A long, overdue update....

Wow...it's been 3 1/2 MONTHS, since my last update on this site, and so much has happened that I do not even know where to begin.
I will just instead slap this blurb up and follow up with seperate entries to get more detail or else it would be information overload for a lot of folks and one uber long blog.
On the gaming front:
1: I didn't make it to Origins, and had to cancel my game. "Real Life" kicked in.
2: I made it to Gencon, and took pics, and played a bad FoW demo in which my opponent openly cheated, and the demo was essentially, "Lets see how quickly the Germans can kick the British butts..."
3: Uber thrilled that Rebel Minis released a "Bongolesia" supplement for their "Modern Havok" rules.
4: Havent done much in the realm of gaming, building or painting as my paint table etc, is all crammed in my office right now...due to my daughter now living in my game room.

Real Life:
1: Mostly unemployed.
2: Mostly broke.
3: Buried my dad (stepfather), but he was more of my father to me than my real dad.
4: Went to Virginia and realized that I'm not really part of the family.
5: Did the Conner Prairie reenactment in May and messed up my knee.
6: Have my daughter and her boyfriend move into our house from Louisiana, (Lost the game room), and now boyfriend has skipped out.

And on that part, I think I shall close this, and then start the eventual updating entries...
Wish me luck folks...

More to come...I'm sure of it....

The Rattlehead is complete! (and other things being worked on)...

Welllll...it's about time I FINALLY got a project completed!

Intrepid readers will remember that yesterday I was working on numerous "projects"...That little endeavor continued today as I began to ACTUALLY COMPLETE (oh my!) some of them!

First up was one that I started almost two years ago....

I needed/wanted a cheap, and playable "tramp style merchant ship" without all of the uber detail to make playing on it impossible, and increase it's rate of breakage...and currently there were none on the market, so I started scratchbuilding my own....

And today I finished it...

I present to you, the Merchant Cargo Ship For Hire, "The Rattlehead".

The Rattlehead at sea...sitting still awaiting delivery confirmation instructions or perhaps having her engines worked on...again....

The Rattlehead is a medium sized cargo ship built in the late 1940's in a Soviet shipyard on The Black Sea. The basic ship structure and setup is (in true Soviet tradition), copied from the US "Liberty Ship" design.
She was launched in Sept. 1950, and upon launch struck a large rock, damaging the rudder. Relaunched in Jan. 1951, she was soon plying her trade to Soviet Ports along The Black Sea.
Over the years she has been damaged significantly, including hitting a rogue WWII naval mine in the Mediterranean in 1958, (which resulted in a large massive steel "patch" upon her bow), and various other "dings and dents".
In 1991 she was sold by the Russian Govt. to the Kizzov Shipping and Exports Corporation (Headquartered and ported out of Odessa Ukraine).
She underwent engine and electronics modifications and soon put to sea.
She currently plies the sea routs along Africa, The Suez, The Med, and The Black Sea, delivering a large and wide variety of "goods and cargo", (Much of it suspsect, but due to internatioanal regulations cannot be verified.)
She is a frequent cargo deliverer to Port Tuziak and the Ports in the Capital City of Sudekia, in the nation of Bongolesia. Lately she has come under suspicion of carrying out illegal arms shipments to various factions along the African coast, and to the Bongolesian Govt.

Here's the boat, when she's not in the water...


She currently takes up almost one complete shelf of my bookshelf...She'll have to be move eventually....In this pic, you can see the wear and tear on her...

As with these pics. While she has seen better days, she is still capable of making the delivery...and for a nice affordable price too. It's rumored that she is used quite a bit by "Honest Abdul" ("The Shoppers Friend!") when he is "importing goods" to his Emporium...



With the national flag in the background...kind of puts a lump in your throat doesn't it...btw...Don't ask about the rust stains....

Besides the ship, I've come close to finishing up on the airport control tower building. Here it is in it's final stages of completion.
It's built in a "futuristic Soviet style" from the late 1960's and early 1970's when Soviet influence in the country was at it's highest.

Tower and control building...

Here's showing it to scale along with a 15mm JR ruin, and some 15mm PP vehicles...

All that's left of this is to put the final weathering touches on it, and the "Welcome to Bongolesia" sign and she's ready for action!

More items to come as I finish them...

Comments are appreciated!

Origins and the Bongolesia Blog...

So I'm registering for Origins next June, and setting myself up to run a late night large scale AK47 Rep. game in Bongolesia, (with prizes for the winner!), and for those of you that would like a waaaay early sneak peak, (and if you don't visit the bongolesia blog), well....here it is:

http://bongolesia.blogspot.com/2010/11/barf-rebel-scum-for-origins.html

http://bongolesia.blogspot.com/2010/11/national-defense-forcefor-origins.html

This will give you dear reader a quick "down n' dirty" of some of what is going to be on the field...

Enjoy and I hope to see YOU at Origins....look for the guy in the dictators uniform...