Monday, April 06, 2009

Back from the Desert: A Lewis and Clark update

The L and C project continues. Why oh why does it seem endless. I took a little vacation from painting as Lorri and I went south to Palm Springs over my break. I had a good time as usual. Palm Springs is a wonderful place. It's restful, the weather is fantastic, and there is always something interesting to see. This year I took the missus to Joshua Tree and we drove up into the San Jacinto Mountains to hang out in the rustic little town of Idyllwild.

We got came home on an entertaining plane ride Friday. We got caught up in one of those occasional desert wind storms that blow in from the coast through the gap between the San Jacinto and San Bernardino Mountains. We had a hard time even getting off the ground and arrived home at 11:00 p.m., instead of three hours earlier as planned.

I did get some painting time this weekend. I finished the second unit of Soldados de Cuera, as well as the remaining Comanches. All that is left is the unit of mounted Soldados. Okay they don't look terribly soldado-like. I bought a pack of Presidial Lancers from the Old Glory Mexican War line in the wake of the London War Room disaster. They look pretty usable with their round hats and boar spears. I've gotten a nice start with them, but I'm also in the middle of deadline. I'm hoping I might have them finished by Sunday.

Today I received some hills I ordered from Battlefield Terrain Concepts in Virginia. They are very nice resin hills that I want to use to break up the battlefield. They aren't intended to be difficult terrain obstacles, just provide dips in the ground. I also am beginning to work on the river bank, and have picked out the piece of plywood I'll use to form the large island in the river that will hold the Corps of Discovery's encampment.

My hope is to begin messing around with the Black Powder Battles rules next week. It should be fun.

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