Hello 2011!

Wow...2 posts in 2 days...a good way to end the year I guess! So...having taken a bit of time to look back on my gaming efforts in 2010 I now turn to looking forward into what I'd like to accomplish in 2011. I had 10 items on my list for 2010 and I did ok, so I think I'll shoot for 10 more things in 2011. Here they go in the order I'd like to get them done:

1-Finish the freaking DAK for FOW! Ugh...this has been hanging out there for me and I just have a little ways to go, so I'm going to focus on it and get it out of the way so it's no longer haunting me!

2-Paint the rest of the 28mm Republican Roman Army for Mike. I have the velites done and the triarri preped and primed, so I'm looking forward to getting this done.

3-Assemble, paint and game with the Dystopian Wars Prussians I got. The models are very nice and the rules look good...just need to get ready to play!

4-Paint some 10mm Warmaster Dwarfs as part of a trade. This will be the first 10mm stuff I've painted in a number of years since I did a bunch of WWII (before moving to 28mm then 15mm); I'm looking forward to it because the figures are nice and should paint up quickly.

5-Base up the 15mm Mongol army for Might of Arms that Tim K from Saguaro Painting Service (see links section) painted for me.

6-I have 3 projects currently being completed by other people as parts of various trades. I'm in no rush to get them back because as you can tell I have a ton of other things to do, but when I do get them back I aim to do any completion work (namely basing) right when I get them back and not put them on the shelf in an incomplete state. Having stuff in an incomplete state is driving me crazy because I have too much of it already!

7-Begin working on the 15mm Polish FOW army I have. This army is for the Polish 10th Mechanized Brigade and is all True North figures that I purchased from Old Glory.

8-Finish painting and base up the 15mm Marian Roman army I have for Might of Arms.

9-Work on getting some of the 28mm American Civil War figures and units I have done. I'd like to build the forces for the Peach Orchard at Gettysburg eventually. I have Barksdale's Brigade and Graham's Brigade organized, now I have to get them cleaned/prepped and decide whether I'm going to try to speed paint them myself or send them off to Sri Lanka to get painted.

10-Something else that I'm undecided about. One of my big problems is that I like a plethora of time periods, game scales, etc. and I don't know how many times I've invested in a game only to have my attention switch focus and end up selling/trading stuff I've never used. I doubt this will ever change for me when it comes to gaming interests, so I figure that this year there will be a project that pops up that I will focus on and begin work on...whether it ever sees the table...who knows! That said, several gaming possibilities keep entering my thoughts including: 28mm English Civil War, 28mm American Revolution, 15mm Fantasy, 10mm Eastern Renaissance/Thirty Years War, 15mm Modern African wars in an alternate setting, expanding my Daemonhunters for 40k when the new codex comes out, and who knows what else!

So, that's what I'm looking at for the upcoming year. It goes without saying that I want to be able to play games too! That's one good thing I managed to do in 2010 with games of 15mm and 28mm ancients, 15mm WWII, Lord of the Rings, 15mm Viet Nam, 28mm ACW, Legends of the Old West, and others being played. Considering that 4 items from my list entail finishing things that are already started, and 2 other items are doing things for other people, I think I can get through a lot of the list and have a productive 2011. Oh, yea...I'd like to try to record more on this blog too...just takes time!

Later,

Tom O

See Ya' 2010

Well, I only managed 13 posts this year (14 if you count this one)...better than 2009 but not where I want to be. I've had some real life stuff taking up time and just haven't had that "hobby" drive I need to focus and do things consistently like paint and blog! That said, here's what I've done off of my "wish list" for 2010:

1-Finish Uruk-Hai scout army for LOTR: Done, but I will eventually be adding stuff to the army.

2-Do terrain for Gathering in the Desert 2010: Done. I've toyed with the idea of getting rid of the Osgiliath terrain because I no longer have armies for any game that fit that basing, but I still have it.

3-15mm Napolenics: Done...kind of...I ended up selling/trading what I had acquired off. The guys I game with have more than enough 15mm Nappy's and anything I was going to contribute would be duplication.

4-Finish Trucks for my DAK FOW Army: Work in progress...I'm a lot closer than I was last year...just some detailing and basing to do. I would have been done, but I did some additions to my 8th Army force and also additions to a Late War Soviet force that I acquired instead.

5-Chariots for Mitanni WAB Army: These have been passed off to Tim K to finish up as the final part of a trade that we entered into years ago.

6-40k Stormtroopers: Done...mostly...just have some detail and basing to do. This went to the back burner pending the new DH codex coming out.

7-WHFB Army: I have a Tomb King army that I had previously owned and I think I may get rid of it. I won't play WHFB competitively so I may just stick with my Dwarf Wars stuff when I get around to playing this game.

8-New 40k Army: Didn't happen...

9-Base up 15mm Marian Army: Didn't happen...but I did have Tim K paint up a 15mm Mongol army that I have to base up as well...so something did get done on the 15mm ancients front.

10-Start new game: I purchased stuff for Dystopian Wars...and I'm also thinking of Warmaster...

Well...it was an "ok" year...at least I got to play a lot more games than I thought I would. Now I'll mull over what I want to accomplish in 2011 and post that up when I get if figured out!

28mm Roman Velites

Well I've been busy and not as dedicated to my painting efforts as I should be...that said, I have managed to get something done recently. Here are a couple of photos of some 28mm Roman Velites that I'm painting up for Mike as part of a trade. They are from Crusader Miniatures and were great figures to work with. They were easy and enjoyable to paint. Next up for Mike's Roman Army for WAB are the Triarii which I'll post pictures of when I've finished them. Eventhough I'm not painting as much as I'd like, I've been getting in about a game a week and having fun, so there's that!

28mm American Civil War - 114th Pennsylvania

Here is the first completed unit for my 28mm American Civil War Union force. It's the 114th Pennsylvania Volunteers. The figures are a mix of 1st generation Old Glory and Sash & Saber. I purchased some of the figures (Old Glory) off of Bartertown a few years ago and sent the Sash & Saber off to Sri Lanka for painting (I hate trying to match paint jobs). I finally got around to basing the figures up and finishing them off...the flags are from GMB and they look very nice.

114th PA Color Guard

114th PA

I have plenty of other 28mm ACW to paint up. I'm going to try to work on the rest of the 1st Brigade/1st Division/III Corps from Gettysburg to start with, and then I'll likely move on to Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade. This is a long term project and I'm in no rush. I'll use the figures for either Johnny Reb III or for a set of rules that my friend Don is working on.

Warhammer 40k Stormtrooper Conversions

OK, so as anyone can tell you (especially Robert from the Drunken Samurai Paiting Blog and Tim from Cursed Treasures) I am not much of a modeler, nor have I done a lot of conversions. I have a rather large Warhammer 40k Daemonhunter Army that I've been wanting to add some Stormtroopers too for quite some time, but I don't like the standard GW ones. I saw some various posts up on the 'net somewhere that inspired me to do the following conversions. I used plastic Cadians to which I added WHFB Knights of the White Wolf capes along with heads from the West Wind Secrets of the 3rd Reich range; the heads are French Adrian helmets with gasmasks and they look ok on the models. I also converted a couple of flamers into meltaguns as you can see below. I'm hoping these guys look better once they are painted...now I just have to decide on a paint scheme!

Fences Finished

The Old Glory 28mm Russian Farmsteads I painted up for Gathering in the Desert came with some fences that I didn't finish in time. These are rather tall fences and will be of use for various era's. I'm thinking of coming up with a "firing step" to add along the inner side of the fence so 28mm figures can see over the top to shoot. As you can see by the test paint of the Warhammer Fantasy Tomb King archer below, the fences are a bit tall. And yes, Tomb Kings are my next major project.

More 2010 Gathering in the Desert pictures

Here are a few other pictures from this years Gathering In The Desert. There were some really nicely painted armies there.

GITD Pictures

Well, it's actually been a couple of months since the 2010 Gathering in the Desert for Lord of the Rings SBG and I'm finally getting around to posting a couple of photos I took. I took some notes, but can't find them so instead I'll just make a couple of observations that have stuck with me:

• Tim and his wife Shannon did a great job in putting the event on. They were organized and everything went off without a hitch.
• The players were top-notch; at least all of my opponents were. There were no "push-overs", that's for sure.
• The tables looked great...thanks to everyone who contributed to the tables.
• Armies and army composition are tough. Defense 6 and a tough character or two rule the day in the game now it appears. My forces for the past 2 years (Rohan and Uruk Raiders) have suffered greatly IMO at the hands of the dreaded "creap" as subsequent armies or armies with actual supplements have gotten better. Nothing like having a lower Defense, lower or the same Fight, Lower or the same Strength than your opponent AND being outnumbered!
• Also, I know composition is tough, but some allied contingents always make me scratch my head...and I'll leave it at that.
• Playing to the scenario is discouraging when your opponent would rather just focus on breaking your army and then can mop up and get extra points.
• I'm not sure which army or if I'll play next year. I have always used a different/new army at GITD and I have unpainted Easterlings, Dwarves and Orcs that I could get ready for next year, but I need to take a step back and see if I want to play.

Well enough of that...here are some pictures.

GITD 2010 - Rohan Settlement Debut

OK, so here is a possible lay out for my "Rohan" settlement for the GITD. It would look better on a mottled green and brown table, but all I had was green to chose from. The road, rivers and bridge are from JR Miniatures. The buildings are Old Glory. The Fences are from Pegasus (but have been repainted). I've had the hills for years; they were made by a local gamer (thanks Neil). And I did the tree pieces. They are Xmas tree armatures I got from Michaels...I brushed the snow off with an old toothbrush, sprayed them with Krylon camo brown, mounted them on some pieces of wood (also got from Michaels), stuccoed the bases and put some rocks down and then used Woodland Scenics foliage that comes in a small sheet that you unfold and cut and stretch. I think they look OK from a distance...less so from close up, but not bad. I didn't have time to replace or modify the roofs for the buildings in a true "Rohan" style....sorry...maybe next year.

GITD 2010 - The Return of Osgiliath!

Well, I had set a date of February 1st to be done with my army and terrain projects for this year GITD...it turns out I needed a few extra weeks, but I got it done! Here are some pics of a possible layout for "the dreaded Osgiliath" table this year. I eliminated one of the larger buildings from last year and replaced it with the "weathertop" Hirst Arts kit I won last year. I also eliminated a few of the smaller building pieces and added more rubble. It still will be a challenging table for all hopefully. One note...the large 3 storybuilding doesn't have the floor pieces in it for these pictures...it will for the tournament though. See you all there!

GITD 2010 Terrain Progress Report 2: Rohan

Well, here are some pieces that will likely be on the Rohan table I'm doing for GITD 2010. The great thing about these pieces is they can work for a wide variety of settings...I'm sure some will end up on the table when doing 28mm ACW as well as 28mm WWII Eastern Front! So, here's what I have so far:

Fences by Pegasus Hobbies, but I repainted them to fit in with the rest of the terrain. The bridge is from JR Miniatures. The sheds (there are actually 2) are from Old Glory and they have lift off roofs. The watering troughs are also Old Glory. I'm not sure where the well is from; it is resin and I've had it for a long time and I finally had a reason to paint it up.

Here are 2 Old Glory houses. These come from their Russian building range. As you can see the roofs lift off. The doors are metal and the buildings are resin. I tried to get the doors so they could open, but they it was impossible for me to do so...the combination of the size & weight of the door, the place to drill for rare earth magnets or pins, and the relatively thin resin at the bottom of the door defeated my feable modeling skills. So the doors are glued in...deal with it!

Here's a closer picture of one of the houses.

And a closer picture of the second house.

And here's a barn from Old Glory. It is similar to the house, but with a staw roof. I have 2 of these as well because they came in a set along with the shed and some large log walls that I will be painting up after the tournament. This is a little shiney because I had just gotten done putting a coat of spray polyeurothane on it. It will be dulcoted once it dries for a nice flat look.

The last pieces of terrain I have to finish off for the Rohan table are some woods...I'll put some pictures up once I finish them off.

GITD 2010 Terrain Progress Report 1: Osgiliath

Well I've actually been doing pretty good with the terrain I've been working on for GITD 2010. Here's the Hirst Arts piece that I won last year for the Osgiliath table I did. Thanks again to Tim K. for putting it together for me. I did some light rubble on it. It will make a good addition to the Osgiliath table for this years tournament! Once I finish off the pieces for the Rohan settlement I'm doing for this year, I'm going to figure out how I'm going to rearrange the Osgiliath table.

Terrain for the 2010 Gathering in the Desert

Last year I supplied a rubbled "Osgiliath" table for the Gathering in the Desert Lord of the Rings tournament. I received an award for the table which consisted of a nice kit from Hirst Arts. After much procrastination I finally broke down and had Tim K assemble the piece. I just got it back last week and added some rubble to it and just got done priming it. It will be part of a slightly modified "Osgiliath" table at this years GITD next month...many of the same pieces as last year will be there, but it will be reconfigured somewhat.

When I won that Hirst Arts piece, I got thinking about another table I could do at the same time I got thinking about what army I'd like to field. Since I all ready had a Rohan force and had some figures to start an Uruk-hai scout army, I figured I'd do a Rohan settlement. The settlement will have consist of pieces mainly from Old Glory, JR Miniatures, and Pegasus Hobbies along with some scratch built pieces. I spent this morning priming everything using Krylon Ultra-flat black and Ultra-flat brown (for the tree armatures). Now I just have a month to finish it! The good news is that I like painting terrain and can bust through it pretty quickly once I get it primed and ready to go. The hardest part will be the trees which I'll seperate into smaller groups, glue to bases (which will need additional detailing) and flock with leaves.

Here are some pics of what I have to tackle:

Wish me luck!

Cross One Off The List!

Well, I can cross one of my "to do" items for 2010 off of the list...I finished up my Uruk-hai Scout Army up for Lord of the Rings. It also has some Dunland Allies with it. I was actually done a few weeks ago, but was under the weather and finally got around to takeing some quick pictures. So, here they are:

Sharku, some Orcs (for dismounted Warg riders), and some scouts

Some Feral Uruks, more Warg riders and scouts

Scouts and Warriors of Dunland
Lurtz, Ugluk, Vrasku, and Dunland Command

The Army

Now, there is over 600 points here and I have a few different list options that I've come up with. I have tested one list and I have a game scheduled tomorrow with Tim K and I'll try another one then. I still have some time to figure out how to configure the army, so that's good. I do feel that, like last year when I ran my all mounted Rohan force, I'm bringing a knife to a gun fight.

A New Year - 2010 resolutions?

Well, the New Year and New Decade is here and though I haven't been updating this blog much I have actually been doing some gaming related activities. I had a target date of December 31st to finish off my Uruk-Hai scout army for LOTR, but I'm going to be a little behind on that...maybe this weekend...the reason I'm mostly behind is that I decided to do up another box of Warg Riders that I won at the Gathering In the Desert Primer event. So here's my "plan" (subject to change at any time, of course!) for 2010:

1-Finish the Uruk scouts for LOTR: I plan on taking pics and posting them next weekend.

2-Do a bunch of buildings from Old Glory and JR Miniatures, along with some accessories from Pegasus and a piece from Hirst Arts; I want to get this done by the end of January or so because I'll need this stuff for a couple of tables I'm supplying for the Gathering in the Desert.

3-Touch up and rebase a bunch of 15mm Napoleonics I got in a trade. I traded off a 25mm Early Imperial Roman army for these troops since some of the local guys have started playing Napoleon's Battles and Shako II. I'll likely trade/sell off the Russians I got so I can expand the French and Poles I have.

4-Finish up the 15mm DAK trucks for my FOW army.

5-Finally finish up the chariots for my 25mm Mitanni army for WAB.

6-Get some figures suitable for 40k Stormtroopers to add to my Daemonhunter Army.

7-Start on a Warhammer Fantasy Army: I have a large number of Dwarf Wars figures that I can proxy as either an Orc army or an Empire army based on how they are armed, but lately I've been thinking of starting either a Skaven or a Dark Elf army instead.

8-Start on another 40k army: I have my Grey Knights and I think I will start off by adding IGuard and Space Marine allies with possibly expanding these to full blown armies in the future. I'm also interested in Eldar and Dark Eldar though too...

9-Finish off and base up a 15mm Marian Roman army that was painted by Philgreg painters in Sri Lanka. This is for Might of Arms...a good game which I hope to play more of this year.

10-Commit to one "new" game...I'm thinking this will be Uncharted Seas, but we'll see.

That's all for now...hopefully I'll have the time (once my son's basketball season is over with at least) to update the blog more frequently.

Happy New Year!
Tom