Copplestone Castings

Not sure where this will go… But I’m thinking Rebels and Patriots or Men Who Would be Kings…

Syldavia v’s Borduria… What’s not to like.

Oh!…

And there is The Lord of the Rings…

A bit of an outrider here…

I’ve been collecting various bits and pieces… Thinking “Dragon Rampant “… 

We will see where this goes as I always found it difficult painting Fantasy/Sci-Fi as it reminds me too much of Work… But as I won’t be working things might be different.

Also…

The Youngsters are planning something WW2… Set around operation Knights Move… I’m thinking a little force of Paratroopers… Maybe a Stug or two 😁

There also maybe a visit to “Pillage” later… I’m thinking Normans.

This is all on top of adding a few new units to my existing collections…

Well…

That’s the plan… Sort of…

I certainly won’t be bored…

But we all know what happens to plans….

All the best   Aly.

The Boxing Day Game 2025

Greetings…

So…I have finally got around to writing this post up… My apologies for the delay 😁

Due to not being able to use the big “New” table… It is still covered in boxes and books… We opted to use my little dining room table.

Which is big enough to take The Christmas village, Some woods and all the protagonists.

 Here we see the layout of the battlefield…

Force Blue… In two groups moving up from the South.

Force Red… In two groups moving down from the North.

And..

The Snow defending the Village and most importantly the Yule Goat.

https://www.visitgavle.se/en/gavle-goatGävlebocken | Visit Gävle

The Snow…

We decided we would tweak our rules for the Snow People… And have given them a chance to regenerate.

This added an interesting dimension to the game… It turns out they were quite good at regeneration.

The Yule Goat sits in the middle of the village and will catch fire if a Toy Town Soldier remains in contact with it and rolls high…

Let’s not forget… The demented Snowball in the woods.

As before this moves randomly and ricochets around the table creating chaos where ever it goes…

I have to admit that this is one of my favourite figures/ characters…

Much to my surprise… And theirs… The Snow immediately start taking casualties.

The psychotic Snowball and a nervous Snowman have an uncomfortable encounter 😳

The Snowman/ person is bowled over and Psycho Snowball careers towards Reds Troops…

Take note of the position of my men…

It doesn’t change much 🙀😳.

Psycho Snowball demolishes Reds Troops…

Come on… That’s pretty impressive 🤣

The Snowman jumps up oblivious to what has just happened….

Although looking like Henri is about to make a daring solo attack on a Snow sentry… This is actually another fine example of my men simply not moving…

You are on your own old chap…

Oh!… Was he stunningly successful in his endeavours?…. I hear you asking.

Of course not… He couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn 🙄

Rust manages to untangle himself from the mass of twisted limbs, splinters and chipped paint.

And bravely dives for cover…

The ‘Snow’ has started to regenerate…Psycho Snow looks around for something/someone new to play with…

Red’s men… those that are still on their feet… attack the village.

And my men…. 🤔. Sigh!

Ah!… It looks like it’s my men that Psycho Snow wants to play with…😳

Surprisingly my men manage to run out of the way…

Except…..🙀

Pierre… Mummy!

Snowball… I’m not your Mummy … I’m a ball of snow with anger management issues…

Pierre… Eek!

Snowball… Brace yourself! 😈

The onslaught continues… Reds men push into the village… Colonel Snow encourages his “ Men” to hold on and most importantly… Regenerate… Fast!

Out of nowhere… Rust rushes in and sets fire to the Goat…🙀🙀🙀

Then gets his brains blown out 💀💀💀

Horrified… Force Red breaks and runs…

And…

A brave snowman sacrifices himself by diving on the flames, Melting and saving the Goat…

A glorious victory for The Snow…

By actually getting into the village and doing something Force Red come Second.

And me?

Third 🤣🤣🤣.

A thoroughly enjoyable game…

With… What is now a predictable outcome…

I shall try and do a round up of 2025 in the next few days…

It’s been an odd year but hopefully still interesting…

All the best.   Aly