Wednesday, April 26, 2023

 

Just a catch up so you don't think the blog was dead.  It has been a month or so..

One can't do hobbies ALL the time.

(Actually, one can.  And if one knows how to arrange life so one can please let this one know).

I've just been doing other stuff so not much time for hobbies.  But the time has come to start posting again.  Breaks over!  Back to doing the two things that I do best: making love to the wife and lying about my sexual prowess on the internet.  


Happenings


Back in Mid march I did attend the small local Sci-Fy convention called Avalon; which I will damn with faint praise and say it was 'alright.'  I did have fun but I felt like I had to try at it.  I only had one "really fun game" and the rest were just kinda fun and I have the sneaking suspicion that if I had just stayed home and hosted a game at my place I would of had more gaming fun.  

One thing I did get out of the convention is that black felt covered in glitter
makes a convincing outer space wargame mat.

Pic is from the really fun space game I played.  My ship is on the far right
 and likes to shoot broadsides (almost all guns point to the sides).
The reddish ship in the middle is therefore in a terrible spot to receive my broadside.
Thus; highlighting my tactical genius.


The ships above are based on the TV show Babylon 5.  People tell me it's pretty good.  I dunno.  I'll go binge watch it right now and let you know.        I'm back.  I didn't watch it.  I'm NEVER gonna watch it.

I was gonna do an AAR like post but two things stopped me.  1) is that I didn't take any good pictures and 2) right after the con I had two weeks off of work (which is where I do most of my blogging).  And who cares now?

I took two weeks off from work not to do anything fun but to address some big house chores with the wife that needed to be done.  Mainly cleaning out the storage shed I mean our Garage.  It's got too much crap in it. It's a 3 car garage so full of stuff we couldn't park a unicycle.  It was drama: summarized here in an one act play of 4 lines of dialog:  

Me: "90% of this stuff is just junk that we can just throw away.  the other 10% is probably worth keeping but it's so mixed into the junk that it'll be easier to just throw it all out."

She: "60% of this junk is actually really great stuff that should be cleaned and donated after we carefully go through it and discuss each item for at least 10 minutes.  20% are precious precious memories that we need to keep FOEVER after we find it.  5% of this is junk and the other 5% I have to think about."

Me: "See this box? we haven't opened it in about 10 years.  there is nothing inside it that we think about or need, and we can just throw it away without even opening it and looking inside." 

She: stares in abject horror.  


Other Happenings


Some other happening have keeping me away from the greatest hobby in the entire world that is miniature war gaming.  But what do you really want to know about my life?  The correct answer is nothing.  It's boring.  I am neither a filthy rich rock star nor a wise cracking ne'er-do-well.  Still, I will present to you some highlights because social media selects only for the positive things.  Additionally, some of you have been my 'online friend' for years now and if I saw you and you asked "what have you been up to?" this is what I would say: 

First I would say that Son #2 had his 5th birthday so we had a party at out house.


My wife goes all out for parties...


He wanted it to be a Board Game theme so we had large versions of games in the back yard and other activities.  Yes he likes board games and it will ONLY BE A MATTER OF TIME before I indoctrinate him into miniature wargaming.  

Giant versions of Sorry and Chutes and Ladders.
Also had Jenga, bowling, tic-tac-toe.
Son#2 enjoying the wrapping from his presents
more than the actual presents.


Second  I would say that it was Easter.  Which when you have little children means taking them to egg hunts and silly spring activities.  Also means some art projects like coloring Easter eggs.


Me and Son#3 at an Easter Egg hunt.


All my eggs had a Pirate theme to them.
Nothing says Easter like theft and violence on the ocean.

What do you do with Easter eggs after you paint them?  


In my family I spend a few nights making a long race track out of cardboard and we have the Annual Easter Egg Race down the stairs.  1st Prize is yet more Easter Candy.  Daughter #1 has won the last 3 years which is kinda cute but now she gets cranky if she starts to lose.  

She won again this year.
Means next year there's sure to be a melt down if she don't.


Thirdly I would say "this and that and t'other" being stuff not really worth mentioning.  Mostly chores, taxes, and family dinners.  There was that one time when the house caught fire in the middle of the night and I carried each family member outside in my arms and then rushed back in to save all of out precious items and then extinguished the fire by running really fast around it sucking all the oxygen out.  Then I rebuild the house and carried everyone back inside and placed back in bed without anyone even waking up... 

but you know;  I don't need to mention it.  


So overall not much time for hobbies and honestly not much motivation either.  


The Edge of Space


However with the heavy inevitability of light particles being lost to a black hole;  miniature painting must to be done.  I swear sometimes I can feel the gravity of the painting desk pulling at me.

So even though not really feeling it, I decided to push on through to the edge of space and finish up all  these Star Trek ships I have lying around.  So that the genre can be complete and ready to go whenever I want it again.  I'm kinda good at making myself paint things that I don't really want to paint.  It's kinda like my super power. 


Federation:


Two Akira class starships join the Federation fleet.  



I tried to make one visually distinct from the other but kinda went overboard.  Now I like one way more than the others.  Just like my children.  

Ship next to a 25mm round just to get an idea of the size.
The Akira is a large ship.


Klingon: 

A few more Klingon ships join the fleet.


These ship classes have been featured on the blog before.

I'm still heavy on the Klingons. Why do I have so many Klingons?  Bc the ships are cooler.

Speaking of cooler ships, here's the second Klingon Battle Ship for my Klingon fleet.



This is a made up ship (but aren't they all?)
What I mean is that it doesn't show up in the TV show anywhere.
It's Klingon-ish.

I'm gonna call it the Norgh class.  Norgh means predator in Klingon.  Or I might of just made it up.  I forget.

Ship next to the 25mm round, for an idea of it's size.
it's a big capital ship.


These recent ships wrap up both space fleets for the Federation and Klingons.  I'm officially done painting space ships for awhile.  I would like to do one giant slugfest of a game before I put all these ships into cryogenic storage until needed for the next time.



This Post is High on Adorable Children but Low on Space Ships.  


Don't I know it.  

Thanks for reading.
Double Thanks for writing a comment.

Till next time.