(A big gold star for anyone who recognizes which "song" the "lyric" in the title post comes from. There might be a clue in the next two paragraphs...)
So thanks and congratulations to Amera Plastic Mouldings for becoming the 50th follower of this blog. Long term followers might remember I built their church and "Ministry Building" kits earlier in the year. Vacuum formed plastic terrain doesn't seem to get as much consideration in wargames circles as it ought to, perhaps because people think of vac-formed packaging and expect it to be equally flimsy. But the Amera buildings are extremely rugged and sturdy, yet lightweight and give incredible value for money. They really deserve a whole lot more love than they're getting. When I was working on them, I was looking online for pictures of them completed and painted, but every Google search I tried kept bringing up either their store page or the Axis Of Naughtiness! I highly recommend their stuff.
So strange as it may seem, after being stuck on 49 followers for such a long time, hitting 5-0 has rekindled a little bit of interest in wargaming for me. Maybe it's just a bit of guilt, as mi hermano concienzuda Jonesy said to me the other day, that I really ought to get back to doing regular updates of this blog. Whatever it is, I'm feeling... if not inspired as such, let's just say mildly interested in getting back to rolling dice and pushing toy soldiers around a table.
Here's the situation. The man-cave is currently piled up to the door with assorted junk from my flat, bundled into crates to be sorted out when I've had more time to settle back in to living with my father. This makes getting to most of the terrain and figures I have there a somewhat difficult, if not outright dangerous task. I currently have nowhere to setup a full-size wargame, or even a mid-size one (4'x4') and so I'm back, ironically right to where I was when this blog started, limited to a game that could fit on a modestly sized coffee table. I have a limited selection of figures painted and "table ready", namely the 28mm VSF collection, assorted 15mm 19th Century Colonialm the old 25mm fantasy/medieval stuff and a few other bits and bobs. I also right now don't want to commit to a big programme of painting and preparation, so all that unpainted lead, plastic and resin will, for now, remain unpainted. And yet, in recent years, I've developed an aversion to using unpainted figures, since I've found I feel the visual aesthetics of the game has become important to me (which is ironic considering my favoured "daub 'n' dip" painting technique).
Oh and I'm broke, so no hitting eBay for new ready-painted armies as a quick fix!
I think I'm going to have to launch an expedition into the man-cave to extract a small selection of figures and terrain that can be stored somewhere more accessible. Maybe just enough to do some small skirmishes.
If you don't hear from me after this weekend, send in a search party. I'll probably be trapped under a pile of collapsed crates full of polystyrene hills.
