Busy week for life with a very sick kid and lots of snow to shovel. Not so busy a week when it came to gaming, painting, etc. as I did not get much done. With my son ill, I also scrubbed plans to drive down to a convention in Maryland on Saturday. Good thing I had not committed to the convention as I had a feeling "something" was going to prevent attendance. Next year. In between stemming the brown tide of vomitus and the white mounds of snow, I did spend an hour or so working on a host of figures. The bad news is that I am assembly line painting seventy-eight 28mm, 20 units of 6mm and four terrain pieces different figures. The good news is that work is progressing nicely on all fronts. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (i.e. the day when this desk load of figures is completed and playable. Why so much stuff--I emptied two boxes of "almost done" figures from two previous moves onto my painting table. When this one is done, I either delve into one of the other six moves, or maybe reward myself with some South American war (Independence, Great Paraguayan, 1879 Guano or the Chaco). Or French Revolution, Seminoles or something else...

Last week I mentioned Sixty-One Sixty-Five, a new set of American Civil War rules from Ganesha Games. The system is based upon their Napoleonic Skirmish rules Songs of Drums and Shakoes ("SDS"). In SDS, one activates officers and individuals with command sizes being a few squads. This is more of a grand skirmish like Brother Against Brother than a battle game. Typically, a player will command up to a Company with maybe some cavalry and/or a cannon. Maneuver elements are officers, senior NCO's and squads. An appendix includes modifying SoDaS for the ACW. That got me thinking and shows that the Company Level rules are easily modified for the earlier period. I suspect I will use them for a larger Vendee battle very soon...any volunteers?

John Fletcher wrote indicating he is going to run the Battle of Vilcapugio at Cold Wars. Initially, he was going to use his own rules. Now, he says it is going to be LaSalle. I executed a quick trade and got a copy of these. They are not bad. Definitely not for the simulationist like Legacy of Glory; but much better than Napoleon's Battles. I gave the rules a quick read. They are ok and seem easy enough with a coherent period feel. If I were to play the Napoleonic era, I would give them a try against General De Brigade, Black Powder, Napoleon's Rules, the yet-to-be released Bill Protz's Napoleonics and Minifig's Quick Play. Any of those may be sacrilege to some of you grognards; but if I ever jump into the sinkhole of Napoleonic era, I want a fun, fast and period oriented rules not a brain burner or slog. I would also want to play the various Charles Grant scenarios and the like, not Austerlitz (that's for Volley and Bayonet or the yet to be released Look Boney No Charts. Think about it, the Charge project with Napoleonic countries and not having to adhere to canon when it comes to organizing/painting your forces...more sacrilege.

Mongoose Flight Bases just got reissued. These are great. They have a ball joint that is attached to the figure which snaps onto a flight base. There are two advantages: (1) figures tend to break off much less; and, (2) you can put your figures on cool angles to show banks, dives and climbs. Once agin, it's about the look of it for me...

Lastly, the Blog I set up first had some disappearing photos. I replaced a bunch and wrote off the others. Then all but the last four disappeared. Then, the Blog was gone entirely...not sure what happened or why. Now it's back with some of the photos...

Miniature Games:

No games played. I missed the Friday night Squad Leader as I had a sick child.

Correction from Last week--It was Bayou Vermillion against Mountain Scouts (Hired Guns). BV are a New Orleans themed group. See Black River down below; they are a Black Magic themed group. I also Have Dixie Rails completed (ex-CSA). Union Blue (ex-USA), Iron Dragon (China), Wasatch (Lumber Jacks & Scientists from Chicago/Great Lakes) and various other unaffiliated Hired Guns and contraptions are under way...not to mention the possibility of adding some French from Mexico, British from vcanad or Russians from the Pacific Northwest or something else...

Terrain:

Planning for the Battle of Vilcapugio hill construction began. The question remains whether the slopes are going to be represented in the traditional topographical fashion or the more realistic slope. Opinions welcome.

Projects:

Colonialism/VSF: I have been thinking about getting back to work on my French Foreign Legion again...something to look forward to once the latest project is done. My Buddy Ed from Two Hour wargames decided to sell an Adventures in the Lost Island set of figures with the rule book. John Henry got a look and asked me to get them. Perhaps this will be the ticket to get him back into miniature gaming. Anyone got a good movie suggestion? And, the box had FFL in it. I will have to set up a game once I read the rules.

South American Wars of Liberation: I worked with the Flag Dude and John Fletcher to iron out the flag situation for the units at the Battle of Vilcapugio. In addition, Evil Bob worked with us to develop a great basing coloration that resembles the South American pampas of the region of many of the battles--he did a fantastic job. This style of base will become the norm for my Sount American collection as it will allow the figures to do duty in the various theaters from Argentina to Mexico without looking out of place on the terrain. The big challenge will be to get my work to match Evil Bob's. Now, I just need some more 15mm town and village pieces.

Painting and Painters:

Stan delivered reinforcements for the Black River forces of Deadlands. The first row from left to right is , a leader, two witches from a five figure Witch unit, and a followed up by a who shoots dynamite arrows on the right. The second row has a bloodworm, a wolf and Leader and two other witches from the unit. The bottom row has two , a werewolf and a Hanging Judge. Truly a rough bunch. Deadlands figures are stylized and large but depict the fiction well. There is some variation in the sculpts, but go together fairly well. Unit packs are five figures of three castings: a one leader and two of each follower poses. Character packs are sold by the one. The main criticism is trying to get the figures. I have managed to collect almost the entire line over the years. I would like to get my hands on Steam Tank #13 and some more of the clockwork tarantulas. Otherwise, a few more of certain odds and ends would be good but not needed. The main criticism of the rules: 1) you needed to collect very large armies of a line with very little variation in poses of troops, 2) the castings are larger than the other lines; and, 3) no mounted figures. As a game, I think it will play better as a true skirmish and making the characters and vehicles survive longer. Great work by Stan!

Replaced and Disappeared Twice--they last exactly one hour

Last week I mentioned some of Igor's work. here are two photos from my phone:

17th Century Militia by Igor

Replaced and Disappeared Twice--they last exactly one hour

Battle Fleet Gothic ships & Epic Eldar by Igor.

Replaced and Disappeared Twice--they last exactly one hour

Magazines:

The January Wargames Illustrated had a series of good articles. I found the Flames of War re-fight of Sword and Omaha beaches with the rear area paratroop operations to be an interesting "bathtub" version. The was another FOW article and scenario on a Fallschirmjager prisoner snatch from French Resistance. Next up was a Warhammer Ancients solo scenario of the XIIth Legion massacre by the Germans. More in tune with my interests was the article on the invasion of Havana in 1761; but unfortunately there was no scenario, just suggestions for gaming which is unfortunate as I have most of the units done in my F&I collection. There was a nice two page spread on 17th Century Polish Winged Hussars (Where did I store those Essex figures?). Warhammer Ancients made another appearance with a scenario of the Second Battle of Kosovo 1448. Crafty folks would be happy to know there were two good articles: making your own wagons and converting Late Roman Cavalry. There were two convention spreads and an article on running a convention game. The lat article (not in place) was an Army Painter Info-mmercial on painting 300 figures in ten days which is complete bollocks (I don't buy; it especially as he did not just paint and base but he worked, lived and claims to have also gone on a long weekend to Paris with his partner. Nope. No way.).

Next week, a review of the recent issue of the Classic Wargamer's Journal.

BLOGS:

Check out this BLOG (http://miksminis.blogspot.com/2011/01/winter-4821.html) The writer just started a solo 5150 campaign. You may recall 5150 is Two Hour Wargames' science fiction rules. The system allows you to formulate events going on in the sector of the galaxy where you choose to game. This in turn generates the missions you may want to play. 5150 is also extremely versatie in adding races from any fiction or manufacturer. I plan to follow this thread.

If you think like me, then Flying Lead or Fear & Faith might work as a suitable replacement for 40k. Check out (feed://steelcitywargaming.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default). Now I just need some 5150 stats and tme for two comparative plays.

PodCasts:

The Military History Pod Cast started a multi-part series on Von Lettow-Vorbeck and the WW1 East Africa Campaign.

For Trade/Sale:

It is my plan to weed out extra figures, games and rules that I have amassed. I will post them here before I offer them up to the general TMP public. If you would like them, let me know.

1) War Rocket Rule Book ( a cool set of swooping fighter combat from the pulps that I probably will not play).

2) Alien Squad leader 2.0 ( a pretty good set of rules for futuristic combat, I like the concepts and the force ratios but, realistically I will probably stick with Flying Lead, 5150, Rogue Trader and Princess Ryan's.

3) I expect to have an extra copy of the Wargamer's Annual 2011 as one appeared unexpectedly as a late Christmas present from my Mother-In-Law right after I ordered it...

There will be more appearing on this list. I have promised myself I need to read the rules before I decide; but I have a bunch here. Feel free to ask if I have something on the list before you go and buy.