Winter May Come...

...I am ready for it!

Just received my last Wayland order about an hour ago, and I have have already washed and rinsed all the sprues (they are drying in the kitchen as I write this). And, in case you wonder, there is three boxes of Perry Agincourt French Infantry.

Some of the Unmarried Zulus will be used for my IHMN Impi (I can do both Blooded and Unblooded Warriors, and mix and mach parts with the Married Zulus I just recently purchased and have started assembling).

The Perry French are destined for becoming Fiefdom Warriors for my Gondor God of Battles army - mainly Dol Amroth 'pike'-men, but also Axemen of Lossarnach and the likes. I shall start assembling some in between working on my Zulus, but the main effort will have to be postponed until I have finished the Impi for IHMN.

The Arabs will, initially, be used for a Blood Eagle warband, and I shall make a Crusader warband to oppose it. Later, who knows, both may grow into forces for SAGA Crescent and the Cross, but that is beyond the horizon right now.

The Bolt Action rule book was a promotional freebie, and as I have some painted WWII models, I thought it would be nice to have, just in case...

USUTHU! And So It Begins...

Not that I have that much to show, but in between some miniatures repairs, I managed to start prepping a couple of married Zulus. As already stated, I want to first make an Impi for In Her Majesty's Name, and then I shall take it from there.

I really wish, Warlord would stop making their integrated bases so large (and make bases more like for instance, Mantic), as I have to cut  a lot away to fit the minis on 20 mm washers - and I really do not think that 'horde' minis like Zulus should have larger bases than that, as they need to be placed in close order to create that 'mob' look that is so fitting for tribal warriors (and zombies).

Tomorrow, I hope to find the time to do two more bodies, and start attaching arms and heads to the first two, but as I also have some more work to do on the garden project, we shall have to see about that...

Almost There!

Another sunny day allowed me to 'stomp' all the cobblestones along the right edge of the lawn into place.

The edge is not straight as a string, but pretty damn close, and I am very pleased with the way it turned out!

I may want to exchange a stone here and there, and I may have to elevate the rows a bit in some places when I start leveling some of the 'hollows' in the lawn, but for now, the new edge really lifts the garden (and the flowers my wife planted constitute the last touch).

The forecast for tomorrow promises dry, sunny weather, and I expect to get the edge of the rose bed in front of the terrace and the last details on the passageway done before noon. Then I can start pouring joint sand on the finished edges and the passageway, which will conclude stage three of this extremely extensive garden project.

As you can see, I have quite a few cobblestones left over, and if the fantastic autumn weather stays, I shall probably continue the edge at the far end of the lawn, to have that less work to do next summer.

USUTHU!: Rorke's Drift and British Starter Army

As hinted elsewhere, I had found a really sweet second hand deal for my long overdue Zulu War project, and I picked up the stuff today!

First, the buildings form the Rorke's Drift set:

Then the walls and barricades, plus some mounted police and carabiniers:

Already assembled British plastic, and some Gatling Gun thingy - and perhaps a set of metal infantry...

British infantry removed from sprues, and some natal Native Contingent sprues (four, I think):

And, finally, 10 sprues of Married Zulu warriors - I can now start making an Impi for In Her Majesty's Name, although I shall need a command group set with Induna and Inyanga - but at least I can get some grunts ready for the tabletop!

Stage Three is Coming Along

Today, when I got op at about half past one in the afternoon (after night watch), I went straight into the garden and continued working on the trench for the cobblestone lawn edge.

I managed to get it completed, although, as you can see above, I was short of tile sand (I think I can get a couple of wheel-barrow loads at the recycling plant).

Never the less, I can start laying down the cobblestones when I get home tomorrow (I hope to be able to get a couple of power-naps during the night), and then we can go to the recycling plant Saturday to get some sand, in order to get the edge totally completed this weekend.

Here is the part of the edge that had to be shifted slightly to be aligned with the string marking the edge.

More Ancient Temple Guards

I just recently came across this batch, complete with shields and spear-arms. Nice catch, but a job-lot, as, obviously, I am going to have to clean and paint them from scratch.

One Ton Cobblestones, Two Tons Cobblestones...

A couple of days ago, I got another ton of small cobblestones delivered.

This time, the driver placed the maxi-bag on the road just in front of our main entrance, and I thought it wisely to get it out of the way, and thus, I simply spread the cobbles along the lawn edge in question.

The task took about an hour, and after that I continued preparing the trench for the stone edge,

When the string had been extended, it was clear that I would have to slightly move some of the completed edge in the corner (I should not have laid it down before the large bush had been cleared away), and I went about doing that right away, cutting away a thin strip of turf aligned with the string. I now can see an end to stage three of this project; I only have to finish the trench, fill it with tile sand, and lay down the cobbles.

Stage four will be digging in the concrete tiles along the opposite side of the lawn, and I expect that to be the last stage completed before autumn sets in, and the weather making it less attractive working outside.