Wargamer's Wandering Minds to Space Ships (part 1)

 Naturally while I am painting Dark Ages Saxons and Vikings, I started thinking about Star Trek.  One follows the other like a sunrise after the cold night.....

Prologue:

On my birthday last December, I was supposed to get together with my friend Mr. PC and play this old chestnut of a board game..

10 years old this game is, and still awesome.

We ended up cancelling because my whole family got sick (not COVID, but some other virus) and life is dumb.  Then some time later while BORED at work I was thinking about the game and Star trek in general (because I was REALLY bored), and how come I don't have any Star trek miniatures? On a whim I typed into google "Star Trek Miniature Wargame" and found a new rabbit hole to go down.  

Or you could call it a black hole.

Because it's a hole...(announcer voice) IIINNNN SSPPAAAAACE.

"Engage"

What follows will mainly be the journey down that black hole.  Mostly to serve for my own online storage.  I'll also advertise it as a guide for others.  It might be amusing, especially from the POV of someone who is not a trekkie (like myself).  I'm primarily a historical gamer, but I've always said that I like Sci-Fy and Fantasy as long as it's Star Wars, Star Trek, and Lord of the Rings.  I've played starship games at conventions and had fun.  The main difference is that instead of making "boom! boom! vroom!" noises while moving tanks you make "pew! pew! Bzzzzt" noises while moving starships.  You DO make sound effect noises while playing miniature games don't you?  It can't be just me.

But If I am gonna do some spaceship gaming it's gotta be Star Wars or Star Trek because I cannot be bothered to learn some other setting.  You should see the way that my eyes glaze over when I start to read some other version of the galaxy...."These are the bloopbloop aliens they come from  the planet megabloop and their culture revolves around the concern for bloopiness" and I feel asleep because it soooo boring.

I think Trek beats out StarWars for ship to ship combat because Starwars is usually about fighters zipping around.  Think about every cool space scene in Star Wars and what you're following are characters in fighters, not the big ships.  Star Trek is more about crewed ships slugging it out and barely ever uses fighters, which is more to my taste.  I kinda want Age of Sail ships of the line...but in space. And Trek has been described as Horatio Hornblower.....but in space.   

Also; According to my research, I'm about 20 years late to the party of wanting to do starship combat with Star trek style ships.  WAAAAY behind the curve.  Once again I demonstrate that I have my fingers on the pulse of the wargaming community...  

I had to learn a lot of new vocabulary.  I was helped by poking around the internet, posting on TMP,  and by internet best friend David from the Lasgunpacker Blog.  

First question: Which Trek?

TOS vs TNG

TOS stands for The Original Series which aired on TV from 1966 through 1969 and then onto syndication.  Apparently, it only got real popular after syndication.   It's Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and Bones.  TNG stands for The Next Generation that aired on TV from 1987 to 1994.  Picard, Riker, Data, and Crusher.  It's the endless Kirk vs Picard debate.  Pick your side now.  These represent the two subgenres of Star trek as they cover different time periods / tech levels.  You could of course mix them together because it's ALL MADE UP ANYHOW but the historical gamer in me thinks that's too much like putting WWII tanks on an AWI battlefield.  

Things to think about while choosing: 

Ship appearances: 

Everyone loves the Classic Enterprise.

I love the classic Enterprise.  Turns out this is called a Constitution Class starship.  I didn't know that starships had types/classes but I suppose that makes sense.   

I even don't mind that every ship in the Star fleet kinda looks like this one, but with more Rocket-thingys stuck to it, or stuck on in different places. 

 

"Need More Rocket-Thingys Please!"

 

OK, the rocket-thingys are actually called Nacelles, I had to learn that to figure which miniatures to buy, and more on that later.  While researching fictional starships you come across a lot of 'made up' words.  (OK, 'nacelle' is not a made up word and it actually means "streamlined body sized according to what it contains",  But it SOUNDS made up) 

What is true for the TOS is true for TNG, The Federation had an aesthetic and went all in.
You're gonna get saucers and rocke... nacelles.  

I was always partial to the conflicts between Starfleet and the Klingons, and these two factions are kinda everyone's favorite anyway.  You don't see a lot of people going to Star Trek conventions dressed as Romulans, because Romulans are Boring.  (at least that's what I guess, I've never been to ST convention.  I'm not judging, I go to miniature wargame conventions so I don't really have the moral high ground).  

This is the classic Klingon ship from TOS.
I hate this ship.

This ship looks like a snapping turtle wearing a bad hat.  It's awful.  And the Torpedo tube in the front gives it an "OOOHH my gOOOOSh" expression. 

and trust me: every Klingon ship looks like this one.  You would think that for a show about the future and space they would have more imagination.  Apparently what they didn't have was a good enough budget for different ships.

Klingons from TNG and later times just have cooler ships.
This thing just looks menacing.

It's not till later on in the franchise, like Star trek III and after that you start to get cool Klingon ships like the famous Birds of Prey ships.  

Of course all these ship types exist simply because the TV show or movie script required one, "the bad guys need a ship and make it look cool."  The same type of ship even gets bigger or smaller depending on what the script calls for.  I find it hi-larious that there are 4 types of Bird of Prey star ships that all look the same but are different sizes, because during the TV shows and movies they used the same model over and over and just made it look bigger or smaller for the story arc.  

Nostalgia:

For me; the Trek that hits the Nostalgia bone is Next Generation.  If yours is TOS then you're probably about 10/15/20 years older than I am and are firmly into 'older man' years while I am just middle aged.

I can remember when I was just barely a teenager and TNG came out on TV; and my family would gather 1 night a week to watch together; before we were all separated by time, death, and bitterness.  That's almost the very definition of Nostalgia.  

Moving on: Rules

This is a whole new genre for me and it's fun to explore virgin territory, so I have no idea what rules are good for Space Ships zooming around going pewpewpewBOOM.  And there is no official TNG miniatures game unless you count Star Trek Attack Wing (which is just like Xwing, but with Trek ships,.  But I already have Xwing so don't need to duplicate it.)

Poking around the internet there seems to be two rule sets that come up over and over again; Full Thrust and Starmada.  

Apparently Full Thrust has been around for ages and ages, and is now free online and can be found at Ground Zero Games.  However, it goes through a bunch of revisions from the core book through the fleet books and there are other versions besides.  Yet, I did come across this:

This version of Full Thrust seems to have everything combined
and was updated in 2021, so fairly recently.

You can find this version free HERE.  

As I read the rules, they seemed awfully familiar to rules used in a space game I played years and years ago that I enjoyed.  So I either have already played and liked these rules OR all space games are kinda same.  

Online there are numerous conversions of FT to Trek from people who got here waaaay before me (did I mention I'm decades late to this party).  Though most are for classic Trek / TOS style ships.  And part of the fun is the endless tinkering to make your own ship designs.  

I've been using some free time at work to design ships for the eventual playtest.
Here is a rough and ready Ship Status Display (SSD) that I threw together.
That's right; I go to work in order to have free time.
There is no such thing at home.

 

The other rule set is available on Wargame vault for like $10, so I did an impulse purchase as the price was less than a pack of cigarettes...

There are about a hundred different versions of Starmada,
but the UNITY rulebook seems to be the latest and bestest.

Starmada is about 2 steps up in complexity from FT.  The gameplay is not super complex (though the ship construction rules are looking to be a real exercise in maths) but did require some extra reading.  

Starmada does have a Trek source book but it's for TOS era, but I might pick it up anyway just to see what they do, how they make the ships.  

I Know a Filler Post When I See One

This project is in it's infancy.  This post is mostly filler because I can't crank out painted Dark Age warriors as fast as I would like, but gotta post something or you all will forget about me.  But it's funny how a new genre can really spark the imagination and take us by surprise.  It's a special kind of excitement; researching about rules and miniatures, thinking about scenarios, and how this is or that.  Seeing what's been done before and how I would do it now.  I don't think board gamers get this kind of rush.  It's the rush of antici..........pation.

More on this as it develops.  I can hear you groaning from here.  

It's a start; 10/100

 If a journey of thousand miles begins with a single step; then the painting of a hundred miniatures begins with a single brush stroke.  Time to start painting.

It's Painting Night

(and the feelings right, it's painting night, oh what a night)

It's a January Saturday night, and the wife is out of town at work, which means that right after the kids go to bed I can do a long paint session to start on my project of painting 100 dark ages miniatures; because I won't have to waste time pretending to listen to her talk while thinking about something else.  

(Don't worry, she doesn't read the blog).

(IF you are reading this Sweets, it's just a joke.  Of COURSE I am paying attention to every word you say)

Here is how the night goes:

8:30 and the last kid is tucked in.  Spend 10 minutes just enjoying the quiet that is 3 children NOT talking.  Maybe look at a wargame blog.  Have a cup of coffee, otherwise I'll be asleep by 930.  

8:40 - time for some quick chores just because it bothers me when their not done.  Wash the dishes (because I don't like dirty dishes in the sink overnight), Sweep up the Zillion crumbs on the floor that the kids left (otherwise we get ants in the morning).  Put out the garbage can fire in the kitchen..  that kind of stuff.

9:10 - Time to get serious now.  

To mark the occasion of painting miniatures for the first time after a year, I broke out a new Winsor Series 7 brush that the wife gets me every Christmas.  I also had to re-activate the wet palette by soaking the paper in hot water and re-wetting the sponge, because it was all desert dry.

I also dug out my magnifier, because I can't paint anything without them, because looking at things up close goes all fuzzy.

My wife thinks I look good in these.  We do a sexy roleplay where I am the dirty dentist and she is the single mom with a tooth ache and no dental insurance....

Moving on....

I teased Keith over on the Bydand blog about posting pics of his family versus himself,
so he posted a selfie just to satisfy me.  I figured I owed him one in return.
Though this is not the first time this GORGEOUS face o' mine has graced the posts of this blog.

Getting to the painting desk

JF of the Palouse blog did a post about his game room / hobby space set up
and stated that I should share mine.  This is my permanent painting / hobby area.
Literally in the corner of the house that is farthest away from anywhere people might wander.

It goes through tides of being messy (like in the middle of a project like Right Now) and being clean(er).

Interruptions

910 - start painting

930 - Son #2 is up (3 years old), needs the bathroom, drinks some water, and a new tuck in.

940 - back to painting

1002 - Son #3 is crying (1 year old).  I give him a bit as maybe he's just adjusting and will go back to sleep.

1010 - nope,  Still crying.  dirty diaper and he is hungry.  He usually sleeps through the night but occasionally wakes up every now and then. I give him a bottle, put him back in his crib, and then I realize that was the last clean bottle so now I have to wash them all for tomorrow...

1030 - Check on Daughter #1 (8 years old), at least she is still sleeping...

1035 - BACK to painting

1045 - Wife calls to say goodnight.  Not a problem because I talk to her on speaker phone so I still have my hands free.  Until she asks me to look for something that she thinks she left behind in the bedroom upstairs...

1110 - Step outside for a cigarette; because what the wife don't know won't hurt her (she really doesn't read the blog).  While outside I notice that the house is about to be attacked by Dark Seekers / zombie vampires.  Let out a long sigh, go back in and activate the perimeter defenses and take them out all Will Smith style from I Am Legend.

That was a good movie wasn't it?
And he looks just like me.

1130 - Daughter #1 is up saying she heard a noise and "is it morning yet?"  

AND YOU GET THE IDEA....

But Still, Progress is Made

I finished the first 10 of my 100 miniatures project.  Only took me all month.  Behold!

The only real trick to painting Dark Age warriors is to make the leg wraps
NOT look like leg warmers.

All good Saxon Thegns have Mustaches.

Everyone likes a good standard bearer.
Too bad all I have is this one.
I'm sure he has a mustache under that chainmail face thingy..

No need to show close ups of all 10.  They all kinda look the same and my painting is not that good.  

Everyone onto the movement tray (or as I say, the Big Battle Base).
I already had the base done, so that doesn't count for nothing.

And Here We Depart

10 miniatures completed out of the 100 planned.  It's a start.  Gonna be a long project and hopefully nothing will distract me.  That's not foreshadowing at ALL.  

Thanks for reading.  Double thanks for writing a comment.  Till next time.  

The Slows

 

(In my imagination, you all would talk back to me during this little drama, but would sound like muted trombones like in the Peanuts cartoons.) 

H there!  It's me, your favorite blogger with your favorite blog.  Long time no.... bwwwaaaasbuweeeooo)

Wait, not that one, that's some other blog.  This is Terrible Loss, your OTHER favorite blog.  Anyway I've been off the internet for..(Bwwweeeeeooouuubwwaaauu)

No.  That's some other guy.  I'm Stewart, your third (fourth / fifth) favorite blogger and I'm back to blogging now tha....(bababababababuuuuuu)

LOOK.  I am in your Top Ten favorite blogs OF ALL TIME.  I was off the internets for a little longer than  month due to family and holidays and work and sickness and just didn't have the time.  You missed me deeply.  Which is, frankly a little disturbing, as I'm just some guy on the internet.  Albeit a charming one.  Now stop interrupting so we can DO THIS. 

Other excuses: I was at a work Christmas party for my estranged wife when thieves masquerading as terrorists attacked the building and took everyone hostage.  Almost sounds like a movie.  

Funny

So maybe that little skit wasn't that funny, but what is funny is that you miss blogging once you're in the habit of doing it.  (and I mean the verb form of blogging that includes writing your own posts and also reading and commenting on other's posts).   People tend to write some good stuff at the end of the year and I missed it.  I'm going through my blog roll to try and catch up with people as I type this.  So if you missed my stupid mindless blather in your comment section then it should show up soon enough.   

Though you probably didn't notice I was missing.  That's because you get way more comments than I do; because you're a better blogger than I am.  I have such a limited audience that when someone misses my post that I'm in danger of  descending into teenage girlhood... "Bethany did not like my social media post so we are NOT friends anymore and I HATE her and I'm gonna go steal her boyfriend with blowjobs!"  

--my daughter is 8 years old.  please tell me teenage girls are not like that.  I'm not sure I can cope.  I'm gonna stop typing and go do some self esteem building activities with her right now.

--I'm back.  That didn't take long.  Father of the year again I am, and it's only January. 

High Hopes and Low Motivation

The wife is working out of town every weekend in January, leaving me on children duty all by my lonesome.  This will make for some busy days.  Yet I am hopeful that during the nights after the children go to bed; I can quickly put out any lingering fires and wipe up any spills that threaten to become too sticky and then focus on hobbies. I live a very full life.  

I have so many genres I could do, but I thought that I would stick with the previously mentioned plan and try to crank out some Dark Ages miniatures to add to the Saxons and Vikings; to make mass battle games a little more mass.  The idea being that these can see the table *eventually*.   Maybe even at convention this year if they don't all get cancelled by COVID and provided my family life allows me to play.

Right now I got low motivation because I barely do any gaming.  Last year was the third in a row where I was only able to play about 12 games over the year.  Which is way lower than I'd like.

--I know that talking about how often you game can be like talking about how often you have sex and is a matter of perspective. One person says 'we have sex all the time, like once a month' and the other says 'we barely have sex at all, like once a  month!'---

But as someone like me who is strongly a 'paint to play' kinda guy; the lack of play really decreases the motivation to paint.  It's well known all over the internet that I don't truly enjoy painting miniatures for it's own sake.  I mean, I enjoy painting miniatures more than I enjoy doing chores. watching bad TV, and talking to the wife at night when she is tired and cranky.  What I enjoy about painting miniatures is having painted armies to play with and the sense of free time.  

--Curiously, I do enjoy making terrain a lot.  I have 4 books on how to make terrain but none on how to paint miniatures.  But right now I don't have any terrain needs so I'm stuck with miniatures.  Unless someone wants to paint these things for me and I'll make some terrain for them?  Kinda like a swap..

I should do model trains, because all you do in that hobby is make terrain.  Except what the hell do you do with a model train board except point at it and say "there's me trains.  Yeeeaaapp."  

But How Slow is Slow Exactly?

So the plan is add at least 80 miniatures to the Vikings and Saxons.  I'm sure I'll think of other stuff I'll want along the way so lets make it an even 100.  

100 miniatures from bare metal/plastic to table top.  It's a high goal.  And I'm off to a terrible start because I gots a real bad case of the hobby slows.   All along there have been set backs and mishaps, all along, all along there were incidents and accidents, there were hints and allegations.  

2 weeks into January, and all I've done is assemble 10 miniatures.
I do like assembling miniatures too.

So let's do an experiment and see how long it takes me to paint 100 miniatures.  Feel free to place your bets.  

Endings 

This post was high on bad jokes and low on actual miniature wargaming.  'Art imitates life' as they say.

Thanks for reading.  Double thanks for writing a comment.  

Oh, and I'm aware of the irony of stating "I have low motivation to paint right now, so I think I'll make a goal to paint to hundred miniatures."    I am a silly person. 

The Viking Army

 

Here we have a heathen Viking army; coming at us in the dead of winter. 

I feel like Alfred the Great.

That's a history joke.  It's High Brow humor today.

Dark Ages Viking Army

As was the goal before the year was over, I got all the movement trays done for the Vikings.  Now it's time to line them all out and see what they look like.  It's a PARADE.  Everybody loves a parade. even the dead love a parade.

As I did with the Saxon Army I'll lay these guys out like I am gonna play a game of Hail Caesar. 

Viking Army Leader with his bezerker buddies

View from the boom camera

Whole army

Graphic of the units in the army for clarity.

Isn't that cool?  

what's that?  You want a few more pics?  No problem!  I did take close to a hundred.

Helicopter shot

Army left flank

Army Right flank.
Each flank leader has 2 Bezerker buddies each. 

Last Whole army shot.

Army totals: 18 bases each with 10 miniatures.

1 archer unit

9 Hirdmen units (men in armor)

8 Bondi units (men without armor)

Bezerker Flexibility

"You make me go Bezerk."

Yes, I'm sure bezerkers are quite flexible.  But get your mind out of the gutter--this is a HIGH Brow post.  Though I did put that costume in my online cart for a future purchase.  Yet it would take a LOT of hubby points to get the wife to wear it

In Hail Caesar; the original plan is use the individual bezerker models as indicators for extra attacks.  The miniature is assigned to a unit and when the attacks are used, just remove the miniature.  That's why in the above pics the Bezerkers are just hanging out next to the commanders; probably talking too loudly.  But who's gonna tell a Bezerker to shush? 

However, it's just as easy to have units of Bezerkers that would have a high Clash value with aggressive traits and probably a poor armor save.  Other rule sets would like them to have their own base and be a unit unto their on as well.  So as a bonus I made two bases for the Bezerkers, because who doesn't like to have it both ways?

Bezerker Bases

I put some blanks in the trays to make the bezerkers appear more like an open order unit.  This is to make them visually distinct from the other bases and also because I imagine Bezerkers fighting that way; not in a tight formation but each one dramatically swinging weapons, spinning around, and doing back flips over the enemy.  Though looking at it now, perhaps a little too open order.  I only have 10 bezerkerish miniatures so I just went with 5 on each bases but would probably look better with 7.  

If done this way the Viking army is 20 bases strong.  2 more than the Saxons; they're really upset over it. 

"I borrowed this axe from my sister."

Where Was I Again?  I Was Distracted...

Oh, As I was saying there are 18 bases in the Saxon army and 18 or 20 bases (depending on how I like the Bezerkers) in the Viking army.  That exhausts my supply of previously painted Saxons and Vikings except for a few dregs left over (not enough to make a unit).

18 units a side (36 total) is pretty good for a 1vs1 mass battle game, but it's not quite the level needed for a mutilplayer mass battle game; 2vs2 or 3v3.  I really like  2v2 games, I feel it's the goldilocks of game sizes.  Especially when you have to teach rules which is ALWAYS the case because nobody plays the same rule sets anymore.  2vs2 usually means I can teach and play, while 3vs3 usually means just playing host; which is alright but more than 6 people is above my competency level for running a game.  I'm reading these Historicon recaps on TMP and Blogs these days and some people are reporting running games of 9 or 14 people by themselves!  That sounds like madness to me.   

For a nice 2vs2 dark ages battle (and the battle of Ashdown would be a perfect scenario) I think each side should have around 10-12 units a player (so 40/48 bases total).  I feel like that's the next natural milestone for the dark ages collection; a comfortable amount of bases for 2vs2 mass battle gaming. 

Time to Paint some miniatures; finally.

Curiously, I've gone all year without painting a miniature.  I've done other stuff of course; lot of terrain and some Longships come to mind, but NO miniatures.  But that's gonna have to change to reach the next milestone.   Each 'big battle base' / movement tray has 10 miniatures on it, and I'm thinking that the Saxon and Viking armies each could use about 4 more bases each, so that's 80 miniatures.  The lead pile can supply that number pretty easily; but something of a daunting number to paint for me.   I'll probably break it up in batches of 20 for sanity sake.  

I did happen to make tow extra movement trays.
They look a little sad without miniatures on them.

Who knows?  Maybe after a year hiatus the painting miniatures will actually be fun?  I guess all things are possible.

Fail

A few posts ago, I wrote about how I spent some time baby proofing the house for son #3, turning a year old this month.  Apparently I missed one cabinet.

He thinks "What's going on up here?"
"This isn't at all precarious."

Till next time.  Thanks for reading.  Double thanks for writing a comment.

Another 6 and Goal

 

Hello Internet friends.  I Hope you are all well.  Now enough about you and let's talk about me.  

I say this every year around this time;

Halloween typical marks the end of my hobby year.  Well, if not THE END then at least the sharp decline.  In the remaining two months my free time tends to evaporate;  so hobby progress is (even more) slow and games get even harder to schedule (not that I've been gaming much anyway this year.  Or last year.  Or the year before....I need to reexamine my life choices).

It's just that 'the holidays' prep and execution take up a lot of time; especially with the children being young and us wanting to make precious-precious memories for them so that we feel like good parents.  And then the children will feel obligated to take care of us in our old age.  Which is coming faster than they think.

Gonna Make It

The goal to complete before the year ends is a simple and comes in two parts:

First Part: To finish up the Big Battle Bases (which are just movement trays) for the Vikings.  To wit; I happen to have another 6 bases done today.  Hooray! 

Hey look!  the Vikings have a unit of archers.

I'm not sure if the Vikings would really have a unit of archers, but after reading the 'Strong Bows' series by Judson Roberts where Vikings seem to take archery seriously it seems like a nice touch.  Plus these guys all have chainmail and helmets which  screams to me "not skirmishers."  

These completed 6 bases increase the Viking army to 16 bases strong now.  Getting close to be doing done.  Gonna make it.  

 I only have this many Vikings left.

Goal the Second Part: Try to squuuueeeze in one more game before the year is out, hopefully taking the Big Battle Bases for a test drive.  I'm thinking maybe a refresher of the Hail Caesar rules or perhaps trying out the Triumph! rules that seem a lot of fun.  

Confession: I ALWAYS misspell Caesar the first time I type it.  Embarrassing. 

Bonus:

Spears.

I also made 4 more of the 'spear in the ground' markers.
For a total of 10, that ought to be sufficient.

And no more of these little side projects.  Time to focus on the last of the Big Battle Bases.

Happy Thanksgiving!

"What did the turkey say to the turkey farmer on Thanksgiving?"

--"Quack Quack." 

Happy Thanksgiving to the American readers.  If you're reading this from somewhere else then this holiday means NOTHING to you.  This has never been one one my favorite holidays; it's usually a lot of work and money for little payoff.  I mean, we were gonna eat dinner anyway right?  

We have a small vacation planned during Thanksgiving.  Nowhere the adults want to go, but its for the kids.  Just more of us trying to give those precious precious memories to our offspring.  

It's strange how when your children are happy, then you are happy.  

Thanks for reading.  Double thanks for writing a comment. 

Till Next time.

Viking Army Progress

 Everybody sing now:

"I write one post and then I write ano-ther" (oh yeah)

"Do people care? I sometimes won-der"

"could you read, would you read ano-tthhheerrrr?"

"I hope you do, I hope it gives pleas-sure.

--That's to the tune of "Down Under" from Men At Work.  Did it come through in the writing?  I'm sure it did.  And now that song will be stuck in your head the rest of day.  BOOM! psychological warfare.

Speaking of Being Down Under

Vikings.  I have some.  In a totally unexpected twist of events I've made some more movement trays for my Viking miniatures.  OK, so it's NOT totally unexpected but easily foreseeable as I've been making these for awhile now; and even in the past wrote how I would be doing more in the future. 

 I'm something of a predictable stick in the mud.  Consistent.  It's why all the ladies find me so non-threatening.

I made up 6 trays / Big battle Bases.  Which is not all that much really.  To create the illusion of doing more than I have done; I'll show you pictures of the trays in small increments.  It's a blogging trick that.  ALL the best bloggers do it.

First small bunch. Two trays

Second small bunch.  These guys have a nifty Raven banner

Third bunch.
"6 foot, 7 foot, 8 foot BUNCH!
Daylight come and we want to go home."
(Now that's two songs that will be stuck in your head all day.
BOOM!  Psychological warfare strikes again)

Here's 2 pics of the 6 bases.

View from the Helicopter

This makes the Viking Army 10 trays strong so far.  More to come.  

I will blame my slow hobby progress on the baby.  Son #3 is now 10 months old, and into everything and everywhere so I had to get serious about baby proofing the house again.  I spent some nights reinstalling latches on cabinets and gates across stairwells.  Safety First.  His safety that is; I've already tripped over a gate coming down the stairs. 

Wait A Minute;  That First Subtitle Made No Sense.

What do Vikings have to do with 'Being Down Under?' 

Nothing really.

I'll do better next time.

Inevitability

We Wargamers all have different styles.  A lot of gamers I know will do a little from one project / genre and then go over to another one.  Little bit of A, then a little of B, and then some C.  I'm a little different in that I tend to focus on one genre for months at a time.  It's because I get a lot of satisfaction moving a project to it's next milestone.  I like to achieve goals; it seems to happen so rarely once one is over 30. 

Yet most gamers I know while working on a project will then go buy stuff for it.  Seems to be in our DNA.  In this respect I am no different, so while working on Dark Ages stuff and sorting out what I actually had and had not; I made a little  purchase to round out some missing elements.

A box of generic plastic Dark Age warriors
A blister of 8 metal Saxon Ceorls
and 3 blisters of Saxon Standard bearers. 
The standard bears I thought were pretty nifty.  A unique figure complete with pole and LBMS banner.

I also purchased a pantsload of LBMS shield transfers, but these are coming from the UK so who knows how long that will take to show up.  But there's no rush.  I don't know when I'll get around to assembling these.  Probably next year.  I just couldn't resist getting some Dark Ages swag.  It seemed inevitable.  See, I did do a better job this time around.

It's the End of the Post as We Know It

(Third times a charm for the musical psychological warfare)

I gotta run.  I hear the baby rattling one of the baby gates by the stairs and I don't trust my handy work all that much.  Thanks for reading.  Double Thanks for writing a comment.  Till Next time.

Minor Hobby happenings

 

Let's squueeeze in a post before Halloween.  Folks might want some light (very light)  reading while waiting by the door for the trick-or-treaters.  Some of you might be waiting with the hose ready to repel the grubby gremlins away with jets of water.  Don't let the light from your cellphone give away your hiding spot.

Onward and Upward

In what is becoming a continuing motif in this Terrible Blog, I have for you more...wait for it....DICE MARKERS!  (cue the sounds of reluctant applause)

the Audience says, "enough with the Gird Dern dice already!  We git it.  Don't you have enough of those?"

No.  I'm aiming for around 50.  So that when I do finally get around to doing some sort of mass battle there are enough dice to track the hits to each unit on the table.  Because to run out of dice counters half way through the battle would be lame.  Plus, these dice are so small that I'm probably gonna lose a couple.

There's 37 done so far.  I have another 13 left on the bag. And that will make 50.
It's almost like they sell these in pack of 10.

Speaking of Mass Battles

The first 4 Big Battle Basses for the Viking Army are complete.   It's not really a base but a movement tray, but I'm a sucker for alliterations.   These are the same as for the Saxon army (10 man loose order trays from Charlie Foxtrot Models). 

Again, I'm just making the trays and then taking my already painted Vikings and putting them on.  One would think that I would just grab any 10 figs and be done with it, but NO.  It's easy to get meticulously picky about which figures to put where; scanning over the entire collection to find a miniature with the right pose, facial expression, and equipment to make the base POP.  

These are also magnetized like the Saxon's trays.  Gotta treat all your miniatures the same even if you do love one more than the other.  Just like my children.

Spears of Love

In my last game of Clash of Spears (see previous post HERE if so inclined) the units armed with throwing spears were, um...,  throwing their spears like crazy; GO FIGURE.  It's almost like they preferred to stand far apart and throw things rather than get up really close and stab each other.  

To mark when a unit threw it's spears (because it matters in CoS) I was using some generic markers that I had laying around.  Just 25mm disks with some flock and a rock on it. 

But since the game I've wanted something a little more DIGNIFIED, something more REFINDED, something more UPPER CLASS to note when hairy smelly men threw sharp sticks at each other.  So I came up with these.

Supposed to be Spears stuck in the ground.
A long stick in the ground just screams Dignity.

The End is Scary

Have a Happy Halloween.  Don't spray trick-or-treaters with the hose.  You're better than that.  

So far our plan is for me to pull the kids on the wagon while trick-or-treating.  Which sounds like a great way to ensure that by the end of the night I'll be tired and cranky and the kids will be well rested and full of sugar.  

Till next time.  Thanks for reading and all comments are greatly appreciated.