In Her Majesty's Name VII - Painted miniatures

I've finally gotten some painting done.  It's been months.  When I'm away from the brushes for too long I build up an immense amount of inertia.  The amount of work it takes to reach over and pick up the brush to slap some paint on something seems equivalent to a twenty mile hump (hike).

The first four Marines.

Natural Disasters

This last week in Colorado has seen the worst flooding in our history.  Thousands have been rescued by the National Guard and local first responders, rescue teams and their neighbors.  Almost 200 people are still missing.  It just doesn't rain like this here.  The last time we had flash flooding of this sort was in 1976.  That was in one valley.  This storm is affecting the entire front range.

Some areas have been destroyed while others are completely untouched.  Happily, my town has had nothing worse than some roads closed.  My family are all safe.  Most of my friends are unaffected, but some have had their basements flooded.  The last week has seen the most people rescued by helicopter since Hurricane Katrina.

Here's a photo album of scenes from the Front Range.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/flash-floods-in-colorado-slideshow/

Happily,  the rain is supposed to stop today and turn to sun.

Gaming Table Part III

After several weeks of not touching it, I've gotten some more done on the table.  I have enough tiles to fill it, with some left over.  I've got four corner hills, one ridge, one alien landscape and one river.  I'll need more rivers but I want to make sure the first one works out before I use the time and materials for the rest.

The table with the textured paint on the tiles.

X-Wing with the boys

There has not been much hobby action this summer, as stated before.  The boys still love their two main game pastimes though.  The first is D&D, which they have only just discovered and which is good for a quick hack and slash session before bed.

Their long term passion is X-Wing though.  We hadn't played in a few weeks and Owyn has been badgering me to play ever since we got back from camping last weekend.  I promised him we would play this weekend and that he could fly the "Million Falcon".

The big boys passing in the night.

Gaming with the Wee ones

It's been a long hard month since I last posted.  Summer is always rough but this one was especially so.  I'm looking forward to a nice slow fall and winter with no drama.

I've been doing a lot of assembly, mostly more commission work putting together 90+ Cryx models.  That work will fund my Dux Brit army, so worth the pain.  I've also plussed up my 15mm Sci/Fi with my CMG Kickstarter, more models for my Sahadeen army and some Khursan vics to mechanize them.  I'll be covering the Khursan models in a post all their own but let me just lead up to that with "WOW!"  These things set the bar for awesome.

I've also been dabbling with painting my company for In Her Majesty's Name.  I have four of nine models painted, though not based.  I'll get a picture of them up soon as well.

The big news though, and what this post is really about, is the latest gaming with the boys...

Treasures from the past VI

More treasures from my childhood.  In a Battletech box, along with the mechs, there were a bunch of miniatures.  These were used for roleplaying.  They are a little bit worse for wear, but nothing that can't be fixed.

The lot of them.  Divided up, more or less, by faction.

Treasures from the past V

Dragons of Glory.  Wow.  I have no idea if this was a great game.  I just know I loved it.  I'd read the books.  This was simply amazing.  Fighting the entire war out on the planet of Kern.  It was fantastic.

Treasures from the past IV

Yet another bit of my juvenile past, pulled from the dusty doom of a storage unit.  I played a fair bit of D&D as a kid.  My first exposure was when I got the Red box from a distant relative at the beginning of a long summer on a mountain in Wyoming.  It was hit or miss over the next few years, but it was a steady part of my childhood.

Re-discovered modules.

Treasures from the past III - Mechs

In all of the bits I found a couple of months ago, some of my favorites are the Battletech stuff.  I played this obsessively, as only a teenager can obsess about something.  I played full, two battalion games, solo.  That's 36 Mechs on a side, with all the record keeping that goes with it in a game like Battletech.

Notice the sharp black paint scheme.

The Company List - MGCC&W - In Her Majesty's Name VI

Yesterday I posted up an introduction for the main players in my Company.  Today I'm posting the company list with stats and characters.  I only have eight models so far, one officer, one Sgt and six Marines.  I have a model for Mr. Smith on the way, but it's coming from the UK so it will probably take another two weeks to get here.  I still need to source models for the sailors.  Some of the more exotic options will wait until I've played a few games and to see if official models are released for the USMC.

Marines in Cuba.

The Company is formed - In Her Majesty's Name V

Maj Waller stood in the ward room of the Rattlesnake as the steamer plowed it's way across the Atlantic.  With him in the room were the leadership of the reinforced platoon he had formed.  Before him stood some of the greatest Marines of his time, men who were already legends in the Corps, if not in the wider world.

Sitting just in front of Waller was his second in command, Capt David Dixon Porter, known as Dave.  Porter had been with him on Samar.  He came from a long line of naval officers, the black sheep of his family.  Porter already held the Medal of Honor, as did several of the other men in this room.

Capt David Dixon Porter, XO of the Clerks and Writers.

Gaming table, Part II.

I've been working on the tiles for the new table.  They need quite a bit of work, and I needed to pick up some more materials.  The table holds twelve 2ft x 2ft tiles.  There will be a few tiles that are just plan, flat terrain, suitable for placing other terrain on.  Others will have terrain built into them.

1/4 hill.  The profile on the edge matches the other three.

The best laid plans of mice and men...

The year is now half way over.  Give it a minute.  If you're like me, that's pretty mind blowing stuff.  I can't actually account for about half of that time.  I had some big plans at the beginning of the year.  I think it's time to stop and take stock and see if I'm on track to make my goals.

A new blog to follow

My friend Jonathan and I have been blogging for awhile now.  I, obviously, have a few battle reports on my page.  Many of those have been against Tony and his Corsairs, playing LotR.  Tony has finally succumbed to the dark side of the hobby, and started his own blog.  Please take a moment and drop over and gander at his first couple of posts.  Huntsman's Hobbies is, currently, chronicling the rise of a new faction for In Her Majesty's Name.

The Mercenary Company of Captain Charles Grey look like they will be a flavorful and interesting opponent for my Clerks and Writers.

And now for something completely different...

I have not accomplished much on the hobby front in the last few weeks, but this weekend has been very productive.  For four years I've been planning the game table I wanted to build in the basement.  Something has always come up that stopped me from working on it.

The table, nearly complete.

I won a Prize!

I entered a prize draw on the Trouble at T'Mill blog, which is well worth your time to check out.  I'm not sure how I beat out those gits Ray and Fran, who win approximately 80% of all blog draws on the internet.

My prizes are visible on this post.  I'm quite excited as I don't have a commissar for my IG army and can always use some more gribbly aliens.

Thank you very much Mike.  It's very generous and much appreciated.

P.S.  I have never actually met Ray or Fran and cannot confirm or deny their gitness status, though they seem like lovely fellows, from all accounts.

1000 Foot General's leadership tweaks

The 1000 Foot General has a post on leadership tweaks for your generals in Hail Caesar games.  This is a great idea and one I'd love to check out.  If you play HC, or if you just want to change things around in your games, head on over and take a look at what he's got.

Alexander the Great

The Major General Commandant's Clerks and Writers - In Her Majesty's Name IV

Major Waller sat quietly in the chair.  Outwardly he was the picture of calm professionalism.  Inside, well that was another story all together.  Inside he was a typhoon of emotion.  He'd fought the Boxers in China.  He'd battled the Moro's in the Philippines.  He'd led men on one of the hardest and most desperate marches in Marine Corps history.  He should not feel this way sitting in a waiting room.

Col. Waller, just before retirement.

Memorial Day

Treasures from the past II - Books

In one of the boxes, pulled out of storage, there were a bunch of books.  In my teens I was very much in to Battletech, and it all started with this book.

A chance purchase after school turned into an obsession.  Look at the price on that thing too.