AHPC VI: Submissions 7, 8 & 9

 A fairly eclectic collection of submissions last weekend.

First up are the remaining 4 28mm scaled tanks from the Trenchworx "Tanks in Manchuria" kickstarter - 1 Soviet OT-26 flame tank and 3 Japanese tanks.

 I used Vallejo "Russian Uniform" green as the base coat for all four tanks.  I like the shade as it's gives a nicely "faded" base color.

 The Japanese Type 95 Ha-GO light tank.  The camo pattern is "loosely" based on the Burma campaign and was painted using "blobs" of flat brown and sand yellow streaks.

 One of 2 Type 97 Ch-Ha Medium tanks

 The second Chi-Ha.  I broke the arial while trying to fit it to the hull so this arial has a bit of battle damage!

 Lastly, the Soviet OT-26 fame tank.

I am a big fan of the Trenchworx kits and recommend them highly.

 Next up some more 28mm WW2 Russians - some Siberian Veterans!

 There's a 10 man Siberian Veteran squd, a medium machine gun team and a leader an aid.

 I like how the leader fig is employing state of the art Soviet comms technology.

 The Soviet horde to date - a bit more to add.

 Lastly, I finally got around to building and painting up the plastic Victrix British Artillery box.  I still need to do the caissons but will get to those another day.

 Victrix Napoleonic plastics are true scale rather than heroic scaled so they can be a bit delicate - notice how thin the ram rods are.

Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge Week 3 Update

Three weeks are now in the "books" and surprisingly I'm ahead of plan and last year's pace.  I've manage to paint up a 1,158 points so far (the bar on the chart) which is a good bit ahead of the plan (541 points) and last year (777) points

I've got a lot of business travel in January so a lot of this fast start will likely be filtered away as "real world" priorities intrude upon painting time.

AHPC VI Enteries 5 & 6

 Christmas vacation week was very productive painting wise as I completed 79 28mm infantry figures, 1 mounted leader and three tanks.  Not too shabby.

First up are 8 28mm British Landing Party figures from Brigade Games.  This brings the total number of naval crew figures to 32 and I'll need probably another 20 or so for the Historicon game.

 Unlike the previous crew figures, I removed the metal bases from each casting before applying to the base.  While it looks much better than not doing so, it's a fairly tedious project and some greenstuff was required to repair some surgical mishaps.  Still they do look a lot better.

 Next up are 29 Native Americans and one Mounted Leader.  These figures are 28mm and from the Perry AWI range and they are simply superb figures.

 For skin tone, I used a 50/50 mix go Vallejo medium flesh and rust and think the color came out really well.

 It's hard to see from the photos but I spent a good bit of time on the details and face painting.

 Because of the poor lighting, I've finally gotten around to buying a basic photo booth and light set from Amazon so hopefully you'll see a pick up in picture quality.

 Switching from Naps / War of 1812 to WW2, next up is the start of a Soviet army for Bolt Action and/or Chain of Command.  So far I've completed 40 infantry figures a 3 tanks.

 The infantry are from the Warlord Plastic Soviet box set and to be honest aren't that good.  It was one of Warlords first ww2 plastic sets and the casting wasn't all that good.  Warlord's quality has improved dramatically in some of their more current sets.

The tanks are from Trenchworx (part of their Tanks in Manchuria Kickstarter) and are simple superb models and a joy to paint.

Goals for 2016

There's nothing more inspirational than a inspiring poster that has a glossy image and very deep, inspiringly written prose to get one started off.  For some reason this one "sang" to me.....

Why do I set these silly goals?  I actually do find them a bit motivating as they do provide a bit of "purpose" to this rather silly hobby of ours.

Goals also push me to try different avenues of the hobby which both keeps it fresh at helps me to sustain my level of interest so here goes!  They also provide you with easy fodder to ridicule me on the internets.


(1) Conventions
(a) Attend 4 in 2016 (2 of the 3 HMGS con's, 1 new con and 1 show in the UK)
(b) GM a total of 6 con games

I really enjoy going to miniatures related gaming conventions but do need a change of pace from the 3 HMGS cons - especially the ones that are held at the decrepit Host in Lancaster.  As for the HMGS cons, I will be attending both Historicon and Fall-In and know I will not be attending Cold Wars.  That means I need to find a new show in the US or maybe just create one myself.  Ok that last part might be a bit hard to pull off.

Please note I don't mean to criticize the HMGS staff - I think they do a great job putting the cons on, it's just that I need a bit of a change of pace.

As for the UK, I'll be over there for business at least 5 or 6 times in 2016, so I think I can make at least one of those trips coincide with a UK show.  Of course, "Salute" is the white whale of UK gaming shows, so lets hope the calendar Gods smile upon my endeavors.

(2) Gaming / Tournaments
(a) Play in 6 tournaments
(b) Host three game nights at my house

I really like playing in tournaments and want to continue doing so on 2016.  Despite have a relatively nice gaming table, I haven't hosted a game in a long time and it's high time I changed that.

(3) "Finish" My Peninsular Napoleonic Collection
Flesh out some Spanish and Portuguese forces (maybe a brigade each) and add some specialty troops into the mix.

To be honest, this is the number 1 goal candidate for failure - I find it hard to get motivated to paint Napoleonic Spanish troops, especially because they tend to only stay on the table for 2 or 3 turns before "retiring to the rear"!  :)

(4) Write a draft set of war-game rules
Ok this ones a little out there and I suppose I may only prove to myself that it is infinitely easier to criticize someone else's ruleset than write your own but lets find out.  I have no aspirations to publish these rules for sale and only seek the fame and groupies that come with being a war-game rules writer (oh to live that jet set lifestyle of a rules writer).  Seriously, I think it will fun to give it a try and I'll either learn to be a lot more humble when talking about rulesets from other writers or find a new creative outlet for myself.  Either way is a "win"

I haven't set on a specific topic but am leaning towards something that deals with 2 small scale Napoleonic Naval actions in 28mm scale and can be easily used in a convention setting.

(5) Expand the sectional terrain inventory by at least 36 square feet
I really like building terrain and "need" to add to the inventory of panels that I have.  I'll also need to build some storage racks to keep these panels in good order.

(6) Sell some stuff to make room for new stuff
My 28mm Romans and Dacians have been sitting on the self unplayed since July of 2012 - that's a long time to be dormant and they take up valuable self space.  My lovely, yet fierce wife, has not repealed her decree of no incremental storage space so I'm left with two difficult choices.  Either I can  create a shrink-o-matic ray gun to shrink 28mm to 6mm for storage and enlarge them back for game nights or I can sell off stuff to create more room.  After years of failed attempts with the first path, I think it may be time to give the second one a go.

(7) Finish in the top ten of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge VI
I doubt I can paint as much as I did last year, but I still want to use the fun of the Challenge to get the bulk of my 2016 painting done.  I'm also helping out this year in the background by building a tracking spreadsheet for Curt and crew to use and providing insightful and lucid statistical analysis along the way.  Yes, you heard it here first, I'm a beat stats reporter on the wargaming circuit.  I do think this role is the very definition of obscure.

Happy 2016 to everyone and Tally Ho!

A Retrospective on 2015

Wow - 2015 is over!  For my family it was a good year but not without it's challenges both personal and hobby wise.  My family and I find ourselves exiting 2015 with a better outlook than we started it so all-in-all we're very grateful and excited for what obstacles and opportunities 2016 will throw at us.

Yes, dear readers, this is yet another of those "annual anthologies" that assault you during this time of year.  There's actually a clause in the Google consumer terms of service that requires us to write these diatribes or relinquish ownership of a kidney to our kind and omnipotent Google overlords.  You should always read the fine print.

It's hard to put the hobby aspect of 2015 into perspective without touching on other aspects of life.  My son is doing well at Carnegie Mellon and recently completed the first semester of his junior year.  He surprised us a bit by electing to major in both Statistics and Computer Science.   I'm not sure where he gets his geeky tendencies from - probably his mother.

Speaking of "The Boss", MB continues to tolerate me and still enjoys teaching people to do horrible things with sharp objects at the University of Maryland Medical/Dental School.  She recently joined the Board of the American Academy of Periodontology so I'm sure there are wild times ahead for us.  As for me, I've had a bit of a career transition and have become a partner in a Venture Capital firm.  The firm is made up of people I've known for almost 20 years when we first met while starting up Capital One.  It's a big transition from being an operator to being an investor but it's a lot of fun and allows me the occasional trip to the UK for "business".

Ok enough of the boring crap, lets get onto to the hobby stuff

In terms of painting productivity 2015 was a bit off from 2014 but that was due to the rather large sectional terrain project.  Here's the tally

                                                      2015      2014     2013
28mm
Infantry                                         222        240       411
Cav                                               2             17         2
Artillery                                        8             6           12
Vehicles                                        17           17          7
Ships                                             2             0           0

15mm
Infantry                                         132        274        0
Cav                                                0           27           0
Artillery                                         0           13           0
Vehicles                                         11          64          0

1/600 Inronclads                           10           8            0
1/1200 Sailing Ships                      2            7           0
1/6000 WW2 Ships                        0           44          0

6MM
Infantry                                          156         0          0
Vehicles                                          139        0          0


2015 was a great year hobby wise but four things stand out for me (in rank order)

(1) Meeting Fellow Gamers and Bloggers in Person

 Last Fall was an an extremely eventful season as I was able to meet up with a number of people I've met via blogging and struck up "electronic" friendships with. In early November, I was able to meet with Tamsin, Ray and Lee for dinner in London and had a wonderful meal with great people.  I was a little worried they would find my colonial table manners a bit off-putting but all three displayed the typical British "stiff-upper lip" and persevered despite my antics.

The following November, I was able to meet Paul (Tasman Cave) and his son at Fall-In and we played A LOT of X-Wing together.  Don't mind the dirty look - its was caused by Paul beginning to realize how much he was about to spend on X-Wing once we had his son "hooked" on the game.  Paul - I promise I used the commission I got from Fantasy Flight Games for good and not evil....

Our hobby may be a bit on the fringe side but when you have an opportunity to meet people in person you find that by and large it attracts quality people who you're proud to call "friend" - At least for me is does.  Do blogging / electronic friendships translate into real ones?  Yes, I think they do.


(2) Finishing the Sectional Terrain Project

The most challenging project for me in 2015 was completing 60 square feet (6ft by 10ft) of sectional terrain panels to use for gaming.  This took 3 months to complete and I'm very happy with the results.  It's also one of those rare hobby projects that can actually bear the name "finished" truthfully.

I use these panels at home and there are very easy to transport to support convention games.

Of course, I'm planning to expand the collection of panels another 24 square feet via an additional 3 2x4 foot panels.

(3) Historicon Games went well

 I ran two game at Historicon in a linked scenario format where the outcome of the first game influenced the set up of the second.  Both went very well - so well I ran them multiple times and each game won and award.  I did learn that I like running convention games much more than playing in them and will organize 2016 Historicon around running games all three days.

Some pictures of the games also got published in Wargame's Illustrated's Historicon report which was very cool and more a testament to the high quality players rather than the GM.

(4) Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge
This event has become my favorite hobby event and really motivates me to reduce the lead pile.  It's run by a chap named Curt who does a fantastic job and keeps us all very busy during the dark winter months here in the Northern Hemisphere.  In 2015, I managed to tie for third place which was a big achievement for me.

Enough of this self congratulatory rambling - how did I do against the goals for 2015?

Here goes....

(1) Attend three cons but not all HMGS - MINOR FAIL
- I did attend three cons but all where HMGS (Cold Wars, Historicon and Fall-In)

(2) Host 2 games at Historicon - MAJOR PASS
I ran two different games twice and really enjoyed doing so.  I had to turn players away.

(3) Play in 6 tournaments and use a different Bolt Action army (retire the Japanese) - MAJOR PASS
I played in 5 tournaments (3 Bolt Action and 2 Flames of War and 1 By Fire and Sword).  I ran a DAK army for the Bolt Action tournaments and managed to win two of them.

(4) Finish the Sectional Terrain Project - MAJOR PASS
Managed to complete all 60 square feet needed for the Historicon games.  I really like making terrain.

(5) Host a Play-by-blog Naval game - MAJOR FAIL (EPIC Fail to be honest)
Didn't even try to get it organized - terrain making took up too much time!

(6) Finish in the top 5 for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge - MAJOR PASS
I ended up tied for third with Millsy with 3,404 points (which is roughly 640 28mm infantry figures at 5 points each).  This is my favorite hobby activity of the year and one which see me get the most of my figure painting done.

(7) Add only armies I have storage for.. - MAJOR FAIL
Since my wife reads this blog (and rolls her eyes while doing so) I am not at liberty to comment further on this objective.

Overall not to bad but I seemed to be at the extreme of achievement either way with 4 major wins, 2 major and one minor fails.  I am a bit chagrined for the Epic fail on the play by blog game

What are the goals for 2016????

This post is already way to long and wordy so you'll just have to wait.

AHPC VI: Fourth Submissions - Some Napoleonics

My 4th submission the AHPC VI has a definite Napoleonic theme.  First up is a 32 figure Portuguese Cacadore regiment (the 3rd to be precise),  These are 28mm scaled figures and are from Front Rank.  I'm really impressed with the Front Rank figures and put them on par with the Perry's stuff but the clean up and prep was A LOT easier.

 Some 28mm Naval crewman from Brigade games.  Some are painted British but most are generous so they can be used for multiple sides.

A British gunboat to go along with the American one submitted earlier

An "action shot" of the two gun oats going at it with complete crews.

Christmas Loot & Workbench Update

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!..  Gamers with Christmas loot aren't any different from 1st graders at show and tell - we do love to talk about out toys!

For Christmas my son got me me some Armada Wave 2 stuff and my secret Santa really hit the mark with some great AWI miniatures from Fife and Drum!

Both presents are deeply appreciated.

I just finished a Portuguese Cacadore regiment and some Napoleonic naval (all in 28mm) which will hopefully soon be posted on the AHPC site. Up next on the work bench are some 28mm Perry Native Americans.  I'm about 3 hours into these guys and experimenting with different skin tones and war paint designs.

AHPC VI: First 3 Submissions

 An eclectic trio of initial submissions for this years challenge.  First up a Finnish BT-42 with  incorrect Soviet markings - think of it as a recaptured tank.  The model is 28mm scale and from those excellent chaps at Trenchworx.

 Next up 3 British Siege Mortars from Front Rank (28MM).  You'll be seeing a lot of Front Rank stuff this challenge.  I've got a 32 figure unit of 28mm scaled Portuguese Cacadores from Front Rank on the painting table now.

Lastly, a 28mm scaled US gunboat from Laser Dream Works.  There be a more detailed post on this one in a few days

Ready, Set, Organize?

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge VI has officially commenced and after painting up a 28mm tank my next move required careful planning and decisive execution.

What was this master-stroke of pigment planning?  Was it switching from righty to lefty? No, not that.  Blindfolding myself and letting the "force" guide me?  Nope not that either (although some of you may have assumed that was the way I usually paint).  No silly painting fans it was an even more desperate act - I cleaned up my painting desk and broke out 3 new Windsor and Newton Series 7 Brushes (sizes 0, 1 and 2).

Oh yeah, "he just did that".

Look on in awe struck terror at the terrible magnificence of my sparking clean and organized painting area.  Imagine with dread the 3 fold increase in painting efficiency and skill such an environment will create.

Conan was right - the answer to the question what is best in life? is to "Break the brushes of your painting enemies, see their paints dried before you and hear the lamentations of their forever unpainted minis"

There have been unfounded rumors that the real cause for my cleaning my hobby space is the eminent arrival of my Mother-in-Law for Christmas and the rather strange panic it has induced in my lovely but fierce wife.  These rumors are completely inaccurate in some respects.  It is just a coincidence that I have decided, under my own accord and not out of dire fear of spousal repercussions, that the entire basement, my wood working shop and my office needed to be cleaned up and that such cleaning has to be completed today.  Yes just, ummmm, a coincidence.....

Merry Christmas everyone and may all of the painting challenge participants have a wonderful time!

Why Amazon, For the Love all things Holy, Why?

With the Christmas 8 days away, I have entered my normal panic mode in getting presents.  I'm sure none of you have fallen into this trap so bear with me and try not to be too judgmental.

Usually Amazon is my friend in these situations and I was looking for presents for some teenaged relatives and I clicked on the search tab for toys for kids aged 14 and up.  I was sure that within the 466 thousands items Amazon has in that category some really good ones would pop up

So what filled the first 6 of 9 spots on page one of the recommended list for teenagers aged 14 and up - Cards Against Humanity and its several iterations.

Don't get me wrong, I've played the game at conventions and its fun in a juvenile and rather inappropriate way but pushing it off on 14 years olds is a bit beyond the pale.  I can just see this future family disaster scene - "Thanks Grandma, this looks like a fun game, let try once the reverend arrives for dinner...."

Aiyyy Carumba