B to B and BBB

Stands for:  Back to Blogging and Belated Blog Birthday.

Back on the Interwebs

Hello All.  I've been absent from the internet / blogosphere for about a month.  Just had a lot going on with the family and Work.  Not all bad but not all good either but that's the way it goes (says this stoic individual resigned to his fate).   As some of you know, I do most of my blog writing while at work because I have built in time where I basically just sit around and 'be available.'  But lately I've needed to actually earn my money.  What kind of world is this??? 

There was also about a 3.5 week period where I didn't have a cellphone.  It was TOTURE.  I actually had to look at my children and wife while they were talking me.  And since my cellphone is the primary way I view blogs and leave comments, I haven't been doing any of that.  So IF you missed my stupid inane comments on your blog posts that's the reason, and it's definitely not that I was mad at you and giving you the silent treatment out of jealously because your miniatures hobby is cooler than mine.

(Ok, maybe it was a little of that)

I got my cell back and have started leaving comments again.  I'm working my way up my blogroll.  

I did have email access while at work and limited access to our laptop while at home; I say limited because during that time the wife was also working on two very big projects and needed to computer for important stuff.  It didn't feel right for me to hog it in order to gossip about toy soldiers.

And while I am fessing up to being a bad blogger, I'll add in that the blog birthday came and went and I didn't even notice.  4 years of A Terrible Loss.  Time flies and we all get older (cue the Landslide song).

Progressi nell'hobby  

(Felt like saying 'Hobby Progress' in Italian, not sure why but it adds a little je ne sais quoi (and now French!  This blog is SOOOOO internacional!))

Even with all the stuff going on I managed in squeeze in some hobby times for the sake of relaxation and downtime.  It was weird doing hobbies without a cellphone as I usually play a youtube vid/podcast/audiobook while doing stuff and so it seemed eerily quiet.  Also, I didn't have a good way of taking pictures.   Not that there is a lot to photograph...

First up: Tokens 

I really like the rules  Clash of Spears but it needs a lot of tokens.  As I like my games to be at least as pretty as I am (a low bar) I wanted some fancy-smancy tokens that will look good on the table.

These are just 25mm bases with some ground texture; I tried to make them plain enough so that it's easy to see the swords and stuff as that's the important part.  The weapons are mostly from the Gripping Beast boxes of plastic dark ages infantry  types and there's more where that came from.  Proof that you NEVER throw sprues away because I've had these lying around for years.

Clash of Spears also requires that each unit track it's fatigue.
I made these tracker markers.

I dislike dice on the table.  Problem is; dice are very useful for tracking things in wargames.  Especially if the number is gonna be a number 1-6 which it is soooooooo much of the time (it's like wargame rule writers KNOW we have oodles of D6s).  So if I must have dice on the table then let's try to disguise them a little bit.  The idea being that when you look for the die you can see it but otherwise it blends in.

Anglo Saxon Spear man says,
"These dice look small even to my eyes, which you did not paint."

These are small 5mm dice and frames that I got from Minibits placed on a 25mm base.  I might of gone too small, but larger dice still screamed "THERE'S DICE ON THE TABLE HERE!" to me.  

The tokens in action!  This unit has taken two actions and has 3 fatigue.
It's an amazingly exciting picture.
What can be more dramatic than pics of tokens in action?

This is enough markers for a 2 player game.  I'd like to increase the number for a 4 player game, and it occurred to me that these markers will have uses in Mass Battle games as well.  For example; units in Hail Caesar can take up to 6 hits and can become disordered. 

Kinda like this.
Another extraordinary shot of tokens in action.
Bout as exciting as watching ice melt.

Speaking of Mass Battle

I continue upgrading my mass battle trays.  I completed 6 more of the 10 man trays.

An artistic pic shot an angle.

Front view.
The middle center unit all have axes and are meant to be Huscarls.
They have an nifty banner.

Rear view

That's 10 bases done so far.  I'm guess-ta-mating that there's likely enough Saxons for about 8more bases.   And then there are the Vikings still to do.  I'll be making bases for awhile it seems.  Good thing I enjoy it and it's a nice break from painting miniatures. 

Ein Wargaming-Wochenende ist Wunderbar!

(I actually took 4 years of German in high school.  So naturally all I remember now are the cuss words and phrases from WWII movies.)

Here in the USA it was Labor Day Weekend recently.  For awhile there I was planning on attending my first game convention since the pandemic hit called Pacificon held over the same holiday weekend.  I ended up not going due to 'reasons.'   Instead, my local friend CG and I got together for a gaming weekend on our own which worked out quite nicely.  Goofed off all day Saturday and most of Sunday.

On Saturday, I hosted an ACW game of Regimental Fire and Fury.  We did the Battle of Stones River scenario in the RFF book.  It's basically a big CSA assault onto a Union line.  There were 4 players including me.

My Confederates moving on the left

Some more on the right side of the field

Union reserves

I was busy hosting, playing, eating, socializing, and sneaking off to the bathroom to do bumps of cocaine.  As a result, I only took those 4 pics.  4 pics over a 6 hour game.  

The rest of the weekend was spent playing board games of various sizes and shapes with people that CG knew.  Apparently; when your children are all grown up you get time to play board games on the regular.  That's nice to know!

A bit About Board Games

I like board games, and it's something I don't do very often so it was nice to scratch that itch.  And I like board games that are moderately complex and take awhile to play.  I didn't take any pics because as a rule pics of board games are BORING to look at (Exception to the rule: Norm's blog).   Yet by the end of Sunday afternoon I was definitely 'boardgamed-OUT.'  We were starting a game called Viticulture (a worker placement game where you make wines, and it's a pretty good game)  when the depressive side of my brain rudely  engaged itself stating 'You're gonna spend 3 hours playing this game, you're gonna figure out the engine but probably 3 turns too late to win, and even if you like the game you're not gonna buy it and you're probably never gonna play it again and even if you do it's gonna be years later and you'll not remember sooooooo why are you doing this?"  

I drowned that voice in iced coffee and had fun anyway.  I think I was just getting tired of learning new games.  It's like I want to play new games, but also want to play games that I already know I like and know how to play.  And the wife says I am hard to please.  

Also, My Wife is Awesome

Because not only did she watch the 3 surviving kids while I was off playing games; but on Saturday morning at the last minute we lost our gaming venue, and the wife immediately said we could play at our house.  She also speed cleaned it as we headed over there (I mean the house was clean, but wasn't 'guest clean') and THEN took the kids out of the house for most of the day so they wouldn't underfoot.  

Freaking Awesome.  I should buy her something nice.  Maybe she'll like a board game about making wines?  

The End (I know I know I know)

That's it!  I hope you enjoyed this post about... nothing really.  Some pics, some jokes, some half formed thoughts.  Probably what you expected!  

Till next time hopefully not as long.  

-Stewart