I See No Ships - Oh Yes I Do!

Greetings Gentle readers,

Up to recently I have shown off my X-Wing Miniatures Game fleets in a splendid IKEA glass display cabinet - an absolute steal at £40, with a £5 LED to light it, also from IKEA.

The Detolf Cabinet from Ikea

The Ledberg Display Light

However, the ships always managed to appear somewhat jumbled and untidy. As an example, here was the shelf holding my Imperials:

So after a midnight brainwave, I rummaged through ebay until I found what I was looking for - ultra-cheap shop display stands in some form of clear acrylic or Perspex:

At just over a fiver each these solved the problem at a pinch. I would have almost the same floorspace per shelf but with the elevations in place, the individual ships would stand out more. I had to use two per shelf for maximum effect:

Aaaah - and relax! Maybe it's an OCD thing, but that seems miles better to me!

Until next time......

Flight of the Phoenix

Greetings Gentle Readers,

Those of you of a certain age will remember the classic film starring James Stewart (and NOT the execrable remake with Dennis Quaid - who I usually like), and may with a backward glance at my last post (September 2015) understand the significance of the title.

So - rising from the ashes, I thought I'd show some recent X-Wing Miniatures Game repaints:

The Kihraxz Fighter as bought

..and again

Repainted as the Black Sun Ace

The HWK-290 as bought for the Rebel Faction

Converted and repainted for Scum and Villainy

Repainted Tie Advanced

Apologies for the poor pictures - blame my phone :D
That's about it for now - Not much to report due to limited resources but watch this space! It feels good to be back.

Until next time.......

A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far Far Away.....

Greetings Gentle Readers,

I am planning to enter a local X-Wing Miniatures Game tournament to be held later this month at A Fistful of Dice, and as I have barely played the game, let alone fired a laser in anger I thought I'd better attend X-Wing Boot Camp. So, fourteen YouTube videos later I am now getting my head around the nuances of what looked (at first glance) as a simple game!

If you haven't tried it then I suggest you do - it is great fun and easy to get into. I now have the basics under my belt, and  am discovering the depth of tactics involved - don't be fooled, it is a very skilful game, and luck plays a very small part in the outcome.

Here a lone Z-95 Headhunter ( a precursor to the famous T65 X-Wing) is hunting down a stray Tie Fighter:

The down side? There are lots and lots of lovely ships to buy, and more coming out all the time! I also have to absorb the additional Tournament Rules, and plan my galaxy-conquering 100 point squadron!

Until next time...

Don't get excited but....

Greetings Gentle Readers,

During the mysterious absence of my painting mojo, I have been fiddling around with my X-Wing Miniatures, planning squad builds and making deck boxes and mulling over storage decisions. Dull stuff, but it is keeping me ticking over!

I did manage to enhance my asteroid tokens so they look a bit better on the tabletop - I used some lava rock and some cheap clear flight stands from ebay.

Simple but effective, and I am reasonably pleased with the result.

Rocks

The same rocks from a different angle

Etc.

Until next time......

A Petulant Pendragon

Hello Gentle Readers,

I am a calm man. A placid and reflective type. I seldom get angry. It takes an awful lot to get my gander up, but once it has risen I turn into the Incredible Hulk. No - really.
Isn't it odd that sometimes it's the tiny, seemingly unimportant things that tip us over the edge?

If I may illustrate my point: I am dabbling in the X-Wing Miniatures game (again) which is a lovely little game once you've got the rules down pat. It occurred to me that some of those nifty card sleeves would greatly extend the life of the cards used in the game, so I ordered a pack from ebay - 44 x 68mm - perfect!

This is what arrived:

Clearly marked 69 x 69mm. Sigh. Never mind thinks I, it's a simple error on someone's part - and I have set in motion a volley of emails that may result in me getting what I actually ordered - we shall see. So I put X-Wing to one side and decided to put together my final Bolt Action plastic kit from Warlord, namely the M3A1 Half-Track.

I know - it's not a very inspiring box photo is it? Winter camouflage wearing off to reveal the original olive drab. Has it broken down?  It just doesn't look very.....martial. Now, I don't know if the incident with the card sleeves had wound me up more than I realised, or the less-than-exciting box art was affecting me, but I suspect I approached this build with insufficient enthusiasm for the subject, and I was actively looking for a fight. I got one. The bloody thing fought me from the start.....

Yes I have built a few kits in my time, and this looks deceptively easy. It wasn't. The parts aren't numbered for starters. OK, I can get round that, I thought. But... which bit is supposed line up with which? There are no locating pegs or grooves. If I glue this bit in place and it turns out to be misaligned then I'll have to pull it apart again. One dry run of the first few bits led to another dry run. I started glueing. The next parts - the side panels - were crucial as the rear panel wouldn't fit if they were out of place.....

So - the Hulk took over and the bits were slung back in the box and the box slung back in the Shed of Delights. Looking back my mood was wrong and it was never going to get built! I am calmer now. I am knocking up some asteroids for X-Wing. I have some lovely plastic stands and some grey lava rock. Things are progressing smoothly. I am in a placid, calm and reflective mood.

But you never know when...

Until next time..........