A Cold Wars Friday Post

 So it's Friday here in Gettysburg, PA. For me, Gettysburg is a combination of Disney, unlimited ammunition for my Lee-Enfield rifle, and baked beans and brown bread for breakfast with an endless side of fried cod. 

Right. I'm a history nerd. 

So it's Cold Wars, the wintery mix of a con for HMGS and it should be a rocking day of hot dice and cold tonics with lots of back and forth across the table. 

Except it's not. I had exactly one person show up for an eight-player game. 

We had a lovely chat and he went off to find another game with a promise of a slot for tomorrow's edition. 

Now, it's great to see friends and jaw about lead and history, but it would have been nice to run my game today. 

Anyway. 

I managed to get my town for the game done this morning in the hotel room over my morning coffee.... 

Made of Monopoly replacement parts and beer mats, with some paint and flock, it turned out okay... 

The town of Tarball, North Carolina awaiting its fate... The steamer "Dixie" at the landing... 

My game in all its glory. 

And, just for today, my contribution to The Resistance. If this offends, I do apologize, but given the current state of affairs here in Doodle Land, one cannot expect me NOT to say SOMETHING. 

Today was a day of retail protest, and I did oblige. Buyer beware... 

The price of Freedom is not free. My 34 years of continuous service to this country should be proof enough of that. 

Now, back to toy soldiers and a hopefully more vibrant Cold Wars report tomorrow. 

Weekend Update

Well, it's still Winter Quarters here in the Duchy, but that doesn't mean things haven't been moving along, albeit slower than desired. 

Her Royal Highness, Fiddles, doing what she does best

With COLD WARS less than a week away, I have some small details that I need to finish for my games. I'll be running two 1/600th scale ACW Naval games, one Friday and one more Saturday. I did need to construct a town as part of the scenery. 

I used old beer mats and Monopoly houses purchased on Amazon. Tomorrow I'll start painting and tarting up the bases. 

Ideally, I'd like to get some fields and farms using the same materials. 

And for the game, I will christen a brand-new sea cloth.... 

Purchased from the soon-to-be-closed Jo-Ann Fabrics. This is a 2-yard piece. I'd like to get another 1-yard cut of the same material, for smaller games. And there is an excellent colour for a ground cloth in the same material. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to pick some of that up before it all goes bye-bye. 

Finally, in addition to my Cod Wars ships, I've been working on a New Project for The Portable Wargame rules. 

Napoleonic Imagi-Nations

Useable for both TPNW and A Gentleman's War

No, I haven't hit my noggin. I have been a devotee of The Portable Wargame series of rules for some time. I also had a collection of figures that were gifted to me. But they were British Napoleonics and I had no opponents. And they were old true 25mm figures to boot. 

Well, after seeing some other blogs and getting some other ideas, I decided to grab a couple of job lots of true 25mm mixed Napoleonics. But I hate the period. So.... I decided to go the Imagi-Nation route. 

I'm basing mine on uniforms from the French Revolution and from small Italian and German states. 

Not sure where this is going to go, but we'll see. So long as I'm rolling dice and pushing lead... meh. 

It's Hockey Night (Last) Night

So the NHL replaced its time tested, previous All-Star game format with a four nations tourney style mini-series. Ahhhhh.... meh. 

I'm not exactly fond of the format, but it was great to watch Brad Marchand and some other truly amazing players. Binnington was creaky in goal. But he's held up Lord Stanley's Cup and I never made it past playing shinny. 

Sadly, due to graduate school classes and a very busy work week, I was unable to watch last night, but I heard it was a real corker of a game. 

And, just like in the song from Stompin' Tom Conners, the Canadians won... 

I'll raise you a cup of Tim's with some maple goodness to sweeten it with. Good on ya, lads! 

Now, let's see how my Bruins do after this PAUSEX. 

The Good Old Hockey Game

Weekend Update

 Er....well, maybe a BIT late on that one. 

We lost electricity last night about 9pm, as a windstorm came raging through the Duchy. No real damage to us, but there are bit and bobs down everywhere. Power came back on sometime late this morning. 

Prior to those festivities, I did manage to finish off my trawlers and such before turning in for the night. 

I suppose I should have moved the other denizens off the painting table to keep from being a distraction in the background. This gives me a total of six trawlers (3 stern and 3 side) and two OSVs (Offshore Supply Vessels) to bedevil the Icelandic Coast Guard, along with one Support Tug. 

Now, I've got my four Royal Navy vessels to finish off and I'll be done with my ships for the Cod Wars. 

Of course, I couldn't let this subject lie, without bringing forth a great Newfie song about, well, cod...

Enjoy. 

Weekend Update

A quick dash home during the PAUSEX to do see Herself and do some laundry, also found some recents buys waiting for me. Some of them are related to my graduate courses, but two were not.

 25mm Minifigs...<ahem> Napoleonic French

Now before we all run off screaming and calling for an investigation and a committee to commit me to an insane asylum, let me be clear. This is NOT the start of some massive project, nor have I suddenly been whacked on the coconut. I am a devotee of The Portable Wargame series of rules and I have the Napoleonic variant that I've used for both 18th century and 19th century games. 

A number of years ago, a friend, Joe S., a fellow member of the Society of Daisy, gifted me some British Napoleonic figures painted somewhat in an Imagi-Nation style. They have lain dormant, unbased, but painted. I could not in good conscience part with them. So, the next best thing was to acquire an opponent for them. The sticky bit was they needed to be "true" 25mm figures. 

A fortunate find on TMP led me to pull the trigger and purchase these. I am now only in the need of artillery and gunners and maybe a dozen generals to complete this project. 

And speaking of the kindness and generosity of friends....

A package arrived from Blighty from my friend Brian C., with a very nice donation of vehicles for my Irish Civil War project. The Crossley tenders will be converted to Gub'mint use, but I might keep the staff car in its original colours. Many thanks, Brian! 

Now...to pack up the overnight bag with fresh laundry and go back to the Digital Wars of Peace. 

Moving On...

Last year I decided to run a couple of games of "What A Tanker" at Historicon with "Hollywood Goes To Historicon" or some such being the theme. I chose to run the tank battle in North Africa from the movie "Patton" and the part of that dog of a movie "Battle of the Bulge" where Telly Savalas and his troop of Chaffee light tanks find themselves fighting with Tigers. 

For the Bulge, I went with a simple flat cloth. But there were some ridges in the battle in "Patton" which were kind of important and distinctive. I needed hills, but the cost of buying pre-made terrain was prohibitive. 

And then I saw an article somewhere on using foam rubber, like the type used in seat cushions...

A trip to Wally World found me with four pieces of the right size and thickness (about an inch thick) to make into hills. 

Some few cuts later with a pair of scissors and I had the basic pieces I needed. A trip to Home Depot for a sample pot of a terra cotta yellowish-brown yielded the colour I wanted. 

The foam soaked up a large amount of paint and when I did my corner pieces, I had to buy a second pot. But the effect was wonderful. I did a tan dry brush on the slopes just to break up the outline a bit. 

Simple and fairly cheap. The process has potential for other colours, like green and for adding flock or sand if I really wanted to jazz it up. I am rather pleased with the simple effect, though. 

As a friend of mine likes to say "Works for me..."

Inauguration Day

Der Tag kommen. 

All Hail Herr Pumpkinfuhrer. 

I shall say no more on the subject, as I am a serving Warrant Officer, albeit in the National Guard. But no cretin will call me a "sucker and a loser".

I should think my obvious snark and contempt should be sufficient. But I still have a career and a clearance to consider. 

Finis.