Verstärkung

We are in a bit of a wargaming hiatus, something that affects even the denizens of the Lower Wharfe Valley. This has coincided with me getting my painting mojo back. I knew that if I made enough markers and gaming accessories then eventually I'd get round to painting some figures. I did paint up a few stands of extra figures and specific commanders for the Varna game, but thereafter I have a problem. We've all read those blogs consisting of post after post of beautifully painted figures for this project or that project in this scale or that scale rolling off the production line (you know who you are Jonathan Freitag), but things don't work like that around here.

It's true that I have plenty of unpainted figures, but it's also true that for most periods that I game I already have substantially more toys than I can ever put on the table. Short of starting a completely new army (Napoleonic Austrians?) anything painted would just go in the box and stay there. The exception to this is the Great War where I have been aware that I didn't have enough Germans to try Square Bashing. A review of the troops showed that the shortfall was less than I thought. Indeed I only need twenty riflemen and two field guns and then we are in business for an infantry and artillery only game. Naturally I have those on the shelf in the annexe, and equally naturally I don't have the requisite bases and movement trays. So, the figures are on the painting table and the order has gone in to Warbases.

A couple of years ago when I started painting figures for the First World War I said to myself that I might be ready for a game in time to commemorate the armistice. I might yet make that prediction come true.