Found this nice item for someone to worship

 

 David and Abner shown for scale, this is a dinosaur mask that I found in a Dollarama store a while back, during one of the breaks in the shutdown. They had a couple of different ones, I liked this one the best. I envision propping it up on styrofoam so that the mouth will become an entrance. I guess it could also rise out of the side/top of a hill. 

Upgrades to the gaming room, and my RPG centre

 

 So despite the lack of miniature gaming, and therefore the lack of inspiration to do any miniature work, I have, nonetheless, decided to upgrade and rearrange my gaming room. First up was my light box. Given the lack of output not really a rush on this, just something that was long overdo.

Prison walls go up

 

 Built these just the other day. No instructions but still easier to build than I was led to believe they would be...

Check out the blast from the past section!

 Hi

With limited opportunities to game, I have been posting a blast from the past! Every 2nd Sunday I semi-randomly present an older gaming AAR. Also check out the two top 5 listings. 

More general gaming post will happen, but right now I have been focused on Rol20 RPG sessions. That should stabilize soon and I will look at working on miniatures, and post some table top gaming reports.

Prepping for proper painting

 

Finally pulled my highway out of it's boxes, and, taking advantage of the recent warm weather, primed it up ready for painting. So yes this post should/could be on my painting blog, but with no gaming I needed something to go on this main blog! Also started work on a walking dead prison.

Not the end, not the beginning of the end, maybe the end of the beginning (thanks Winnie)

So I see a light at the end of the tunnel! No hobby activity to report, but I can feel the need to build and paint stuff getting stronger and stronger. But I am not ready yet, so instead of hobby stuff, I have started to work on the hobby area. First up, I have once again started to tackle the ever present mess that is my gaming room. My malaise induced apathy had been keeping me out of my room, as I wallowed in my own decrepitude. So I hauled my lethargic ass off the couch, away from the computer, and diligently cleaned up my hobby table. 

While finishing off the table, including properly installing my replacement lamp, I looked around my room to see if anything else was in need of attention. Well after a couple of trips up and down the stairs with spray primer and miniatures, a questionable thought entered my mind, would it not be easier to just prime in my game room. Well that would mean moving the spray booth into the house.

More new arrivals

 

Found a hard to fond, copy of Legends of the High Seas, may use this with my naval collection. Always good to have more than one game for any given genre, something to cause me to dither and hem and haw over which one to use.

Also a new, simplified Rapid Fire core rule book came in, along with a new/updated version of their old Market Garden campaign book!

Oh yeah, and yet another air ship, number 4, came in today.

New arrivals

 

Just got my copy of Blood and Plunder, and after a cursory review, I must say they do look nice. They are especially well organized, and the book contains an index! Rules look very straightforward and not interrupted by fluff. Oddly enough I kind of would have liked some more fluff/pictures of ships, and terrain etc, for inspiration. 

The ship rules offer some nice options, but do not seem to get bogged down. The combat system/activation system is nice. Activation is a variant on the deck driven games, each side has their own deck,  suits determine number of actions for units. Units can become fatigued from combat, or from being , fatigue will impact on how they perform. Combat uses a D10, with the shooter wanting to roll high, the defender gets a chance to avoid hits. Interesting twist on artillery, if they roll a hit, they then get to roll additional dice (for additional damage) The additional damage roll is rolled against the same target number that was used for the first roll.

Also received another ship, this time a sloop, bring me up to 5 ships! I did suggest that this was going to happen. I am still eyeing a couple of ships and boats from other companies. Also hoping that someone other than me will pick up an Old Glory membership, as they have the best price on cannons (after the 40% off)

Oh good, more stuff to paint and or build...

 

 Picked these up from LAF bazaar. I guess I will have to get back into WWII soon.

Bought two of these for some VSF gaming, and also inspired by my Walking Dead find, I of course, bought more stuff for it, including the prison set, and naturally, a prison booster pack. Somewhere in the Canada post system, a 28mm sloop, Blood and Plunder rules, Rapid Fire reloaded rules, and Rapid fire Market Garden are winging their way towards my home.

Value village plastic glasses

 

Not certain if I have posted these before, but I have finally decided to work on them. At first I thought I was buying one for $1.99, then realized it was$1.99 for four of them.

An unexpected find

Thought I would go for a drive today, before we start another period of isolation. My travels took me across the border into Quebec to two stores that often sell used games. Well the first, a predominately RPG and video retailer, had nothing. But a journey across the parking lot to a boardgame store brought success!

We said our goodbyes today. It was a sudden final decline and the end came swiftly, with little pain

Hamish sleeping this morning before the vet visit

Beyond my impending senility, the other reason I am distracted...

My dog is dying

Warning the following is a maudlin rambling about my dog, and his impact on me.  

Also if it reads like it is a little disjointed well, so am I right now.

A closer look at the Villa by Crescent Root Studios

I felt these deserved a better showcase than my unboxing/review video. So, I managed to clear off some space on one of my tables, dug out my old harbor/bay scenery (first seen here back in 2016's Pulp Alley Lagoon of Terror) and set up some trees and bushes. 

Well, thats a bummer, and my descent into madness

 

 Apparently, it does not bend that way...

Unboxing and review of Crescent Root Studio's 'Villa' products

Well another unboxing video, go figure! This time you are there with me as I open boxes, and move paper to reveal...

Some truly excellent pieces of scenery from Crescent Root Studios.

WIP, another ship...I fear this will not be the end of it!

A very good size galleon, just the the tempting target for  some pirates. However with 28 cannons, and 8 swivel guns it is a target that can fight back!. 

How I base figures, (or what goes into the goo that I use on my bases)

 

 

 

Just got this gem in the mail, after a delay...

                                                     Great little book, well maybe not that little.

What a revolting development this is

 

 This just keeps playing in my mind.

WIP Ships!

Not much to assemble (so far), very nice detail, and not much cleaning required.

 

From books, to movies to tabletop

 

 Well it really was just a matter of time. 

From the nightstand to the DVD player

 

Inspired by my reading of the Hornblower books, I went through my video collection seeking seafaring movies. These movies coupled with the Hornblower novels, have I fear, started me down a bad path...

What's on the nightstand?

 

                    So, I have found that, lately, I have had time to catch up on some reading.

Dollar store find...good for cover

 

 Found this during a brief excursion out of the house, looking beyond the flowers reveals two treasures!

Current status of my ACW project

 

So, not as much progress on this, but some...

I have touched up some old troops, and actually painted some new forces. The Union greatcoat troops seen above are the first 15mm ACW troops that I have painted in 20 odd years! Man, do I hate painting 15mm ACW figures!!

Slow progress

Well it seems slow, but the truth is, I have done a lot of stuff, just none of it finished, except some scenery bits. I have removed all my based infantry from their old bases, and mounted, but not fully flocked them on new bases. I have also primed all previously unprimed figures, and base coated 30+ artillery in a flat olive drab paint.

There is a lot of touch ups to be done on all the stuff I painted two decades ago, that task will take some time! The 20 building are well on their way to being finished off, mostly just finishing touches to be done.

Here is what has been done (more or less) Sad to say close up pictures do have a bad tendency to reveal horrible flaws!

and so it begins

A small start but something! Created about 30 or so new stands from what I had based up before.

A slow process, as some figures are well attached to the old bases.  

For now I am not repainting, but I am doing some touch ups. 

The big 15mm projects

Just something to work on in between bouts of random 28mm painting.

The really big, long overdue project is the revitalization of my 15mm ACW 'collection'. It has been decades since I ever used these figures, and boy does it show. Bad paint jobs, bad looking, low quality basing jobs. Also an awful lot of unpainted stuff.

The other project is my collection of 15mm Sci-fi. This at least  is in better shape and will not need repainting as it has never been painted!

Unboxing terraincrate2 pick 'n' mix

Thought it was time to do another video (probably not though)
Anyway here goes the grand reveal.

Some test paint jobs...

Oathmark overview, my new go to fantasy game...?

Maybe.

There are a lot of reviews of the rules, and the quality of the book, out there on the net. Here is one such excellent review. I am not certain what more I can add to the myriad reviews. What I can offer, for what is worth, is more along the line of my likes and dislikes. This is of course a very bias approach, and my opinions are based on the style of game that I like.

Not bragging, just saying, 4 units painted since June 20th...49 figures in all

Really not that many figures, but prodigious output compared to the last few months.
Seriously, I am stoked at finally producing again. Skip over to the painting blog to see more, pictures.

WIP, but with actual progress! (updated)

Coming soon, some more opponents for my intrepid pulp explorers.

One down, 15 to go, and those are almost finished...

Apparently it was actually 18 more to go, here they are. (more pics over on my painting blog)
here
 

News flash! Man who claims to be a miniature gamer uploads a scenery post!

Against all odds, a new post purportedly by the unfocused gamer shows a work in progress.
Can it be possible that he has actually dared to go back into his gaming room, and work on something?

If so odds makers take a beating!

Well, that was a waste of time

My C-19 project came to naught, but it did occupy my mind for a wee bit o time, and considering that I have had no interest in miniatures, it did fill some empty hours.
Above you can see what the world would have looked like had the players been able to fully explore the land. There had been 28 barren hexes, only a few of them explored before the game collapsed.
Mighty Empires is a very random game, but so long as it is not taken too seriously it can be quite entertaining.

This, is the aquarium temple, a little bit bigger

Yet another item stting around gathering dust. Finally pulled out the Dremel and cut the base down. Original base was close to 2" thick so took off around 1 1/2 inches, and amazingly the temple is still level.

Something to post, not much but something

Finally finished off something, something that has been hanging around my basement, unboxed, for years.

So, it really has been out of a box sitting on a shelf for 3+ years, but amazingly, it was all intact.
Building it was not too much bother, the problem was painting it but because I chose a wrong base colour.

I was aiming for a grey base that would lighten up a bit, but instead of looking at source pictures before I started painting, I assumed I knew enough without research. Wrong! Most of the pics showed a whiter finish than this project was going to end up with. Also more of a tan/grey aging.

After painting a couple of layers on this I went back to the start, and worked my way up from a tan to a variety of off whites, a white and then a sepia wash.

I like it.

Map test 2

Map test

So, how was my day today...

Apart from attending a spitting contest, or an apple bobbing event, or even participating in a throat singing competition, what other place do most people want to avoid in this time of contagion, could it be a hospital emergency room? Yep!

Sadly that is where I found myself for six or so hours today! Now fear not, those who might care, it was not because of C-19 (my new hip name for this plague) it apparently was due to a kidney stone passing from my right kidney to my bladder. Oh the fun we had this morning as I was seized by the shakes, and experienced pain that I have not felt since my appendix blew back in 1999, and that went septic! To be fair, I was a greater idiot back then, thinking I had indigestion for the entire weekend. By the time I consented to go to a hospital it was just shy of too late for me. Passed out in the examine room, then packed in ice to avoid brain melt down, then a week in ICU for good measure. By the end of the week I looked to be 90, and a survivor from a death camp/death march.

This time was not so be, and boy am I a fan of morphine! It was just the thing to take the edge off of this mornings sweats and shakes. I still feel some pain tonight, but no doubt from the trauma of something too large passing through something so tight.

That all said, I must commend the staff at the General Hospital, and C-19 for keeping the number of people in the waiting room down. It was almost deserted when we arrived, and when we left. Lots of space to spread out away from others. The ER ward was well staffed, and low on patients. Overall just about as much fun as one can have while passing a stone from a kidney to the bladder, from what I can remember. I elected to spend as much time as possible drifting in and out of consciousness, it certainly makes the time fly by!

All in all another swell day in my life, one not to remember!

Wednesday night game night

Well tonight it was another series of card driven games, first up was Star Realms, which we played to a close finish, twice. We then continued with our tradition of losing in the cooperative game Sentinels of the Multiverse. We managed to get defeated twice! That leaves us at 1 victory and 8 losses, not a good start to the year, does not bode well for the remainder of the year.

Despite the losses, and it should be noted that I lost in both games of Star Realms, so 4 losses for the night, I had fun with the games. Both of these games are on my favorites list, as they both offer a variety of play options, and play challenges. Not just a matter of pure random luck, there are elements of structure that presents opportunities to plan and execute strategies to win.

All in all another fun if, late night of gaming, running from 8:30 until 1:30 AM!

Off to sleep now as I see it is 2:15 in the morning and I plan to wake up in a few short hours.

All Quiet on the Martian Front - First game AAR

Life in a snow globe

It is days like this that make me happy that my former employer pushed me into early retirement!
Many employees in Ottawa were told to work from home, had I still been employed that would not have been an option for me, as I was more directly involved in face to face interactions with my clients. Just thinking about how this type of day played out in the past sends shivers through me and once again reconfirms that I really needed to get away from my previous working life. 

From Value village and elsewhere...

Two different kids toys, the top one is some weird collectable set, each contains a different figure (of no use to me) but I think the containers, especially with the goo, and the 'useless' figures, look like vats with strange experimental subjects in them.

The other item are two Paw Patrol hovercrafts that I found at a value village.

Some classic Parroom Station minatures

Parroom Station tripods finally got some paint on them, other than the primer that was done years ago (maybe 5+)

The round cages were added for an AQMF game scenario the Harvest. They are based for Earth action, because of AQMF should they show up on Mars they will need to be re-based. Only one of them has been given a weapon, in this case a black smoke discharger. I have a heat ray for each of the other tripods that I will add once I am done with them for AQMF.

Here they are against some 18mm armoured infantry. They were nice models to build and paint it is a pity that the line is no longer available.

Sarissa - Arches, terrace homes and gaslamp alley buildings

I sense a trip to England this year for our pulp adventures!

This has been a rather productive week as I have managed to assemble 12 structures. Among the grouping is a church, three arches (two more to be built), add on bits for the arches to convert them to shops, numerous terrace houses, three gaslamp buildings including a pub, oh and one bandstand.