New Horizons

The post Adepticon period is always a period of regrouping, Figuring out what you want to do next, where your hobbytime is going to be focused and some general time off. As the last year has dictated, I dont quite have the time I used to put into the hobby and hence the blog. That's mainly because the last 5 months or so has been focused on one thing- moving. Yes, I'm moving and not just to another section of Chicagoland, I am up and relocating to the great state of Michigan at the end of this month.

While I am not going that far, just a quite town on the other side of the Lake, still close enough to visit but far enough away from the urban sprawl of Chicago, that it feels like Alaska.

I spent alot of time looking for as close to the right place we could find to accommodate the whole families needs, Obviously my hobby space was one of my priorities, as well as wife's new gardening space and my kids own personal spaces. Luckily we found a good fit, and while I dont have the square footage for gaming I do now, what I do have is better organized logistically, I now have a clean painting space, a separate gaming space and a workshop space (wood and metal shop), so it's  not all jammed into one space  which will cut down on the clutter and grime.

Right now, my current old basement is series of boxes, and while we did get a good doubles game of Bolt Action in about 3 weeks ago not much else is not packed up for the move. I accumulated a ridiculous amount of stuff in the last 8 years...so much so that when it came to packing it up, I had a lot I just had to get rid of, enough stuff that trying to sell it on ebay would be a full time job in the short term, and that was time I did not have, so I decided I was  just going to give it away!.The last time the guys were over, everyone took home a couple boxes that hopefully will be put to good use in their own collections,

Once I am set up in my digs, which will probably be close to July, I'm working on 3 projects into the next year.

The Battle of Kursk- A group of Adepticon vets are recreating the Battle of Kursk in 28mm next year, This going to be private event spearheaded by the Guns of April group. we've got 6 players a side each one running a Bolt Action Armored platoon, of either Germans or Russians..the whole game taking place on 16 x 6 table. I'm running a German platoon in the event...fortunately most of my stuff is already done for this
I just need to paint 4 tanks, but I am also going playing in Bolt Action Nationals next years..so I'll be devoting enough hobbytime to BA, that my stuff is looking top notch.


Pirates- by Popular, err well, residents of Minnesota demand that my Pirate game be back next year...it will be similar to my event from 2014...I'm finishing my Pirate Castle as my next Hirst build  and fleshing out the town with some new buildings from Cresent Root Studios , I am speculating building a round table or unique shape of some type versus the traditional long rectangle, as I want better section of space for the players as well space for some naval action. Time will tell here once I get some time in the woodshop. Whether this will be Legends of the High Seas or some other ruleset is yet to be determined. Tim K author of the High Seas book has a new generic D10 ruleset coming out that is going to be malleable to any genre. We've spoken about using this event to test some Pirate flavored rules, so if that does be the case well be providing rules in advance to players and you can bet its going to incorporate the best parts of High Seas while expanding the use of going to a D10, (where all the good games these days are going anyway). I'm really looking forward to this, it's going to be a unique event and I hope to have 12 open slots for it.


28mm Sci Fi-  somewhere early this year, I got myself attracted to Mantic's Deadzone, after picking a box of figures with a coupon I had, I like the vibe and figures and they coincidentally scaled up perfectly with my Reaper Sci Fi figures, I started playing around with DZ rules on my Hirst Space Station which got expanded in the last year.(How a post on that never happened can attest to my lack of time of late)

While DZ rules are in a state of flux right now, I'm messing around with home brew based on the rules and will probably give the game a go when the V.2 rules come out early next year, until them I hope to get play some games on some terrain that I think is probably some of my best work and now over 4 years in the making and I have never played a game on it. This is a totally casual project While I am committed to playing on my Sci Fi Terrain whether I actually get around to playing DZ remains to be seen.

And thats it, that's all I am committing to for the foreseeable future..If I get a chance for some SAGA, Ill gladly jump at it but I wont commit to much more.

Looking forward to one more gaming night with the guys before I head out, then I'll be welcoming visitors or planning some Chicago visits around when some gaming is taking place.

New Digs, New Games, New Horizons.

The Run up to Adepticon- Waffen SS Squad One

 Pictured L-R: NCO w/ Mp40, Rifleman X 2, Lieutenant, his Driver, (NCO with Russian PPSH41) MG34 Team, STG44 , 2 more Rifles all models by Warlord games., scratch buildings by Aaron Schmidt.

Better late than never, here my first Waffen SS Squad and HQ, for my Adepticon Team Army for Bolt Action. Aaron and I are running Waffen SS along with Panzer Pioneers, truth be told, I think our list is very tournament specific- as in Hard, Were running a Panzer IV, the brutal Flakveirling 38 AA gun, which forget about its AA prowess is an absolute infantry shredder,  consider things like Panzer Pioneers can pack multiple flamer throwers, and standby's like the Puma which is one of the best vehicles in the game...our list just kind of came out this way with any forethought about being hard. In a 800 point test game, my half of the list faced a Soviet List lead by a T-34 which outnumbered me almost 4 to 1 in bodies and the SS won it handily as Veteran Infantry with multiple Assault members is super tough on top of the big German guns.  I hope we can do it justice on the table as Aaron and myselfs tournament record is admittedly very sketchy, but at least we will look pretty.

I spent way too much time researching German Uniforms and seeing other peoples designs, and test painting guys.  in end I went a simple design, that while not 100% historically accurate I think it echoes the historical look, while making the miniatures look good. Some of my test pea dot, and other camo designs ended up just way to busy looking.

On the Hobby front, besides Aarons usual crazy awesome approach of "I am custom sculpting parts on basically every model in my army" (which certainly plays well against my limited to no conversion approach which has only hurt me in appearance scoring last few years) We got a great display in mind, with new terrain, with usual bells and whistles. I'm on track for finishing end of February with my army painting, Vehicles are all ready in the base coated stage, special teams and second squad are well underway. I recently ordered a Panther AUSF A from Warlord...and if I have time I am also going to try get that done so I can run my Germans in the Singles Saturday...it might be a rough go with only 7 Order dice..but its a lot less to manage and bring out, especially since I am bringing my Table out as well for the events., if time fails my Red Devils will be in the Singles...nice to have a back up plan.

As for my table, go a few new pieces already done to jazz it up a bit...and if I hope to get the resin water poured as well, all in all, I feel less exasperated than usual getting ready, I've had no nights where I had to force myself to paint when I didnt feel like it, (we all know how that goes)
I'm really looking forward to my 9th return to Adepticon!

Point Defense and Operation Sting

Our makeshift Bolt Action setup. that one day, sooner than later will give our figures the setting they deserve

Currently my hobbytime is on the backburner but that doesnt mean I havent found time to get some games in. Aaron and I got together for our semi regular Bolt Action meetup I believe our third since Adepticon. Since Adepticon we've both tweaked our German and British lists and added more firepower making a better use of our points. He's added at Stug III and more infantry to his list. I've added a Stuart M5 in place of my Static 6pd AT gun and also added a Flamethrower team.

Aaron's reserve squad that ambushes my commandos from off the table.

The mission was Point Defense. I was playing my British Recon and Paratroop forces and we were the attackers on a German force held up in the town , the thee objectives were left, right and center on Aarons board edge. As usual the games are always close. Despite my putting alot of pins on Aaron's forces with game starting preparatory bombardment (where the British have the best game rule) I took heavy casualties on my left flank losing a squad and my Flamethrower team early. I managed to edge my guy ups and keep them engaged, pressure on. We were both being really careful with our vehicles each having on in reserve..in the end mine won me the game, however vehicle and AT where pretty boring in the game all we did was put a bunch of pins on vehicles as despite alot of hits neither of us could make a penetration roll to save our lives. ( the best illustration of which is when Aaron rolled a friendly fire FUBAR with his Puma against his Stug III I thought it was toast with the direct hit and added PEN + 1 for the side hit but he rolled a "1" )  I had numerous "1's or 2's" on my PEN rolls after scoring juicy hits with my Vehicles.

I did have a couple of boons thoughout the game, one my Sniper usually does pretty well and he certainly softened up squads and caused some down orders in the guys in buildings and the kept Aarons guys on defensive as I assaulted. My Mortar runs hot or cold, today it was smoking hot
I kept rolling 6's to hit even after I was zero'd in and needed a "2" on the one building that was directly in front of the center objective and covering the access to the objective my right flank. After my Mortar pounded a German squad into oblivion and I hammered that smaller building across the road from the field with Mortars putting so many pins on them they were ineffective by turn 6. .I had my Stuart grab the center objective while my Humber AC covered its rear. a lone squad of Vet Paratroopers grab the objective on the far side of the bridge, losing two men to desperate German fire but still strong enough to capture the objective and win the match.

My Humber covering the rear of my Stuart M5 from the Puma AC, lots of fire exchanged but no vehicles knocked out on either side.

Tactically, the game was very touch and go until the last turn, (one of the reasons I like this game alot) my Commandos that are always my best infantry proved totally ineffective. Aaron wise to my turn 4 outflanking strategy, where they normally raise hell with pinned vehicles and softened up infantry, now had an extra squad in reserve in his new list exactly for countering these guys..I had overlooked this in the moment and unwisely brought them in early in turn 4. where they hid behind a building hoping to ambush either the Stug or the Puma (ideally) with there Anti Tank Grenades.

However the next die that game out of the bag was Aarons his reserve squad came totally in short range of my Commandos and opened up, a reserve ambush if you will, I lost 3 of my 8 guys and took 3 pins, by the next time they got to go, they failed their order check went Down and got wiped out in an open ground assault,  Thats how you deal with Pesky commandos in your backfield.

Anyway great game, Kudos to Aaron for always being an awesome opponent. This game and I am sure others over the next few months are in Preparation for Operation Sting which is going to be a great Bolt Action tournament here in Chicagoland in October. Operation Sting, and please note the pun here- is run by the guys who ran Bilbos Birthday Bash which was the areas great LotR tournament from 2009-2013..although I missed the final 2013 event, I look forward to getting back with gang for this years event as now a Bolt Action event, just as  Phoenix's AZ "Gathering in the Desert" morphed into Bolt Action as the LotR scene faded there so it goes here. It seems both games have a strong cross pollination of players.

The only other game I have played since April, besides Bolt Action is SAGA...which I am also really liking alot as fantastic tactical game with lots of uses for other setting and seems to scale well to get a faster Historical fix then Hail Caesar can offer..while I still really like Hail Caesar..playing Saga with smaller forces will really help get my figures painted for Hail Caesar. While I of course have way too many figures on the paint bench...right now Bolt Action and Saga are getting my attention. I do have a few odds and ends I working on with my kids as well. Once work slows down. should be able to get a good hobby project going later this summer.

Lead Painters Leagues - Season 7

Lead Painters League- Season 7 commences shortly over at the Lead Adventure Forum. The LAF ,is for me, personally where the best of the miniature hobby is taking place. Multi-genre, scratch builds, old school miniatures galore, tons of terrain and best of all always lots of great ideas. Very little brand ID pigeon holeing across the board. the Lead Painters League or "LPL" now hits season 7, I only got the gumption to stick my toe in the water last year for the first time, and was pretty happy with the way I made out.

Its a tight 10 week schedule, where you have to submit new entries on the weekly basis, and you submit your first "3" entries when you enter. Prepping for Adepticon events has got me well on my way for my initial entries, but after that I'll be scrambling to stay of ahead of entry dates by a good margin so I am not trying to cram it in that week. A big part of the contest is not just your painted miniatures, but how they are presented. So, yes while it is a painting contest it is open to a public vote so your presentation certainly sways peoples opinions. My best stuff last year that won by wide margins won by either by clear painting caliber or was pushed it though because my entire scene presented itself as a mini-vignette and got the point across better.

That is the route I am going to try to go as much as possible this year as much as can, as a result I am really trying to plan out all my entries in advance, so while yeah I'll probably do three Lord of the Rings entries...(only due the Adepticon overlap) I am going to try to push the envelope dig into the lead pile for the other 7 rounds. My lead pile is pretty huge and its keep growing, So I will certainly try to embrace some of the new games I am interested it, and old stuff I've never got around to painting.  This contest is a great motivation and my fellow compatriots are, nothing but inspiring, looking forward all the cool stuff we are going to see this year. Things get rolling Saturday April 13th, so stay tuned, I'll be updating my weekly entries as they win or lose each week, my only goal is have fun and try to do at least as well as last year. The two big theme rounds are Historical Civil War and Science Fiction this year, and yeah "Rex Eleven" is making a big return round 10.

Thoughts on 2012, Part 2- Under Pressure

Preview of my 21 model 600 point Rohan Army, all mounted, Theoden, Eowyn, Legolas and Gimli. This is my Adepticon TT army if you're familar with "The Two Towers", and knowing the Team Tournaments are One player "good", One player "evil" it shouldn't be a stretch to guess what we are doing.

So I looked at 2012 versus my previous years in the hobby and wanted to ascertain why my output as so piss poor this year versus say the last 4 , and it's pretty obvious. No pressure, while no pressure is good thing most of the time, as a serial over committer I find the lack of direction leads to general malise, it why despite our two Hail Caesar campaigns, I haven't been able to paint more than 25 or so figures in my Ancients Saxon army, and with Spartans I have basing issues I haven't taken the time to sort out so those project languish. With Lord of the Rings, I am putting money on the line for events, And events that I have previously set high standards for myself. having to meet that challenge  gives me the kick in the ass I need to get things done.

This is just common sense but I feel the need to say it here and it's basis for what I have been doing this month which getting a ton of models in ship shape for painting the first half of next year.

 I currently assembled based and primed 3 lord of the Rings Armies, (Rohan, Eregion, and the Army of Dead) more of my Spartans, additional Saxons, my Bolt Action Red Devils AND some more generic Fantasy figs I like. I have a ton of stuff ready to paint. Starting tomorrow I am getting back to my 2008-2009 mantra of "painting something everyday" which even if it was one simple thing, lead to getting "alot" done.  Outside of three events at Adepticon this year, in which I am playing three different armies (two of which are already done) I needed another motivator to put me under pressure to help me getting some of these other languishing projects done. when It dawned on me, The Lead Painters League on the Lead Adventure forum.if you were following the blog early last year, you'll recall that most of my posts the first 6 months of the year were a recount of my efforts in what is without a doubt, the coolest, and most challenging of painting contests. I was very pleased with end performance, however I had a great back log of stuff to draw from that only needed photos' touch up or a few figs painted so the weekly deadlines were quite doable.

At Bilbos Birthday Bash this year, a couple people asked me about the LAF LPL and if I was doing it again, and I said doubtful as, I didnt think I could make the weekly commitments from scratch. Thinking about it last month I changed my mind and started with the streamroller of prepping figures for the paint bench, with the need to paint my 40 figure Rohan Army, my Saxons,Spartans Red Devils, and all kinds of else, while the LPL is only 5-10 figures a week I am going to go for it as I have something to immediately do with the results AND its a killer motivator for those no pressure figs... its all working out quite nicely on paper, we will see how it goes. By the end of the LPL I should have painted close to 100 figures plus my Rohan army..That'll clear my monstrous paint bench for sure.

So thats where I am at, planning on painting a ton of stuff, Adepticon, Lead Painters League, etc. outside Hail Caesar, I dont see myself playing anything other than Skirmish type games this  year, The new LotR rules have made smaller model count armies viable which is just great in my opinion and it helps getting all kinds of stuff done and brings new players in easier. I look forward to giving Bolt Action a go, as I have enough guys for 500 points, the models countsat 1000 are higher than I would like..but I'll probably do it as I have more than half of it already, and just need some vehicles, I also recent played some Blood Bowl for the first time in years, again I have had a team (lizards) based up a primed years ago they just need painted. I fancy myself a painter first and  a gamer second, obviously I have been slacking. 2013, time to get back to painting.

Thoughts on 2012 Part 1- The Usual Suspects

I already have 4 so its not out of the question.

So over the years we've gone thru resolutions,predictions and whatever other foresight/hindsight machinations we like to do upon that time of year that the earth marks another trip around the sun. This time around I just want to make few comments on "what kind" of year it was, for myself, the blog and my hobbying in general.

The year of slacking- when it came to blog and hobbying for sure, in my personal life, work and raising two little girls had my back against the wall. I've moved from running my own operation for 13 years to essentially being a "freelance contractor"..if any of you use that word to describe yourself, you know what that means- you are not making blog post and talking about your hobby from your  office, that luxury is gone for me. as a result and my general lack of free time certainly kicked the blog in the shorts (I'll wrap the year with less than 50 posts), The hobby to an extent as well, I did work on a lot of stuff this year, much you havent seen. 

             I am an OCD multitasker, meaning I am complusively always doing several things at once when I am hobbying (or working) and as a result, I end up leaving alot of things undone. WIP projects I havent even began to talk about here include, a couple Hirst projects, another Pirate Ship and a couple of boxes of old school grenadier miniatures I was trying to paint as a wholeset before I unveiled. Notmention spending on lot of time working on my own skirmish game that after a 1/2 dozen playtests is back on the drawing board.  Needless to say this leaves the "accomplishment" meter low, and theblog suffers as a result in content.

The year of Lord of the Rings- While LotR is and has been a primary motivator for me in not just wargaming, but literature, other games and all types of media for me. 2012, with the release of the Hobbit films certainly brought that out front and center. Most of my completed work revolves around the LotR (now Hobbit) SBG,although I dont get to play it too much, I centainly love collecting and painting the models as its the only game I am playing in any kind of organized play setting outside of my home. I am happy that I do very much like (and I know many who do not) the last two rules adjustment presented by Games Workshop, the rules for the game are best out there, that I have found at this point for Skirmish gaming, The new added detail brought to the game was exactly the type of things I have been talking about being missing from the game 6 months ago when I worked on my own rules (although I went several steps further). I have just recently done a quick generic fantasy revision of the current Hobbit SBG rules, with some of the systems and campaign features from Legends of the High Seas and Mordheim. I am looking forward to trying it out in the next couple weeks and after I do I'll post here as its own page as this all based GW IP material my own additions are just classified as a"Fan Mod". 

Besides the new film, models and working on stuff for next year, I also got roped into playing Fantasy Flight Games, The Lord of the Rings: the Card Game. and I loved it. Its one of those "living card games" as the call them. I find the game one ofthe most difficult strategic challenges ever, I consider myself a hardcore strategy gamer for over25 years, and this game is tough!. especially in solitaire form, (it was alot easier in 2 player co-op) Anyway Professor Tolkien's legacy lives long in me, had has since I was first saw the Rankin-Bass Hobbit when I was 10 and it was all over.

The year of Games Workshop- Odd, you might say given my general distaste for the company. But GW is still ever present in my hobby, checking my purchases for the year, I was over $1000 in retail and second hand purchases on Lord of the Rings material from GW in 2012, The new books back in February, the new Book, starter set and models,and used Citadel items on ebay had all got my wallets attention. I did manage to purge myself of lot of Warhammer material that was just basically cash laying around my basement, but still havealot of stuff to go, for instance it took me 4 years to get rid of all my 40K material and I haven't played that since 2007!. In short as much as I complain about it, I am still buying it. I may be forced to the cliffs edge at some point as I have managed to avoid any finecast due to thecost and  it being an inferior product. Eventually I am going to be assimilated or just stop, we will see, I am contastly weighing my interest in the LotR game with my distaste for the company.

Next up, I want to talk about getting back on track with hobbying, making the most of my free time, and what I have in store for 2013, no Resolutions, just some plans I have to make sure I get to do the things I want.

More on Escape from Goblin Town.

Seems like my "review" of the new Hobbit Starter set has generated some interest. with almost 700 views in the last few days, people are interested. Mainly thanks to a link over The Miniatures Page

Based on this I gave the review a bit editing and some clarity based on comments. so feel free to give it another read if you're so inclined.

If you recall I didn't post any pics of Radagast whom I assembled this weekend. I didn't use the included base as I wanted consistently with my other models..but he is clearly the best model in the set. The single character sprue is a great idea by GW..I wish all models where this way instead of this finecast nonsense if they were moving away from metals. For whatever reason the plastic/ detail
seems a different quality than the other sprues..that could rightly be my imagination but for whatever reason it just looks better.

I also thought Gandalf's hat was too short compared to previous sculpts so I extended it with some green stuff to where I think its right compared to my other models. I put him on a wooden plank, "goblin town" style base and he is now definitely the second best model in the set.
go wizards!..I am going to paint these guys up with an older Saurman Model I have very soon.

I am also doing some research on dwarf models, the will scale in with this Gandalf model. we all know there is no shortage of Dwarf Models out there, however finding the proper ones for Thorins company is surprisingly tough..The Old Citadel Imperial Dwarf line is perfect with the exception that the models go for like $20 each and I think they are too large, reaper has a bunch of great dwarfs..but again I a fear they are too big...I'll have to check the Bob Olley sculpts (probably my favorite old school sculptor after the Perry's) as his reapers are sometimes smaller...anyway Any ideas I be obliged.

LPL 6 Concludes!!

Round 10 and the contest has concluded over  at the LAF for Lead Painters League Season 6.  (link is the final standings)


What a ride, I ended up coming in 14th place out of 46th..I did'nt meet my goal of the top ten but close enough. Above is my final entry. "The Capture of the Griffon"  which lost by 30 or so votes. leaving me with a 6-4 Record. I would have to have won this one, one of the others I lost and figured out how to get at least half of 20 bonus I couldn't take advantage of..to make the top ten. Pretty big jump...so it wasn't really doable even if I won Round 10.

Couple on interesting notes. 1. I called the winner in round 3 after he beat me in round 2, and I saw his round 3 entry. He ended up going 10-0 (which I think is a first) anyway this guy can always find side work as studio painter if he wants it (a bunch of these guys could, some might be, not sure).
2. Getting max bonus points and winning every round is a huge accomplishment, every entry you put in really needs to be jaw dropping. Otherwise your subject to losing to any oddball entry that strikes peoples fancy for whatever reason not just the painting. Whether that be, naked ladies, comedic dioramas, or just damn creative entries These things will beat a better painted, less attention craving entry 9 times out of 10, so you need to be that one of ten, that still can trump those occasional match ups to consistently win.  3. Your Photography needs to be good. If you cannot consistently take excellent pictures of your stuff, dont waste your time here. Good photos make all the difference. I let a shoddy photo slide in round 2, and it cost me, and I am usually quite happy with my photos but I must say during this process, I learned a couple tricks to make them better, so it was a fair trade off.

A fantastic contest, quirky with a great scoring system and a incredible of amount of awesome eye candy, If you are miniatures enthusiast and are not particularity interested or married to GW this contest is certainly for you.  Hat's off to Dr Mathias for winning this and going 10-0. The top 4 guys this year all undoubtedly paint at Studio professional level, the majority of the top 25 are all, serious painters with long term hobby skills...or guys that would routinely win best appearance awards in public events, if you will. Hell of a contest...I know some guys who read here, who should definitely think about this  just for the experience, and they're all LotR players so you guys know I am talking to you!.

In other news we "finally" play Kings of War this Tuesday, after talking about it forever. The first time our WFB models are going to use for more than just myself in over a year.  looking forward to see how the game plays and if it puts the fun back in large scale Fantasy gaming for us.

I reached the light at the end of tunnel on the personal front with my real life work debacle, that I  have mentioned here. Things have sorted them out for the best, its all good and life is moving on. I am actually going to have pretty easy summer, on the work front, so I look forward to a vacation
and digging in to finish a couple of large hobby projects I've been secretly talking about.

LPL 6 - Round 10- Maritime Bonus Round

Round 10, The final round has begun over at the LAF for Lead Painters League Season 6.


Above is my round 9 entry "Crew of the Atramentous" which your Privateer Press fans should be familiar with. This guys squeaked out a victory over some nicely painted Dwarves.  My round 10 entry "Capture of the Griffon"  is somewhat old hat around here...you've seen these models alot with my Legends of the High Seas stuff. I did spend some time getting a good photo to meet all the bonus criteria. Except "newly painted" which I could honestly try to claim.  I was very confident going into the last round unless I got paired up with one of the top 10 or so, or I thought..My entry is currently losing by a close margin, (but close enough to beat me in this thing) to a very ool 15 mm river scene that makes up for what its lacking in paint department in a really great idea. That's one of the things about this contest I am discovering- is that paint will not always get your thru..its combination of things not least of which is the whims of the voter on what's fresh or immediately eye catching, and unfortunately Pirates are seemingly a bit long in the tooth this round. So I could really use your vote, if you think my entry deserves it.  Overall its been a great first time LPL, I was shooting for a top 10 finish..but dont think I can pull it off without winning this last round...

HMGS Midwest- Little Wars 2012

 I made a quick afternoon trip out to Little Wars in St Charles, IL yesterday. Never having been before I was interested purely as a spectator in on a couple fronts, mainly to see how one of these events operates from Historical gaming side of the aisle and also to (what else?, shop Historical miniatures!) Couple weird things going on, 1) this event has a cross pollination of some of gaming you see at Adepticon. being a week after Adepticon this is very odd. In fact the scheduled WFB tournament had ZERO registrants (we saw Rob the organizer there) there was also a Privateer Press event run by my pal, Felix who never ceases to get the bodies there, Adepticon just last week or not. I stopped by the table and he had probably a dozen players.  And # 2) for the size room they had there where alot of empty tables there, while we arrived late in the day, so it possible alot of there events where completed but for Saturday afternoon I was looking for a bit more in the tables and terrain department, I was a little let down there.

Our main goal (since we weren't signed up for any events) was to check out the vendor hall. unlike Adepticon where vendor space is very limited. and probably less than 10% of the total floor space Here it takes up probably 40% of the event including the flea market room. This was pretty awesome. I because of way vendors bring the ton of stuff there alot just in bags..I could have literally spent all day in the vendor hall rummaging thru various things. Out initial hunt was for various Historical miniatures that you just cant get a good feel for from the various websites or just arent pictured. We saw alot of usual suspects, we were both kind of looking for some classical antiquity 15mm Historicals as the subject has come up for our next Hail Ceasar campaign. However we totally struck out there. I did find alot of metal Crusader blisters (which you cant get in the US anymore, you know have to order overseas)  at good  prices however it wasnt enough to get me to invest because I couldn't find two of the same blister of anything I wanted (as in enough to make a unit) Hank from Gorgon was out with a great display showing Gorgon's fantastic stuff. I am eyeing a bunch of different Gorgon's 28's depending on what period we settle on next but since he's local it's not tough to get.

 ( awesome skirmish table , no idea what they where playing but love the table)


Then we stumbled up the Iron Wind metals both who currently does Battletech but also has all the old Ral Partha molds and still casts and sell them..It was a Fantasy/ Sci-fi- / Pirates geeks- miniatures paradise- thousands and thousands of loose pewter models in buckets going for $2 an ounce. Some  seriously great stuff in there, Once Chris and I got a load of that..we were finished and we spent the rest of time there scouring stuff...I found some kick ass. Orc's from probably late 80'early 90's. I think these are Bob Olley sculpts as they look very similar to my Reaper Orcs..anyway I got 14 of them for $20. Chris picked a mix of Pirates and Fantasy Figs...we spaced out on the flee market room and by the time we got there they where packing up..bummer as it looked like there was alot of cool stuff  there. Next year I am making this a priority to get out there the first. if its not right on top of Adepticon or we dont get a Hail Caesar tourney to make the Adepticon cut next year..this might be the thing to do.

 As an aside, I was speaking to the Iron Wind gent a bit about this insane amount of figures and the amount of molds there must be..he tells me alot of the stuff 75% of it isnt even on the website..where they might so 5 poses of something but really there are 20..I did some digging and found this interesting article on Iron Wind . HERE. Battletech is currently experiencing some growth I've seen so expect these guys around for awhile which is cool with the old Ral Partha coming along for the ride.

Finally I wanted to show this awesome 15mm game I saw.  We've been taking about 15mm for size consideration and expense when jumping around to different periods with Historicals. I quickly realize the trap. Yeah figs are cheaper..but once you get the bug..you just start expanding the game size as the scale get smaller. Currently in Hail Caesar we run three divisions of 300 points. We've been talking going 4 division or 400 points.. because it removes the 3 division triangle where games can implode quickly due to bad event (like strong flank push with multiple sweeping advances) with 4 Divisions these quirky game enders based on bad luck are minimized so for a more balanced game we've talking about 4 Divisions. Due to excessive model counts four divisions at 28mm maxes out an 8 foot table really quick, I say its basically playable but too crowded, if you really want to use alot of Cavalry and use them effectively. SO-  15mm solves that problem. BUT The new problem, as perfectly illustrated above is once you go 15mm, if you are like us the next thing you know, you are saying " hey well instead of 4 divisions a side", lets do 6, then 8, or even 10....Arghh...something to seriously consider.

LPL 6- Round 9 Zombie Pirates

Round 9 has begun over at the LAF for Lead Painters League Season 6.


Yay- my above entry "The Hunt for Rex Eleven"  won this time out by a pretty good margin against another excellent entry. Its disappointing I had to re-run it...but as its lost to the LPL "painting assassin"
(meaning you draw him , you lose as he looking at 9-0 so far) first time around and it was Adepticon week, I didn't have much choice by to re-run. For week 9. I reach into my very shallow Privateer Press shelf and pull out some select figures from my Revenant Crew and Blackbanes Ghost Raiders for my entry "Crew of the Atramentous"  This one is going to be another squeaker I am in the lead currently but its really close. so please go vote. Next week is final round..being its the Maritime bonus round I have something special planned as long as I can take the photos to do it justice.

LPL Season 6, Rnd 8 Redux

Round 8 has begun over at the LAF for Lead Painters League Season 6.


Above is my entry for last round, *Green Magic* which somehow pulled out of vote by vote dead heat to squeak out winning by ONE vote...a margin of 1-5 votes is a draw and I finished 6 votes ahead. Due to Adepticon, I had to re-run my round 2 Entry "The Hunt for Rex Eleven" one of my better entries
it lost to the fellow who is going to win the whole thing probably going 10-0. so I wanted to re run it at some point. I got a very solid draw this week from a very good painter and "Rex" is cruising with a comfortable lead, let that not discourage your voting however as there is still alot of great new stuff posted. Still shooting for finishing in the top ten in this thing...and I just might be able to do it, as lady luck has smiled on me of late as I will talk about in my next post!

LPL Season 6, Rnd 7. Appendix N Fantasy

Round 7 has begun over at the LAF for Lead Painters League Season 6.

Above is my round winning entry "Servants of the Spider Queen" which is also a preview of my upcoming Adepticon Army for the Lord of the Rings Championships taking place this coming Friday. With the release of the "Warbands" rules..I could reconfigure my Cirith Ungol army to feature more diverse units so my list now features Spiders, Spectres, Orc Trackers. Morgul Stalkers ,along with Orcs , Uruk Hai and of course, Shelob...I'll get out a shot of the whole package before the event.
So if took to the time to vote for Servants, Thanks!

As for round 7, my current entry is entitled Green Magic  in an ode to the worlds oldest role playing game and its "Appendix N" bibliography, of which I am a huge fan of ( more so than I ever was the game), but admittedly it was the gateway to  wargaming to me and although I have
not played it since 1st Edition, those images and style of "Old School Fantasy" are aesthetically certainly what I gravitate to with this hobby.  I do read alot of the RPG blogs because of the fantasy miniature cross over, and all the retro clones of the 1st Edition game the last 5 years or so are pretty cool. You got love to the hobbyist- self-published world taking their hobby back from the corporate stupidity of always trying to mass market everything to the lowest common denominator. This of course goes on in the miniatures hobby as well, but its cool to see in RPG world the big boys actually get their market share threatened, which doesnt really happen in the miniatures world.. ( I'll save my "Corporate Hobbies Suck" editorial for another time..)

As I look at the fiction section of my bookshelf, Tolkien, Howard, Moorcock, Vance, etc..., and continue work on my own Skirmish game (more on this soon, I know I keep saying that..but seriously)  It's certainly satisfying to see all these little aspects of your hobbies/ interests come together.

Anyway check out *Green Magic* which is in close heat this week so I need your vote- if you think its better that its competition. I am 3-3 after 6 rounds..if I want to finish in the top ten, I need win the remaining 4 rounds...a tall order.

LPL Season 6, Rnd 6. Home in Middle Earth

Round 6 has begun over at the LAF for Lead Painters League Season 6

Above is my 5th round entry, "Arnor, before the war"  New Photos and touch ups but some of the figures are certainly familiar to anyone who frequents here.  This won by a huge margin, so if you bothered to vote, you have my thanks!. My follow up entry, "Servants of the Spider Queen" features Shelob and some of my newest figures for my re-tooled Mordor list I am running at the Adepticon 2012, Lord of the Rings Championships which is right around the corner.

My spiders and their undead minions seem to be sharing similar success as Aragorn, Gandalf and the boys above, but since I am trying to climb my way back out of the bottom half of the leader board, please go vote!, as always there is some fantastic stuff this round, no matter your taste. It's somewhat fitting that the Tolkien stuff is whats pulling me up to a tie 3-3 record going in the last 4 rounds. While my round 10 entry is well planned out, not sure what I am going to do for 7, 8 and 9.

If you're a regular here, you might have noticed there is basically zero Adepticon talk going on this year other than some mentions in these posts. That's because its a very light year for me. Real life has me very busy, and I have had little time for my hobbies..my Adepticon army for LotR still isnt done, I am sure I will be working on all the way up to a few days before, plus I am trying to 3 color paint a whole of my Saxons for some historical demos on Saturdays... I will be there Thursday Night, Friday all day and Saturday night for those of you that want to catch up and say hi.

LPL Season 6, Rnd 5. Worlds of Tolkien

Round 5 has begun over the LAF for Lead Painters League season 6  

Above is my 4rd Round entry "Red Planet" which again lost, but much closer this time 136 to 197..I think the painting , composition, where about equal this time around..so it was clearly a matter of personal taste. I can see where people start to slack off over the duration of this, getting a quality,new entry in every week is insanely tough. Fortunately for me this weeks bonus round is the Worlds of J.R.R Tolkien and I have lots of painted Lord of the Rings models, and have been working on LotR models constantly . My current entry, titled *Arnor, before the War*  is currently winning by a huge margin, so I should climb back up the ladder a bit with the bonus points. after losing Rounds 2, 3 and 4. I could use a rebound.  I do have a couple more LotR entries, ( Some of my Adepticon army for this year is coming up next,) then some Dark Ages, and some more Fantasy models coming. Plus the next  bonus round is round 10 and its a Maritime theme..I am going Pirates all the way.

LPL Season 6, Rnd 4- Art is subjective

Round 4 has begun over the LAF for Lead Painters League season 6  

Above is my 3rd Round entry which lost 369 to 91.  I am somewhat conflicted here, not so much by the loss - but the lopsided score. As someone whose done plenty of paint judging I find both my entry and my opponents  equal in technical skill, although I might give myself a slight edge in the fiddly details where armored knights get a break when your using metallic paints versus say going for well done non-metallic metals. Regardless I got stomped..hence the art is subjective tag.

Here is another shot I didnt submit of my round 3 entry where I felt the lighting was a little more flattering, not sure if that would make a difference or not.

Now we're off to the races in round 4, My entry is entitled "Red Planet"..again the terrain will be familiar to those that follow the blog.  This round admittedly was somewhat a filler entry for me as its 15mm stuff and its hard to push the painting boundaries there against even average 28mm stuff.
needless to say its currently losing 2 to 1 against some average 28mm stuff.  I am not letting frustration take me down yet..my next entry is very solid ( worlds of Tolkien bonus round) and I am re-entering my round 2 submission at some point that just got a really tough match up. .Post Adepticon, I am going to try to knock out 3 new entries, and the last round has huge bonuses points for a Maritime theme and diorama..quite convenient for the guy with all the Pirate miniatures...I still think I can finish respectably in this thing when its all said and done. wish me luck and of course go vote!.

LPL Season 6, Round 3 Ces't la vie

Round 3 has begun over at the LAF for Lead Painters League Season 6

Here is my round 2 Losing entry " The hunt for Rex Eleven" which lost 158 votes to 324. Once again in Round 3 I draw another another great painter against my entry "Just another dungeon" totally kicking myself because I have been second guessing my lighting in my submitted photo as I didnt think it was that flattering, and I just didnt have time to go setting everything back up again to reshoot.  Now, up against an a great entry, I am getting killed around 5 votes to 1. Little details like that can make all the difference that's how stiff this competition can be. I'm probably going to resubmit a couple of these entries late in the competition, which is totally ok to do, its just you dont get the the extra 10 , "newly painted" bonus points.. doing really requires you gambling on whether you think you entry is good enough that you'll get more than 100 votes as that about what 10 points is worth. This is a tough and awesome contest...There is nothing like it out there that I have seen.
So go check it out.

In other news while these weekly contest updates are somewhat fillerish, I do have someother hobby stuff going on. "Real Life" has totally sabotaged Adepticon for me this year and I am only playing in one event, The Lord of the Rings Championships, in which I have at a snails pace been working on redoing a bunch of my current Cirith Ungol army to correspond with the new "Warbands" format.
I need to get some pictures going there and will soon!.

LPL Season 6, Round 2!!

Round 2 has begun over at the LAF for Lead Painters League Season 6
My round 2 entry ("The hunt for Rex Eleven") will be familar territory for those of you who follow this blog, its 28mm Sci Fi figs on my Hirst "Hulk" Terrain.
 
Above here is my Round 1 entry. "Wizards Circle" from the Old Grenadier Gold Box AD&D line circa 1980, I still remember buying these guys when I was 13.. These guys won by wide margin in Round with 363 votes to my opponents 73..so if you bothered to vote either way thanks!

I could use your input again, I got an insane tough draw this round against one of last year finalists and clearly one of the best painters on the forum and with "Rex Eleven" being one of my best entries, its too bad it's most likely going to lose as it currently being beaten by an over 2 to 1 margin on day one . There are not alot of come from behind victories in this thing as the first days voting usually dictates the initial impression. Win or lose the more votes you get is good for the overall score, so do me a favor and yourself a favor by not missing out on all the awesomeness of LPL6 and go check it out!

Painters Alert!

Lead Painters League Season 6 went live today at the Lead Adventure Forum with 46 participants from all over the hobbysphere. Do yourself a favor and at least check out the entries or better yet sign up and vote!. My Round 1 entry is entitled *Wizards Circle* and features 5 Wizards from the Grenadier AD&D gold box from 1980, they are up against some cool old school dwarf Gyrocopters. While my Wizard's have a comfortable lead, its only day one and voting goes all week, so check it out and vote for whatever you think is best!.  Go Old Lead!

Lead Painters League Season 6

If you're reading my Blog and are not familiar with the Lead Adventure forum. Then I am not doing justice in talking enough about one of the best places in the nether-sphere to get your fill of  awesome lead and hobby. I was lurker for years before actually posting my own stuff, the forum has a somewhat different vibe that say CMON, or the WAMP forum. It's almost purposely Anti-GW, not in a "bash and troll" sort of way but in the "he who shall not be named' or a "been there done that" sort of way. While various eras of Citadel miniatures do certainly make their appearances, you would not be hanging your hat there looking for photos of the newest Space Wolves releases . You want to see  awesome Pirate ships or swashbuckling towns, Zulu Warriors fighting British Colonials or Near Future Apocalypse games than LAF is for you. Its different from say CMON, in that while the Talent bar is very high, its frequented by more of the middle aged guys with beards and lead fetishes, then say professional miniature artists, so its very much a niche forum in that respect. Anyway its one of the few places I frequent that while I contribute rarely, it just feels like it "fits".

Lead Painters League is years contest now in Season 6 held over at LAF, with this year quickly filling up its 50 spots. Its comprised of 10 weeks of submitted entries of Teams of at least 5 Painted miniatures in a particular scene that are voted on by the fellow members. Yes, you read that right its  50 miniatures in 10 weeks if you want to enter all 10 rounds (you dont have to) ...obviously unless you have alot of free time on your hands or are a speed painter, a person could spend all year working on getting ready for this, Not for big prizes. there are none. but simply for the love of the hobby and the competition of showing off your own stuff against other great stuff.

I was fortunate enough to make the submission deadline this year, and since you're not supposed to previously show off the entries, I am using a certain section of miniatures I have not been showing off on the blog much for anything with my initial 3 entries. Some of my better (non GW) stuff of the last five years is filtering its way in I still probably end up doing 15 or so brand new models for the contest over the ten weeks, the remaining stuff is from my current finished collection, you'll certainly recognize the terrain I am using as my back drop as the Dungeon and Space (warehouse) Hulk and Pirate Town will be making numerous appearances as background scenery.

Anyway I find this contest particularly inspiring so I wanted to take note. The entries for round 1 will be posted this Sunday on Lead Adventure Forum..and of course if you wanted to register and vote, I believe that would be encouraged and you would not be disappointed. Several of the rounds are Themed for bonus points. Round 1 is entitled "old lead" encouraging entries from before 1991, never one to disappoint in something called "old lead" I went back to late 79-80 with my entry.