From JamesM: Challenge 13 Intro

Hi folks,

I suppose at this point I'm technically a veteran of the challenge, having participated for the first time in 'The Seventh' and each year since. I run a blog called Mad Tin Hatter!

I'm generally something of an 'anti-squirrel' when it comes to painting, normally focusing on my large collection of 15mm WW2 Normandy miniatures and painting to a planned order of battle. This year, I'm taking a bit of a break from that and attempting to paint a bunch of 28mm Necromunda figures. Alongside possibly some Battlefleet Gothic and 15mm Cold War Dutch. 

But I do have a few WW2 British softskins and such on the painting shelf as well - so don't panic!

As a Scotsman forced by love of a local lass to live in on the banks of the River Tees in North East England, I was lucky enough to land near and then meet DaveD and MartinC. They share my love for BIG games and we all have a similar approach to gaming. Through them I've had some fantastic hobby opportunities, including taking part in the filming of battle scenes for an award winning documentary. 

Gaming wise, I've a member of the North Riding Wargames club out of Northallerton, and we've been lucky enough recently to have Pendraken open space near us we can use for regular gaming. Thankfully as I tend not to be too attracted by hobby squirrels (I'm looking at you Martin!) gaming days there are not a hugely expensive problem for me. 

For painting space, I've a small home office which is 75% full of really useful boxes. 75% of those contain 15mm Sherman tanks. Please excuse the elbow pillow!

As mentioned above, I've diverted away from my usual focus of WW2 related projects for this challenge. Last challenge and into this summer saw me paint a full company worth of German halftracks and my efforts since then have returned to painting things plain green. I found the Dutch used no camo during the 1980's, so they were an easy choice, as DaveD finally tempted me to do a period at 15mm I already have at 6mm and 3mm...

This years pile of shame prepped so far. I've set a small target for myself, as I'm not the fastest painter - only 250 points. I am not used to painting 28mm stuff, so I'll be interested to see how my models look at the end of the challenge as opposed to the start!

Gaming wise, I became aware of wargaming back in July 1996 when a classmate in high school brought in a White Dwarf magazine and talked about Necromunda. I bought issue 200 of that magazine speculatively in August of 1996 and was hooked - funnily enough it was an issue with a Necromunda spread on the back page! Prior to this, I had played with my own made up rules using Lego (as microarmour) and skirmishes using 20mm Airfix figures, without any comprehension that other people did this and that there were things like formal rules with dice and rulers. I was involved in all things Games Workshop until around 2006, when my various collections were sold. In around 2013 I started collecting 15mm Flames of War British following a chance encounter at a gaming club I popped into. Since then, I've focused on 15mm WW2 Normandy gaming with the occasional foray into 6mm and 3mm moderns, 3mm and 15mm sci-fi, 10mm ACW, Cruel Seas, Full Thrust and Battlefleet Gothic. I do not collect games involving the chucking of spears...

I'm one of the regular Paint and Chat hosts during the challenge, alongside DaveD. I hope to get a chance to talk to some of you there!

 

From SylvainR - Welcome to L'Atelier des Jeux S.A.

A general view of L'Atelier des Jeux S.A.

 Welcome to “L’Atelier des Jeux S.A.” where the motto is: “It’s always a good plan to have a good plan”. It will be my pleasure to show you around.

But first, a few words about me, SylvainR, the CEO of this well oiled enterprise. I am French Canadian, now living in Regina but originally from Montréal, and I played my first wargame, PanzerBlitz, back in 1977. I started to play, paint and collect 6mm WW2 miniatures (we called them “Micro Armor”)  in 1981. Over the years, I tried other games and painted other types of miniatures and eventually got rid of all my collections before moving to Regina in 1998, foolishly thinking that wargaming was just a phase of my wasted youth. But in 2006, I met Curt and I got back into games and miniatures.

Department of Procurement

This is the Department of Procurement, where unpainted models and all kinds of bits and material are kept. Until May 2022, L’Atelier was well under way to completely finish all its projects, but after a trip to Montréal, the shelves were fully re-stocked. What happened? An old friend, RobertR, who introduced me to Micro Armor back in the 80s, had moved into retirement housing and was too happy, when he saw me, to give me his whole lifetime collection of WW2 and Cold War 6mm miniatures, saving them from the landfill. Robert was not just an avid collector, he was also “rescuing” miniatures from many other wargamers who abandoned their 6mm armies to move on to other interests. My good old WW2 Soviet army from the 1980s was there in the lot! This huge pile of lead filled about 3 suitcases. Just to give you an idea of the amount of metal it represents, there are enough individual infantry models to create over 20 battalions (each of about 320 men), which would be enough personnel to man a whole division. The collection is a mix bag of beautifully painted models, half finished projects and unopened blisters of all sorts. The models were mostly painted by Robert, but there are many models painted by others, resulting in a very interesting mix of colors and painting styles. I decided to re-base and finish the whole collection and I estimate it would take me at least 5 years to do so.

Department of Planning

This is the Department of Planning. This is where miniatures coming from Procurement are organized into projects. As you can see, lots of research is done to ensure the highest quality possible in organization and colors for our products. Projects are organized into “trays” and are then moved into the Department of Process. The miniatures currently being sorted are for the French and Polish armies. Unfortunately, few of these miniatures will make it to the challenge because they are already painted.

Department of Process

Trays arriving into the Department of Process are neatly arranged in prioritized order. New trays are stored at the bottom, and when the painting is done, finished models are stored starting at the top. Once the cabinet is full, I build trays (now with the help of Byron!) to store them in boxes. You can see in the glass cabinet finished units for the D.A.K. These miniatures, already painted (so would not qualify for the challenge), were simply glued to a base. You can have a glimpse at the CEO in the side mirror of the glass cabinet.

Department of Painting

Finally, we have the Department of Painting. Most of the colors are from Tamiya, because they closely match the various military camouflage of WW2 vehicles and uniforms. These are complemented by Citadel Colours and a few other products.

This is the end of the planned tour. I hope you enjoyed!