The Blog of Michael T. Murphy and his lifelong obsession with "little army men" and their imaginary glory, miniature wargaming, and other things...

Sunday, December 26, 2010

The Christmas Stash!

Well, Santa was really good to us this year....in gaming terms...

Here's the gaming breakdown (note: I got some of this "right before" Christmas, but since it was so close to the day, I went ahead and included it)...




1: "Apples to Apples" The wooden "Party Crate" set...

2: Twilight Creations "ZOMBIES!"

3: "Are You A Werewolf?" Card game.

4: "Drunken Hookup": "The Drinking Game That Leads To Sex!"

5: A foam cutter knife.

6: A Paintier 80 Paint Carousel.

7: A bag of Plastic Army Men. Now I just need to dl the "Combat Storm" rules and I am ready to go!

8: An Aircraft Carrier. (The USS Richard M. Nixon CNV-87)

9: Matchbox "Sahara Survivor" series vehicles for Bongoleisa...

10: And Figures!!!! Figs! Figs! Figs!

*Some Reaper Pirate Figs

*Three Packs of Foundry Pirates

* A pack of assorted 28 mm Pirates

* Over 100 Dixon 28mm Pirates and Cowboy Figs....

Yeah...I added to my little pile o' lead....

All in all, a great Christmas!!!!

Comments are appreciated.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Christmas at Murph-Haus...

This Christmas has come upon us, and the house has taken on "the season"...
With the outside of the house being slowly blanketed in white...(approx 7" inches so far and more to come)...


Crisp and cold, the winter snows give everything a magical look from far away and up close...


Inside the house, the tree is up...
It's an 8ft Scotch Pine and while we are decorating it, I am making my old German Favorite...


Mmmmm....add a cup of cold water, some nutmeg, apple and orange slices...a little cinnamon, and stir...drink and stay warm....mmmmmm....Frohes Weinachten!



The tree is up and even "The Velvet Christmas Elvis" seems to approve.....
So we light it up....


And like the previous tree in our "strangely haunted house", it takes on a "glow" of it's own. I think our occupants like the tree....



The Tree and Elvis....

The Ornaments are all on the tree....


Including The "Elvis" Ornament...(I gotta get more of these)....



Then it's time to eat! Melodies delicious homemade tacos.....


Mmmmmmmm......tasty!
And washed down with....


mmmmm.....GOOD BEER!!!!

The stockings are hung...Melodies:



And mine...


WHAT THE ?!?!?!?.....


How did THIS get here?!?!?...Oh dear....

And a MYSTERIOUS PACKAGE ARRIVES!!!!....hmmmmm.....


No I didn't order an inflatable Salma Hayek...wait...did I say that out loud???...
Upon closer examination....
Oh dear...with cryptic words like this...what ever could it be????
And it's times like this that I know that I am truly blessed.
Yes, I've got bills to pay, and a job that doesn't pay enough, and as I get older my health gets worse, and I find myself burying friends...But in the long run, it's friends here on the net, (on TMP, and other sites), and in "The Real World", that remind me that I am truly blessed.
And I thank everyone that subscribes and reads this blog (and my others), for it means a lot to me...Thank you...
I didn't post as much this year as I wanted to, with work, and school getting in the way. Next year I am hoping for some more gaming and some new stuff, (including some forays into my new genres....mmmmm...), and to be able to share it with you.
But even with all the toys and fun, and merriment....let us not forget, the REAL "Reason For The Season"...
"For with Christ, all things are possible...."


And here is hoping that you and yours, have a very Merry Christmas....and thank you for blessing me by coming here...
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"Somewhere off the coast of Bongolesia"....

Merry Christmas to everyone....

Michael T. Murphy

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Gee, THANKS USPS!!!! (*Not!)

One of the things that I truly truly enjoy about living where I do is that our postman is a very nice guy. Here in "flyover America", he comes to the door, knocks, and hands you your package with a smile...very nice...
Meanwhile, other post offices work hard to maintain the image of "civil service goober", and "government inefficiency"...
Case in point:
In October (the 25th to be exact), I ordered "Zombie-A-G0-G0" from Monomer Games.
Monomer did a great job and got the order processed and sent out ASAP.
And there, things went wrong...
So I waited and waited...Finally around a month later, I contacted them, and asked "Where's my order?"...They checked and the USPS showed on it's system "delivered".

Uhhh...no...It wasn't...

So they went back and double checked...sure enough...USPS says "It's been delivered..."

I let them know "Nope".

So they went to check the Main Post Office.
After about half an hour of their clerks searching...Lo and behold...my package is sitting on a shelf in the backroom, (where it's been for the last month). I guess "Delivered" means "Getting to the main post office, and NOT to where it's going..."
So they finally send it out...

And it gets here...

Looking like this:





Wow...Seems like someone was either curious as to what I was ordering, or was just having a bad day...Maybe they were told that they actually had to do their job?...



Ummm....what part of "DO NOT BEND!" don't you seem to understand???


Yes...here's the back with the mailing label, showing that it wasn't just an envelope that I picked up and did this to, to rag on USPS.

To tell you the truth, I've always had problems with the Las Vegas Post Offices. They "lose" letters, don't deliver packages and then mark "no one at home, etc.." So in a way, this is nothing new for me, but it also reminds me of the better quality I have in postal people here.
Like I said, I have NOTHING to say wrong about Monomer Games...They did a GREAT job getting it out, and I am very pleased at the product. I'll be writing up a review of "Zombie-A-G0-G0" in a bit and playing a few games of it to see how it goes. I'm looking forward to it, and more of their products...
But not looking forward to the Las Vegas USPS system...

Comments are appreciated...

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Help name the boat....

Sooooooo....
In my last update, I showed off pics of the Bongolesian Coastal Trawler that is going to be plying the waterways of that fair nation...
But she needs a name....
So in all fairness I went ahead and went to TMP and asked the dear members for ideas....
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=214555

They're a pretty amazing and creative bunch of folks...

I settled for two...(after re-re-re-reading all of the names)...

The first was from Phil Hendry: "La Petite Marie"...
The second was from John the OFM: "The Marie Celeste"...

Both are good names, and so now I am asking for everyone to vote...
Voting will be done until Midnight on Dec 23rd.
She will be "officially christened" on Dec. 24th...

And unlike Chicago, (vote early, vote often), people are only allowed ONE vote...



So get your votes in and NAME MY SHIP!!!
BTW; the peron with the winning name submission will receive a prize....so help a fellow gamer out...