Miniature Monday's: Into The Grey!

Hi All,

Another issue of Miniature Monday is coming your way!

I might be bouncing around between lots of different eras in the near future. This is due to my Confederate troops arriving for the ACW. They are 18mm Blue Moon castings. This is also my first time going smaller than 28mm for figures. I also want to start painting more Persians, as right now my nearly finished Greeks outnumber the finished Persians. Although a number of Persians have been assembled and attached to bases, just awaiting paint. It will soon be time to tip the scales more in the Persians favor. This will push the Saxon figures further back into probably next year sometime. Unless I burn out and want to paint something different.

I think I've realized that I really do enjoy the painting process more than actually getting games in with the miniatures. Because I find it is easier to find time in the evenings and weekends in which to prep and paint miniatures, but it is harder to get my gaming friends to agree on a time and place to actually set up a game. Although I feel that this is a commonality amongst miniature gamers.

Here are some photos of the American Civil War figures which are prepped, mounted to craft sticks, and primed. Now all that is left is to paint them and base them. The frightening thing is that it is just a portion of the entire force, I've not begun prep on any of the artillery, artillerists, cavalry, or commanders yet. And there is still more infantry to base. I think it's around 800 figures for the Gettysburg force, and in total I think it's over 1,000 castings.

Enjoy!

Kevin Meeks

Another post after a long time.

Greetings Hoplites,

I haven't posted much in the past two months, although I have been busy painting things now that work has slowed down some. I'll have to update the blog with some progress on my Greeks, currently I feel as if I'm burning out on painting the Samurai. Although I have sufficient to get to the table to play a game now, outside of calvary, as I've been painting the "less complex" figures and putting off painting the cavalry units as they are like two figures in one.

On a different note, the lead mountain has grown. I'll be expanding my miniatures hobby into the American Civil War, courtesy of the Blue Moon Miniatures. Both my father and I have an interest in the "Across A Deadly Field" rules. He the North, and me the South. So we've begun reading the rules and have ordered the lead. I'll be working on painting the South when they arrive. I'd better get my drawl ready!

For my ancients, a lot of the Greek Hoplites are assembled, just awaiting basing and paint. Although they've been that way for about half a year now. The same with the Persian infantry, only have about six Persians painted, and will need to get better pictures of them. I'll do a Persian update when I have a bit more of them done. I do know that I'll need more Persian cavalry down the road (Perhaps Warlord games will re-offer the calvary, as they don't seem to be available in their store anymore.) I still have to assemble the Greek Light Troops from the Numidian boxes. As well as get started on my Saxon force. I'm not sure what rules I'll use them with, I more just wanted to have some Viking-like Saxons in my collection. The Greeks at the moment I want to use with the Hail Caesar! rules, and I'm unsure about what rules to use for the Vikings at the moment.

Have a good battle!
Kevin

Greeks Awaiting Shield Decals

Greeks Awaiting Paint Detail

These are Spaaaaaartans!

Not quite 300 yet ... 294 more to go!

Decided to have some fun with one shield ...

Future Project

Will become Greek Light Troops

Samurai Status Currently

Hi everyone!
This post is to inform where I am currently at in the samurai progress. I didn't have too much progress earlier in the year because I was finishing my masters at DeVry. Although now that that is complete I am enjoying getting time to work on painting some more miniatures. I look forward to getting more painting done over this Memorial Day break.

If I field the units in 4-figure infantry units and 2-figure cavalry units. Then these are the strengths of the forces currently.

Takeda Force (78 figures finished)
5 Samurai units (20 figures)
8 Calvary units (16 figures)
5 Ashigaru units (20 figures)
5.5 Archer units (22 figures)

Tokugawa/ Oda Force (88 figures finished)
5.5 Samurai units (22 figures)
8 Calvary units (16 figures)
5 Ashigaru units (20 figures)
7.5 Archer units (30 figures)

This is at least enough to start testing some different rules out with the figures. The figures are all based individually on metal bases of 1''x1'' for infantry and 1''x2'' for calvary. Then when I form up a unit, I'll cut magnetic vinyl to make the bases act as a whole unit. This will give the flexibility to use the figures for skirmish games such as Ronin, without having to have two separate armies. It was nice to see that Warlord Games will be releasing the Wargames Factory Samurai under the Pike & Shotte line of figures. At least if I need to flesh out the armies more, I can still do so.

And now for pictures (the whole reason you are here reading this post), I finally own a macro lens and look forward to using it the next time my gaming buddies set up a game, these are tests to see how the lens works on small objects such as miniatures. It is safe to say that I like the results I get from the lens. I can't wait to see the sea of banners on the gaming table, once I get all the figures finished. The back banners were one the main draw to this era for me. Eventually, I'll have to do some tests to figure out what I can realistically field on whatever size table I wind up using for the battle of Mikatagahara. Although my next step will probably be to push some of the units around on an empty table to learn the ruleset before attempting this undertaking.

I decided to paint these four Takeda calvary like the four horsemen of the apocalypse

Takeda Ashiragu

Takeda Shingen troops

Takeda Archers

Nobunaga Archers

Tokugawa Troops

Tokugawa and Nobunaga Troops

Nobunaga Ashiragu

Tokugawa and Nobunaga

Tokugawa Archers

Tokugawa and Nobunaga Troops

Here are shots of the group as a whole in the boxes which I store them in currently.

Have a great battle.
Kevin.

2015 In Retrospect

During this past year of 2015 I've worked through the pile of unpainted plastic and managed to paint a bit of it. I feel as if I've made a dent in my collection. Although lead and plastic mountain seems to grow with other eras of interest, namely ancients and medieval. Although those will be a future project. The most sizable increase in the hobby was the completion of a portion of my 28 mm samurai army, which if it goes as expected I should see it hit the gaming table in the early part of next year *fingers crossed.* The white and red flagged portions are of the Takeda Clans (Takeda Shingen and Takeda Katsuyori), while the yellow flags are Tokugawa Ieyasu. I almost have some Oda Nobunaga units complete, they should be completed within the next week or so.

Calvary for the samurai armies have been mostly assembled this year, I still have a few boxes to finish assembling, and then will come the fun of painting the rest of them. They take substantially more time because the cavalry are the most detailed of the Wargames Factory samurai figures. In the bottom box are some archers for Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa clans which still need decals and basing.

Some of the unpainted but assembled warriors which are the ashigaru foot soldiers, archers, and samurai for the clans.

This next photo is what is currently on my painting table at the moment. Some samurai for the Oda Nobunaga clan, and Tokugawa clans. These should be finished painting within the next week or so. The yellow and white paint are difficult to get even coats on the flags. In the back right of the photo is what might become a command stand with the big nobori flags, taiko drummer, and conch blower.

One of my goals this December was to clean up some room at my hobby area. I was looking at my painting table yesterday and noticed that I've had these zombie figures sitting around half finished for about the last year. I finished them up last night with a sepia wash. I'm not sure what to do with the basing on them, but I'll know more when I finish assembling the box, as this is about half the box. I can't recall if I've shown pictures before of these walkers. They are originally Dust Tactics walkers which I intend to us for In Her Majesty's Name to try out the walker rules.

And finally I've finished a few tokens for Osprey's Ronin system. Since you can take the heads of your fallen opponents I thought it would be fun to make some decapitated head tokens.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Kevin

Update on samurai progress

*BEGIN TRANSMISSION*

Hi All,

This post is basically a picture dump of the finished samurai so far. Right now I have two different clans under Takeda for the battle of Mikatagahara. I still need to paint up Tokugawa and Nobunaga, and the rest of Takeda, and all the cavalry which will take some time as i'm finding out. The decals were printed myself on waterslide decal paper and sealed with the decal sealing solution. So far it has been good printing out blacks. The inkjet has trouble getting very red reds however. It's sort of difficult getting good photos of miniatures, because my current lens has a very narrow focusing depth when its up close.

Ashiragu

Archers

Samurai

Archers

Back row in focus

Front row in focus

Have a good battle
Kevin

*END TRANSMISSION*

Check Your Six! Finnish Aircraft

Check Your Six! was my first foray into painting miniatures. If you haven't checked it out it is available from SkirmishCampaigns. It is a fast playing WW2 simulation of air combat in 3d. They also have a second version which is jet combat. Throughout my time painting some of the CY6 aircraft I've painted some Japanese and Finland planes. Although I haven't painted any aircraft in quite some time, I noticed these pictures on my computer and wanted to upload a post about them

The Continuation War for the Finns was a matter of defending their homeland against Soviet Invaders. Some good resources I found on the air war between the Fins and Russians are Osprey's "Lentolaivue 24," and "Finnish Aces of WW2." The book on Llv 24 (as the squadron will be known from this point forward) has a wealth of information about the pilots and missions they flew. The Finnish Pilots were very effective with their aircraft in both the winter war and the continuation war.

And now on to the miniatures. These are 1/300 scale Buffalos from Raiden. Its fun to paint their squat shape in the black and green of the Finnish air force. Here are some photos of them, my personal favorites are the winter camouflaged ones.

I'd like to find other books focusing on the other Finnish air units from the flying regiment 1 (recon) and flying regiment 4 (bomber). I've found a book in Finnish on ler4. If I can find some other books, they will be of great use as I continue to paint up my Finns for Check Your Six! If anyone knows of such books, drop a comment below. Eventually I'll get back to painting aircraft when I tire of my current ancients kick. I still have quite a lead mountain of German, Italian, and Japanese aircraft. Although most of what I wanted to complete for the Finns is done.

Until next time,
Kevin

Update "Assault on Plastic Mountain."

Hi All,

It's been about four months since my last post (Wow!). I should probably try and keep this blog updated a bit more regularly. I've been sort of busy with school and work. Although I have been rapidly assembling more Wargames Factory miniatures. I had a good amount of time while recovering from getting my wisdom teeth out to assemble most of my Greek Hoplites, and some Persians.



Here's whats on the workbench at the moment.

-Assemble Samurai
-Assemble Samurai Calvary
-Paint Samurai (In progress)

-Assemble Persians (Continue assembling the hoard)
-Paint Persians (In progress)

-Assemble Greek Hoplites (60ish built)
-Paint Greek Hoplites (In Progress)

-Base above miniatures (Not started)

As you can see I'm stretching out into the ancients era. I have both the Hail Ceasar rules on order and the Field of Glory rules on order. From what I've been able to find out, the FoG uses a specific basing system, but HC does not. Which will give me the flexibility to use both systems with a single army. I'll be lucky to get any of it on the table before the year is out, although its a goal (perhaps a lofty one).

I'll post again probably once I have some units based and finished.

Here's the progress so far on the Greeks.

Until then,
Have a good battle!

Kevin

Hobby Day April 11 2015

Here is a report on Hobby Day at the St. Crispins Irregulars which meet in Anaheim. It was a relatively light turn out due to Tabletop Day which claimed a lot of our members at various events. But in other news, I finally got a good chunk of time today to finish up the assembly of my samurai army. Next it will be on to painting. I got the samurai cavalry assembled today which will more than likely go to support one of the clans (until I manage to get more cavalry).

It felt good to finally get back to making some progress on this project. I'm planning on painting Takeda for sure as one of the clans, and I'm still debating as to what I'll paint the other. Possibly Tokogawa, so that I can fight the battle of Mikata-ga-hara. Although I'll need significantly more cavalry.

Figures done:
Ashigaru with Yari (60)
Archers (60)
Arrow Carriers (4)
Samurai with spears or katana (74)
Tai Commanders (9)
Horagi, conch (2)
Lead Commanders (2)
Taiko Drummers with drum (2)
Banner Bearers (5)
Mounted Units (12)


Anyways, until I get to painting, here is just an update and a future goal for this project.
Keep them dice rolling.
Kevin

2/14/15 Hobby Day Report

I managed to get out to the monthly hobby day put on by the St. Crispin's Irregulars this month. It was slightly down in turn out than usual. But I had a good time nevertheless. I played several board games over the course of the day all of which I have never played before.

The first was Nautilus (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3154/nautilus)

The game consisted of a building phase where each player placed down a tile(s) in order to construct more of the underwater base. The game is a balance of building up an economy by sending down different modules to the floor, and exploration of the surrounding area in order to unearth treasures, and ultimately pieces of the lost city of Atlantis. It was an enjoyable game with a definite shift in strategy once the end game began.

The second was Caverna (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/102794/caverna-cave-farmers)

Since I was familiar with Agricola the basics of the game were similar. The game adds weaponry which you can equip to your people, and send them on quests to obtain loot. This additional level of complexity gives it a different challenge. The food seemed to be much more easy to obtain in this game. It had enough variety in the buildings you could acquire which were similar to the improvement cards in Agricola. I did enjoy the way that the harvests are unknown and change every time you play. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, it took several hours to play through. It had enough complexity and differences from Agricola to have an entirely different feel to the game, despite having the same worker placement mechanic. In my book it is a winner.

Here is a photo of our game in progress.

Another game I enjoyed that day was The Princess Bride: Prepare to Die (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/137348/princess-bride-prepare-die)

This game is a variation on the familiar apples-to-apples game. In it you place down a black card which is a reason for the character to "prepare to die." And then going around the table the "non-readers" of the black card play their red cards which have character names on it that relate (or don't) to the black theme card. It led to some hilarious comparisons, and an enjoyable variant on apples-to-apples.

A game that I tried later in the day was Save Doctor Lucky (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1157/save-doctor-lucky)

This game was a variant on the original Kill Doctor Lucky. Instead of trying to kill him in the reverse-Clue style of the first game. In this edition the players are trying to rescue Doctor Lucky off of the Titanic as it goes down. All the mechanics of the game are identical except that when you make a save attempt, another player MUST be able to see you and the doctor. The game-board also sinks beneath you as the draw piles are exhausted. It was a nice twist on the Doctor Lucky games, although in my opinion I think Kill Doctor Lucky was a bit more fun since it was the first one released. But that's just my two cents.

All in all it was an enjoyable day gaming with friends.

Enjoy!

Keep those dice rolling!

Kevin