Great Giveaway at Loki's Great Hall

As the title really, do head over and check it out. Loki was be of the brave Ronin and s a quite excellent painter and terrain builder. 

Apologies to those who have stacks of these in their blog roll, but don't we all love a giveaway?!

Normal service to be resumed soon.

Analogue Hobbies Challenge: the winners announced

True to his word, Curt has announced the winners of the 3rd Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

Aside from the 'top three' on points, there were four prizes to for Curt announce. 

Challengers' Choice went to MichaelA's delightful, gruesome cannibal cooking pot.

People's Choice went to MichaelA again, this time his quite awesome 'Seven Samurai in greyscale'.



Judge's choice, the lonely abandoned caisson by Kawe



And finally, Sarah's choice went to my Lady in White



I'm absolutely delighted with that as there were some excellent entries that could easily have won this category. Many thanks to Sarah for granting me the award for a second year in a row, it s much appreciated. Eek, that's quite a precedent!

My hearty Congratulations to the winners, to those at the top of the standings, the runners up in all categories and the rest of the field - exceptional efforts all round. The real winners are of course all the 'Ronin', to be encouraged and inspired to such efforts and the rest of the gaming blogging community, which is greatly enriched by Curt's challenge. Until next year (when I'll have to find some more ladies to paint...)

It's growing!

Over the past few days, I've trickled past 20,000 pageviews on this, my little corner of the Internet. Which is small fry compared the the likes of those wargaming blog leviathans Tamsin, Fran and Ray, but for me, an occasion worth marking.

Image courtesy of the quite awesome Pulp-O-Mizer, source of hours of fun.

It is pleasing that I noted 10,000 only back in October, which took 18 months or so. So to double that in six months despite my fairly sporadic posting across my eclectic range of topics seems quite good to me!


A future Pulp adventure perhaps...?

I believe it is customary to review popular posts, mine are currently:
Challenge Countdown on 1400
Board Game Weekend on 340
Finding Good Trees on 280

A curious collection, none generated many comments or were particularly noteworthy to me. Challenge Countdown is so far ahead because the image comes up in google searches on a common word.

In closing, thanks to my readers and followers - your comments and encouragement are always appreciated.

Dear Santa...

Ian over at The Blog With No Name is kindly running a gamer blog 'Secret Santa' for Christmas this year. Which is a smashing idea - who doesn't like presents, particularly gaming-related ones that our loved ones won't buy us! Assuming Royal Mail get the parcels to everyone, of course!

I'm aware that I have somewhat electic tastes and flit around projects a lot and  in'real life'  I'm  accused of being difficult to buy for (not true!). So thought I'd give my Santa some ideas by way of things I've recently had my eye on. 

First up, some reinforcements for my Napoleonic Spanish. To be a standalone force, they could do with some cavalry. I reckon the Perry French hussars would be perfectly serviceable as 'Maria Luisa Hussars', though a whole box is a squeeze out of budget. 

Don't they look dapper?

Another option would be to start another unit of infantry. I've been very tempted by the new Offensive Miniatures line as they seem very well matched to Perry, unlike Capitan who are a bit scrawny. I do like the bearskins on those Grenadiers, though the Line are the classic Spanish look.

The recently revealed Secret Project would also benefit from a couple of packs. Ive been using the Perry Miniatures Sudan range, many lovely models there, but I particularly fancy these packs:

British infantry firing line

10th Hussars swords drawn

Bashi Bazouks on foot skirmishing (above, nice to get some colour on the battlefield)

Sudanese Baggara Horse with spears

Another thought, my Saga Viking force could do with another unit of Bondi to round it out. Gripping Beast do a perfectly sized pack, and are nice minis to boot! 

I hope that's useful, Santa, unless you've got some ideas already...

10,000 pageviews

Photo courtesy of the power of Google. 

I seem to have passed a great blogging milestone overnight: 10,000 pageviews. 

I've been slowly creeping towards it over the past few months - ever slower as my post rate has dropped from 12ish a month in the first six months of the year, to just 2 last month - oops! 

Apologies if any typos or other oddities have been creeping into my posts recently - the new Blogger interface is a nightmare on iPad, which adds to the usual typos that creep in. which means more time correcting and editing them! 

A big thanks to my readers and followers: your reading and commenting really does keep me blogging and painting! 

A long overdue rebrand

I've been meaning to give this blog an overhaul for ages, as I started out with one of the blander templates. I've added a bit more colour with the background and some definition to the gadgets.

You may also notice the new Title, 'Diary of a Gaming Magpie'. I was never really happy with my blog name, 'Infrequent Wargamer' felt more an acknowledgement of circumstance than a anything else. So I thought I'd 'rebrand' with a new Title. I pondered this for a while and decided:
-To keep 'Diary of' - this very much feels like my diary and project notes (in fact, I wouldn't claim it was anything else!)
-A slight tweak to 'Gaming' rather than 'Wargaming', given my interests aren't purely Wargaming, on occasion I also touch on board games, computer games and other things.
-To be a Magpie. Why? I'm sure my longer-term followers will have already noticed my merry-go-round of projects, so it should come as no surprise that I like shiny things. Particularly new projects, new miniatures, new board or computer games or anything a bit shiny.  A bit like a Magpie, in fact. 

Caw!

I've kept the same URL - purely because I've no idea what would happen if I changed it! I'm struck by a fear that my followers disappear into the ether!

Let me know what you think. Personally, I'm not sure on the Title and Intro text - too much?

A mystery and interesting hobby news

First up, things might be quiet here in terms of me posting recent painting, there is a good reason: I've a new mystery project. All will be revealed when the painting is nearly finished. In the meantime here are some hints:

-it's a skirmish game using an intriguing new ruleset.

-it will be a narrative campaign (Samulus, Gharak, I hope to play through it with both of you at least)

-it was inspired by a recent issue of Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy magazine

-half the work is already done with minis I've already got and painted.

-the minis are primarily from one of my favourite manufacturers.

-of the minis I've bought, most are also useful to another period I often play (bonus value for money)

Any guesses from my more attentive readers?

Hopefully not as much of a headache as this causes


Anyway, I will still beaver away at my more public projects and post them up as and when I get stuff finished.

In hobby-related news, Tamsin highlighted controversial announcements by two relatively big players in the historical Wargames market - Battlefront and Slitherine. The former seem to be getting a GW-esque superiority complex and are banning the use of non-Battlefront miniatures at all official Flames of War tournaments. While it doesn't affect me directly, I think this is one step too far to . I wonder what the backlash will be. I did have some respect for what FOW did in terms of making WWII more accessible, but can't quite understand their logic to preserve market share amongst what is by-all-accounts a relatively small number of tournament gamers.

Next up, Slitherine, (publishers of Field of Glory which I've eyed up a few times times) have announced that the long-awaited second version of their ancients and medieval rules will be digital-only, with no option to print a PDF. While I can see it plays to their strengths as a digital publisher and it could improve the rules and balance through easy application of updates, it has caused quite a stir. While I do generally applaud innovation, there are clear issues of portability (not everyone owns a tablet or small laptop) which might seriously damage the prospects of V.2 being used as widespread tournament rules. I myself prefer hardcopy rules if possible, I've got Gruntz only in soft copy and must say it is a bit of a pain to navigate even when gaming at home. What do you think?

Launch of the Aegeus the Game Blog!

As I've mentioned before, my brother (Gharak here on Blogger and elsewhere) and I have started playtesting a skirmish game set in mythical ancient Greece. The game will be called 'Aegeus: Age of Mythical Battles'. The idea is to create a set of rules for heroic combat between opposing warbands as well as to all you to play scenario-based games from Greek Mythology.

Gharak has started a Blog to spread word about the game and share concepts, sculpts and some design notes. Check it out here:
http://aegeusthegame.blogspot.co.uk/

While we've been playtesting with miniatures we picked up from various manufacturers, but Gharak intends to have a line of miniatures sculpted for the game and has already had some awesome concept art done. He is looking at hiring some excellent sculptors for the line.

Check out the concept for Theseus:

And a generic Athenian hero:

All images are Copyright Aegeus the Game 2012

Giveaways galore at Frontline Gamer

Frontline Gamer is in the middle of a series of giveaways as he hits new follower targets. Not only that, he's very insightful hobby blogger, if occasionally controversial. So his blog is well worth checking out on it'd own merits:

Frontline Gamer

Two milestones

Noticed that the blog hit two milestones in recent days - 30 followers and 3000 pageviews. Ok, not up there with the big boys (I'm looking at you, Angry Lurker, BigLee) but not bad given I don't get chance to post that often. I've also noticed I'm getting a consistent 30-ish page views a day, even when I'm not posting, I think the 'you might also like' widget helps.

In honour of this, I hope to spend a little time tweaking the blog over the weekend. Also, inspired by other bloggers' recent giveaways, I'll look to find something to give away when I hit 50 followers.

Salute 2012: The Haul

In the aftermath of Salute plenty people are blogging about their day and purchases. And here's my trifling haul. From the top:
-Two Battlefront plastic tanks (free with a demo at FoW, since passed to someone who plays 15mm WWII who can make use of them)
-A bumper set of Colours from Flag Dude. Enough for all my finished Napoleonic Brits and Spanish.
-Free samples from GZG. Fantastic 15mm SciFi sculpts, I was chuffed that one a great likeness to Mal Reynolds from Firefly.
-Movement trays for Saga from Warbases
-A part-box of Wargames Factory Greek Hoplites, for my Brother's next project (more on that later)
-A small preorder from Pendraken, giving me enough WWII British to play Blitzkrieg Commander
-Salute 2012 miniature, which looks fun to paint up
-Stock up on MiniNatur tufts
-Redoubt miniatures Helen of Troy and Trojan archers (Brother's project)
-A lonely pack of Perry Napoleonics
-Otherworld Miniatures Minotaur (can you guess the project?)

Not a completely successful day, not only did I return home with fully half my spends, I was desperate for new matt varnish and white undercoat but could only find Army Painter and GW sprays which I'm avoiding. I was interested in a new big battle, small-scale project and didn't pick anything up, though most tempting was some 15mm SciFi from GZG. I'll paint up my samples and look into buying online.

Salute was a great day, a massive show and busier than I've ever seen it. So big it took two hours to do our first circuit of the hall! I don't feel like I managed to do the show justice, as the clock ran down it became a spend-athon and I didn't pay enough attention to the frankly amazing demo tables. I did take my camera but spectacularly failed to take any photos. So I'm reliving the through other people's great snaps, like Samulus and BigLee.

I also failed to get to the bloggers meet-up, my fault entirely as I got my timings wrong. I didn't start well in this regard, being half an hour late on arrival which put me in a flustered mood. So apologies to those Bloggers I missed wandering around the hall, I hope you all had a good day and hope to catch you at another show soon!

All quiet on the Blogging front

Is it me or is it quiet around here? The Gaming Blogosphere seem to have been a bit quiet lately, but perhaps I'm just missing the regular Challenge updates of recent months. Or maybe the weather is perking up so we're all spending less time at our hobby tables and more getting some sunlight?

I received two packages this week, both from DaveD. First off a book he gave away on his blog: Hell Riders by Terry Brighton. I look forward to an illuminating read about the charge of the light brigade. Secondly some plastic round shields, after I asked for spares to equip my Vikings the other week. Many thanks to DaveD for sorting me out, Vikings without shields was a sad state of affairs.

So, here is a shout-out to DaveD of One Man and his Brushes, for being a thoroughly nice chap. Check out his blog here:
http://onemanhisbrushes.blogspot.com
Lots of eye-candy here, I particularly like how DaveD does his horses.

With Salute fast approaching I look forward to seeing some of you there.

Giveaway: Sipping on Paint Water

It seems to be the season of giveaways. To help reward the kindly folk (and give me a chince of winning), do check out the Sippin' on Paint Water blog here:
Sippin' on Paint Water

And a repost for the link-lazy:
----------------------------

Spring has sprung in my neck of the woods, and that oh so joyous holiday of Easter is fast approaching. To celebrate I thought I would share an Easter basket with one of my lucky followers, but this is no ordinary Easter basket, this basket will be filled not only with normal items of chocolate bunnies, pastel colored eggs and jelly beans, but with all sorts of mini goodies.

Imagine less eggs, and more things you might
actually want.

RULES
You must be a follower of Sippin' On Paint Water by April 8, 2012.
You must leave a comment on this post, 'Easter Basket Giveaway'.
If you win you will have to disclose your address, The Easter Bunny may 
know where you live but I don't.

There you have it, very simple, I hope the promises of chocolate and minis is enough to lure you into following. The winner will be announced on Easter Sunday, and hopefully I'll have the basket in the mail the next day. I'll even throw out a bonus way to get your name in the drawing twice, reblog this and I'll see to it that you get a second chance at the prize, want a third chance? Then email me a pic of a mini you have painted like an Easter egg or an Easter egg that you have painted like a mini, IE a Space Marine egg. Just send the email to: cbhollowell at AIM dot COM. If I receive enough submitted  images I may make a special post to showcase them in all their pastel glory, good luck and happy Easter, thanks for reading and stay thirsty.

Challenge: Wrap up

I took this snap of everything I painted during the Analogue Hobbies Winter painting challenge. So this is my total painting output between 20 December and 20 March. Definitely good going for me, it feels like a long time since I have put out so much.
I hit the heady heights of 519 points, nearly 5% over my target. Scoring was 5 points for a 28mm miniature, 10 for cavalry and I worked through 80-something miniatures. My 500 wasn't even close to the leaders, who reached nearly 5000 points!
Looking over my entries and harking back to what I had on my painting table at the start, there is quite a difference. I started with a lot of Napoleonics to do, in particular 20- something cavalry. But have worked on my Naps for a couple of years, I'm feeling a bit burned out so my output was less, and primarily focused on finishing units off rather than starting new ones. With these done I'm thinking a break and some new projects is in order.
I did an unexpected amount of 1930s (ish) Pulp miniatures, which are always fun but were mostly bought once we'd begun. The driver for this comes from my brother's renewed interest in Pulp gaming. In fact, quite a few of these (and others I have prepped) are a gift for his birthday next month. This fashionable lady was the last of these, a shameless bid for Sarah's Choice and a delight to paint.

Manufacturers-wise, plenty of Perry and a bit for Victrix, Gripping Beast, Artizan, Pulp Figures. All excellent models and some of my favourite manufacturers. What else did I learn? Well plenty about the friendliness of our hobby, with a lot of camaraderie and encouragement from challengers and visitors alike. I learned about all facets of the hobby: modelling techniques, manufacturers, photography so forth. i saw some fantastic miniatures come off our collective painting tables, in all scales. I was impressed in particular with a lot of the 15mm work, a scale I've always avoided. Choosing my entry for the Challenger's Choice winner was tough, I can tell you.
So, many thanks to Curt for running it, it looked like a lot of work but I think we all appreciated it a lot. Thanks to everyone who entered, visited, commented and blogged about it, you are all true gentlemen and I found real sense of community in it. So, until next year: Curt has challenged me to 1000 points. Could I do it?

Quick! Stock up on Devlan mud!

I don't follow GW news, but I still use their paints. Apparently, they are being overhauled:

http://thefrontlinegamer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/finally-alan-merret-has-revealed-to-us.html

I've already had to develop a new skin method after they ditched bronzed flesh - not a disaster as I prefer my new one, but was a pain for matching. They also changed graveyard earth i think, which I use buckets of. But my main concern is whether Devlan Mud will survive. They wouldn't change it... Would they?

Even more tempted to move to Vallejo, now.

Happy Birthday!

I totally failed to notice that the first anniversary of my first blog post has been and gone, being on 13 March.

Here is a little celebration of that, in a year where my my painting output has been higher than for a long time, yet my summer was affected by a turbulent personal and professional life.

So, in this moment of reflection, I bid goodwill to bloggers everywhere!

Yours,
PhilH

Wow, traffic

After almost a year of Blogging, my rambles seem to have gathered an audience! 60% of my page views have been over the past month, the majority of which in the last week or so I think.

Thanks to all for reading and commenting!

Shameless plug for an amusing blog

Evening gamers and painters!

A personal friend of mine has recently started a new blog, pitched as a weekly British version of satirical newspaper 'The Onion'. I think it is really amusing, but he is keen on getting more readers!

So this is a shameless plug and do comment here or on his blog.

Check it out here:
http://swizonsunday.wordpress.com/

Cheers!