A few more shots of the Perry "Retreat from Moscow" figures

Hi all!

Well, since I had the lights set up, I thought I would snap a photo or two of some random stuff... in this case, a few groups of my Perry "Retreat from Moscow" army!

Here you can see the unit from behind, with all of the little extras in the back.

And the unit from the front again.

Here is a unit of skirmishers... a mix of cavalry and infantry and even a woman!

Not sure they will survive the trip back to Paris...

Star Wars Legion: Rebel Specialists expansion, painted!

Hi all!

Well, as I mentioned, I HAVE been painting... and here is the latest Legion figures, the Rebel expansion!

Now I didn't get too creative with these, and went with roughly the standard paint job for the commander.  I did add an earing, though, and I did give the female specialist longer hair.

These guys, I went full traditional.  I think the touch of gloss on the medical droids syringe worked well!

My 6mm ACW figures under the lights...

Hey all!

Well, since the lights were set up, I thought I'd take a couple decent shots of the 6mm ACW collection.

Above you can see a smattering of the Rebels, including a unit I did a bit of work on to make them into an early war Virginia unit, with mostly kepis... you can see them on the left of the photo.

And here are some Federals, including a few units I did some work on... a unit of Zouaves and also the 8th Wisconsin, complete with Old Abe in the front (far left... not sure you can make out the eagle?  I used the eagle from the top of a flag pole... you can maybe see the white head?)

This is a large collection (this is only a few stands) but I really love them.  I'm currently working on some scenery to go with them!

10mm Star Wars : Battle of Hoth project!

Hey all!

Okay, I got inspired recently by talk of Star Wars: Legion, and the idea about what the game COULD have been, done at a smaller scale.

So after seeing what a few people did with Ertl kits and Micro Machines, I thought I'd give it a shot!

Now, all of this is basically just proof-of-concept... I have a TON more to do, but I wanted to do a little bit of most things just to see how they turned out.

So first up, here are the Imperial Walkers... an AT-AT and some AT-STs.  I have a bunch more to build, but for now, they look fine.

Here is the Imperial infantry.  You can see Vader and Veers at the front, and some Death Troopers off on the flank.  I also got some Imperial Troop Transports to move them around on the ground.

Here is the air power!  I got a bunch of Imperial Shuttles to move troops around, and a ton of Snowspeeders to give the Rebels some air support.

Here is the Rebel infantry... it includes some turrets, some 1.4 guns, and a mix of regular infantry units and heavy weapon units (the two man stands.)  There are also some command stands, including most of the biggest heroes!

Here is a close-up of the heroes.  Luke is on the left; he is a regular Rebel soldier, with a bit of a work done with a drill and a piece of wire to make the lightsaber.  Then come R2 and C3PO.  In the middle is Leia.  Then comes Han (again, a regular Rebel trooper, painted to look like Han) and Chewie... and finally Lord Vader himself.

Now I did put dice frames on each stand... a single one on anything without armor, and two for vehicles with shields.  

So overall I think they turned out pretty cool... next up is considering some scenery, and putting together the rest of the figures!

A bunch of additions to the Room!

Hey all!

Well, the blog has been QUIET AS HECK... but I haven't been just sitting around.  I've actually got some stuff done!  It's just been tough getting photos.

First up?  Some additions to the room... and just about the final ones!

First up... thrill of all thrills... my room ended up getting a short article in Wargames Illustrated!  Now, I was just over the moon about it, and thought it would be a cool addition to the room itself!

So a quick framing later, and now I have the article hanging up right next to the bar... so as you get a drink, you can read a bit!

So for Christmas I got a fantastic piece... a repro 1851 Colt Navy!  It is one of my favorite all-time pistols... just a beauty.  To go with it I also picked up a fantastic 18th century French naval pistol... and original found in an outfit in northern New York.  

Over the summer I ordered this piece... an AWI cartridge box repro.  I needed more AWI stuff, and I thought this, with the excellent badge, fit the bill!

And finally I have these three awesome buttons, dug up by an amateur treasure hunter on my parents' property... maybe the best thing in the room.

So overall the room is feeling very good!  It's JUST about full up... one or two small things to go, and I'll be done!:)

Rebel 1.4 FD cannon for Star Wars Legion, painted!

Hi all!

Well here is the next piece of painted Star Wars Legion gear, a painted Rebel 1.4 FD gun emplacement!

Now, everyone knows these from Hoth, and they DO come with Echo base troops, but I found that I could paint them up to match the current guys easy enough.

As long as the basing worked, then the gun was fine.  Overall happy with how they turned out!

Han Solo and Chewie, painted, for Star Wars Legion

Hey all!

Well, as I mentioned, I painted a TON of Legion stuff recently... so here are Han and Chewie.

Chewie is a great model, but looking at him, I really should have taken the time to sculpt a bit of fur to cover up the joints... I've just gotten a bit lazy, I think?

Han is a MUCH nicer figure than I expected... I find that the Legion figures photograph SO poorly; the photos rarely get across their heftiness.  

I painted Han's coat to match the camo scheme of my rebel troopers, so he fits in but still looks like Han.

The Emperor and his guard, for Star Wars Legion

And here is the master of the Sith himself, the Emperor... Palpatine!

The moment they announced these guys, I knew I had to have them.  I am not sure how well it shows in the photo, but I did make sure to give Palp the yellow eyes and reddish eye sockets that he has when he is shown at his scariest.

For the Royal Guard, I DID veer from canon a bit... Instead of doing the darker crimson underclothes, I went with just a solid red color for the entire outfit.  I think it turned out nice... I wanted them to be VERY uniform.  The only question... do I gloss their helmets?

All told, some cool figures (although the fit is a bit rough!)

Star Wars Legion Wookies, painted!

Hey all!

Okay, I've got a BUNCH of Star Wars Legion figures painted up over the last few weeks, so I've got to share them! 

I've really enjoyed doing the figures (well, not the Stormtroopers) and was looking forward to these wookies!

They are IMPOSING figures... just HUGE.  I wanted to keep them a bit individual... I feel like wookie fur should have patterns and differences.  So I went with a blonde wookie, an older wookie, a black haired wookie, and a brown wookie.

Overall very happy with how they turned out... they just LOOM over their enemies!

Coming up?  A rebel laser cannon, Han and Chewie, and Emperor Palpatine and his guard!

A GREAT find... a garbage can?!

Okay, how's THIS for a random story!?

So, for years a buddy of mine has always had the greatest garbage can in his war room... it's a garbage can that looks like it is a civil war rope tension drum!  It was always such a cool thing... small but noticeable, and essential to boot!  

The thing was... his father had bought it 40 something years ago at a reenactment at Gettysburg.  There were no markings on it, so there was no way to figure out who made it.  Trying to google "rope tension drum garbage" or some variation of that sequence got me nowhere, although there are some great whiskey barrel garbage cans out there, and lots of people sell 55 gallon drums!

So about a month ago my buddy moved to a new home and I went over to help him set up... I'll have more photos of Valhalla when it's finished, but for now here is a taste of it, half-way set up.

Anyway, as I helped him move all of his collections and stuff into the new building I again remarked about how much I loved that garbage can, but...

Fast forward about three weeks, and I'm in Connecticut visiting the family.  Now, they live in a town with a few antiques places.  I've stopped in them a few times over the last ten or fifteen years, although I've never really found anything worth noticing.

Until this time:)

We woke up one morning and suddenly I thought "I want to go check out this one antiques store."  No idea why.  I had once bought a LAW rocket tube there, but that was the only thing of interest.  

So down we go.  We walk in, walk up to the front counter looking, and then back down... and voila.  With some umbrellas in it is one of those rope tension drum garbage cans.

What is the chance?

Anyway... the room is SO full up that adding anything of value or interest is difficult at this point.  This, to me, is the ultimate little piece of detail awesomeness:)

BTW, the company that makes them is The Old Drum Shop in Granville, Mass.