the dreaded brown envelope has been delivered and I am now part of the 50,000 and growing number of those needing to go to tribunal to get justice and a reinstatement of my personal independence payment. It's been a tough old time very stressful having a major effect on my health but thanks to the generosity of a local car dealer I now have a car with 12 months MOT, 3 months guarantee tax and insurance all for the transitional payment given to get replacement wheels.

its a big thank you to Trevor Ogilvie at Cooks on Clough Road in Hull for giving me my independence back. If you are in hull looking for a good car for a good price with good values and customer focus he's your man. Without his generosity and assistance I'd still be house bound.

A mate of mine asked me to paint some of these French line infantry from Victrix, what a ball ache! I am sure that folk will swear by these figures but I'm sorry I can't. They were fiddly as hell to assemble and as the box contains 52 for around the £20 mark after 8 hrs I was ready to throw them out the window. Painting them hasn't been easy either and I would advise anyone contemplating these to try another source.
i have tried as requested to put together a battle worn Peninsular force and as these are my first foray into napoleonics I'm quite happy with them but not looking forward to the other thirty.

more gators for my army from left to right, gator bokur, wrongeye, wrongeye and his pal snapjaw. Lots of inks and dry brushing

A couple of minion warcasters completed as well as a unit of 20 shamblers to go with the bokur above. I didn't manage pictures of the shamblers but they are all done with lots of blood effects and open wounds they are zombified after all

its been a rough few months health wise with lots of problems and the addition of new ones. I was floored by the news that I have a constriction around my spinal cord that causes bad pins and needles in my painting arm and right leg, as well as being bloody painful. My doctor doesn't recommend the surgical options as they are too high risk, so my only option is to increase my pain relief which they have. The pharmacist stated I would be drowsy while my body adjusted but by god that was an understatement, my home was like the set of the walking dead

Common sense would say start with the basics of the game in terms of getting painted a basic force to learn with, but not me common sense be damned I wanted a big model to get on with after 25mm Victrix napoleonics.
Below are the results of my efforts so far I've still some base finishing off and the crew to do but it's coming along nicely. The photos just don't pick up the pearlescent effect in the purple bits but I am also hoping to improve my photography as well.

After a heightened period of debility I got strange urges, nothing seedy just an urge to paint a certain figure in pieces on one of my shelves. The figure in question was the Cygnar Storm Strider for Warmachine by Privateer Press. It made no sense to paint this figure first as realistically there were plenty of rank and file basics to paint beforehand a whole bucketload in fact but off I went anyway. Buddy (wargames dog) made himself comfortable on an old quilt I placed in front of the radiator in my gaming room and for the first time in just over a year I had to have the heating on, the results being a nice cosy afternoon of painting.
for the first time in a long time it was great to feel normal and do normal hobby time. I actually felt good and along with the storm strider a few Cygnar warjacks creep into the production line as well as a few gators and monsters for my minions army. Here are a few WIP bench photos of the journey so far

Well it has been the usual agony of chronic pain and fatigue which for nearly a week had me sleeping nearly 24/7 but still feeling awful. My jack Russell has also hurt his leg requiring serious rest which for any owner of this breed is a nigh on impossible. That said we have been kindred spirits and the house has been like a tomb housing both our corpses.
Even with this things have needed to be done and as my new aquarium has been maturing its need some TLC. To start with I was looking toward improving the filtration and aeration all in one go if possible as the bloody air pump was a constant loud humming whilst doing anything in the front room wether watching TV or trying to read a book. It's only a hum but honestly I could have thrown the bloody thing out the window.
As if with divine intervention I stumbled across a video on utube from a chap called the pondguru a geordie chap who comes up with all sorts of reviews and ideas. If you search for the ultimate aquarium filter on YouTube you will find him looking at a white tube.
Any aquarist looking for a super quiet aeration and filter watch this chap and try it for yourself. I bought the components and within half an hour had the filter built and in my aquarium working. My fish absolutely love it and within days I've had shrimp and catfish fry feeding from it, for me it has been a welcome addition to my tank but the real bonus is it's silent.

on the wargaming front I haven't done any real painting because I cut my finger again within a centimetre of the last bad cut. Now I've had a loss of feeling in the tip for weeks which made painting difficult. That said I sorted out my workbench and recently with some feeling coming back have made a start on the backlog of figures pictures will follow when I can.