Lazy Week...

So I didn't go to Recon this weekend. I sort of passed thru it like a breeze in the night, picking up a handful of Cigar Box cut-out-terrain mats from Raven Banner Games. I ordered a few other items from them, but those hadn't arrived, so I'll have them shipped. I drifted past the sale tables around the walls, but everyone wanted cash and I hadn't any, so I just said hi to a few people from the club and was off again. My aunt lives nearby so I was really there for an overnight visit. My eldest cat is at the point where I'm wary of leaving her alone for long, though she seems to be okay since I've returned. She's frantically hungry, or rather she really prefers to have me sit with her and watch her eat.

Four-hour drives are tiring, though, and next time I may try a train ride and Uber to and from the stations. So may try again in August, maybe two nights.

The only other thing I've done in the last couple weeks is assemble a handful of Paperboys units to stick on the walls of the new club.

Irish, Bavarians, and Hessian grenadiers.

Have been meaning to run a quick playtest of Pikeman's Lament on my bedroom table, but my constant procrastination gives Lex the opportunity to have her way with the setup:

The rules do say I should have an obstacle in each quarter.

Also been messing with Kerbal Space Program, for the first time in years. Last week was "National Dark Skies Week" and we always have a special event at the library; the local physicist who gives a well-attended talk couldn't make it, so as the staff space enthusiast I got volunteered. I considered running an Artemis II reenactment with the game as a demonstration, but there was too little time and in the event I just showed a few videos before we went outside and looked at Jupiter with telescopes. Usually we have 25 or so people, this time we only had five. My boss was still pretty happy. So I've been watching KSP videos on Youtube, desultorily playing the game, and thinking about how to wedge it into library programming. I never got into the sequel, KSP2, which was abandoned in preproduction on Steam but looks still pretty usable. I will wait until there's a sale before buying it. I also prefer using an autopilot (called MechJeb) and this doesn't seem to be available for KSP2, so I'll also want to hunt down a mod that reproduces it. I'm not that great at "controlling" video games, so I treat KSP as a "mission control" game rather than a "flying spaceships" game.

What next? No specific plans. Might paint a few of the Fife and Drum militia figures, cut out the terrain pieces I just bought, or consider my next vacation. Dad wants to visit Bermuda, I want to see (in order of distance and effort) Ft. Augustine, Boston, St. John's Newfoundland and Australia. (That last is on hold until my sister in New Zealand puts her own plans into action.) A summer Boston trip might not be a great idea, this year is likely to be pretty crowded. I'll let you know what I decided next post. Here's hoping for an uneventful week.

Swiss Army Blades

Just two people at Jim Dundorf's regular DBA Days at the club (formerly Das Krieg Haus, now The War Office). I don't go often to the club these days, partly because I'm only free every second Saturday, but I took this last week off work to take a breather and catch up on ... stuff. I expect to see many members at the Recon convention at the end of April; I'm planning to go just for a day, mostly to shop.

Every time I visit, the club shelves have been revamped slightly. There isn't room for all the books, some of which are going to a club in Naples. At present there are a bunch of board games, including a handful of non-war types like Munchkin that I occasionally, ahem, borrow for work. I found my copy of Charge!, which I'd left at some point along with my "'45 Rebellion" Wofun figures. 

Having become interested in the Italian Wars, I wanted to try Swiss again. Jim didn't have a historical enemy in his otherwise comprehensive collection, but he had Catalan Spanish only a bit out of time period.

My Early Swiss, mostly halberdiers (or Fast Blades in DBA).

The field of battle - ploughs, hill and forest.

Jim's Spanish - pike, light units and a couple horse, including his CO.

Jim reckoned my Fast Blades (moving three base lengths in all terrain) would kick his ass. As usual, though, my indecisiveness and poor luck with the dice got in the way. Jim feels that - despite the disparity of our armies - the game as a whole is balanced because a player can think like a general, do what that general would do in a situation, and the rules will allow it.

So I tried.

I moved my big halberd-block forward, skirting the too-defensible hill, and sent my light cavalry unit - capable of three moves a turn! - towards the opposing camp. My own was protected behind my army, with two psiloi (light infantry) in the woods on my left.

First game turn, angling towards the center. My command base is to
left of the center block, my one cavalry base is on its way to the rear.

Refused my right to avoid going up the hill, exposed my left in the process.

My General (+6 vs. infantry) tackled an opposing unit, but lost due to the dice
(mine poor, his good!). Luckily, they weren't destroyed and were still close enough
to the rest of the army to "lead."

My army a bit trapped now by that pike unit on the left, I
refused this flank as well.

Meanwhile, my horse were bashing their heads against the Spanish camp.
Its mere camp followers fought back for three turns with potatoes and hand tools.

In the end, I managed to take the camp and sweep my cav down on Jim's right-rear, at about the same time that I also flanked and destroyed his general, and that was the game!

To be fair, Jim was coaching me all the way, or at least stopping me from my usual analysis paralysis to think about my options. I'm still not familiar enough with DBA for it to be second nature yet, but he thinks I'm getting the hang of the rules. A good teacher (and a good GM for the games and tourneys at Recon).

My next step, I think, will be experimenting with Pikeman's Lament. Looking forward to it, at least if I can fully clear off the table...

Pushing Myself (and Pike)

8am Eastern time: I've been working this week on building the For King and Country starter set for Pike and Shotte. As of right now, I have about thirty figures left to make. I'll finish them today, and the readers may learn a bit about how I procrastinate!

Doesn't help that Artemis II is on its way home with 240,000 miles to go at 1,200 miles an hour. Let's see how far it gets by the time I'm finished.

Step one, go get breakfast and groceries, cleaning the litterboxes as I leave.

See?

10am: Back, after breakfast at Starbucks, a few groceries, cat litter and filling the gas tank.

Then 25 minutes of leisurely putting stuff away and self-refreshing before getting down to work.

Finally, some painting videos to keep me from getting bored while my hands are busy. We'll try some Duncan Rhodes Empire (as close as Warhammer Fantasy gets to 17th century) and then some WWII and Konflict '47 as a reminder to get onto those kits after this one.

10:28am, and I'm off!

11am: First video done, also six musketeers without bases. A good start! But... nap time. Excuse? Morning meds cause drowsiness.

1pm: Up again. Read a bit of science fiction until...

1:30: When I start again with a second video. 

2:00: Total done so far - sixteen figures, four without bases and two hats.

Then a ten-minute break for blog-prep, restroom break, and cat-coaxing. (My flighty calico has been under the couch for 24 hours straight, since the three-hour visit of a patient but clearly absolutely terrifying pair of apartment cleaners.)

2:40: Four more musketeers assembled to accompaniment of a German Grenadier video, with four more bodies clipped, behatted and ready to arm. Where's Artemis? 232,000 miles out, good for them.

3:10: After a painting video for a US Ranger as played by Tom Hanks, I have twelve more figures done, complete with bases. Just six figures to go!

231,000 miles for Artemis. Time for a snack and reading break - more of a 1979 SF magazine.

There's a story and article in there about moon colonies, by Jerry Pournelle. I also just finished listening to the latest Warhammer 30K novel, which is largely about an invasion of the Moon. Good timing, huh?

4:15: Three command figures built - two musicians and a standard bearer.

The rest will need to be officers. The command sprue has three figures on it but enough leftover bitz to make a fourth out of one of the pikemen. Since there are four pikes on the infantry sprue, but five bodies in pike-carrying poses, this causes the leftover "sergeant" to end up in an odd pose:

The video this time was of a Konflict '47 "Firefly" US jump trooper. Next is a "Stahltruppen" - basically a Nazi in power armor.

4:45: One and a half more. (There are a LOT of left-over bits to pick from). Trying to convert a chap to hold a spear (or is it a partizan?) two handed. This is probably not a smart idea, a more officer-like type might be better.

Holding it straight-ish 'til dried.

Next painting video is a firelock figure by 7th Son.

By 5:20, I've watched three 7th Son videos, and built and based all 82 (!) figures. Just some hats to add - to fit them, all the heads on these guys look like Shakespeare in the Folio. OK, so we could have one or two balding gentlemen, but the rest need headgear.

Before doing that, I'll look up 0200 Hours, as one of the videos was for Wargames Atlantic German Sentries... also, I think my stomach is trying to tell me something.

Ooh, the Stalag Luft III escapees look like they'd make good character minis for VBCW... down another rabbit hole I go!

Had supper and watched a video. Looks a bit complex for my taste, and I don't like custom dice. Kill Team will work just fine for this scale. But the minis do look great.

6:33: Done! I think...

And (almost) everyone has hats.

Artemis and crew? Under 225,000 miles away as of 8pm. Safe flying to them. It has been a bouncy week in the news, and following the flight and building toy soldiers keeps me sane and happy. Good luck to all those reading this, hope your day was as peaceful as mine.

Five more blissful days off!

The cat is still under the couch.

More Picking Away...

More stuff accomplished this weekend. First, I built a second DBA base, this one for English medievals:

I ordered a handful of Fife and Drum figures. The Spirit of '76 vignette, and five minutemen. My plan is to paint them up for a work display - the theme for the whole year (not just summer) is America's 250th. So another excuse to promote miniatures in the library. I plan to paint two of the minutemen to represent a pair of free black colonists who - completely coincidentally - shared my rare last name. So I hope to do a good job painting them.

What I got was a bunch of figures, free overstock! Thanks! About half minutemen, half Continentals in uniform. That could make up two small regiments or one large one, with mixed appearance like Jim Purky's own 2nd New Hampshire. 

I haven't built or painted metal models in ages, so some filing practice is in order. I'll also have to use a pin drill on the standard bearer. As for basing... probably singly, for skirmish games. I have lots of round Wargames Atlantic bases.

I also bought some Games Workshop 25mm and 25x50mm square bases, for the Pike and Shotte starter set. Here's the first infantry sprue mostly made up:

Needs a few more hats, and there are also a lot of scabbarded swords on the sprue I haven't figured out where they go on the figures yet. I'm glad I just made these chaps to start with, as I found out specific arms go to specific figures. Also, gluing two arms onto a figure at once is a bit messy. A little filing and paint, though, and I'm sure they'll look good enough for the tabletop.

Finally, a painted Skaven done with Speedpaint pens. Fun and not too frustrating. I find it hard to tell the colors apart when they're bunched together, so (for example) some of the leather has a gold tinge...

I'll stop here, as I have two cats on my desk trying to interfere with typing and projects.

For comparison, here's the one I have to coax into letting me touch.
On the right: still unopened boxes of Warlord samurai.

'Til next time.

The Upteenth Battle of Blasthof Bridge

Countless gamers have fought across the fair fields of Blasthof in the last fifty years, and tonight it happened once more. Ron and Mark, two stalwarts of the South Florida Miniatures Gamers, kindly consented to be my guinea pigs for the evening. We met at The War Office (aka a small office suite) for the set-to.

As we were playing with my 18mm Wofuns and centimeters, rather than the classic 30mm Spencer Smiths and inches, the field needn't be large.

Unfortunately, we had neither a river nor a bridge in the club!

Due to the available terrain, Blasthof Farm and the Blasthofberg were relatively larger than the original, while the River Blast was reduced to a desperate trickle. At least the bridge was sturdier than the original paper.

The sides were drawn from, respectively, my WSS French and '45 British collections.

Ron:

• 18 1e Cuirassiers
• 32 1e Guard Francaise
• Anvre Battery (2 guns)

Mark:

• 12 Yorbourne Dragoons
• 40 Royal Kempston
• Halmouth Battery (2 guns)

As usual, I failed to take enough photos, but here's a representative selection.

Mark moves his guns to the hill as his Dragoons cross
the river; Ron moves stolidly towards the "bridge."

Mark spreads out his troops and opens fire (to no effect).
His light horse are already to midtable.

As Ron slowly moves upfield, the range closes and Mark's
guns start to pick off his infantry. Ron's cavalry are
angling towards Mark's dragoons, who are out of view behind
the farmhouse (out of LOS of Ron's guns).

Ron's Guard Francaise are on the bridge,
while his cuirassiers charge Mark's dragoons.
Unfortunately, both French units are under
short-range crossing fire...

The combat went badly for Ron (who spent much of the game
rolling nothing but ones and twos), and his defeated cuirassiers
are rallying in the field. Meanwhile his infantry, trapped on the
bridge, are at least fighting back while they get the crap
shot out of them.

No more game photos, but suffice to say that by turn seven, not only were both of Ron's regiments understrength (requiring them to retreat from the field) but his guns were charged and taken by the dragoons (despite a game blast of canisters that killed four horsemen. His infantry had to rally on the bridge in full view of Mark's infantry and guns and would probably not survive to retreat!

So a solid victory for Mark. Though, to be fair, Ron rolled badly all game, and even his heavier cav (+1 versus lighter cav) didn't help. Both enjoyed the game and seemed to like the rules despite the fiddliness of one-to-one melee alongside multi-bases.

They were also impressed by the look and feel of the Wofun miniatures. Which allows me to segue into the Paperboys I've built this week:

A DBA "camp" base for medieval Scots. As the miniature
soldiers are 3D, I removed the paper figures, but the tent and
shields look pretty good!

Added a light gun to my Continental troops guarding the
America250 book display at work. Unfortunately,
their command base was destroyed in action.

Til next time...

Picking away

• Reading Fools and Mortals, a Shakespearean mystery by Bernard Cornwell.
• Listening to Ashes of the Imperium, the first novel in Games Workshop's new Scouring subseries set immediately after the Horus Heresy.
• Waiting for Blood on the Snow: The Carpathian Winter War of 1915, and Samurai Warfare by Stephen Turnbull. The first suggested by listening to the Great War documentary series on Youtube (an absolute classic) and the other by the commenters here (thanks).
• Arranging to demo Charge! at the club next week.
• Undercoated a Skaven figure.
• Finished building three bases of paper knights.
• And built five more ECW musketeers.

They need hats.

How do I rotate a picture again?

Also bought a used office chair, more comfy to sit in at my desk. So all in all, a productive day!

Still Tired

Not much done, except reading. Read the Silmarillion and working slowly on Warlord Games' supplement Wars of the Samurai (quite good for a beginner!). Here's what little hobby I've done this week:

Two twelve-man units of crossbows for Lion Rampant,
with pavises. This may seem like they're on too-large
bases, but the plan is to play on a small scale with cm
instead of inches.

An armoured orc chieftain from 6th-7th edition Warhammer.
I picked up a command group from the FLGS.
Painted with paint markers, with the metals NMM.

I really need to get cracking on building the Pike and Shotte stuff...

Edit: I did.

Five down, seventy-seven to go!