Track Laying has Begun!

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!

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

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

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!

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.