Blog Birthday… Nine Years Old.

 

Greetings…

Yes another year older… Doesn’t time fly.

So now I’ve got to try and remember what I have done over the last twelve months…sigh!

Well this time last year (JULY), I was about to go into hospital and have my first Cataract operation…

It actually seems like a lot longer than twelve months ago…It still amazes me when I wake up in the morning and can see the room without putting glasses on…

The other weird thing is I am still getting used to have reading glasses… the amount of times I leave them places or simply forget them is ridiculous…

I also bought and airbrush…

To my shame I have yet to use it in ‘anger’…

I have however been practicing with different types of  ‘airbrush’ paints… seeing how fine a line I can draw and what the coverage is like…

I had a go using Citadel Contrast Paints the Reds gave a rather nice finish… but were a bugger to clean through the brush. Tamiya thinners seemed to do the trick in the end.

AUGUST saw me waiting for my second eye operation and trying out magnifying lights…

Still not really a fan…

SEPTEMBER…

The second eye operation done and successful… My specialist was very pleased with the results.

And I painted something…

Hurrah!

I was very pleased with the results…It was really nice to get some paint on some toys.

I suspect that from this point onwards the Wargames Butterfly has been fluttering free and ruling my life.😁😁😁🦋🦋🦋

OCTOBER…

The other Partizan…

I managed a flying visit to the show which was as you would expect excellent…

There were… as always… more games than I could get pictures of…

Here are a couple that caught my eye…

The Battle of Montargris 1427 from The Bodkins.

Somewhere in the Low Countries from North Star.

The Black Ship from The Iron Brigade.

I also bought something silly… Well… I blame the butterfly 🦋

Who doesn’t need inflatable tank shells…

NOVEMBER …

I painted something shiny…

The French 3rd Infantry…

It was really nice to get back to the shiny… I always puts a smile on my face.

DECEMBER …

Well … I didn’t really do that much in December.

Partly due to building work in the house and mostly because I had a really bad Fibromyalgia flare up…

I did manage to post about my ‘Go To ‘ Books for Napoleonic French…

Here are a few…

I really must do this again for another period… If nothing else it’s a good way of sorting out what I actually have in my library…

JANUARY … The Boxing Day Game….Hurrah!

I know… This should really be in December… But I put it here and can’t be bothered moving it 🤣

Always the high point of the year…

It was of course a splendid game… I came third 😳.

Also the wargames room was mostly finished so I could start to get things back in place 

Hurrah!…

Due to my aching bones and muscles this was a slow process… but worth it.

FEBRUARY…Another quiet month as far as hobbies were concerned… 

But I did paint some Shiny Napoleonics.

The 5th Westphalian Landwehr using Hinchliffe miniatures… Hmmmm! Pretty.

MARCH…

March had me acquiring more Late Romans from my friend David… which meant more re-basing 😁

I also painted some Oscan Light Infantry…

I think the butterfly made an excellent choice with these… They turned out really well…

APRIL…

April saw me doing some more Late Roman re- basing.

MAY…

Retirement 😁 Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!

I retired on the 1st of May… I recommend it to everyone.

I got a suitably crazy gift from a friend…

Can you tell what it is 😁…

My friend David came down from Scotland for a visit and we went to Partizan…

Here are a few notable games…

ACW Action from The Bodkins…

Pretty Samurai action from… The Shrewsbury Wargames Society.

Operation Bagration from the Derby Wargames Society.

Assault on Kawajima Castle from The Iron Brigade .

We also christened my wargames room and had an excellent Shiny Napoleonics game…

This was such a fine game… Probably one of the prettiest games I’ve ever had..

JUNE…
Although the report appears in July… We had The Wild Geese weekend in June.

Good friends and lovely games… What’s not to like.

And so here we are in JULY….

I acquired some (43)600mm x 600mm terrain boards they need a bit of TLC but they will save me load of time.

I really enjoy making terrain so I am looking forward for this.

And I have a nice tidy desk… 🤔hmmm

My Fibromyalgia is still playing up so I am taking things slowly and painting whatever the butterfly lands on…On the plus side…being retired now means I’m under no pressure and have no deadlines… I have also discovered napping… I recommend it 😴😄.

I should have my Photo Booth set up again soon… so I can/ shall post some photos…

I think I shall go and mess up my desk a bit more 🤣

All the best.  Aly