A whole evening with nothing to do...

Such a rarity at the minute.  But around the other tasks lined up for the week it was the only possible hobby time so I made the most of it.  Firstly with a rummage in the loft.

I only went up to put some bits away, as you do - wink,wink - one of the many exiled gamers excuses.  In my window of time I threw together some stakes, for an upcoming big game.  I already had a bag of barbecue skewers and some art card kicking around, a knife and a hot glue gun were the rest of the formula.  Rummaging for other bits I found an ancient Grenadier princess model; who will finally get a lick of paint for Lion Rampant scenarios.

This model is old-school 25mm.  Next to modern figures she's very much a petite lady

Moving downstairs I was able to get a little painting done.  Not the most rock and roll Friday for me, but you have to make the best of the time you've got (or YOLO as the grognards would definitely not say!).  Also I gritted and began to paint the stakes.  I blended a 60/30/10 PVA/water/brown paint mix - the paint helps you see where you've applied it to - and then slapped it on and sent the bases for a sand bath.

Whilst they dried I dug in to a couple of boxes of recent purchases.  Firstly a box of Fireforge Templar knights.  I used the time to examine the contents and managed to assemble the first two knights - a leader with sword aloft and a pennant bearer to accompany him.  Four more are needed for this unit but it's a start.  

Also in shot, minging paint blanket on which I work to avoid making a mess.
Records do not disclose when it was last washed.

Secondly I had a package from Warbases to investigate.   The main contents were 60x40mm bases for a rebasing project (my gaming nadir, as for most wargamers); but also a few more exciting bits.  Oval bases for my knights for one.  As the infantry are to be on rounds to separate them from massed rank troops so I wanted to ensure the cavalry were similarly impossible to neatly rank up.  The 50x25mm ovals seemed the very job, though having applied them above I think 60x30mm would have been even better.  Still they give the look I wanted.

Then on a roll I threw together the hay cart in the pack.  A super simple model which took two minutes to assemble.  Added to a Warbases draught horse and with a converted dark-ages infantryman to guide it along it'll make another centrepiece for Lion Rampant games.

Around this time for the PVA to dry had occurred and so out with the tester pot browns.  A quick lick of paint dried in minutes and was ready for a drybrushing.  The stakes were getting there.  Then back into the Warbases bag to assemble a 'Grub Hut' from their scenery range.  Essentially the frame for a generic hovel from around 500-1500ad  it is not really a finished model and the company admits as such, but it is a sturdy template around which one can add your own detail.  at £3.50 it seemed a bargain, and should be tough enough to survive club use.

Time to finish the stakes:

So very tired now.

OK by now it was getting late but I was grimly determined to finish the job.  A quick application of PVA in patches and a dunk in some dark moorland static grass, followed by a coat of (20 year old GW) brown ink to shade the stakes.  And they're done.

For scraps, they look pretty good.  and I found the darker scatter worked well on this background.  It may make an appearance in a project soon.

All over the most intense session of model making and painting I've had in a couple of years.  I went to bed burned out but satisfied.

To think I used to be able to do that three or four nights a week though...