Santa's Little Helper (1) - Ideas for 'Santa Clause' venture

The festive season is coming nearer and therefore two tireless bloggers are organising yearly ventures. Ian from 'The blog with no name' is running the 'Secret Santa' campaing while Chris from 'Wargamer's Odds and Ends' is maintaining 'Santa Clause'. Chris closed the enrollment in early-October and all the paires are matched. Now each participant has the task to get one or more figures for up to £5 for his (or her) counterpart, paint them and post them until Christmas.

Luckily I found a nice set of Warlord Games miniatures which will hopefully appeal to my target fellow. I'll get them at Crisis in Antwerp and afterwards have around five weeks to paint them before they'll make their way to the UK. Should be no problem...

Anyway our host asked me to put some kind of wish list onto my blog to give my benefactor some hints. But let me place first that I'll appreciate any piece of work showing that the creator put his efforts into it. One of the dearest pieces in my collection is a small vignette which I luckily won in a friend's raffle a while ago. Although I don't have a single figure matching it I always appreciate to have a look at it and the wonderful greeting card that came with it when I pass by my glass cabinets.

Thus 'Santa' shouldn't agonise too much about finding the perfect addition to my collection. Just find something you'd like to paint and present!

But anyway as asked some recommendations:

28mm Modern Warfare:

Sometime this winter I'll focus on this interesting topic. Until now I have some mordern British by Empress and a two or three Hasslefree modern troopers. In case that 'Santa' share my interest in the modern Afghan theatre of war maybe one or two suitable insurgents or militia fighters would be nice. Of course any other matching range would do as well.

By the way for skirmish gaming miniatures I prefer 5 Cent coins as bases. They are 1.7mm thick and have a diameter of 21mm. More or less the same size as British pennies.

My first painted modern trooper (link)

28mm Napoleonics:

A constant topic on my workbench. Last year Santa's present was a top hit for that. A wonderful RHA howitzer which is excellently painted and perfectly useful for me. No need to compete against that but in case that 'Santa' has a partiality for Napoleonics there are a couple of gaps in my collection. Somehow under the radar I'm working on a French brigade. Actually the 1st or 2nd Brigade from D'Erlon's Corps at Waterloo. Until now it doesn't have a command base and I haven't planned one yet.

In case that 'Santa' chooses this task a 60mm circular base would be perfect. But please without colours. They will be carried by the regiments.

28mm WW2:

Another project that's keeping my attention constantly. Currently I'm woking on some British Paras and Desert Rats as regular readers of my humble blog know. But as soon as both platoons are finished I'll probably turn to British Expedition Force or Homeguard. Maybe 'Santa' wants to give either of them a start. Warlord Games and Wargames Foundry are providing a wonderful range of Home Guard / Dad's army figures. Perhaps 'Santa' would enjoy to paint one or two of them.

One of Wargames Fonudry's charcterful Home Guard set sculpted by Alan and Michael Perry

28mm War of the Roses:

Somehow I fell into this project after the Perry twins seduced me with their excellent plastic boxes. Besides that my efforts are rather limited so maybe 'Santa' wants to take that line and add something to my slowly growing collection. Either some civilians or a command base might be his choice then. For the latter I have no real favourite but my archers are bearing the colours of York. Thus one of the Yorkish leaders would be most suitable. Maybe accompanied by a standard bearer to simplify recognition on the battlefield. Although my other WotR figures are based on 21mm coins a larger vignette would be finde as well.

My Yorkish bowmen (link).

And besides that?

Anything 'Santa' appreciates. Actually scenic elements like carts, animals or civilians are most useful for any table but mostly badly underrepresented. So ther'd be a lot of room in all my projects for such elements. Beginning with the Dark Ages, over WotR, AWI, Napoleonics and right to WW1 and WW2 I'd apreciate any kind of useful bits and pieces.

Well then... I hope give's a good bunch of ideas for 'Santa'. As you see I mentioned some pieces that could be based on multi-figure packs beyond £5. Consistent with the rules I don't expect 'Santa' to acquire those but perhaps he or she has some spare figure that do the job.

By the way Ian hasn't closed the list for 'Secret Santa' yet. So if you want to jump on the train don't hesitate to go to his blog: Here.

So let me finish with a matter that is close to my heart:

Anything is appreciated 'Santa' choses to put his efforts and time into.