Wargames and Railroads

Kingdom Death Minis

2012-02-29T22:57:00.002-07:00

These minis arrived a couple of weeks ago now, but since I was busy with the convention (actually still busy with the convention) I didn't have time to snap any photos of them. It does seem like I'm acquiring a lot more minis and not getting very many done, so I definitely need to increase my production. Of course Reaper Con is coming up in May and I do need to pick out some minis to work on for that competition. Anyway here are the Kingdom Death minis that I picked up and do intend to paint sometime in the future.

New Minis have Arrived!

2012-02-29T15:22:00.000-07:00

Today was a big day! The mailbox had one of those very interesting packages that come all the way from the UK. And yes, inside were the 20mm Marines I had ordered from Elhiem. Can't really say enough about the service. Ordered these on the 2/21 and here they just squeaked in on 2/29. So 8 days start to finish. Now if I could only get them painted up that fast. Well actually I suppose I could, they are pretty small compared to my WWI Marines. Small enough that I snapped a quick comparison picture. So a couple of pictures and I'll take them with me tonight and maybe starting working on them. I should be painting that bloody Zoave but he's hiding on my desk again. Now if I could find some HMMWV in 1/72 or 20mm scale that were reasonably priced I would be happy.

I'm Weak - New Minis, New Scale

2012-02-22T08:14:00.001-07:00

My friend, Nick Johnson (let's put that in perspective, he could be my son), ran a whole bunch of Force on Force games during Genghis Con XXXIII. I think he ran two different scenarios for a total of eight sessions over the course of three days. Very dedicated! I like to support a fellow gamer when they have put so much blood, sweat and tears into putting on a game and it looks like Ambush Alley is going to as well. Of course my version of support means buying more minis! I ended up ordering modern 20mm US Marines last night from Elheim and a bunch of buildings from Gamecraft Miniatures. So not only did I manage to increase the amount of unpainted material coming to the house but I did it in a scale that I have never worked with before and have nothing else to go along with it. Perhaps what is even worse is that five Death Kingdom minis arrived right before the convention and the rest of the couplers for my freight cars arrived yesterday. I'm also a bit behind on my school work at this point. I need to set everything aside for a bit and get caught up there before I even contemplate getting the brushes out again, although there is another bunch of WWI US Marines demanding to be painted too, and an entry for the Iron Painter Competition............arghhhhhhh!

Genghis Con XXXIII - The Pictures

2012-02-21T20:02:00.002-07:00

Since I basically couldn't be bothered to take more pictures the lovely Heather Smith-Matthews snapped some great pictures of my CMPA compatriots along with a few random convention pictures. There are even more pictures in the gallery that Heather has online (she is a professional photographer and this is a link to a website): fortuitousphotography

Back Row (L-R) Doug Sundseth, Torin Reed, Michael Proctor, Kirk Troy, Bob Crum
Middle Row (L-R) Lili Troy, Jen Kaufman, Kris Marquardt (me)
Front Row (L-R) Bianca Weeda, Derek Matthews, Marike Reimer (yes, that Marike)

And our Big Sponsors

A real painter's palette

And a Dragon popped out

and BOOM I was done

something about paint

Random Instructor Moments
Start from here when stabbing the eye And BOOM, Bob was done

Marike Phone Home

and next year the slaves will be...

Random GC XXXIII Convention Pics
Checking out the painted army competition

I think its called a game

Random miniature game

So many games, so little time

Genghis Con XXXIII - Wrapped Up

2012-02-21T10:23:00.001-07:00

Much as I figured I wouldn't be able to post much during the convention. The auction Friday night ran from 7:15pm to about 2:15am. Its becoming quite a marathon and I have to figure out a way to shorten up the time it takes. However, it was a pretty successful auction overall as people seemed to have more money to spend than they have had over the last few years. Once again no one bothers to take pictures of the auction and the wall of games that faces me when I start selling stuff off. My first auction as an auctioneer was at Genghis Con VI so this was my 28th appearance. For a lot of those years we were doing two auctions a show, one on Friday and one on Sunday but that quickly became overwhelming. I have done all the auctions at Tacticon as well so coming up will be my 24th appearance there. I have also put in guest appearances at other conventions, Origins three times, GenCon twice, LA twice (forget specifically which LA cons I was at though) and every Reapercon (except the first, because there was no auction at the first one). Reapercon may be my favorite auction because there is no money involved, you can only use Reaper Bucks and all the stuff coming up for auction is provided by Reaper so the reality is that the auction is "free". Its a ton of fun. In fact I highly recommend going to Reaper Con at least once just to experience a very different type of game convention. Helping with the auctions and being an auctioneer is one element of a game convention that I really like doing. Probably because all that attention is focused on me and no one can escape my bad jokes.

Most of Saturday was spent getting entries into the painting competition and then 4 hours of judging. Everything is entered into specific categories like Single Fantasy Miniature or Dioramas. Within a category we award medals; gold, silver, bronze or certificates of merit. If a person has multiple entries in a category then the judges will discuss which piece will be judged. After this there is no more discussion and judges award a score between 0 - 4 (0 being try again, and 4 being gold). The sheets with the scores are turned in and put into a spreadsheet. For each entry being judged the high score and the low score are thrown out and the remaining three added together to get a result from 0 - 12. Judges are also allowed to put a + or - next to their score indicating that they are willing to go up or down a step if that puts them more in line with what other judges are indicating. The scores break out as follows:
11-12 - Gold
8-10 - Silver
5-7 - Bronze
2-4 - Certificate of Merit

After the entries are judged, we select the category winners (sometimes that's easy sometimes its hard). From the Category winners we select Best in Show, Best in Competition and Best Theme (Mongol). We have a separate category that we call Master Class, this is the class that people who have won previous Best in Show awards, GW Slayer Swords, that kind of thing. Typically Best in Show, at Genghis Con, comes out of this category, so we created what we call Best in Competition, the best non-masterclass entry. The winner of this gets moved into the Master Class category and hopefully gets pushed even harder to bring in his/her best work. The quality of the entries continues to climb every show, its almost mind boggling.

There were lots of painting classes on Saturday and Sunday as well, followed by getting everything packed up and headed back to the house.

I took my painting slave....er guest of honor, Marike Reimer, skiing on Monday at Keystone. We had a great time but the wind yesterday made it really cold. Still feeling the effects of that today, some muscles are loudly complaining about how hard I skied. I have skied since I was 12 and I'm very good, did a little amateur racing and so I tend to attack the hill pretty aggressively and I'm getting a little old to be quite that aggressive anymore. My knee was letting me know that towards the end of the day.

Anyway, it was a terrific show, one of the best we have done and they only seem to be getting better. Genghis Con is growing again, I think the final attendance numbers were between 1900 and 2000 (starting to push my attendance numbers when I ran it) which is really good to see.

Genghis Con XXXIII - Day Two

2012-02-17T09:50:00.004-07:00

Well day two of the convention finds me...at work busily writing requirements and use cases (if that makes sense to you then you have my condolences). I did manage to acquire the painting guest of honor last night, so one quest successfully completed. Of course her plane was an hour late getting in and it took her forever to get from the plan to the main terminal (Denver International Airport is pretty big and she came in on the farthest concourse out). Then I'm driving us back to the hotel only to discover that the highway leading directly to the hotel is closed and I have to take to the streets and add another 20 minutes to the drive. Upon arrival at the front desk I try to get her checked into her room, politely asking the nice hotel clerk for Marike Reimer's room. Marike hands over her ID, the clerk looks grim, there is no Reimer in the system. She looks a bit more and discovers that it had been setup as Marike, Marike in the system...whew dodged that bullet. So I politely haul her suitcase and 70# backpack up to the room.
Today she is in the hands of Jen Kaufman, my right hand at the show. I expect to zip into the painting area after work, then proceed directly to the auction where they should be starting to check in items to go up for bid tonight. I'll sort items and develop a game plan and probably from 6 - midnight will sell as much stuff as I possibly can. Well actually we will sell all of it. I expect to move somewhere between 400 - 500 lots this evening. So there may not be pictures of anything going on today. But I will update this with pictures tonight if I get a chance and there will definitely be pictures tomorrow as the convention will be in full swing on Saturday.

Genghis Con XXXIIII - Day One

2012-02-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

UPDATED with pictures from Thursday night (Thursday is traditionally the zero slot for the RPG events when the judges get to play, my painting group and the boardgamers have kind of attached ourselves to Thursday as well. No miniature games tonight.

Actually day one hasn't officially begun yet, things don't kick off until tonight. However, I have my car loaded down with all my usual equipment to get the painting conference and competition portion of the convention up and running. The CMPA is even running a class or two this evening, which I believe are already full (we only have 5 spots per class). I'm already feeling the effects of a weekend of gaming as I have tried to combine last minute painting, organizing and the homework of my first college class (my last one was 15 years ago, hopefully this time I will finish) into these last few days before the convention. Late tonight I'll get some pictures up at least showing off the banners that we made for our sponsors this year. I was hoping for a green of our Genghis Gal mascot but we just didn't get that far along. Which reminds me if anyone sees a miniature (a green in this case) of someone that looks like Lysette (see the picture on the top right of the home page) let me know. The green was sculpted by Gene Van Horne and was stolen from my box as I was taking her on tour to the local FLGSs. Anyway, hopefully pictures tonight of the start of another great convention (Genghis Con, obviously is in its 33rd year and I have been to every single one of them!).

My Part of the Con

First painting discussion of the con

And the classroom

JMD comes through big time again

Thursday Night Boardgames

Thursday Night RPGs

Genghis Con XXXIII Show Banner

Rant - Gaming Models and Historical Accuracy

2012-02-15T10:34:00.002-07:00

Usually I can keep this stuff to myself, let it burn a little and let it go. Not this time. I'm contemplating getting into SAGA along with a few other friends. I already have a fair number of vikings painted and ready to go. So what what should the next project be for them? Well a longship of course. So I'm browsing around looking for 28mm reasonable representations. Really the best bet is a Revell kit that will have to be cut down to a waterline model (not hard, annoying, but not hard) or the one by Gripping Beast, pricey but very nice. Now there is a company out there making a lasercut kit version. Initial excitement, hit the web page, huge disappointment. With so many sources available now on viking ships of all types, this one doesn't measure up. One quick search will take you straight to a museum that not only has the recovered remains of viking era ships but has actually built them as well. Not only that I think we can safely get away from building replicas of the Oseberg and Gokstad funeral ships now and work up some nice gaming models based on actual warships and trading vessels (oh my like Gripping Beast did). And for the record, for most people what I consider to be sub-par resulting from lazy research are going to just fine for most gamers. But for me there is just to much historical interest to be satisfied with something that barely looks the part. The temptation to sit down and build a longship board by board is very strong, but time is short (especially since I just started college again, fourth time is the charm) so it looks like Gripping Beast is the winner by a huge amount and I'll be sending some dollars their way when the tax refund arrives. Oh and here is the link to the museum in Denmark just in case you need to see what a viking longship probably looked like: http://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/en/

Railroad Prototype Photos - Derelict Crane Car

2012-02-12T20:57:00.001-07:00

Well, as it usually happens during the convention season, my railroad model activities drop way off. But I was going through pictures today and I thought this car in particular was very cool, so I'm posting it as something a little different from what I have been showing off lately. I think this belongs to the Union Pacific Railroad. Check the RR prototype album for more pictures.

Genghis Con XXXIII Painting Conference and Competition - What the heck is it?

2012-02-10T08:26:00.000-07:00

As some of you know or have figured out I organize (and crack the whip) the Painting Conference and Competition at two conventions; Genghis Con and Tacticon. Genghis Con is next week. We will be running 30 painting classes running the gamut of basic to advanced painting, composition, color theory, basing and even army painting. My slaves...er instructors deserve a huge thank you for the time and effort they put in. This year the following folks will be spilling forth everything they know about painting: Bob Crum (Rookie!), Jen Kaufman (who also picks up the pieces after me, and is the power behind the throne), Derek Matthews (returning for a 2nd appearance), Colin Monnes, Michael Proctor (getting better and better every time I see his work), Torin Reed, Andy Still, Lili Troy (two time slayer sword winner), Kirk Troy and Bianca Weeda. And a special thanks to my guest of honor Marike Reimer (first winner of the Crystal Brush competition).

And of course there are the folks providing product for the painting classes and for prizes:
Reaper Miniatures http://www.reapermini.com/ (Paints and Minis! What more can you ask for!)
JMD Miniatures: http://www.jmd-miniatures.com/ (Providing support all the way from France. Jean-Marie does awesome work and provides excellent service, definitely take a look at his work)
Iron Wind Metals: http://ironwindmetals.com/d/ (Providing a ton of miniatures for prizes and gift certificates, not only do they produce new miniatures but they own and produce most of the old Ral Partha miniatures)
Total Escape Games http://www.totalescapegames.com/ (One of our local FLGSs that is really coming through when I needed it, supporting the new Silver Star Competition for 15mm WWII miniatures)
Secret Weapon Miniatures http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/ (Providing washes, pigments, scenery kits, resin bases, really coming through with prizes and sending Grab Bags too!)
Forged in Battle http://www.forgedinbattle.com/ (Another company stepping up to provide support for the Silver Star competition, beautiful 15mm vehicles and miniatures)
Dick Blick http://www.dickblick.com/stores/ (My favorite source for brushes, and that's what they are sending, a ton of brushes. Without this tool, well we couldn't paint!)
Scibor's Monstrous Miniatures http://sciborminiatures.com/ (Another overseas company coming through with prize support. Their first time supporting the convention so definitely check out their fabulous line of resin miniatures)
DGS Games http://www.dgsgames.com/ (What can I say, I asked and Mike delivered, really sweet line of fantasy miniatures and expanding! They will be running games at the convention showing off their miniatures and their rules)

I really could not put on this show without my instructors and the support of manufacturers like these. Please check out their links and if you like what you see definitely pick something up from these companies, they all produce high quality miniatures from 15mm to 54mm and larger, in metal and in resin. I guarantee that you will see something you can't live without (come on you can't participate in this hobby without paint brushes!).

New Toys! 6x6 Rapid Assault Vehicle by Secret Weapon Miniatures

2012-02-10T00:29:00.000-07:00

I'm not really going to review this kit right now. I just wanted to gloat that I got not one but two of these puppies delivered by USPS just yesterday. I have some pictures here but if you really want to see what you can do with this baby then check out the blog for dwartist at: http://dwartist.blogspot.com/2012/02/6x6-travesty-i-know.html . Its his fault that I have these right now, right before the convention, right when I'm working on competition pieces. Hence why these beauty's are still in the bags. If you just can't wait to buy them then go direct to Secret Weapon Miniatures at: http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/ and Justin can hook you up. Although to be fair, Secret Weapon does encourage you to buy from your FLGS first, so check there and then order from Justin.

Review - Trench; A History of Trench Warfare on the Western Front by Stephen Bull

2012-02-08T13:49:00.001-07:00

I’m not really sure what I was expecting with this book, butit came through in flying colors. A well detailed look at life in the trenchesduring WWI. It covers the men, the trenches, the weapons and the machines thatwere part of the “empty battlefield” of WWI. Definitely not a dry read, it is well written and brings to you a good overall sense of what was going on duringthe trench warfare period. How new weapons and tactics were developed to breakthe static warfare from 1915 – 1917 and interspersed with actual accounts of menthat were. It is filled with pictures and diagrams and an excellent bibliography that will help you really dig deep into the subject if you so desire. It even covers how thetrenches were constructed and how they developed and evolved over this period. How they were used and in the end how the war moved from the trenches and back to the mobile battlefield. You can see the early stages of tactics used in WWII being developed in the trenches of WWI. A great book, a must have for the library.

Review - 1-48 Combat Buildings - Baueda Wargames

2012-02-05T12:12:00.001-07:00

I recently became intrigue by the 1-48 Combat game and elected to pick up the Russian and German Starter kits, a couple of extra miniatures and the new 1/48th scale module buildings. At the time the buildings are what really interested me. Like many projects these received that first glance of very cool, and then set aside. This morning I pulled them out to take a good hard look at them.

First off overall these are great looking buildings. The resin holds detail great and there are very few imperfections in the castings. There are pictures of all the castings in the 1-48 Gallery.

First up is the Ruined Factory Office Block Module 1. This is a great little building. The castings are nice and crisp although there is a pretty big chunk of "sprue" to removed at the bottom of each piece. It comes with three walls and a floor piece. The mold line runs along the edges and is obvious enough that it will have to be removed.The walls really line up with the floor piece very well and will definitely add to the sturdiness of the building when its assembled. The windows are wide open on this casting and there are openings for doors but there are no doors provided. The website says that a doors and windows pack will be coming in the future but I'll go ahead and scratchbuild my own for now. This is a terrific little building but I would have like to have had four walls to work with.

Next is the Ruined Factory Office Block Module 2. This is the physically most impressive of the two buildings. Again the castings were great, although there is going to be a considerable amount of work to removed the "sprues", these run the full length of the bottom of piece and it will take a razor saw to remove them. Not a big deal with you are looking at the size of the castings but its going to require some attention to make sure you are not removing the bottom part of the building as you cut through it. Definitely cast in a two piece mold with the mold line running around the outside edges of the wall. Easily cleaned up but it does cross through a lot of brick detail so will require a little care to remove. Its a significant mold line so it will have to be removed. The two story side section on the buildings left was slightly warped. I'm not sure how to approach this yet. Pressing fitting it together showed that I could exert enough pressure to get it to straighten out. I may take a hair dryer and heat it up and see if I can remove the warp that way or pin it and use epoxy and clamps to get it into place. This was the only piece that was warped. The building details don't quite match up at the corners, a little irritating for me as I intend to use it for a diorama so its going to take some extra work. All the ground floor windows and doors are closed. Opening them up is going to take some serious effort because of the thickness of the resin. If you are using it for a gaming terrain piece its just fine the way it is. The building fits together well and its definitely sturdy. I am a bit confused that you can create a room that you have no access to if you glue the back wall into place and use the full width of the floor piece for the second floor. It also would have been nice if they building came with a floor like the first module did. Still I like this piece and it has definite conversion possibilities. Major surgery isn't going to be easy with the thickness of the resin for this one so plan ahead and make your cuts count.

Baueda calls these modules, and you can certainly get several of each and put them next to each other and they will look like they should be next to each other or part of the same building. It would be nice if the door and window set had been released with these buildings. They are the first 1/48th scale buildings I have purchased and I won't hesitate to purchase a few more of these modules in the future. I'm also looking forward to future releases in the series.

Review - Primer - Vallejo Grey

2012-02-04T12:48:00.002-07:00

For years my favorite primer was the old Floquil Grey spray. I have probably been using it since the early 80's. Its pretty hard for me to find now and I'm fairly certain that the formula has been changed a bit since they were purchased by Testors. I was in one of my FLGSs and they actually had the Vallejo Spray Primers. I grabbed my favorite (grey, yes I'm a grey primer cultist). And I just had my first chance to use it this morning. About all I can say is WOW. The stuff was really expensive but it laid down such a nice thin, smooth coat that I think it was worth every penny. Yes, I know lots of you use cheap primers, automotive primers whatever gets you the most bang for the buck. Those are all fine choices if you are just painting gaming miniatures, I use those for gaming miniatures but when you are painting a competition piece then primer does make a difference. A good basecoat of primer really goes a long way in laying down those smooth coats of paint that you need when working on a competition piece. So looks like the Vallejo Grey is a winner in my book.

Odd pictures today. The vertical bars you are seeing is from having CFLs to close but I was having a hard time with light this morning so this is what I ended up with.

Review - Imperial Armour Model Masterclass Vol 1 - Forgeworld

2012-02-03T23:14:00.000-07:00

I have a fair number of armor modeling books, but there are only a few that I turn to again and again. The first is Sheperd Paine's How to Build Dioramas and the second is Imperial Armour Model Masterclass. I'm not sure where the F.A.Q. books will end up just yet (and I did manage to acquire FAQ 1 this week) in my reference library but the Forgeworld book is always at my fingertips. Lots of pictures and a large amount of step by step, beginning to end type of direction. The pictures are excellent the writing is concise and to the point. It covers most of the major modeling techniques (it does not cover the salt and hairspray techniques) but there are a couple of sections that are not covered in enough depth, like the section on winter camouflage and the aircraft sections. But overall its an excellent book, I keep it close at hand and I'm would love to see Vol 2 actually written at some point.

Review - Masterclass Scenics: Mud & Water Bundle - Secret Weapon Miniatures

2012-02-03T12:51:00.000-07:00

I think, like many modelers, I have a tendency to buy something, get it, oh and ah over it and then stick it in a drawer and forget about it. Well as I finished up my WWI US Marines I was thinking about how to base them and I remembered that I had ordered the Masterclass: Mud and Water Bundle from Secret Weapon Miniatures. It comes with three jars of pigments; Dark Earth, Terracotta Earth and Clay Brown, a bottle of Woodland Scenics Realistic Water, a small ziplock of plaster and a small ziplock of finely ground sand. I compared the pigments to my selection of MIG Pigments and quite frankly they look about the same to me. Its just hard to tell what brand is more finely ground. Everything you can do with MIG and AK Interactive pigments you should be able to do with the Secret Weapon pigments. So there is another tool for your arsenal and they are $1 cheaper and come in the same 20ml quantity. The instructions were pretty brief however if you have made mud before for modeling then the process is the same, you are just adding volume with the plaster instead of acrylic resin. The addition of the Woodland Scenics Realistic Water to the mixture though adds a nice touch to the dry mud and it can be used to fill those small hollows in the base where water may have collected. The instructions do refer you to his tutorial on the website which is quite well done and comes with pictures and a step by step guide on how to make and apply the mud to achieve the best affect. I'm pretty pleased with my bases although they came out a bit redder than I anticipated. What you are really getting is everything you need to make mud in one package and an alternative source of weathering pigments. I think its a pretty darn good deal. Justin has a number of other kits on the Secret Weapon Miniatures site along with various tutorials so its pretty hard to go wrong. You can find these at some stores like Total Escape Games here in Colorado and of course on his website (although he does encourage you to support your local retailer). I have his site listed in my links but here is the link again; Secret Weapon Miniatures
Here is a picture I swiped from the Secret Weapon site showing a base created with the Mud and Water bundle.

Chateau Thierry & Belleau Wood 1918 - Osprey Campaign

2012-02-03T12:24:00.001-07:00

I had only glanced through this book to this point so when I flew out to Kansas City I grabbed this one to read on the plane. As far as quick concise guide to the battle and the events leading up to that battle (on both sides of the line) this is a great book. I found myself frequently frustrated when consulting the maps though. There are two or three key hills that are featured in the battle and mentioned in the book. However, those hills are not pointed out on any of the maps. Since they are key terrain features it would have been nice to actually see where they were on the battlefield so you could better see the impact these features had on the battle. Otherwise an excellent book to get a an overview of the battle and how it progressed.

WWI US Marines finished for now

2012-02-03T11:10:00.001-07:00

So I did actually get my Marines finished before I left on my business trip. I just didn't have time to take and post pictures. I'm unhappy with the Army Painter Matte Spray this time around. The miniatures came out semi-gloss rather than a nice matte finish as well as some white specks in some places. So that will have to be redone. I also forgot how much matte spray kills highlights so I may go in and re-apply some highlights. There are of course some things I missed even in the touch up round so I may go back in and touch up a second time. For now though they are finished and should look good on the table. I'm still not sure about mixing the Brigade Games miniatures with the Great War Miniatures but I should have enough to create platoons that consist of just a single brand if one or the other. So a few group shots here and more close ups in the gallery.

Another self-created travel nightmare

2012-02-01T23:15:00.000-07:00

I have traveled on a semi-regular basis for the last three years or so and in my new position I expect to be traveling even more than I did before. I can't remember the last time I had a business trip go smoothly. Case in point for tonight. I went to the bank and used the drive through bay. I was taking money out so I put in the withdrawal slip and my drivers license. Get money, don't think about it and off I go. Nine hours later I'm at the airport in the security line and realize I don't have my license. After three treks to my car (yes, I could have done that better) I find out that you don't actually have to have an a government issued ID to get through the security line. In this case my rail/bus pass (that has a picture on it) and my credit card and I was through security. I'm in the air and half way to my destination I realize that I won't be able to pick up my rental car because I don't have my license. Fortunately I know, by chance on a morning conference call, that my boss is coming in from NY after me. No need to panic. So a day of meetings and back to the airport, which I hope will allow me to pull the same trick that I did coming out, one photo ID and a credit card. Otherwise its going to be a very long walk home. What have I learned? Not to panic and go ballistic it never helps, clear thinking will get you through every time. Oh and what did I do during those nine hours? I finished off the first platoon of Marines, just didn't get them photographed.

Wargaming? Are you some kind of warmonger?

2012-01-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

I have at various times been accused of being a warmongerbecause I like to play wargames or perhaps more politically correct militarysimulations. I really think liking or disliking war itself has nothing to dowith it my enjoyment of playing these types of games. I don’t like war, I’m nota veteran, I have not had someone shoot at me. I don’t know what’s like to hearthe scream of an artillery shell coming, followed by an explosion that rocksthe ground around me. I may not agree with my government’s decision to go towar but I will always support the brave men and women who have volunteered todo just that when so commanded. None of that has anything to do playingwargames, whether it’s a board game or with miniatures.

I play because I like history, I like the challenge ofseeing whether I can do better or something different that brings me a victoryon our cloth covered fields of battle. There is no noise, there is no bloodspilled, at the end of the game counters go back in the box or troops go backinto their storage trays ready for my next foray into the desertof North Africa, the fields of France or theislands of the Pacific. Mostly it’s the history that I enjoy, researchinguniforms and orders of battle. I like to dive deep, to discern thecauses of a given conflict or action to give a bit more meaning to the actionsI have chosen to recreate. I love to paint miniatures and the research thatgoes along with that. At times there is frustration with that kind of research liketrying to get any information on the flags used by Denmark during their periodof heavy involvement in the thirty years war (at which time I found out that thebest information on Danish flags from that period was in Swedish museums). I can’teven count the numbers of troops I have painted over the course of 30 years butit has to be pushing close to 10,000 when I think about the armies that I havebought, painted, sold and started over again.

Although I have not served myself, I am a Marine Corps bratand probably spent more time in the base hospital at Camp Pendletonthan your average Marine. My father was a Marine Corps Officer and I was but asignature away at one point of joining. My oldest son’s best friend is aMarine, my girlfriend’s oldest son is a Marine. I have friends andacquaintances that were in the Marines, the Army, the Navy and the Airforce(the one that served in a boomer is a little weird though ;-) ). A number ofthem served in Vietnam, Panama, the Gulf War, Somalia,Afghanistan and Iraq. I havenot lost a friend in combat though and I hope not to. I have three great unclesthat served in WWII, one in the First Armored Division in North Africa and Italy. Anotherwas in the 8^th Air Force, 390^th Heavy Bombardment Groupflying into Germanyin the nose of a B-17 as a bombardier. The youngest was in an infantry divisionin the Pacific and fought and died during the re-invasion of the Philippines.Obviously I only knew two of those uncles, but I have Uncle Stanley’s Wings andUncle Donald’s purple heart. Those are things that remind me that what I do isjust a game and will never be more than a game. I fully appreciate that attimes real people have to put their lives on the line so that I can continue todo what I do. I’m pretty sure that does not make me a warmonger.

New Book! - "F.A.Q. 2"

2012-01-27T08:00:00.002-07:00

Mig Jimenez's newest book found its way to my door yesterday! Fortunately it is the English version so I can read it. I haven't actually read it yet, but I have flipped through it and looked at all the pretty pictures, stunning! There are a lot of new techniques and variations on old techniques and I'm pretty excited by trying to make some of this stuff work on my 15mm tanks. Not everything translates well from the bigger scales down but I should be able to make enough of it work to improve the looks of all my armor. I think I'm going to strip down a unit of my DAK force just to try them out (not the Pz IIIs, I'm thinking a platoon of my Aufklarungs that are mounted in 7 SdKfz 250/1). I would really like to get my hands on F.A.Q.1 but those just go for outrageous sums on eBay right now. Oh, and the cool bit. I guess because I pre-ordered mine (and long enough ago that I couldn't figure out why I had received a package from AK Interactive) my copy is signed. This is going to go along just great with my copy of "Imperial Armour Model Masterclass Vol 1" (will there ever be a Vol 2?).
I found a really good review of the book over at Armorama: FAQ 2 Review

Genghis Con XXXIII Painting Competitions

2012-01-26T14:16:00.001-07:00

One of my convention activities at Genghis Con is coordinating the Painting Conference and Competition. Through a bit of mis-communication an old version of the event went into the program. So I figured I would at least get the record straight on one place. The CMPA is actually running two competitions but you only need to enter once and qualifying entries will be considered for the appropriate awards in both.

First is our standard medal competition. In this five judges review your entries in a category. They decide which piece they consider to be the best (so if you enter 3 figures in Single Historical/Modern only one will be judged, if you also enter a miniature in another category then it would be considered for that category) and then it will be scored from 0-4 by edge judge. We throw out the high and the low score and add the other three to determine what medal you will get; Gold, Silver or Bronze, or didn't place. This allows us to reward all the entries not just the top three. This is done for each category. Then using a trophy judging style the best miniature is selected from each category and from there a Best of Show is determined.

The second competition is exclusively for 15mm WWII miniatures and is called the Silver Star. Similar to Battlefront's Iron Cross but you can enter miniatures by any manufacturer.

There is a third competition being handled by LEG just for armies. Minimum of 30 "stands" and six "units" will get you into this competition. You must enter this separately though and it is being held in a different room.

Here are your categories for the main competition:

Fantasy Single Figure

Science Fiction Single Figure

Historical/Modern Single Figure

Machine of War

Large Figure/Large Monster (54mm+, includes busts)

Vehicle Unit

Non-Vehicle Unit

Dioramas/Vignettes

Juniors (Under 16)

Masterclass (painters that have won previous Best of Show awards)

The Big Awards

Best Competition (awarded to the best non-masterclass miniature, may also win Best in Show)

Best Mongol Miniature Theme (may also win Best in Show)

Best of Show

The Silver Star 15mm WWII competition

Best Tank

Best Objective Marker

Best Gun Team/Stand

Best Infantry Team/Stand

Best Platoon (vehicle, artillery, or infantry, minimum threevehicles or stands)

Best Hero

The Big Award

Best of Show 15mm WWII

WWI US Marines - Painting Sessions 4 & 5

2012-01-26T00:40:00.000-07:00

I worked at home last night on these Marines and they traveled with me to Troll Country Games tonight. I painted while the rest of the group played Flames of War (Finns vs Americans). These are getting close to being done, just some small details to pick out and then the inevitable touch ups. I discovered that I'm out of the style of bases that I want to use so I'm going to have to order some tomorrow. That will probably set me back a bit on getting to that ready to play with toy soldiers point. So here is a group shot and the rest are in the WWI gallery (which is getting quite full at this point).

"Fix Bayonets!" - John William Thomason

2012-01-25T10:53:00.004-07:00

A career Marine who started off as a second lieutenant inWWI, Thomason used his own experiences in Europe and China to really bring thiscollection of short stories to life. It was a great escape after reading allthe hard core non-fiction that has occupied my time lately. Despite being writtenover 80 years ago this book still stands up to anything being written today.Filled with Thomason’s own fantastic illustrations, this is one of those booksI had a hard time putting down. It is going to be one of those books that Iread over and over again. You really can’t go wrong with this one. I’m not sureif there is an addition still in print but I had no problem finding a usedcopy.

"Fortifications of the Western Front 1914-1918" - Paddy Griffith

2012-01-24T13:05:00.002-07:00

I just finished reading my newly arrived copy of “Fortificationsof the Western Front 1914-1918” by Osprey, part of their Fortress series. Thisone got into the detail I was really looking for as far as how and why trencheswere constructed and what their role on the battlefield was during this period.Well written and with pictures, original diagrams and drawings this one willgive me a good start on building trench terrain for my foray into the Great Warperiod. If you are giving thought on building a trench system for any periodfrom WWI up this is an excellent resource.

The League of Extraordinary Gamers and Genghis Con XXXIII

2012-01-23T12:09:00.002-07:00

Genghis Con will take place February 16^th – 19^that the Red Lion Hotel in Aurora Colorado. This convention is run by the DenverGamers Association (DGA) a not-for-profit group established in 1978 to hostgame conventions in the Denver Metro area. Genghis Con is the oldest of the twoconventions, the other being Tacticon which was established in 1987. GenghisCon attracts 1600 – 1700 individual gamers over Presidents’ Day weekend, Tacticon attracts 800 – 900 individualgamers over the Labor Day weekend. You can find the DGA website here: Genghis Con

LEG members will be running 8 separate events this year andwe are looking forward to a fine turnout of folks. Here are the games that weare running for this convention:

3018 Tyrant’s End Game – GW Man ‘o War hosted by Ian Darley

Saturday 2pm – 6pm

4001 Here Kitty, Kitty – Street Pigs Historical (Homebrew)by Bill Kehrman

Friday 7pm – 11pm

4005 Dark Age Siege – Modified The Sword and The Flame byJeff Kohnke and John Rames

Sun 9am – 1pm

4006 Utrinque Paratus Ready for Anything pt 1 – Force onForce by Nick Johnson

Friday 7pm – 9pm

Saturday 2pm – 4pm

Saturday 4pm – 6pm

Saturday 7pm – 9pm

4007 Utrinque Paratus Ready for Anything pt 2 – Force onForce by Nick Johnson

Sunday 11am – 1pm

Sunday 2pm – 4pm

4011 LaSalle 15mm Tournament – LaSalle Napoleonics – Lee Schultzand Rob Graham

Saturday 8:30am – 5:30pm

4031 Historical Army Painting Competition – Patrick Synnott,Scott Merrifield, John Rames

Saturday Entries Accepted 9am – 5:30pm, Judging at 5:30pm (Minimum 30 stands and 6 units)

4035 Vietnam15mm Tournament – Flames of War Vietnam– Robert Farallo and Drew Sizemore

Sunday 9am – 6pm

I look forward to seeing miniature games surrounded by happy gamers!

WWI US Marines - Painting Session 3

2012-01-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

So with one competition mini going for a stripping bath I figured I could work on the other two. I promptly found mold lines on both of those. Since the skin work was basically done at this point I didn't want to strip them so I carefully cleaned them up and will re-prime by hand when I get home. That means the Marines got a lot more attention today than they normally would have. So basic uniforms and coats are finished and I have laid in the dark layer for the webbing and other gear, which is fortunately all the same color. The first wash shade was applied as well and I'll build up to the lighter color from there. So one shot here and the rest in the gallery.

Paint Transport for the Pack Rat

2012-01-22T18:12:00.002-07:00

I am a self acknowledged pack rat and I like to have my stuff with me. I regular pack up my paints 2 or 3 times a week and paint at the local FLGS or at friends' houses. Although I have a container that holds my "ready" paints. I hate to be in a situation where I don't have something that I need. I have tried various snap tite containers over the last couple of years and overall they are pretty good. But they haven't held up to the constant transport abuse like I hoped they would. To that end I keep an eye out for something to supplement them with. Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Lowes and Home Dept are the usually culprits and the scrap booking and tool box sections are usually where I end up. Back in November I struck gold at Hobby Lobby. A transport designed for scrapbooking that was twice as wide as the ones I usually find. The interior compartment was deep and was sectioned off with compartments but closer examination showed that these were velcroed in place and could be removed. Three compartments on the outside and wheels with a collapsible handle sealed the deal. The price tag $130.00. Pretty rich for my blood, but then if you sign up for Hobby Lobby email alerts you get coupons for 40% off on a regular basis right to your email. So one month later this baby was mine. It has served very well and I have it packed full. Since its designed for a hobby that deals with paper its pretty sturdy and it looks like its going to hold up to my abuse for a long time. So here are the pics of the thing loaded down, including a shot of everything I'm currently carrying in the main compartment. It will be doubling as a troop transport when that need arises.

Yes, I know, the palette needs to be cleaned.

Here is the bag of holding shot. Three of the large snap tite cases, three of the medium snap tite cases, my Ott Light, a box of Vallejo Washes, a ziplock bag full of steel wool, six bags of Old Glory WWI Miniatures, one little box of Brigade Games WWI Miniatures, two Osprey Reference books and three Battlefront Flames of War books (because I keep forgetting they are in there). Not inside the box were the two sets of keys, the sunglasses, the newspapers or the dining room table.

There is always one

2012-01-22T10:35:00.003-07:00

So I'm working on three competition miniatures for Genghis Con XXXIII coming up in mid February (16-19th). One of the three is already being stripped back to the bare pewter. There always seems to be one that I have to do this to before a competition.

And if that wasn't enough - Marine reinforcements arrive

2012-01-20T11:57:00.002-07:00

I finally got the heavy weapons from Old Glory. 75mm French Gun (x2), Lt Trench Mortars, Hvy Trench Mortars and 37mm Guns. Right now that should wrap up all the purchases I need to make for the Marines. With the con only a few weeks away though I have set all of this to the side so I can get moving on my competition pieces.

World War I titles that I "Need"

2012-01-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

I was going through the scuttlebutt website last night and jotting down books that I would like to acquire. Mostly because I am a bit obsessive about a subject when I really get into it. Most of these focus on the US Marines but a fair number are about the 2nd Division as a whole. It would be nice to get my hands on one or two issues of the "Indian" the 2nd Division's newsletter as well.
Some of these I'm not likely to ever acquire as they are rare, out of print books although some have been reprinted in various forms over the years. Anyway onward we go:

Through the Wheat – Boyd, Thomas

When the Tide Turned – Kahn, Otto H

With the Help of God and a Few Marines – Catlin, A.W.

Devil Dogs; Fighting Marines of WWI – Clark, George B

And They Thought We Wouldn’t Fight – Gibbons, Floyd

Belleau Wood and theAmerican Army – Andrait, R (Captain)

At Belleau Wood with Rifle and Sketchpad – Linn, Louis C

Suddenly We Didn’t want to Die - Mackin, Elton E

Company K – March (Campbell), William

One Man’s War; the Diary of a Leatherneck – Rendinell, JF & George Pattullo

God have Mercy on Us – Canlon, William

2^nd Division Summary of Operations in the WorldWar

The Second Infantry Division in WWI – Clark, George B

The Second Division - Harradan, C Gordon & Raymond Stedman

The Second Division – Spaulding, Oliver Lyman & JohnWomack Wright

WWI US Marines - Painting Session 2

2012-01-19T23:10:00.001-07:00

Well getting to paint two days in a row is quite a treat although there will be a lot more of that as the convention draws nearer. Today I finished the skin (for the most part), painted in the eyes (apparently I'm a bit out of practice) and got the mid tone down for the uniform. I have seen uniforms online and of course have several Osprey references and nothing really looked right. I have heard that the USMC Forest Green was quite close to the German Feldgrau so I mixed 50/50 Feldgrau with a Dark Olive. Its not as dark as I have seen it in photographs (although the film processing can account for that) but I think it will do. It will change a bit anyway as I add the shadows and highlights. One shot here and the rest in the gallery.

"The Devil Dogs at Belleau Wood"

2012-01-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

The Devil Dogs at Belleau Wood;Us Marines in World War I by Dick Camp

This book falls somewhere in between “At Belleau Wood” and a“His Time in Hell”. A shorter larger format book concentrating more on thecompany level and sprinkled with many personal observations by the men that foughtthere. Unlike the other two books this one deals only with the actions leadingup to and going through the action at Belleau Wood.It is packed with photographs and maps of Belleau Wood,exactly the kind of information that I have been looking for. It’s a very good quick read that covers the battle succinctly without wandering into the issuesof command or going to deep into the personal experience. Another good one forthe collection! This will be my main reference when I starting building a section of modular terrain boards to represent the difficult terrain at Belleau Wood, not an exact replica but something that will give the right feel to play a game over.

Lord of the Rings - Rangers of the North

2012-01-19T00:03:00.001-07:00

So here is the beginning of my Lord of the Rings Army; a bunch of old metal Rangers of the North. They were nearby when I took pictures of the Marines so I figured I may as well get them up in their own gallery. Right now I'm unhappy with the sculpts, and unhappy with the paint work. It could be that they are just in that ugly stage but I think the greenish grey tunics are just not working out for me at all. Anyway, one shot here and the rest in the gallery.

Finally Started the WWI US Marines - Painting Session 1

2012-01-18T23:54:00.003-07:00

Was out at the FLGS tonight painting while the rest of the group was playing the old GW Man of War game. I was working on these Marines as well as my competition pieces. To my chagrin the primer fuzzed on one of the competition pieces so I was done from three to two for the evening and figured I would just practice on the Marines instead. The Marines are a mix of the Brigade Games miniatures and the Great War Miniatures. I'm thinking that the size difference is to much and they will have to be in separate units. The competition piece will need to be stripped down and re-primed, hopefully I will do a better job the next time around. So here is a shot of the Marines and the rest are in the new WWI gallery.

Another Boxcar Ready

2012-01-17T23:09:00.000-07:00

I managed to get a little bit done tonight. My competition pieces for Genghis Con are ready for primer now. One of them gave me a bit of trouble tonight, but a little green stuff went along way tonight. Since they are competition pieces though I won't be putting them up on the blog just yet. The Marines are also ready to be primed as they will be my "let's relax" stuff. What I really got done was another freight car for the railroad. Again I think I'm going to go back and add some more weathering, it just feels like to light a hand again. Maybe once I get track up and running and a structure or two I'll feel better about how they look.

"At Belleau Wood" - Robert B Asprey

2012-01-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

I finished this one up at lunch today. Definitely a different perspective on the battle as this is told more from the battalion and regimental level rather than the single man perspective. Definitely pinpoints the confusion created by the inability of the commanding officers to directly observe or get information on what is happening to the units under their command. An excellent book that does not pull punches when talking about mistakes made by those in charge, in fact some information is referenced from another book "Second Division Northwest of Chateau Thierry, 1 June - 10 July, 1918" by John Thomason. Thomason, called the Rudyard Kipling of the Marine Corps, had written about those issues and faults and the army refused to publish his manuscript after the war. His manuscript was published after "At Belleau Wood" was published by Robert B Asprey. Asprey's work is well documented and well written. It touches a bit on the issues of the common soldier in the battle but is definitely geared towards how the battle was handled at the battalion and regimental level with glimpses down to the company level. An most excellent book for those wanting to learn more about this battle. This is another one you can find used all of the place; Amazon, Alibris and Abebooks to name just a few online sources.

"His Time in Hell: A Texas Marine in France" - Warren R Jackson

2012-01-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

I finished this book off on the train ride home on Friday (1/13/2012). Its a very interesting first hand description of life in the Marine Corps during WWI. They believe that Jackson wrote the manuscript in the 20s and it some how found its way into a special collection of American History at the University of Texas in Austin. There it was found by Marine Corps Historian George B Clark who edited it for publication. His editing hand is pretty light so you really are getting the story as told by Warren Jackson. An excellent example of a man that volunteered in the first rush to join the war and his journey through the armistice. This is a great book for getting a feel of what it was like to fight in the Great War, the ceaseless artillery bombardments, the machinegun fire, the hunger and the seemingly endless marching from one spot to another without knowing where you were or why you were there. Jackson may have been unique, he participated in every major action that was fought by the 4th Brigade, 6th Marine Regiment as part of the 2nd US division. I found a used copy at Amazon for a very good price and highly recommend this book.

Bitter Taste of Defeat - Packers Lose

2012-01-16T07:37:00.001-07:00

All I can say at this point is hats off to the Giants for a good game plan and that the Packers seriously need to fix their defense for next season. Now on to hockey and the Avalanche.

Dogs - Here are the Pyrs

2012-01-14T16:47:00.000-07:00

Babe and Porthos 1996 - 2008
Babe was very good with cats, as she chooses to let the kitten "steal" part of her dog biscuit

In their favorite element Snow! This picture its may be 10 degrees (F) out there and I couldn't coax them inside

Go Packers!

2012-01-13T13:14:00.002-07:00

If the background on my blog here didn't make it obvious let me tell you that I am a Packer fan, I bleed green and gold. Today lunch featured a rather heated discussion today about the upcoming playoff games this weekend. As any diehard football fan knows the Green Bay Packers will be facing off against the NY Giants this weekend. My company's main office is in NY so there has been some good natured trash talk all week. Maybe even more so since I live in the Denver area and the Denver Broncos are not my team (so don't ask me about Tim Tebow, I don't know and I don't care). So why the Packers? Family tradition certainly plays a big part, my family is from Wisconsin. Just as was done with me, I indoctrinated my boys into the Packer fan fraternity at an early age and at one point we could put four generations of Packer fans in front of the TV (sadly we have been down to 3 generations for some time now). It is a franchise with a proud history and expects the members of its organization to be professional at all times, on and off the field. They do not tolerate the inflated egos you see on so many other NFL teams, you play for the team, you represent the team and you win as a team. Perhaps most of all though this is a team that truly belongs to the fans, the proof hangs on the wall in my room, one share of stock in the Green Bay Packers, yes I am part owner of an NFL franchise. So while the players of the Giants trash talk, the Packers are quietly working away on winning the game on Sunday. And they will do it the same way they have all season, throwing the ball, running the ball, and taking advantage of every turnover. I would like to welcome the Giants to playoff football in the Frozen Tundra.

Dogs

2012-01-13T10:19:00.003-07:00

There are days when I just really miss my dogs and for what ever reason this morning was one those times. They both passed away in 2008 within about six months of each other. Right at the top end of the normal lifespan for Great Pyrenees. Babe was a little on the small side, just under 100 pounds and Porthos was kind of in the middle for a male right around 120 pounds. Babe was the bright one, smart as a whip and as willfully definite about things as a Pyr can be. Porthos, well he lived up to his namesake, strong and lovable but a little slow (you can tell because he would instantly obey commands). I had Babe from puppyhood and Porthos was about 18 months when we rescued him. Pyrs are fantastic dogs much longer lived than other larger breeds and I know there will be another but that time just isn't now. They need more attention than I can give right now. So in the meantime there is Sadie, my oldest son's dog. A sweetheart, eager to please, smart, obedient and very loyal. She's a great Frisbee dog but prefers balls and those dumbbell shaped toys. More than anything else she is Calvin's dog. When he is gone from the house she lays down right in the middle of the stairs so she can watch for him through the big bay window.She is a mix; Catahoula Hound (also known as a Leopard dog because of the spots) and Australian Shepherd (I think Blue Heeler). She has light blue eyes and her left eye is marbled with a bit of brown on the top. I'll post pictures of the Pyrs later but here is Sadie:

Carousel Horses and other Creatures

2012-01-13T00:12:00.003-07:00

I know, this looks a little odd when viewed with the other things I do but its fun and definitely not what you would call a mainstream hobby. Basically my Dad carves full size carousel horses as a hobby. Although he is a pretty good carver, his painting skills (and color choices) are a bit lacking. I have painted four of his carvings over the years, the last one was done while they were on vacation somewhere and it was a surprise Father's Day gift waiting for him when they got back. So here is the teaser shot, this is the smallest of the bunch and stands about 18" tall at the shoulder. Check the gallery for the horses.

Painting Competition Selection - Genghis Con

2012-01-12T22:26:00.001-07:00

So while at the FLGS tonight, I was able to go through the box of miniatures that I had been throwing to one side the last month or so. I'm down to three miniatures to work on for the painting competition. This year I'll hit three categories; Single Fantasy (all ways the toughest), Single Historical and Single Figure Vignette. With a little concentrated effort I should be ready to go by the convention in February. A little nose the grindstone work which means other things are going to fall by the wayside for a bit. If I do well with these they may well end up as entries at one other con that I go to that would allow winning entries from another convention to be entered in there. Not something usually allowed by trophy/podium judging competitions but not unusual at all for medal competitions where they want to see your very best work. So its prep time. I'll pick out a unit of my Marines to do as well, I need something that doesn't require the same concentration to relax with after working on the competition pieces.

New Stuff - 1-48 Combat - Baueda Wargames

2012-01-12T17:35:00.003-07:00

I got intrigued by these miniatures over the weekend, mostly because of the release of their new buildings so I decided that I would take a look at them. Decided to order both buildings, the two starter packs and two individuals. I'm on my way to the FLGS to paint tonight so I won't open them till I get there. I'll tease you with pictures for now.

Track Laying has Begun!

2012-01-11T23:23:00.002-07:00

Part of the whole reason for this blog was to try and keep up with my model railroading which had definitely been the poor cousin lately. Well tonight I finished laying the track on one half of the layout. The pictures are awful but at least I accomplished something and the freight cars are rolling through their paces just fine. Maybe tomorrow I'll actually run one of the CF7s!

The Marines have landed!

2012-01-11T22:47:00.003-07:00

I just received an email that the rest of my WWI USMC arrived earlier this week. Hopefully I will have the heavy weapons teams in my hands tomorrow and I'll have even more stuff to prep. Its starting to look a little over whelming at this point.

15mm British Napoleonic Army

2012-01-11T19:50:00.002-07:00

My club (LEG) got heavily into La Salle when it was first released. Right now I'm not so enamored with it but it did give me the opportunity to replace the army that I had sold some time ago. I was experimenting with Old Glory and AB and they are actually mixed within the battalions. Despite the Old Glory tendency of over exaggerated poses I think I prefer them in the long run over the ABs. At 15mm the sculpting quality is just not visible on the gaming table and the price for Old Glory and not having to order half a dozen codes to get what I want has won me over. My original British army was Minifig and yes, Heritage. I can see why I got halted from finishing this army up. I believe I was waiting for the flags to arrive from GMB and then I ran out of the pike staffs I was using for the standards. So another project that needs to be completed. I think I only have one more unit of infantry to finish plus all the cavalry and artillery, not to mention Portuguese and Brunswick allies. Although I have to admit I'm still not sure where the Brunswickers fought in the Penninsula. Anyway here are a couple of shots to warm you up and the rest are in the Napoleonic Gallery.

15mm ACW Union Army

2012-01-10T23:08:00.002-07:00

This is the army that I have closest to being finished. Its more or less supposed to represent the 1st Division of V Corps at the Battle of Gettysburg. As you can see some command stands are still missing their flags and I'm actually short of command stands at this point as well. I have plenty of artillery and there is a box full of unpainted Peter Pig cavalry that I need to get to as well. Most of the generals and game markers need to be redone, well at least the generals will get redone. I need enough for a mounted general for each brigade, at least one division general and I'll probably even add the corps general even though they have no effect in Fire and Fury Regimental, they are important in the original Fire and Fury which is brigade level. For the sharp sighted among you, yes I am using steel pikes as flag staffs. They won't bend but they are wicked sharp at the point and I have drawn blood a time or two. Really I could probably finish this up in a week or so if I really sat down and did it. I'm anxious to get to the Peter Pig stuff as I have never painted it before. So a few pictures here and then the rest in the ACW 15mm gallery

Roller Hockey!

2012-01-10T08:32:00.003-07:00

Just received the email, my Roller Hockey league starts back up on 1/23! I haven't played since November and I really need to get the skates on and hit somebody. Okay, technically its a non-checking league but there is still a lot of "incidental" contact going on out there. I love the price and the people that play at Skate City but its certainly my least favorite rink to play at. There are no boards as such just a wall on one side and concrete blocks on the other. On top of that there aren't exactly doors that you can close at the three openings along that concrete wall. You have to be paying attention to where you are on that side. I'm not a great player by any means more of a middle of the pack kind of guy.

Tournament season will be starting up at the end of this month as well. We get to play at a real rink usually in Colorado Springs, just imagine a hockey rink with no ice and you have a roller hockey rink although the rules are a little different. We only have four skaters and a goalie and there is no offsides at the blue line. Obviously a bit slower than playing on ice but a heck of a lot cheaper! Typically a tournament is played during a single day and we are guaranteed to play 3 games and if we make the cut then we could be playing upwards of 2 more. If you are lucky you will get a one game break but on occasion we have played back to back games which is really tough on the legs. I'm totally exhausted at the end of one of these marathons. Although my group has never taken first we have picked off the occasional second and third place which is a real feat when you have me skating! That's me #48 at one of our tournament games. Looks like I lost that face off from the direction everyone is looking.

Colorado Miniature Painting Alliance (CMPA) January Meeting

2012-01-09T23:05:00.000-07:00

On the off chance that some of my Colorado painters are reading this or if you are just looking for a group to paint with this coming Saturday 1/14/2012 is our regular second Saturday of the month meeting. We will be meeting at Dark Matter Games: 1050 South Wadsworth Boulevard, Lakewood, CO 80226.

I'm sure I will have folks there as early as 10am to get started and we usually paint till 4pm. So bring your current project and come on down and paint. We are a pretty helpful group so if you have questions, are new to painting or need help getting a new technique down please feel free to join us.

Freight Cars and Motive Power

2012-01-09T22:45:00.000-07:00

So tonight I buckled down and got the trucks and couplers mounted on the freight cars that have been mostly finished for about four months. Here is a sample and the rest you can find in the Railroad Model Gallery. I have been practising my weathering techniques and these look okay but I should be able to do better. Fortunately I think that's something I can go back to and redo these first few when I'm ready. I also put up pictures of my CF7s but these are straight from the box. I know what I want to do to this but I'm not confident enough to try it yet (if they were tanks I would be in business).

Adding to the Reference Library; WWI

2012-01-09T14:37:00.001-07:00

I really didn't have much reference material for this period except for a number of Squadron Signal Aircraft Books from our days of playing Blue Max. There were a number of key needs to be filled by these purchases; some kind of guide that could be used for painting, another to provide some idea of how to model the trenches when I get to that part of the project and something to provide a general overall view of the Great War. Of course I was also distracted by the need for something specific to the USMC forces I am building up.

I already owned the following:
Osprey - Battle Orders - The American Expeditionary Forces in World War I
Osprey - Men at Arms - US Marine Corps in World War I 1917-18

And while looking for something else I discovered three more that I had forgot about from last year and I think there is even one more lurking in some dark forgotten corner.
The Somme, The Darkest Hour on the Western Front - Peter Hart
The United States Army Second Division Northwest of Chateau Thierry in World War I - John Thomason (I think I got this one because a friend in the Army claimed that the Marines attacked into Belleau Wood by mistake)
The First World War - John Keegan
1/20/2012 - Found the missing book last night in yet another stack of books in my room:
Miracle at Belleau Wood - Alan Axelrod

Currently on the way:
Osprey - Warrior - US Doughboy 1916 - 19 - Arrived 1/18/2012
Osprey - Fortifications - Fortifications on the Western Front 1914 - 18 - Arrived 1/23/2012
Osprey - Men at Arms - US Army of World War I - Arrived 1/13/2012
Trench; A History of Trench Warfare on the Western Front by Stephen Bull - Arrived 1/18/2012
Fix Bayonets -by John A Thomason (Yes, I did spell that right) - Arrived 1/9/2012
The Devil Dogs of Bellea Wood; US Marines in WWI by Dick Camp - Arrived 1/9/2012
The Great War: Hell's Last Horror by Neil DeMarco - Arrived 1/10/2012

So a bunch of books actually arrived today including some titles that I forgot I ordered. My extensive collection of books has managed to grow again (and it is extensive I estimated that there are probably 500 books in my bedroom alone, and then there is the library in the basement).

So the unexpected arrivals are:
Osprey - Campaign - Chateau Thierry & Belleau Wood 1918
At Belleau Wood - Robert B Asprey
His Time in Hell; a Texas Marine in France - Warren R Jackson

WWI Marines

2012-01-09T07:37:00.000-07:00

It was the first weekend of the football playoffs and with my team scoring a first round bye and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs I didn't have much riding on the games. Saturday was spent doing other things but I spent Sunday hunkered down in front of the TV watching the Giants beat the Falcons and the Broncos beat the Steelers. There is nothing quite as mindless as prepping miniatures so out came the WWI US Marines and the files and off I went. My fingers are still sore from all the filing I did yesterday and I got the mold lines off on just over 100 28mm Brigade Games Marines. Still to come are the Great War Miniatures fill ins. These minis are US Army rather than US Marines but after Belleau Wood there were a lot of Marines dressed in Army gear. Since the US Army was providing all the supplies they refused to bring over replacements for the Marine uniforms and instead issued Army uniforms in replacement. This gave the Marine brigade in the 2nd Division a very mottled look with Marines dressed completely in their forest green uniforms to Marines dressed completely in Army drab and of course all kinds of mismatches in between. The only parts I don't have for this force is the artillery. A friend of mine ordered it but we haven't connected yet to get it into my hands.

Painting for Competition

2012-01-08T10:51:00.002-07:00

I organize the Painting Conference and Competition for both Genghis Con and Tacticon here in Denver Colorado. I have been painting miniatures off and on since I was ten, lets leave it at I have been painting a long time. I am a very good painter, good enough to win medals and trophies but definitely not in the upper echelon of those that win Golden Demons and Slayer Swords (for those that don't know these are the awards from what is currently the most prestigious painting competition held at the various Games Days hosted by Games Workshop). Almost every game convention has a painting competition of some sort. The national conventions; GenCon and Origins both have competitions and Adepticon is now hosting the Crystal Brush Competition (huge cash award). There are other military modeling groups that hold their own competitions as well like MMSI in Chicago.

I have seen the frustration of entrants when their pieces don't do as well as the expect them to yet they never ask why their piece didn't do well and I know some of them go away angry and disappointed thinking that the judges are in league against them. So here are some thoughts on what you can do to improve your work from the perspective of an entrant, a judge and an organizer.

As entrant my best advice is ignore the comments of your friends. Unless your friends are all excellent painters their comments on how great your are don't really mean much (harsh I know but true). If you are thinking of entering at this stage (and I think you should) you should start looking at some of the forums and see the quality of the work that is being shown off online. This is what you are going to be facing in a competition. Don't bring in one of your gaming pieces (even your best gaming piece) to the competition. Odds are that it is showing some use and abuse from your gaming sessions and that is not what you want to show the judges. Pick out something new that you want to paint and give your self plenty of time to paint it (i.e. three days before the event is not enough time), Take the time to clean the miniature, remove all the mold lines, make sure its a good casting (details are crisp and fully molded). Make sure you apply a primer coat that is thin and even. A good primer coat goes a long way towards a quality paint job. If the primer coat is rough then the paint will not go on smooth. Then you can start painting, use your best techniques and I recommend not trying a new technique on a competition piece unless you are sure that you can get it right the first time. For competition pieces I stick to my strengths or only use new techniques that I have been practicing on other miniatures with. And when you are finished, DO NOT apply a dullcote. The application of any type of matte finish will kill your highlights and blend all your careful work into a single color. It will survive without a matte finish for the length of the competition.

Judging is a tough thankless task. You are often under a time limit maybe facing upwards of several hundred entries to get through. There are two distinct judging styles as well; Podium/Trophy judging and Medal judging. Under the trophy judging judges are looking for the best three pieces in each category and are probably working with 2-3 other people and trying to come to a unanimous decision. So the team is first going to eliminate anything that just doesn't measure up. This can sometimes mean that half the entries are eliminated in the first run through of the entries. After that it gets more and more difficult as judges look for the elusive top three. What you need to do to survive here is something that will catch the judges' eyes and keep your piece in contention. A nicely finished base, nice clean paintwork, and unusual miniature will all serve to keep you in the running. In the end though it comes down to who has the fewest number of flaws in their paintwork to get that elusive first place finish.

Medal judging is a whole different process there can be as many as five judges with a couple of alternates involved. In this style the judges will select your best miniature to judge. If you enter three pieces in the single fantasy category the judges will decide, as a group, which one is your best work and that will be the only piece they judge. There are variations to this but in general that's how the selection is made. Then without discussion each judge will give the piece a numeric score from 0 - 4. A tabulator will take the scores, toss the high and low scores and add the remaining three. A score of 11-12 is gold, 8 - 10 is silver, 5 - 7 is bronze and in some competitions 2 - 4 is a certificate of merit. In this type of judging everyone that deserves a gold will get a gold and so on down the line. For this competition you don't need to catch the judges' eyes quite as much as you need to make sure that your miniature has been prepped properly, your paint work is nice and smooth and the techniques you utilized (layering, wet blending, washes, drybrushing, OSL, NMM) are executed to the best of your ability. A nice presentation helps, so don't ignore your base work.

From an organizer's standpoint I want you to enter and enter often. The more miniatures I have in the case the more excitement is generated to see who wins the gold medals. If you don't win a gold then I hope that it inspires you to get better and try again. What I want you to do is to ask questions about what you can do better to get to that next level. My conventions always have painting classes and if you want to try out a new technique like NMM then take the class and see if its something you really want to try. A successful show for me is one where everyone who enters asks a least one question on how to improve and is excited to start a new miniature (or two or three) for the next competition.

Genghis Con is coming up in February so let's get those brushes to work!

Artograph 1520 Spraybooth

2012-01-07T10:29:00.001-07:00

So I have been emailing back and forth with Ken and he is willing to replace the cardboard hood for the Artograph 1520 Spraybooth with galvanized steel. I have a couple of modifications that I would like to make if we are going to build a new hood. First would be an interior light, fluorescent is what I'm thinking with a daylight bulb in it. The other idea is to give it a steel mesh floor or maybe just steel strips running across the bottom so that models aren't sitting directly on the filter. A flat surface to rest models on sitting maybe 1/2" above the filters would be ideal I think. The filters aren't exactly flat and this would help keep everything standing upright while airbrushing. Some holes across the top panel would be good too so that I can hang components from hooks when necessary. So here are the front and side images of the booth as it exists now. I cropped them pretty good because my work area is a complete disaster at the moment:

Tutorial Basic - Battlefront MIG Pigments

2012-01-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

Using Battlefront’s MIG Pigments
To be honest I was surprised that Battlefront introduced MIG Pigments into their paint line. These are primarily used by modelers on just about every type of kit but primarily on display and competition pieces. In most cases these pieces never get the kind of handling that our gaming miniatures are going to get. However, they definitely have some uses on our miniatures and I’ll give you some basics (very basic) on how to use them. Please keep in mind that I am still practicing and learning these techniques as well so if you have better information or another twist to using the pigments feel free to leave a comment or two!

There are several brands of pigments on the market; MIG Productions, AK Interactive and Vallejo being the biggest. There are a number of smaller companies out there making pigments as well. First thing these are not the same as pigments you can make by grinding up pastel chalk and they do behave differently (although some of these techniques may work with chalk if you want to give it try). Most of the model railroad pigments will work using these techniques as well although they don’t tend to be as finely ground as MIG and AK pigments. MIG Pigments and AK Interactive Pigments are almost identical having been developed by the same guy (Mig Jimenez, who started MIG Productions and has since left and is working for AK Interactive now). AK pigments may be ground a little finer than the MIG ones but I haven’t really noticed a difference. I haven’t tried the Vallejo pigments so I can’t help you there. Every place I have tried to order Vallejo from has been out.

Generally pigments are used for weathering affects and are applied after everything else is done. They don’t have to be used just for weathering or applied last but that’s the main way they are used. There are two main techniques; applying dry and applying wet (a wash). Dry pigments are best affixed to a matt surface which gives the pigments a little tooth to hold on to. The dry application works the same as you would use for applying pastel chalks. Spoon a bit of the pigment onto a piece of plastic (a plastic palette is great for this), a little bit will go a long way! Don’t be afraid to use multiple colors to get some different tones on your vehicles either. Using an old brush scrub the pigments onto the surface of your model, concentrate on those areas that would collect mud with darker colors and lighter colors for dust on the upper surfaces. The concrete color in the Battlefront set makes a pretty good dust color. Once on a model pigments can be easily rubbed off with your finger (as a modeling technique) or if you hate what’s going on just wash it off. Like anything else I do I like this technique because I can build up layers till I’m happy. To build up layers though you need to fix the pigment into place, you do this using white or mineral spirits (turpentine is to strong although turpenoid is okay). Load the brush with white/mineral spirits and touch it to the model letting capillary action spread it to all the surfaces. You just want to touch the surface if you try and “paint” it on you will actually create a wash and lose the effect you have created. Once the white/mineral spirit has dried the pigment becomes much harder to remove (although you can still rub it off if you need to) and you can apply another layer or let it be and call it done. You use thinner to help fix the pigment in place (and don’t panic when you apply the thinner and it looks like the pigments have disappeared, they will come back as it drys) instead of a dullcote spray. Spraying dullcote tends to displace the pigments from where you put them tends to make them disappear never to be seen again (something to do with light reflection and the nature of the lacquer in the various types of dullcote I am told). For light gaming these vehicles would be fine but the pigment will still wear off with continued use (and we do like to play with our toys). If you want them to be permanent then you need to use something called “Fixer”. Both MIG and AK make this fixer and I wish I could tell you that there is a substitute but I can’t figure out what this stuff really is. Be sure that everything is the way you want it and then apply the Fixer the same way you apply the white/mineral spirits. If you are going over something you have already fixed in place with the spirits then you don’t have to be quite as careful. Once you have applied this stuff its not coming off unless you strip the entire model.

The other technique is to apply the pigments wet as a wash. A wash can be made using water, white/mineral spirits or alcohol (ISP 90% is best, vodka is not a good choice for this). Washes are better used on glossy surface so that they flow better. You can mix up a wash in a palette or you can create it right on the model. Like you did with the dry technique apply pigments to the model but just drop them into place rather than scrubbing them on. Use darker tones in areas of shadow and lighter tones higher up. Once your pigments are in place load up a clean brush with the thinner of your choice and apply it to the model liberally (paint it on) making sure all the pigments are wet and push and blend the colors on the model into the places you want them. Again wet pigments tend to disappear but will show back up as they dry. You don’t need the “Fixer” for this technique and you can seal it with dullcote (at which point you could then apply the dry technique). The neat thing about the wash technique is that you can “clean up” the model if it gets some place it shouldn’t. Just load up a clean brush with whatever you used as a wash (water, white/mineral spirit, or alcohol) and gently rub it across the surface you need to “clean” you are diluting and wicking up the excess wash from the higher surfaces.

There are other things you can do with pigments, like making cool mud and winter effects. There are a number of youtube videos out there (more than half aren’t worth the time) as well as DVDs by both MIG and AK. I would recommend MIG’s “F.A.Q. 1 Pigment” DVD and AK Interactive’s “Weathering an SdKfz 222 in one hour”. Both MIG and AK have US locations so shipping is not nearly as expensive as it would be from Spain if you want to experiment with other products. Mig Jimenez has an excellent blog where he discusses and shows you a lot of techniques. His is in my list of blogs.

Brigade Games Care Package

2012-01-06T07:21:00.001-07:00

I received one of those heavy little packages in the mail yesterday. Unfortunately I had to go visit my folks and help out in the shop last night as my father had his other knee replaced earlier this week. So I spent some time cutting, straightening and packaging up wire and completely forgot about the package till I got into work this morning. Opened it up and there they were most of the miniatures to finish off my World War I USMC force. They did have to backorder three packs of bombers from Great War Miniatures but I think I have enough to keep me busy now. Of course that also means I need to get moving on the first half of the force which I got just about a year ago.

Charity FOW Tournament

2012-01-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

One of the members of LEG (my gaming club) has a daughter that was diagnosed with leukemia. The club decided to hold a charity FOW tournament to raise some funds to help with the medical bills. This was probably the first time I had played FOW in two years or so. The tournament was late war and of course the only army I have is my DAK mid war army. For the tournament they had to masquerade as the Aufklarungs unit of the Hermann Goering division. Three games later I managed to get completely crushed once, a narrow victory and a narrow defeat. Here are some pictures from the game:

Attacker against the Russians

Defending against the British 7th Armored (Steve would go on to win the tournament)

One of those mutual attack/defend games against the Americans. This is one of the 16 game boards I painted for a La Salle tournament in 2010. Unroll and add buildings and hills and you are good to go.

A quick view of my Hermann Goerring Aufklarungs disguised as DAK troops. There are a couple of proxies in there because no store in the area had the last Wespe I needed and I had to sacrifice a pack of Panzer Lehr troops to get the Panzerschrecks I needed.

The Patch layout design, ATSF

2012-01-05T13:41:00.001-07:00

I think my layout design has pretty much reached its final form. The design itself is taken straight from the prototype location in Los Angeles and features the railroad alley between 7th Street and Industrial Street between Alameda and Mateo. The focal point to this area for me is the curved entrance between two brick buildings (that dates back to at least the 1920s). This features a three way turnout in the middle of Mill Street. This area is known as the warehouse district to the natives and the Patch to the AT&SF crews that switched freight cars in and out of the area. My version is set in the mid 70s, during this time it was definitely on the decline as far as rail served industries were concerned. In my world it gets to be as busy as I want it to be. Many of the original structures are still present in the area although a number of them, like Nabisco, have been turned into loft style apartments. Here is the trackplan that I developed:

Creating a Gallery

2012-01-05T09:23:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have been beating my head against a brick wall on this one. I wanted to create a picture gallery of my miniatures but I can't seem to find a feature like that within the confines of this software. I have seen it on other blogs but I can't seem to recreate it. For the time being I have managed to get one up more through brute force than anything else. I guess I'll hammer on this a bit more and see what I can come up with.

The workroom (part 1)

2012-01-03T20:23:00.002-07:00

Tonight I managed to use the last of my Christmas money to pick up the shelves and brackets to finish off my workroom in the basement. This used to be my darkroom so the arrangement of power is a bit funky and the light switch is higher than normal so that I wouldn't accidentally turn it on while processing film. It then became a mini library but that didn't work out very well either. I have cleared out the bookcases (just pine ones I knocked together) and put them out in the main basement. The space will be small but not terribly cramped and I should be able to keep all my reference material close at hand and still have storage space for kits, paints and tools. I need to put up the lights before I can really show it off, but getting it finished will be the key to having a productive year for both painting miniatures and working on the railroad.

Spraybooth and Paint

2012-01-03T15:59:00.003-07:00

I like using my airbrush but I don't use it as often as I would like to. In the last month I have made a concerted effort to acquire more paint that won't need as much work to get it through the brush. To start I'm trying out the Vallejo Model Air paints. I have given up reading reviews on paint for the airbrush, it seems to either work for you or it doesn't. Since I have managed to get Vallejo Model color to flow through the airbrush I figured the Model Air should be a snap. Hopefully I can test that theory out in the next couple of weeks.
The Artograph spraybooth I ordered also arrived. I guess I should have read the description more carefully. Although the base is heavy steel construction the top and sides are actually cardboard. I guess in the long run it doesn't really matter what they are made of as long as air is getting pulled down through the filters. Again something that I hope to be able to try out in the next couple of weeks.
So much paint, so little time.

Genghis Con XXXIII Painting Competition

2012-01-02T16:06:00.002-07:00

Coming up in February (16-19) is Genghis Con XXXIII.
Our guest for the Painting Conference and Competition is Marike Reimer, winner of the first Crystal Brush award in 2011.
As before there will be a painting competition hosted by the CMPA (Colorado Miniature Painting Alliance). There are a couple of twists this year. First of all the convention booklet is wrong and the published the wrong overall format. The judging portion is correct but instead of the three categories listed there are really a lot more. I have developed a hybrid competition that combines the open style (chicago judging) with the categories of a podium competition (trophy format, 1st, 2nd, 3rd).
The first step is to judge each category for medals (open judging). Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will be awarded as appropriate in each category. This allows us to award as many of each type of medal as we need to the deserving entries. Then we select the "best of" for each category and then those are judged to determine the best of show.
The categories for this year are as follows:
Single Fantasy
Single Science/Fiction
Single Historical/Modern
Single War Machine (vehicles)
Unit; Vehicle
Unit; Infantry, Cavalry
Large Figures/Large Monster
Diorama/Vignettes
Junior (under 16)
Masterclass (a category for painters that have won a Best of Show Award)

In addition we are having a side painting contest for Battlefront miniatures and Darksword Miniatures. Put your entries in the correct category and we will do the rest. The best Darksword Miniature will be selected from those entered. The Battlefront Miniatures will have their own competition called the Silver Star.
The Silver Star will be broken into the following categories:
This is strictly for FOW miniatures so WWII, 15mm.
Best Tank Team - Single armored vehicle (Tank, SPG, AC, not transports
Best Objective Marker - FOW objective marker based on a large base, can be scratchbuilt or from a cast resin piece
Best Gun Team - A single gun team on a medium or large base
Best Infantry Team - A single small or medium stand infantry or command team
Best Platoon A - complete platoon (can be any type of combat, weapon or support platoon, must be complete and legal within the rules)
Best of Show

So let's get those brushes moving!

Miniature Wargaming

2012-01-02T13:22:00.002-07:00

Like every miniature gamer that I know I have far to many unpainted miniatures and interest in far to many periods. This year I'm trying to cut back a little and will probably have some miniatures that will end up being bartered or sold off. I think I have narrowed my periods down to the following: WWII, WWI, ACW, TYW, Napoleonics, LoTR and 40K.
For WWII I have a 15mm DAK army for Flames of War and I'm slowly gathering the components to do a later war army based on the Hermann Goering Division again for Flames of War. I actually prefer the Command Decision rules but I know with FOW I can always get a game in.
For WWI I'm working on an American force in 28mm. I'm focusing on the 5th Marine Regiment of the 2nd Division. I have a lot of unpainted pewter for this force right now.
I have an 15mm ACW Union Army that is just about complete. I need to finish up some more cannons and do the cavalry and that one can be called done. They are mounted for Fire and Fury. Currently we are playing the newer regimental rules but I still have my old brigade level rules too.
The advent of some nice plastics for the Thirty Years War/English Civil War sucked me into this period. I'm working on the Danes for the TYW, of course nothing is finished yet and there are some more miniatures to buy. Maybe with the tax return this year.
I have British in 15mm for Napoleonics. This army is actually almost finished as well. Originally my group (the League of Extraordinary Gamers or LEG) was playing La Salle, I think we are leaning towards going back to Napoleon's Battles. The infantry is just about finished which leaves a small amount of artillery and cavalry to round things out.
Lord of the Rings is my fantasy rules choice and I'm working on a Dol Amroth force that I hope to have ready for Mayhem in the Mountains later this year. It will be a double duty army in the end so I'm painting more troops than I can field so it could be used as Rangers of the North or Rangers of Ithilian.
The final piece is my 40K army. This is not something I'm really gung ho about but both of my boys play 40K so it would be nice to have an army to play against them. I have been collecting Legion of the Damned figures as the basis for my own chapter. I have been slowly accumulating kits and miniatures for this army, most of which will end up being pretty heavily converted.

Model Railroads

2012-01-02T12:14:00.001-07:00

I have two model railroads that occupy my time, although I admit that model railroading has become the secondary hobby for me. The oldest railroad both by date and concept is my version of the Colorado and Northwestern (C&N), a narrow-gauge railroad that ran from Boulder, Colorado to both Eldora and Ward CO. It was known as both the Switzerland Trail of America and the whiplash route. My own version is actually standard gauge rather than narrow gauge as I discovered that my favorite parts of the hobby did not involve building freight cars from scratch or from kits. The setting for the railroad is Gold Hill CO on the line between Boulder and Ward set in about 1904. My newest railroad is the AT&SFand moves us much farther forward in time to 1975 or so and is set in the warehouse district of Los Angeles, more specifically an area known as the "Patch". Keith Jordan's model work and Robert Smaus' pictures captured my imagination and so my version of the patch is coming into being this year. I'm hoping to start laying track and building structures in the next few weeks.

This is an archive photo I think I pulled from the Los Angeles City Library. The large building in the center is the Walnut Exchange building. The building with the pyramid shaped skylights is Phillips Poultry and across the street from Phillips Poultry is the area where the track curves in between the two brick buildings. The Nabisco building would be in the direction of the bottom right of the photo. In this photo a steam engine is between the curved walled buildings.The main area that I'm modeling runs parallel to 7th Street between the Walnut Exchange and Phillips Poultry. The entire area is known as the Patch and there is a lot of it that you can't see in this photo. The street in front is 7th Street and the cross street is Mill Street. The other street running parallel to 7th Street is Industrial Street.

A Fresh Start

2012-01-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

Its a brand new year and I thought it was time that I join the internet age and start my own blog. I have been an active gamer and model railroader since I was about 10 years old. There are years when I was very active and years were I did not participate much in either hobby. I thought by starting my own blog that I could challenge myself to stay on track and perhaps inspire others to get moving with that next project.