Goodbye 2014.....A year in review....

Well folks...here it is...12.31.2014....
And the end of another year of this blog.
I started this blog in August of 2008, and really didn't go as far or as much with it, as I wanted to. It hit pretty decent marks until 2011, and then 2012 really sucked, and 2013 it started picking up again.
And now here it is 2014 slipping away into history and 2015 coming in....
This blog currently has 27 followers and 23, 800+ page views. I need to add more and get more content in, so I can increase my subscribers.
But enough about that.

2014 was a pretty decent year for me and my wife (Gawd bless her!).....
Gaming wise, it was more of a year of painting, building, and prepping than actual playing.

The highlights in gaming this year was my Call of Cthulhu game and our attendance of Little Wars in which I got to play in Uncle Dukes Alamo game only to end up leaving due to a cheating opponent. But it was a good convention and convinced me to prep a 28mm Pulp Game for it next year.

The Call of Cthulhu game was a good hit, and I enjoyed it tremendously. I need to start looking at trying to get a good gaming group together, and make this at least a semi regular occurrence.

On the whole though most of my gaming stuff was "acquiring" and painting....

And then I realized during the year I have painted approx. 177 28mm figs, and oddly enough, my 15mm stuff all took a back-burner for the year.
I have to change this and do a little of each, as I am now starting to make a dent in the 28mm pile, (under 850 figures), and there's so much more Bongolesia and stuff I need to do....

Next year I am hoping I can get some real work done on getting my "man cave" going. Perhaps look at a building loan for a 3 car garage but turn it into a hobby/gaming room. Then I can have all my toys in one area...help dejunk the garage....and get all of this "stuff" out of boxes, (some of it has been in there for almost 20 years)....sigh....I miss all of my gaming stuff...

And then with display cases, and shelves full...and a shelf for my picklehaub, and bust of Mussolini, we can game....

"We can game if we want to.
We can leave your friends behind....
Cuz your friends won't game, and if they don't game, well,
They're no friends of mine..."

But tonight, I decided to chuck out a few more paint jobs....and all in all for December 2014, I got 17 figures painted.

   

Any resemblance to a Disney Character is entirely coincidental....*whistles innocently*.....

  

Graves and Gunmen.....kind of a fit don't you think???...

"Putting on the Ritz...."
(Admit it now...you have that song going through your head now...)

        

Toadies, Pretty Dames on Desert Islands and Exploring Fellows and Ne'er do wells...all in the final stages of being done...

Some of the projects to finish tomorrow...(ie: "Next year"...)

(As well as these....)

But perhaps the best part of it all was one of my Christmas presents.....

YES!!!! More figures for the lead mountain!
Oh wait...I mean....NO!...errr.....wait...I mean....yes....errrr.....I mean.....

Toss in another 100 bucks and I will have ALL the packs that I need from Pulp Figures...(for now)....

That will be changing soon though....

And so on this evening, I place a picture of my current "Miniature Alter Ego", (Colonel Horatio Hieronymus Mustard, (Sandhurst, Class of 1880)....Who was the winner of the 2006 "Big Game Hunt" in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the scoring of TWO Lions....(courtesy of the Imperial Russian Hunting Party...heh heh heh...)

"Harrumph...harrumph...Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a good future to be had for all, and God bless us....everyone!"

Thanks to everyone that has followed this blog and commented on it for this year. Please let me know what you would like to see more of in 2015 and I shall do my best to accommodate you.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

December Update, (WIP's, Animals, and Failing My Goals)....

December already??...Holy crikey!

So November is now history, and December is upon us and winding down and I am not happy, (but more on that later)....
First the updates....

#1: WIPS:

I've gotten very little painted this month, (3 figures), as opposed to the last two months. This is simply due to the fact that I have had to travel to multiple states for work and take weekends with dental appointments, or coming back from work, so my paint time has been severely limited. So in essence, I got three figures done...

#1: Professor Elliot Rogers Witherspoon:

"Professor Witherspoon is an impatient man. When he's on land, he wants to be on the ship steaming towards his destination. When he is on the ship, he wants his meals...When he has his meals, he wants his tea...When he is on deck, he wants to be at the port...and so on... 
His personal motto is "To be on-time is to be late....To be early is to be on-time..."
This often causes frustration with his supporters and fellow explorers and scientists as he is commonly seen checking the time using his grandfathers watch, and tapping his foot impatiently."

#2: Seaman Billy Bartlett:

"Billy Bartlett has sailed the waters for a few years now. He has a steady hand, and a cool manner on deck in a situation, but a hot head with an even hotter temper when he thinks "Someone has wronged him". He's wanted in four foreign ports for disemboweling people who disagreed with him with the help of that razor sharp knife he carries with him all the time...."

#3: Dr. Stanley Cavendish - Semi-Famous Explorer of Somewhat World Renown....

"In this world of ours there are those people that are "there" (wherever that may be), at just the right time and moment, or just in the nick of time...

Unfortunately Dr. Stanley Cavendish is neither of those....

A determined and dedicated explorer of parts unknown, Stanley has a horrible habit of being fashionably late, (or unfashionably late), for just about everything. He is dedicated in his undertakings, but time management seems to evade him elusively, as does fame and fortune. Perhaps it's due to this issue with time that has kept him from becoming a world class famous explorer. Due to his two hour afternoon nap (which was extended to six hours), he lost out on being credited with the discovery of the Bologonia River in Central Africa, and with it the Bologonian Tribesmen, (which in it's way was a mixed blessing as they are ferocious cannibals and quite quickly devoured the party that actually discovered them).

He is quite a shot with his trusty revolver though, and often finds himself at odds with Professor Witherspoon."

#2: Animals, Animals, Animals! 

So there I was...Christmas shopping.....
I was at a local department store when I saw them for sale.

See, that's one of the things about us mini gamers. We go to a store and suddenly while we are shopping for others, we are confronted with opportunity for gaming goodies...and the next thing you know half of our cart is filled with "stuff" for our table...
And that's how it happened...
I bought a jumbo lion, (he will soon become a statue), an alligator...(to eat native baggage handles, and careless explorers with), a large poorly made eagle, (which will be turned into gold and placed on a 15mm Government building in Bongolesia), and 2 Elephants....

 

 

Quite the menagerie wouldn't you say? Marlin Perkins would be proud...


#3  Toy soldier porn!!!!

Yes, while out, I stopped by my LGS, and in the spirit of Christmas, I picked up three back issues of WI, (313, 314, and 323), and unlike guys who buy Penthouse and Playboy for the articles, I do get them for the articles..but for the pictures also!
So..I have three new issues of "Toy Soldier Porn" to look at....
*drool*

Now THAT is good reading material......oooooohhhhh shiny.....

#4: Failing a goal....

We all do it but I hate it....
Earlier in the year I had made it a goal to get a batch of approximately 100-115 28mm figures painted by the EOY ("End Of The Year).
I was doing well until the last half of November, (my moms death, Thanksgiving and two out of state work trips, ate up my painting time like a box of Crunch 'N Munch...)
So I will continue to try to get them done, but all in all...this goal was not reach. I would say that right now it's at about the 50% mark, and with that, I am still kind of proud because I did get a lot painted over the last few months and I think I got more painted during that time than in the rest of the year.  I've slacked off tremendously on my purchases, however I need to get some Mexican Federales, from Brigade Games real soon, and some new figs from Bob Murch at Pulp Figures.

This is the last batch in my "to be painted by the end of the year. Just too many to get done....but I will keep going...and see what I can do....Onward!!!!

This is what is in my "immediate queue". If I could get these 20 done..I'd be much closer... Here's hoping...

So essentially that is it dear reader....December 2014 is wrapping up....I am still way behind on my 15mm stuff, and my 28mm stuff... Boss Callaghan's Office needs to be finished as well as so many other projects...

But that's what keeps us going right?

Here's wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year....

End of November; (Figures, Fun, SCORE!, etc...)

The days of Summer dear reader are behind us, and the early fall colors have quickly given away to the gray chill of late fall and the onset of winter.
It's the season that I love....
November has rolled to it's final days and with it, I shall attempt some last minute painting tomorrow, but I doubt if I really get much done.
I've lost one weekend this month due to the death of my mother, so now I am pressed for time on my challenge of getting a certain # of figs painted by the end of the year.
And with it dear read, I present this entry for your enjoyment. This is quite long, (probably the longest one this year, if ever on this blog), so sit back, relax, get a drink, and get ready for lots of pics and lots of other things....

Here we gooooooooooo!!!!


1: Blue Moon Egyptian Figures:

Well, I am finally getting around to doing it.
A while back I had discussed the Blue Moon Egyptian Agents and my concern about how they looked painted as compared to the Blue Moon Hillbillies.

Readers will remember that I posted this picture of them:

From L to R: Figs #1, #2, #3, #4, #5....

Over the last couple of months, I went ahead and started painting them.

Here they are as finished "WIP's".

The paint jobs have been finished but they still need to be sealed, etc...

FIGURE #1 and #2:

The first two figures were two standard "Agents". So I went ahead and painted them up as suck. Figure #2 had a large amount of flash on his hands that required removal before painting.

Figures 1 and 2  BEFORE:

  

And Figures 1 and 2 AFTER:

Introducing Mosouk and Fezzik, Egyptian Agents that are up to no good....

ACK! I have realized that I do not have a photo of Figure #2 yet...Fezzik is a Pulp Minis Figure...sigh...Okay I will fix that....

FIGURE #3:

This figure had little flash, and was a lot easier to paint. The detail was good, and he came out well....

Figure #3: BEFORE:

And Figure #3 AFTER:

Introducing "Abdouk The Slave-Trader"....He can get you what you want..."IF" you can meet his price..."

FIGURE #4:

Figure #4 was a bit of a challenge.

Unlike the others, this one had a world of detail to her, and present different ways she could be painted. Truth be told, I painted her outfit twice before I settled on the second color. I think though that in the future I might get this set again and paint her up in the first color scheme...or maybe a light Princess Pink.....

Figure #4, BEFORE: 

And now figure #4, AFTER, in both paint schemes....

Paint Job #1:

The red looked nice, but I just wasn't "satisfied" with it....

And Paint Job #2:

From red to green to help the gold trim show up. Not sure if I am still happy with this, but she's pretty much done for now. A final plan for her is to have her belly button area drilled out and a small glittering jewel inserted in it....

And finally FIGURE #5:

This figure was supposed to be an elderly woman, (possibly in mourning), but as I said before, I just couldn't do it, and be happy with it. Somehow or another this then became painted up as either an old funeral cemetery statue or a restless spectre....

Figure #5: BEFORE:

Not much to this figure as you can tell.....

Figure #5, AFTER:

"An old statue in a forgotten cemetery...perhaps whispering a long forgotten secret???"

OR

"A restless spectral spirit....doomed to wander the grounds of the old cemetery until the mystery is solved that will lay it to rest...???"

Looking back, I can say that the figures had more flash on them than I though but also they painted up A LOT better than the Blue Moon Hillbillies. I think that it had to do mostly with the humidity acting up with my primer.

2: SCORE!!!!! (Old School Style)....

Okay, so last night, my wonderful wife (Gawd bless her!), and myself went over to the neighboring town of Danville, for their annual "Christmas On The Square". Essentially what they do is light up the town square....

It's truly a beautiful sight.

One moment the square was dark....

Then the tree lit up....

Followed by the town square....

Soooo...while all of this was going on....

My wife and I found this old vintage retro store on a side street and we wandered in.

I usually take about 10-15 minutes to go through the place, but in this store...something caught my eyes....

Glory be!  A box of Grenadier Dwarves?!?!.....

So I tried to be as calm as could be and said "Uh...Ex...Ex...Excuse me....How much for these???"

He looked and there was no tag on the box so he made a call and then said "How does 10 dollars sound?"

I almost yelled at him to "SHADDUP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!"

Quickly I agreed, plus I went ahead and gave them my name and number "just in case" they come across anything else like this.

With my prize in my hand, I wandered outside and on a plastic garbage bin lid, I opened the box....

Holy Crap!!!!

JACKPOT!!!!

The original box set had 10 dwarven figures in it.

I looked in the box and not only were there the 10 as per box, but another 10-11 figs also...for a total of approx 22 figures of Old Heritage and Grenadier, etc, manufacture!

SCORE!!!!!

Okay so tomorrow I hope to get them out of the box and will check them out and get photos....

All in all (in the words of Bill S. Preston, Esquire, and Ted "Theodore" Logan), a most "excellent" weekend!!!!

And tomorrow I will try to paint some!!!!

Food, and figures, and finishing figures, (and other things)...

The days of summer are behind us now, and with it, this week I saw the first snow flurries at work. Halloween is done, and Thanksgiving is right down the road...and after that Christmas.

The days are getting that crisp coldness and the gray skies that I have always seemed to have enjoyed.

It means that along with the wonders of Christmas, I will be getting more painting and terrain building done. 

I am actually quite proud of myself for this year so far, (with the exception of my battlefront purchase and the Little Wars splurge I did), I kept my "figures acquisition" down quite a bit and my 28mm figures painted projects are moving along.

My wife (Gawd bless her!), always makes sure I am good to go in the "food and supplies, (ie: Coffee, tea, beer, or drinks), department", while I am "slaving away" at the paint table.

Yes...sandwiches, chips and drinks...always remember to wash your hands AFTER you eat, lest you get greasy fingers on your figs....

About three months ago, I stated a "paint 100 figures by the end of the month challenge". So far I have approx 50% of them done already. They've actually come along quicker than I thought and using the Dallimore block method, I'm getting a lot more done, usually batches of a half dozen at a time.  Now remember that the challenge was "painted" not "flocked or sealed".  That still has to be done...but so far this is this months current "finished painted" queue, 20 so far.....

Slaves and Egyptians, and sailors, and a "soiled dove", old ladies, and fellows up to no good...a regular "Rogues Gallery"...(to steal an old D&D term)...

Here's the "to be flocked, sealed" queue. The paint jobs are finished and now all they need is a the groundwork, some washes for some of them, and sealing.  I've broken them down into my "monthly progressing. August is in the clear box on the left, Sept is the first four figures on the front left column, October is the next two three ranks behind, (as well as the Coca-Cola machines), and now November is on the right, By keeping them in lines of five, I can keep an accurate count of each progression.

I do have a few figs that I might be able to finish this afternoon, but my wife and I have a midday lunch with some friends, and then who knows...perhaps some shopping or a movie. I have told her that I would like to see "Fury" today.

But there is something that is disturbing me.

Yesterday I posted the sandwich picture up on FB. I basically complimented my wife for bringing me lunch while I painted, and said that "I am blessed".

While most responses have been positive, there was one that stood out....

I am not sure if he was trying to be humorous and it didn't carry across or not. I just don't know, since internet reflection is neutral, but my natural human tendency is to see it more as insulting than humorous.

I've sent him a response to see if he meant it as a joke.  If he did, I hope he can explain it. If he didn't then I hope he will explain what the problem is. If he continues with the attitude, well...I haven't the time, energy, or desire to deal with him, not the want to deal with him, so it will be one less friend on my list....ah well....se la guerre.....

Of Notebooks and thoughts.

In my last post, I had posted photos of my Egyptian Agent painted up as a cemetery statue/spectre...and a couple of people asked me about "what colors I used". I stumbled a bit until I remembered. Then the flash of genius hit me...(like a brick)....

"You should keep a notebook on your gaming things like this, so you can keep track of information like this...so you don't forget it if you need it again...."

Thank you oh, gaming muse...this is a great idea and well...something I should have done a while back. Just a simple spiral notebook that I can well....put notes in on colors used, how I do things, etc...for reference....ideas/thoughts, the whole nine yards sort of thing....

I think I am going to call "Wargamer's Notebook"..(yeah, real original....)

And I don't think it will become a blog...although I might put some of the info up here in the near future. 

What do you think?

Little Wars 2016....

A recent post on TMP discussed how Little Wars is going to be moving from the DuPage Expo Center to the Westin Lombard Convention Center in the West Chicago Area.

This is giving me some serious mixed feelings.

On one hand I love the Little Wars convention and plan to attend and probably run a game in 2015.

On the other hand it's further out but still in Chicago, and as a result of it's geographic location, there is really no easy way to get to it other than paying massive ugly "tolls".  My recent experience on Chicago tollways is that the city is the perfect definition of the term "Highway robbery"....Four dollars to get ONTO the tollway and then anywhere from 1.85 - 5.00 for every 2 1/2 miles it seems is a bit much.

Plus the hotel does seem a bit on the "pricey" side....

Here's the TMP link discussing it: http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=362702

And here is the link to the location: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1526&language=en_US

I have yet to see anything about room prices for the convention, but I think it's not going to be pretty.  See in Chicago, even the taxes have taxes!!!!

Okay that is it for now, as I must get going....however I hope to have another quick update here soon, as I finished shading, and sealing my figs and getting some of them properly photographed and a suitable background for them.

More to come!

Work trips, tartans, figures, game stores, and other thoughts on this day....

It's Sunday, November 9th, and I am sitting here behind the keyboard when a portion of me is screaming, "NO YOU FOOL!!! Get thee behind thy brush and paint thy figures!!!!"
Instead I have a few thoughts, (mostly game related), and pictures that I wanted to share instead...

It's been an interesting week to say the least.

Last week I left on Monday for a business trip North of Chicago into the town of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Wednesday was supposed to be the "big day" with an onsite walkthrough and meeting, followed up with a "after meeting, meeting about the previous meeting that we had just had", (Gawd bless Corporate America)....
Well that didn't happen.
So essentially speaking I wasted three odd days up there.
While I was there I found two game stores....

#1: A GW Store right around the corner from my hotel.  Operating hours were M-T (Closed), W-TH-F: 12 noon - 7 pm (with a closure from 2:00 - 2:30 for lunch), Sat-Sun (12-8 no closure for lunch)....
The hours struck me as rather odd, and the first question I thought of was "Why can't the guy eat BEFORE he comes to work?"...
There I go thinking again...

2: The second store was called "Coliseum Games" and is located in a strip mall, off of 75th Street. I only saw it when I pulled into the parking lot to have lunch at the Charcoal Grill. (Good food).
Now, the store is smaller than average sized, and although it's generally clean and the staff is friendly, it seems to focus entirely upon
A: CCGs,
B: Board Games
C: Some RPGS.

When I asked about miniatures he said "Oh yes! We carry those also!" And showed me his miniatures lines.....
X-wing, and Star Trek Attack.....

"So you don't carry any 15mm or 25-28mm lines, like Reaper, Foundry, Old Glory, etc?" I asked him...

*blink blink*  was my reply.

Sigh...and the search goes on....

#2: A drive through Chicago can be one of too things...
A: Interesting
B: Utterly depressing.

If you drive along the waterfront, you get "A"...
If you drive anywhere else, you get "B"...

And if you drive down Cicero Avenue, you get "utterly depressing".

Driving South down Cicero Avenue is like watching your grandmother dying in the hospital. It's horrible, sad, and depressing and there is nothing you can do to stop it, as it's a progression / "de-gression" that you are unable to do anything about.
Whole blocks of the area are nothing more than "churchs", a bar, a pawn shop, and one of those questionable little "fast food markets", all of them having more bars on the doors and windows than you would find in Sing-Sing....
The rest of the area is blocks and blocks and blocks of commercial establishments that have been abandoned, or have been empty for years, (possibly decades). and up for sale. The "For Sale" signs having been in the window for so long that they are bleached out from light and age....
You know it's bad when the real estate office is closed and up for sale by ANOTHER real estate office.

I was seriously thinking of taking some photos to show this, but I wanted to use my camera and not my crappy Iphone camera, and to be honest, it wasn't out of my safety that I didn't, instead it was because it was too damn depressing.

Next time I do the drive though I think I am going to....just so folks can see what "a city in decay" looks like...

#3: Last month, I was painting some more of Bob Murch's wonderful "Pulp Figures", and in doing so, decided to try my hand at a tartan pattern.  So I read up some tutorials and read a lot and learned a lot. Amazing what some of these guys can paint....

So without further eloquence, may I introduce you to;
"Laird Angus MacHaggis of Clan MacHaggis"....

While I was "pleased" with the tartan pattern, my wife (Gawd bless her!), noticed something that I did also.

"The white stripe on the tartan seems to draw your eye to it, and then you can notice any mistakes." She say.

Holy cow she was right!

So I went back and did some more test tries.

I ran the tartan red color and then ran four patterns, from l to r: gray, white, yellow, and a dark flesh color:

Hmmm...decisions, decisions....

Eventually thought I settled on the yellow which gave it enough color but not enough to take away.

So I repainted him and here he is now.....

You can see the difference in the tartan pattern on the kilt....I did like it...

Colorful enough, but not demanding attention.

Meanwhile back to my Egyptian Figures....

A while back (Sept. I think), I started working on some Blue Moon Egyptian Agents.

Well, to make a long story short, figure #5 just didn't "do it" for me....there really wasn't anything there as in "figure", and I kept looking at it and saying "That looks like an old stature you would see in a cemetery"...so I decided to try to see if I could replicate that "blackish-green" that you see on so many odd and old statues...and yet, still allow it to be a "member of the spectral wandering undead"....

So here is my attempt...without the flash, and with the flash....

Creepy old cemetery statue?

or

Restless wandering spirit trapped between this world and the next???....

YOU decide.....

Once I got the basic color scheme down, it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.

Another figure I've been working on is the one that I call "Thurg"...he's part of the Pulp Figs set PWM11 "Callous Captors"....

"Thurg works for Mistress X....Thurg hurts people that lady says to hurt. Sometimes Thurg pull on arms and legs and they bend where they aren't supposed to...Makes people scream loud. Hurts Thurgs ears...Lady says Thurg do a good job and will get a cute pet bunny for birthday. Thurg like bunnies....huh huh huh...."

While working on my figs I discovered some old Ral Partha "Slave girl" figs....and thus Blue Moon Egyptian Agent #3 suddenly became "Abdouk the slave-trader"....

WIP: Abdouk the slave-trader and some of his "wares". They can be yours if you can meet his price, or haggle a good deal... The gag on the blondes mouth, keeps her quiet, as she is always screaming for help, and telling people that she is a "kidnapped princess sold to Abdouk by one of her fathers enemies, and her father will reward anyone who rescues her..."  He's heard it all before and besides...a princess brings an even better price.....

Currently my "need to flock, wash, and/or seal count looks like this....

Just a few touch ups and we are good to go with this set!

Unfortunately I am about to kick myself though as Murch has release some more figs and I will be sending him yet more of my money....sigh....that man is an evil genius I tell you!!!

More to come my friends!