St Michael's Con: Fall 2016

 This past weekend was the second rendition the St Michael's Gaming Con - or - St Michaels Con as we call it.  OK maybe calling this a con is stretching things a bit but I was able to cram 2 full days of gaming with 8 like minded souls this past weekend.  It was a blast hosting this crew and we're looking forward to more.

 The festivities started friday morning with some Guild Ball and Imperial Assault.  A LOT of Imperial Assault was played over the weekend.

We had planned to run a Guild Ball tournament but never got around to playing.  Too many other distractions.

 I put on a Napoleonic naval game using my 1/1200 Langton's and the Trafalgar ruleset.

 A combined US, French and Spanish fleet had to escort a merchant ship with "secret documents" from the harbor to the far edge of the table.  Of course there was a large British fleet trying to intercept.

Each player controlled 2-3 ships and we used the basic Trafalgar rules.  I thought the game went really well - the guys seemed to be having fun.  It was great to get the Langton's on the table - they've been on the shelf was too long.

 In the end it was a very narrow British victory!

Next up some Frostagrave!

 Frost greave was a lot of fun.

 First session of Runewars - this one is very complicated!

Imperial Assault - I think this game was the one played the most

Back to Frostgrave

Mike in deep contemplation about his future Frostgrave war band....

Jon thinking how he can spring traps on us as the Frostgrave GM

A make shift gaming table - Dano brought a 6x4 tabletop and we affixed to some old saw horses with twist ties.  It was surprisingly stable.

I think Steve is pulling the chair out for behind Gary - very sneaky

Even more Frostgrave

I got to play BloodBowl for the first time - it was really a lot of fun - actually a good bit more fun the Guild Ball.

A trial game of the HALO ground assault rules and mini's

Zombiecide Black Plague - a very silly but very fun game

We lost....

Another run of Runewars.  I played in this one.

Arkam horror and we ended the session with a 8 player run of the Western card game BANG!, which was a fitting end to the weekend.

Alas, the two X-Wing token Steve left last April at the first St Michaels con were returned to him and then promptly left behind again.  These are very sad little tokens right now.

Lastly, a glamor shot of the Intensify Forward Firepower podcast crew.  I'm very sorry if this picture offends any of the more sensitive members of my readership....

All in all a grand weekend.  It was a pleasure to host it and I'm looking forward to another one in six months or so.

AHPC: More Prep Work & Bringing Out the Big Guns

 Yet more Prep work in progress

On the 28mm Frostgrave front a bunch of plastic and metal knolls and 11 adventurers.

On the 15mm Ancients category the first of a whole bunch of Romans and Sassanid Persians.

Yeah, yeah, I know this figure prep really isn't the best indicator that the Challenge is coming around - but there's another more accurate indicator....

A new set of Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes!   I always like to start the challenge with a new set and have learned that both in business and in life it never pays to go cheap on your tools...

Oh yeah, just look at those babies purring in their custom "garage".  They're just aching to get painting.  Truly Winsor & Newton's are the Bugatti's of the miniature painting world.

I take good care of the brushes whilst engaged in painting combat - cleaning after every session.  However, despite the best of care, the wear and tear of the challenge session often proves too much even for the most well crafted brush.  I am amazed at their bravery in the face of such daunting survival odds.  Never has so much paint been applied by so few tiny brushes.

Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes, I salute you!

AHPC: Prep Work

I'm expanding my WW2 Western Desert collection as part of the upcoming Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge this year.  Being prep'd now are 30 28mm French Foreign Legion figures and some British LRDG vehicles - 3 jeeps and 2 trucks.  All of the miniatures are from the Perry line and are superbly sculpted and cast.

I did screw up one item - I forgot to was the vehicles to remove the mold release.  With the Perry/Blitzkrieg vehicles sometimes your paint will not adhere due to the mold release agent.  Given all the metal parts and details, I'll need to be careful in trying to do so now or have some un-intentioned "battle-damage".

This lot totals 46 figures and 5 vehicles, which traditional AHPC points totals to 305 points, or a little under 10% of last years production total - I've got a lot more figure prep to do this month!

Frostgrave Terrain IV: All done - for now

 The ruined tower is done - the static grass still looks a little fades as the matte medium is still drying.  This was a lot of fun and like most of my terrain projects had no planning at all.  I had a 4 inch wide cardboard shipping tube in the workshop and decided to make a tower on a whim.

I made add some more interior details if I've got time this week.

The two pieces side by side.  I think they came out well and will be put to use next weekend in a Jon's Frostgrave game.  It may be hard to see in the picture but each piece has an access point on all four sides - some are easier than others.  In a "treasure hunt" game like Frostgrave it's important not to let the terrain give an advantage to one player over the other.

Frostgrave Terrain III

 Another Terrain piece for next week's Frostgrave game - this one will be a ruined tower.

 I decided to "fake" the blocks for the tower by using a shipping tube and some mounting board cut into 0.75 x 1.50 inch rectangles.  These are then "curved" by hand and glued in place.  It was actually a lot easier to do when I thought

 Oops ran out of "blocks" and had to cut more

All done!

Test fit with the ruin.  I think it looks pretty good!

No more sailing until spring.....

:(

October's Come and Gone

 Wow Octobers already come and gone - as usual it was a glorious month here on the Chesapeake. Last saturday I sailed the Bucentaure over to Annapolis to get get her ready for winter storage.

The winds were perfect and a transit that normally takes 6 hours was done in just under 5!

Forgot to take pictures along the way but a few tied up at the dock.

 A very nice day on the Bay.

 I also voted last friday.  What an awful election and set of options

The less said the better.....

Probably the final harvest from the garden as we'll have a few frosts in a row this week.

Oh well - onto November, or as we call it "Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge Figure Preparation Month" or "AHPCFPM" for short.

Preying Mantises!

 Today was a spectacular day on the Eastern Shore - sunny, high 60's with a steady breeze.  In other words a perfect fall Sunday.  What made it even more perfect was a swarm of Prey Mantises in the yard.

Here's one on the deck...

 and in the bushes, a second,

 a third,

 a fourth,

a fifth,

 and a sixth!  All spotted in 15 minutes and within 20 feet of each other.  It is mating season so they do tend to congregate. These were all mature specimens averaging about 6 inches in length.

I've always been fascinated by these stealthy hunters and have cultivated them in the garden as they are great at controlling pets

 Just how good are they at controlling pests.  Here's another shot of the first one just after she nabbed a horse fly.

A tasty morsel if ever there was one.  One of the reasons we don't use chemical pesticides on out yard or vegetable garden is to make sure we don't kill off the mantis population.