BROADSWORDS AND BEASTS

 I picked this little shrine up from Bicorne Miniatures on Saturday and got it painted yesterday. A nice piece of scatter for 17c European tables.

 I'm making some progress with the landsknechts, although not as fast as I would like...

and of course I've been sidetracked into finishing off some other figures. Recently Crooked Dice Miniatures released some more Robin of Sherwood figures, and this galvanised me getting out the figures I had painted so far and finishing the bases off.

I've been prevaricating for years on how to do them, but recently Geoff at Oakbound kindly gave me a mix of the flocks he uses, and they work really well.

Some of the villagers of Wickham. A mix of 4 flocks, and I've added the odd subdued tuft.

 I was sad to hear about the death of Ian Heath today. I can't claim to have ever met him , of even know what he looked like, but his WRG books were and still are absolutely seminal wargaming works. As a youth ( with spare time) I would spend hours poring over the illustrations and descriptions of armour and battles.

 I don't think I've ever ranted on this blog, but I'm of an age it's considered acceptable, or even expected. So here goes...

I've recently joined a few historical wargaming Facebook groups, mainly to find out what's going on and to look at other people's Italian Wars armies. This was about a week ago, and in that time I've seen several posts along the lines of "I'm new to the period...what figures do I need and how should I paint my army". 

FFS, go out and do a bit of research! You don't even have to spend any money as it's all online,  but you could even buy a book or two, and read them.

Back in my day ( I've always wanted to use that phrase) we had George Gush's Renaissance Armies and an Osprey book and that was about it other than the library ( do they still exist?), but now everything you could possibly need is available at the click of a button and still these people need to be told what to do.

Even on fantasy FB groups, I see similar questions. USE YOUR IMAGINATION.

It seems to be a general trend as well. Every day now at work I get the phrase "what should I plant in my garden?" Countered by "What do you like?" The response being invariably "I don't know."

Would these people go into Sainsbury's and ask "What shall I have for dinner?". Only a matter of time until that happens.

Gaahhh.