686 - The Great Wargaming Survey 2019

I'VE DONE IT - HAVE YOU?

If not, click on the pic above to take yourself there - there are some great special giveaways this year too!

- Drax.

656 - Infamous JT

Hullo, All,

Just a quickie today - if you're after a couple of gorgeous Rubicon kits, some SASM 'moderns' or sundry other fantastic minis (not to mention Jamie Tranter's own - quite superb - Polish Home Army miniatures!) then I urge you to check out this link here as he not only has some great deals, but he's also decided to donate a percentage to a great cause.

Please visit, and support Jamie and the charity if you can!

Many thanks, as ever,

- Drax.

648 - The Tools of My Trade

Jesus wept!

- Some of these are over twenty years old!

Oh, and I just caught the Handsome Cat drinking my sodding paint water:

Furry little git.

- Drax

642 - Kirton Games - Super Hobby Store

Last post, I went through the fun I had recently at Kirton Games in Crediton, and I said I'd write a few words about the venue, so here goes...

The place is amazing!

Okay, this photo is from their website.
The rest, below, were hastily snapped by Yours Truly.

Mostly funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign a short while ago, the new shop is in a fantastic location in Crediton [link here] and is staffed by a very friendly, welcoming and affable bunch. They run all sorts of special and themed events, and they cater to a wide (and increasing) variety of games and gamers. 

This is the 'live-stream' table [see below] set up for their
Bolt Action day a fortnight ago.

There are two main gaming rooms: the front one, which is what you walk in to from the street entrance (and which has all the toys for sale), and the 'gaming loft' itself, upstairs. All-in-all they have over a dozen 6x4' purpose-built gaming tables, and by purpose-built, I mean that you don't break your back whilst using them, nor do you have to worry about cracks and ledges between trestles. They even have lower tables for card games like Magic: The Gathering. 

Front of House...

...and Loft

There are comfy sofas upstairs, and downstairs a kitchenette with teas and coffees available for purchase (free for members) and a range of other splendid snacks on offer for sale. I have it on first-hand evidence that there's a rather good chip shop nearby too! 

Beside the kitchenette is a brilliant space: a hobby bar!

As I understand it, the range of paints available is again a free bonus for members, and the lamps and painting/modelling stations are evidently installed by someone who knows their stuff. Genius.

Talking of genius, one of the staff's strengths is in IT, and I was really impressed by the combination of well-equipped podcast/recording studio and a 6x4 gaming board permanently set-up for live-streaming. What a great opportunity! The studio can be rented for podcasting too: clever stuff.

tech-y

This is actually a whacking-great widescreen monitor for the
livestream cam... it just looks tiny in my crummy picture. D'oh!

Elsewhere, the astonishing building is as convoluted and higglety-pigglety as one would expect from one found in an old market town (for any US readers, just imagine something out of Diagon Alley from Harry Potter), and there are at least three or four other usable spaces with plans afoot for a roleplaying room and a cosy boardgaming room, amongst other possibilities. What joy! What potential!

All of the above. 

The store is still a work-in-progress, and I guess the local community there (it's 70 minutes' drive for me, sadly) has put in a lot of person-hours to help get the place up and running, but by gum it really is an amazing store: if you're anywhere within an hour-and-a-half of Crediton or Exeter, I'd absolutely urge you to get down there and visit them.

Here's wishing them the very best in hobbying success - cheers, Kirton Games!

- Drax. 

635 - More Scenery: Sarissa Box Girder Bridge and Blacksmithy

Hullo All,

I've made some more flatpack scenery for a friend. In this case, two 28mm kits from Sarissa Precision: their 20th Century 'Box Girder Bridge' and the 'Blacksmith's Forge' from their 'Old West' range.

Both are supplied unpainted, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to (a) tart them up a bit, and (b) try out some techniques for painting Sarissa buildings, as I'm going to be putting together a bunch of them soon...

Here they are, then. I've deliberately over-exposed most of the pics in order to show the details in the crummy March light..:

I textured the road with fine sand, then painted it, the general superstructure and the concrete walkway. Then I just went round most of the bolts and joins with some dots and streaks of rust.

The ramps at either end detach, and are spaced (and braced, I suppose) by a thin strip of board running along at tabletop level. It's not very robust, to be honest.

Honestly, I was surprised and pleased with how this paint job turned out. Like I say, it was a chance to try out some new ideas...

Onto the forge, then:

Again, the floor is textured with sand : it seemed appropriate, I guess.

Unlike the gorgeous pre-painted '4-Ground' buildings from a few posts ago, these look very different all the same colour: the rafters in the shot below are the basic wood colour, and I just couldn't leave the brickwork unpainted. Having done that, I couldn't then leave the rest of it ALL blank. Still, I only used 5-ish colours. Next time, I'll do all the colouring on the sprues. Y'see?  - I'm learning stuff!

With more time, I would've taken more care over the name board (named here for a great man) but it's really just a placeholder for a better, less anachronistic one.

My last words here have to be in terms of a brief review of the kit. Sarissa kits are a LOT cheaper than the 4-Ground ones, and you can see why: the instructions are more basic, the materials themselves are more flimsy and there is far less internal detail...but they are fantastic value for gaming purposes, and now I've had a play with them I'm looking forward to experimenting more!

Cheers,

- D.

PS: these pics pretty much sum up my last two weeks here in the village:

601 - In Memoriam

Dear Readers,

Apologies for the slowing of posts recently, but over the last few weeks (and months, actually), my father, Peter, was very ill, and sadly he died this week.

He was a good, good human, and I'm very grateful for his wisdom, appreciative of his pedantry, and proud of his service as a Chief Petty Officer, Artificer, RN.

L-R: brother; some officer awarding my dad a clasp to his
LSGC medal; me; my dad and my mum. c.1991?

Normal service will resume shortly...whatever that means. 

TTFN,

- Chris. 

555 - EIGHT YEARS OF DRAX

Oops! I just realised.

Hullo, Dear Readers.

I started the 'Admiral Drax' blog in 2008, and this - now - is what remains with me of B Company, 2nd Battalion, Cadian 24th Light Infantry and its attached units: 

'After the War' and OC 2 Platoon B Coy, 2/24th Cadian LI.

Everything else is now in the safety of the marshaling yards of Devos IV, under the aegis of the noble Zzzzzz. There is quite literally no better place.

Eight years ago...

This is what I wrote:

Tuesday, 6 May 2008

001 Why am I here?

This is an experiment, and it has probably three parts:

1) I shall try to update this blog - as and when work pressures allow - to show progress I'm making with my WH40K and WFB armies. This is likely to be slow, but does at least give me the excuse to write up my army lists and take photos;

2) Hopefully, this will encourage me to finish more units more regularly and less piecemeal;

3) Finally, I've already found considerable inspiration from those bloggers already doing something similar and - while I don't pretend my armies are anything special - my ideas may just be of interest to others. 

We'll see. 

Also, I'm forcing myself, kicking and screaming into the internet community.

- Drax.

...and this is where I am now...

Five hundred and fifty-four blog posts later, I have now completely forsaken the playing of Warhammer 40,000, and my hobby now is focussed upon the brilliant Bolt Action and X-Wing. I retain my Flames of War force (the perfect 15mm company-sized version of my 28mm Bolt Action platoon) and I hope over the long term to expand in three different directions:

1. I'd like to try 'Chain of Command' (and maybe some other rules) with my extant WW2 British forces
2. The desert war (and into Italy), in both 15mm and 28mm
3. SAGA - Normans. Wahey!

I'm a member of two splendid clubs, which means I've got more chance of games than I ever have before, but with two kids now and a job which never allows much in the way of 'me-time', I still don't get to play very much...

And what about the blog then?

Well, much like me, this blog is something of a relic, stuck in the glories of the past and somewhat lacking in relevance to the year of grace 2016.

So, like me, it shall plod on!

*Drax smiles*.

And for those who've ever wondered what I look like, here's me today, in front of a Cadian Canadian Sherman in Portsmouth, my home town, in front of the D-Day Museum:

(It's taken by No.1 daughter, hence the low-angle)

Take care, all, and thank you. Thank you very much for all the support over the years. New readers and old; friends met and friends long since gone offline, I owe you a debt. 

Cheers,

- Chris/Drax.

540 - A Model Family

Morning All! 

Just a quickie: I wanted to share this pic from our Christmas visit to my dad's house and draw a pleasing generational link:

In the foreground, held by me, is the wooden biplane which I helped No.1 Daughter to make and glue together. In the background is one of the embroideries my dad used to work on during his countless months at sea with the Royal Navy. He made models when HE was a boy in the forties and fifties, and he always encouraged me in my Airfix building in the nineties.

Like noses, the hobby seems to run in the family...!

- D.

532 - An Amazing Community of Wargamers

Hi, all.

This post is respectfully dedicated to ex-service personnel and veterans.

You may just enjoy this, which I was privileged to be involved with this week: 

http://miniaturewargamingthemovie.com/an-amazing-community/

...and yes, you're right: that IS a film that someone is making about our hobby...with some top lobbying names in it, too!

Why not check out their kickstarter (linked from the blog entry linked above)?

Oh, and lest we forget...:

- Drax.

530 - "...The Fewer Men, the Greater Share of Honour"

Each Sunday evening, I speak to my salty old sea-dog of a dad, and this evening he pointed out to me that it was the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt - one of the battles I'm most interested in, thanks in no small part to Shakespeare's 'Henry V' being my all-time favourite play (no small deal for an English teacher, that!).

 "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; 
    For he to-day that sheds his blood with me 
    Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, 
    This day shall gentle his condition"

My dad was reminded of this fact by the Saturday Torygraph, which ran an article on the Perry Twins' Agincourt installation at the Royal Armouries in London. It looks stonkingly good in the photos, and overhead is a representation of the thousands of deadly longbow arrows arcing towards the flower of French chivalry :

"You may take our lives, but you will never take our--" - Oops. Sorry.

...and here's a link for you: here. [Both of these photos are used without permission from the blog linked.]

It's on until January, I think.

- Drax.

 Enter the KINGWESTMORELAND. O that we now had here
    But one ten thousand of those men in England
    That do no work to-day!
 
KING. What's he that wishes so?
    My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
    If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
    To do our country loss; and if to live,
    The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
    God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
    By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
    Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
    It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
    Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
    But if it be a sin to covet honour,
    I am the most offending soul alive.
    No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
    God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
    As one man more methinks would share from me
    For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
    Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
    That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
    Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
    And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
    We would not die in that man's company
    That fears his fellowship to die with us.
    This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
    He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
    Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
    And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
    He that shall live this day, and see old age,
    Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
    And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
    Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
    And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
    Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
    But he'll remember, with advantages,
    What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
    Familiar in his mouth as household words-
    Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
    Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
    Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
    This story shall the good man teach his son;
    And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
    From this day to the ending of the world,
    But we in it shall be remembered-
    We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
    For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
    Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
    This day shall gentle his condition;
    And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
    Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
    And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
    That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

507 - 6MMRPC 4: Deskspace

Hullo!

I'm conscious that some of my fellow bloggers have been sharing pictures of their painting areas 'cleared for action' with the onset of 6MMRPC...so, er, here's mine:

I don't have a painting area any more. I have my desk, which is supposed to be for me to do all of my planning, marking, domestic paperwork and - as my second, seasonal job - examining. 

Yup.

However...

It's also used by No.1 Daughter as a desk for her wonderful crazy-ass creative writing and drawing and by No.2 Daughter as a novelty, no-fear-of-her-ever-falling-off-here-at-all climbing frame and cat-chasing platform. Mrs. Drax kindly uses it as a repository for all the crap I leave all over the downstairs of the house too, so it's not what you'd call 'ideal' as a painting station.

My core paints, hobby tools and models-in-progress are all kept in the draws down the left column, with the top-most being locked with the sharp stuff in (luckily, both daughters are tremendously good at not opening things they're told not to open - praise the Emperor).

If you're wondering why I suffer this, it boils down to three things: (1) we've become rubbish at keeping a tidier house since having kids, (2) I'm lazy and disorganised, and (3) it is the ONLY space in our tiny cottage that combines a sturdy horizontal plane at the correct height with access to decent lighting. I kid you not.

Against the left wall, in the corner, are stacked some hobby boxes (I'm still astounded that Mrs. Drax lets me do this - in full public view) and you might even see the sturdy cardboard box sent by Da Masta Cheef [link] with his nine orks in it: I've made a slow start on painting them at last, and based my FoW Vickers Platoon, so a little more progress for 6mmrpc week 2.

Yay.

- Drax

502 - And the Winner Is...

I'm on holiday, in a very well-appointed youth hostel in Bath(!) and as the internet access is better than at home(!!) and I'm babysitting two very-excitable-and-thankfully-now-very-asleep girls whilst my wife explores the city, I thought I'd blog a bit. 

Well, after randomly generating a winner of my somewhat-lacklustre golden opportunity to win the chance to get one of your units painted by me, the 'lucky' winner is...

Da Masta Cheef!

Congratulations, Cheef! Check out his blog here: link and marvel at his characterful creations (Turns out that I don't visit nearly enough: I've realised that his is one of those blogs that has mysteriously dropped from my blogroll. Bugger. To be amended.)

Do please drop me an email, mate...

More to follow - I'll see if I can cue-up one or two, because there are exciting hobby times ahead for Drax...

Thanks for playing along at home,

- D.

POST 500 - "Why Am I Here?" - A glance fore and aft.

"Why Am I Here?" was the title of my first post, seven years and four days ago, and it seems apt to bring it back for today.

But first, 

POST 500! 

Hooray! 

...and thank you for swinging by!

It seems crazy to think that we're still doing this, seven years in; it seems crazy to ponder how many hours I've spent on this blog and how many friends it's brought me. Thanks, everyone.

I've got a whole raft of things I want to say and do in this post, but that'd get silly, so I'm going to limit myself here to three significant things, and then use the rest as content over the coming couple of weeks. The three things are as follows:

1. Issue the 'competition' to win a star prize;
2. A brief look back at each of the four previous centenary posts, (and this week's goodies) and,
3. An announcement.

Firstly, then: the competition. 

Actually, it's not a competition so much as a draw, and it's really simple (because I've little to offer as a prize): please leave a comment at the end of this post, and if you'd like to be in with the chance of randomly being picked as a winner, then just mention it. I won't take offence if you don't! The prize is as follows:

I will paint up a unit for you - free of charge - and cover the postage too, as best I can. You know that unit that you really cannot be bothered to paint? I'll do it. You know those models that you need to be finished at some point but they're right at the bottom of your priority list? Send 'em to me. The caveats are: (1) I'm not brilliant at painting - I'll do a serviceable job, but it's not pro-quality, and (2) it'll take me a while. I promise I'll give it my best shot, though...

There you go! Free painting for one unit. Not a bad prize, if you just need stuff painted!

Next, a brief look back at previous centenary posts:

Post 100 - Drax's Guard Army [link]:

This was the first group shot of the glorious 2/24th Cadian. Ah, glory days indeed! This was almost a year after starting the blog and about seven months after moving from Norwich to sunny Devon.

Post 200 - Drax's Army Painted [link]:

By this point, we'd had the first addition to our family - our eldest daughter - but I still managed to describe the 2/24th as "my pride and joy!" Incidentally, this shoot is the one my current blog header comes from!

Post 300 - Drax's Whole Army [link]:

In June 2012 I was lucky enough to be frequenting the now-defunct Giant's Lair in Plymouth: the only time in my almost 25 years of wargaming that I've been able to play regularly. By the way, if you weren't around during this period, I recommend checking out this post: there are some cracking pics! I really like this one: 

Post 400 - Day 4/14 - the 400th Post [link]:

Wow - this is truly mundane! I did genuinely enjoy bashing out fourteen posts over the course of a fortnight though: it was a fun (and very popular) challenge, the 'Forced Fortnight' - it also got me to plough through a lot of hobby work. By this time, I'd had another child (Daughter #2, the tubby ginger one) and I'd taken a demotion at work, to give me more family time. Great decision! 

The sprue, by the way, is from my Matilda II, which I've yet to paint properly...it's waiting in the wings, trust me. I've got plans for it. This is symbolic, really, of my move away from 40K and towards historical - in this case, Bolt Action in 15mm.

That leads me, as it happens, to where I am now: I now have my core force assembled in 28mm Bolt Action...and there's more on the way! Here's a pic of my core, legal 'reinforced platoon' - with luck I'll have about 1000pts' worth by the end of the month when I nip up to Kirton Games for my inaugural Bolt Action games!

L-R; Front-Back: Cromwell, Sniper & Spotter, 2Lt, FOO, PIAT & Loader, 1 Section (in two teams so as to be force-legal) and a Recce Carrier with pintle-mounted Bren. 

There'll be far more posts about these puppies over the coming weeks, trust me!

Finally, an announcement:

I think it's time for me to quit 40K. I've not played with my army for literally over a year...and even then I had to dust them off. It was an absolutely blinding game against Gravis, but it was a last hurrah under the old Codex, and before GW went properly, finally batshit crazy. 

I've played 40K since - I played Zzzzzz-style, chez Zzzzzz, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable game, but I didn't need 4500pts' worth of Guard to play it - in fact, I didn't even use a single one of my models. And still had a blast. 

Now, I love my army, but they take up room...and I not only haven't kept up with the pace of change in 40K (I can't afford to!) I've also realised, on a fundamental level, that I don't want to. I just don't want to play their games any more. Literally AND figuratively. I strongly dislike the recent shifts in aesthetic, and I don't even like where they've taken the fluff these days: something GW's always done well. No. Alas, there's simply no part of the GW hobby that still attracts me. 

Except Zzzzzz-style gaming, because that's really fun.

So I'm left with a sprawling, painted, uniform, outdated, archaic Cadian Imperial Guard army that hasn't even been reworked for the current codex. I will probably have to sell it, and I cannot imagine for a second that I'll get a good price for it. I also have the issue of the couple of units I'd wish to keep...just for the memories, y'know...but I suspect this is all a post for another day.

Anyone want to buy a Guard Army? One very careful and loving owner...

Sorry if this feels like a betrayal to any of my few remaining 40K readers, but it doesn't mean I'm going to stop enjoying your posts (assuming the internet is functioning well enough for me to enjoy them...!)

So.

Here endeth the 500th lesson.

The Emperor Protects.

- Chris/Drax.

497 - Life Lessons

I'm a teacher. 

Love us or hate us, our job is to try to teach stuff to kids, and by-and-large - despite all bloody interference by ministers and tabloids - we tend take an immense pride in our jobs. Sometimes, we even take it seriously.

Last month, however, I was forced - forced, I tell you - to stop teaching a lesson on genre tropes ten whole minutes early in response to overhearing an 11 year old boy telling his group that a genre feature of sci-fi was 'Jar-Jar Binks'.

Once I'd finished spluttering, gesticulating and suppressing profanities, I spent the remaining time putting them straight through a long, multifaceted rant. Here's what was still there of my copious notes at the end of the lesson:

What fools these mortals be.

- Drax.

488 - Plymouth Association of Wargamers - PAW 2015 Show

Geekfest!

[Sorry for the radio silence: I've had the dreaded ManFlu.]

This was last week, and it wasamazing! It's always a good start when it takes me an age to park even in my tiny wee Fiat Panda, but when I got in it was as busy as you like.

Much props to the wargaming friends Lee, Jay and Gary I got to see there, and it was particularly great to see Col. Gravis of 'Curious Constructs' fame.

My photos were rubbish, alas, but I'll try to communicate the highlights briefly below...

Above and below: the first thing that caught my eye - a gorgeous Wild West game set-up, complete with narrow-gauge railroad and train in the background! - shamefully, I didn't catch the name of it. 

Above and Below: Across a Dead Earth exhibition game. I wasn't able to see the game in action, but the board looked just amazing!

Above: a massive exhibition game of Flames of War. Russia Vs Germany as far as I recall.

Above and two below: A huge Pegasus Bridge-themed exhibition game of Bolt Action. Gorgeous. 

Above: All Quiet on the Martian Front. I had a nice natter with the chaps playing this. I got the impression it's a good fun game but one whih still needs some tweaks to its peripheral mechanics.

The game above was so damned  interesting, I'm going to give it its own post...

Above and the two below: a rather beautiful looking ACW game based around the Battle of Belmont.

Above and below: Curious Constructs. Just amazing kits. Amazing. Seriously, check out the new walker platforms below.

And wasn't this just a treat - that's right: one of Jon Lambshead's 'Hammer's Slammers' books - why not pop over and see him now? Link here: [link] 

 So there you go. Although I don't have any decent pics of it(!) the highlight of the day (other than meeting up with folks I know) was watching a couple of chaps play a game in the Bolt Action Tournament: British Commandos and Paras Vs some very unlucky Russians. I must've stayed with them for almost an hour, and it was brilliant. What a great system Bolt Action is!

Here's to PAW 2016, eh?

- D.