Skirmish

I'm heading to Cold Wars on Thursday, and will be (hopefully) selling a lot of my collection at the flea market.

I am still considering a skirmish project. So I'm considering what I may buy while I am there, using some of the flea market proceeds. I think I'm on to something:

Cowboys.

vs. Pirate women.

vs. Robots.

vs. ....

...well, you see the pattern. I'll just paint up no more than a dozen of whatever figures I feel like at any given time, and work a game around that. This gives me an excuse to pick of a second pack of Black Scorpion pirates, a few more cowboys, and a reason to get some of the Hydra Miniatures retro robots. I'm now regretting I got rid of my single squad of early war WWI French a while ago, that might have been a good addition.

I'm considering adapting some mechanics from a couple of older games, Killzone and Bladestorm. We'll see how it goes.

I spent a little time this evening unpacking & setting up a little work space in the dungeonous basement, under the clothes lines. Far from ideal for quite a few reasons, but hopefully I can work something else out in the not too distant future (provided I even have time to use it.)

Axis & Allies Air Force - Angels 20 - Initial Review

I first read about the Axis & Allies Air Force / Angels 20 game at a blog entry at the Naval Gazing blog (via. Dean's WAB Corner blog.)

Modeling and painting has always been as big a draw to the hobby as the actual games. I have played some boardgames thought, including a lot of the original Axis & Allies in my youth. In fact, there are probably still a few stray dice hidden around my parents house from getting thrown in frustration by my teenage self. I have watched as games with pre-painted figures have steadily improved over the past decade, in terms of the quality of figures and painting. Since my time is limited and not much painting is done, and since I am working for an aviation museum and contemplating ways to get some game-days at out facility (and maybe some games stocked in the gift shop,) Angels 20 seemed like something I really needed to check out.

The store owner gave me a run down of the game mechanics, which took all of about ten minutes. Reading through the instructions, there are a few additional details & optional rules, but all in all the game seems simple to learn & quick to play. The starter box comes with the instructions, two game maps (the game is played on a hexagon based map,) a small sheet of card counters, a deck of cards with the stats for each of 30 planes in the first release, and six planes with clear plastic flight stands.

The "booster" sets are blind boxed, containing three random planes. I'm not really fond of that arrangement as I think it's a gimmiky way of selling a product. I haven't bought anything beyond the starter, and will hold off until I try out a few games. I'm bringing it to Cold Wars for some casual evening gaming with friends. If I enjoy the game and do well at the flea market, who knows, maybe I will pick up a few extra planes. I may just wait to see what happens with a secondary market & picking specific planes second hand.

Here's a few (phone camera) photos of some of the planes. I think the quality on them is excellent. The flight stands have 6 numbered faces, to be rotated so that the number at the plane's 12 o'clock position is the altitude. The planes have a socket, and the top of the stand has a ball, so that the planes can pivot on the joint indicating banking, diving, climbing, etc.

That's a nice arrangement, but I think I can do better. I will most likely mount a steel nut or other piece of hardware in the plane's socket so that I can use the magnetic telescoping stands I got from CorSec Engineering, for use in my WWI Blue Max/Canvas Eagles project.

I will report back in another week or two, when we've had a chance to try the game out.

OEGB finished

 

I painted up OEGB.

He's painted as a cockatiel in honor of our old bird, Butthead aka "Tweeter" aka "The Screeching Harpy of Jawndomay. He was my wife's bird from long before we met. He hated other birds, and wasn't terribly fond of most people, but had a bit of a dog fetish. He was obsessed with her room mate's dog, and went through withdrawal when we moved in together. After we got our dog, he became obsessed again. First he would flip out if the dog wasn't within line of sight. Then it became freak-out time if the dog wasn't in the same room. Then it was non-stop screeching if the dog wasn't laying right at the base of his cage.

I wanted to like the bird but... well, he was kind of a dick. Like I said, he wasn't fond of people, and was afraid of hands (it made changing his food & water & cleaning his cage a bit of a challenge.) For I while I swore I was going to train him to be more friendly so he could ride on my shoulder, pirate style. That didn't go so well. But I did get him to be OK with taking treats (a bit of popcorn in the photo below) from my mouth, and he would give me "kisses" (gentle nibbles?) on my nose.

Tweeter had two eyes, though.

Primed

I got the first bit of hobby time in about a month today. I spent about 15 minutes priming the OEGB and one of the planes I built a few months ago.

I put the beak, wings and legs on the OEGB last month. That, along with a bit of cleaning in the stoodii (while waiting for putty to cure) made up most of Decembers 3+/- hours of hobby time.

He's about 4" total height. The body roughly matches the size of the OEGR. I'm thinking about painting him similar to a cockatiel, as a tribute to our old bird. Firefox's spell check doesn't like the word "cockatiel" and recommends "cockatrice" instead.

I should really change the "vinyl toys" tag to just "toys" since I'm doing very little with vinyl lately.

2012 Hobby Goals

I previously reviewed the resolution of my resolutions for 2011. As I stated in the comments on that entry, the list was a rough set of goals to look forward to. Not a hard list of things I felt I must achieve. Still, I was looking to hit about 50% and failed to get even that close. Frankly I'm a bit depressed about what appears to be the near death of my involvement of a hobby in which I've participated for over 25 years.

The 2012 list is a bit different. The expectations are a scaled down. A lot. It feels a bit like a last grasp at holding on to my hobby.


1. Play a game (or games) on at least 12 days this year. That's a game a month goal. I'm only counting my attendance at Cold Wars as a single "day."

2. Get at least 8 WWI planes completely finished, get the rest of the stands, a hex mat and play at least one game of Blue Max/Canvas Eagles.

3. Paint Romans, friends and foes. A hold over from the past two years. This year I will even set a modest number. Finish the mostly painted scutarii I started last year, and paint 4 units of Roman legion.

4. Make trees. I've got a kit of deciduous trees. I've had them for a couple years. It's about time I put them together.

5. Paint a unit of landsknecht pikemen and the pack of casualty figures.

6. Paint the strumpets. I've got 4 of them ready to go on the painting table, from the same range of Reaper figures as the previous civilians. In fact, a few more civilians would be nice as well. Let's say the strumpets plus another 6 civvies.


So there we go, my goals include painting a little over 100 figures, putting some trees together, finishing 5 plane kits plus building & painting 3 more. And 12 games. Not exactly aiming for the sun. If I can't score at least 50% on this set of goals, I'm selling everything at the end of the year.

I'd thought about adding "attend at least one local con this year and play in or run at least one game there" but sadly, that doesn't even seem realistic.

Merry Christmas to Myself

Saw a used copy of the Malcolm McGregor Uniforms & Weapons of the American Revolution Posterbook at the local bookstore. Bought it for myself.

OEGR

Again, not exactly wargaming, but a tangent... small toy sculpting & painting. I previously posted a pic of the sculpt in progress, but here's the finished critter, OEGR.

Again, he's about 3" to the top of his head. When I brought him home last week, right after this photo was taken, I dropped him outside my door while fumbling for my keys. My poor judgement, as he was balanced on a tall tower of wrapped Christmas presents I was sneaking in the house, and when it leaned a little too far to the right, he tumbled down onto the pavement. The worst of the damage was a broken neck. I'm trying to repair it (but haven't had time in the past week or so) but if I can't, he may end up with a painted on scar and stitches along the crack/joint.

I've got another one in the works, OEGB.

2011 Resolutions Evaluated

With the holidays looming, very little free time on the horizon, and painting & gaming on my mind, I'm just going to evaluate my 2011 resolutions  few weeks early. There's no possibility for any of these changing for the remainder of the year.



1. Get back into pointless gaming. This is a carry-over from last year. I'm going to throw the "Legendary Battle" into this one as well. I just want to play some interesting non-competitive games again. Although I've going to one in a little over a week, I'm really getting sick of tournaments and the tournament mindset.

Fail. I ran a couple of non-points based games, they weren't well received. Most people seem to only want to play competitive, points based games anymore.



2. Paint lots of Romans (and the friends & foes.) Again, a carry over from last year. This year I'd really like to be able to pit two Roman armies against each other for some dramatic civil war action in the late Republic.

Fail. I painted one unit of legion, one unit of Spanish cavalry, and got about 90% done with a unit of Spanish scutarii. I have committed to running a couple WAB games at Cold Wars, so I need to step things up ASAP, but I'm not sure how I will find the time!



3. Cleveland East-side gaming. I'd like to get some gaming in my general part of town. I know there are a few other people around here, so it's just a matter of organization. Ideally I'd like to do something a bit casual. Some friends and I used to get together every other weekend, drink some beers, have some laughs and play some 40k in the basement. Something like that.

Fail. Nothing happened with this. What little gaming I've done in 2011 has been far from home.



4. Make my hobby more profitable. That sounds a bit "unfun" but I assure you it isn't. I've said before that I believe that if one is going to devote 1/4 to 1/3 of their time to their work, it should be something they enjoy, and about which they are passionate. I've learned that lesson the hard way -- I'm now left with nothing to show other than a lot of stress & baggage from almost a decade of suffering at a job that made me miserable and made me feel shitty about myself. I don't want to go back to that. As long as I'm in this position, I want to try to do something positive with it. I'm trying to work on a few different possibilities. This is something I've really got to work hard for, and is probably the most important thing on the list. In terms of survival, that is. OK... everything else on the list is back to less serious business...

Mixed. While I was unemployed, I did do some commission painting that helped get me by. But it never became practical and the market has completely changed since I previously did this quite successfully about 10 years ago. So compared to the past it would be a "fail" but I feel like I did what I could within the current environment.



5. Paint more landsknechts. I've had some of them forever. I love the figures, and if nothing else I can work them into my Empire army. I'm not even sure I care if I use them. But they take time and I keep postponing working on them based on the idea that it's not efficient use of my time. I need to throw that idea out the window on occasion, and just enjoy painting them once in a while. (I did paint a few in 2010.)

Fail. Painted one unit of pike, never even found appropriate command figures for them.



6. Sculpt/Convert more. I've got some ideas. I know I can do it, I just need some more practice. It's a matter of motivation to get over that first obstacle -- starting.

Mixed. But not with wargaming miniatures. A bit of terrain, and a bunch of toys and whimsical artsy things. While this has been a "success" in terms of me being happy with doing stuff, it has little to do with gaming. So I'll be generous and call it "mixed."



7. Paint Macedonians/Successors. I've got a pile of pikemen. I want to paint them. I always seem to have other things that seem more pressing. Like adding to existing projects rather than starting new ones.

Fail. I've got one unit of pike primed, and one poorly painted test figure.



8. Paint Carthaginians. This has got to be one of the easiest to do. I've got a small batch of Carthaginian spearmen. If I paint them, I can mix in a bunch of mercenaries... some Spanish, Numidians, Gauls, etc. Most of those I've already got painted. Tah-dah: Instant Carthaginian army. Added bonus: they're cleaned, assembled, primed and based. They just need paint.

Success! Painted the Carthaginian spearmen, a couple of mounted command figures, and a Numidian elephant. Add the above mentioned Spanish to the mix and I've got a small but solid Carthaginian army. The one last thing I'd like to add is a unit of cavalry.



9. Gaming Table - refurbish or replace. I'd like to either repair and refurbish my existing gaming table (table tops that go on the dining room table) or replace them with an entirely new one.

Fail. I made some drawings for some ideas.



Six "failed" resolutions, two "mixed" resolutions, and one "success" for a painitng project that I've put to use in a single game. Even the silver linings seem to have some pretty big clouds.



There are a couple things not on the list above, both positive and negative. Non-resolution hobby events, I suppose:

0. This year I played in an RPG campaign, the first in 15-20 years. Although I am sad it ended, it was a lot of fun while it lasted. Success!

0. 2011 was the last WFB tournament for me. For many years they were more fun than competitive. But the balance has slowly crossed the threshold to a point where I am no longer interested in participating. Fail.

0. Speaking of WFB, I gave 8th edition more than year of "trial" before finally losing interest. It's not just that I don't care for 8th edition. I could probably deal with it and keep going in the hope that the gameplay improves. But the dead horse I've probably beat on too much is that the tournament/competitive aspect of the game has crept into almost any WFB gaming opportunity. So barring any changes there, I probably won't be playing any longer. Fail.

0. Lastly there's the recent WWI project I've started. It may seem like it came from nowhere (and certainly wasn't on my list above) but its something I've wanted to do for many years. The fire was finally ignited in 2011! Success!

So in the "unforeseeable" categories, I think I had a 50/50 split of success & failure. Even better if you just lump the  two WFB things together into a catch-all "WFB is dead to me" item. ;)




I'm starting to think about resolutions for 2012, but there are a couple of hurdles I'm going to have to clear. In spite of the big turnaround and bright things that have been happening in most other aspects of my life, the wargaming & painting hobby thing seems to have one foot in the grave as the new year approaches. More on that in a few weeks, along with the new resolutions.

Aerial Progress & Cold Wars Ancients

WWI Aerial

Per previous request, here's a shot of everything I've got done so far. Since the last entry, I assembled the Revell S.E.5a, which looks great and went together very quickly and painlessly - a big difference from the Sopwith Tripe.

Note, the DR.1 on the "ground" is the Eduard model I'm working on for a friend, not mine. Earlier this week I picked up some "music wire" from the local hobby store. It's a little finer than the wire I used on the Pup. I'm going to try it out on the minimal rigging on the DR.1.

I'm going to get a list of all the planes awaiting assembly soon.


Cold Wars

Apparently the GM registration for the Cold Wars PEL snuck up on everyone. It seems a bit early to me (and apparently to others.) I hadn't planned on making any final decisions until after the holidays, but I wanted to get in the PEL, so I made a last minute decision last night. I'll be running a pair of WAB games on Friday morning/afternoon, called "Hispania Ulterior" featuring Lucius Hirtuleius vs. Marcus Domitius Calvinus in some Rome on Rome action with plenty of special guests.

Guess I'll find out if WAB has any life left in it. ;)

So if I can tear myself away from the planes for a bit, they may take a bit of a back seat to finishing up some more Romans & Spanish by March.

A Day To Live In...

Today I turned 40 years old.

I usually do a Pearl Harbor themed graphic for my birthday. But since I've been recently obsessed with WWI aviation, and I love this photo, I went with it. It's a Handley Page O/400. I found it at Breguet's Crash Files.

I'm actually expecting one in 1/72 kit form sometime this week, along with what should be the end of my WWI plane purchases -- at least for the moment. I still need to buy the remaining flight stands and a mat.

I finished the Sopwith Triplane... barely. I almost gave it up for a bit of terrain as a wrecked plane. It was that much of a pain in the ass to assemble, and really does look pretty bad. Photos forthcoming.

I was wondering if this was standard Revell quality, since the two Airfix planes were of pretty different quality. So I opened a S.E.5a and was pleased to see that it looks much better.

I've got a lot of thoughts running through my head about wargaming at 40. I'm going to let them roll around in there a little longer before writing anything (if I write anything at all.)