RIP Iain Banks

I heard that Iain Banks had died yesterday. He has written many sci fi novels but his none sci fi novels were what I loved best. I read The Wasp factory back in the eighties not that long after it came out as a recommendation. It's not exactly a change you're life novel but I have read every Ian banks novel since. I don't think I could give him greater praise than to say that every time I went to a book shop I would look to see if there was anything new. There will be one last Iain Banks novel, which despite some strenuous effort just didn't get to the bookshops before he died. I am kind of saddened that there will be no more books by him as reading his novels have always been great experiences.

Half A Dozen Shades Of Grey

Another slightly suggestive title. I suspect that there might be a few more women looking at this post than normal.  It possible should have been half a dozen shades of greys.

There isn't much to say here. I have a huge number of these figures. The idea was to use them for an XCOM game. Then I moved onto doing a force for Tomorrow's War or Stargrunt. I have done a few to see how they turned out. Then I thought that I was going to use a few for a Conspiracy X game.

Keeping Busy

I have spent the last few days clearubg up stuff on my work bench. The bench does not look any better and if anything is slightly worse. I have based and varnished nearly two hundred 15mm figures. This by and large makes fairly dull viewing so I haven't posted for a few days.  I feel a bit better. There is a game show next week so I might be able to justify buying some minis. I won't need to justify buying some more storage trays though.

I had a fair few miniatures from a company whose now lost my business because of their astoundingly poor customer service. They were hanging around part painted and taking up space. So I finished these SAS figures off. These were a real pain to paint. They have huge amounts of flash of them so of which is nearly impossible to get rid of without damaging the figures. I have done the best I can with what I had. I can't help but think of Ultimate Force when I look at these. Well if you ever need a laugh just give it a go.

Clearing Up

Well this is a post about trying to clear up what has been left hanging around on my desk for ages and finding things is drawers and boxes that really just needed a little attention to finish them off. I have almost finished some GZG vehicles. The green ones still require a bit more work on them.

Not much to say about what I have done today. I didn't get as much time as I would have liked but I still managed to get some things done. Stuff has been jumping out of draws onto the table and almost painting themselves. I did start and finish some landmines. These will be useful when fallout comes around again at the end of the year. These were an easy enough job. I've painted some other bits of rubble bases and some telegraph poles. This is work in progress.

Figures that have been hanging around on the table have miraculously glued themselves to bases.  Those that have already been glued to bases have found those bases painted. There is a load of stuff that has been hanging around since the Fallout game finished but as usual, there is a load more to go.

Vacc Suits

I've painted up a few Vacc suited figures today. I've not got a good word to say about the supplier as they have mucked up every order I have sent them. Suffice to say that I won't be buying anything from them again. They have been in the half painted pile for a while so I thought it was time I finished them off so I can free uo some space on the desk.

GZG Trucks Painted

May has been a busy month for Lead Reckoning. This kind of shows that I have the time and momentum for doing some gaming painting and developing some new ideas. So I am hoping that June should be another good month. So to help make it happen I thought I would post early and I have some pictures of GZG vehicles to show off.


 These are some of the older GZG trucks I showed on the blog last month and in their kit form back in December, now painted. They look okay to me. I had a play about with some of the GW glazes. Then I changed my mind and painted over them. I like the variety that GZG offer within a limited range of parts. The orange tracked vehicle really has a sense of a Traveller ATV.
Looking at the pictures, as usual, makes me think I need to do a bit of touch up work. The grey actually stands out on my normal gaming surface which is very sandy in colour.

I've been gaming today so I have some pictures to post soon as well.

Wales And Matters Arising

I've just been to Wales for a few days. I was hoping to be able to post when I got there. Despite being about 20m from a telecom mast I wasn't getting much signal. For those of you who don't know Wales it's a part of the United Kingdom where the place names seem to have grown a few extra consonants, usually the letter L. The bit I have just been too looks like southern Spain only green and without cactus or donkey carts (lets see how many people I can offend).

I want to start of by saying that I love Wales. It's got the best views in the world. I can kind of see me moving there in the not too distant future. That said what it hasn't got is infrastructure. It doesn't need a theme park as the roads are in general more scary than even the biggest roller coasters. The internet seems to have passed it by. The RAF seem to use it as their play pen. It also seems to serve the worst fish and chips in existence. Us British love fish and chips, it is not  stereotype. I went to one place in Pwheli (that's Welsh not Swahili) where I was charges more money than I have ever been charged for fish and chips (even harry Ramsdens is cheaper) for possibly the worst tasting fish and frozen chips I have ever had in a place that turns out to be little better than the kiddies play area in McDonalds. The phrase less choice than a Welsh Fish and chip shop also sprang to mind.

Fish and chips aside, the place is lovely.