55 Days at Peking... A beginning

One of Don Kingman's wonderful watercolour paintings from the opening credits of the 1963 classic film
produced by Samuel Bronston and starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner and David Niven

Right then! I've finally made a decision about my big new project for 2017 - it will be a Boxer Rebellion theme and it will be centred around the Siege of the Legations in Peking in 1900.

After much consideration, wandering about the interwebs exercising my Google Foo and counting my shekels over and over I have decided to go with a 28mm large skirmish model. This will involve at least 130 Chinese troops and as many as half of that number in Great Powers troops spread across most of the various imperial protagonists.

Last night Russ, Cory and I played a test game using Matakishi's free skirmish rules The Natives Are Restless Tonight available from his own Boxer Rebellion project. They mostly suit my needs and with some tweaking will, at least for the time being, be the preferred rule set as they play fast and allow for plenty of on-the-fly silliness and heroics from both sides.

This morning I sat down and re-watched (for about the 100th time I think) the 2.5 hour cinematic epic 55 Days at Peking, one of my favourite all time history / war movies. I love everything about it from the story, to the scale, to the relatively accurate period colour. I'm not usually a Charlton Heston fan but in this instance I think he suited the role and alongside David Niven (who was magnificent IMHO) made the film quite watchable over and over, for me at least.

The sets from the film are one of the things that have always caught my eye and I'll be looking to try and recreate some of that flavour on the table when I start build the board. My intention is to build approximately 4-6 legations, plus a number of gardens, the canal, a large ornamental gate (thanks to Dave Docherty!) and plenty of other smaller items to add flavour. It will be a LOT of work and storage will be an issue but I've wanted to do this for some time and there's no point doing it by halves.

Over the last few weeks the lovely Mrs Millsy and my in-Laws have shelled out on some serious reading for my birthday this year to keep me fired up and interested. I've got both the Osprey Men-at-Arms Boxer Rebellion and Peking 1900 Campaign books in the post, along with an eBay find I have been after for some time...

Lastly there is some more serious reading for bedtime, a copy of The Boxer Rebellion and the Great Game in China by David J. Silbey. I have read several good reviews about it and am very keen to get my head into it the minute it arrives...

So, plenty to keep me occupied for the next few weeks as I work out my requirements in terms of troops. They'll be predominantly from the Redoubt Miniatures Boxer Rebellion range which covers pretty much everything I require, although for some reason seems to lack personality figures despite these appearing in their other colonial ranges?!? Go figure...

Anyway, that's enough for starters...

Cheers,

Millsy

Goodbye 2016, Hello 2017...

Time once again for a What Was vs. What Might Be post. I quite enjoy reading other people's efforts in this regard and hopefully anyone who wanders past here today enjoys mine too...

So here's the obligatory annual round-up of:

1. What I planned to do
2. What I actually did
3. What I didn't do

Just for once it seems parts 1 and 2 coincided. Hold on to your hats!

Finish the WFB Savage Orcs
Done and dusted! I managed to knock this one off quite early on in the piece, thanks in no small part to last year's Painting Challenge. I even managed to get an army gallery up on the blog as proof.

Finish the 40K Space Marines

Another one nailed! I added a couple of bits and pieces to the outstanding pile to boot including a bashed about Land Raider which took some repair work but now looks the business. These guys also received the army gallery treatment.

Finish the Epic Squats

Phew! I only just managed to squeeze this one in (i.e. two days ago!) but that still counts. The paint is barely dry on the last few miniatures and the army gallery will be along in the future as documentary evidence. It'll be a big one - I have nearly 9000 points worth! In the meantime here's the land train...

Finish ALL the remaining Flames of War

Done! The last couple of items have just been completed and submitted to the Challenge blog. That's the very definition of cutting it close but I made it! The biggest part of this was all the outstanding DAK infantry, support weapons and artillery.

Finish my extra Dystopian Wars Britannian ships

Another winner for dinner. Yet to get an navy gallery but finished none-the-less. I made a rod for my own back by picking up a load more of this stuff for a sing at CANCON but still managed to smash these out and finish off everything needing painting. I didn't much like the original aircraft carrier prior to painting but I'm a big fan now...

So that'a ALL FIVE major goals knocked off. I'm still pinching myself about that and wondering where on earth I found the time and focus to make it happen. If only every year was like that!

Side Projects
There was also a list of side projects in case I got bored with the above:

• Orc Skirmish Warband
• Frostgrave Warband
• 40K Imperial Guard (Cadians)
• Finish off the Necromunda collection (Delaque, Ratskins, Pit Slaves, Chaos Cultists, etc.)
• 28mm French and Austrian Napoleonic skirmish
• 15mm French Napoleonics
• Runequest army for To the Strongest
• Continue the Imagination project

Of all these only the Imagination project really got a guernsey which is hardly surprising considering. At least I did manage a good effort in that regard...

At least some of the other stuff is slated for this year's Painting Challenge so that'll put a further dent in the list.

Other work...

Lists aside, I managed to build and/or paint a fair bit of other stuff too when the "distractibility index" reached the high end of the scale.

Games & Peeps...

We had out first Antipodean Bloggers Meet-up which was great fun. If you can make it this year we'd love to see you there!

In between all the painting and modelling I happily managed to get in some cracking games with some wonderful mates. Pick of the pile was ECW with Paul and Alan...

Awwww..... Sad face!

...and Imaginations with Evan...

Awwww... Sad dice!

Plus there was plenty more with all the other C&G lads including some smashing WFB Sunday arvo games with Russ, fingernail chewing Flames of War with Cory, bloodthirsty SAGA with Nug and cracking 40K with Marcus. Thanks lads!

All up not a bad 2016. Hope yours was just a good...

Glorious Plan Millsy 2017

So what about 2017 then? This is a bit up in the air at the moment, largely because 2016 was such a raging success projects-wise. I hadn't anticipated being in a position where I have nothing major locked in. This isn't to say the lead pile is manageable (or even properly documented!) but it does leave me with options...

Warhammer Fantasy Empire

These guys have continued to amass through 2016 and I'm keen to make a start. Still thinking about colour schemes and snaffling up odd items so that might not happen but you never know.

Something new???

I've got 3-4 potential new projects rattling around in my head which have been on hold while I whipped myself to finish other ones. I might just let myself off the leash a bit this year and hook into one of these....

• Bolt Action Kokoda Trail in 28mm
• 55 Days at Peking in either 28mm or 15mm
• 6mm or 2mm pike and musket, probably ECW

So that's it for another annual wrap. Before I go there's just time to wish you a Happy New Year from Evan, myself and all the C&G lads! Thanks for popping by. We'll see you in 2017.

Cheers,

Millsy

Off and running in Painting Challenge VII

So with about a week of hols under my belt (to say nothing of my own body weight in Christmas munchies) I've made a modest start in this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

My first post was something of a pick-n-mix of stuff to round out various projects...

There's more pics and some background on the Challenge blog.

Cheers,
Millsy

Merry Christmas!

It's been something of a tumultuous year here at Chez Millsy but one thing has remained constant - my enjoyment of my gaming hobby. The reason for that is quite simple. I have a wonderful set of intelligent, witty and caring gaming buddies both here in Australia and also around the world. You guys help keep me sane and made the more unpleasant aspects of 2016 seem a lot less overwhelming.

So from Evan, myself and all our the boys here at Canister & Grape a very Merry Christmas! We hope you have a safe and enjoyable time and that you perhaps find a new toy or two under the tree tomorrow morning.

Cheers,

Millsy

CANCON 2017 Aussie Wargame Bloggers Meet-up

After the success of last year's inaugural CANCON Aussie Wargame Bloggers Meet-up we'll be going around again this year. Kiwis (and even "Northern Folk") are welcome too cause we should always play nice and be neighbourly.... :-)

Here's what's on offer for Saturday 28th January 2017:

• 1:00pm - Initial meet-up in the Board Games section in the Northern Hall at CANCON to say g'day, check out respective loot bags and plan for any shared afternoon shenanigans. 
• 6:00pm(ish) - Pub dinner and extended tall story session.

After last year's demands for a SAGA campaign book resulted in it being delivered just a few months later surely we can achieve something even bigger in 2017. Thinking caps on people!

If you're an Aussie blogger feel free to pinch any and all of this post to spread the word.

Hope to see you there!

Cheers,
Millsy