Vapnartak 2017 Loot and current WiP

Hi folks,

I'm horribly aware that I've not had much new to post recently - having now missed two of my submission deadlines for the AHPC. This has been down to having to prep stuff and then working my way through batches of infantry.  Thankfully, only one more coat of varnish and then these guys are done!

I've started some of the vehicles for this batch:

These just need a tidy up before the wash goes on...

Anyway, that proves that I've not been idle - just slow. I really forgot how slow infantry models are to paint - especially ones I'm not familiar with. Technically, I've made good time with them, as it normally takes me about 2 weeks to complete a platoon/unit. I've had less time than that on these guys and only have the basing to do - something that for a lot of them will require the vehicles to be finished.

Back to the other event then. Today I went over to York (about an hours drive) where I met up with some of the club guys and did a few laps around the Vapnartak show. It was, initially, pretty busy. It calmed down as the day went on, but the first hour was a blur of being barged into, waiting in queues to squeeze between tiny gaps left between stalls and cursing people with massive backpacks, poor personal hygiene and partners/kids (who were not buying anything themselves but choosing the worst places to stand and look bored).

When some of us eventually met up, we moved out of the way to stop and chat - but I'm pretty sure that's the wrong thing to do. We should have followed everyone else's lead - finding the narrowest space between two stalls and stopping to have a leisurely chat....

Shows are not a part of the hobby that are good for my blood pressure.

Enough ranting! Onto the loot.

At the bring and buy stalls (the space and crowd in this area would be a rant on it's own) I managed to come across a good deal on all of this lot (apart from the magnetic sheeting, bought at a stand):

Retail price for all of this would be £115.50 - I paid £50. This brings the total number of these buildings I own to something like 20. At some point, I'm going to have to spent a lot of time assembling and customising them! I still need a church and outbuildings, but should have a decent sized village now.

Flushed with success from this find, I also picked up something I really don't need. A boxed Flames of War British Rifle company... This is the older metal version and seems to have all the models. I paid £15 for this, as it seemed like a good price. I'm now well on the way to having a full Battalion worth of British infantry. It does make the decision on which colour to paint the Canadians a bit easier!

Flames of War wise, Steve provided me with a box of spare mid war German SS figures he had. Not sure I will be able to use them all, but a good portion of them will come in useful (I'm now in my 3rd month of waiting on the SS Company boxed set from Wayland).

Model wise, my 6mm and 3mm collections got a boost due to Magister Militum and Tumbling Dice being in attendance. My small GHQ Cold War Brit army received re-enforcements in the form of some FV-438 Swingfires and FV-432 81mm Mortars. Looking at my force tonight, with reference to the army book, I need more of the APC FV432's before I can use the Mortars. I've Tracked Rapier and Abbots coming from Heroics and Ros at some point, which are units GHQ has no models for.

My 3mm purchasing should provide enough for a strong starting 3mm British army:

2 x Chieftain Mk 11 packs
1 x Tracked Rapier pack
1 x Milan pack
1 x FV432 pack
1 x Abbot pack - interestingly this pack has 2 OP vehicles and some spotters - something the US and Russian packs were supposed to have but were missing.
1 x FV432 Mortar pack
1 x FV438 Swingfire pack
1 x Spartan MCT pack
1 x Scorpion pack
4 x Lynx AH. 1's from Tumbling Dice
6 x Harrier Gr3's (also from Tumbling dice).

Each of the vehicle packs has 15 vehicles each (other than the Abbots) so I've enough for two tank squadrons and a mech inf company. I'll still need some bits to fill out the recce options, but this should give the basis for a solid force. It's a bit weird doing the same game in two scales, but honestly they are totally different in scope when played.

Other purchases were some tiny dice (for Team Yankee 3mm) and a paint pot holder from Warbases:

Games wise, I saw no 15mm WW2 being played at all. A lot of 28mm action and there seemed to be a lot of WW1 stuff going on (WW1 in the desert no less). I only took a couple of pictures (left my phone in the car until I went and got it after the first couple of laps) and there were some cracking games on display. But a lack of Sci-fi or smaller scale stuff.

So a good show, with some good buys. I just need to gulp down some Prozac before risking crowds!