Hello fellow lead addicts. Hope you had a great Christmas and New Years! Hope that it was productive on the family, friends, sanity or miniatures fronts.

While I had big plans, I had a much more modest approach when the rubber hit the road.

Favorite thing about vacation:
Sleeping in and then starting the day with Star Wars Battlefront on XBOX One. look for the ole lead addict creepin around. You'll find him there or still playing Titanfall.

I was less productiove on the finishing projects front, but I was pretty effective in a longer project I have been working on. Reboxing my mini cases. I have found the perfect plastic mini boxes that stack great on my bookshelves. I completed the reboxing and lining of my entire painted collections. So that was a big one.

I also got a bunch of figs built and mounted and ready to prime for Dragon Rampant. I now have a Bretonnian, Undead and Elf army mostly ready, a Dwarf army to be painted, and a Chaos Maruader army ready to be painted. Much fun, even though I swore I would never single base a Fantasy Army again in my life. I do have a bunch of new minis from the Dungeon Saga Kickstarter so an Infernal army isn't out of the question.

Hoping to get some painting done to finish off the Bretonnians or Undead this weekend, then the High Elves. Would be nice to button up those three first, then go to the new Armies.

Look at this plastic production model of Conan from the Conan boardgame Kickstarter. Most excellent. Delivery is way late, but honestly, as long as they take their time and delver what was promised at the quality they promised, I am ok. If they take the Mantic route and hurry everything and the end result is marginal, then what a loss. HEre's hoping...

And I failed to mention we have a new protector in the workshop. Cobbled together from teeth of a hell hound and mostly piss and vinegar we now have Bourbon the Protector running around causing havoc and keeping intruders at bay with the other guardians Barley and Reggie. BE afraid. Be very afraid.

Happy painting gang.

Been a bit of a Whirlwind

Well, its been a bit of a whirlwind around these parts.

We are in full practice and scrimmage mode for football season for my 5th grader and 8th grader. But we had a setback with the 5th grader. He fractured his collarbone at a football tournament and is out 3-4 weeks. I don't see how he will be back in 3-4 weeks, but that's what the doctor told us. We'll see. In the mean time. I am still assistant coach on a team where my son isn't playing right now. Frustrating that. The 8th grader is fighting to make the A Team squad as Tight End. He has size and some speed. We'll see. I am hopeful.

As is usual, the beginning of the school year is absolute chaos. And many other distractions abound. Not much time left for gaming or painting. I probably won't be gaming with the BG's til November, and I don't know how much time I'll get to spend at the Recruits Gaming Convention because of football games. So each moment is precious on the gaming front right now.

I did get the following accomplished:

1 stand of Spanish Musketeers finished - for my converged grenadier unit.
5 Stands of Spanish Musketeers completed -just need to finish the command stand and the final infantry unit of the Spanish Army is completed.

Once finished with the Spanish, I am not sure where I will head next.

I could delve into 15mm Sci Fi. Hordes to be painted there.
I could start on the 15mm Undead Army for Hail Caesar Fantasy.
I could nick off a dozen Foundry Pirates.
I could do a couple dozen skirmish napoleonic figs.
Or I could start the French 28mm Nappy Cavalry. Chasseurs first, Then Dragoons.

I do not have clarity at the moment. I have a wealth of choices. But no decisions.

And it sure would be nice to finish Fistful of Lead:Warriors of the Wasteland.


 

Been a While...

Well, dear readers, it's been a while. I was going at a pretty good clip there, but spring finally sprung and the Rat Race is in full swing, so I have had Zero time for anything gaming related(almost). Just a few things and thoughts til I get back to it:

Zonmbicide - I received Phase II of the Zombicide Season One extras. Great stuff. Same as first release. Quality components and well done by Guillotine Games. I was not pleased that my Not the Girl from Kill Bill, and my Not Samuel L Jackson characters had to be changed so much because of a rights issue wth Paramount, but they are still nice. I didn't get season two. But may when it comes out.

Dwarven Forge Kickstarter - Well we got together as a group and wet all in and got a big set of the painted stuff. A great value if you were wanting a dungeon environment. Good for 28mm and 15mm.  I'll have to create some 15mm doors and furnishings, but with my Hirst Arts, that will be easy.

Reaper Bones - Still waiting on shipments from China. I couldn't have gotten them painted cause I need to finish my Demonworld Empire guys, but would like to get my grubby little mitts on them.

15mm Fantasy - I hope that next week I can get back to painting them, cause I want to finish them so I can move on and paint something else(28mm Spanish? 28mm Sci Fi? 28mm Supers?). I need a break from the 15mm fantasy, but I am going the finish the 2 units of medium cav I have left, and then I will base and flock everything so they are done.

Consolidation - Still really thinking about consolidating my collections. But sinceI have had no time to think about it, no progress has been made.

Terrain - Look at these pics. A Rob Hawkins on the Privateer Press forums did these boards. They are simply amazing. Makes me want to work on Post Apoc or Mordheim terrain.

Trees- So I have been wanting to do a magnet system for my forests for a while. I think the self same modeler who did the Warmachine table has figured out my quandry. He uses earth magnets in short lengths of plastic tube and then in the forest base has a larger tube with a magnet in it. put them in for the game, pull them out when you move troops in, pull them all out for storage. Nice and Simple.

Gaming - Have been playing some board games with the boys and the wife lately. Zombicide, Wits and Wagers, Sword and Skull. Fun and light stuff. And played Poker with Mom on mothers day. See, I was raised that after Sunday dinner/lunch, you broke out your money and the cards and played poker til it was dark. It was a lot of fun, and I knew poker, odds and a lot of card games when I was 6-7. No mercy for the kids either. My grandpa played straight up and that's how you learned to bet, play and be careful with your money. So we have been doing the same with our boys and at 10 and 13, they have been playing cards for about 4 years. And they also got to play poker with their Grandpa before he passed away. They will always have that memory.

BAsement Generals - The BG's march on. Quality gaming every thursday is the slogan. and it always delivers. I have been absent more than not as of late(football, work, life), but got a really fun game of Supersystem 2 last night (we don't like how vanilla SS3 got). Golden Age Brawl with the Allies against the new Supermight of the Japanese Divine Wind. And the Allies destroyed them. Some tweaking and some additional Archetypes need to be filled in(shooter, healer, mind controller) but they will be a force to reckon with once worked out. I always forget how much I love this game when we don't play it for a while, and how utterly frutrating you can be by certain power combos. Its the beauty of the game. Find a way to beat them or come back next time with a better plan. Its really the classic comic story. thanks for hosting Baron and thanks for a fun game BG's. I think Scott and I won together, on the same team, for the first time ever.

Enjoy the spring and summer, keep playing and keep painting. More when something is going on.

Lead Addict

Sneak Peek - 15mm Empire Horse Archers

I sneaked in a couple of hours of painting in earlier this week.I finished an Army command stand and a Horse Standard Bearer and go a start on my 3 units of Demonworld Empire Horse Archers. Here's a sneak peak:

I need to do highlights on manes and tails and tack, but they went pretty quick. I'll do the riders in simple peasant clothes. Like GW's Kislev Horse Archers these have a real Steppes feel to them, but I am gonna try to genericize them. I hope to get them knocked out by the end of this weekend. That will be my first 3 units of Cav for the empire. After these, 3 Units of Medium Cav and 1 unit of Heavy Knights.

I have a Witch Coven to do after that and I am finished with the empire for a while(I only have a blister of Archers and Swordsmen left, they can wait). I am waiting to get a full list before I order from Ral Partha Europe to fill in gaps in my collection. Maybe by the end of summer.

I am not sure what I am doing when I finish the Empire guys.

But, here's what me and some of the BG's are getting in the mail at the end of the year:

This will go so great with my Reaper Bones that are coming sometime soon. As well as being able to play with 15mm on them as well. Some dungeon bashing is surely in the cards.

Some Random things:

First some family bragging:

- My middle son is running in the Warrior Run this weekend. Its a 3 mile run and 20 obstacles. Think an Army obstacle course mixed with the TV show Wipeout! Should be fun to watch. If I train, maybe next year I'll run it with him. Very proud of him for trying this. He also tied for the highest ACT test in his grade level. and was in the top 5% of the kids who took it in his grade level. He took it 4 years early. He already has qualified for any state or regional university and he's in middle school. And he also was inducted into National Junior Honor Society last night. I couldn't be prouder of him.

- Flag Football season is in full swing. Its like fastbreak basketball. Fun and fast. My youngest is playing up two grade levels. He is a real leader on the field. He plays center and hasn't had one bad snap on the field. Its been a pleasure to coach him. Its hard to be the kid of a coach cause the expectations are always higher and he has exceeded those by a mile. He wants to play tackle this fall. and he wants me to coach. I may have to do it just so he can stay excited about this. I am very proud of him as well.

- The Wife has a new job and has shed her hated old one. So here's to new beginnings for her. 

Other stuff:

I am seriously considering selling significant portions of my painted and unpainted collections. When I go into the Workshop of Doom I am surrounded by much too much stuff. Boxes filled to the gills by stuff I will never paint and/or play. Being a Lead Addict has its problems. I fell like I need to trim away a bunch of stuff and concentrate on the stuff I want to play and not be burdened by all this other 'stuff'. We shall see if this is spring fever or purpose.

And for you Defender/Rifleman fans out there...there's this.

Here are the Robotech Defenders' arms mascarading as a Russian Self Propelled Gun. Those are apparently Autoguns kids. And they are stacked. Holy hell.

Original Defender

Giant Robots - Well, they can make weapons for them now

This pic is of  the Block 2 MK-44 Mod 4 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Guided Missile Round Pack (GMRP) All-Up-Rounds. Its a Navy Anti Ship Missle Pack. there was a story on Defense Tech about the Navy building a bunch for Germany. Read more: http://defensetech.org/#ixzz2PEMnifyd 

This is a real thing. A reloadable missle pack system with (21) Anti-Target missles. Ships, planes, helicopters, etc.

Turn that thing on its side and mount it on a big stompy robot, and I'm looking at a REAL Robotech Macross Phalanx arm.

Now all we have to do is develop full anthropomorphic mobile robots weighing 200 tons. Piece of cake.

That and make all of the missle heads flat for optimum performance and range.

From Sad to Glad - Bless You Internets

A tragedy has befallen the Workshop of Doom. It is with heavy heart that I went down this morning to sneak some paint time before a dentist appointment and my dual lamp long arm painting light had been broken. The clamp that holds the light head had snapped because I stupidly put  a way too heavy lamp in and the old girl just couldn't take it.

 It is a 60's era vintage Drafting lamp that was a part of the history of my company. I rescued it from the threat of a dumpster 15 years ago. Its heavy, hefty and well made. And as I tried to highliht boots and gloves on 15mm orcs in the light of florescent shop lights I just about cried at having lost it. I looked for a make or model but no luck. I really can't see in the Workshop without it. I can't imagine using a flimsy one from walmart that has only one light and short little stubby arms.SIGH...

But as is the case now, in our unbelieveably small world, I have already found the manufacturer(LUXO) that is till in operation(unbelieveable) and they have a parts service with pictures(even more unbelievable). After just a few minutes trawling their site I found the parts that will hopefully get the old girl back on her feet.I have it ordered and paid for in about 5 minutes. It has taken longer to write about it.

I guess the only other down side to this is realizing you cant see unless the surface is illuminated. I think I am getting old.(get's monocle out of vest pocket, cleans with handkechief and places jauntily in right eye socket) That's better old boy.

Grognards

So I have considered myself a Grognard for a quite a while now. Its such an affectionate term. Old Grumbler. Basically a Grumpy Old Man. Which I certainly am. I know the whole back story of course. Its Napoleon's lovely description of his beloved Old Guard.

The definative image of the Old Grumbler. A Veteran Badass all the way.

Today its been associated with gamers for a few different reasons.

1. It was the veteran grey beards who always knew everything in the gaming circles you ran in. Older dudes with a been there done that attitude. True grumblers, and most not very helpful. Holding knowledge you had to assemble over a lifetime of gaming and research and playing and painting and writing homegrowns(or at least that's what you thought). And you wanted to be that. Count all of those Nappy Guys, Ancients Guys, and Civil War Guys in that group.

2. Its also associated with those of us that choose to play earlier versions of a game even though there is a more recent version. Those of us who do this in RPG circles also are a part of the OSR, or Old School Revolution (or Revival if you like it softer and nicer). Wilder funner times, absolutely frought with nostalgia and rose colored glasses, but also games that were great and engaging in 68 pages instead of 224. See any of the Red Cover D&D Basic Rules, GammaWorld, Star Frontiers, Etc. Or even AD&D 1st Edition or the LBB's(1st Ed. D&D).

3. There are some others. Mostly associated with Video Games and playing on full realism settings with no cheats. Hard core stuff or old stuff.

I always pronounced it with a hard syllable. Grog-Nard. Like Frog-Hard. I had never heard it any other way. I knew it was French, but I never really thought about its correct pronunciation. Then I came across this:


This sent me into a panic. Had I been pronouncing it wrong? Words matter, I tell my children. Pronouncing them right means something. Words are meaning and a reflection of you and your education, intelligence, understanding, etc. I never say 'irregardless'. It bothers me so much ( as you can tell from the blog, I on the other hand don't care about proof reading). So I had to find out if, by my own mispronunciation, I was being revoked of my self appointed Grognard status and Membership Card. And as ususal, the internet has value for something other than porn, videos of people getting hit in the junk, and ads for Spyware software.

Here is the pronunciation of the word Gorgnard --- (gro nyar) .  Here it is pronounced by a Frenchman. I am devastated...Here's my card. Since most of us in my age group were not trained in languages other than English, this may seem stupid to those of you from more civilized places than the Colonies. But I dare you to come to Mizzura and try to wade your way around why they call their ozark town Ver-Sails instead of Versailles and you'll quickly understand.

Now deep down I knew that Grog-Nard was wrong. I knew too much French to think otherwise. Hell I make sure I correct people on the correct pronunciation of Quatre Bras and Ligny when ever I get the chance. I can even count to 20 in French. And I even know some Spanish and Italian. (mostly drinking and fightin words).

So I guess I'll have to bail on being a Gronyar. Who do I give this card to? Is it you Neck Beard and Shorts in Winter? Is it you Affliction Shirt Power Gamer? Is it you Potbelly Flannel reeking of weed? Or you Bespectacled Polo Shirt with briefcase of ancients rules?

Aww Screw It. Let's just game. LONG LIVE THE GROGNARDS (GRONYARS). Now give me my card back Unwashed Dead Eyed, It doesn't work in a Magic: The Gathering game.

Update- Spanish Napoleonics, Dystopian Wars, and Firestorm Armada?

Well kind readers, its been a bit since an update. I posted a quick one on Albion Triumphant for Black Powder, and that's been about it. We have had some family tragedy with the loss of my father in law. He was a great man. I was lucky to have known him. He was a father to me. And will be greatly missed.

So not much mood for frivolity and the fun things that seem so minor when the big stuff in your life happen.

But one thing this hobby can give us is a release, a place to go hide and enjoy the simple pleasure of painting, or terrain building or even gaming with your friends. So as minor as this may all be, its a nice place to call home too.

So as far as the Workshop of Doom and progress goes, not a lot has been done. I have a nice series of long weekends coming up for xmas and new years so in between the family stuff, and a great friend daytrip to a stellar BBQ joint, I hope I can carve away some real time and paint.

Spanish Nappies - I finished the 1811/12 militia uint. They look good. Pics of the whole Spanish Infantry when they are all done. That's 4 of 5 units complete. I have one infantry unit to complete. Plus one stand of grenaiders. This would give me four units of line, and one militia, plus one converged grenaider unit(pull the grenadier stands from each line unit. I got the horse flesh completed on my first Dragoon Unit. Numancia of course. So maybe, just maybe, by the end of break, I will be done with my Spanish Army. (1 line unit, 1 grenadier stand, 2 dragoon units, 2 cannon, and  4 commanders left to paint). Once they are done, I am going to do all the stand base work for both the Spanish and the British, so they will be ready to play. Then - START ON THE FRENCH.

It must have been hard riding around looking like a banana!

Dystopian Wars - Gonna paint a couple units for someone on my xmas list. Maybe entice him to play, or just paint something different. Should be fun. Gotta get it done before xmas. The clock starts now!

Firestorm Armada - Seriously thinking of buying a couple of fleets and the new rules and campaign book with my xmas money. I love spaceship combat. and this is a great line. I have a couple of tubs of vairous stuff from othe rmanufacturers that I play Full Thrust with, but would be willing to try this.



That's a pretty sexy looking fleet.



Blog Formats, Type Styles, and Colors

There was a simple discussion on TMP that has spread to several of the blogs that I read, and that applies to me and the LA blog. It was about a black background with white or light type. How horrible they are to read, and how much they hurt the eyes. And there was much grousing(as usual for the grumpy grognards on TMP) about only children and the GW fanbois who love their black and skullz do their blogs that way, how unprofessional and what a basic mistake it is from a design sense. Etc. 

So here are a few thoughts.

I don't write code. I am not illiterate, but I use blogger so I can blog, not deal with learning sioftware and computer languages so I can make it exactly what I want. I live with what looks good to me. 

Pics are eveything. If you are reading my words, well then I am just damn flattered you bothered to spend the time. And pics look best on a black or grey background. Period. even marginal pics look ten times better on a black or neutral background.

I have a feeling some of this is about the aging of the gaming base in general. Us old farts eyes don't work like they used to. YES its easier to read dark on white. But after a while (like 40 hours a week), it feels like a flashlight is being shined at my face. So a dark background is ok for a gaming blog cause everything else I do on my computer is black on white.

And just like all the idiots during the election, I am so tired of generalities, sweeping statements that classify whole categories of people, and general BS of people who don't like specifically what you are doing, when you couldn't give a crap in the first place. So shut up about the Skullz and 40k and go grind your anti-Evil Empire axe somewhere else so the adults can talk about stuff. I know of three highly thought of and non FanBoi blogs that have given reasoned and rational thought about this issue. Imagine that.