Tag Archives: Spuddling

25/01/2026 · 01:16

Spuddling 007 – Tanky Stuff

“Nobody told me it was a ferry, not a bridge!”

It is a damp wet British winter. I have a plastic sprue tree to prune. Roll on the good times! Plastic Soldier Company kits normally come four to five to a box in 15mm, So I started with the four unmade Panzer IIIs that were left after I made a single Ausf N to accompany my Tiger.

"Now that our Panzer IIIS have been upgraded with long cm guns and spaced armour we will surely win the war!"

“Now that our Panzer IIIS have been upgraded with long 5cm guns and spaced armour we will surely win the war!”

I decided that they should be Pz III Ausf. Ls to fit in for the battle of KURSK in 1943. Posting them on a private chat group elicited this response from a good friend : “Power gamer!” It’s a fair cop Guv, as most of my armour trends towards the rubbish stuff. However, the next build was of four Churchill Mk IVs for the Italy campaign, so now I’m straying into building heavy tanks that won’t even land in theatre until 1944.¹

“Oh! They have heavy tanks that can climb mountains. Mensch!”

The next build of three remaining Tigers dug me in even deeper. On a whim, I bored the barrels out with a 0.9mm drill bit. at 1:100 scale, that makes them 0.02mm overscale. Trebian reckons that it is the least NQM thing that I have everdone, having previously been on record saying that painting rifles brown after black is superdetailing. 🙂

Don’t be a Tiger bore!

I haven’t told anyone yet that the 0.01mm layer of spray paint has closed them down to exactly true scale. Clearly, Tigers are the gateway drug for superdetailed modelling! 🙂

This is what power gaming looks like!

And finally, the prize for “Most tiny beige parts pinged off the sprue and recovered from the carpet” goes to ….. The Airfix 1:144 scale MiG 21-D “Fishbed.”

MiG 21-D “Fishbed” with fun riccochetting parts action.

Footnotes

The production of Churchills was going to be wound down, but lobbying from manufacturers caused production to be continued. As it happened, the Churchill’s ability to reach places in Italy that the Germans thought were impossible for armour proved very useful.

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Filed under 15mm Miniatures Wargames, Tanks

Tagged as Modelling, Pz III Ausf L, Spuddling, Tanks

09/01/2026 · 17:13

Spuddling 006 – Support Your Favourite Blogger

With long sentences and any form of punctuation or grammar becoming unfashionable with the under-thirties, this blog list from Roger, over at https://rantingsfromunderthewargamestable.wordpress.com/ contains a number of honourable exceptions :

Pat’s 1/72 Military Diorama’s

Skinflint Games

SP’s Projects Blog

The Imperfect Modeller

War Through The Ages & Other Dark horrors

Wargames sculptors blog

Anne’s Immaterium

Dragons Of Lancasm

Fawcett Avenue Conscripts

The wargaming erratic

And mine, Rantings From Under the Wargames Table

My own NQM list is over on the sidebar at right bottom. I keep updating it to knock blogs off that have ceased posting, but the reference list is pretty static. Hopefully, you will enjoy some of the blogs on the list. It is worth mentioning that if you are a WordPress blogger, you will need to log into Google to be able to comment on Googly blogs, and vice versa.

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Tagged as Off topic, Spuddling

05/01/2026 · 00:02

Spuddling 005 – Still Midwinter

More festive fun and lack of action over on Pygges in Spaaace.

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Tagged as Spuddling

11/12/2025 · 09:00

Spuddling 004 – The 2025 Pile of Fun

I regard my unbuilt and unpainted stuff as fun-yet-unrealised, rather than a pile of shame. Some time ago, atc (Plane) Dave challenged me to produce a list. I declined, thinking that it sounded too much like work, Now that I am retired, however, it looks more like a fun project. Of course, I will die with the list unfinished, but that is part of the entertainment.

The Fun Pile isn’t shrinking!

So what did I manage this year?

Tidying up the Toolbox.

My piles of Peter pig 15mm stuff for WW2 NQM are largely undercoated and on bases now. There are still plenty of odd elements in my completed boxes that need more work.

Undercoated and part-painted 15mm resin and FDM prints for NQM fill a couple of A4 4L RUBs. They are pulled out of the boxes on an as required basis. Sprues of PSC for NQM have been reduced to some Quads, Tigers, Churchills and 8 wheeler recce stuff. All the Battle-ready NQM Stuff that Just Needs Varnish is slowly being finished off on an as required basis. The Crete game provided impetus for that.

Painted and part-painted 28mm Warhamster stuff for Deathzapp-inspired games and NQRS with 40mm Army men for the same – some aliens are tall and thin! The impetus for painting them will come when NQRS gets off the ground. I’m currently working on a scenario booklet for NQM that has been on a slow burn this last year.

15mm Sci-Fi and “modern” painted and part-painted for an Imagination game based on DBF, NQRS and AK47.

Silly Spaaace Pygges and enemies.

The piles of ancient 15mm stuff for DBA are largely undercoated and on bases, with the exception of the Japanese. Light horse have jumped the queue ahead of them. Part-painted and fully based Minifigs WotR 15mm for DBA (previously used for Armati) together with a box of medieval figures from the late Graham Fordham’s collection are now ready for a middle to east European campaign, or the Italian and French wars of religion.

Medievals for a DBA campaign.

NQM Orbats sputtered on and is much closer to publication. I ran a DBA themed campaign in China, cleared most of my sprue tree and attended three Wargames shows – Campaign and both Partizans together with putting it on as a full-day game in Patriot Games in Sheffield. I am also doing some, (Not as much as I had planned) playtesting and proofreading for DBA (F). All in all, not a bad year.

A Pile of Poles.

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Filed under 15mm Miniatures Wargames, Not Quite Rocket Science

Tagged as DBA and HotT, Modelling, Not Quite Rocket Science, Sci-Fi, Spuddling, work in progress

13/11/2025 · 22:41

Spuddling 003 – Midwinter

“Sagebrush” dapple-camouflaged bannister.

After a long gloriously warm, sunny summer and autumn the rain has finally arrived.¹ This is perfect spuddling weather but my plans were disrupted by some true scale terrain painting. Three dappled colours – I’m calling the camouflage scheme “sagebrush” and no, I don’t thin my paints, but I do use a lot of masking tape on these projects.

Repurposed Ikea DVD tower.

As a side project, I screwed a vertical Ikea DVD tower horizontally over the radiator in the study. It holds some of my DBA and DBF armies now in Really Useful Boxes. Win, win!

25mm Mameluks and converted ragamuffins pretending to be Classical Indians.

We have been playtesting the rules for DBA 4.0, the intent of which is to tidy up the rulebook and rebalance some of the troops types. Warbands, auxilia and pike should become a little more popular. There should not be more optional chrome added as in DBF. My 25/28mm Armies are mostly assembled from generous gifts by Steve Churchus Clive “Vince” Vincent and Graham Evans.

Some classic Minifig Lord of the Rings figures making a Mongols vs Indians battle.

Another generous gift from Bob Hymer was Crete 1941.² This collection of first person accounts gave me a lot of small details for the Crete scenario that helped to clarify some of the questions that I have been unsuccessfully seeking answers for online :

The key part that Cretan civilians and military played in the defence. I initially thought that I had overstated the part they played. It seems that I hadn’t.
“We captured a motorcycle and sidecar that had been dropped.” Confirming that M/C sidecar combos were present
The conflicting contemporary accounts of Max Schmeling the champion boxer’s fate.
The loss of Maleme due to the withdrawal of 22nd battalion, NZ Division from Hill 107.
The Royal Navy’s view that Crete was of no strategic value, could not have been supplied if held, and ended up tying down German troops that could have been used more usefully elsewhere.

The Fun Pile isn’t shrinking!

Thanks to the generosity of others my cupboard full of fun isn’t emptying out at all but, I’m looking forward to more bad weather to come. Bring it on!

Footnotes

The old boys on the allotment have been grumbling about the lack of rain all summer. “It’s too late now m’duck!“
Hadjipateras, C and Fafalios, M. (1993) Crete 1941. Attikis : Efstathiadis Group. ISBN 960 226 184 6

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Tagged as miniatures, Modelling, painting, Spuddling

19/08/2025 · 13:30

Spuddling 002 – Lazy Days and Summer Mumbling

The Imperialist guns advance, shortly before being overrun.

Summer is great in England. The sun shines in between thunderstorms. We have more than eight hours of daytime and it isn’t always cold damp and gloomy.

My opponents think that I know something that they don’t! Richard Lockwood on the right.

Even Wargamers venture outside! Trebian took advantage of this to erect his gazebo and we held the quarterly meeting in his garden, enjoying (or complaining about) the warmth and eating cake, baguettes and barbeque.

Phil Steele (L) and Chris Ager (R) are reading the rules. My smile must have spooked them!

We had a proper 18th century toy soldier battle between the French and Imperialists, in which BOTH sets of cannons were captured, and a Seastrike battle in which ALL our patrol boats were sunk!

The French cannons are overrun. Huzzah!

Elsewhere, I have been throwing children into the River Nene for fun. I’ve discovered that if you give them buoyancy aids, and fish as many out at the end as you throw in at the start, they will pay for the privilege. Who knew? To the children, who ask “How do we get a cool paddle like yours, Mister?” I answer “Go to Hogwarts!”

It does look a bit like a Quidditch broom doesn’t it?

I have a shiny new spray booth, which is giving good service and was making good inroads into my painting pile.

The interior of the spray booth is protected by Clingfilm.

That is, until Trebian generously gave me some Space Crusade figures from Milton Bradley Games, prompted by the appearance of the GSRs (Giant Stompy Robots). I shall have to dig all my old Space Crusade stuff out again.

Playtesting often reveals the need for more markers.

The last Not Quite Rocket Science (NQRS) game highlighted the need for destroyed GSR markers so I split one robot three ways. Some days, I question the wisdom of modern wargaming, when I found myself scrolling through pictures of burned out Russian tanks to get the right look for wreck markers.¹ Regardless of that, here they are.

GSR Markers. I salvaged three markers out of one broken robot.

Footnotes

I’m not talking about professional wargaming, which is enjoying a renaissance, but modelling current conflicts recreationally. People do it, including veterans of those conflicts, but it is not for me.
I still follow the odd medical blog out of professional curiosity. This one can best be summed up as “Fat people can become depressed when they go on a diet” Who knew?

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Tagged as Horse and Musket, Spuddling, Wargames, warhammer

13/02/2025 · 13:25

Spuddling 001 – a Grand Midwinter Day in

England has settled in for a week of dull, drizzling, foggy, damp, chilly weather that sets the teeth and joints aching. Excellent! British wargamers recognise that this is perfect spuddling¹ weather – a day for fossicking around in boxes to pull out half-finished projects, looking at them and then rearranging them into another box to slumber away for another year or so. Perhaps we might look through online catologues to dream about starting a new project, or rearrange our Ospreys back into numerical order.

My day started with the arrival of three Plastic Soldier Company boxes of tanks, ordered in September because PSC announced that they were back in stock. I suspect that demand exceeded supply and mine were the second wave of reinforcements to arrive. The three boxes produced a Churchill MkIII with exposed front tracks (Needed for the Italian campaign with 2nd Northants), a Pz III Ausf N to accompany Tiger tanks, and an early to mid production model Pz VI Tiger, again for use in Italy.

I took the opportunity to stick the Rubbish German Cyclists onto bases, pinning them with brass rod for a bit more durability on the wargames table. I’m still thinking about how I am going to fit Montecassino onto a three foot run of tabletop for the Northamptonshire Battlefields Society in May at Partizan.² Pygges in Spaaace had a bit more work put into it, or at least, some thought short of actual work!

The day included numerous distractions for coffee, a biscuit, staring out of the window at the grey sky and rain on the windopanes. I realise that weatherwise, Canadians will be busy shovelling snow up on the southern border to form a Game of Thrones ice wall manned by mounties. Australians and Floridans will be fishing Crocs or ‘gaters out of the swimming pool to chuck on the barbie with a few raw prawns, but here in England we’re just making the most of the lovely weather.

Footnotes

Spuddle. Recorded 1904 –
1. To loosen and dig up stubble and weeds left after a harvest with a broadshare or similar device, and (by extension, chiefly dialect) to shallowly dig or stir up in an unsystematic manner.
2. (obsolete, Southern England) To make a lot of fuss about trivial things, as if they were important
3. Middle English (obsolete) : To assiduously give the appearance of being very busy, whilst achieving very little.

Spuddling is one of those words that should never have died out in common usage and clearly is due a revival in the modern world of office bureaucrats sending out endless circular emails calling for reports on paperclip usage.

2. 2025 update. See how I did it here.

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Filed under 15mm Miniatures Wargames, Infantry, Not Quite Rocket Science, Tanks

Tagged as A22 Infantry Tank Churchill MkIV, Infantry, Modelling, Not Quite Rocket Science, Pz III AusF N, PzVI, Spuddling, Tanks, Wargames

07/11/2021 · 22:21

International Merlot Day – November the Seventh

My Dear Guru Pig,

Thank you for alerting me to International Merlot Day, which I have added to my calendar of Important Events¹. You have saved Suzanne and me from an embarrassing faux-pas, as we were just finishing an agreeable bottle of 2019 Chapel Down Flint Dry blended white. On the face of it this was not the most obvious choice for venison with noodles and stir fried Pak Choi but, well, the bottle was already open and giving good service, being a refreshingly sharp contrast to the malty earth tones of Leffe Brujn and hot lime pickles as an anti pasta².

A quick flurry of rummaging in the ancestral wine cellar produced one of Brian’s Reserve Merlots³. I was reassured by his assertion that the bottle was best enjoyed now or cellared for 3-5 years. As there was no date on the label, and Suzanne could not remember when she bought it, we played safe and opened it at once, to be enjoyed with stewed apples, apricots, wolf berries and custard*.

Good health to you and yours! Arrrrr!

Kind Regards, Chris.

International Speak Like a Pirate Day on the 19th of September being top of said list.
Flint Dry 2019 – 6 bottle case
A great introduction to quality English wine and an alternative to aromatic white wines, such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. Chapel Down Flint Dry 2020 is a mixed blend, fragrant white wine.
1. On the Nose – Green apple, galia melon and kiwi.
2. On the Palate – Apple, pear and lime.
3. Finish – Well-balanced.
4. Vineyards – Kent, East Sussex and Essex.
5. Winemaking – Fruit is whole bunch pressed and vinified in stainless steel at cool temperatures to retain aromatic delicacy. The wine was blended, clarified, and bottled in February 2020.
6. Food Pairing – Flint Dry 2020 is ideal served as an aperitif or pairs perfectly with white meats, seafood, or salad.
  75cl bottles. £78.00
Brian McGuigan’s Reserve Merlot
Aroma
Upfront red fruits, raspberries and cherries. Hints of sweet spice and cedar

Palate
A medium bodied, fruit driven wine with spice and hints of mocha on the palate.The wine is well balanced with soft tannins, giving length to the palate.

£ 7 for 75cl
*. Custard is not a garnish. It comes in jugs!

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Tagged as Off topic, Spuddling

12/11/2020 · 21:59

Off Topic – Twiddling My Thumbs

Not Quite Chinese

According to the daily mail, I’m one of the bunch of opportunistic NHS scallywags who has been sitting around “twiddling my thumbs” for the past six months, hoping to cash in on an undeserved pay rise whilst frontline staff deal with Covid-19. Yup, Podiatrists were mentioned by name. Expect the mail to attract a little flak, probably from some of the patients with whom I’ve been toe twiddling.

Not going to bother to defend the totally meritless libel – too busy trying to do something to stem the increased risk our diabetic patients with limb-threatening foot ulcers and multifactorial co-morbidities, are under from a thrombolytic virus that attacks the respiratory and vascular systems, and today, I realised that I was falling behind with blogging.

Qin Chariots should look a bit like this

So as my blog has alluded to a piece with no research at all behind it¹, I thought that I would drag out my DBM Qin chariots, as a space filler. Built in an evening from Minifigs Medieval and Lamming peasants, with ACW and WW2 draught horses, and scratch-built chariots. The fourth chariot had a couple of plastic armadillos as steeds, alas no longer to be found. They are wildly inaccurate, did the job, and gave me a laugh.They are also waaay more accurate than the daily mail piece above.

Hyboria, eat your heart out!

My working day is supposed to end at 16:30, usually ends at 18:00 and 19:00 is not unusual. I doubt if I am unique in arriving early and working through most of my lunch in a department where we are three staff members understrength and now have another 2-3 self isolating at any one time. We are finding it hard to recruit because any Podiatrist with any sense is setting up to practise privately. I’m one of the lucky ones, I still have a job at 65. Going home feels like this: