The Reason I am So Dull These Days

   This is the really wonderful and greatly exciting book that I am in the process of reviewing for grad school. I have fallen asleep three times trying to work through it. And it is not all that long! The most interesting part is the cover photo. All I can say is that my review will concentrate on how the author shows the ineptitude of the German efforts to raise rebellions in India and across the Middle East against the British. Seems the most effective rebellion they influenced also got the Italians to enter the war... on the Allied side!

April Goals Update

   Haven't really been spending a lot of time at the painting table. Lots of Real Life getting in the way and all. And grad school. Which is interesting, but has been kicking my mental butt. One more week, then semester is over. So here is how everything is going:

1. 6mm British WTNW Goal: Finish last two battalions from March. 100% done.
2. VBCW Regulars Goal: Finish the unit of 10 Free Welsh Republic Army Regulars. Not much progress, about 60% done. I added an armband on them, and did a little painting.
3. FOW Indians Rifle Platoon Goal: Finish the last section of the platoon. 95% done. Needs basing and clear coat.
4. Brass Soldaten Goal: 8x Parroom Station Clockwork Soldiers I purchased at Historicon 2011 Flea Market. 100% Done.
5. WFB Empire Gunners Goal: Finish two gunners for Empire Great Cannon. Still sitting there, about 50% or so.
6. FOW Indians MG Section: At least one section of HMGs to support the Indians. Still sitting in their package. That is so sad.

   So the FOW Rifle Platoon is just about finished. I will say that goal will probably be met by the end of the month. I could see the MG Section getting primed, but doubt it will get painted.

   I started stating goals again so that it would motivate me to get work done. It has, to be honest, but Real Life has been very intrusive into my play time. A problem we all face. In all, I am honestly not too upset about the progress this month, all things considered.

 

Super Galactic Dreadnought: Steve Jackson doesn't need my help

Loads of goodies! I love Kickstarter.

I just hope this gets Evil Stevie to start making lead minis (especially OGREs) again.

Super Galactic Dreadnought: Steve Jackson doesn't need my help: Image from Steve Jackson Games. The OGRE Designer's Edition Kickstarter campaign had more than $205,000 in pledges as of late Tuesday ev...

Now Showing: Master of the World

From MGM Studios, in 1961. Starring Vincent Price as Robur, renegade captain of the Albatross.

For awesome B-movie VSF, it is hard to beat.

Kinda Quiet Around Here...

   But fear not, dear friends! The quiet you do not hear here is the quiet of a duck swimming. All appears calm on the surface, but underneath... ah, that is where all the furious paddling is going on!

   The A to Z of VSF is going well on my other blog, Victoria's Boys in Red. We are up to "F is for FENIANS." And, VBIR got a facelift, too. You should probably check it out if you are not already a follower.

   On the painting front, work proceeds, oh so slowly. I will post an official update on the progress towards my goals this weekend, but I am not unhappy with it so far.

   As far as conventions are concerned, I hope to attend at least three this year: Historicon (assuming the money is there and the games in the PEL are interesting), Broadsides! (held aboard USS Texas), and Milleniumcon. I reserved a room for Historicon last night. I can always cancel if I decide not to attend.

   Finally, I did manage to get a game of FOW in two weeks ago, I don't recall mentioning it here. Let me just say, for the record, that Early War German Heer infantry sucks. Actually, they held out pretty well and the HMGs did a serious number on an attacking platoon of French Colonial infantry (Senegalese, IIRC). A draw when time ran out, it was starting to go in the favor of the French, thanks to bad dice rolls and not knowing I could double move my tanks as reinforcements to get them into position two turns earlier than I did! The perils of learning a  new rules set...

A to Z on VBIR

I am posting a daily series on my other blog, Victoria's Boys in Red.

It counts down from A to Z, discussing the many things that make up Victorian Science Fiction. So far, we are up to "C is for..."

Check it out!

April 2012 Goals

   As prophesied yesterday, here are this month's goals:

1. 6mm British WTNW Goal: Finish last two battalions from March.
2. VBCW Regulars Goal: Finish the unit of 10 Free Welsh Republic Army Regulars.
3. FOW Indians Rifle Platoon Goal: Finish the last section of the platoon. And the new stuff...
4. Brass Soldaten Goal: 7x Parroom Station Clockwork Soldiers I purchased at Historicon 2011 Flea Market.
5. WFB Empire Gunners Goal: Finish two gunners for Empire Great Cannon.
6. FOW Indians MG Section: At least one section of HMGs to support the Indians.

    I know its a lot of goals, but two of them are mostly finished, and one is a simple project. I have another, super secret project that I am not ready to unveil just yet, that I hope to have more work done on over the next few weeks. I'll reveal that when the time is ripe...

March Goals Wrapup

   Here we are, the start of a new month, and, of course, the end of the previous one. In March, I did fairly well on my goals, considering, and I think I am still motivated to put paint on lead, which is the idea of the whole "Small Short Range Goals" movement I started here. Now, I didn't finish everything, or even most of the four goals for March, because of a variety of factors. Still, I made some pretty good progress on them.

1. Zulu Rebasing Goal: 100% completed. Ready for battle. But I could use a unit of rifle armed Zulus, as all of mine are armed with melee weapons only.
2. FOW Indian Rifle Platoon Goal: 73%+. That's 27 of 37 done, with ten remaining in various stages of painting.
3. 6mm WTNW British Goal: 75%. Two battalions finished, two about 50% done, maybe a bit more.
4. VBCW Regulars Goal: 30% +/-. None finished. Added greenstuff armbands on Saturday night after realizing I needed to differentiate them from English soldiers - same uniforms and equipment, you know. But a lot of painting still to do on them.

  Not bad, considering the obstacles I had to overcome this month. That lost week really hurt me, though. I think I would have finished the 6mm and maybe the FOW Indians.

   What's on deck for this month? Two new items for sure. Check back in tomorrow for the scoop. Oh, and some pictures I hope of March's work.