(Very small) Food!

Well, I didn't have any work to do on the figures for the Napoleon diorama, so I did something else!

This will go on a bench somewhere... the bottle and cup I bought (I can't remember where... I have to look it up), the tray is actually an upside down shield, and the cheese is greenstuff!  Fun!

I may add either a knife and/or some bread.  Let's see!:)

Okay... can Napoleonic folks help out here?

Hey all!

Okay, the figures are ordered... I was hoping that folks could help out.  I know some about my Napoleonics, but I certainly don't know enough about the officers and the fancy outfit guys!:)

So... what am I looking at in these packs?

The one below... what are those different officers?  Particular regiments or ranks?  What are their responsibilities?

And what about this pack?  Who are all of these folks?  Who is that guy with the hat in his hand, and what on earth is he doing?  And most importantly; does anyone have any advice as far as uniform painting for these guys?

Anyway, I'd really appreciate any help from those who know Napoleonics FAR better than I!:)  Thanks!

Miniatures ordered from Neal

Well... I hate you all.

That said, I ordered the pack of the Generals, rather than the cool hangers on.

I also picked up the pack of guys writing orders, some grass tufts, and a bunch of GW paints... mine are all dry:(

So, when they arrive I'll get cracking!:)

Can I get everyones input on some miniatures?

Hi all!

Okay; I am starting in on a new 28mm Napoleonics project, and I was hoping for some input!

I have this figure sitting around from my last subscription to Wargames Illustrated:

I've had it sitting for a while, and last night I decided that I'd finally get to painting it!

So, what I am going to do is the traditional big scene of Napoleon and his generals/officers.  He is going to be sitting at the front, alone, as seen above.  A number of officers will be sitting behind him, with several waiting respectfully a little ways back, as if they don't want to disturb him.

I am going to use a few packs.  The first I am using is this one from the Perry Twins:

I love this set, particularly because of the table and the officers writing orders at it.

However, I am torn about which set to use along with this.  There are two I am looking at.

The first is this one, of French generals.

The second is this one, of "random" French officers.

I only want to use one of these two, as the costs for using all three are just a bit much for me (unless someone out there wants to split those costs and the figures!)

I like the set of generals because it is appropriate; those are the guys who would be around Napoleon.

However, I like the LOOK of the second set far more; very colorful, and I love that there are representatives of so many different cool units of the French Napoleonic army.  But no generals?  Is that possible?

So; what does everyone think?  Which should I use?  Just as an FYI, this is purely for display; it is not for actual gaming.

Thanks in advance for the input!

28mm Perry Union Siege Artillery

Hey all!

Hung out at a buddy's place last night, and we started taking down his huge zombie set-up and started thinking about what should go up in its place.  Right now it is down to either a 28mm AWI setup or a 15mm WWII setup.

However, in the meantime we took out his redoubt pieces and played around a bit with them.  We stuck a pair of Perry 28mm Union siege guns in there just for kicks, and I thought I would take a few photos!

Wow... a few flash makes ALL the difference!

Wow.  Compare the top (with my new flash) and bottom (old flash) picture.  Check out the difference the new flash (a gift from my ever-generous father in law, who picked up a new flash for himself) makes.  Wow.

Oh boy, THAT isn't good

So, like most folks I was looking through that leaked GW future release schedule.  Looked fine; lots of stuff for The Hobbit... and even though there were a few eyebrow raising ones, it was fine...

And then...






Seriously?  Bofur on Cold Drake?

Oh boy.  Listen, Peter Jackson, meet me at camera 3.

Okay.  I get it.  The movie needed humor, so you made Gimli a bit funny.  You DID sort of leave out what an unmitigated bad-ass he was, but fine.  At least you included the bit with Galadriel in the Directors Cut.

But holy mother of God... if you take Bofur and make him out to be the fat funny dwarf, and then on top of that make him ride a DRAGON, of which there is only ONE at that point in Middle Earth... holy crap I will lose my mind.  LOSE MY MIND.

PJ, don't mess this up please.


BTW, on an unrelated note, the ACW collection sold, and I hope it is making the new owner happy!  Now I just need to find a home for those Gutter Runners!  Seriously, make an offer, ANY offer!:)

Visiting Fort Ticonderoga

Hey all!

First off, sorry it has been SO damn long... I am just not doing a lot with toy soldiers at the moment, so have nothing to share!

Well, almost nothing:)

I took a trip with my father in law up to Fort Ticonderoga and took a few shots for those AWI/F&I folks here; so Giles, these are for you!:)

A shot overlooking the lake.  Man, those cannon have a great view:)

Every gun had beautiful engravings.

One of the many mortars in the place.

An impressive list of "guests" I would say!:)

The barracks.  A number of reenactors were there, doing the living history thing.

A model of a British landing craft.

Very cool breech loading gun!  They had some wonderful weapons there.

Beautiful horns.

Another beautiful powder horn.

One of the MANY powder horns.  Beautiful stuff.

A selection of Scottish weapons.

Muskets.  Ahhhh muskets!:)

A brace of pistols.

Toy soldiers!  I loved seeing these... apparently our hobby is timeless!

I love seeing original leathers and original canteens, almost more than the weapons themselves.

This was very neat; a powder tester!  You load it up with an amount of power and then fire it, and the further along the crank-thing it gets, the higher grade the powder is.

A pair of Brown Besses.  Maybe my favorite ever gun.

The interior of the fort.

I liked seeing that drum sitting there.

A pair of pistols owned by George Washington.

A view over the lake.

"... that our flag was still there!"

Small hole that can do a lot of damage.

Great little gun.

A demonstration going on.

A close up of the participants.

The fife and drum corps.

After the demo, the guys still fired off a few rounds.

Overall a really beautiful fort!

My Minecraft project; a "Minecraft city"

Hey all!

Thought I'd share... Everyone remembers my castle from a post or two ago?  Well, I thought I'd start to take advantage of the NPC village I built above, as their feudal lord... to provide for my people.  I've been working on a rather large city in Minecraft.  It is taking a LOT of time to finish... more than you'd expect.  A ton of small buildings to go.  Note the cathedral and square near the center, and the gatehouse to the front right... it features a fully functional portcullis, courtesy of KidMischief over at YouTube. You lose a bunch of the wall behind the castle and to the left, and can't see the entrance to the natural caves on the other side of the city there.  Lots more to go, including a city park, finishing the dock areas, actually making the front right corner into a fortress... eventually linking in the world transport system in an honest way, instead of its nearby stop at an once proud mine... good stuff!

I'm still here

Hi all!

Just as an FYI, I'm still alive and kicking; but the end of the school year, combined with a family cross-country trip and another family trip just days afterwards, coupled with no toy soldier time, has resulted in no blog posts.  Sorry!:D