Picking Up

It's been a quiet month on the blog. I've concentrated on work and reading, haven't done any solo gaming, and haven't been to the club at all - though I did get in a couple meetings of the Virtual Wargames Club.

Today brought up several things, however, which should keep me busy game-wise for a while.

• I found my missing VBCW volumes, down the side of a bureau in my bedroom. One is the Went the Day Well ruleset which I am itching to try now I've assembled some painted troops.
• I started reading Myke Cole's The Bronze Lie: Shattering the Myth of Spartan Warrior Supremacy.
• I missed a bunch of texts and a zoom meeting of the South Florida Miniatures Gamers, which is (after close to fifty years) finally getting around to doing formal things like bylaws, regular dues, etc. I still need to start a "catalog" for the games and books.
• I started watching the Prestonpans Museum's 1745 campaign, which just concluded. Looking forward to their homebrew campaign rules.
• At work, we had a cracking successful "family" program last Tuesday, and as next week's theme is the Olympics I am hoping to run a sailing-race game with modified Junior General rules.
• I finished a QRS for Charge! in the form of a one-page foldable Pocketmod, and started on another for Bundock and Bayonet. With those done, I will feel more confident playing them and perhaps even taking them to the club.
• Looked up St. John's, Newfoundland on a whim today (I've always wanted to go there for the history and music) and found a week's visit in September - flights, hotel and all - might be for surprisingly low cost. I haven't gone on a real vacation in a while, so very tempted...

Lots of food for thought, even if it's not much to say. I hope next month will be more creatively fruitful!

Painting and Other Miscellany

Not much gaming or posting this month. I worked at a local convention and brought a few Paperboys sheets:

And finished off the LDV bases with some Stirland Mud:

Re: Paperboys, I've had little interest in the Portable Wargame during Chess Club, but a couple players suggested that the figures would make good chessmen. I've been thinking for a while, but so far I haven't worked out what all the pieces would be. Pawns, Kings and Knights are easy enough. Elephants or war engines would work as Rooks, as these were the original name for the piece. The Bishop can be taken from one of the medieval sets with monks. The Queen is the real problem, as (Paperboys focusing on wargaming pieces) there are few women. I could use Boudicca, for example, from the Romans-and-Britons volume, but then there are no Roman women, and while the Britons have druids for the Bishop, there's no corresponding figure for the Romans. While for the Rook, the Romans have both elephants and war engines, but the Britons have neither.

Best for the purpose might be the clearly differentiated Little Wars figures, in blue and red. Still need a queen, though it might be possible to modify the civilian women a bit - someone has already done it to make suffragettes. There is one with a huge flowery hat, just the sort of Ascot wear you might expect of an 1890s upper-class woman. I've looked up French first ladies of the period, and they wore the same hats, so I could use the same figure (or head, anyway).

After a little experimentation, I also suspect I'll need to modify the size of different pieces. The size of chessmen is an important element of any set, with the pawns half the size of the pieces. A knight at the same scale as "infantry" bishop, rook, king and queen would also tower over them. I'm thinking 28mm Pawns and Knights, with the others in 54mm.

Finally, heavier bases would be useful. I've been using old business cards, which works very well for smaller figures. I would prefer thick "grey card," the sort at the back of notepads, but am not sure where to find it.

Finally, I've started painting my Warhammer 40K 8th Edition starter set:

Tricky to undercoat in blue when they're already blue...

Though in the circumstances under which I'm likeliest to play with them, leaving them bare might actually be preferable, as they seem more like "playing pieces" than complex models this way. So I'm undecided.

And that's what I'm on about this month. Other than reading, of course. Have got thru four Leaphorn/Chee novels and one and a half Poul Anderson fantasies so far. See you next time,

(Not Quite) Finishing the LDV

Well, I didn't get the Resistance figures finished in time for last VWC. Maybe two weeks down the line then. Part of the problem is that I keep finding parts I missed (taking photos is really good for this) and so completion feels like it's slipping further away. But one step at a time...

I did find an interesting Youtube video that made me think about my scattershot way of doing things:

So I tried (and failed) to focus on these guys. Here's where I am at present, with the rifles and SMGs painted with Sir Coates Silver. This is a Duncan Rhodes paint, and I am painting quite a bit to the accompaniment of his painting videos.

Since, I've done spot colors on things like scarves, bottles and blankets. Scarves, bottles and a pair of glasses in green, socks and blanket in red (I intended to try stripes or a plaid pattern on these, but it didn't work).

Last "base colors" are the hair.  Finally, touch-up. Which I simply haven't got to, partly because I find it frustrating. Photography makes it worse, because pictures are really good for picking up mistakes! At this point, I may just base them and have done; a "dirty" look is less obvious from tabletop height anyway.

Have also done a few more Paperboys, this time for work: 

Ran an early version of The Portable Wargame at work.
Some Patriots, faced by 1812 British I already had, and 
guns and dragoons from the '45 set.

Peter Dennis has most recently put out a very nice
set of "tidelines" with driftwood, stones and even a 
sea turtle for decoration. I put a few out in the children's
area for what I think of as a "guerrilla craft."

I'll be working at a local convention this Friday, and have printed off some Fantasy sheets for a bit more crafting. We'll see how it goes.

Finally, again a bit late, here's the conclusion-video to the club Saipan game: