Hail Caesar - Roman skirmishers

The painting challenge is already working it's magic.  I need to clear the work bench so I can queue up the models for the challenge.  This week I got eight slingers done.  They've been sitting on the workbench for months.

Eight slingers.  I have high hopes for these chaps.

What have I done? Analogue Painting Challenge

I seem to have lost my mind.  I've been known to do it from time to time but this seems a bit over the top.  I've thrown my hat in the ring on Curt's annual Analogue Painting Challenge.  I'm a slow painter who sometimes goes weeks without picking up a brush.  This should be amusing.

GIs

Warlord Games ran a special on mass purchase of their plastic boxes a couple of months ago.  One of the boxes I picked up was the U.S. Infantry.  I have a bunch of 15mm WWII troops, but not a whole lot of interest in playing with them.  I'm looking for platoon level play at this point and 28mm is the only scale to play with at that level, to my way of thinking.

The box has bodies for 25 men.

Bloggers for Charity 1

Several months ago I signed up as a painter for the Bloggers for Charity game.  Loki assigned me some Rangers and they arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago.  These miniatures were donated by the manufacturer, AW Miniatures.  (Phew!  That's a lot of links in a little bit of space).

The eight models I've been assigned for painting.

In Her Majesty's Name IX - Mr. Smith

I haven't been up to much painting lately, but I have gotten another model done for my U.S. Marines Company for In Her Majesty's Name.  This model is "Mr. Smith", the indomitable secret agent who has been sent along with the Marines to guide them.

Mr. Smith, preparing to unleash lightening at the foes of America.

Battle Report: 1000 pts of Rohan vs Isengard

Two weeks ago Huntsman came over and played a game of LotR.  The day of the game he suggested that we play a big game, since he wanted to bring out everything he had for his Isengard.  I thought that sounded just grand.  The only army I had that could hit the 1000 points he had was my Rohan, which I haven't played in years.

Eowyn leads seven riders against the Whargs.

Upgrading X-Wing

As my regular readers will know I'm a big fan of X-Wing.  The boys and I play every couple of weeks or so and I get in games with adults from time to time too.  One of the things I like about it is the pre-painted ships.  I'm not so fond of the playing on a table top that has been my lot, up to now.

A much better playing surface.

Happy Birthday USMC!

Today the United States Marine Corps is 238 years old.  We're looking mighty good for our age.  Happy Birthday Marines!

238 years of too much of this.

Assembling Celts

More work on the assembly front.  This weekend I finished off forty Celts from Warlord.  These will be going onto unit bases for Hail Caesar.  It will be the first time I've not individually based models as well as the  first time I will have painted models that weren't based.

40 of the little blighters.

More Roads

The roads are coming along.  A couple of coats of dry brush and some flock and such and they'll be finished.
In the last installment the roads were coated with textured paint and then painted with my standard basecoat of brown house paint.

The next step is very much similar to how I do bases for my models.

A road base, ready for sand.

Modified B-Wings

I love the X-Wing game.  I like the ships.  I like the game play.  I love that they boys like to play it.  This is a great game and I'm glad I tried it.  There are a lot of people out there modifying their ships.  To this point I've not done that but the B-Wing just begs for it.

Image from Wookiepedia.

More assembly

In my continued efforts to get as much primed as possible before winter hits I assembled another handful of models this weekend.  I had grand plans to get 40 Celts assembled as that will be a major goal for the winter.  Alas, I didn't even get the box opened, spending my time on the table and roads instead.

What I did get done was some LotR Rohan models that I had forgotten I had.  They had been on sale at the local shop and I picked them up for half price.  I then promptly forgot about them until this weekend when I was digging up models to assemble.

Five of the seven models.

Dirt roads

Wherever there are people, you'll find roads.  For all of human history many of those roads were dirt.  In order to get the maximum flexibility out of any roads I build they must, therefore, be dirt.  A couple of years ago, six, actually, I cut some wood out to be made into a river.  I never got any farther on the project and now I'm building the river into the tiles.  That left me with seven river sections which will work just fine for dirt roads.

Two road sections.

Gaming Table, Part V

The progress continues on the table, even if it sometimes feels like it's two steps back for every one forward.  After getting expert advice from Loki and Anne I, of course, ignored it all and did my own thing.  We are getting ready to lay some tile and I was digging through the garage to see what supplies I had on hand and what I still need to buy.  I found a mostly used bag of tile cement and had an epiphany.

The tiles with cement over the foam lines.

Battle damage. It's a dangerous world

I was sitting at my desk the other night, cruising through my blog roll.  I dropped my eyes below the monitor and saw what looked like a mech leg under there.  I dug around, moved several pictures and found the scene of a miniature massacre.

Dead Mech.  Good for salvage.

In addition to the Mech, above, there were two 15mm infantry that had been broken off at the ankles.  Clearly Rhys had been playing with things he was not supposed to.  The infantry were un-salvageable and went in the trash.  The mech can be made whole.  I'll have to find a base for it as the leg will need another point of contact to be strong enough to stand up to gaming.  The left arm weapon will get pinned for the same reason.

Rhys and I had a talk.  While I reinforced the idea that this is why he doesn't get to have models yet, my real concern was that he tried to hide what he had done, rather than coming clean and telling me he'd messed up.  I have the same problem with a couple of my grown up employees, so it's hard to hold it against an eight year old.  At least it's just stuff.

The Major General Commandant's Clerks and Writers - IHMN VIII

I have completed the eight Marines for my Company for In Her Majesty's Name.  The list can be found here.  The models are all Paroom Station, bought through Brigade Games.  There are two more models for the list.  The mysterious Mr. Smith and a surprise model, who will be revealed after the first game.

The final four Marines of the Clerks and Writers.

Gaming Table Part IV

Another step done on the table.  I have picked up many paint samples in the discount section, one of which was a nice, dark, brown.  In the last installment, I said that I planned on gluing down some kitchen rags to use as grass.  In the intervening weeks I changed my mind.  I've decided to make this first batch of tiles much more generic, to get the maximum flexibility out of them.  To that end they will be double sided, green terrain on one side and desert on the other.

Sample size of paint.

A giveaway, with a twist

Anne, over at O'Leary Miniatures is having a give away.  This is some of the same and some of the twist that Anne gives to everything she does.

Twist #1 is that this is co-sponsored by a Sci/Fi author.  That's just pretty darn cool.  Also some smart marketing.  So, the required information for his part in this:

"This give away is being sponsored in part by author Patrick Hatt. You can find Mr. Hatt's Amazon Writers Page at http://www.amazon.com/Pat-Hatt/e/B00AGFMYVC."

I have never read any of Mr. Hatt's work but this looks interesting, so here's hoping I win, otherwise I might actually have to buy his book.

The next bit of awesome twist is that Anne is going to tailor each prize to the winner.  Now this is really cool, and sort of insane.  I think it will also be very interesting for the winner to see themselves through Anne's eyes, based on what she chooses to add to their prize.

I'm not normally one for advertising the give aways.  This one strikes me as something different and fun and worth taking a look at.  Please don't enter though.

The next project

The year is rapidly drawing to an end.  Much to my surprise, autumn is here.  This is somewhat disconcerting as it means temperatures are dropping rapidly.  It is much too cold to prime in the winter here so I need to get things prepped in the fall so that I have stuff to paint over the winter.

This realization has thrown me into a frenzy of assembly.  In the last two weeks I've assembled 24 Auxiliary infantry for my EIR army.  I've also just completed 49 Romano Brits for Dux Brit or HC.  These were a late addition as I adjusted my plan back in July.

Romano British heroes for Dux Brit.  Arthur is in front, pointing with his sword.

Sci/Fi containers

People tend to fight for things that matter.  Very often that includes cities, towns, ports and airfields.  In the far future that will be just as true as it is today.  One thing that all of these places have in common is containers.  Again, this will probably hold true in the future as well.  It is always necessary to move stuff from where your stuff is to where you want your stuff to be.

15mm containers.