End of Year Update

The month of December is closing out, so I finally decided to get off of my butt and update the blog one last time. 

So what did I do gaming wise this year? Not very much.

1: I participated in the Bones V KS. 

2: I picked up a couple of pieces of scenics.

And that's about it.

I didn't do any real gaming, as this year has put a massive crimp into my life. 

The first two months were spent mostly in Physical Therapy trying to teach my right leg how to walk again. Then the Pandemic hit. 

And we bought a new house due to the rising taxes and crime in our neighborhood. Wife and I wanted a "fresh start", so we well...bought a house and moved.

But the house does look beautiful in the winter. We got the first snow right about the 16th of December and I took some day and night photos of the place and it's stunning...

The Lord has indeed blessed us with this house...

One of the things I finally got a chance to do was to get the much wanted IKEA Detolf Display Cabinets for my miniatures.

Due to the COVID issues, stock for these were at an all time low. So imagine our joy when the two we ordered finally showed up!

So on Saturday we began to assemble the first one. Yes it is a two person job. We had the box open and in 30 minutes had the base and holding frame assembled.

Then it happened.

My wife was holding the glass side panel in her hands, when suddenly the panel exploded in her very hands, covering her with bits of broken glass, and scaring both of us.

After checking to see if she was okay, I checked the area and took pics of the incident. The pile of glass on the floor was where my wife was standing.  A quick check of "Ikea Detolf exploding" on Google, shows this to be a VERY common issue with these units going as far back as 2014-2015, with no apparent fix by IKEA.

So today I began the process of the refund/exchange process. Rather than even try to work with the second unopened item, I am returning them for a refund. I will save my money up and get better quality cases that won't explode in my wife's hands and shower her with glass.

So you can see what I have to say "No...I don't things that will explode simply because someone is holding it." 

So the setting up of the man cave (paint room and game room) continues, and hopefully will be done within the next 1-2 weeks.

After that I can start up painting and building, and gaming again.

Our 2013 Tree...

 So this is Christmas...and the end of the year.....

The end to 2020 is in sight and we can see 2021 and it's surprises looming ahead of us. What shall it bring?

For myself and my wonderful wife, (Gawd bless her!), we hope for all better things.

2020 hasn't been a good year for the majority of the country or the world. Here in the US between an election fiasco, and talk that sounds very much like South Carolina in 1861 as well as the COVID Pandemic, it has touched a lot of lives. 

2020 has also reminded us in a dark way to be thankful and appreciative for what we have, instead of whining all the time for "what we want."

I'm hoping that 2021 will be good to you and yours dear readers.

See you next year!

The Move In, (and Gameroom setup)...

 As October has faded into the past and the month of November is here in it's chilly, wind gusting manner. We continue to move into "The Old Girl" and learn all of her traditions and quirks. One of the fun things we get to listen to is our boiler down in the basement. She's a 100 year old model from the old National Radiator Corporation and still works like a charm. We named her "Bertha"....

Ready to warm a house or help give steam to move a battleship...

And we gave her a name tag. Radiator...Railway Gun....It's all the same, isn't it?

So Bertha keeps our house nice and warm...sometimes a bit too warm for my tastes but my wife is happy with it.

So we continue to unload the boxes from the garage. Eventually we will have enough room to actually get the car in there and use it for what it is supposed to be...vehicle storage! (what a concept!)...

More boxes to be moved inside and unpacked...most of these are books and stuff that will be moved downstairs to my basement man-cave...(including the bookcase)...

My memorial picture of President Reagan, my first CinC and the first guy I voted for. The man that saved Europe and won the Cold War. He's hanging on the wall downstairs in my paint-room near my desk.

So while moving in, I was able to start setting up the game room as well as the painting room. Each one of these were separate yet joint endeavors as each tied into the other. I had originally set up the painting room with the desk under the window but really didn't like the setup as it didn't optimize the room. A little bit of rearranging later on and I had it the way I wanted it.

The current painting room/workroom setup. I have set up a black bookcase (see below), where the boxes are on the right to currently hold my figures until the display cases arrive, (if they ever arrive). The white middle shelving will hold large boxes of figures and terrain storage, while the far left shelf will hold paints, tools, etc. All the stuff for my work desk, to help keep it neat and tidy (hopefully).  One of my OTT lamps has been installed.

What you can't see in the picture is the bedroom dresser and the chest of drawers that I am using to hold my small boxes of figures. Remember those small boxes that I had labelled 18th Century, etc?...Yeah they are in there. Along with some stuff that will be on the far left plastic storage shelf in the future. 

A smaller bookcase is on the left wall in the 7 o'clock position hidden by the door. And in this picture you can see the corner of the Reagan picture.  There is still much to do here: Better chair, floor protector mat, getting the rest of the lighting set up, getting the rook clean, putting the pictures and corkboard on the wall, etc...but it IS coming along. 

I am hoping to have it up and ready by 12.01 so I can start painting again.

The black bookcase holds all of the IRIS storage containers and clear acryllic boxes that I have to store my painted figures in. It's come in quite handy and convenient. Once the display cases are here (if they ever arrive), then 90% of these figures will be moved into them and then I can install the shelves and use this bookcase for something like....I dunno....maybe even books!

And the current setup for the painting table. I set it up where the brushes etc are divided and on the left of the bankers lamp and the work tools, (X-actos, etc) are on the right. Next year I will look at this nice clean desk and think..."What the heck happened?"

A rare picture indeed...a clean painting table!!!!

While working on the setups, I found myself constantly at odds with "what I had set up vs what I wanted to have set up vs how I wanted it set up." Things were moved, arranged, moved again, rearranged, etc. But it still slowly came forward.

One of the things I did was to move the boxes you see in the photos above to the new storage area.

I had taken some of the white shelving units and ran them side by side in the small passageway. From there I used it as a storage space for terrain, scenics, and of course, boxes of miniatures.

The current holding area and storage setup...

Eventually this will be changed as once the rooms are set up, the minis will be unpacked and put away in their proper holding drawers and this will free up the closest shelving unit for use for more terrain, etc.  It's a slow process but it IS a process...

But then I lost the display case...

So when I was getting things set up, my wonderful wife (Gawd bless her!), started unpacking all of the glassware, (much of it antique), and needed a place to set it up and display it.

Naturally being the hero I was, I offered her my display case, and she took it!

But...me being the crafty devil I was, I had decided to go ahead (with her permission), and get TWO "Detolf" display cabinets from Ikea...

And then I found out that Ikea was sold out...

Grrrrr...

So while waiting on IKEA to restock, I found this one for sale on FB Marketplace.

A quick run to the owners home, an exchange of cash, and a trip back and this baby was mine!

So I get it down to the game room. Get it set up and voila...a nice case!

The current location of the case, (soon to be moved), and yes the game-room is still in the disarray of moving and unpacking..

And then IKEA notified me that the Detolfs were back in stock!!!

So I ordered two, (and they will be here this week!)

So the new game plan is the two Detolfs will be assembled and placed in the game room, and the wooden one show, will be moved to another section of the wall. This will end up holding my GAMA award, and memorabilia, and some rare gaming stuff, (like my RPGA tie pie, D&D business card holder, etc..) as well as some other rare items I have. The Detolfs will hold my painted figures.

And then we start with the bookcases.

The walls are a challenging item....As seen in the pictures in previous entries there is a lot of plumbing as well as windows, etc, in the basement. So I have to "improvise, adapt, and overcome" as well as "make do", with what I have.

The two long sections of wall will hold my artwork, gaming display items, military awards, etc while the secret room wall will hold the bookcases of games.

The current setup with more stuff to be added...

The very bottom shelves are going to hold my boxes of Dragon Magazines, as well as other D&D/RPG printed items. (Each in their own labelled box), while more board games and RPGs, etc. go on the other shelves. On the top shelf you can see a variety of headgear. From L to R: My old Steel Pot that I wore in Germany, My ODS/ODS Chocolate Chip Boonie Hat, My 33rd VA Forage Cap, My early impression ACW Forage Cap, A plastic Viking Helmet, (this originally belonged to a computer that I owned....yes a computer of mine wore her own hat), and a Special Black Service Beret with a Special Service insignia on it. I fear that these shelves will soon groan under the weight of gaming items. 

But I was able to get one of my movie posters framed and hung...

A manly mans mans movie for manly men....

And right now for the game-room, that is pretty much where we are at...

I'm hoping to have the setup done within the next 1-2 weeks...and this includes the painting room!

More to come so stay tuned!