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Monday, 30 June 2025

A..... What I've been painting, a catch up and news

 


Its been a very busy few weeks at Casa Rousell, The Rousell clan is on the move so there's been a lot to do.
We finally have a moving date which is this coming Thursday the 3rd July, so wargaming and painting has been pushed to the back seat, apart from the markers above, which tbh were painted a few weeks ago, and I didn't get round to posting them. At Partizan me and Lee decided to buy some Warbases counters to use for Shock markers in our up and coming, Retreat from Moscow shenanigans using Sharpe Practice. Lee's done the same, but he was a tad more creative than me, putting different things on his, logs, wheels, dead and such. I went for stones, nice and easy.


Organizing moving and sorting all the crap that you've accumulated over 35 years is difficult enough, without Mrs R pre-booking a weeks holiday with her Mum, to Spain for the week before we move, (she wasn't to know that at the time though, of course) and my daughter doing the same, sunning herself in Cyprus.....again! I'd already booked the week off, when Mrs R and my Mother-in-Law, were away, I had planned a weeks worth of fun and games, but the moving date destroyed my plans. 


And, I've been looking after Prince Bodie, my Mun in laws Poodle, who thinks he's human and doesn't do a bloody thing he's told too either!!!

Me and Lee did manage to get a day in Posties shed, to work on some of the terrain we've been buying. We chose one of the hottest days of the year to work in Posties shed, I don't think I've ever been that hot, it was like working in a bloody sauna!


Lee, the tart that he is made a short video of the day that he posted the other day, on his YouTube channel. If you haven't seen it take a look. We were both very pleased with what we managed to get completed. Firstly of 7 foot x 7 foot, wargaming mat, which started out life as a 7 foot square throw from Dunholm.
To this we patted on grey paint, then two layers of white paint. When that was all dry we spayed the mat with 2 cans of GW white spray, it may well need another going over??


Before


During


After

The other major job we did was to paint up all the luvvly Last Valley river sections we purchased at Partizan in May and another lot that came n the post too! Andy does make Snowy river section already, where he just doesn't paint the gound, which was perfect for us, so we matched the ground in with how we'd based our figures. I will admit to being very pleased to how these came out. They're a perfick match!


How we bought them from The Last Valley


With a base sand added.


All the white has been painted Earth Brown


After giving the Earth brown a heavy drybrush of white, we them wacked on our snow mix.

Lastly we bought loads of sabot tree bases from those great peeps at Warbases, they come in 2's, 3's 4's and 5 trees to a base. Why do you need sabot tree bases you ask?
 There's an easy answer.......storage. Instead of having bases with a few trees on which will be a nightmare to store, we or rather (I) decided this was the way to go, all the bases can go in one box, the trees in another.
Easy!


So there you go, a very busy few weeks.......which is gonna carry on for the next few weeks after I move. 

Its going to be strange not living next to Postie, like I have for the past 35 years, it was always so easy to pop next door for a game or a cuppa.



The gate in the middle of our fence, where I will no longer go through to play a game.
Think Posties gonna nail it shut!
Well that's me for today, I have got other posts ready and raring to go, but they'll have to wait.







44 comments:

  1. Nice update Ray. Good luck with the move. I hope it's cooler by then. Remember the first job once you're moved in... wargames room!

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    1. Cheers Rich, I'm not sure I'll get away with that!

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  2. That's a lot of work. And all just before you move!

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  3. You have been very busy, Ray! I do not envy you and your upcoming move AT ALL!

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    1. I don't get stressed.........but I'm stressed!

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  4. Very busy times Ray, must admit I love the tree sabot bases, very clever idea. All the best for the coming move.

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    1. I think the tree bases should look pretty cool when finished, and thanks.

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  5. Good luck with the move Ray. Let's hope it cools down for you!

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    1. It's raining this morning and cooled down....thank gawd!

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  6. Moving house is a pain, but I find it is usually harder thinking about it than actually doing it. Lovely work on the terrain pieces Ray.

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    1. I know what you mean Lawrence and thanks!

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  7. Very best wishes for the house move!

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  8. Great work Ray and I really hope the move goes well.

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  9. Nice update, Ray. Love your in-laws pooch - he looks really comfortable with you.

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  10. That's one heck of a busy week you are having, hope the move goes ok!
    The 1812 stuff looks really good, it will be a fabulous-looking game. The cloth could inspire a Battle of the Bulge project too? Or something Swedish/Danish/Russian in your favourite 17th Century period...? More 'rabbit holes'!

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    1. Well, we've already been talking about our next move David. It'd be a shame to not use all this luvvly terrain. We spoke about the Russo-Finnish War 1939 and The Bulge......maybe in a smaller scale too. We'd just need multiple smaller trees on the sabot bases. We must be crackers though. We need to finish 1812 first! Oh the woes of a wargamer!!

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  11. Nice work Ray. I have been forced by circumstances to accept a move in four years, dreading it, good luck.

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    1. What? After spending all that dosh on your gaming room!

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  12. Good looking terrain and matt, I managed to arrange to be in another country when we moved from our house in Barnet to a flat in Ware, I'm sure your family will appreciate your hard work!
    Best Iain

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  13. Lovely winter terrain Ray…
    And good luck with the house move…

    All the best. Aly

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  14. Goodness me Ray, that's a lot of action. Moving would be more than enough for most of us!
    That mat looks superb. Perfect for a snow landscape. The underlying dark grey/brown looks the business.
    Have you been playing lots of Smokie to Postie? It'll be a moving time in both meanings. The Rejects will still gather regularly, I presume?
    Best wishes, especially for the move,
    James

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    1. Yep we'll still all meet up. I'm not moving far away, only a 10 minute drive from where I am now. Posties not happy about me moving, he's a pain in the butt, but still one of my best pals, we'll both miss not being able to pop next door for a chat or to nick a pot of paint.

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  15. I had not realized you and Postie were neighbours Ray....that's a small world, given how sparse wargamers are in the population, that two ended up living next door to each other....or, is there more to the story?!
    Like many, I don't envy you the move....but it is all the effing around in the weeks leading up to it, packing everything up etc that is the real chore, as Lawrence notes.

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  16. There's a whole lot more to the story Keith. It's all Postie’s fault that I'm a gamer in the first place. We both moved in to our houses at the same time in 1990, got chatting as you do. I invited him round for a game of Sensible Soccer on my Atari and a game of Risk, with my pals, he said you should come round mine and gave a go at wargaming? I wasn't impressed thinking this is some real nerdy shit! 2 weeks later I was buying some 15mm Essex SYW British.....and the rest is history!

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  17. Lovely winter terrain and matt Ray...and good luck for the move!

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  18. I'm sorry you're moving away from your friend. 35 years is a long time and then not to walk through that fence again. Hope you guys stay in touch.

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    1. Oh we will do Whisk, he's my daughters Godfather and we're only moving 15 minutes away.

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  19. Kinda bitter sweet to move huh? great progress all around and nice to do things like terrain work as a group. I'm so used to solo everything. 😁

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    1. Yeh, it is kinda bittersweet to be honest, but I get my own wargames room! Woo Hooo!

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  20. The idea of living in one place for 35 years doesn't compute in my middle-aged gypsy brain. I've moved about so much in my life, anywhere longer than 3 years and I start to get itchy feet. Good luck with the move though Ray and I hope you'll not be too far from Postie so that trips to play games and hobby won't be completely off the menu?

    All the stuff you preview here makes my own Winter set-up look like it dearly needs a facelift! Very impressive mate!

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  21. It was never my plan to stay for 35 years, just a matter of circumstance, but in the end it had to be done, part of the deal with Mrs R, was I got my own wargaming room! So instead of being stuck up my old small shed, I'll have a whole garage to play with!

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  22. It’s always about the timing ! Good luck with move . The winter terrain is looking cool.. see what I did there !

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  23. Good luck with the move, always a touch sad to move away from friends, especially one you have a door to, but I hope you keep that going! Hopefully the new wargaming room will be up and running soon, you'll have to share some updates as it moves along!

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