Painting and Gaming Plans for 2026

There has been no wargaming for me over the past couple of weeks, as we have been travelling to Seoul, South Korea for a family wedding, and as I write this post (on my iPhone) resting up for a few days in Singapore. The break from painting and gaming has given me a chance to gather my thoughts on what I would like to focus on wargaming-wise in 2026, which will be my second year of retirement.

Projects to complete or finish off

• Gaul army using 20 mm HaT plastic miniatures, currently about two-thirds complete.

• Star Wars Legion, finishing off a couple of models that are still sitting in the plastic pile.

Adding to or enhancing existing periods

• Napoleonic armies, with the addition of artillery, cavalry, and officers with standard bearers.

• English Civil War, adding two cavalry units and some dragoons.

• WWI, strengthening my British army for the Mesopotamian front forces with more Indian troops and cavalry. The HaT 20mm miniatures are already in the plastic pile.

New projects

• Revamping my Warhammer 40,000 terrain, which is currently rather bulky and not well suited to gaming on square or hex grids.

• Battle of Britain / Blood Red Skies, a small project of four aircraft to try my hand at air wargaming.

Campaigns

• Gauls vs Romans, most likely a mini-campaign of about 3 to 5 tabletop battles, though the how I will run it is still to be decided.

• English Civil War campaign, smaller in scope than the one I ran between December 2018 and February 2020, which involved over 30 tabletop battles (original campaign posts start here). This will again be an area-based campaign, but with far fewer regions to control.

• WWII desert campaign, using a board game as the campaign map and guide to drive the tabletop battles.

Anyway a few things to get going with, which will no doubt change once I am back at the painting table. 

That is it. It is hard writing a post on an iPhone. But here are some more photos of the changing of the Guard Korean style…

Painting a few more 20mm Gauls

I have been busy clearing the painting table of some 20mm plastic Gauls (mostly HaT with a few Italeri). So far I have completed two Warband units (96 figures) and half a cavalry unit (10 figures). Adding them to my existing collection which are used as part of a Carthaginian army. I am continuing with the larger unit approach, with infantry and cavalry made up of four bases, and skirmishers and chariots using just two bases.

The push to clear the painting table is largely because we are heading away for a couple of weeks to attend a family wedding in South Korea, followed by a short break in Singapore on the way back to New Zealand. I do not like leaving units half painted, as I find it difficult to get back into the flow after a break.

The Gaul army as it currently stands with the recent additions.

Who doesn’t like a few chariots!

Gaul Warbands (48 figures per unit).

One of my Christmas presents was the Blood Red Skies starter set. I’m looking forward to building the kits (two Spitfires and two Messerschmitts) and giving the game a try when I get back. I think this will be my first foray into air wargaming, and something to look forward to after the trip.

A first foray into Air Wargaming

Two Spitfires and two Messerschmitts to make and paint.

As for my wargaming plans for 2026, I am still mulling that over. At the top of the list is finishing the Gaul army - the remaining half of the cavalry unit (10 figures), a unit of skirmishers (14 figures), and a unit of chariots (four chariots). I would also like to complete the Blood Red Skies starter set pretty quickly.

The time away should provide me with a good opportunity to ponder on what to paint and play over the coming year, and to firm up a rough plan for 2026.

Waste not, want not, terrain and a Starfighter

In my last post I made some alien-looking plants using seed pods from a Banksia tree which I found on a walk on Christmas day. While making the terrain (see previous post for details), I cut the bottom off each of the seed pods. These offcuts still looked interesting, so I decided not to throw them away.

More alien plants added as scatter terrain.

A day or so later, while sorting through my stash of various plastic plants I have collected over the years, but never fully used. I found some sprouting flower pieces that looked like they could be attached to the Banksia offcuts to create a few more alien-looking plants. With that in mind, I drilled holes to attach the flowers and then painted the pieces.

The following is a quick overview of the steps involved in making the plants.

The off cuts of the Banksia seed pods.

Some unused plastic pieces of plant not used with sprouting flowers.

Holes were drilled into the off cuts to hold the flowers.

The off cuts were given a green wash, dry-brushed with a light green, and finally dabs of yellow added. 

The finished plants on the tabletop.

I think I have now done my dash with creating alien-looking plants for the moment. Keeping with the Sci-Fi theme, a recent addition to my Star Wars Legion collection is a 1/72 scale X-Wing Starfighter for the Rebel forces. I already have a TIE Fighter for the Imperial forces. Although the 1/72 scale models are smaller than Star Wars Legion figures, which stand at around 30 mm tall, the fighters do not look out of place and appear suitably proportioned when mounted on sticks so they stand about 12 inches above the tabletop. With this addition, both forces now have access to air support, and the X-Wing will be used in the same way as the TIE Fighter, providing scenario-driven air support.

The latest addition to my Star Wars collection.

The X-Wing and TIE fighter.

That’s all for 2025…

A find on a walk adds to the sci-fi terrain collection

Christmas Day and Boxing Day have turned out to be quite productive on the hobby front. While out walking on Christmas Day, I came across a Banksia tree and was able to collect a few of its seed pods with the idea of turning them into sci-fi terrain. The pods have a wonderful alien look. I decided to paint them with a yellow and dark pink colour scheme and added them to the other seed pods I have already been using to create colourful and interesting looking terrain features.

In addition, I painted up two Imperial officers that were a small Christmas present to myself.

The latest alien terrain additions.

Two imperial officers.

Here are a series of photos showing the steps I used to create the terrain features:

One end of the seed pod is sawn off so they can stand freely (avoiding the need to base them and saving both time and effort).

Once cleaned up and given a flat base, the seed pods were covered with a yellow wash.

After the yellow wash had dried, the seed pods were dry-brushed with yellow to help highlight the texture.

Finally, a dark pink wash was applied to the openings in the seed pods to add contrast to their alien look.

With these new terrain pieces finished, they will soon find their way onto the tabletop for a Star Wars game.

Gaul Warband, Robots, and Sci-Fi Terrain

Most of my available wargaming time this past week was spent getting some painting done and scratch-building simple Sci-Fi terrain. I had prepared and undercoated a 48-figure 20mm plastic Gaul Warband at the start of the week, but in an effort to delay tackling them I decided to first painted a couple of Spider Robots for my Star Wars Legion forces. One was the official kit, which came with some spare legs and guns. This gave me the opportunity to build a second robot using a scratch-built body assembled from whatever suitable parts I could find in the spares box (mostly unused bits from old Warhammer 40K kits).

The completed Spider Robots. The closest one uses the spare legs with a scratch-built body.

The Spider Robots from the front. Official kit on the left.

With the Spider Robots finished, there was no avoiding the Gauls. Once I got started painting them, I quickly found my rhythm and completed the unit over a couple of days. My approach to painting Ancient armies is deliberately simple. Basic block colours over a mid-brown base coat, which helps hide any missed areas. A final coat of PVA glue gives the figures a durable and glossy finish which I like.

The complete Gaul Warband made of 4 bases.

A view from the front. The figures are mainly 20mm HAT miniatures with a few Italeri Gauls added in.

Finally, while tidying up the storage in my wargames room, I came across some plumbing items picked up at the hardware store that I must have bought with scenery in mind. These were quickly mounted onto some MDF offcuts left over from last week's container construction to create a set of vents for my Star Wars terrain. I will use them either as scatter terrain, or added to the roofs of block buildings to make them look like a factory (and a suitable scenario objective to be destroyed). 

The vents used as scatter terrain.

The vents on a factory building roof. They add a bit of colour to the buildings.

Making custom containers for Ancient miniatures

In my previous post, I mentioned that I was planning on expanding my Carthaginian Gauls so that I could field a full Gaul army, and that once painted and based I would need to find some additional storage space. My current storage system for my Carthaginian and Roman armies consists of nine stackable containers, each one is capable of holding up to nine bases. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any more containers of the same type, and even if I could, a stack of four does not fit in the available shelving space.

After a bit of thought, I decided to have a go at making some custom containers using MDF sheets and my  schoolboy-level woodworking skills.

The current storage situation for my Ancient armies.

Each container holds 9 bases. The bases are 3x4 inches.

The plan was to build eight custom containers, each measuring 3 inches high, 16 inches wide, and 15 inches deep. The shelf space dictated the width and depth, while the height was determined by the 20mm miniatures (the elephants being the tallest). Each container would hold 18 bases, all my bases measure 4 x 3 inches. 

The finished containers.

The new containers hold 18 bases.

After thinking through a few ideas, I decided on the design shown below. This allows the containers to stack securely without sliding and toppling while still be easy to slid in and out.

A drawing of the design. Forgive the combination of imperial measurements and metric. With all my bases being in inches (the traditional wargaming measurement) it was easier to use inches for the construction while the purchased MDF sheets come in metric.

All the MDF pieces cut out for one container. The darker pieces are the side 12mm MDF.

The 12mm MDF is used for the sides.

3mm MDF is used for the front and back.

The thin 1 inch strips of MDF are glued to the bottom so the containers do not slide and topple in on each other.

A close up of how the containers are stacked.

A few quick notes on construction. The 3mm MDF sheets were attached to the 12mm MDF sides using PVA glue and 25mm (1”) panel pins. Five pins were used along each side to secure the base, and one pin per side was used when fixing the front and back 3mm MDF pieces. I did not glue or pin the front and back panels to the base. This simplifies construction and the containers are sufficiently strong without being fixed to the base. The thin MDF strips used to prevent the containers from sliding when stacked were simply glued to the base. 

One word of warning, avoid hammering panel pins too close to the ends of the 12mm MDF, as it will likely split.

PVA glue and 1 panel pins is used on each side to attach the front and back.

PVA glue and 5 panel pins secured the base to the sides.

25mm or 1 inch panel pins were used.

The base with the strips attached near the sides.

The end result is that I can now store 144 bases of ancients in the same shelving space that used to hold 81 bases. With each container holding 18 bases, eight containers will provide more than enough room for the planned expansion of the Gaul army. Best of all, this was a cheap solution which I completed over 2 days.

My next project and adding to a past project

I currently have a few Gaul units as part of my Carthaginian army, and I have decided that my next project will be to add to them so that I can field a full Gaul army. I am continuing with the four-base unit style (48 miniatures per unit) as I like how they look on the tabletop. So ordered some more HaT Gauls, which arrived a couple of weeks ago. I also have Gaul cavalry due in this week. The infantry figures have all been washed, and I will soon be giving them their first coat of PVA glue as part of the priming process before painting.

I am continuing to use 4 bases for my heavy infantry and cavalry in my Punic War armies. Skirmishers are 2 bases.

Some of the recent arrivals.

Before finishing the Gauls, I will have to make some MDF storage trays so I can store them properly. I currently use plastic office containers, but there is not enough free space in them and they do not make the best use of the shelf space. 

Current storage approach for my Punic War armies.

With the custom made containers I am planning to make this weekend, I am hoping to get more figures stored in the same area. My collection is beginning to outgrow the room, and I am reluctant to store any of the models elsewhere. They will just end up getting forgotten!

First off the painting table this week, though, were some Star Wars Legion models. An early Christmas present from my son, who is away over the Christmas holidays. They join my steadily growing Star Wars collection. I thought this project was done, but it will soon grow even further. Yesterday I purchased another core set, which will double my Stormtroopers and add a couple much needed speeder bikes, while the Rebels gain another AT-ST walker and more troops.

Not a great photograph of the recently complete Imperial Dark Troopers for my Star Wars Legion collection.

On the tabletop at the moment is a WWII scenario I am trying out. If it works out, I will hopefully post about it.

B&W view of a WW2 game.