End of January 2025 update.

January is done, and we are now into month #2 of 2025. With Little Wars less than 3 months away now, I am busy at the table getting stuff done.

So let's take a look shall we?

First off, the terrain boards....

Diligent readers will (hopefully) remember that a while back I picked up some insulation board project panels.

After cutting them and laying them out in a test pattern for the game, and satisfied (mostly) with the result, I decided today to start painting on them to get the basic ground color down before flocking.

(The project panels. British officers to scale...)

(Some of the basic town layout...)

One can see by the previous picture that even on a 8 ft long X 5 ft wide table, at 28mm it starts to get pretty crowded!

(Base ground color for the boards.)

The color I am using will blend in quite well with my Woodland scenics turf. I'm just hoping I have enough of it. 

The Fort....

Work continues on the fort, as I have test fitted Towers #1 and 2, with Wall #1 and Towers #3 and 4 with Wall #4.

(Towers 1 and 2 and Wall #1 coming together for test fitting.)

(A close up of the fitting of Tower #2 to the wall)...

(Current basic layout of the fort, to include the HQ building. British officers to scale.)

Meanwhile work continued on the HQ building.

First off after general assembly was installation of the cornices, doors, exterior beams and framing.

(Lots of glue and pins....)

Then after it dried, I had to make up the chimney stacks for it, and then did the base color painting.

After that, it was cutting, fitting, and gluing the brick sheets to the walls.

It's starting to look more and more like a building now. 

Speaking of buildings, I also got to work on some other structures.

The gallows is from the old Tri City Laser products originally sold by Knuckleduster.

As of this writing, this one is completed. I will get some better pics in the future.

The four buildings are resins from Ender Games, and were part of my Christmas loot stash.

(A pic of two of the Ender buildings showing some very good detailing.)

These ender buildings can be used for a wide variety of genres and time periods. They were a very good deal.

I also bit the bullet and started on this kit.

Make no mistake. This is NOT a "Beginner" laser cut kit. There are LOTS of small parts, and the instructions are only so-so, and the illustrations help better than the written instructions. 

(How the pieces look on the sheets...)

(Assembling the chimney stacks....)

(Assembled and drying....)

(One of the main fireplaces. This is approx. an 8-10 piece assembly. )

I'll have this done, but it's very slow going.

And the postal packages started coming in.

More figures!

A population increase!

Thanks to a wonderful friend of mine, I  scored a nice Christmas gift certificate from Old Glory.

And as a result, three packs of figures came in.

Pack #1 British Marines.

Pack #2 European Captains.

Pack #3 is Captured Civilians/Slaves.

Yeah I think we can see where this is going....

(Quite a few figures...)

(British Marines ready to kill French, Spaniards, and Pirate Scum....)

(European captains ready to defend themselves and their ships against pirate scum...)

(Captured Civilians and Slaves ready for ransom or sale on the market....)

And just when I thought that the figure count was complete, another box showed up.

And yet, MORE populations, (some good, some bad, and some ugly....)

A friend of mine contacted me and wanted to know if I wanted some of this pirates and 18th Century folks, because he wasn't going to use them.

I was thinking maybe a dozen figures or so.

He surprised me.

(Yikes! That's a lot of lead!)

He sent me a very wide variety of Eureka, Foundry, Blue Moon, OG, Dixon, Perry, Dixon, and some others. 

Lots of people to populate the town, (and to get in the way when crap happens).....

That's a lot of figures....

Meanwhile, while working on terrain, I was able to base and flock some trees and ground areas including a wild grass/sugar cane field.

Some of the vegetation for the ground.

And during this time, I was able to fix some jambalaya again to help combat the cold weather.

(Doubled up on the shrimp and Andouille sausage...)

(After it was cooked, I added more shrimp, and crabmeat to it.)

I made two nice sized serving containers and took it over to my elderly next door neighbors. He loves shrimp, and it gave me a chance to see how they are doing.

My wonderful wife (Gawd bless her!) also made sure that I was getting "treats", such as this hot chocolate with marshmallows, whipped cream, and a peppermint stick.

A new family member....

Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our family here. 

This is Jujube. 

We call her "Juju" for short.

She was part of a feral cat litter that was abandoned and picked up by our county humane society.

She's approx. 8 mos. old, and is amazingly intelligent.

I'm going to be honest and upfront here when I say that I am struggling with this.

You see, I don't consider myself to be a pet person. 

It's not that I hate animals, (some of them are quite tasty), but the fact is my lifestyle, (travelling to events, etc.) by myself isn't good for pets, as they spend a lot of time alone. But my wife stays home most of the time and is by herself, and wanted a kitty cat, so I searched around and we found Juju.

The other reason is because I get to easily attached to them, and when something happens, I shatter. And to be honest, I hate that.

(It seems I have a familiar....)

(The moment both of us noticed "something" move in the hallway....)

(Early morning sleepies...)

(She likes to snuggle with my wife...)

(She's claimed this box as "hers"...)

(The other night when I wasn't feeling well, she came up to sleep with me, and make sure I was okay....)

(When in my office and she decides to sleep, oddly enough, she sleeps next to a picture of my late grandfather.)

She's brought a lot of laughter and joy into this house and blessings as well. My wife and me love her like crazy.

Yes, it seems that I am now a "Cat Daddy"....

Stop laughing....

No. I mean it. 

Stop laughing.

Sigh...

And on a last note, I did "a thing"....

(This stuff isn't so easy to find here in Indiana, and so I was lucky that I was able to finagle a bottle. I'll be trying it out tonight to see how it is...)

Well that's it for now, and as I close off the month of January end of month update, I will wish everyone once again a good new year.

Thanks for reading and all comments are appreciated.

Stay tuned for there is more to come!