Fads that came and went

Most of us probably know the Fad.  That passing, fleeting desire to do a new period or scale which may lead to buying figures and stuff.  It may come from a comment by a friend, a book or magazine article or television.  And it may pass as quickly as it arrived.     

For a laugh, here's some recent fads of mine.  

1)  Jacobite Rebellion. 
I was recommended to read the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon (which is also coming to a tv screen in August).  I picked up the book and liked it.  The main action takes place in 1745, so that led to thoughts of figures and scales.  I already have 15mm Seven Years War stuff so it wouldn't have taken much to add some more.  But the moment passed and the books, including Prebble's Culloden, were put back on the shelf. 

2)  American War of Independence. 
The Outlander series carries on to the Americas just before the outbreak of the AWI.  More thoughts of 15mm, then I saw Kallistra do very nice 10/12mm figures.  Almost went down that road when I went to Carronade this year.  I bought a couple of uniform books on the AWI, but .... 

3)  WW1
Kallistra also do nice 10/12mm WW1 figures.  They are early war and very tempting.  Two chaps I know have 15mm WW1 and we recently played the Square Bashing rules by Peter Pig.  At Carronade one chap decided to get some of the Kallistra figures.  I almost did the same, but I bought a lot of boardgames and the moment passed.  The fad is still bubbling away however, as I picked up and have just finished Catastrophe by Max Hastings.  I'll see if some of my thoughts are still on WW1 come Claymore in August. 

4)  Steampunk / Malifaux. 
Then out of left-field came 32mm Malifaux.  A chap on the bay was selling some half-painted stuff so I checked it out and got it cheap.  I cannot believe the prices of the new stuff - 4 to 6 quid or more for a single figure, and some of those figures are plastic.  Still, it looked like a nice little painting exercise.  Who knows where it may lead, though I doubt if I'll ever get the cards or play the game.  

And the future ... who knows what fads may come and go.  The 70 anniversary of D-Day is in a week or so and a big boardgame is planned.  Then mid-June always sees me play an 1815 game of some sort.  And so on ...  

Saxons !

Finally got some Saxons finished.  I decided to focus on one tray instead of trying to do all 500 plus figures at once.  Here's the result. 

And a bit closer on some chaps.

The Saxon right flank viewed from lower down.

And the left. 

And the whole tray again.  

And in getting this far, I've just spotted a shield that should be quartered but isn't.  If any reader wants - have a little game of spot the shield.  I'll go away shortly and paint that missing quarter. 

Next I'll try to finish the more armoured Huscarls. 

panzergrenadiers finished

The panzergrenadiers are finished.   

And the vehicles. 

And another picture of the panzergrenadiers. 

Next task will be to finish the 6mm Anglo-Saxons.   

Nice little accident

I had an interesting little modelling accident today.  I was doing the bases for Flames of War panzergrenadiers I'm painting for a friend and instead of using a standard filler, I decided to use some old green Basetex I had.  I reckoned if I scattered on some heavier grit and some sand it would all provide a good base for painting.  

When I had finished I thought the bases looked quite good on their own and I like the different colours in the stones.  I'll still paint them, but I took some photos first just to preserve what they looked like.