Quick Update 4-27-12

I am going to be painting at lunch today, so I hope to get the belts, and shakos done on my Gurads units. That would be awesome. Then it is just facings and collars and muskets. We'll see.

And a quick interwebs note: Jon at Khurusan just keeps the hits coming. HE just relaesed the NEo-Soviet Power Armor walkers(more AT-43 power armor walker, and MaK Power Armor, than GW Space Marine). Love it. And now, once his scout cars and air support(think if a Hind and Harrier had a baby) are completed, he will have a killer full line of Neo-Soviets: Medium Tank, IFV, infantry support walker drones, full infantry with commands, heavy weapons, high command, scout cars, VTOL Gunship/Troop Carrier, and Power Armor. I am buying a full army of them in one fell swoop when they are ready. Its like the CoDominium from the Pournelle books in miniature. Awesome.

SFAR -first playtest

Well, we playtested SFAR last night at the Baron's Chateau. As a play test it went fine. Found out lots of stuff as soon as we got started. I like playtesting if everyone is in the mood to test. And I enjoy trying to come to grips with why you did what you did. Somethings click, somethings don't. I took many notes and will incorporate them into the next version. Some things to work on.

There was some struggles with group activation and units. Nomeclature I think as I am approaching it a bit different than a normal set up. Must ponder this.

Artillery - I did the artillery rules litterally in 1 minute before I printed last night before the game. they need much work to be able to be feroucious, and still maintain balance. They were killers and too powerful for sure.

ECM. Not sure if this is mdeled the way I want it. But it did force some maneuver, hunti9ng of reece units, etc. so I'm 50/50 on it.

Fire and hits definition.  Again I think nomeclature held a few people up. I need to rename some things to make it more clear as to what the intent is to make it simpler for the players.

Number of pieces on the board. I had forgotten how small 6mm is and the effort it takes to maneuver them.  we had about 12 units a side and it was an effort to move them all.

Length of time for a turn. I would like to have a much quicker game. turns took a long time. Part of it is a new set of rules, part is the sequence. I may look at going to alternating unit moves, or doing unit to unit firing, and just having a fire factor for a unit. i.e. Add up all the gun factors(say 1 per tank). so a uit of 5 tanks would have a fire of 5. roll that against the armor of the opposing unit. distribute hits against the unit(attacker chooses). It would quicken things up(instead of model to model firing) but takes the level of the engagement(looking down on the battle, think of a satellite or camera lens, I guess resolution is a good work too) up from 100' to 1000'.

Anyway. It was a good test. It was a little soon for a 6 person test, but I learned a lot. Some folks didn't enjoy them, but that's ok too. I will keep working on them until they are what I want. Thanks to the Generals for their input.

SFAR Follow Up 4-26-12

I've mentioned befor ethat I was a military modeler in my youth. I switched to RPG's and Miniatures in my teens. Man did they get good later. These UC HArdgraph models are a real inspiration for me for SFAR. I don't know how much stompy robots I will do, but its the military vehicles that get me. Well, that and the classic -SCOPEDOG. enjoy.

Most are out of print, or only available through resale or through Hobby Link Japan. But man are they beautiful. I find it hard, not to be interested in the giant robot model thing sometimes, cause sometimes they are just too cool. Thanks for that Robotech.

Quick Update 4-26-12

I didn't get a chance to post after lunch yesterday, but I made some good progress on the British Guards units at lunch. So  little bit of the old WIPaL(What I Painted At Lunch) still lives. I got the tufts and swallows nests painted on the shoulders, the lacing on the jackets, the ever so small turnback of the coat at the waist(thin white line), and backpack straps.I also got the belts and the backpack shoulder and T straps on the first unit complete.

I was going to finish the belts and do the shakos at lunch today, but I got a request to participate in take your child to work day, so that usually means lunch out with dad. So no painting at lunch. But I like that painting at lunch will allow me some guilt-free painting time and it can actually be productive on assembly line painting.

Playing a play test of SFAR with the Basement Generals tonite, so we will see how that goes.

SFAR - First post

A bunch of small posts today. I wanted to let everyone know I am working on what is hopefully a fun and fast set of Sci Fi Micro Armor rules(SFAR for development, the working title is Hollow Shell). Its got some feel from some of my favorite micro scale games, and some other stuff. Its only 5 pages right now and has only been playtested by myself solo a couple of times. I sent it out to  a couple of the Basement Generals who I like getting feedback from. So its a work in progress. But it was nice to get it out of my head and on paper. Also on the rules front, the Baron is working ard on his Horse and Musket variant for Fistful of Lead. He shuld be publishing in time for the 20th anniversary recruits this fall. also slated for completion (I hope) is our post apocalypse variant, Fistful of Lead:Warriors of the Wasteland.

Heavy Gear

Just a quick note on my Heavy Gear posts. I did end up counting both of my collections. And a sickening tally is:

DP9 1/144 scale (current) = 67 plus 4 tanks and 2 striders. Most in Blisters.

RAFM 1/87 scale (old) = 213, includes light tanks, striders, infantry and artillery. Most in Blisters.

I really need to do something with this. After my Highlanders are done, I am going to put in some time on working out the Heavy Gear Stats for Robofire. Here's a sample card:

Quick Update 4-25-12

Got an hour last night. So the canteens are highlighted, the canteen straps are done, the bedrolls are done. On a whim, I brought them to work today to paint at lunch. I figure I can mindlessly paint white lace for lunch and get a step ahead. So, except for the black highlights, which I do right before the buckles and barrels, the backs are done. Now to the fronts and all the laces and finery. Oh yeah, I did tell you I am doing 52 figs at a time didn't I? I'll have an update after lunch to see how I did.

Done before the weekend? Maybe. I may skip gaming this week to finish them. then its those damn highlanders. They'll take twice as long with all the dicing and tartan. I did read someone's post on Lead Adventure that referenced an account of the Higlanders in the Penninsula soaking their kilts in a grease so they would be more water proof. And it darkened them up considerably. Probably can't get away with that, but its a thought. It will be full parade for these fellows I suspect.

Quick Update - 4-23-2012

Gamer ADD has struck a little bit here at the Workshop of Doom. Visions of Heavy Gear and 15mm Sci Fi and Post Apoc dance in my head. But I have pushed them aside and I am trying very hard to stay focused. And focus provides rewards.

So I continued to hammer at the British infantry. I have the two guards units(both guards now, not a Royal and a Guard) complete from the waist down(pants and boots), jackets are complete, haversacks are complete, canteens, back packs, cartridge boxes and bed rolls are base painted. Need to do highlights for the above, and then start on the lace, shakos, muskets. I assume I am about 4-6 hours of painting time away from finishing all but the command stands. Probably need another hour or two for the two commnad stands.

Then on to the Highlanders. Gordon and Black Watch as I mentioned before. Then the reward. Four more units of Cav. I will probably do 1 Unit as KGL Hussars, then do 2 Line Units of KGL and a Horse Gun. A nice sturdy little Brigade.

Reminisce Part II - Eye Candy

So what caused me to reminisce about Heavy Gear? Well I was on Miniature Review and saw a refence to Frontline Gamer's blog about the new NuCoal army boxed sets that DP9 has put out. At this point DP9 has the same delusions of grandeur that GW, Reaper, Foundry etc. have regarding their pricing. It's silly really. It's one of the things that has opened the door for a lot of the 15mm sci companies to come in and take market share away from these established companies. It is what it is. But they have caused me to ignore them because I am not going to pay those prices. Even so, these are some great figs. Check this out:

I would surely like to get these figs. and the infantry finally looks good (not a big fan of the current Northern and Southern infantry). So if you don't mind the pricing, and want some terrifically designed figs in 1/144 scale, or use for almost any scale really, go check out DP9 and their gear lines. It makes me yearn for a great set of rules.(and no, Blitz!, whichever version you have, is not a great set of rules).

BTW, I have not switched on my gamer ADD. I am still chomping at the bit to find a day to finish my British Guards. Maybe this weekend.

And I had a friend randomly mention GHQ's Terrain Maker 4" hex system for small scale 15mm sckirmish gaming. I have some in the package. Got me thinking, that and some Gears and Robofire, may be a good combination.

Reminisce

there's this thing that I have never quite been able to shake off. It started about 12-15 years ago when I found a strange blister of miniatures at my FLGS. It was what looked like a giant robot. Oh cool. Fun. I hadn't been interested in anime robots in years. Back when we played Robotech the roleplaying game all the time in my early teens. I had gotten the GW bug 5 years before, and by this time was starting my love aaffair with Napoleonics and Historicals in general.

Anyway, the mini was heavy and chunky, but really looked like a lot of good design had gone in to the actual mechanics of the robot. OH look there are two factions. One has squared armor, one has rounded. Simple but effective at showing different styling and sides of a conflict. Just look at the difference between the US M1 and the Russian T-80. OK I like where this is going. And there is ARMOR! At this scale? and theres infantry!!! OK so now I know how big these guys are. And they are big, but not Johnny Socko big.

I spent about an hour looking at the blisters. I had no money at the time(well a little) so I only bought about 6 blisters 2 each side and 1 infantry each side. I love a ground pounder, even when there's robots.

I checked out and our FLGS Owner, ever helpful to sell product, directed me to the other isle and showed me the complete line of RPG material, and the then super thick Miniatures Rules. OK so I purt a little more on my credit card. I was so curious I wanted to devour the psuedo-history and background of this game (I was an avid GW guy for a while so fluff meant everything at the time). I bought the RPG game. I also bought the Miniatures Rules.

Care to guess?





Well it was Heavy Gear, and the Minis were the RAFM big scale (1/87) minis and the first editions of the RPG and the Mini rules. I devoured this game. Read everything. I was painting and gaming other stuff at the time, but behind the scenes of reading Chandler, Haithornthwaite, and Ospreys by the truckload, I was reading this stuff. I bided my time and soon the RAFM and DP9 thing fell apart. I had gotten about 10 gears at this point, but soon the RAFM stuff went on clearance everywhere. And then they went into my storage boxes. I got some crazy deals on stuff on ebay, and cleared everyone out here. As it sits now I have about a 100-150 of the Rafm ones, almost all makes(someday I'll actually look for the one's I am missing), including unopened boxes of tanks, apc's, striders, etc. I love the look and style of them and even thought RAFM quality control was spotty on a few models, overall they are fantastic. They look great with 15mm as huge walkers, they look even better with 28mm as walkers and heavy power armor.

I have so far only repurposed them for other stuff, cause as good as the designs and figs are, the rules are horrible and unplayable. It always broke my heart. How could a cinematic game of such speed and destruction be so slow, plodding and not-fun? I still look for the perfect set of rules to use for these guys. I thought a Crossfire! variant would work because of its dynamic initiative system, but after several plays I am not so sure. Scott Pyle's Robofire system(which we(the BAsement Generals) are playtesting) has nmuch promise to fill the role. I hope so.

fin

Oh wait, no I'm not. Since I was so heavily invested in the Rafm scale figs, I resisted for many years the new scale. I bought the orignal new scale rules boxed set, which came with a cople of new minis, I continued to buy army kists and background, but never bought the minis. Then on a whim I saw a box in the clearance bin of my FLGS and picked it up. Sculpts were better, figs had some movement, they were better metal, detail was crisp. Pricey, but nice. I continue to pick up stuff when I see it on clearance, building my forces randomly. I have about 50-60 of the current scale. I use them for 15mm walkers and they are perfect. You can see a couple below. 15mm GZG Alien Mercs and their Commander's Power Suit. And CMG Scouts with Robot support units. But I still yearn for a game where I can use the figs as gears.

What brought all this nostalgia up? See the next post...

British Napoleonic Infantry - 4-18-12(pics)

Well, well, well. I am sure since my last few posts have been all text you can't believe I have pics. Well I do. I snapped a few shots of my Brit infantry before heading in this morning. Pics were quick so I apologize for the washed out color a nd a couple of blurry ones. Also some shots of the workshop. some look better small. A bit shakey. I have to get a tripod.

the first shots are a bit of the process I go through to knock them down.



Pants on all and jackets started



roughing in belts and lace

 

Just details left to paint(cuffs, collars, muskets)



rear is done

and the latest unit of Guards and The Royal 4th.

the complete 4 line units

Unit 1

Unit 2

Unit 3

Unit 4



Adding in the Light infantry and Rifles, 8 units of 24 fig/6 stands each



95th rifles

Lt Inf Unit 1

Lt Inf Unit 2

Lt Inf Unit 3

Mtd Commander

Mtd Brigade/Army Commander

Mtd Cmd 2

Laid out in Reinforced thin, red, line

 A few notes: There a numerous things done right in the figs and the paint. But there are a few things that stickler Nappy Gamers/criticizers will point out. I know those issues. But after all is said and done, I am painting these for wargamming, not a museum. Hope you enjoy them.

I got the pants base painted on my next 50 figs, as well as faces. So that is the missing stand for the 3rd Lt Infantry unit, and a Unit of Guards (I assume I will do the 2nd), and a Unit of the 4th (a Royal, but not Guard unit, for the blue facings). Then its on to the Highlanders. Been researching the best way to get at Gordon's and the Black Watch kilts. They are the same government pattern with different over stripe. I will ignore the switch to trews and the terrible nayure of campaigning in a kilt and presnt all of mine in kilts and with pipers. Cause I want to.

And one more note on the commnad stands. I really want to have both the regimental and the royal flags for each unit. So I may need to paint up an extra flag bearer for each unit and replace somebody.  or pack somebody else in. We shall see. I plan on using WARGAMES FLAGS! for there flag sets. A huge variety of British Flags and they look nice.

I will be doing all of the ground painting and detailing as an army. So that's why there are no painted bases. I will be using my standard base covering, then my 3 part color system, then I am going to have some fun with Silfor grass tufts, field flowers, and such. Hope you enjoy.

Leadaddict

Quick Update 4-16-12

Well its tax day tomorrow here in the states, so I wish all of you a lucky tax season.

I just wanted to give a quick update on progress over the weekend.

28mm British Napoleonics - Well, I now have 8 finished 24 man 6 stand units. 4 Line Infantry, 3 Light Infantry, 1 Rifle Infantry(which could be broken into two tiny units for Black Powder). Nice to see them all lined up.

I also got my next two units cleaned, put on sticks, primed and have the faces and hands base painted and washed. I tried a little bit of flow enhancer (the no-spot dishwasher additive) to see if I can get a smoother finish on the vallejo flesh wash. It looked good when I put it on, we'll see how it dries. Since GW stopped putting out thier old flesh wash, I have found that vallejo game colors flesh wash is the closest.

So I will finish these two units. A guards unit, and a royal unit. Then its on to the 2 units of highlanders. After that, the reward. Painting Cav. I have always found that the infantry is the grind. The cav is ususally so enjoyable, its a breeze. So I have been trying to stick to finishing the infantry first before the reward of the cav. Not sure if I can stick to that for the French. I may have to do 3-4 units of infantry, then 2 units of cav. But the Spanish come first, since In a pinch, I bet I could get my bro-in-law to come play a pennisular game with his French against my Anglo-Spanish Army with the Basement Generals.

Still enjoying this. Alot. So much so that I have to temper my enthusiasm so I don't alienate my wife and kids. Gonna keep pushing on till its done.

15mm Sci Fi - Lots still happening in the 15mm world. I am hopeful of some Khurusan goodness this week. And as usual, Spacejacker has done an incredible job on some of Khurusan minis, and has made an incrdible future cop on a speeder bike. amazing. I have to try to put this together. Art crime bikes(which I really like) and head swaps. and the object source lighting is fantastic. and all in 15mm. Nice job Jacker as ususal. I will get back to my 15's in a while, or when I need a break from the Nappy Fever.
:http://tinysolitarysoldiers.blogspot.com/

6mm Sci Fi - Still waiting for the pause in Nappies to get some extra units painted and some buildings added. This is a nice change of subject and scale so it is probably what I will do if I take a break. I have been play testing a set of rules solo on a quick and dirty micro armor game. Not there yet, but I like where its headed.

Keep Painting!

Quick Update 4-13-12

First off its Friday the thirteenth, and I stopped by for a rare breakfast on the way in to work. And my breakfast cost $6.66. So off to a good start! I wonder when the back cat will cross my path? and I need to find a ladder to walk under.

Second, The Kansas City Royals Home Opener is today. I grew up with the Royals and their amazing teams from the 70's and 80's. George Brett, Frank White, Willie Wilson, Fred Patek, Dan Quisenberry, Al Hroboski, Paul Splitorf, UL Washington, and the list goes on and on. Hope springs eternal, and spring is a time of rebirth. Let's hope the boys in blue can contend like the old guys did evey year.

Next, played an amazingly fun game of a new variant of the Baron's Fistful of Lead rules for the horse and musket era. It was a blast we were playtesting some new ideas and all of it will make it to the rules one way or another. Hat's go off to Bill, who's legionairres valiantly held the doorway to protect their prisoner, until one final blow ended the FFL's last hopes in Mexico. Good show. I am sur ethe Baron is doing a write up sometime today. http://baronvonj.blogspot.com/

Next, I dropped off  a couple of units for Jaye and Scott to paint for the Pennisular games that we are hopefully going to have for Black Powder. They are gonna get a few units painted of the french so I can get a jump on them when I finish the British. I also hope that maybe I can paint some extra units of British, and trade them with my Brother in Law for some French he painted, or will paint. If so, we could be in business in no time.

Next, Khurusan is coming through, adding bits and pieces to their lines as promised. I hope that the Jasmine throne Batallions are coming. Pleeeeease.http://theminiaturespage.com/news/?id=1037848092

Finally, as mentioned here before, our buddy Chris, master of great convention games, has FINALLY!, started his own blog. Welcome to the end of the 20th century Chris! You should all bookmark his site. He was a feature on the A-Game blog for his great French and Indian game at Recruits. Expect much more from master Chris. http://cluckamok.blogspot.com/

Have a great weekend! Its supposed to rain all weekend, so I am going to try to paint a unit of BRitish Royal and Guards Infantry, or at least get started.

And remember, just paint.

Interwebs Notes, News and Praise

Couple of quick nots from the internets this AM:

Khurusan is hinting at a series of longa awaited releases these next few weeks. Story on Dropship Horizon:
http://dropshiphorizon.blogspot.com/2012/04/khurasan-releases-caiman-apc.html

One of my favorite and most prolific rules writers, Scott Pyle of the Goalsystem(Supersystem, Blasters & Bulkheads, Labor of the Gods, Robofire, etc) has announced a long awaited Goalsystem game for Dungeon Bashing, with character advancement and some light roleplaying. Glad to see this moving forward. Hopefully the BAsement Generals will be in the slot for playtesting again. I do have all those dungeon tiles. Maybe I can paint some dungeon parties at lunch. Story on Scotts blog: http://four-color-figures.blogspot.com/2012/04/announcing-goalsystem-dungeon-delve.html

And at some point coming up, our favorite 15mm artist, SpaceJacker is packing up and moving to Australia. So that means, a little bit before he gets back in the groove blogging and painting. Lets hope not too long. So enjoy his work before he scoots off. Note his workshop pics on the sidebar. If I actually was a prolific phot taker, this would be great. Thanks for the glimpse of whats on your table jacker!:
http://tinysolitarysoldiers.blogspot.com/

Just a slight toot for myself. I have revamped the Roll 2 Hit! site. Its my RPG blog that died off last april as I got focused on my mini work. I have a real hankering to RPG lately. So I thought I would reboot, add some tabs and use it as an idea journal for games I want to run. Not much on there now, but stop by if you have an interest in old TSR games (BAsic D&D, Star Frontiers, Gamma World, Villains and Vigilantes(not TSR I know)) or the retro clones(Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future) or new games, some based on older mechanics, some just new(Stars Without Number, Icons). http://roll2hit.blogspot.com/

And although I am sure you all know, I thought I would give props to the 4 work horses in the Miniature Gaming World. These 4 site I look at multiple times a day, and so do hundreds of gamers and painters and hobbyists around the world. If you want to know something or reach out to the gaming community, you better reach out here. If you don't follow these blogs or sites, what are looking at?:
The Miniatures Page: http://theminiaturespage.com/
Miniature Review: http://www.miniaturereview.blogspot.com/
Tabletop Gaming News: http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/
Lead Adventure Forum: http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php

And a guilty pleasure of sorts. The Mech Dude's blog is one man's quest to get Macross gaming to the table for everyone. I applaud this and many a saturday afternoon was spent by Ze Baron and myself playig the Robotech RPG by palladium, and trying to scavenge anything Macross related. So I would love to see him succeed in breaking through the Harmony Gold mess and getting Valkyries, Tomahawks, Regults, and Zentradei to our tabletops. I would buy a whole bunch if he did.: http://www.mechdudesblog.blogspot.com/

Much Progress

Well, hard to believe, but much progress was made over the weekend. The lovely birde of the lead addict was very kind and understanding(so far) of the time the Lead addict whittled away for his Nappies this weekend. Thank you dearest. Hear is the run down:

Thursday Night - completed Command Stand for British Line Unit. 2nd Unit complete at 6 stands.

Friday night-completed 2 additional stands (of 4 ea.) of 95th Rifles. Bringing the 95th to 6 stands.3rd Unit complete at 6 stands.

Sat-Sun - started on additional stands for 2 Light Units and 3 Line units. Need 10 extra stands. 9 stands of figs primered and on sticks. As of Sunday night all additional figs are painted except facings and collars. Missing 1 stand (4 figs) of Lights.

Sun - Finished facings and collars on 43rd Light Inf. - 4th Unit complete.

I need about an hour to finish and mount the remaining figs. I will then be 1 stand short of having (8) British 6-stand units completed for my British Pennisular Army. I have 4 more after that. 1 Guards Unit(Coldstream probably), 2 Highlander Units(Watch and Gordon, maybe), and 1 Line Unit. The British Infantry will be done once they are complete. I assume End of May or June, depending on how much time I can devote to them and not house projects.

So after I finish the facungs on the current figs, my current collection will look like this:   

So much progress indeed!

I continue to be stoked for this so I will plow on. The next batch after the Infantry is done is some Cav Units. I have a Late and Early Lt. Dragoon, an Hussar Unit (with their rediculous tall fur caps), and another Heavy Dragoon Unit that could easily bcome a Guard Unit. I also have another 3 Cannon, High Command, and any misc. commanders I want to do. If I stay on it, I could have a British Penninsular Army complete by the end of the summer.That's crazy to me.

What's after them, well the Portuguese sit in a large pile. And since they were critical to the eforts in the Pennisula, I have to do them. But they will wait, casue I already have a bunch of great looking Spanish from Front Rank, on paint sticks and primed. They will get the business this fall. and then maybe the Portugese in the winter if I am not too burned out.

At some point, of course, you know I have to paint this mountain of French.

I snapped some picks over the weekend. I'll get them uploaded tomorrow.

And BTW, I fully disclosed a bout of strong Nappy Fever coming on. It's in full swing, but I do want to keep picking away at 6mm terrain, and maybe knock out some 15mm Dungeon explorers as well.

Thanks for stopping by.



Finally

Things have been pretty hectic around here. I have been focused on Home Improvement projects for the spring and taking care of the yard and assorted stuff. I am hoping that after this week, I can get some painting in. Hopefully saturday morning and early afternoon, before our football games. I am dying to get a British Command stand done, and get a crack at a couple of Rifles stands I need to add to the 95th. Then after that, I think I will paint some of my new Micro scale sci fi buildings I got at the con. what a great way to celebrate Easter.

But, last sunday I did get to check off a big one on my list that had been hanging around. A hand painted ground cloth. The Baron had done one for his table on the back of a vinyl table cloth. Looked great. So I grabbed one to paint about a year ago. I had every intention of putting hexes on it and using it for all of the different Commands and Colors games(Fantasy, Ancients, Napoleonics). But now that it is painted, I may just leave it alone. I really like the color and the texture of it. I used 3 colors of brown, and 4 colors of green to work my way up. It has nice depth to it and It looks good with figs on it. So finally, mission accomplished. I'd promise pics, but we all know that wont happen.

So I think I'll get another one and get another couple of pints of paint and do the C&C ground cloth I need to do.

Post Recruits Follow-Up

Well, another recruits is under the belt. All told I think I have been to 18 of the nineteen conventions for the last 10 years. The next one, Recruits 20/10 is the 10th anniversary of that first game day where Duan reached out to the gamers he knew and the gaming community in Kansas City and said I'll host a game day at my school so my club kids can see what wargamming is all about. Thanks for all the hard work to Duane, Laura, Nick and everyone else who puts on such a great.

Recap:

Friday Night - Played a stunning and fun FIW game using this Very Ground rules, and John Jenkins 54mm painted toys soldiers. Amazing. Put on by Chris, this game was a lot of fun, although a little off balance and the natives and french rolled crazy good. Add to that some bad tactics on our side and the result: A total loss for The Colonials. Nice to see the guys from Tulsa too. Chris, Jamie, and Paul are a real pleasure to game with and it feels very much how we all hope gaming should be. Fun, lots of laughs, strategy, and even after a bit of seriousness, laughing at ourselves. Good show Chris!

Staurday - We had football games in the afternoon, so me and the boys(who have been to 12 and 6 Recruits respectively) wnet for the morning session. I didn't plan on playing this session. Wanted to shop, browse, look at games, and talk to old friends. Mission accomplished! The list of things bought:

OGRE Miniatures - 4 boxes - Ogre MkIII, Combine heavy tanks, PanEuro Hvy Tanks, Pan Euro Infantry and transports - I have a,ways wanted some of these, and having an Ogre really tipped the scale for me. Since they will fit in with the Micro Sci Fi/Mechwarrior Repaints/CAV minis(that reminds me, I need to repost some of my micro sci fi stuff for Mike) I am doing They have lots of playability.

CAV - I opicked up some really cheap CAV blisters of all 3 extra weapon packs, and a hover missle tank. Always loved their line, some of the Giant Robots are goofy, but some, Like the Dictator, are magnificent.

JR Sci Fi Terrain - crazy good deal on a bunch of JR Miniataures Terrain hydrocast (I think) terrain pieces. Micro armor scale. I think I got about 15 assorted pieces for less than $10.00. Adds a little bit of Sci Fi flair to my micor buildings.

Monsterpacalypse - The thing I like about prepaints is you can get them cheap at a convention. Me and the boy were hunting for Monsters so we can play the new Mighty Monsters game from Ganesha with Ze BAron and his boy. We have a big box of them already, but there are a bunch we still don't have. and after a couple of really good deals, we got a bunch of good stuff to use. 6-7 Monsters, ton of units. Good day for that stuff. I acrtually came looking for this so that was nice. And thanks to Space Jacker for fanning the flames for giant monsters.

15mm ECW - A great guy(I don't remember his name) that sells QRF and Freikorps, had a couple of painted 15mm Freikorps and Essex ECW units for sale. I was impressed by the Freikorps. Had never seen many of them painted before. Afetr some discussions I went ahead and bought the painted figs and a couple of blisters of cav. All told it was 2 full units of Pike and Shotte and 2 cannons. Added to the collection I bought from Ze Baron(all Essex, Beautifully painted) last Recruits, I now have 9 ECW units, 3 cannon units, and 4-6 cav units, depending how you break them out. Almost enough to play the new Pike and Shotte rules that are coming out. Much like Nappies, ECW is a reall sink hole for me. I have tons in 28mm, I have this great start in 15mm, I have some packs of 10mm cause I thought about that before the 15's, and I also have some 6mm. In the end, I will stick with 28mm and 15mm. I'll get rid of the rest at the next recruits. Really looking forward to Pike and Shotte rules.

Saw some great games. Talked to Nick about his Nappy system. I like his methodology and his reasons for getting to Grand Tactical Nappies, where movement is huge and you actually have flanks. Table looked good.Nice job Nick. Nick also works really hard at getting games for Recruits. So thanks for that too.

The youngest had a lot of fun playing Star Wars Miniatures space battles.

It was a good con as ususal. Thanks to all those who put it on, all the vendors who come to ply their wares, and all the gamers who run and play games.

See you at 20/10!

PS: the weather finally allowed me to paint the ground cloth I always wanted. I spent about an hours paint and texturing a 5'x8' ground cloth thats not just green. Can't wait to use it.