Sudan Project part 11 - The Egyptian Brigade

Hi Folks

Shall we get back into the wargaming groove...I think so !

Over the last few weeks I have been steadily painting up my forces for the upcoming Sudan project - it is my desire to see this on the table by March. So today I am introducing the Egyptian Brigade - this consists of two regular battalions of infantry, a cavalry regiment and supporting artillery.

 previous post on this project can be found here

There will be a couple more commanders (still waiting on these to be finished)

All the figures are from the excellent Perry Sudan range

These have all been given the same basing treatment as my other forces. The tufts have been sourced from warpainter on ebay

 link

Unfortunately my block painting and dip doesn't work too well with white uniforms but I am too long in the tooth to change my habits now.

The jolly sky blue trousers sported by the cavalry were inspired by some other gamers blog (apologies cant remember name) and whether or not they are correct I like them

The Egyptians get their own artillery support. The MDF bases is 5cm x 10cm

The two infantry battalions are made up from the firing line figures in Perry's range with one command pack split between the two units. The officers have been given the blue uniforms.

Its likely that this will be one players command in our upcoming games

More soon...

part 12 can be found here

Construction Work Finished (almost)

Hi Folks

If you have been following the blog over the last few weeks you will have noticed that there has been a bit of a break in my wargames activity - have no fear as this is about to change with a number of important updates waiting in the wings.

My priority has been to get my games shed back into action before the spring arrives and I am delighted to report that the new storage solution for the garden is now complete and all the crap in my room has now been transferred to the new building !

The new building.....

No referred to as the stable block with its three doors (and colour coded padlocks)

The bad news is that whilst working down the garden I noticed that the roof on my original shed (not the extension) has now started to show its age (over 12 years) and as a result a number of leaks have appeared. Its become a priority to get this roof replaced pronto so before I can begin to think about how my games shed will be rearranged inside the outside needs fixing.


As you can see in the picture below the old roof is covered in moss (and other rubbish) - it all has to be stripped off

Water damage inside

Roofing material has been bought and now just waiting on a couple of dry days

Now the good news - the games table is now clear

Before Shot

After shot

More progress on the games room will follow in the coming weeks

More Construction Work - part 2

Just a quick update on the new shed build...

The walls are up and the roof is almost finished - currently planning to fit the felt this weekend with a neighbour.


So in the meantime I am building the doors and will start on the internal walls later this week. With a fair wind I'll get my games room back by end of next week !!

hopefully some Wargaming stuff next time round.....

Major Construction work....

Afternoon All

This post might explain why things have been so quiet at Shed Wars in the last few weeks

You may recall almost two years ago I extended my shed (the full details are here) but part of the deal with the Shedwife was that I had to give her part of the new build and as such a custom room was built into the new extension. At the time it seemed reasonable but I built it with a view that one day I might be able to claim it back.

If you want to see what I mean about the custom room head here

Just before Xmas I discovered that the two sheds sitting opposite my games shed were starting to show their age (one is at least 30 years old) and that they were starting to rot away very quickly. With time on my hands (My new job starts in Feb) a new construction project would be born and I could reclaim the room given to my wife !

First up I had to empty all the contents into my games shed - net result it is now jammed to the rafters. A lot of this is going to have to be sorted and thrown away. This means my shed is now out of action until the new build is finished. Given it is too cold to play regularly at the moment this is the right time to do it.

My games table is under this lot

The two old sheds were dismantles and over a dozen trips to the local refuse tip followed. A vast amount of rotting timber, roofing felt and old boards were removed. Next up the ground was cleared, levelled and a new base of railway sleepers put down. This was about one week of hard graft with only a limited amount of sunlight each day.

The new shed base with floor added

Once again I decided the build would be completed by hand as a custom project is both more economical and ultimately stronger than some of the off the shelf sheds. The new shed, replacing the old one will be 2.4m x 4.8m in size (8ft x 16ft), this will be subdivided into three separate units.

Two of the entrance panels - painted up front

All the other panels are leaning against my games shed

Over the last few days I have now built all the panels, roof joists and this morning completed the floor. With a bit of luck the final build starts tomorrow.


The plan is to get this complete by next weekend then we can get back to the serious matter of wargaming

Catch Up soon

Sudan Project part 10 - More British Forces

Happy New Year and welcome to the first post on this blog for 2018.

Things have been a bit manic over here at Shed Wars central and both painting and games have been a bit thin on the ground in the last couple of weeks. Things have have not helped when I decided I was going to rebuild the other sheds in my garden - yes I have two others to store all kinds of paraphenalia (bikes, camping equipment, garden tools etc). This meant transferring everything into my games shed, with a bit of luck I should be complete by end february so no big games until then.

In the meantime I have been pushing on with painting the British forces for my Sudan project. As you can see from the pictures below things have grown somewhat since my last post.

previous post here


Four battalions of infantry, a cavalry regiment, officers and two screw guns are now almost ready for deployment

The Artillery support is from Perry (in fact everything in the British force is from Perry)

I picked up 29 Black Watch Highlanders (unpainted on ebay for £25) - having spent hours painting tartan in my Naps project these guys just got dark green kilts

Six mounted officers painted - the double represents the general

12 Cavalry Hussars - not the best paint job but they will do.

Two battalions of Perry plastic - one with blue gaiters the other with blue trousers - the third plastic battalion (top right) has blue trousers and grey tops

Up next - one more British battalion and then the Egyptians

Come back soon

part 11 can be found here

Sudan Project part 9 - First British Forces

Good Morning Folks

Part 8 can be found here
http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/sudan-project-part-8-dhows.html

Now that the Mahdist Army is complete I have turned my attention to the British forces.

The current aim is to create a force that will consist of five battalions of infantry (including one highland regiment), one naval brigade, a cavalry regiment and an assortment of artillery and machine guns.

Fortunately most of the lead and plastic for this force has been acquired either direct from Perry Miniatures or via some deals found on ebay.

The first unit painted is from the Perry plastic box set - a unit of British infantry 24 strong. These have been given Khaki uniforms so could also be used in a North West frontier setting.

The figures themselves are very straightforward to assemble and relatively easy to paint. Once again these are based on 25mm washers and then moved on trays from warbases. The tufts were secured on ebay from Warpainter.

Apologies for lighting on the picture but they have come out a little dark

More to come soon

part 10 here
http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/sudan-project-part-10-more-british.html

Star Trek Fans read this...

The other day I was browsing You tube and by chance came across a fan made series of Star Trek called Star Trek Continues. These were made available on Youtube only a few monthsago

This series comprises of 11 episodes and kicks off from the end of the original series through to the launch of the first Star Trek Movie. If you can get past the fact that our beloved heroes of Kirk, McCoy, Spock etc are played by other actors then you are in for a real treat. Scotty's son even reprises his old mans role.

Link Here to First episode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G-ziTBAkbQ&t=174s

The stories, sets, music and special effects are just like the originals - to be honest I felt like I had gone back in time and was that little 10 year old boy all over again and watching these for the first time. 

Now I appreciate that not all wargamers are Star Trek fans but for me the adventures of the the Enterprises five year mission almost certainly set me on the journey towards role playing and then into miniature wargaming.

Now once you have watched these consider the following video on You Tube. Its called Prelude to Axanar and features none other than Richard Hatch, star of Battlestar Galactica. Thiswas launched two years ago but it is fantastic

Link here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W1_8IV8uhA&t=72s

I understand that this was also a fan made product raising money through crowdfunding. I have to say the video is one of the best renders of the Star Trek universe I have come across - indeed it is so much better than the stuff that they are currently producing in Star Trek Discovery.

Sadly the folks at Paramount and CBS who own the copyright to Star Trek have got all flustered about these fan productions and took the Axanar production to court. The net result is that fan films can continue to be made BUT they cannot last more than fifteen minutes, can consist of no more than 2 episodes and must be non for profit. This is areal shame as these films in my mind can bring in new fans and support the long term viability of the franchise.

Hope you enjoy

Live Long and Prosper