Eight of My Favorite Things

Favorite British Politician: Winston Churchill

   This one is almost a no-brainer. I mean, who doesn't think Winston Churchill was an amazing individual? He was a Victorian cavalryman. He was a war correspondent. He was a prisoner of war. He was a Lord of Admiralty. He was both a Liberal and a Conservative MP. He held Britain to the course through World War II as Prime Minister. He wrote histories. He painted. Just an amazing fellow.

Favorite Ice Cream: Bluebell Homemade Vanilla

   It's the simple pleasures, isn't it? But, when I am in the UK and Bluebell is basically unavailable, I do enjoy a Mr. Whippy.

Favorite Comedy Film: Blazing Saddles

   I will still argue that this is both the funniest film ever made and one that could never be made again. Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, Slim Pickens... pure genius. Made racism absurd. And gave us Lilli von Schtupp and candygrams for Mongo.

Favorite Band: Queen

   This one is a little harder, because I also really like the Beatles, the Eagles, and Metallica. But Queen wins. Bonus: my favorite Queen song is (duh!) Bohemian Rhapsody, and my second favorite is probably Don't Stop Me Now.

Favorite Beer: Shiner Bock

   At least, based on what I have had the most to drink in my lifetime. I also really enjoy Newcastle Brown Ale, Spaten Optimator, Franziskaner Hefeweizen, and a pretty wide variety of other beers. Strangely, beer is not my favorite alcoholic beverage. 

Favorite Sweet: Pie

   I love pie. Not all pies - not a huge fan of most fruit pies, honestly. But Key Lime pie, or peanut butter pie, or coconut cream pie, or chocolate almond pie, or - oh sweet God in Heaven - fresh homemade apricot fried pies... Yep. Love 'em. Cake, you can keep. Just let me have my pie.

Favorite Car I've Owned: 2002 Mercedes Benz C230K

   Actually my current car, but its getting a bit long in the tooth. Still runs really well. Cosmetics are starting to wear though, and it's a bit low to the ground for me nowadays. I'm looking to replace it in the next year or so with a newer Mercedes, either an E-class sedan or a G-class SUV. Not new, though.

Favorite Car, Period: Aston Martin DB5

   Most beautiful car ever. I hear they aren't particularly comfortable, nor particularly fast. Still beautiful. Second place is the Jaguar E Type.

This list was going to have ten items on it, but I'm out of time. Off to have dinner with the missus and then watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on the big screen.

Gift from a Mate

   Knowing how much I like the TV series, and prompting me to do a bit of painting, too, my friend Zach saw these on sale at a nearby shop and decided they were just the thing for me. Personally, I was quite happy to receive them.

   The staunch defenders of Walmington-on-Sea will move a bit off the coast, transforming into supporters of the Free Welsh faction I've been working on for A Very British Civil War for a few years now. I have so many projects that just get bogged down and forgotten - see my recent posts there. This may be enough to at least muck about a bit with it.

  So these could be used as a bit of organized local troops. Proper rifles, and even a Tommy gun for a bit of covering fire. 

   As emergency Citizen's Militia... A stupid boy with his cricket bat, a pretentious bank manager with his brolly, and an antiquated butcher with his assegai (souvenier of his service in South Africa). The cold steel, that's the thing. They don't like it up 'em!

   Some proper Anglican clergymen, siding with God and the Right against that illegitimate king in London and his fascist thugs. The Vicar's not going to like that.

Project Review, Fall 2016: 25/28mm

A recap of what's going on:

    With the start of fall coming on, I decided I need to survey my madness. To wit, I am looking at each wargaming project I have ongoing, and what the status of said project currently is. 

   To define, a 'project' is a faction or force for a particular genre in a particular scale. Therefore, 15mm British WW2 and 28mm British WW2 are two different projects, as would be a 15mm DAK force, as would a British Paras vs. a British 8th Army force. Since there are so many and in so many scales, this shall be a short series of posts rather than one mega-post.

   For status, I shall use 'planning' (want to buy minis), 'active' (not playable but I am currently working on it), 'inactive' (unplayable but on to-do list), 'dead' (can't play, not doing anything, don't plan on it), 'playable' (enough to play, still adding to it), and maybe rarest of all, 'finished' (can play, no plans to add to it).

   I've already done the Small Scale projects, and the 15mm projects, if you missed those.

25/28mm

1. VSF Eureka Pond Wars: dead
2. VSF Lizardmen: inactive
3. VSF/Colonial British: playable
4. VSF German: playable
5. VSF Automaton: finished
6. VSF Martian: inactive
7. VSF Vardu: inactive
8. VSF French: inactive
9. VSF Russian: dead
10. VSF Japanese: dead
11. VSF Turkish: dead
12. VSF Parrotmen: inactive
13. VSF Characters (HM Victoria I, others): playable
14. Skyrunners VSF Racing: dead
15. EOTD/IHMN Werewolves: finished
16. EOTD/IHMN Gentlemen: finished
17. EOTD/IHMN Police Constables: playable
18. IHMN Lord Curr's Company: playable
19. IHMN Servants of Ra: playable
20. IHMN Society of Thule: playable
21. Colonial Boers: dead
22. Gutshot Cowboys and Lawmen: finished
23. Gutshot Banditos: dead
24. Terrain Old West: dead
25. Terrain Sci Fi: inactive
26. Terrain VSF: inactive
27. Terrain Fantasy: inactive
28. SAGA Normans: dead
29. SAGA Vikings: dead
30. SAGA Arabs: dead
31. Roleplaying Heroes: playable
32. Roleplaying monsters: playable
33. Doctor Who Daleks: inactive
34. Doctor Who Doctor and Companions: active
35. Doctor Who Angels: active
36. Doctor Who UNIT: planning
37. VBCW Free Welsh: playable
38. Warmachine Cygnar: playable (marginally)
39. Hordes Circle Oroboros: inactive
40. Hordes Minions: inactive
41. Warhammer Empire: inactive
42. Warhammer Lizardmen: inactive
43. WH40K Imperial Guard: inactive
44. WW2 British Paras: planning
45. WW2 Germans: planning
46. AT-43 Therians: dead
47. AT-43 UNSC: dead
48. AT-43 Red Blok: dead
49. Star Wars Prepaint: dead
50. Warhammer High Elf: dead
51. Warhammer Bretonnian: dead
52. Highland Badgers: playable (old and need re-paint)

Note: EotD is "Empire of the Dead," IHMN is "In Her Majesty's Name," VBCW is "A Very British Civil War."

   As you can see, there are a lot of dead projects in this scale. Ambition and ooh shiny got the better of my good sense over the years, and I almost never get rid of anything. Most are things where I have only a few figures, just testing the waters really. Which is good, I suppose. It's also by a fair margin the single longest list, which honestly surprised me. I thought the 15mm list would be the biggest.

   Also, I am shocked to see that I was considering up to 20 (!) different VSF projects in just 28mm. Twenty! I'm a sick man, really, I need help.

Project Check, Fall 2016: 15mm

A recap of what's going on:

    With the start of fall coming on, I decided I need to survey my madness. To wit, I am looking at each wargaming project I have ongoing, and what the status of said project currently is. 

   To define, a 'project' is a faction or force for a particular genre in a particular scale. Therefore, 15mm British WW2 and 28mm British WW2 are two different projects, as would be a 15mm DAK force, as would a British Paras vs. a British 8th Army force. Since there are so many and in so many scales, this shall be a short series of posts rather than one mega-post.

   For status, I shall use 'planning' (want to buy minis), 'active' (not playable but I am currently working on it), 'inactive' (unplayable but on to-do list), 'dead' (can't play, not doing anything, don't plan on it), 'playable' (enough to play, still adding to it), and maybe rarest of all, 'finished' (can play, no plans to add to it).

   I've already done the smaller scale projects, if you missed that.

15mm

1. VSF/Colonial British: playable
2. VSF/Colonial French: playable
3. VSF Martians: playable
4. VSF Venusian Lizardmen: playable
5. VSF Automatons: finished
6. VSF/Colonial Germans: playable
7. VSF Monstrosities (Dr. Vardu): inactive
8. VSF Japanese: dead
9. VSF Texicans: inactive
10. VSF Papal States: dead
11. Colonial Zulus: finished
12. Colonial Mahdists: dead
13. WW2 German DAK: inactive
14. WW2 British 8th Army: playable
15. WW2 US Marines: active
16. WW2 British Paras: dead
17. 30YW Imperial: inactive
18. SF FedArms: playable
19. SF PLA: playable
20. SF Xin: inactive
21. SF Tigrids: playable
22. SF Prang: planning
23. SF Chuhuac: playable
24. SF New Vistula Legion: inactive
25. SF Xenomorphs: dead
26. SF Civilians: active
27. SF Star Vikings (multi-race force): active
28. Terrain SF: playable
29. Terrain desert: playable
30. Terrain jungle: active
31. Terrain urban historical: inactive
32. Spanish Civil War Requetes: inactive
33. Fantasy Football Orc Team: inactive
34. Fantasy Football Human Team: inactive

   Again, I think that's pretty much it for 15mm projects. I may have missed one or two. Up next is the 25/28mm list. It's even longer, I fear.

Project Check, Fall 2016: "Odd", Fleet and 6mm

   With the start of fall coming on, I decided I need to survey my madness. To wit, I am looking at each wargaming project I have ongoing, and what the status of said project currently is. 

   To define, a 'project' is a faction or force for a particular genre in a particular scale. Therefore, 15mm British WW2 and 28mm British WW2 are two different projects, as would be a 15mm DAK force, as would a British Paras vs. a British 8th Army force. Since there are so many and in so many scales, I think this shall be a short series of posts rather than one mega-post.

   For status, I shall use 'planning' (want to buy minis), 'active' (not playable but I am currently working on it), 'inactive' (unplayable but on to-do list), 'dead' (can't play, not doing anything, don't plan on it), 'playable' (enough to play, still adding to it), and maybe rarest of all, 'finished' (can play, no plans to add to it).

Fleet Scale (smaller than 6mm)

1. Dystopian Wars (DW) Federated States: playable
2. DW Prussian: playable
3. DW Indian Raj: planning
4. Sky Galleons of Mars (SGOM) British: inactive
5. SGOM Martians: inactive
6. Aeronef Italians: dead
7. Terrain: inactive

6mm

1. VSF French: inactive
2. VSF German: inactive
3. VSF British: inactive
4. VSF Venusian Lizardmen: planning
5. VSF Martians: inactive
6. OGRE - Combine: playable
7. OGRE - Paneuropean: playable
8. Quar: inactive
9. BattleTech (multiple unspecified houses): playable
10. Modern/Cold War US: planning
11. Modern/Cold War Soviet: planning
12. WW2 Allied North Africa: planning
13. Kaiju: planning
14. Terrain: inactive

"Odd" Scales

1. Matchbox Scale Car Wars: playable
2. Silent Death: dead
3. X-Wing: playable
4. Dark Future: inactive

   That pretty much does it for the smaller stuff. Unfortunately, these are the shorter lists - 15mm and 25mm will be longer, and will each get their own post in the next few days. Each has more than thirty entries...

Oldest Figure I Still Have

   This is him, a halfling from the old Grenadier Miniatures box set 2002 Halflings.

   I got the boxed set for Christmas when I was in fourth grade (I think - maybe fifth). That was 1981.  I would have been nine years old. He was painted with Testors Model Enamels and a Q-tip for a brush.

The old box

For almost 35 years old, that enamel really did hold up pretty well.

From the halls of Montezuma...

   I spent a couple of hours on Wednesday prepping a lot of 15mm WW2 US Marines. The figures are from Peter Pig, and are destined to be the core of a Marine Rifle Company in Flames of War - Pacific.

A selection of Marines, ready to charge to the spray booth.

   So far, I have trimmed up and de-flashed (not that there was much of that) and glued them to 'jumbo craft sticks,' aka tongue depressors. Each stick is a mix of figures that will make up an individual base or team, if you prefer. I've done enough to make:

• 24x 4-man BAR Infantry teams
• 4x 3-man HMG teams
• 3x 3-man 60mm mortar teams (plus the mortar, of course)
• 4x 3-man 81mm mortar teams (plus mortar)
• 2x 2-man observer teams
• 6x 3-man command teams (CO, 2iC, platoon commanders)

   If my math is right, that's about 158 figures on 43 tongue depressors. It nets out to two infantry platoons, two mortar platoons, a HMG platoon, and a scout platoon. I will still need a few things to finish off the force, like some more LVTs, some war dogs, and the Marine Engineer Assault Section.

This may be what made me decide to collect a USMC force.

War dogs!

Images from Battlefront and the Flames of War website.

   Next step is priming. I have an ultra flat olive drab spray that I am thinking would work as a base. It would speed up the painting process, maybe, since these Marines are all in the old pickle suits. I'm going to try it on a couple of 'extra' figures and see how it works before I commit to the whole company.

Tigrid Air Support

   I recently finished painting this Matchbox Turbo Tornado aircraft to fit in with my Tigrid alien force for Gruntz. These were produced in 2014 and 2015 in different color schemes. They run a couple of bucks on eBay.

It started off like this:

Now, after a shot of black primer, and a lot of Vallejo Ochre Brown, it looks like this:

   I'm pretty happy with it. I just need to figure out a flying stand for it to make it more useful on the table.

Affirmative, Master!

   Another little fun project I have been playing with has been some Doctor Who figures. These are more for fun and maybe for background civilian figures than for serious gaming. Unless of course I paint up that mighty Dalek Horde sitting upstairs in plastic.

   At any rate, I have a few figures: Third and Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane, and K-9. So far, K-9 is finished. The rest are about 80% done. I just dug them out of a box, though, so maybe in the next week or so I will get to them. Not that I don't have plenty of other things that actually need my attention, both painting and otherwise...

He's a good dog.

Oh Bad Doggies!

So my dogs ate two minis last night.

Well, not ate them, but chewed up pieces of them beyond any real hope of saving them. Bulldogs, even ones that are only 10 months old, have rather powerful jaws. I think the chihuahua taught him this trick, as she has gnawed on minis before.

Here are the remains:

The front of a hull for a small airship. Remains of the paint on this one.

It's been warped pretty badly so that it won't fit any longer.

This was a driver/pilot for the Minion Quadricycle.

He's lost his head. Legs are crushed. One side is mashed flat.

LOTS of toothmarks.

  To top it all off, these minis are irreplaceable, essentially. They are from Parroom Station and the related Secret Science lines, sculpted by Bob Charrette and formerly produced and sold through Brigade Games. When they split last summer (2015), I snapped these up before they were gone for good, or at least until Bob finds a new manufacturer. Total loss on them.

Here is how I am dealing with the situation.

Flee! I mean, Flea!

   Here's the finished Battletech FLE-15 "Flea" 'Mech. Painted in red and white scheme to go with my other light 'Mechs. I painted them about six years ago, thinking I would do different lances in different Warhammer Fantasy Battle Empire Elector State colors. I posted about that a long time ago here. These are Talabheim, I think.

Habemus Hab Domes!

   So it was more like a month than a week. I've been busy. Gimme a break...

   But here they are, with the change of color scheme (it's not huge, but it's there). One slightly more obvious thing I did was swap color codes for Security and Mechanicals. So now Security domes are red, and Mechanicals are yellow.

   The fact that I don't actually have a security dome yet is in no way concerning to the inhabitants of the colony.

The lettering leaves a bit to be desired. I thought about making neat signs to attach.

Then I didn't do that and just painted it.

   I will try to get a shot of the whole layout as it stands now. Maybe tomorrow. It has been nice breaking out the brushes again, though.