Sept-October update (so far)....

 With Sept running quick and now we are into October, I finally got around to getting off my duff and updating this thing.

So without further eloquence, here we go!

"OOOOoooooohhh! Rock me Amadeus!" (or "A mild foray into the 18th Century)....

A recent discussion with my friend JC in LV, and his pictures of his pirates, turned up the fire on the back burner I had of pirates and 18th Century figures. So it was off to the painting table for a quick couple of weeks of slap dash painting and colors.

I finally decided to get some paint on figures.  Don't worry about me running out. Rest assured, that there are plenty more to fill in the empty spaces.

Many of these figures I've had for a few years, from the SYW convention I attended back in 2015, to Little Wars, and online purchases. They're a mix of Old Glory, Eureka, Reaper, Foundry, and some others. 

(A couple of nameless swabs (Dixon figures), with swords raised high, and ready for action, and plunder! These are really two old Dixon figures that were originally painted for my (in)famous Pirate Race Game back around 2000 at the long lost Triple J's Games and Hobbies. They are now repainted and ready for action!  Yo ho ho!!!)

Spray priming was easy as the humidity was down, and there was a light breeze to help with the drying process.

A few quick swipes with the primer can, and then they were ready for the next step.

(Primed and ready!)

The "next step" being getting them onto the painting table and in their respective painting queues....

(All lined up and ready for painting...block colors going on...)

For this many figures I started off with block painting. Going with the dark colors, (boots, dark trousers and shirts, hats, etc. Then the flesh colors, and then the whites/linens, and finally starting the myriad of different base colors.

(Initial colors going on, so "some" progress is being made...)

Finally, (and I mean FINALLY), I was getting around to getting some of them finished...

First up is Lord Whitehall, recently appointed Governor of the Island...

(Finished.

"Lord Whitehall, the newly established and arrived Governor of the recent English * ahem *,  "acquisition" of Port Haven on Bloodworth Island.

He is not impressed at what he sees, hears, and smells.

He knows that although he is technically "ruling" the port, (and supposedly the island, no matter what the French, Spanish, Dutch, and other scum may say), he realizes that his rule is only as good as the troops he has to enforce it.

"Hmp!" he says to himself, (and no one else in particular). "No matter then! If I have to hang a dozen or so pirates and their supporters in this dreg of a town to establish my presence and order, then I guess the gallows are going to be quite busy soon."

Although under orders from His Majesty, he also knows business and how to turn a profit as it may be...

"Although there is always the possibility that a few coins contributed to me, may keep someone from having a short drop and a quick stop..."

He then changed his thoughts from the matter onto whether the port had a decent claret on hand for his dry palate and if so, where would he find it?)

Yes for it would seem that the Governor is NOT a man to be trifled with....

Next up is the man "determined to save souls....or burn witches....whatever comes first....

(Finished.

"The Righteous Reverend Task, ( a very determined man in the manner of John Calvin and Cotton Mather), preaches the "true word" to the people of Port Haven.  

Having recently arrived to the newly acquired island that is flying the English Flag, (at least in this part), everywhere he looks is bathed in sin, sin, and even more sin. The sinners are plentiful, and the sin is overwhelming. So many souls damned to the eternal fires of the lake of fire created for the Devil and his minions.

He also knows that there are witches here in town, or at least those that practice some form of the dark arts of sorcery. He has read the tracts and studied them immensely before embarking upon his journey from his comfy home in the Massachusetts Colony to this festering abominable pool of unholy deprivations.  Nevertheless he shall root out the witches, or practitioners of dark evil magic and cast them out, and bring the true word, (as interpreted by him), to all those that would hear his holy calling...")

Every 18th Century adventure needs a fop or two, (or four or more)...

And musicians.

"Nigel Tandy's musical talent and abilities, weren't enough to keep him from barely escaping England with his life, due to his dalliances with the ladies of the local gentry, (of which a few illegitimate children were born), and fleeing to Port Haven, and finding a nice, easy (by the standard here), comfy position as his Lordships musician. 

By day, he plays and composes at his lordships will. He is also in demand at night for soirees, balls, dances, dinners, evening entertainment and so on.

Despite knowing what almost happened, he also understands that "pretty, rich, women are his weakness....his Achilles heel.", and knows that it will only be a matter of time before his roving eye catches the looks of one of the local upper crust ladies.

The fact that she may have a heavy purse would be an extra pleasant surprise.

But until then, it's time for him to play (once again), "Traipsing through the green meadow" on his piano forte to the delight of some of those upper crusters that wouldn't give him the time of day otherwise."

Of course what kind of "18th Century Island Port Town" would be of any importance without "The Girls"???...

("Amelia, (in the blue dress), and Cecilia (in the green dress), are two working girls in Port Haven that ply their trade between the docks and the harbor and the area known as "Sinners Row."  Eager and willing to please for those with the coin to spend, they have no problems working singly with any love starved gentleman, or for those with "special tastes", and the coin that goes with it, to working together for what they commonly call "The Double Bounder...")

And yet more "Harbor Girls"...

(Eliza and Suzette; two of the girls that are often seen frolicking around the notorious "Red Lion"; a pub in the Harbor Section of town, that is often frequented by pirates, slavers, raiders, merchantmen and traders of questionable reputations, double dealers, cutthroats, and other people of loose morals, virtues, standards, or lower means.  Whatever your desires and wants, these two girls are open and up for it. "If you have the coin, they have the time...")

(Eliza...)

(Suzette...She's French ya know...)

Meanwhile the work continues...

I cleaned up the work-desk as much as I could for this month.

(Not as chaotic as it usually is...)

And got my queue of figures to be painted

I try to keep as much as possible to my "Four Figures A Day" thing but it has fallen to the wayside quite a bit. However, when I do paint, I do try to finish four figures a day. My queue is essentially, 

1: What I am currently painting to finish.

2: What I am currently painting to get progress on.

3: What I need to get painted.

4: What's waiting to get painted.

As the figures are finished, the line progresses and more figures are added to the back.

Current figures in the queue are 18th Century, Pirates, a couple of Colonials, a couple of fantasy figures, and a Pizza Dragon.

(The whole "kit and kaboodle" on the table.)

(Some of the figures in the queue waiting patiently to be painted, or to be completed...)

But it wasn't all pirates and Caribbean goodness...

"I vant to suck your ......."

I had planned to run an immersive Fury of Dracula game for Halloween weekend, but due to scheduling problems, that recently got cancelled.

However, before it did, I realize a while back that I didn't like the plain gray look of the plastic game figures, so out came the figures and out came the paints and brushes.

Due to the soft plastic construction of them, the figures do not really have that much facial detail, but I still worked with what I had, and am seriously considering replacing them with 28mm figures for the game.

First up is the nemesis of the game, Old Count D, himself...

("Look deep into my eyes....Are you type "O" by any chance?...")

Then the hunters....

(From L to R: Prof. Van Helsing, Mina Harker, Jonathan Seward, and Lord Godalming...)

Besides painting figures, I also started work on scratch-building a couple of cottages for my 18th Century/etc. games.

Foamboard construction with basswood flooring, doors, timber framing, and the roofs haven't been made yet.

(Some nice gaming real estate under construction...)

But then leave it to my wonderful wife, (Gawd bless her!), to keep me well fed at the painting table...

(A Sunday morning breakfast of Knackwurst, eggs, rye toast, and fried potatoes and onions on the table, being carefully inspected by a British mounted officer...)

But sometimes "enough is enough."; even when your Dremel finally tells you, "It's time to stop."

(From "bzzzzzzz!" to "FLING!" in about two seconds...)

And onto other things....

So other things have been going on in the month also...

The first and most important was my 11th anniversary!

Yeps...

My wonderful wife (Gawd bless her!), and I have been married for 11 years.

ELEVEN. YEARS.

Good golly!

(Yes she made the wedding dress...)

(Myself, my wife, and my best man and friend, no longer here...Til Valhalla compadre...)

(A few words, and some laughter before a final kiss and the guns roaring into action...)

And so this year, we celebrated quietly.

With dinner at our favorite Mexican place.

Yes, everyone. It's time for FOOD PICS!!!!!

(Anniversary dinner fajitas and carnitas platters...)

And some close up pictures of FOOD!!! (meat in this case)....

(My wife's carnitas platter...sizzling!)

(And my fajita platter...mmm...)

My wife's new project..."Sew be it!"

Those of you that know my wife, know that she is indeed a "crafty" individual. 
Really.

She's into sewing, knitting, crocheting, beading, patterns, doll making, etc.

When we bought this house, we had decided to make the attic her sewing room.

However after dealing with the horrible layout of the air handler venting setup, and the fact that it would take approx. 5-10K to finish it for her, (walls and new flooring), we decided to go ahead and convert the guest room into her sewing room.

So we had it set up for a guest room....

This is what it looked like.

The bed and couch went downstairs into the sun room becoming a ground floor bedroom. Then it was time start moving stuff into the room from the attic.

Soooooo much "stuff"....

And this was the initial setup of furniture for the room.

After this then came "the tubs of stuff"...

Sewing room stuff is to women what "miniature gaming stuff" is to us.

Fabric, patterns, fabric, thread, spools of thread, ribbons, sewing machines, notions (more on those later), books on sewing, even more fabric, and needles, and all the bits and bobs that make a sewing room a....well....a sewing room.

The room with the first batches of "sewing stuff" brought in.

That wooden thing in the foreground is a thread spool holder.

(Yikes!)

(Slowly getting organized)…

(Her display case of antique dolls, miniatures, and porcelain tea sets...)

(The entire process is carried out under the watchful eyes of Mr. Spock...)

(Fabric)

(A tub of fabric...there's even more fabric in more tubs...)

(And patterns....)

(And even more patterns...)

(And yet more fabric...)

(And yet MORE fabric....)

(And swatches of fabric...)

(And even more fabric in the closet!!!!)

(And ribbons....lots of pretty, pretty, ribbons...)

It's enough to drive a man crazy it is...

But it is to my wife, what my work room down in the basement where I paint figures, built terrain, and scenics, and do my stuff is to me.

If she is happy with it, then I am happy and all is right in the world.

My gods...the woman has put up being married to me for ELEVEN YEARS!

That should amount to something....

So as I close this, just remember....

In the immortal words of Calvin and Hobbs, (their last line in the last panel of their last strip)...

("THERE'S TREASURE EVERYWHERE!!!!")

Arrrr...

And speaking of treasure...

Who'd be willing to hoist the sails and sail the seas in search of treasure and plunder???

Adventure Awaits!!!!

And so I close out this entry.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it.

As always more to come and comments are welcome and appreciated.

"Much ado about nothing...." (July and August update)....

 Wow. 

One moment it's June and now suddenly in the blink of an eye, it's September.

Well, to be honest, it wasn't that fast.

But still.

I feel horribly guilty as I haven't really done much of anything gaming wise, painting wise, or hobby wise in any method or manner whatsoever. July and August just seemed to take the wind out of my sails. 

But some things were indeed done. 

So now I am catching up with a mixed July, August, and early September update.

New Fridge!

My wonderful wife and travelled to the big blue big box store in July and wandered around. She was looking for a new keyboard, and while there, I caught their small fridges on sale.

I went ahead and bought one and had it delivered. 

So I upgraded the game room fridge and moved the smaller cube fridge upstairs to my office.

Is it a bit ostentatious to say that we now technically have three refrigerators in our house?

The new fridge is a nice upgrade that holds more drinks.

(Say hello to "Helga"....)

(Well stocked with tasty drinks...)

Cardholders

As "Spooky Season" does seem to be coming around, I am looking at running a FFG "Fury of Dracula" game. 

One of the things that I never have liked is the amount of card piles haphazardly placed around the table. So to make things more organized, I decided to take an idea from another FoD player and make myself a couple of cardholders in "Mausoleum/Crypt" style.

It's just four pieces of basswood cut with my Dremel and then glue together. Once the glue is done, I get to do the grayish stone painting of them. I am also going to end up painting the figures for the board. 4th Edition actually provided painted figures but you can't find it anywhere for sale under 250 bucks.

(A nice little extra to the game. Card crypts! And one of the FFG figures for size/scale on the side...)

Spooky Season Shopping

So yesterday my wonderful wife and I went "Early Spooky Season Shopping" at Michael's. I do so love it when they put out this stuff.

I bought myself an "All seeing eye".

To be honest I was actually thinking of buying two of them and calling them "The Eyes of Laura Mars", but I am not sure how many people would understand or even remember where that came from.

So for right now that's about it. More to come later this month as figures are getting sealed, and more are getting painted.

Stay tuned and thanks for reading!

It's been a busy week/month!

 So the month of June has seen a lot more work going on than the previous month, which is good. Figures are getting not only painted, but sealed and completed and by tenths my massive pile of shame is going down...but then the Bones VI KS is only 10 mos. away from starting to ship and well....gaaahhh....

So what have I been up to since the last update.

Well, after adding the latest figures, (see more on that further down), to Display Case #2, that cases figure count currently already sits at 209. Those large D&D beasties take up a lot of room.

So here's some of what I have finished up so far....

What was on the table but is now in the case...

I've been working more heavily on some of my fantasy figures, but a few pirates slipped in, and I see more pirates and gangsters coming up in the queue. 

(click on photos for larger photo)

(Taking a break before I even got started...what the heck!? But alas, tis a project I must complete...)

It's amazing how food ends up on my table, and I find myself interrupted by yet another John Wayne movie, or "The Star Trek Channel"....

But then it was back to painting and finishing figures....

NOTE: None of the figures are actually "glossy". This is a result of the lighting in the room, and the crappy I8 phone camera. 

(Bob the Troll...He's had a hard day. Waiting under a bridge all day long, and then these three goats come along...Plus he's supposed to have riddles for travelers...)

(A Reaper Warrior Figure. Painted for one of AD&D players.)

(An old Ral Partha Dungeon Monsters Boxed Set soft plastic Minoatur. He painted up really well for his and the lower quality material used in creating him.

Next up was a Water Weird/Elemental type. This was produced in blue transparent plastic, and so it really wasn't a hard piece to paint. A quick wash of Tamaiya clear blue, and some white highlights, and that was about it, (as well as the greys for the floor and the fountain itself).

(A Reaper Medusa figure. I've finally learned the tricky process of making bowstrings...)

Meanwhile, if you were a "Saturday Morning TV Cartoon Show Watcher", of the late 1970's, then you probably saw these guys at one time or another.

And right now, you are probably humming or singing the theme song....

(Oh no! Not these guys!)

(An easy figure to paint, the glittering tunic that he wears was done by using a Reaper Orange Paint, and then a very thin wash of Vallejo Old Gold over it.)

(Some more towns folks. I swear that the dude in the center reminds me of Lou Costello...)

After this group, I switched over and painted up a couple of other genres.

Here we have an RAFM Call of Cthulhu figure, an elderly lady holding her sweet, and precious Persian cat, while reading from an ancient book of forbidden knowledge...

And then it was time for MORE Pirates!

And finally wrapping up the "piratey stuff", was the completion of my Old OG "Voodoo Zombies".

These guys had given a bunch of players hell over 20 years ago in my infamous pirate adventure.

It was time for them to get the good paint job they deserved, and so I buckled down to it, and now they are ready to drag more screaming victims back into the jungle to the clutches of THE ZOMBIE MASTER!!!!

After all of this, I needed a break from the figures, so I sat down and looked at some old drawn out plans for a gangster/pulp city, and decided to work on a building, (combination brownstone, and attached Italian Ristorante.

(Five floors of mayhem with pasta and cannoli's' next door. What more could you ask for?...)

This is going to be slow going as I haven't built a scratch building in a while, so once more it's a (re)Learning Process.

And now....FOOD!!!!

So recently I've been experiment with some different dishes and recipes.

I decided to do a "Cajun Rice Scramble with a side bowl of Black Eyed Peas".

(Andouille Sausage, sliced white onion, sliced tomatoes, sliced red and yellow peppers, and sliced (as well as) chopped, wild green onions.)

(Adding all of this into an oiled skillet and cook until brown. Add paprika, black pepper, Tony's Creole Spice, Lemon Pepper, Garlic Powder, Cajun Seasoning, Cajun Black Searing Spice, and a pinch of Mesquite Spice for an amazing mix of flavor...)

(The finished product on a bed of cilantro rice, and the bowl of BEP's on the side with a sprinkling of the green onions on it.)

(The finished product up close. The cilantro rice is excellent and makes a good support for the contents of the skillet. )

How's the paint desk looking?

So it's been a while since I took any pics of the work area. 

Right now this is pretty much how it's looking.

(Cleaner than it usually is...)

(Groundwork and Glues. A count today showed that I had 16 different types of glues, epoxies, and adhesives as well as "A LOT" of different types of groundwork!)

(The "Tools and Extra Paint Shelf". Keeping stuff in semi order to keep it from being lost...)

So currently that is pretty much what is going on in the painting and gaming area. 

More is sure to come, so stay on the lookout!

Thanks for reading!

"The Great Display Case Migration"....

 And some close up pics!

Sooooo...

Recently I've been painting more and more and yet even more 28mm figures than I have 15's. Indeed it is sad to say that my 15's have all but been forgotten and have languished in forgotten obscurity of the storage closet, waiting patiently for "someday"....

So as the 28's get finished, I have been adding them to the upper four shelves of Display Case #1: (which actually has four shelves and a bottom piece, making essentially five shelves), but I have run into three problems.

Problem #1: The display case shelves are horribly crowded. These upper shelves are holding almost 700 figures total.

Problem #2: With the amount of figures on the shelves, it has essentially blocked the majority of the light from the lighting system to shine down on the lower shelves, essentially encasing the lower shelves into light starved dimness.

Problem #3: There is no room for "LARGE" size/scaled figures.

On my paint table right now are numerous figures (mostly 28mm fantasy); some of which are larger than normal, and I have the 28mm Reaper "Gauth" Dragon, that I need to work on as well, which will all need more space than is currently available in Case #1.

Now the argument could be simply. "Why don't you just buy extra shelves to use on the bottom half of the case?"  And this is indeed a good argument, and here is the answer to your question.

A: Because I am too cheap.

B: It would not solve the issue with lighting. 

I say the "too cheap" thing because the place that I have ordered extra shelves from in the past has gotten absurdly expensive. Even on sale their glass shelves cut to the size for my display case is approximately USD $121.00 a piece.  That would be almost 500 dollars for four shelves for the bottom half of the display case. And then I would still need to fix the lighting issue.

So with all of that being said for right now, I realized that the current "quick and easy fix" is to simply "Anschluss" the upper half of Display Case #2.  So I began the task of removing the upper two shelves of 15mm Bongolesia stuff from Display Case #3, and then transferring my 15mm ACW stuff to those shelves. Once the area of Display Case #2 was cleared, I then began moving some of the 28's over. In this case, I have pretty much given it to be the haven for a lot of my 28mm fantasy Dungeon Beasties and Monsters as well as some NPC's and stuff.

Here's the current setup. (CLICK ON PICS FOR LARGER PIC)

(After the move. I can already see this thing starting to fill up quickly also...)

(Another view showing the general layout.)

(Close up showing various dungeon monsters, including fire and water elementals, spiders, giant rats, fungi, a Naga, a mimic, a gelatinous cube, and more!)

(The Undead shelf, featuring all sorts of late night Saturday night movie horrors and creature features! Vampires, ghosts, zombies, mummies, ghouls, and soooooo much more...)

So that's it for right now.

Sadly enough I am either going to have to break down and buy more shelves, or get another display case, (hopefully a larger one).

Currently I am finding better deals and prices for another case than spending money on 1-2 new glass shelves.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned as there is more to come!

So I made, (and then broke) a record!

 So the month of June is slowly slipping by and I am busy working on some projects, including painting up some fantasy beasties, and working on some scenery for my gangster/pulp/"Chicago Way" games.

During the year of 2023, I have refrained from buying any figures. Purchasing more figs would only add yet more to my mountain o' shame, and I already have waaaay more than enough to paint.

So for the first six months of 2023, Jan 1 - June 1, I was "miniature purchase free"...

And then I stopped by the LGS in Lafayette...

Sigh.

I stopped to get some paints, only to be able to get a couple of the Citadels I needed, and found out that their supplier no longer carries Vallejo, (which sucks as I need some replacement colors very soon), and it was while I was perusing the stuff there, that I ended up purchasing my first figure for the year.

(I liked the figure and needed another human fighter and...and....gaaaahhhh....)

So that's the first mark to subtract from my total painting pledge this year so far.

Meanwhile in case you are interested, this is what Eighteen Dollars ($18.00) looks like in Citadel paints.

Let's just hope I don't have to buy anymore for a while....

More to come!