Overdue update and Pulp Figs....

Wow, it's been 3 months since my last update?!?!...

Okay...guilty as charged...

Work has had me really busy lately, but now that things are slowing down and the reenacting season is over with, I thought I would post a workbench update and what I've been doing lately...

I have to say that right now my FAVORITE 28mm Figs are Bob Murch's "Pulp Figures".  Not only is Bob a stand-up great guy, but his figures are fun, and they paint up so well...

So without further eloquence here's what I am working on....

First off, the Gumshoe and the Goombah....

On the Left: Introducing Mr. Frank Steele...PI...gumshoe...
Late night loner and drinker; preferring scotch and bourbon...still nursing a broken heart after 10 years...keeps a pistol in his coat pocket at all times, "just in case"....He also has a fondness for the music of Benny Goodman...it reminds him of happier times in his life when the skies were bluer and the sidewalks weren't so dirty and gray...

On the Right: On the right is Frankie "Pretty Boy" Falconi...Some of his friends call him "Spatz" due to his shoes. Well dressed, hot tempered, quick on the trigger, and with a pocket full of cash, he considers himself a real "Ladies Man"....

WIPS: (Works in Progress)

(From left to right)....

1: "Bugsy" Malarkey; gangster...heavy " New Joisy" accent. Has a fondess for floozies, speakeasies, and poorly guarded banks...
2: Mr. Ward Walters; Mild mannered insurance salesman with a fondess for the Brooklyn Dodgers who is just an innocent pawn in all of this...or so we think....
3: Miss Ruby Garnett; Femme fatale with her own agenda...usually involving other stooges money..
4: Louie Lewis; Hired gunman. He's good at shooting people, taking orders and making bootleg runs...."He's just anudder two bit flunkie, but unlike da udder flunkies, Louie can usually hit what he's shootin' at..."

This is just a small sample of what I've been working on...more to come in the next few days!

My new Dremel (and on my worktable)....

or: "How my wife encourages me!!!!"

Dedicated readers will remember the death of my trusty Dremel
http://littletoysoldiersandsuch.blogspot.com/2012/10/ripmy-dremel.html

So for the past 10 odd months I have been without a Dremel, and due to the wicked combination of bills, and not enough money, and the "Dremel I want is not available", I have been Dremel-less....oh the agony of it all!!!

Until this weekend.

This weekend my wife (Gawd bless her!), encouraged me to get a new Dremel.
"Anyone you want." She said.
And she was happy and supported me when I got the Dremel 4200....
And not just the 4200, BUT on her encouragement, I also got the flexi shaft, AND the engraving tools!!!!
WOO-HOO!!!! I love her!!!!

What I got!...

   

MORE POWER!!!!! The Dremel 4200....

Wow..needless to say I am utterly amazed....and blessed...
So I got down to doing some painting....

First up, the base coat for the Five M24's that will form the main armor of "The Mysterious Fandango Republic"...

Problems for P'hat Daddee in the future???

 While over in the "Hills and Hollers"....

Lookout fellers! It's The Pritchett Gals!!!! (from L to R: Leeza Jean, Loola Jean, Lila Jean)

And I finally got around to making my Litko artillery fire impact markers and explosion markers that I bought at Little Wars this past April. These are nice little items and will come in useful...

BOOM!!!!

After this, we decided to head off to dinner at one of Indy's (and ours) best places to eat....

They had added some new beers to their menu since we were there last and we decided to try them out and HOLY HP LOVECRAFT BATMAN!!!!...."Mythos Beer"?!?!?!?!.....

 "Ia! Ia Cthulhu F'thagin! *burp!* (like literally)...."

 As always, The Saganaki was delicious....

 The Wife's (Gawd bless her!), Dolmades dinner...very nice!!!

While I went with the "A tour of the islands" kind of a Greek variety platter....very good, and filling, even the Mousakka (and I don't care for eggplant as it always reminds me of somebodys head...(it's a long story, don't ask)).....

So all in all, it was a great weekend!

Now to put my Dremel to work...

It's powerful enough to build an aircraft carrier!

WAIT!

What am I saying?!?!?.....

More to come....

Recent updates....

Just a short, quick, update.
Well it's been about a month, dear readers since my last update.
I've been unable to do much painting and NO gaming....

Work kept me bouncing back and forth from Indy to Columbus to California and back.

I missed Origins, and I may miss Gencon.

Historicon is this weekend and I hope to plan on going next year.
(We'll have to see)....

In the meantime, I've picked up some Dystopian Wars Ships, (FSA mostly, which I would like to paitn up as "The Great White Fleet"), and a few little trinkets and baubles for pulp games. I've got some ideas for the "Secret Nazi Base" going on in my head, and for the "South Seas Ballroom" also.  And now of all things, Blue Moon starts to release amazing 15mm gangsters and buildings....BUILDINGS!?!?!...oh my....

This weekend I am on call for work, so I plan to spend at least one day doing the "paint figs" stuff. I've got some things I desperately want to finish....

More to come...

UFO's, Nazi's, & Hillbillies; Oh my!

FROM THE WORKBENCH....

Okay, Okay, I will admit it. I've been a bit tardy in updating this blog...real life, work, etc...

I've also been a bit tardy in doing things "gamey"....

So yesterday I finally got the urge (after about almost two months of apathy),  to sit down at the workbench and do something...

But what?

I have countless projects screaming for completion, (or at least to be "further completed" or "worked on towards completion"), figures screaming to be primed, painted, sealed; terrain needing to be built, and the work area needing to be cleaned off...(honestly it's massively cluttered)....

So I looked around and in true mini gamer fashion said "LET'S START SOMETHING NEW!!!"

Mini-gamers have a way of doing that you know....

I looked at my "drawers of scrap stuff", (honestly, my wife, (GAWD BLESS HER!)), brings home odd plastic parts to check to see if I can "use it for something" before it goes in the trash....

And I found some "Stuff"...

So with a little creativity, imagination, and a with Tune-In Radio bouncing between polka music and 1930's-40's radio stuff, I started working...

Now...

The following photos are TOP SECRET!!!!

A lot of little lead men gave their lives to their country to get these photos out of an uber bad place...

And allow me to introduce you to :

*insert dramatic music here*

Deutsche interplanetarische Fliegen-Raum-Untertasse

(Translated: German Interplanetary Flying Space Saucer).....

*dun-dun-dunnnnnnnnnnn!!!!*

(Somewhere in an evil lair with lots of posters of a guy with toothbrush mustache, Reich Scientist Doktorr Von Glockenspiel discusses  "Geheimprojekt X" (aka Secret Project "X") with Uber Baddie "Der Stahlhelm)...

Yes...I've gotten around to designing and building my Third Reich UFO!!!

Construction was actually quite simple:

1: Two plastic salad plates.

2: One half of a gumball toy bubble container.

3: Four coffee creamer cups for landing gear.

4: Glue together, (making sure that plates align up. (this is the hardest part).

5: Paint.

(With a little help from "beyond", the craft starts to take shape)...

     

(Seeing it take shape)....

     

       (The Semi Finished product)...

  

Doktor Von Glockenspiel: Ja! Und sobald dieser Prototyp hoch und fliegend ist, haben wir bald eine Flotte Fliegenraumuntertassen, die fähig sind, die Verbündeten vom Himmel über unserem geliebten deutschen Vaterland zu fegen!“

Der Stahlhelm: JA! JA! Heute Europa, morgen die Welt und der Tag nach der, ALLE ANDEREN PLANETEN!!! SIEG HEIL!“

*Translated:

Doctor Von Glockenspiel: "Yes! And once this prototype is up and flying, we will soon have a fleet of flying space saucers able to sweep the Allies from the sky over our beloved German Fatherland!"

Der Stahlhelm: YES! YES! Today Europe, Tomorrow The World and the day after that, ALL THE OTHER PLANETS!!! SIEG HEIL!"

Sigh...you can see where this is going....


MEANWHILE....

It wasn't "just Nazi's" that I was working on yesterday....
I finally got around to opening up my box of figs from Old Glory, (The Blue Moon Hillbillies "The Hardfelts"), and prepped them for painting.
Here's a pic of them directly out of the box and set up according to their photo.

(All I need is a banjo player)....

(A close up of them)

Metal flash was indeed minimal and located mostly around the hands, (although to parts had to be cut off).

I've given them a couple of sprays of black primer. To be honest, they are taking A LOT more primer than most figures, due to their shapes, and the amounts of undercuts in them.

I see a lot of adventures with this group, (which for some reason, I don't care for the "Hardfelts" name, so I've started calling them "The Pritchett Clan"....(reflecting on a series of stories I wrote for my "Booger Holler" setting...which will eventually come into play...)

 (A close up of some of the figs...) 

And I was able to get this bunch of Bob Murch figs primed also...
The "Surly Servants"....

And not to be left or forgotten....
I primed my M24's that will be the main armor for my 15mm force for Bongolesia's neighbor to the South..."The Mysterious Fandango Republic"....

I do believe that B'wonah may be having an issue on his border real soon.....


And finally....finally!!!!
While rummaging through my 25-28mm Drawer...I came across a couple of more packs of figs that said "We've been in here for years...get us painted!"
So I pulled them and have started the process of getting them ready for painting...
IA IA CTHULHU F'TAGN!!!!

                                      

Just by looking at these packs you know that his is not going to end well......

And so that was it for a Saturday afternoon....

Hope you enjoyed it!

Little Wars 2013 - a review....and my haul!!!!

Wow...so it's been a while since I've updated this blog...and for that I am sorry. Things have been horribly quiet on the gaming front recently. I was away for 10 days in Columbus working on "work", and got back Friday night, just in time, for me and the wife to go on a day trip to Little Wars at the Du Page Expo Center in St. Charles, Illinois.

We left around 8 am on Saturday morning, and made good progress, (even though 65 North is overladen with 18 wheeler traffic), until we hit the Illinois line.  Suddenly we were hit by "Toll Roads".

"Well, now we know where the term, highway robbery comes from", my wife said as we paid yet another $1.50 for the "privilege" of driving on the roads there, and being tailgated by people who think that me doing almost 80 in a 55 mph zone is not going "Fast enough"....

The other thing that freaked us was the sudden jump in gas prices.

Indiana gas prices: $3.65

Illinois/Chicago gas prices: $4.15

The "public service messages" about "prostitution" also seemed a bit disturbing. Does The Windy City has such a hooker problem that they have to discuss the social implications of it on roadside billboards???

Anyhow....

Yes, there is road construction right at the Pheasant Run Resort...*sigh*...but entrance to the Expo Center is not obstructed.

We found a good place to park and headed into the event...

Another gentleman was opening the door and held it open for us, and I said "Thank you", and noticed his name badge....

"Hal Thinglum"

I suddenly turned "Fan boy" on him. I shook his hand, and he looked at my badge and said "So YOU"RE Michael Murphy! I've read a lot of what you've written on TMP and heard about you!"

I thanked him for all of his contributions and told him that I still read my copies of MWAN (faithfully). 

He is truly a gentleman in this day and age...

And being the fan-boy idiot that I am, I forgot to get a photo of us....

So we registered and got the program....

(CLICK ON THE PICS TO GET A LARGER PICTURE/BETTER VIEW)....

  

Well written and laid out, this was nicely done, and in an easy to read format. Many conventions could use this as a "how to layout convention booklets" training material.... I kept finding myself looking in detail at the cover art.

Wandering through the door, we took a look inside. Immediately to the right of the doors, was the Games Registration table. With the "Paint and Take" right next to them on the other side. Of note was that the location of the Registration Table seemed to cause a block of traffic with the doors, as people naturally stood there instead of walking around to the front of the table.

Inside the hall:

There seemed to be a thicker crowd towards the late afternoon-evening. Melodie noticed that the temperature seemed a "bit warm" due to the body heat, but it wasn't as uncomfortable as other cons we've been to.  Lot less noisy also...

Melodie holding some of her well purchased SWAG, and looking for things for "me to buy"...(more on this later...)

First stop on the shopping was the Litko Stand...

 

Nice displays and helpful service...I bought stuff here...(more on that later)....but honestly? If you see a mushroom cloud like that coming out of the top of a restaurant, well...don't plan on making dinner reservations there anytime soon!

I wandered around looking at the different dealers. Stopped by RLBPS, and found something that I wanted to get, (a 15mm truck), but was unable to get Mrs. Bolling's attention as she was currently being occupied by a guy (wearing a Union kepi), who was telling her all about a sick relative, etc...etc...etc...and so on...
I looked over at Melodie and she had that look on her face.
"What?" I asked.
"Take a whiff." She said.
I did....and wished I hadn't.
Yes...my wonderful wife had discovered that "Gamey Gamer" smell...on the fellow currently occupying Mrs. Bolling's time.
"Never mind." I said. "We'll come back."  (In truth I could've spent TONS of money there on Pulp Figs, etc...), and the thought of me coming back with massive amounts of Bob Murch's creations were a bit overwhelming.

We wandered around and came upon Knuckleduster.
I introduced myself and Forrest Harris said "he had been wanting to meet me!".
A good pic of myself and a fine gentleman.

I truly enjoy all he has done. I am not an 1812 guy but his figures are absolutely beautiful.
I myself was more interested in his western stuff...

And what nice stuff it is!
One of the things that I've noticed recently (and perhaps I am a bit slow on the uptake) is the fact that mini-gaming seems to be moving away from resin buildings and I keep seeing more and more laser cut wood buildings. More variety to them, less expensive, and just as able to be modified as many others. Knuckleduster has a great selection.
And yes...I bought stuff....(more on that later)...
Perhaps one of the more humorous parts was my wife telling Forrest about her building the buildings, and stuff, and how much she supports the hobby.
Forrest's answer..."Do you have a sister?"
And while there I was honored to meet fellow TMP'er "Von Blucher"....a great guy all around who showed me a box of his SYW figs...very nice!!!!
"You're the only guy that can get away with wearing a Confederate Grey Kepi in this state." He said to me with a grin...


My next big purchase, (and Gawd help me)...was with Old Glory...
So I got a chance to meet TMP's own "Mrs. Miniatureships", who talked about our Civil War Wedding Pictures on TMP.
For the first time, (at the enabling of my wife), I joined the Old Glory Army...Got myself the Blue Moon Hillbilly Pack #1 ("The Hardfelts"), and for my joining bonus picked up their pirate pack.  Woot!!!! Time to make some more orders...
My wife, (Gawd bless her!), was totally in love with their buildings.
"You paint the figs and play the games, and I'll do the scenery and terrain." She told me.
(More to come on what I bought later...)

And so we made some more shopping walk arounds.....

WW1 Axis and Allies...I would've loved to have had this, but couldn't justify spending over 100 bucks for it. (Board games seem to be getting too expensive nowadays)....

And I got some pics of some of the game tables....
There was a LOT of Gettysburg going around...
This from one of the tables there.... The Confederate Line....Making the attack that Longstreet didn't want...

General McClaws and his men get ready to once again relive history....

Another table was being run..."Animal Crackers on the Attack!" 

Kids having a blast, (and it looked more fun than one of the Napoleonic games I saw...)

We also voted it "The best smelling table"...

 And yet, even MORE Gettysburg... (this time however in a VERY small scale)....

It was getting towards the evening when we were getting ready to leave. We had had a good day of talking, meeting folks, buying some (more at my wife's insistence, than my impulse buys), and getting ready to call it a day when I saw it.

Placed on the table...

It called to me, it's siren song....

And if you don't know what it is...you should be ashamed of yourself....

My wife looks over the table as it's being set up....54mm...sigh....

Col. Travis, (that could be me)...at his place in immortality....

She saw me staring (close to drooling), and shook her head, smiling softly and gently. She loves me so...

I looked at her and blinked...

"I can hold that wall." I told her with conviction in my voice.

She nodded and said softly as one would tell a small child who says "But I would've won!"...

"Yes, honey. I know you could've."

I chewed my bottom lip. There was Santa Ana...ready to do wrong...and I was here...ready to stop him in his tracks. 

"I'll kill 'em all as they come across the ground...I can hold that wall!"

She nodded and smile. "I know you can."

Sigh...

Above it all, the flag flew...waiting, beckoning, calling....

And down below...

Crockett waits on the North Palisade for my commands...

Some of The Mexican Army waiting on the command to go in....

"Do you want to play?" My wife asked me. "We can get a room for tonight, and you can stay here and kill Santa Ana."  She is an evil temptress at times my wife is...

For a moment I wavered...quivered...and stood there staring. Suddenly it was March 6th 1836 and I am on the wall...waiting for the Mexican Army to get into range and changing history.  I can do it...I can hold this wall...We can defeat him here once and for all. We can win for Texas.....

And then I said....

"No...we have to go home. I have yard work tomorrow..."

Sigh...

Meanwhile back at the convention...on another table.....it's 1940, and The Luftwaffe is heading towards England....

"This is the BBC...."

Meanwhile on Mars....

A massive multiplayer Martian Adventure game...

As the good ship "The Martian Queen" seems to have issues upon one of the canals...

By now, it was late, and despite the tugging of me wanting to fight at The Alamo, we had to leave, because after all, I have yard work to do tomorrow...

So getting home I got my loot out (yes I went back for the truck from RLBPS)....

Here's my haul....

All the loot in one lump some (except for some surprises that my wife got)...

First off, my Blue Moon purchase...

  

And the pirates I got for free for joining up for a hitch with "The Old Glory Army"...

And my Litko Purchases (1" bases, Medium artillery strike and small blast markers)...

From RLBPS, and Raventhorpse...a nice truck for Bongolesia...to carry all sorts of stuff....(legal or otherwise...)

Accessories, (A library and a tavern/Inn/Bar/Pub)...from Frontline. Very nice stuff....

And from Knuckleduster...
The Gallows Set
An outhouse (my wife wanted this for some reason)...
The Cemetery Set (my wife also wanted this)....
Pack of "Soiled Doves"...( I got these for me)...

Pack of Can-Can Dancers....(and well...I also got these for me)...

While I was out, and about, my wife found some beautiful items (treasure piles), that will make wonderful Objective Markers...and she got them for me (us)....

As well as a couple of plastic Crystal Skulls....

So now we have objectives and some pretty pretty piles of Filthy Lucre for us to get our grubby hands on...mmmmm....

By this time it was time for us to get home...after all, I had swallowed my urges to hold the wall and fight at The Alamo...after all, I had yard work tomorrow...

So we drove home.
All in all, it was a good day...with a wife that is an "enabler" to my hobby....and a wonderful lady herself...Good fun, good food, good gaming, and good stuff...and I will DEFINITELY be back next year...

And so we drove home...so I could do yard work tomorrow....
And then it rained....