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There are times that I wish I could concentrate on one project at a time, but my muse apparently doesn't work that way. In preparation for Huzzah last weekend, I finished two stands of 1/72 scale plastic Vikings from a mix of manufacturers. I have been painting these guys fairly carefully, basically one at a time. This is partly for my own amusement, since you can't see some of what I'm doing with them under actual game conditions, partly as a thought experiment about future downsizing of my hobby space, and partly, of course, to be trying to get an army on the table for my planned solo war-games campaign. The bases are 6cm by 4cm.

My older son (now 27...) has been up to visit twice in the past month or so. Because of the portability we found ourselves playing an old favorite, Hordes of the Things, using 1/72 scale plastic armies assembled from an eclectic variety of sources. In my usual scattered way, my muse led me to pull out a delayed project, a Hordes expansion army of fantasy-ed Viking barbarians. My troops, if they are ever completed, will be assembled from a mix of Revell, Orion, and Zvezda figures, mixed within the units. These two are Zvezda. I'll go back and collect pictures of the rest of the finished figures later...

So my older son was up for a visit this weekend with some gaming. After yesterday's Saga and Frostgrave games, we finished up this morning with a "traditional" game of Hordes of the Things (Wargames Research Group, 1991), which was one of the first wargames he learned to play. Since he was in middle school, we have generally played with 1/72 scale plastics, and, as an adult, he's quite adept at painting them. So, when we were done, I was inspired to dig through my boxes of projects set aside, and work up a couple of elves. (He drew up a campaign map a few years ago; I was assigned elves, but haven't painted any lately...since I had the few I have on the table today: it made sense to work on a few...) So, not yet based, but shown here with Sir Forescale to show how small they are, a Caesar unarmored elf swordsman and one of the ~5 poses of unarmored archers they have: Since my bench is too messy to actually use right now these were done at the kitchen table with my travel paint kit of limited palette colors. I did use a pair of good brushes rather than my travel brushes (to save wear and tear) and my optivisor. Some of the autumn cloak had been done previously.