Second "Retreat from Moscow" Perry unit nearly done...

Just thought I would post an update... just have to do the sand, and then paint the sand white and put down the snow!  Overall I think they look fantastic!:)

A fantastic book from my youth!

Hey all!

Thought I would share... I picked up this fantastic book from my parents' house when I visited for lunch!

The book is "Great Battlefields of the World," by John McDonald.  It was a book I got when I was young, and DEVOURED... tons of great images of great battlefields from throughout time.  It still holds up, and as a war gamer it really provides some GREAT visuals.

A good example is at the top... it is from Waterloo, as the French Old Guard attacks the British ridge at the end of the battle

Here is the title page...

A shot of the Waterloo section... the French cavalry attacks the British squares.

Here is the first shot of the Waterloo section, with a great overview of the battlefield.

Here is Gettysburg, Day 1.

Here is Saratoga, from the AWI.

Here is Blenheim, from the war of Spanish Succession.  

The book is available on Amazon (see the link above) for SUPER cheap... you can get it for a buck!

Finished paint on unit #2 of "Retreat From Moscow"

Well, the basic paint is done... time to get finishing!  These guys are a real challenge to paint; SO many different colors and cloths and all sorts of random bits and pieces.  Plus, they are a crazy mix of infantry, cavalry, and random civilians, so uniforms are a nightmare.  Thank you for huge, covering blankets and the like.  Next up, I reward myself with a sled, and then maybe two stands of light infantry.

Fun!

Finally... a fridge in the House of War!

Well, a neighbor was selling this little fridge for twenty bucks, so I snatched it up!  It isn't PERFECT, because it is a tiny bit deeper than I'd like, but it works fine being in the corner of the room like this.

I then threw some drinks in the bottom half (some sodas, seltzer, water, and juice) and then some snacks in the top... a glass bowl of different sweet miniature chocolates, and a huge assortment of individual chip bags.

And now, I'm ready to truly entertain!  Now, I just need some friends... :)

BTW, it is amazing what you "see" in photos... all of those white wires for the lighting are basically invisible in real life.

Made some planets for "Armada"

Hey all!

Well, I did up a few planets!

Now, I did say they are for Armada, but actually, they are for a new game that is being released; "Freejumper," by the veteran rules author Sam Mustafa.  Sam mentioned he needed to do some photos for the rules, and I said I'd be happy to knock up some stuff for it!

So... voila!  A moon, an Earth-like planet, and a sun looking thing!

Some paint on the next Perry "Retreat from Moscow" infantry unit

Hey all!

Got some work done on the base coats for the next Perry "Retreat from Moscow" infantry unit!  Trying to keep the colors somewhat limited, so it doesn't get overwhelmingly colorful.  The figures do take a lot of work to paint up... they have SO many random cloths and stuff wrapped around hands and feet and faces and guns... tough to get them all on the first time through, or second time through, or even the third time through!:)

Some "toy soldiers on shelves" eye candy

Hey all!

I was over at my buddy's house, helping with a redesign of his toy soldier room, and thought I'd snap a few photos of a few shelves of toy soldiers!

Sorry for the lower quality... Took them with my iPhone:)

Above are some 40mm British.

A 10mm Prussian army.  Love these guys... Really traditional toy soldier look.

25mm Napoleonic British.

More 25mm Napoleonic British.

More of the 40mm AWI British.  

Anyway, thanks for taking a look!

A close-up of my Space Slug for Armada

Just wanted to share, since people didn't really get a good look at it in most photos...

Perry "Retreat from Moscow" cavalry unit finished

Hey all!

Well, finished up a unit of cavalry for the Retreat from Moscow army!

Overall I think they turned out pretty well... it is a little trickier than I expected to get them looking right.  I am STILL not sold on the basing... should the entire thing be snow?

I did want to do a unit that wasn't simply guys on horses, and so I used some dismounted cavalry and a dead horse to fill out the unit.

First two units done!  Got two more infantry units to do, and then the skirmishers, and the sleds!

Eye Candy! A Star Wars Armada game...

Hey all!

Well, got an Armada game in with a buddy who came by!

400 and chance points each; no scenario, just shoot-em out!  We did no upgrades or anything; just bare ships.  We are still learning, so the fewer rules we have to keep in mind, the better:)

I was the rebels, with an MC80, an MC30, a Neb, and an Assault Frigate.  I also had Han Solo, Jan Ors, and a few X-Wings and A-Wings.  

He took an ISD and two Victories, along with a bevy of TIE fighters, some Interceptors, and a Rhymer/Dengar/Bombers squadron (no Vader or Advanced, though.) 

Here are the starting spots.  You can see what we want to do!:)  The Neb, btw, is out of shot to the right.

The imperial fighter cloud was all on one side of the board and headed in!

Han Solo and the A-Wings covered the rebel left flank, along with the MC30.

Two turns in.  The Rebs open fire on the center Victory and put an absolute hurting on it.  The ISD, in retrospect, was moving far too slowly.

Han Solo takes the A-Wings out to the right.  A few timely squadron commands really helped the rebels out here.  The top Victory continues to get absolutely hammered, while the leftmost one starts to head right into the center of things.

The fighters are about to get stuck in...

The Assault Frigate had a cloud of X-Wings as fighter support on its open flank, between it and the ISD.

Another shot of the fighters.  The MC80 and MC30 both used their anti-squadron firepower to weaken the Imperials a bit.

The big boys start to run into each other, both sides blasting away.  The top right Victory is almost gone at this point, shields stripped and with a pile of criticals.

Dengar gets hunted down by Solo and the A-Wings.

Here is everyone running into each other!  The rightmost Victory squeaks through here, still alive with a single hull point.

The MC30 and Assault Frigate flank the second Victory, pouring fire into it...

... and the MC30 spits past, blasting away.  The Victory on the right is absolutely smoking, leaving behind a swath of debris.

The titans go at it!

Broadsides crash into the ships, thousands of men and women meeting their maker!

The bombers pound away at the MC30, but it stays strong and blasts away.

The three reb ships absolutely pound on the Victory.  Despite a few GOD awful rolls (the frigate fires off an entire broadside and forward attack and scores no hits!) the Victory gets absolutely smashed.

The ISD is moving quicker now, but still stuck a bit out, and starts taking fire to its fore.

The one Victory goes down, finally, while the severely damaged one circles at the back, engineers working frantically to bring up shields... all while about to get jumped on by the three A-wings.

At this point, we did call it... it was clear that the Imperials were in deep trouble.  The ISD had lost some shields to the X-Wings, but the one Victory was dead and the other had only a single hull point left.  I did move the ISD in, however, just a for a final beauty shot of everyone together!

Anyway... hope you all enjoy the eye candy!:)