The second 6mm Daimyo... done! Four units to go...

Hey all!

Well, my second daimyo is done!

I finished up the first one, and the four units that match him, so I said I'd reward myself with daimyo #2!

I went with a red clan.  The story is fairly simple... the daimyo is leaving his two lesser lords (green and yellow, each with their own guards and banners) on his way somewhere, his men forming up to watch him leave.

But is he leaving in time?  In the back of the stand are three ninjas, who have just killed the guard and are moving in!

Overall very happy with how it turned out... they are hard to photograph, but in person it is fairly bustling with activity, and you can really make our each individual little guy.

Here the command stand is with two regular clan stands.

So... four units to match the second daimyo, one of each type... gun, archer, horse, samurai... and the collection is done!

Oh, and I ordered about a hundred bucks of buildings from Mura Miniatures.  Fingers crossed they get here soon:)

Sam Mustafa's "Rommel" is released!

Hey all!

Sam Mustafa's latest, the massive-scaled WWII game "Rommel," is here!

"Rommel" is pretty unique in that it is one of the only miniatures game that takes place at SUCH a high level of operations.

Plus, with a completely open architecture, you are able to create almost any esoteric unit you can imagine.  Wait, the Germans had a unit of half of one tank, half another, with an excellent commander?  Excellent, you can make it!

Many playtesters have already spoken about how smooth the game is, and Sam has said that it might be one of his best ever.

Two things about "Rommel" compared to other recent "Honour" games.

First, there are no cards.  For me that is a shame, because I do enjoy how the cards reflect the period, but frankly the game does a GREAT job without them.

Second, the game is played on a grid table, rather than a simple tabletop.  While I blanched at this at first, I've certainly come around... give Sam's excellent podcast a listen, and he can explain the thought process behind it.  Suffice it to say, the guy thinks about stuff.  A lot:)

You can see, in all of these photos, that I've used small rocks to divide up the table into six inch grids.  Looks pretty good, no?

Anyway, for more info, check out Sam's website, http://www.sammustafa.com! (Although when the game released his website crashed, so if it isn't up when you click the link wait a few minutes and try again:) )

Finished the rest of the 6mm ninjas... with a great one!

Hey all!

Well, I finished up two more stands of ninjas for my 6mm samurai collection, so huzzah!

I'm really happy with them.  I did another simple base of ninjas with just long wheat grass, and then my favorite one... a mini scene of three ninjas leaping out of the brush to assassinate an unexpecting daimyo!

Overall I feel like I really nailed these:)

6mm ninjas for my samurai collection...

Hey all!

Well, I am well on my way to finishing up my planned 6mm samurai collection, using Baccus 6mm figures.

But if I have to do so many standard units, why not have some fun and do some ninjas?

They are actually "neo ninjas" from Onslaught Miniatures... they are meant as a futuristic figure, but at that scale, how the hell can you tell?:)  They work just fine.  They have five poses, and look pretty sharp!

I ended up basing them more like counters than anything else, with one die holder... I'll figure out the rules eventually.  I was originally thinking about doing something fancy with the basing, but then figured I didn't want them moving around with big pieces of terrain, sooo... I might, at some point, do two more stands... maybe of them about to assassinate a daimyo or something?  That could be cool:)

Anyway... thanks for looking!

I've started rebasing the Romans...

Hey all!

Well, as I mentioned earlier, I decided to go ahead and rebase my son's Romans.

I had originally done them on stands of eight, all together.  But then I thought... that just isn't as much fun for a kid.  You want to play with them independently at time, you know?

So I got some bases from Litko and have started rebasing!

I finished one unit, and have two more nearly done.... I'm going a little simple with the ones who I had already finished, and I'll do them a bit different when I start new, from fresh units.

Thoughts?

Oh, and there are more coming... another box of Romans, a box of Germanic tribesmen, some German skirmishers, a scorpion for the Romans, and a few generals.

Some palm trees added to my naval terrain...

Hey all!

Well, way back at Cold Wars, I found a great vendor at one of the flea market tables... they were selling little plastic baggies of trees and the like.

One of the things I got was a baggie of palm trees, with the idea of using them to flesh out my naval terrain... so, I did!

Here are a selection of islands with the trees added.  I kept two groups of three on their original bases, with a bit of paint around the edges to match the shorelines... I figure they will be useful as tiny little offshoots of main islands.

Overall I'm really happy with how they look... the scale is right, and you REALLY do need palm trees for these sorts of islands to look right!

My son's old school samurai armies...

Hey all!

In all the excitement of daddy working on a samurai army, it was pretty clear the boy would have to have one too.

Well, thanks to daddy having based a million samurai from the old game Shogun...

... now he has one!

Basically they were based in groups of ashigaru, archers, guns, samurai, or ronin.  I made up some command stands as well for each of those, with a daimyo, banner, and soldier on each.  I also made up a big army command stand for each army... you can see it below, on the huge round stand.  After I finished up the armies I had enough figures to do five hero figures... basically samurai mounted on round individual stands, with personalized sashimonos.

Painting was super simple... one army blue, one red.  One got Hojo mon, the other Takeda.  About twelve stands of ashigaru were painted a brownish color, and then I painted their hats yellow to represent straw hats... these act as peasants.  The heroes were undercoated white (well, except the black one) and then given different colors.

I also have one ninja, but he is based differently... on a big round base and painted... because I did him up when I was young.

Anyway, the boy's been playing with them a bunch, doing castle sieges and the like.  He really enjoys looking at my guys, and then playing with his!

Some shots of all the finished 6mm samurai on the table...

Hey all!

Well, I threw my samurai on the table in between tables (I took apart my 25mm viking table, and am putting up a 10mm Napoleonic table) and thought I would take some photos!

There are a few units on here that I haven't photographed in finished shape... the pink unit of archers, and the two units in the same clan as the daimyo.

Here those two are.   My plan now is to finish two more units that match this daimyo, and then do my second daimyo and get four units done for him, too.  That will give me 20 units total (including the daimyo stands) which might be good enough for now... not counting my plans for ninjas:)

Anyway... so that is a bit on the samurai!

I'm on vacation for a few days away from the kids, so I took some photos of toy soldiers and will do a few blog updates... nice way to relax!:D

The Fridge... snacks and drinks for all!

Hey all!

Well listen... I take my toy soldiers seriously, but you also have to be able to entertain, you know?  So... here is an updated shot of the fridge!

On top of the fridge is the booze... some whiskey, some vodka, some tequila, and a home-brewed Italian liquor.

I got this fridge at a yard sale down the block... twenty bucks!  Yes please!  A fridge on the bottom for the cold things, and a compartment for the snacks above!

Here is the door... two each of rum, vodka, and whiskey on top, and then a mix of beer and hard lemonade on bottom.  Trying to have something for everyone!

Here is the main friday... on the very bottom you've got the little Diet Cokes and the chilled mini York Peppermint Patties... then some other beers and some cranberry juice.  Above that, the cans... Coke, Sprite, and seltzer.

The snacks are of two sorts; crunchy/salty, and sweet!

On the left you can see the candy "box."  I put them in this because you can just take it out and put it on the table when you game.  It has a wide variety of candies... Hershey Kisses, assorted Lindt truffles, assorted Ghiradelli squares, and a bunch of minis (Milky Ways, Twix, Milky Way Midnights, Snickers, and Three Musketeers.)

Behind the candy is a can of Snyder pretzel rods... they are wicked crunchy and delicious.  Then the assorted individual packs of chips... I think right now it includes Doritos, Cool Ranch Doritos, Cheetos, pretzels, and Sour Cream and Onion potato chips.

The Workbench...

Hey all!

I know I've been bad about keeping everyone updated on the actual WORK I am doing, and only sharing final bits and pieces...

So here are some WIP shots!

At the top are three units of 6mm samurai that I finished up.  I've decided to do one unit of each type in the colors of my finished daimyo, to indicate the biggest and most powerful clan.

I've also redoing the basing for my son's Romans.  For a little kid, you want to be able to hold and play with each soldier individually.  So I went with some Litko bases; not cheap, but worthwhile.

Anyway... more on the way!

The Baker and Bess on the wall...

All hung up!  I have to add a few holes to the Baker's sling...

But I think they look great!

An updated panoramic photo of the House of War!

Hey all!

Well, I FINALLY got the Baker, so I figured I'd do a full panoramic shot of the House of War again, so I could get the newest stuff in there.

Very happy with the room.  Running out of space, which sucks, because I am NOT running out of things to buy.  Got the next thing already picked out... :)

Anyone interested...?

Hi all!

Out of curiosity... is anyone out there interested in reading a writing exercise I am doing, a little "Write a Sharpe short story in the style of Bernard Cornwell" piece?  Sounds silly, I know, but I thought it might be fun to try to do!

Some other photos of the guns I checked out...

Hi all!

Here are a few more of the guns I checked out today!  On the rack above are a bunch of beauties, including a really nice Charleville, and a Bren in need of repair.  

A pair of crazy Indian matchlocks.  The top gun was a wall gun, so was fired from a mount.

A rack of America!  A bunch of American guns, from the colonial times on up.  Particularly liked the Thompson and of course the Browning .30 cal on the right.

Is that an MG-34 in there?  Why yes, it is:)

Anyway... thought folks might enjoy the cool photos:)

A Baker Rifle for the House of War

Hey all!

Well, I FINALLY got a new piece for the House of War that I had been waiting for for almost a year...

... a Baker rifle!

Now, most of the folks reading this will likely know, but this is an English-made rifle that first really appeared in the Napoleonic Wars.  It is best known as the rifle of the fabled 95th and 60th Rifles, made famous by everyone's favorite Napoleonic Era hero, Dick Sharpe.  I had really wanted one for quite some time... it is SUCH an attractive gun... compact, great brasswork, fantastic sword bayonet... and so, now I have one!

I'll have photos of it on the wall when I get home and get it mounted.

What a treat!

Did some other fun stuff when I was picking it up... a few nice views, including this...

And sorry, I only filmed this one, so none of me just emptying the mag full auto!:)