Back, with Stuff to Say

Sorry for the long hiatus, but I haven't been doing much gaming or painting.  Shame on me.

Right now I've got one gaming project going on.  The Brigadista and I have started a new game of Avalanche Press's John Prados Third Reich.  This time I'm commanding the Allies and the Brigadista is commanding the forces of fascism and oppression.  This game is a bit of a monster and we can usually finish about four turns in an evening session.

I'm not going to give a detailed blow-by-blow of this game because I don't want to lose the few readers I have.  (Or at least think I have...  Hello??  Is anyone out there??)  The game got off to a typical start - the Germans quickly overran Poland, the Low Countries, and Denmark.  France held out until Fall 1940, despite receiving no help from the British.  The Germans never invaded Norway.  The Germans invaded the Soviet Union in summer 1941 and things are on schedule there.  (One bad thing for the Germans - the Swedes got tired of German aggression and cut off the iron ore supply!  Fortunately for the Brigadista the game impact isn't as severe as what I suspect the real world impact would have been.)

Things went off script in the Mediterranean.  Yugoslavia got fed up with fascist Italy and declared war in the Winter of 1939.  Britain followed up with a declaration of war against Italy that same turn.  The Italians defeated Yugoslavia in a couple of turns, but things did not go so well in the Western Desert.  The British (under Wavell no doubt) quickly cleared Libya and, after a series of costly naval battles, seized control of the Med and landed in Sicily in spring 1941.  Monty hopes to win the 'Race to Messina' since Patton is still back at Fort Benning with the rest of the U.S. Army.  To add to the Italian misery, Mussolini decided that the best course of action in the face of these setbacks would be to declare war on Greece.  (In fairness to the Brigadista, this was a random event and not his own hair-brained idea!)  Fun stuff.  I can't wait for our next session.

In other news, I'm currently rearranging my basement game room.  I've added taller shelves, which has allowed me to shift things around a bit and have more stuff out and accessible.  Now I'm trying to get my painting desk under control so I can actually paint some something.  It's hard to claim to be a miniatures gamer when you don't paint anything!

I guess that's enough for now.

What I'm Working On

Despite the lack of posts, I have been gaming and painting.

Currently I'm working on two units of 28mm Old Glory Canadian militia for the French and Indian War.  The Brigadista has a decent sized collection for this conflict and I'm trying to round out one of the gaps in his forces.  The Old Glory French and Indian War range is mostly good, but the Canadian militia figures are poor.  Most of the them have squashed heads, maybe as result of some problem that occurred when they were making the molds.  In the end I think they will look OK on the table and I guess that is the main thing.

The local crew has been playing the Wilderness Wars rules for this period.  They work well and give a fun game.  Brigadista and I will be running a game at the upcoming Recon convention next weekend.

I've been continuing with my 15mm KNIL forces.  I've completed an infantry battalion, but I've stalled on vehicles and Australian reinforcements.  My interest has drifted to horse and musket periods a little, which has stalled my progress on this project.  Never fear, my attention will wander back to them shortly I'm sure.

Brigadista and I were planning another game of John Prados Third Reich, but we haven't gotten going yet.  The problem is that some others were interested in joining us, but now we haven't been able to coordinate schedules.  Hopefully we'll get rolling soon.

I'll be posting shortly with pictures of some of my completed work.

The Holdiay Hiatus is Done!

I'm back, baby!

I've taken a break from the blog during the holidays, in large part because my two kids have been consuming all of my energy. Tomorrow my oldest goes back to school and we return to what we consider "normal."

I haven't been doing too much that is hobby-related lately. In part this is because of the kids and the disrupted schedule, and in part because my wife and I discovered the new Battlestar Galactica on Netflix and have been watching it like crazy every night after the kids go to bed. It has really eaten into my painting and building time.

Here's what's on the docket for the next few weeks:

1. Paint some microarmor for a Western Desert game between the British and Italians.
2. The Brigadista dragooned me into building a 15mm scale deck truss bridge for a Spanish Civil War game he is running at Little Wars next month. Actually, I'm excited to do it and I'm happy to help out with the game. Hopefully the model will turn out decently. Right now I'm in the design stage. I'll post photos as I get started.
3. Keep working on my 15mm KNIL for the Dutch East Indies.
4. Paint some 20mm moderns for my secret project. (I find myself loving 20mm for some reason. It is easier to paint than 15mm and just as quick. I wish more stuff was available in 20mm metal!)

That's enough for now. Happy New Year!