Jetlag? Oh yes, but the workbench beckons

Nothing more soothing for jet lag than a few leisurely sessions at the workbench. Nothing better for that than a few quick wins to feel as though progress is being made. First up, an engineers' cart with oxen for the Romans.

It seems suitably appropriate given we spent a few hours at Herculaneum when we were staying in Naples. It's like a pocket size Pompeii, but with a few extra special additions. 

Fortunately, Mrs Tactical Painter enjoys a bit of history, so she was more than happy to explore the ruins with me.

What I hadn't realised, was that due to the different way in which Herculaneum was impacted by the eruption, a large amount of organic material was preserved, something that didn't happen with Pompeii. While this is fascinating, some of it is rather ghoulish. The skeletal remains of three hundred people who were sheltering in buildings at the waterfront were found. Those actual remains are not on display, but plaster casts of them are and it's quite moving. A poignant reminder of the disaster that occurred here. 

As for my engineer figures, they are conversions of various Victrix plastics, using arms from the scorpion bolt thrower set. 

The cart is laser cut MDF from Warbases, who also supply the equipment load in resin and the ox in metal. I'd ordered this to be delivered to my sister in Cornwall before we left Sydney, so it returned as part of my holiday booty.

A quick stop in the very well stocked Entoyment near Poole saw a few unplanned purchases. That included another MDF cart and load, this time for my American War of Independence games. It's a combination of a Warbases cart with a resin load from Depot Battalion.

That adds to the range of carts I have for the period, these are from various manufacturers including Perry Miniatures and Warbases.

The ammunition and water carts have been used as supports in Sharp Practice games, where they tend to function more as a game marker (to show you've supplied your units with either extra water or ammo). However, I'd like to make them more versatile, so at some stage I plan to add a horse/pony to the base and make the carts detachable. That way they can serve a number of different purposes.

Anyway, nothing like a few quick wins to get me back into the groove. Onwards.