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.

44 comments:

  1. Hi Stew, I think you under estimate yourself, you could easily be described as a wise cracking ne'er do well, well at least, so your wife and family tell me!😜 The only solution to all the boring real life stuff is time; once your kids grow up and your animal magnetism no longer works on your wife, you will have LOTS more hobby time; at least, that's how it went for me! The Star Trek models really are very nice, for someone who does not really enjoy painting! Shame the convention was only so-so, but somtimes anticipated special events don't live up to our expectations.

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    1. Thanks Keith. But I don't have the time to wait for the kids to grow up because I'm already old...mid 40s with a 2 year old; that's the result of my animal magnetism. 😀
      Glad the ships look good to you.
      yeah, i was kinda let down by the convention; no matter. not like it was a BAD time and it was still time away from the family, which is what matters. 😁

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  2. Hey Stew! I was wondering what you were up to, but I seem to recall that April/May is a busy time for you. The kids are adorable as always! Ships are so well painted that they should be in advertisements for the Shapeways shops.

    B5 is a great show, and that is a hill I will die on, so I am envious of your being able to play a B5 game. Not enough to paint the Minbari I have or get more ships, but envious enough.

    And I thought you had two conventions planned?

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    1. Thanks David. yeah it's a busier time and May in the beginning is lame bc it's my wife birthday and then mothers day basically back to back. really inconvenient. for ME. 😀
      think if I emailed the pics to the shapeways stores they might send me some more? worth checking out.

      The B5 fame was called Babylon 5 A call to Arms by Mongoose I think. It actually was a pretty good game. maybe I'll watch the show ne day. Currently I am watching The Expanse.

      nah, just the one convention. But I'll be contacting you for space slugfest game soon. 😀

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  3. Nice to see and read about what you've been up to of late good sir. 5 years old already!? Feels like a very short amount of time since that little lad was born...

    Your new ships look so fricken good mate! Considering how much you do not enjoy painting, it's very much as David says above, these are painted to such a standard that they'd be very appropriate to advertise a Shapeways storefront for sure.

    ((PS - End of May is no good for me. That time of year (Memorial weekend) coincides with my wife's birthday and I am pretty sure I'll find myself out on the streets if I go play with manly toys and dice in lieu of making her feel like a Birthday Princess!)) I still intend to work out a weekend soon where I can host a game for us to play though!

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    1. Thanks Dai. As I said above to David, think if I sent the manufacturer a pic they’d might send me a freebie? Lol.
      Actually. Now with my ego all inflated I might do it anyway. 😀
      And time does fly doesn’t it?
      We’ll keep on working for a game together. 😀

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  4. Go watch Babylon 5 it’s very good other than the last series

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    1. Never!!!
      I actually don’t have anything against it just not a strong interest in learning another universe. 😀

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  5. Those Klingon ships are very nice.

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  6. That has been a very busy couple of weeks. I know all about the annual clean-out, but it is normally me trying to hang on to stuff as I know as soon as it leaves the house we will suddenly find out we needed it after all and there will be a shopping trip to replace it. The fifth birthday party and the cardboard maze certainly looked like fun.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence. Our clean out was NOT as thorough as I would of hoped. Maybe we could squeeze in a bicycle into the garage now.
      Maaaaybe.
      The egg race track is fun. 😀

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  7. Cool cool ships. Son number 2 will grow up to be a full on wargamer who will beat your ass every time you play him, and will make sure that you’re the one who gets to buy AND paint both factions in any genre you both go for. It happened to me for many years. Also the Easter egg rolling thingamajig looks ace.

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    1. Thanks Mark. I’d be very pleased if all that came to pass; with son #2 AND son #3. I’ve given up on the girl but I guess one never really knows. 😀
      And it’s a deluxe custom built Easter Egg racing track. It gets more elaborate each year. 😀

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  8. Cute kids! Cute spaceships! But......I have questions!
    1. Why so many Klingons (don't say 'cos the ships are cooler)?
    2. Why no glitter on your black space cloth?
    3. Why do you have to wear a t-shirt with "Dad" on it? Is it because you spend too much time painting Klingons so it's the only way the kids recognise you? ☺
    4. Why so many Klingons? Don't you realise when son #2 is old enough to play games he's going to pick the Kingons "cos they are waay cooler Dad!" You will be stuck with the boring Federation...
    5. Why no Romulans? Don't you know they're cool as Klingons?
    Welcome back Stew. It's been dull without you..☺

    Neil

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    1. Neil has a very good point with #5. ;)

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    2. Neil had very good points with of his questions!

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    3. Thanks Neil. Sometimes the kids can be cute. Which is good for them because otherwise they'd find themselves locked up in their rooms and fed through a slot in the door...😄
      Questions huh? devious questions, and since some of you are SOOOOO interested in some answers I'll get to it...
      1)They ARE cooler. They're also cheaper and I guess I'm not very good at counting how many ships each side already had.
      2)The next space mat will have glitter.
      3)That was a good one and exactly true. lol The shirt has a cartoon dog on it that is the Dad in the family, from the cartoon called Bluey. It's the best damn family cartoon i've ever seen.
      4) I like the Federation. That would be fine.
      5) No Romulans! Never! NEVER! (but maybe one day). But they are certainly not as cool as Klingons.

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  9. Aw, you've still got lots going on! I'm with you - it's really easy for me to get in a gaming rut, which is why I envy those bloggers who post every day by just having a couple photos and a few sentences. I'll be going to my own first gaming convention tomorrow, and I don't know yet whether I'll get six individual posts out of it each with a battle report, or one general post with a convention report.

    This post was a bit inspiring. Just sayin'.

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    1. Thanks Jennifer. good luck with your first game convention. Not sure how this post is inspiring but I'll take that as nice compliment. 😄
      This is gonna sound gossipy; but I actually don't like it when bloggers post a lot and the posts are 2 pics and 4 sentences or whatever. like one thought. "hey guys, I was thinking about starting the blah blah blah any thoughts?" with one pic. yeah, my thought is dude, i don't need to know your every thought; save it for when have somethin to say. I rather read a post that is longer with some content. I think few bloggers have enough actual hobby content going on to warrant posting often. You know JFs Palouse blog of course, that's like a good example of someone who posts often but not too much and each post actually has something to say / show.
      See? that sounded super grouchy. 😄

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  10. So cute!
    Me and my kids made eggs with... Dragons! :-))

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    1. Thanks Michal. Dragons are a good idea for next year.

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  11. Good to read about what you've been up to Stew:). The clearing out the garage bit rings so true, as trying to convince my wife to actually part with stuff is harder than getting blood out of a stone! I must admit the egg race track down the stairs is just brilliant. Thankfully those days are long past as both our kids started to get really miffed if they 'lost' on the Easter Egg hunt. I attend a local show once a year really just to support it as honestly there is little there to attract me or interest me. Sometimes I do pick up a bargain or see an interesting game, but rarely these days. Great work on the space ships as always. Motivation is sadly lacking here too, despite a pile of stuff right next to me that needs attending to...

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    1. Thanks Steve. The egg race is something we read about online somewhere and started doing for a few years now. I build a new one each year and each year it gets more elaborate.
      I also hereby send to you over the internet some of my amazing super power of painting things even when you don't want to....ZAP! 😄

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  12. Nice to see a post from you, the ships look great by the way, and that is two impressive fleets you have. You have my condolences on going through your old stuff, spent the last three years doing that, and still keep finding more ! LOL The children are growing up so fast, enjoy the time with them now, while you can.

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    1. Thanks Dave. I try to enjoy my children but then one will cry / whine / argue for 20 mins bc I said he needed to have ONE bite of scrambled eggs....just one!

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  13. Great looking space ships and neat egg maze track, clearly I'm with your wife on the approach to clearing garages whilst you are clearly in my wife's camp, she's so into throwing things away she threw out all the wedding cheques we got when we were married, ah how we laughed and 24 years later do I still bring it up? You betcha!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain. You and my wife are similar. Except you’re probably nicer than she is. If I threw something away without permission and she later wanted it I’d hear about loudly and aggressively immediately and fit the next 6months not be allowed to put anything in the trash at all. Just put it on the counter near the trash. Bc I can’t be trusted. 😀

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  14. If you think one month makes a blog seem dead, then how would mine be defined? Anyway, that’s a very nice family Stew. Enjoy your kids while they’re still young ‘cause you ain’t seen nothing yet!
    Those ships are cool - a great job for a reluctant painter!

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    1. Who is this??


      Lol. Thanks Mike. Nice to see you again. I try to enjoy them but they do make it hard sometimes. 😀

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  15. I just skim read your opening paragraph and thought it read that your dog had died and was about to offer condolences. Note to self...read more slowly.

    That is a marathon post...you have been busy. Hopefully you will soon be back to doing things in the greatest hobby in the world.

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    1. Thanks Mark. I hope so too. And we don’t do pets in this house. I have enough living things to take care of. 😀

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  16. Good to see you pop back. Been out for awhile m'self (as commented upon on my blog, et al). Sounds like a mixed bag at the convention (at least one game was worth it?). Otherwise, good family stuff: looks like you're bringing up some gamers for sure!

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    1. Thanks Ed. Least we were both away due to nice things.
      Yeah the convention was definitely a mixed experience. Like it was fun but I had to work to make it fun. Hopefully the next one (whenever that will be) will be better. 😀

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  17. Just the best Stew! Always love the posts and the work life balance mate. Great read and even greater photos.

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  18. Good to see you can still squeeze in some hobby time. Nurturing your kids will hopefully pay dividends. Sometimes my 27 year old son even rings me up to ask for money 😂 (I am joking)

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    1. Thanks Matt. Yes, I’m hoping that they’ll grow up to be good people. 😀

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  19. Always cool to see how life goes for others and the various musings. I'll have to remember that egg race thing for when I eventually have little dinos myself.

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    1. Thanks SD. Posts like this should serve as both inspiration and cautionary tale. 😀

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  20. Its good to see that you've been able to be husband and father extraordinaire in the last month. We all expect that out of you and I'm glad you didn't let us down ;) I always get a chuckle at the kind of things you get away with saying on here too. There's no way your wife reads this. Either that or she has an amazing sense of humor!

    The latest miniatures look great and you're better at painting than you give yourself credit! I'm curious to see what you'll paint or work on next.

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    1. Thanks Jeff. I dunno about super husband but I’ve definitely been showing some real DADication. Hehe
      My wife definitely has a sense of humor (she married me after all) but she also most definitely does NOT read the blog.
      Glad you like the ships as well. 😀

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  21. Well done on the children's activities and space ships Stew! Very creative and it sounds like the kids have a ball each year.
    Bad luck on losing the space battle in the garage 😊 I hope there is a little bit of room left.

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    1. Thanks Ben. The kids do have some fun the ungrateful little snots and hopefully when I’m gone they’ll see just how good they had it. 😝
      The battle with the garage is an ongoing campaign.

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