Olympically empty life

The All Blacks have just downed Japan 82-7 in the latest pool match of the World Cup. Victoria has a crush on Sonny-Bill Williams (and she is nine). I am soooo out of touch with what is going on in the All Black team I can hardly be called a New Zealander.  I have been working pretty hard and haven't painted a single figure since about a month ago. All in all nothing really to blog about. I hope the spirit of creativity can move me to at least pick up a paint brush soon.

Just a busy but uneventful life....

Nothing to blog about really. I've been really busy at work. Josie got accepted into Columba on a music scholarship. Columba has a really good reputation so it is a bit of a coup to get in. Victoria  is starring in her primary school production of "The Magic Schoolbus".

I have got sick of Shogun Total War 2 and am hanging out for Napoleon Total War 2 ... When will they decide to do it????

I spoke too soon!

Kitchen window

Dining room window

Sunday

The horse at the front is my first ever attempt at shading. Crappy but interesting nevertheless!

This is a finished lot of Waterloo British light cav.  I am pretty happy with the end result.  If I had any twisted individual in my city who shared the same hobby, I would be more than happy to put them on the wargames table.

This weekend everybody has prepard for a big dump of snow. The media has dubbed it the "perfect storm" but so far it has just been a colder than average Sunday. Today I painted a second batch of Waterloo British light cavalry. Italieri are a pretty patchy manufacturer. They can either make really nice figures like the light cav I have been painting or they can produce some pretty aweful ones like French and British infantry pre 1806. They are also guilty of 'scale creep' where the figures get just that little bit bigger set after set. The 1805 Austrians are giants compared to the Esci or Hat figures so even though they are well sculpted they can't be used on a table with other figures.

Just the horse bits to go before basing.

The Perfect Storm! You can see the snow piling up in huge drifts outside our back window. How will we ever survive the weekend!!!

In the news Josie is back from her camp. It was too cold for her and she didn't really enjoy it. Victoria has got a solo part in her school production of The Magic Schoolbus. She also gets to play the violin and do the 'hat dance'.

Oh Bugger.

I am a massive Bowie fan so the recent news from this biographer is a real disappointment. I just wish that he has been siting at home at the piano and recording stuff without going to the recording companies.  I doubt it though....sigh.

Monday... the TV lives another day!

Half way finished! The light cavalry rides again!

Ready to cut some peasants down to size!

Spur of the moment purchase from Toyworld. Ihave always had a hankering to paint Austrians. The problem was that they had two distinctive uniforn styles during the Napoleonic period. Painting 2 3000 man armies would be a little tiresome.

The dude who has fallen from with horse is a cool figure and desrves a good standard of painting. I might really paint him up next weekend.

My rifles in skirmish order reasy to see off those frenchies!

My AWI horses got a bit of a touch up tonight before tea. I used acrylic brown on top of my standard enamel. Acrylics are pretty cool but I grew up with enamel Humbrol paints and I am not sure I can part with them totally. With browner mounts the Brits look a lot cooler. Next stage is the finicky touch up stage and then the basing.  Previously, I have got a joinery shop to cut up thin MDF for me. Unfortunatley I have ru out of those bases so  it looks like a call to "my man" might be in order.

Getting rid of TV

So far what I have painted during the first six months of the year. I dedect a small movement away from French and towards Arthur Wellesley's army!

Stuff I use for basing figures... 95th Rifles pre-flocking in the background

AWI figs early on Sunday.  By the evening they were looking much more finished

Bits and bobs of British light cav and rifles.

My messy painting box.

Josie is off on camp for a week at a place called Berrick. I have no idea where it is but she has been reallly looking forward to it.  As for rest of the family there is nothing special for the week apart from learning to live without TV. We made the decision that there was too much time wasted in the evenings and not enough homework and practice getting done.  We have been a TV free family quite often during the years but now hopefully we will make the break for good.  I have placated the youngest by promising to buy a family Ipad so she is a little happier. I will wrap the TV and stick it under the house to bring out on special occasions ---like it we make the finals of the World Cup this year and don't choke like we usually do.

As for this weekend I did some Olympic painting and managed to get through my AWI British Light Cavalry. I am not sure how happy I am with them.  I am a pretty crappy painter and I am not that interested in painting every figure to its fullest portential. I just want to see massed ranks of figures on a table.  If I take my glasses off they even look pretty good.  The broblem with my AWI figures is that they just look so clean and bright. I doubt the average trooper fighting the insurgency would have scrubbed up very well at all on campaign so my bright carnival figures are hardly realistic