Jan 2001

Well Christmas and New Year have come and gone. A holiday notable for the fact that I did not play any wargames! On the other hand, I did manage to clear a lot of modelling and painting work that had begun to get in the way (see above). Jobs completed:

Finished painting Wild West figures (still need varnishing, but a minor chore)
Finished hover tanks
Made rest of fences, walls and gates for Western towns
Finished V&B bases(!)
Mounted the map for “A House Divided”
Made a prototype Activation Deck for Shootist+

Bought some smaller seed trays to use as SF buildings (only 40p each!). They need spraying and storing with the rest of the SF buildings.

Well, actually, I did play a wargame - for about half an hour with David, trying out the Activation Deck. Then had to pack it all away. Some of the Western town buildings still need a bit of painting. David really liked the “Constellation” town layout. Using the plywood surface works well and a “figure’s eye view” down Main Street looked brilliant! David said that we needed some cattle for the cattle pens and a dog(?). It certainly needs more “clutter”, but this must be offset against the set up time required. Alison said I should have a stage coach - pointed out that a trip to Stockwood Park (there's a wild west stagecoach in the Mossman Collection there) would supply some photos of a real one to work from....

It occurred to me while making the rest of the V&B bases that they will also work for 6mm ACW.

Thinking about it, “Rules With No Name” seem to be a lot better than Shootist. The fast draw mechanism is quite good and fun to play and I like the hit location system.

Birthday time. Went to Seven Kings to the Navwar shop. Bought the 6mm Napoleonics I needed to complete the Peninsular War armies for V&B. Also bought some 1/3000 ships for “Terribly Tsmall Tsushima”. Painted these. Offered to take TTT to Salute.... Also went to Welwyn Garden City and bought some green card (300 gsm) for the Salamanca terrain, and some mount board to make figure boxes. Bought some 1/8th in. square balsa to finish the balustrades on the western buildings.