Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!  My artistic neighbor near St Michaels has yet another holiday "sculpture" a "Ghost Busters" themed halloween display.

FOr my wife and I this will be our first Halloween as empty nesters.  Given it's a rural area we don't get a lot of trick or treaters (usually 10 or so groups) but they will get showered in candy!

Have fun trick or treating!

Yet More 28mm Japanese

 22 more figures were completed today for my Japanese Bolt Action army.  All of the figures are metals from Brigade Games Pacific line.

 First up are twelve Japanese riflemen, which form the core of my Bolt Action force.

 Next up are 6 Suicide Anti-Tank figures.  The rules in "BA" are very interesting for Japanese Suicide anti tank teams - each unit is a single fig and gets it's own order die.  If they survive defensive fire it's an auto hit with 8+ penetration (that's pretty devastating in "BA" terms).

 An 81mm mortar just to add to the fun.

Here's a shot of the whole Japanese force.  I'm planning on fielding 5, 12 man squads and 6 suicide anti-tank teams plus a tank and some other support.

The sharp eyed amongst you may noticed a primed flamethrower team that may get added to the mix.

Bloggers for Charity Troops Arrive!

I'm participating in James and Andrews Bloggers for Charity event this year.  My small role will be to paint 13 figures up as the 60th Royal American Foot.  The figures just arrived today and will be going to front end of the painting queue.

What's Bloggers for Charity? - it's a great event that was dreamed up by James and involved a lot of bloggers contributing their talents to raise funds for charity while pushing toy soldiers around.  I think it's a grand idea and I was very flattered to be asked to participate.  To be honest, I'm a little intimidated given the painting skills of all of the other contributors far outpace my meager skills.

As for Bloggers for Charity - I think its a fantastic idea and suggest you all go over and check out the website and think about pitching in where you can.  I like the idea so much that I've agreed to help lead next year's efforts so any ideas are greatly welcome.

11 More 28MM WW2 Japanese

 This morning I managed to knock out 11 WW2 Japanese infantry for my Bolt Action Force.  The figures are from Brigade Games and are all metals.

 There are 8 riflemen who will be used to replace the LMG teams in my 4 infantry squads.  The BA rules don't really handle LMGs well for a tournament - your better off replacing with riflemen.  12 regular riflemen cost the same as a regular squad with 10 figures - including the LMG team, yet have one more shooting dice (12 vs 11) and 2 extra swings in close combat.  It's not that historical but I mostly play in tournaments for BA.

I've got another 16 or so figures to finish up.

Nerf Sentry Gun

This a picture of the NERF sentry gun that my son and two of his friends built in this years robotics hack-a-thon at Carnegie Mellon.  The event was sponsored by Boeing and the teams had a 24 hour period to build their concepts.  Sean's team was the only all freshman team and they built an automated Nerf Sentry gun that can pivot 360 degrees and uses a sonar device to find and lock a target.  Once the device was calibrated it doesn't miss a shot.

It works really well and is now on guard duty in his dorm.

As for the competition, Sean,s team didn't win but received an honorable mention which is a pretty big accomplishment and was a lot of fun to do.

I didn't get to do stuff like this when I was in college!

Now I need to get him back working on the Bolt Action dice spitter out bot!

Longstreet Test Game

 After my terrain building binge, I decided it was time to set up my ACW stuff for some test games using the new Longstreet rules.  It also provides a nice opportunity to try out all the new terrain that was recently completed.  This test is less of a game and more of a "lab" to walkthrough and understand the rule mechanics.

 The forces are even - both the Union and CSA have 10 regiments of infantry, 1 cavalry and 2 artillery batteries of 2 guns each.  Here's a shot of the Union right wing defending a church and its really long stone wall.  It's actually two of the stone wall sets from AofW.

 Yet more stone wall and the large hill I made for last years Lundys Lane game (War of 1812) at Fall In.

 A view from the CSA side

 Over the top, boys!

 The LA Tigers

 Wow, that's a lot of open ground to cover....

 Contractual pig sty shot - this is one of my favorite terrain pieces from Architects of War.

 The confederate batteries on the hill.

The Union line

 Another shot down the left wing of the Union army

A shot of the recently completed hedges from Architects of War.

Another shot of the 45 degree section.

Over the next week or so, I plan to test out the Longstreet rules with various small unit actions to get a better feel for the game.

2013 US Sail Boat Show

Sailing is my other hobby and it vies for the number 1 spot with gaming.  On Sunday, I spent most of the day at the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis.  The Annapolis show is "the event" for sail boats and is the largest show of it's kind in the world.   The weather was awful - in fact Sunday was the only day it didn't rain all the time.  The first picture is a Great Harbor 26' Day Sailor that I've become very interested in.  The boats are built by Hank Hinkley Boat  Builders in Maine and it has a nice combination of simplicity and classical lines.

This year's show was much larger than the previous three years and it can be a bit overwhelming.  The big theme were cruising catamarans - there were about 20-25 different boats in the 30 ft plus range being debuted.  I'm a bit of a mono-hull type but some of the cat's are very nice.

I also got to meet a very impressive young lady who used the craft pictured to row across the Atlantic - wow!

I didn't take a lot of pictures as I was running from booth to booth but it was a good day.  Most importantly, I didn't buy a boat on impulse - had I done so, then I may not have survived the wrath of the Mrs!

Here's a picture of the Day Sailor's interior - I've never seen an "Easy Chair" configuration but it's pure genius!

Terrain Production Resumes

 It's early Saturday morning here in Maryland (5:15am) and the terrain production line has been restarted.  Currently "on-the-line" are some more tree plates, stone walls and hedge rows (all from Architects of War).  This morning's activity consisted of priming and dry-brushing basic colors.

 Stone wall sections and the 90 degree turn sections for the hedges.

 Straight sections for the hedges

A last picture of the walls after a quick dry brush of dark grey.  The next step for the walls will be a very light dry brush of white for highlights and then some flock.

Is there a master plan for all the terrain that's been under construction?  Well, ummm no.  I'm just going through the inventory of projects to flesh out the 28mm terrain inventory.  Plans?, PLANS?, there's no planning in Hobby Projects....

New Stuff and Japanese on the painting bench

Now that the Perry 28mm Brits are complete, it's only natural that the next miniature acquisition will be their old foes, the DAK, and wouldn't you know it, the Perry's just came out with a plastic box set.  These guys will likely see the business end of a brush in a few months.

 As you may have inferred from previous posts, I've been bitten by a terrain making bug (which seems to be catching).  As this weekend promises to be rainy and cold, it's a great time to further build out the 'old terrain inventory.   So a quick run over to Ernie and his Architects of War shop (it's very dangerous having his operation only a few miles from my home) and I've got some more terrain projects!  Who knows?, I may actually finish enough terrain to host a game in the next month or so.

Lastly, what's currently on the painting table are some 28mm WW2 Japanese (from Brigade Games) to flesh out the force I'll be taking to the Bolt Action tournament at Fall-In.  Pictured are 12 riflemen, 6 suicide anti-tank troops and a medium mortar team.  Also pictured in the extreme upper left is a Ho-Ni assault gun with a 150mm howitzer.  HE guns are all the "rage" in the current Bolt Action "meta".  I need to get these guys painted up quick for a local tournament on 11/2 at Huzzah Hobbies.

Perry 28mm British Infantry Completed

 The first box of 38mm Perry British infantry is complete - all 38 figures!  I apologize for the horrid photos - I thought natural sunlight would be great but not so much in this case.  Anyway the first batch of Brits are done.

 Yet another awful photo.  12 of the figures use the SAS heads that are supplied in the box - there are enough heads to do 18.  The Bren carrier is a separate kit.

 Three guesses what my next Bolt Action army will be - perhaps this picture of a Blitzkrieg models Panzer III J provides a hint.....

I'm looking forward to picking up a few boxes of the Perry DAK to go with the Brits.