RECENT READING

My last post was in March, which is rubbish. Painting commissions have left me with little downtime, and in truth, I've had nothing of interest to say. I am, however, attempting to make more time for the blog and I've even created a Midnight Studio Facebook page.

A friend of mine recently recommended the Union Series of novels by Phillip Richards to get an idea of what 'hard' sci-fi combat may look life, and I've just finished 'C.R.O.W', the first of the four book series.

The author was/is an infantryman in the British Army, so he knows a thing or two about front-line action. His experience really shows. The main character is a recently recruited grunt in the dropship infantry and in C.R.O.W we follow him on his first campaign, against the Chinese on the planet New Earth. The novel scores big with its accounts of combat, which are both visceral and terrifying. Forget about soldiers safe in their bunkers and spaceships as they remotely activate drones and other crew-less killing-machines. Here the focus is on the infantrymen engaged in nasty and very bloody in your face close combat with other infantrymen.

I would recommend C.R.O.W to anyone who wargames sci-fi. Lots of gaming potential in the novel. I've just started reading 'Lancejack', the second novel in the Union Series.

A confession

Once again, apologies for not posting sooner. Been very busy with commissions. That said, I have had some downtime to think about new projects. Top of my wishlist was Napoleonics, despite this being a period which I've always avoided when it comes to collecting and painting. As I sat surrounded by ever increasing lead and plastic mountains, I've always told myself I'm not in too deep since I've avoided the Napoleonic period. Yes, I have my hobby under control! I'm not hoarding ridiculous quantities of unpainted miniatures because none of them belong to that beastly era. And no, I'll never buy or paint them - that way lies madness. Trouble is, its become increasingly evident to myself that I've been living a lie. I actually do play Napoleonics using my friends 15mm collections, and to add insult to injury, they are usually hugely enjoyable games. In fact, some of the best games we have. Damn, I really want a Napoleonic army! Even worse, I can't help but admire Napoleon.

So, where to start? My first decision was to be sensible, and to that end, I've settled on the cheapest and easiest to paint option - the excellent range of 3mm Napoleonics by Oddzial Osmy. They offer the potential to recreate the grande scale of Napoleonic battles. My second decision was to find out more about the period, and to that end, I stumbled on the Napoleon 101 Podcast by Cameron Reilly and David Markham. I've been listening to the freely available episodes whilst painting, and I'm enjoying them greatly whilst learning lots of new stuff. Admittedly, I know next to nothing about the period, but the podcast seems a good intro. Check it out:

http://napoleonbonapartepodcast.com/#section-about.

I'll let you know how I get on with my foray into Napoleonics, but in the meantime I'll leave you with an image of the man who still seems to divide opinion like no other.

Time flies!

It's been a long time since I last blogged. Christmas, New Year, and having to paint lots of zombies for customers have kept me away. I'll try harder to ensure more regular posts. Talking of zombies, I received Zombicide: Black Plague a few weeks ago from last year's Kickstarter. I've only briefly looked into the box, but my first impression of the miniatures was positive. Detail looks sharper than with previous Zombicide games and the survivors are an interesting-looking bunch:

I can imagine both survivors and zombies being widely used for other game systems. They are relatively cheap and probably paint up very nicely. Please let me know if you're interested in purchasing some of these painted miniatures.

This new year has started as last year's ended - with my best laid plans not surviving 'first-contact-with-new-shiny-toys', that well known phenomenon which has baffled many generations of psychologists. Some months ago I did an excel spreadsheet populated with the periods and rules I'm interested in gaming (no sniggering please!). I said to myself that this spreadsheet shows the totality of my hobby and that any new entries would see me burn in hell as a weakling succumbing to temptation. Then along came the second Forged in Battle War and Empire Kickstarter. I confess to never being a big fan of ancients and I hadn't gone in for their first Kickstarter. However, this time around their lovely 15mm miniatures caught my eye and my mind turned to collecting and gaming Rome's War with the Dacians:

Needless to say, I signed-up for the Kickstarter. The War and Empire Beta rules look excellent, although its going to be a tough choice between this system, Sword and Spear, and Simon MacDowall's Civites Bellantes.

No doubt this month will bring along fresh temptation. I'm especially excited by the expected launch of Polyversal, a 6mm sci-fi mass combat game using miniatures from a number of established manufacturers: