Arrrr! Me hearties!

So while letting my brain vegetate errrr I mean rot, I MEAN "rest", I decided that I, (being the benevolent pirate captain that I am), needed my own Pirate Code.

So with the help of my imagination, my experience as a NCO in the US Army, my adventures in places best left unspoken with people who shall not be named; I sat down and wrote, "Cap'n Murphy's Pirate Code of the Brethren of The Coast....

Read and heed me buckos!

Let me know what you think.

There's more to come.

Thanks for reading!

 

Blog Update: "Little Wars Game Submissions!"

 Little Wars is a little under 8 weeks away!

Holy Heck Batman!

Okay, so deep breath. 

I finally got off my butt and as an HMGS Midwest Member decided to support my favorite miniatures gaming convention.

I'm running two games on Saturday.

Here's the flyer and the description!

("Arrrrr.....and 'ere we go me hearties!")

Pirate Raid!

It's the early 18th Century and dastardly pirates have landed at Port Dominion! With a taste for treasure, loot, and plunder, they are attacking the port town! 
Perhaps to loot the gold and riches from the treasury?! Perhaps to kidnap the governor and/or his beautiful daughter and hold her for ransom onboard their ships laying offshore?! Perhaps to apprehend the mysterious Spanish Contessa and hold her for ransom also?! Or perhaps to take the island; hoist the Jolly Roger over the Governor's mansion and the fort and claim the island as their own?!
"Pirate Raid" is a 28mm skirmish parents/kids game where one side takes on the British and the Island defenders, determined to stop the pirates in their tracks, and the other side takes on the dastardly pirates intent on doing things that only dastardly pirates do.
The rules are "Ye Olde Pirate Rules" by Michael T. Murphy, and Black Flag Publishing, and can easily be taught on site and played through quickly.
Each player will play a group of figures with their own decided goals to achieve victory. 
Extra points and bonuses will be awarded to those intrepid adventurers dressed in period clothing, and willing to sing pirate songs to entertain everyone else!
Prizes to be awarded to best player. (Not necessarily the winning player(s) but the "best" player. (Character, play style, sportsmanship, etc.)
Sooooo....
Will the dastardly pirates do their dirty deeds, or will the British troops and The League of Gentlemanly Gentlemen and their associates be victorious?
There's only one way to find out!
Yo ho, Yo ho! A pirates life for me!

So there it is.

Here's hoping to see you at Little Wars!

More to come!

Evil Snow White Fountain is done!

 Back in December of 2024, I had started work on a piece of scenery that I named "The Evil Snow White Water Fountain". The item consisted of the following:

1: A plastic "Snow White" key chain figurine.

2: A plastic insert for a tube for stackable shelving.

3: A piece of wooden dowel rod.

4: A Duke's Mayonnaise lid for the base.

Items used also were:

1: Squadron Green Putty.

2: Modge Podge, Gloss.

3: E-6000.

Paints were standard craft paints with the exception of Citadel Nihilakh Oxide.

After the statue was put together and painted, I went ahead and waited and finally got around to doing the water effects out of the spigot.

To do this I did the following:

Process was sorta easy.

1: If you have a Dremel or something drill a teeny-tiny hole into the end of the dowel. Paint it black.

2: Take some thin, clear, fishing line, and insert one end into the hole.

3: Seal with E-6000 (the clear stuff), and let it dry.

4: Once that is dry, take the other end and put it down onto the "water surface", and apply a dollop of E-600 to hold it into place. The tricky part here is making sure the fishing line stays in the direction that you want it to be in for the water to "pour out".

5: Once this is dry, apply E-6000 to the fishing line, in a nice thick coat all around, making it flow. Add a little to the bottom for the splash. Let dry and you're all done!

This makes a very effective way to produce "running water" and increases the visual appeal of items, such as the fountain.

And there you have it. 

Pics from start to finish. 

The Process:

(The Snow White figurine, with the evil, weird, red eyes that would become the statue....)

(Yeps, those eyes are red...she's either hungover, strung out on drugs, or evil....)

(Not just for sandwiches anymore....)

(Checking the inside...hmmm....)

(The base of the statue....)

(And here's how it's gonna look....)

(After priming statue, base, and foundation, it's time for the Green Putty. I love this stuff...)

(The base primed and assembled. Time for the finishing work....)

(Adding the gray base coat)

(With the green putty done, inside and outside, and the nihilakh oxide painted on, it's time to wait for the Modge Podge to dry...and wait....and wait....)

(Finally! Dry and clear still water....Time to add the gushing....)

(Voila! Finished product! Water gushes out of the spigots giving it a more realistic look and increasing the visible "kewl" factor!)

(Another view of the fountain. It's a nice piece!)

That's it for this entry, as more work is being done.

Come back soon as more is to come!

Thanks for reading!

Mid Feb. Update...

February is moving along at a steady pace and Little Wars is approx. 10 weeks out, so I am busy with building, painting, and getting ready to playtest.

With all of this in mind, I decided to take a few moments out and give an update.

So let's get on with it.

The Projects and Their Current State: 

I have numerous projects going on with a few heading into the home stretch and some notoriously lagging far behind. 

As my painting room is a disaster area I decided to get what I was working on together all in one place and get an idea of "What needs to be done".

Here's the pictures..

(That's a lot going on....an oblique shot. 28mm British Officers to scale....)

(A frontal shot...28mm British Officers to scale....)

After this, I decided to take the oblique shot and explain what each is and what is being done.

Okay to explain the lettering:

A: Terrain boards. Here you see one standard square terrain board, (there are six of these), and the one special one called "Widows Point". I am currently doing the rock and sand edging for this one.

B: The fort walls and towers. Here you see all four walls scribed and ready for painting, as well as the four towers, You can see the current battlements on Towers #1 & #2. Towers #3 and #4. I still need to do battlements for them.

C: Officers Quarters and HQ. I need to add the windows and then do the painting and sealing and this will be done.

D: "Sleazy Tavern", Barely started this building will be a nice, sleazy, place for those wishing to spend their hard earned/stolen coin. For a couple extra coppers they'll make sure that the ale and beer isn't watered down. I need to do more work to finish this.

E: Enlisted Barracks. The place where the scum enlisted stay. I need to add windows, doors, and then paint and seal it.

F: The Treasury Building. Here is where all of the beautiful, filthy, lucre is kept.  Coins, bars, ore, jewels, gems, all of the wonderful, shiny, stuff that makes up treasure. Of course it's well guarded. This is a dual floor building with the second floor being removable and having rooms. I need to add roof, doors, and windows and then paint and seal.

G: Small town buildings. Just need to be painted up and sealed.

H: The dock/wharves set from "Things From The Basement". 95% done. I need to finish these up, and then get them painted and sealed.

I: Scratch built docks/wharves: I just need to do a touch up on the stones then shade the stones with Nuln Oil, and then seal and they're done.

The Fort: 

A fellow TMP'er has said that they are interested in seeing the progress of the fort, so I am including some pics.

(Current status and size of the fort showing the initial layout and wall parapets The barracks is missing from this photograph. Looking in from the gate (rear). 28mm British Officers to scale and size.)

(The front from the front wall, looking towards the rear. 28mm British Officers to scale and size.)

(A close up of the gates on the inner rear wall. Yes they open and close.)

Perhaps the longest and most boring part of this was scribing the walls to make it look like stone.

Each wall was marked off at 1/4" marks and then cross scribed. Pencil imprints so that a light coat of paint will show the stonework.

I did these while watching the Kansas City Chiefs get mauled by the Eagles in the Super bowl, since they didn't have their referees to help them out.

(The process as shown....)

Somewhere during the process, my wonderful wife, (Gawd bless her!), decided that "I needed a banana split".

Truly she did.

And she surprised me with a large banana split with strawberry topping and whip cream.

(Oooooooooohhhh.....)

And afterwards I finished the walls.

(This is what the finished product looks like...)

All four walls are done....

I also started work on the enlisted barracks.

Yes, even the enlisted scum need a place to sleep and hang their dirty socks.

In case you are wondering about the shape of it. It's built to be set against the inner wall. 

And the terrain boards are looking nice too...

While all this was going on, I decided on a nice Traveler's Stew this weekend. Good and hearty and keeps the chill off.

Meanwhile during the late hours of the night, my familiar, (aka: my black haired, hazel eyes, 3.5 lb overly attached girlfriend), decided that "I had spent enough time downstairs and it was time to go upstairs and to bed."

Yes. She's quite the insistent young lady....

(That look....)

So that's where I am at right now with things. Hopefully having most of this done by next week and I can get back to painting the rest of it.

I will also be doing a write up on the Sarissa buildings. I think there needs to be a review of this product.

Stay tune for there is definitely more to come!

And thanks for reading!

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!