Friday, June 26, 2020

General hobbying...


Just a hodgepodge post of general hobbying goodness.  
That last sentence was almost a tongue twister. 


A Good Trade on Shipping


I know I missed the bus on starting a wargaming blog when blogging was in it's prime.  I can only imagine the hectic traffic even mediocre blogs like this one would of had.  Yet, one the biggest benefit to Blogging (Blogging with a capital B is a verb, and it includes writing your own and also participating in other's blogs) is creation of an online community.  In many ways, this blog has become my wargaming club; where I come together with like minded wargamers and we talk about how fun miniature wargames are and how other hobbies are dumb wastes of time.  Naturally I'm the power hungry Emperor of the club and ya'll are my corrupt counselors and nobles.  I'm sure you all feel like the emperor on your blog.  It's like we're all the Skekis of wargaming.


"AHHH  Ha-ha-ha HAH!"

Can we take a moment and acknowledge how awesome the Dark Crystal on Netflix was?
Course I grew up on that movie so the series hits all of my right nostalgia buttons. 


That's just a round about way of saying that I like making these online relationships.  Especially in these pandemic times. 

My latest online club interaction: Vol of the Sailing ship blog  and I recently did a trade.  He's embarking on some Black Seas Sailing ships and I had one of the Constitution miniatures just laying around that I was going to get around to putting together in the near NEVER.  It was destined for a flea market; so I offered to send it to him for the low low price of emailing me his address.  
But in his heart he was too proud to accept freebies so he traded me two Langton kits of 74 gun 3rd rates, which match my current Age of Sail ships.  

Thanks Vol!

Everyone else take note!:
I am not too proud to accept freebies.  

Can't Stop the Shop: More Purchases


While I wait for the freebies to come rolling in, I've been doing some shopping.

Fields


For 15/18mm I think you can get away with using fabrics and such as I often do, but I like resin ground pieces for 28mm. It's just a personal choice of aesthetics.  I wanted a few more crop looking fields for my future 28mm AWI games and found these from Paul's Models.

Miniature added for scale purposes.
I'm sure they'll look more like fields once painted.


Kickstarter: 15mm ACW Houses


I've pledged in my third kickstarter ever: 


It's still a weird experience to me put down money and wait a year till something arrives.  It's like medieval mail order.  But this looked like a good buy as I could use a bunch of 15mm ACW houses eventually.  I went all in to get everything.  Now it's a waiting game.  I'm sure that during the year it takes to arrive we'll get back to normal wargaming...

Oddly enough, it's my first miniature wargaming kickstarter pledge.  The first two were for board games.  The ACW board game "Antietam" I got from a kickstarter I now feel was kinda a waste; there is sits on the self having never being played.  The second board game I got was the new edition of "Britannia" which is a game I already know and love and own, the KS was just for a shinny new one.  It's on a boat somewhere; understandably delayed due to pandemic.  


Terrain Book


One of the things I enjoy doing the most in this hobby is making terrain.  Pity I don't do more of it.  
Maybe I should give up wargaming for doll houses or model trains?  And while you all think of me as a master terrain builder the real master is Pat over at the  Wargaming with a Silver Whistle.  Because I want to be just like him I picked up his book of terrain tutorials. 



Father's Day Loot


Speaking of freebies, I got some nice hobby loot for Father's Day.  We went down to San Jose to celebrate with my father in law, which marks the first time the kids and wife have left the house for months...

A painting handle, some more nice brushes, and the Opti-Visor


Completing my decent into complete and utter Nerdom, I told my wife I wanted to try out one of the magnifiers that you wear on your head while painting.  She obliged and got me the Opti-Visor.  I already use a magnifier that sits on the desk while painting so I doubt this will improve the painting much, it's more about exploring the ease of use.  

And as we all know; one of the rules of marriage is that you try to preserve the attraction as much as possible.  As it gets worn down through constant exposure.  So it's a good thing that I tend to paint alone in the hobby room, because I'm sure the sight of me wearing that thing is super attractive.
Unless maybe she had a secret dentist fetish I didn't know about...


A Small Return to Better Times


I was able to play a game face to face!  My friend Mr CG invited me over to play a board game.  After discussing it with management (the wife) we agreed that face to face gaming could begin again provided it was 1) only one other person  and  2) we wore masks.  

We played a game of Conan, some scenario where the players had to rescue Conan and a princess from a dungeon.   It was clear that first you free Conan and then use his swinging axe to get the princess.  
I forgot to take a picture, which is no loss, because pics of board games without a lot context are boring.  So here is a pic of a Conan Barbarian Princess

We never did actually rescue her,
so what she was actually wearing remains a mystery. 


Thanks for reading.  Thanks for comments.  
Continue to take care of yourself in these times of unrest.  

EDIT:  I put in the links to Vol's and Pat's blogs, because I was a chump and forgot to do it the first time.  I'm sure ya'll were just being polite and not wanting to hurt my feelings by pointing it out. 



36 comments:

  1. G'Day Stew, I agree with your comments on blogging at its best it is a virtual wargaming club where members can share experiences and knowledge. I'm very new to blogging (3 months). I've added the bogs I like to follow on my site (such as yours), so when they pop to the top of the list I know there is something new to check out. I've added myself as a follower, but for some reason when you hover the cursor over the picture it does not say Delta Coy. Anyway I'll sort that one when I know a bit more about blogger. Stay safe, Cheers Greg (Delta Coy blog)

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    1. Hi Greg. Thanks for the comment and following. I’ll have to pop over to your blog and have a look around. Always room for one more in the club! I hope that you’ll find blogging to be a rewarding experience. 😀

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  2. Having seen two forum spats going on over the past couple of days (totally unnecessary and showing the worst side of the internet), it just makes our quiet corner of the internet (blogging) refreshingly joyous and peaceful.

    Never seen resin fields before and they look impressive.

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    1. Tell us more, Norm! I must follow relatively boring fora.

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    2. Thanks Norm. Positivity is something I try to cultivate. I’m aware of the TMP and TFL spat, quite unfortunate. People must be feeling the strain during these difficult times. ☹️

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  3. All good stuff Stew I agree I find the ‘community’ is a very clear positive addition to my hobby activity, although it is a little scary to find out that none of us are unique in our interests, there is pretty much always somebody out there already interested in whatever the new project is I’m considering. Let me know if the terrain book tells you how to make cypress trees !

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    1. Thanks Matt. It’s true, no matter how obscure the genre you can always find someone. Kinda like fetishes. Lol.
      Page 89 in the book there is a chapter on orchards and cypress trees. 😀

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  4. It's sad that Blogging is a dying artform but in it's place is the Youtube Vlogs which I really like and ahem Facebook groups which area tad hit and miss. I've been doing my Blog since 2013 and honestly even then it wasn't in it's prime.

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    1. Thanks Chico. I’m not a huge fan of the Vlogs yet but mainly because I find most of them tedious. And while the prime time has passed I’m not quite convinced that blogs are dying, least I hope not. 😀

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  5. Sounds like you've been keeping busy. 100% agree on the blog community - I tend to think of it as pen pals rather than skekis ;) Terrain is one of those things where I know I need it, I like making it, and I know it will massively improve the look of my game - but doing it means I'm not painting the lead pile. RE: the optivisor, I've tried on, but had focal depth issues - you might have better luck.

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    1. Thanks Fire! I agree that pen pals is probably a less evil description. 😀
      I haven’t tried it yet but I see what you mean about the visor. The focal length is 6” which might be a little short. There are other lenses with longer ones but I’ll have to experiment first. 😀

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  6. We bloggers are not dead yet! I may have come into blogging somewhat late too, starting in 2012. No one ever accused me of being a trendsetter or a first adopter. Anyway, blogging provides a great community of likeminded hobbyists. I consider many my virtual friends.

    Congratulations on getting in a FtF game! I am still awaiting my return to that pleasure. Nice ship trade from Vol. He lives in my area but we have never met. Once this pandemic is in the rear view mirror, perhaps, I can pay a visit and marvel at his impressive nautical collections?

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    1. Thanks JF. I also think of many bloggers as virtual friends. Especially since many just seem like nice people who like wargaming, just what I am looking for in buddies. 😀

      I think it be great to meet several bloggers in person if possible.

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    2. A blogger meet up would be fun. Most of my frequent contributors and readers, however, are scattered around the world.

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    3. Yeah. Alright, just you and I then. 😁

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    4. That would be great! I would love to meet you both! Brian Weathersby as well. He hasn't posted or commented in some time, I hope all is well with him.

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    5. Me too. BW is a stand up guy.

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  7. Again like you Stew I was late to blogging, but then it was only a year after I started wargaming that I started a blog, at the suggestion of a couple of bloggers on a forum. It has proved interesting seeing what people find interesting and also feeling like you are giving something useful back to the community.

    I too use an optivisor variant as I found a table mounted magnifier got in the way while I was painting. As to gaming we are hoping the village hall we game in will reopen, with relevant safety procedures in place, soon and we can start pushing toy soldiers around again.

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    1. Thanks Tony! I’m eager to try out the headgear as soon as I can squeeze in some hobby time. And I LIKE to think that this blog gives back to the gaming community on some way; either as just being and interesting read, some how I did its, maybe a review or opinion about some game system. Or maybe just an example of how not to do it. 😀

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  8. Well at least you have something going on mate. Shame about the princess though I hear they are done a dozen in Cimmeria so am sure another one will need rescue soon enough.
    Love Pat’s first book (ordered it as soon as he announced what with me working on my wInter WW2 project at the time) and it’s been invaluable to my own terrain projects.

    Those resin fields look great. Are you going to leave them dirt or add some vegetation?

    Luckily (kinda, if the zombies come then I’m shafted) I can see just fine up close so I don’t need a magnifier for painting. My lady says she’s divorce me if she saw me with one of those on my head! lol

    My blog is almost nine years old. I like the community it’s built around it though with the YouTube vlogs and Facebook groups have noticed quite a downturn in how many people stop by to take a look.

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    1. Effin autocorrect.... supposed to say “dime a dozen” . Of course

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    2. And if I can find time in this busy summer, am hoping to be able to invite you over for a game in the next month or so!

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    3. Thanks Dai! It’s been too long since we’ve seen each other. But yes, I am approved for small games but I need to come to you; can’t host at my house yet.

      I passed on the first book since I had no interest in winter terrain, but this one set in the Med seems like a good resource. I mean, his tables are so gorgeous you kinda have to see how he did it. 😀

      And oh, I’m totally gonna add some veggies to the fields.

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  9. Nice to hear you got a game in,so did I in the garden! Good looking trade and purchases, Pat's books are ace,I paint in the living room while my wife watches TV, I had a light to go on my forehead and was told in no uncertain terms to desist!
    Best Iain

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    1. Lol, thanks Iain. Though I’ve been thinking that I’m probably willing to give up a little attractiveness for more painted miniatures. Because marriage is only temporary and painted miniatures are forever. 😀

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    2. Well said, Stew! You only need to paint miniatures once.

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  10. So are you going to expand to terrain in the Med next? Italy in WWII or Napoleon rampaging about up north? Get some real brush work in on slash and puff and go Italian wars?

    And great haul for Father's day! I got a steam mop. That was a replacement for one that broke.

    Like Dai, I do not need close up magnification (yet) but something like an optivisor would still be useful for tiny details (like the 15mm sculpting I tried to do).

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    1. Thanks Laz! Aren’t you and Dai lucky meanwhile My eyes are starting to show their age. Probably bc I never wear sunglasses. I just hate them.
      I tried out the visor for the first time last night. I think it actually made me a little seasick.
      Not planning on expanding to the Med. just looking for some cool techniques for future terrain projects. 😀

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    2. ah, well I have been wearing photo-gray glasses for the past...32 years or so, and avoiding the sun quite a lot longer than that. Still expect to need reading glasses at some point though (and staring at screens all day for that same length of time surely has not helped)

      Maybe the next next book that Pat does will be East Coast North America? Then you could benefit directly and not just on techniques!

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    3. Oh, that suggestion has already been made. 😀
      While I really do hate sun glasses, I don’t think it’s contributory. It’s not like I’m constantly staring off onto sun drenched horizons. And I don’t need reading glasses, yet. 😀

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  11. Yeah it was an ok trade. I'm still working on the last ship for Gunner so it will be bit before I get back to the Black Seas ships. I was on a roll building my 1812 Great Lakes boats before I received the Black Seas packs and would like to get back to that too. So many ships, so little time!

    I have one of those lamps with the magnifier lense in the center and donut florescent bulb atound it. Then I had my opthamologist write me a prescription for a pair of closeup work glasses. Focal length is 10-14 inches works well for me.

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    1. Thanks Vol. I think I have one of those same lamps, but I never use the mag glass on it.

      We all have so many projects. There’s no rush on anything. I won’t get back to ships for awhile either, being thigh deep in the AWI. But it’s fun to swap a little of the lead pile around. 😀

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  12. I'm belated to be able to read and comment to this but I really like the terrain acquisitions you've made or will hopefully be receiving soon. They should look great with your current projects!

    Those Father's Day gifts look top-notch to me too. Will we see you modeling said Optivisor? The guy on the packaging looks quite happy about his new headwear, I must say :D To be slightly more serious, that painting handle is a godsend. I got one early on from Games Workshop and I can't paint without one anymore. It makes picking out those little details so much easier!

    Always enjoy reading your updates and looking forward to seeing what else you've been up to this summer :)

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    1. Thanks Kuribo. I actually just finished the fields so that will be up soon. I really like the visor but the paint handle I haven’t used much. It’s because I tend to paint in batches: paint the same part on 8 miniatures and switching each out for the handle feels like an extra step. But we’ll see. 😀

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    2. Sounds like Santa might need to bring you seven more handles then this year ;)

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