Off the Painting Table (Sept 2020)

After completing my AWI project I was uncertain about what I wanted to do next, so I decided to take a break from painting. I saw an advert from Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) for their 15mm plastic Ancient figures, so as an experiment I bought a Sassanid starter army for £35. This basically provides enough figures for half a standard size army (Impetus; Sword & Spear etc.). If I were to buy the same number of metal figures (e.g. from Peter Pig), I calculate that the cost would be £50-£55; so the PSC army pack saves roughly 33%.

The plastic is ‘soft’, very similar to old Airfix figures, and light grey (which supposedly does not require priming). There is little assembly required, just adding a few lances, sides to howdahs etc. with superglue. The figures are ‘true’ 15mm and single figure castings (horse and riders not separate). There was some flash which, being ‘soft’ plastic, was fiddly to remove with a sharp scalpel, and the figure bases did not stand well. I think the sculpting and detailing on the figures was not great, and the variability between figures was limited.

I painted the figures using a black primer/undercoat which applied nicely with no pooling problems. Generally the figures painted up well, but the details of the sculpts was not as sharp as I would expect of a metal casting, so facial details etc. were hard to pick out. Overall I am OK with how the min-army looks, especially with the money saving, but I would have liked better quality figures. It is a balance issue, and I am leaning towards paying more money for better quality metals, but the PSC pack is not far behind. I am going to continue to explore the plastic PSC range by buying a Late Roman starter army to line-up against the Sassanids.

Boardgame Year 6 Summary

A collated list of games we have played is tabulated below. The list is primarily aimed at providing me with a detailed record of my boardgaming activity, so that I can spot and understand trends and favourites. It also sparks my enthusiasm for games I overlooked and want to play more of. The first figure is the number of times a game made it to the table, whereas the superscript number is the number of actual games played.

No Games played	Boardgame
1230	Carcassonne
722	Castles of Burgundy
11 69	Brass – Birmingham Brass - Lancashire
511	Ganz Schon Clever (& twice as clever)
58	Palazzo
11 24 13 17	Ticket to Ride – Europe Ticket to Ride – Japan/Italy Ticket to Ride – Pennsylvania Ticket to Ride - UK
411	Targi (& expansion)
410	NMBR 9
48	Quadropolis
47	Jaipur
47	The Networks
310	Glen More II
35	Lost Cities
34	Onitama
33	Strozzi
13 110	Machi Koro Machi Koro Legacy
28	Mah-Jong
25	Patchwork
25	Quacks of Quedlingburg
24	Western Legends
23	Parade
22	Citadels
18	Dominion
15	Oh, My Goods!
15	Sewer Pirats
14	Keyflower
14	Azul
14	Galaxy Truckers
13	Santorini
13	San Juan
13	Schotten Totten
13	Maharaja
13	Transatlantic
13	Mr Jack
12	Scotland Yard
12	High Society
12	Timeline
12	Tsuro
12	Fleet
12	Flamme Rouge
12	The Crew
12	Five Tribes
11	Sushi Go!
11	Catan
11	Wingspan
11	Bohnanza
11	Abalone
11	Love Letter
11	Sheriff of Nottingham
11	221B Baker Street
11	King of New York
11	Dice Hospital
11	Dice Forge
11	Irish Gauge
11	Tiny Towns
11	Mexica
11	Ecos
11	Everdell

 

In sharp contrast to my wargaming activity, this year has seen a bumper crop of boardgames played and a wide range of differing games. Elaine and I have played many more two player games due to COVID19  and these feature strongly in the above list.

There were a number of ‘stand-out’ games this year. My favourite must be the classic; Castles of Burgundy. The mechanisms work nicely and the pace of the game accelerates, so that by the later rounds players struggle to achieve all they want. A close second place Glen Moree; the roundel system works really well and the game scales nicely for 2-4 players. The next game that deserves mention is ‘Western Legends’ with the ‘Ante Up’ expansion, which just adds more of the good stuff. Finally, we got ‘Targi – the Expansion’, which is not really an expansion but a version 1.5 of the original Targi. I’m not sure which I prefer as both are excellent.

So, a very busy and good boardgame year, and I’m looking forward to the coming year.

Wargame Year 6 Summary

The sixth year of my blog has now been completed and the number of hits has dropped slightly, maybe people are getting bored with blogging. The recent changes to Blogger have been a backward step in my view; I have trouble posting pictures, I cannot gain geographic data on views etc.

The main purpose of my blog is to keep a diary of my wargaming activities for my own record, and I’m happy that others may find this interesting.

The games I have played this year are listed below:

	Period	Rules	Type	Scale
1	Samurai	Impetus2; Samurai	OpposedL	28mm
1	ECW	Regt of Foote	Solo	15mm
2 1 1	Greek-Persian War           “ Punic War	Sword & Spear	Solo OpposedL Solo	15mm
2	Great Italian War	Impetus2	Solo	28mm
1 3 2	Napoleonic	Piquet Lasalle Lasalle	Solo Solo OpposedL,W	25mm 25mm 25mm
1	Pirate	Blood & Plunder	OpposedL	28mm
2	Fantasy Naval	Man O’War	Solo	Misc.
3	Fantasy	S&S Fantasy	Solo	10mm

 

This year my wargaming has been severely curtailed due to COVID19, but I am surprised I have not played more solo games in the time of lockdown. The wargame highlights of the year was getting some underplayed armies on the table again, especially my fantasy figures. So in summary 2019-20 has been a very quiet year. I continue to say that I must play more regularly, but life just seems to get in the way and COVID19 does not help!