Christmas 2025

Sue and I have had a very busy Christmas with visits to my son and daughter-in-law as well as spending time with my two grandsons. I was very lucky with the selection of presents I received with clothes and sweets as well as this fantastic selection of books.

In addition I hit the jackpot with these bottles of Port - one of which we opened on Christmas day.....

But once again - NO DAS modelling clay!

Thank you for ALL the wonderful presents and I hope you too had a great Christmas.

Tony

New narrow gauge layout - NG11 - Not working over the lead up to Christmas

Work on the new narrow gauge layout - the pizza layout has stalled. I am only just recovering from a viral infection and the thought of being down the shed in the cold has meant that I have not done any work on the layout for over three weeks. It will just have to wait until the new Year.

Merry Christmas to all.

Tony

Can you guess the game?

Something new.....

Can you guess what board game this is?

About three months ago and following the visit to Worcester museum to see the Terry Pratchett themed exhibit of artwork by Paul Kidby my grandsons, Finley and Charlie were showing an interest in the books by Terry Pratchett and in particular the board game THUD.

Mal suggested that a set of resin printed pieces could be sources and he would produce them on condition that I finish and paint the pieces as well as making two gaming boards, one for Finley and Charlie and one for him.

Here are the finished and painted gaming pieces (two sets - 2 stone pillars, 16 Trolls and 64 Dwarves) as well as the hand drawn gaming boards.

I added metallic helmets to the Dwarves,wooden clubs and glowing eyes to the Trolls and ground foam decoration to the stone pillars (foam that was produced with Finley from ground up sponge).

Finished gaming board number one.

and finished gaming board number two with additional decoration.

Finally, the two gaming boards complete with playing pieces next to one another. I was trying for a pub brawl set or well used gaming board effect rather than the pristine look of the shop bought, boxed game. Hence the stains! The gaming boards were drawn on to material backed off-white vinyl with alcohol based permanent marker pens.

They were great fun to produce but did take some time. But they were eventually finished and in time for Christmas. Thank you Mal for the resin pieces.

Tony

The Olde Barn - Miniature Wargames issue 513

The latest issue of Miniature Wargames features part one of a two part series in which I show how I first built and later (next month) painted this 28mm scale barn. For more information of the contents, see this link.

Enjoy.

Tony

Martha Blackard - day nine of the Orcs in the Webbe Advent 2025

Day nine of the Orcs in the Webbe advent calendar 2025 features a short story written by me called Martha Blackard. For more information, see this link.

The story is based on a relative of my wife's, who was a very fiery character. It uses a number of tales from Martha's actual background as well as story hooks from my daughter Holly and input from my two grandsons - Finley and Charlie. A true collaboration.

What is the Orcs in the Webbe Advent Calendar? For more information see this link.

Happy Advent.

Tony