Hurons and Iroquois circa 1640

Some pictures from last night's game. a playtest of a scenario written by Howard Whitehouse. It features the Hurons and their French allies defending a camp against an attack by the Iroquois. The rules were quick and simple enough for me to grasp, but errors in my initial deployment led to my defeat at the hands of the Iroquois. To quote Forrest Gump "That's all I have to say about that".

British Grenadier (Part 2)

Last night we continued our AWI game started a few weeks ago. The rules, British Grenadier gave the results we expected, but seemed a bit too cumbersome for the group's taste. So I guess it's is back to searching for the "perfect" set of rules.
 Next game, in a few weeks time, will be War of the Roses or perhaps Dux Britanniarum again.

British Grenadier Rules

Last night, September 19, 2014 we played an AWI game using the British Grenadier rules. We got off to a late start, having to go over the scenario and high lights of the rules, being our first time using them. The game also marked the debut of my American brigade,  4 sixteen figure regiments mounted 4 figures to a 40mm square base.
 Given the fact that we were short on time, we didn't fight the game to a conclusion, but will pick it up in two weeks time.  The rules seemed a bit strange, perhaps because we were new to them, but the game did play the way we envision a actual AWI battle would have unfolded.

  Here are some pictures from the game.

Hello Again

It's been a while since I've posted anything, real life has kept me busy. In August, Quebec City and l'ile d'Orleans were the destinations for our annual summer trip. Lots of history, culture and good food along the way. While we were away, we had the apartment painted and we are still in the process of unpacking things, almost as if we had moved to a new place. One unanticipated bonus was that I while going through boxes in my "studio" I came across a lot of "lost" and "forgotten" miniatures. This afternoon, I took some time off from unpacking to base some of the figures. Here are the pictures of my work, in no particular order.

Eureka 15 mm French Foreign Legion
Indochina 1950-54

28 mm Conquest Miniatures, I think, F&I Range

There will be plenty more to come now that I've found a stash of bases and static grass.

Stay tuned for updates.

Easter Sunday has come and is now almost gone. It's been a quiet weekend, most of the family away, no social engagements, so I've managed to do a lot of painting. I'd have a lot more to show for my efforts if I could only stay focused on one project, but that will never happen. Within the past week, I've painted four 18mm Legion Etrangere Paras for Indochina, six Crusader Miniatures 28 mm 1940 French and 12 Perry 28mm AWI. As you can see, all over the place in scales and periods, but that's my style. It would drive me nuts to paint 300 of anything before moving on to another project. Having a dozen  half completed project, like I do, would probably push most people ver the edge, but "C'est la vie".
  Tuesday, I expect to have a Chain of Command game with my old pal Vincent. We've gamed together sporadically for close to forty years and I'm sure he'd agree with me in saying "We haven't gotten any older, it's the figures that have gotten smaller".

  Stay tuned, I hope to have some picture of our Tuesday game posted by mid week.

Boring Update

Been busy with "real" work, the kind I actually get paid money to do. Aside from getting paid, one of the great things about working is that I have access to all sorts of things that would otherwise wind up in a dumpster/skid bin. Really useful pieces of styrofoam, odd bits of plastic and almost unlimited supplies of cardboard which is can be used to mount unpainted figures so I can spray prime them in large groups.
  Not much gaming going on at the moment, but I do expect to host a WW2 game using the TFL "Chain of Command" rules in mid February. Stay tuned for a thrilling AAR of that game.

So we said goodbye to 2013 and welcomed 2014. For me, 2013 wasn't a bad year, just one that seemed to pass very quickly.  This year I hope to paint more figures, keep in touch more often with friends and of course, try to lose about 15 pounds.

Here was the entire family on New Year's Day. Included are my wife, my four kids and their partners and the five grandkids, including Vera, Chuck and Dave.
A good sign for the future, some of the grandsons are showing interest in my miniatures, especially my recent efforts, the Fourteenth Brooklyn in 28mm