Back in the saddle!

But not painting.
Still working on a few chainmail projects and they're coming along nicely in my spare time - but what's really been devouring my minutes these past weeks has been two things, two things that I've been really nervous and incredibly excited about!

First, my best (or at least my baldest) friend is coming over from England and we're giving him a tour of the Yanktastic States. Secondly, and most busyingly, I've been working on prep and development of my own world and AD&D(1st) campaign.  While I don't take enough notes for a campaign diary, I did want to give a few shoutouts on the one-in-a-million chance that those people actually read this.

Andy - Your characters always come alive, and Corbin is no exception.  It's a joy to hear him preach to the poor, unsuspecting cultists brigands.

Val - My wife and my inspiration (by inspiration, I mean the one who tells me to do things and I do them). First time ever playing a fighter and you pick a savage, violent Russian?  No wonder I married you!

Lisa - First time ever playing AD&D, and with a (very) strange group. You did marvelously and I hope you'll continue to join us again and again.

Pete & Tes - Sorry about the poison!  But, as always, it's a pleasure to have you guys with us.

David - My brother and up there with the best friends I've ever had.  You got me into this D&D thing all those years ago, you even gifted me with my first books. I'll be eternally grateful for this, and the world as it develops is dedicated to you. Don't break it too much!


Anyway - because of the geographic disparity in our group (Colorado - New Jersey - Great Britain) we used a program called GameTable to manage our dice rolls and help offer pictures and graphics to my players. I think it worked surprisingly well - we were all first-time users and gradually we got more used to it. I'll certainly be using it more often, or at least when it comes to the most complex of combats, anyway.  We also used our old Ventrilo server to handle voice communications - everyone came through crystal clear for me, and hopefully they weren't too put off by the headsets they wore.

It was my first time DMing a campaign in over ten years, and while the responsibility is terrifying (I'm a wuss, don'tchaknow) I had a huge amount of fun and I think the players seemed to enjoy it too.

 I wonder when they'll work out just what this 'darkness' is?

Chain mail

No, not THAT kind of Chainmail. I mean the real stuff, made of steel and made by burly bearded men in leather aprons.

The name of this blog isn't by random choice. I make chain and mail, both as a hobby for myself and by rare commission for people who want cool little doodads like dice bags, clothing and random bits of chains. If you need chain mail hosiery for a loved one, captive child, pet or real doll, now is the time to order it... Or something, anyway. I figured that as I hadn't actually posted anything about any of my chain work I should show some off. Now's the time to do that simply because I've gotten into a few projects for people before the holiday seasons so have put a few other hobbies aside for a while to pick up my tools again for a bit.

Here's a couple pictures of bits of steel in odd shapes I've either done or am currently working on. It's not much, but nothing's worse than anything else.

No minis!?

No, Joe, this isn't a flagrant plagiarism of your own blog post... Well, MAYBE it is, but anyway.

I spent today pushing around pieces and hanging out with some jolly fine chaps. No miniatures were involved, although vast amounts of cardboard chits were. I may have spent 90% of the time trying to worm miniatures into every single game, but it was still a marvelous time.  I'd never really paid a huge amount of attention to these games before, except when I was randomly designing my own Master of Magic inspired board battle-games aged 8, so it was a great thing to finally play and watch others play some of the games that make up the history of what led to the rise and popularity of miniatures wargaming.

And damnit if it wasn't a heck of a lot of fun! True, the people helped, just like D&D we spend as much time laughing and talking about related subjects as we do pushing counters around. That's what gaming's all about, kids! I even won my very first game. I'm clearly some sort of tactical savant-genius (or just damn lucky, which is probably more true than anything else I've ever said)!

Here's pictorial evidence of the final turn before my opponent conceded defeat (arguably with just cause, I was playing red). Warning on click-through, it's a BIG picture.

Update!

Because I'm feeling guilty about not updating (and bad about not painting more), I figured I should post a few things on my painting table that are not anywhere near finished, or worth seeing, just because I can. So, here they are. A Centurion and a Victor (eventually to be from the Magistracy of Canopus 2nd Canopian Fusiliers), and a Warhammer IIC and Madcat from Clan Jade Falcon's Sigma Galaxy.

They look terrible, and the pictures aren't any good (damnit Jim, I'm a painter, role-player and writer, not a photographer!), especially close-up, but the Magistracy 'mechs are also due several more coats and the Clan Jade Falcon fellows are barely even started. I'm sure they'll look better when done.  Still working on these, and the 1:1200 Trafalgar/Age of Sail ships... And the myriad of 15mm stuff. I'm slow, deal with it!

Anyway, pictures. Do the clicky thing.

FINALLY!

After a week of feeling like crap, then losing my camera battery charger (and having a dead battery) I finally have something to show, and yet after all of the wait it's still only a small handful of miniatures. Still, I have to say that I'm really quite happy (and, dare I say it, proud?) of what I get to show off. 

First up, here's the first of the 15mm figures I've ever painted. It's a special gift piece I did for Joe, a good friend and DM of the AD&D campaign I play in (and steal inspiration from). Behold, Ranger Joe!





The others done to date are a base worth of 15mm heavy Dwarf Infantry, which will be based and possibly used under the FoG/modified FoG rules and are painted in colours appropriate for the armies of Greyhawk.They're finished, though they're not mounted on their appropriate base simply because I was mind-fartingly stupid and didn't think to get any with my order! As they stand, they'll sit on the cardboard I PVA'd them onto to paint them until I get bases. Besides, finishing basing them will give me another reason to post an update!

Next up on the painting table, aside from the Blood Bowl teams that are STILL not done, are a trio of Battletech mechs. A Warhammer, a Centurion and a Victor. While I'm still grumpy about various sounds coming out from Catalyst, the miniatures are certainly pretty.  In addition to those are a pair of 1:1200 scale age of sail Royal Navy ships (a First Rate, Royal Anne, and a Fifth Rate, Phoenix, which are likely not to be finished soon, damn rigging...) and a few more bases worth of Dwarfs.  Told you I have miniature ADD.

New stuff, coming soon.

No, really.

The charger for my digital camera, however, has died. So, while managing to scrape the pictures of the last few finished minis with the last of the battery power was fine, the uploading isn't possible until I can either (miraculously) find the spare charger or get a new one.

As we say in our D&D group - DAMN.

Anyway, coming up are a few 15mm painted figures, with maybe some heroic 28mm/30mm stuff that deserves it's picture being taken. Stay tuned!

Ugh.

Right, I'm not actually avoiding this blog, honest.  I've come down with another of my intermittent (simple) episcleritis attacks. I'm hugely sensitive to light at the moment, have a devil of a headache, using a computer hurts like ten tapdancing bison going at it in my head, even being near my painting lamp is excruciating. I've not picked up a paint brush in a week, hence nothing to post here.

Hopefully, all will be resolved in a week or so, we'll see. I want to finish off the (not so secret) Ranger Joe figure, as well as at least one base of Dwarves (as well as starting the other fifteen I cleaned up). Although... Hmm. It might be amusing to be going to D&D like a very hung over rock star.

15mm...or not?

As promised, here's a comparison shot between some naked (oo-er!) metal Black Raven Foundry Rangers and Dwarves (columns two and four, respectively) alongside some Old Glory 15 Norman dismounted Milites and Saxon Hirdsmen (one and three).  The squares on the tile beneath are one inch, for scale.

As you can see (I'm sure you can click through or use some other intertubes wizardry to see the larger image) the Rangers are taller, and the Dwarves seem incredibly tall. Oh well. I like the Dwarves and the Rangers next to one another (and the test Dwarves are being painted up nicely, updates on those to come by the weekend, I hope). True, they don't mix perfectly with the historicals, but you'd be hard pressed to find a mini line that scales perfectly even with itself, so I'm not too terribly fussed.  Besides, when I'm looking top-down on them, I really don't see much of a difference, and that's what matters most to me when I'm gaming.


Additional content warning: Trees.  I've been spending a little time putting together some pine forests. Well, the trees for the frosty pine forests, anyway. Enjoy another fancy picture-ma-bob that also gives all you voyeur-types a peek at part of my desk (and reveals my adoring allegiance to Vallejo paints).  I have to chop up some stands for these, mount the trees, paint and flock bases then produce some foamboard bases for the little stands to play on. It should look pretty nifty when done. Rest assured, you'll have pictures.

It's ARRIVED... Well, sorta.

My consignment of Field of Glory books have arrived!  It's a good sign that, on first glance of them, the rules seem mostly clear and concise, and the companion books only want to make me get the rest of them. I'm looking forward to clumsily playing my way through the first handful of games with my Frost Barbarians Anglo-Saxons.

Also... Happy 15mm painting fun time! Well, soon at least. My miniatures have arrived and I'm sure I'll be spending large parts of Wednesday night going through them all in some obsessive-compulsive fit that has me sorting out each individual sculpt of miniature into a box with it's fellows so I can try to make the optimal balance of miniatures for each base.  Yeah, I really am obsessive compulsive enough to be worried about actually doing that.

No newly-painted miniatures to update this with, unless you want pictures of half a dozen primed Beastmen or a Minotaur (you can blame reading the FoG books and playing Elemental for that), but if people bitch at me enough I'll end up posting new pictures of old miniatures just to shut folks up who DEMAND CONTENT. You jerks. In the meantime, I'll leave you with an answer to a question a few people of late have asked me.  No, I'm not going to elaborate, but I will say yes, I have played it and, sad to say, with the way most people seem to approach 4e play I think contracting herpes from a brazen strumpet* would be more fun.  Are all you questioning chappies happy now?  Good.


*Bonus I <3 U points go to anyone recognising that particular reference.

BALLS!

No, really. Balls. 

Okay, admittedly they weren't strictly mentioned as being "on my painting table" or anything, but  I'm entitled to change my mind whenever I damn well please.  Besides, what game of Blood Bowl is complete without a huge, spiky ball, or even a vast, bouncy pair?

I did actually get around to also painting some other miniatures, too. This time, they were actually on the list! Behold the last two Chaos Warriors for my (fourth) team. Just for a change, I'm even thinking of fully painting these ones, too. Those that know me from the Old Country actually died of shock just there, so that cut my readership down from three to one. Damnit.

Oh, yeah, and I better add a picture of the Chaos Warriors (badly taken, but sod it, y'know?). They're not exactly the best of jobs, just a simple, clean once-over, but they had to match the previous two which were done... Uh... Eight, no, ten years ago. I like to think my techniques (if not my actual lack of raw talent) has improved since then.

As a final aside, I want to plug Vallejo paints. Cheaper than GW paints (huzzah! Not that it's actually hard to be cheaper than theirs) but really an excellent formula.  Easy to mix, easy to smooth down, I really was comfortable working with them and a palette. Right, that's enough free advertising space. Here's a closeup of my shiny red ball to finish.

State of the table address

Right!  So, actually time for putting down what's on my painting table right now.  With my painting ADD though, there's no guarantee that this is what will get painted next, that's all down to my lunatic mu... Ooh, shiny!

In no particular order, we have:

• Chaos Blood Bowl Team. Touchups on two Chaos Warriors, primer on 6 Beastmen, one Minotaur, 6 more Beastmen and one Chaos Warrior star player not started.
• Human Blood Bowl Team. Touchups and finishing touches on five models,
• 13 Dwarf Ironbreakers. Primered.
• One Imperial Greatsword (human fighter RP character). Primered.
• One Goblin Shaman (Goblin RP character). Primered.

Besides all them, I'm looking forward to getting some new 15mm figures (Dwarves and Anglo-Saxons) which were somewhat inspired by Joe Bloch's Armies of Greyhawk posts and the AD&D campaign he's running. Well, that and the fact that I don't need that many reasons to buy even more miniatures.

ZOMG FIRST POST!!!!1`1~``

I've never been fond of blogging. I mean, some people can do it because they've got interesting stuff to say and in that regard blogging has become an invaluable tool for being able to spread intelligent words to the masses... Then there's the 95% of the blogosphere who really, really, really want to tell people about their bloody dog, or share baby pictures or explain some incredibly vacuous reason as to why they hate celebrity so and so, or politician X, Y or Z... No, no they can't get away with it. And yes, yes I am a grumpy old bastard. These are things you will have to deal with should you actually read this blog.


Oh, and before I get anyone commenting that I can't get away with it because I don't really have anything insightful or useful to post, you're right, I can't. This is going to be a pointless and silly blog, existing for the purpose of me showing off (or being publicly humiliated by) my chain mail work, my painting, drawings, writings or anything else I have created that I feel like showing off.