Yet More Prepping for AHPV VI

 A large number of 28mm figures and vehicles were being prepped Sunday.  I managed the clean up and base 133 28mm figures, three siege mortars, an Elephant and 6 tanks).  I'll primed them sometime this week.

 First up some Perry AWI Indians (who will also see additional duty as War of 1812 and FIW Indians also).  The armored Elephant in the back is from Sgt Major Miniatures.

 The bulk of my prep work was on some 28mm Front Rank figures.  From back to front a 36 figures British infantry battalion, 2 32 figure Portuguese infantry battalions (one line and one Cacadores) and three siege mortars.

I found cleaning these figures to be incredible easy - this will be my first attempt at painting Front Rank figures.  I doubt they'll look as good as the French I picked up from John but I'll give it a try.

Lastly 6 tanks from the Trenchworx tanks in Manchuria kickstarter.  These are resin casts made fro 3D printed masters and they are simply superb models.  Since taking the photo, I've added a second early war T-34.

Next up will be the FOW boxes you can see in the last picture.  What's up with the corn fields?  That's my next terrain project....

How The Grinch Stole My Yacht Club

 Yesterday the Annapolis Yacht Club caught fire and was destroyed.  Thankfully, no one was seriously injured - one fire firefighter had a minor injury but was released from the hospital.  The cause of the fire is reported to be a Christmas tree on the third floor.  There isn't a known reason why the club was engulfed so quickly, but that will come out over the next few days. Thankfully, the club was closed for party preparations when the fire started or it could have been much worse.  Kudos to the club's manager for realizing the threat and getting all the staff out safely.

 I have spent many an hour in the club with friends and after races and it really was a grand location.  I'm a member of the club in St Michaels and the our clubs have reciprocity (I get to use both) and I spend more time at the AYC.

While these are just "things", one of the great losses are all the sailing trophies accumulated over 150 years of operation, including some won by my son when he was sailing in high school.

As a side note, you can see how unseasonably warm it is here as there are paddle boarders in the water during December (it was 72F yesterday)

I really feel for the members, as the club was really a hub for sailing and social activity in Annapolis.  I've spent a lot of time at the bar telling sea stories (some of which were true) and was planning on hosting a dinner there between Christmas and New Years for friends.

What a shame, but then again we're all very lucky no one was seriously hurt.  While the fire is a devastating blow only "stuff" was destroyed and it can all be rebuilt.

Merry Christmas from St Michaels, Maryland

Merry Christmas from St Michaels, Maryland.  I hope that all my readers and their families enjoy a wonderful holiday season.  I'm looking forward to taking a bit of time off and spending it with the family.  We'll be especially thankful to get out son back from college as he's had a grueling semester and needs a bit of a break.

I do hope Santa and his elves find ways to deliver the appropriate scale goodies to you and yours this season!

Workbench Part V: The Drawers are Complete

 Finally the terrain making workbench is finished.  OK, "finished" might be a bit strong as workbenches are constantly tinkered with but it's close enough.

The last step was to build two large drawers.  One will hold my "large scale" scenery making supplies (pictured) and the other will hold often used tools and manuals

 The drawers are made out of stock 1/2 inch wide  plywood and each drawer measures 32 inches wide by 38.5 inches deep and 3 inches of interior height.

The second picture show's one of the assembled drawers being planed to ensure a smooth fit.

 A picture of the first test fitting with all the side parts cut.  The drawers rest on a pair of 2x4 "guides" and will be very strong.  They'll also be able to be accessed from either side of the workbench.  I still need to attach some leftover drawer pulls but will not have those until I complete the wife's kitchen remodel (which is underway).

I did get to use a new tool I "had to have" for the project - a Dewalt cordless finish nailer.  It made the glueing up of the drawers a snap.  Oh the fun I will have with a nail gun!

Some finish work on the transits box - I don't really like how the "gunstock" finish came out and may redo it with another color.

And now a British Gunboat

A British gunboat has appeared in the Lair's dry dock awaiting outfitting during the AHPC VI.

I made need to reinforce the jib spar as it screams out "Breakable in Transport"

This is another kit from the Laser dreamwork line and will be used in my Historicon 2016 game.

AHPC VI: Prep' preping along

 The first of several 28mm War of 1812 sailing ships has been assembled and is awaiting priming.  This an American Gunboat from Laser Dreamworks and was both easy and fun to build.

I still need to finish the spars but will do that further down the construction process.

 A whole bunch of stuff on cleanup and priming stage including a largish order of Front Rank Napoleonic Brits and Portuguese troops.  There are also a good number of those wonderful Perry black boxes - I wonder what's inside?

I managed to cut all the wood I need for the drawers on the workbench and hope to get those assembled today also.

AHPC_VI: The Plan

Well here it is in all it's astounding glory - my plan for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge VI: The Die is Cast.

The cunning Curt has trimmed this years challenge from 15 to 13 weeks and I'm targeting to put up 2,075 points.

You should all feel my projected points are a rock solid investment. As a financial services professional wielding a spreadsheet is second nature.  Moreover, I think it's safe to say that financial types with spreadsheets are only a force for good in the world and have never gotten into mischief....

Auto-calc ON!!!!!!

Figure prep-n-priming is underway here in the Lair.

Some Fire and Fury Gaming: AWI Style

I was very fortunate to be invited over to Rich H's house to play a game of Fire and Fury Regimental: set in the American War of Independence.  Rich is the author of the Fire and Fury ruleset which are the best rules to use for black powder gaming (IMHO).  Rich also hosts a wonderful day of gaming, repeat with a superb table and wonderfully painted mini's and food - what's not to love?

The battle I participated in was a recreation of Guilford Courthouse.  I had command of the British left flank and our objective was to batter our way through 3 successive lines of American troops.  The first two line are "raw" militia while the third American line is a mixture of good to very good Continental regulars.

 The British force is small by comparison, but made up of either Elite or Veteran troops.  The figures are 15mm in scale and are from Rich's friend's Tony's collection.

 It wasn't very hard to clear the first line of militia and soon we were advancing on the second line which was now reinforced by remnants of the 1st line.

 The Brits's attempt to envelope the American line with my troops on the left and Tarleton's cavalry and Hessians on the right

 Success! both flanks collapse due to some astonishingly bad die rolls on the US side.  My US opponent for the day, Dave, was a great sport and took the ill favor of the dice Gods in stride.

 We continue chasing the fleeing militia and also started to set up for the main assault.  The third line of US troops are held in reserve (can't move) until the Brits cross the fence line in the middle of the picture.

The Militia try to stem the tide but just can't stay rallied..

The disparity of losses heavily favored the Brits - our losses are in the lower left while the US losses are everything else.

 The final assault commences!  Sadly, I had to leave at this point for a prior commitment and I ceded my command to the other British player.  It was a grand game.

 Rich was actually running two games that day, with the second being a massive recreation of the second day at Shiloh (ASW).

The pictures really don't so the game justice as there were huge formations of troops pitted against each other.  It seemed to be a bad day for the Union during this game.

What a fantastic day of gaming.  I really enjoy the fire and fury rule system, especially the command and maneuver rules.  If you're looking for a new ruleset to play the ACW or earlier black powder time periods you should pick up a copy.  Look I even put link to the rules description to save you time: Fire and Fury Regimental Rules

Come on, you know you want to buy the rules and with Christmas so close I think you owe it to yourself.  It's the right thing to do....

Tournament Transport Boxes, Part IV: The Interior

 A little bit of work on the 18x18 square box.  I added a compartment for to hold dice, measuring tapes and templates.   It measure 8x7inches so is more than big enough to hold a 6 inch square FOW artillery template.

 I also made some wooden troop carrier trays that are all two inches high which will accommodate most 28's and 15's with the exception of some long lances on some 15MM By Fire and Sword mini's but I'll figure out how to accommodate those later.

Some of you might be wondering why make custom wooden trays when you've got some plastic ones already.  It's because I was off an 1/8 of inch and the interior was too narrow to use then without forcing the fit.  Argh!!!!!!

What was that saying "measure once, go to Home Depot twice and curse three times"?

A shot of the trays all nestled in the box.  Theres still one inch of clearance on the top and the gap will fit a FOW hardcover book.

Still waiting on the handles to arrive and then it's time to finish this project.  Which is good because the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is less than a month away!!!!

It's ON!

Like Donkey Kong!

Sixth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

'nuff said