Renendra Tent sets

I made a small purchase today.  I ordered a couple of the tent sets by Renendra from Architects of War.  I'm pretty excited about them.  They'll represent the brigade encampments in Hobkirk's Hill.  They look nice and aren't very expensive.  Each set costs ten bucks.  I'm also anxious to give AoW a try because they are the reincarnation of Barb's Bunker, whose work I enjoyed so much. 

Time to 'Fess Up

I have done a much better job of posting on the blog since December, but I haven't been really good with my counting stats--figures painted and figures purchased.  That's not quite true either, I do update my painted stats regularly, but I haven't included my figures purchased stuff.

I really do try to keep purchases to a minimum.  Like you, I just have too many unpainted figures for too many unpainted projects in my drawers of shame.  My chief culprits are the American Revolution and the Hundred Years War, but I have lots of other figures for lots of other projects.  So, I make it point to try to only buy figures that round out units I need for a specific game, and try to avoid buying lots of other figures that will sit for years waiting for brush to apply paint.  I've kind of done that-sort of-almost.

I've made two figure purchases since the first of the year.  The first was to RAFM for some of their Martians.  I needed a couple of figures to finish out a unit, and, being a firm believer one can never order just two figures no matter the excuse, I added another unit too to make my order a still paltry, but more acceptable thirteen figures.  Have I painted any of the thirteen?   No, but they are sitting on my painting table primed and very much on my to do list

My other order was to the Warstore.com where all Perry figures worth having live.  Son Casey gifted his mom and I each 60 bucks when he got a big bonus from his employer and I combined that with thirty five or so simoleans I'd stashed away for a future order.  I could get some serious stuff with that much cash, and I really wanted some limbers and wagons for my AWI projects, particularly Hobkirk's Hill where an encampment, artillery pieces and transport was really important.  So I did order a couple of the Perry two-horse limbers, and a powder wagon.  It would have been fine to stop right there and reinvest the leftovers in paint brushes, but I just couldn't help myself, and I spent the rest too.  I snapped up two packs of the very nice Lee's Legion foot, which I'll eventually need for Eutaw Springs.  I had just enough left over to pick up the Indian Cavalry Command figures from the Sudan range--just what I need for one of my Martian units I've got a-building in my mind.  I have all the remaining figures for the unit--just need a commander.

 There, I've come clean.  Do you have any purchases to confess?

Reindeer Droppings

Christmas always brings the important question--did Santa remember your hobby?

 The answer is rarely yes.  Let's face it, as bricks and mortar hobby shops disappear, it becomes more and more difficult for our loved ones to support our very specialized needs for this strange but wonderful activity we all enjoy so much.  That's my story and I'm sticking with it.  I've gotten gift certificates and sometimes my friends will score me something cool, but not this year, and that's okay.
   This year I am indirectly turning gift goodies into gaming stuff.  First, credit where credit is due.  Dave Demick, my oldest friend in the whole world exchanges gifts with me every year.  This Christmas we had the same idea and exchanged copies of a new board game, Red Poppies by Worthington Games.  It's a World War I tactical level game, beautifully made with eight scenarios, from cavalry skirmishes in 1914 between Belgian and German horse, to 1918 assaults featuring stormtroopers and tanks. It screams for more scenarios.

Books, my family almost always honors my book requests, as long it is in print and not ridiculously expensive.  This year was no different.  I only had one military history on my list this year, The Southern Strategy by David K. Wilson.  It's a strategic analysis of the decision to move the focus Revolutionary War to South Carolina and Georgia by British planners.  I'm looking forward to it.  Lots of other books took, completely maxing out my ability to take on further new book purchases. Bummer, I'm in crisis.

 Last, but not least, I got cash.  Cash is good because I can turn it into whatever I want.  I want to buy a couple of the Bay Area kits I mentioned earlier this week-USS Mississippi and USS Monongahela.  The latter is one of those ubiquitous Union sloops one can never quite seem to have enough of.  I'm also going to order six or seven Hasslefree miniatures for role-playing.  They're nice, costly, but the pound is not high against the dollar right now, and Hasslefree has reasonably shipping.  They are such interesting action-packed minis.  I did take a look at the suggestions offered by Dave S and CuorDiLeone, and while I liked them, just found them to be not quite what I was after.  

Regardless of what gifts you did or did not receive for Christmas, I hope you had a fabulous holiday.  The older I get the less meaningful I find the presents under the tree.  Instead I look forward to the time with my family and friends.  They are special to me and the conversations about everything from Ichiro is overrated (he's not), to whether the Beatles are cliche (they're not,) or whether Obama has sold out (he hasn't) are the best part of the holiday.  My best Christmas moment yesterday--watching Will Ferrell eat cotton balls in Elf with Lorri who had never seen that movie before.  We both laughed through the whole film.

DANG tomorrow.

Enfilade and After

It's been a week since the convention, and I always use this time as an opportunity to take stock, and think about what I'm working on an what I hope to accomplish.

First, May was not much of month for painting things. I got my trenches done, and finished some buoys for hydroplane racing, but not much real painting. I picked at twelve light horsemen for the HYW, but have actually done more with them since the convention than I did before. May is a tough month for teachers. There's a lot to do at school and there's just not much energy there. It's June now and I can already begin to feel a bit more relaxed and energized to paint.

Enfilade purchases are always something I look forward to, but mine were carefully planned. I had some cash and sold about $140 worth of unpainted miniatures in the flea market. Everything I brought was priced to sell, and almost everything sold. Be that as it may, I didn't buy too much at the convention. All the money I spent was at the Reviresco booth. I bought a couple of planes for the Spanish Civil War, and a couple of the Acheson buildings John McEwan was closing out. I also bought a very nice Z-shaped trench from Company B for SCW.

The rest I saved for a Peter Pig order to begin wrapping up my SCW stuff. I ordered my last International Brigade unit and a couple of militia units, as well as enough figures to fill out my Civil Guards.

The Spanish Civil War will be my big summer painting project. I'd like to say I'll finish all my figures. Don't know if I'll make it, but they paint fairly quickly and I don't know why I shouldn't be able to finish them. I would like to play another game at least by third weekend in July.

I've also been reading Under the Blue Pennant, a memoir of naval operations in the Civil War. Lots of amphibious operations on the James River and in North Carolina. I'm intrigued with trying to do something with my plethora of 6mm ACW stuff and I've come up with two ideas. One is to do combined arms with my underused ACW naval vessels. The other is to develop rules to re-fight the Great Snowball Fight in Dalton Georgia in 1864. Oh c'mon, it would be fun.

Getting back into the swing

I'm back from Ellensburg at last. I got home Saturday evening, celebrated my birthday on Sunday, had to chase around for school most of the day yesterday, so this is the first time I've been able to devote much thought to gaming. I am playing in an Ironclads game on Saturday, and those are always fun.

On Monday I was able to drag out my painting, and have begun working on sixteen crossbowmen. We don't often think of the English as having a lot of these, but their Gascon allies did not have the tradition of the longbow. So, these four stands of guys represent a portion of the Gascon element in the Black Prince's army during the Poitiers campaign. Should be finished with these in the next day or so.

I just finished reading Richard Barber's biography of the Black Prince, a title that didn't fall into use until at least he 16th century. Though a bit textbookish, I learned a lot about him. I also ordered Barber's collection of sources about Prince Edward's campaigns, and hope to have David Green's 2005 book on Poitiers soon. So much that we don't know about this battle, it's hard to know how to represent both armies.

I received a stipend for my supervisor's work at J-Camp. I invested part of it in the RAFM sale. Their Space 1889 figures are 40% off, which makes some of the later Martian figures affordable at $1.75 each. I ordered 55 figures and a medieval organ gun to use as a sweeper. These will be militia in the rebellious city of Shastaphsh from the Frank Chadwick world. They'll be a nice break from medievals.

Temptation: The Mother of All Evil

We've just finished our last deadline week. They are long difficult weeks. I'm typically at school until 9:00 on Monday, 10:00 Tuesday, and 11:00 or later on Wednesday. I get home too wound up for sleep and so I'm up until 10:30 or later most nights. There's no painting, a little reading. Next morning and for the next few days I feel like I'm walking about in a haze. I often feel the need to give myself a little treat with a new book or two or a figure purchase. I've been desperately been trying to resist the last two. Frankly I have plenty of books to read and loads of figures to paint as you do too I'm sure. I've been looking at the Historifigs Spaniards for the American Revolution. I would need these for a U.S.-Spanish clash in the Lousiana Territory in the early 19th century, or in the Mississippi valley. I'm also intrigued by the black and tan figures by Musketeer Miniatures. I don't even need many of those--maybe two dozen for a skirmish game for the Irish Rebellion of 1919. The trouble is that I have plenty of Americans to paint for the former, some Irish and British regulars to paint for the latter, so purchases can wait. Of course, that's logic speaking, and who knows how long I can hold out against the little voices inside my head.

I have gotten some painting in the last few days. I've made progress on Slo-mo-shun IV, and I only have another 20 15mm figures to finish in order to complete my Anglo-Danish DBA army. I should have them both done mid-week or so.