Back from Origins

I went to Origins last week in Columbus Ohio. I was only able to go for Friday, but still had a great time. Shopping was good, but I was suprised by the lack of historical miniture companies. Last time I was at Origins (12-15 years ago...) there seemed to be alot more historical games and vendors.
I played in the DBA 15mm open tournament using my Norman army and placed in the bottom third with 1 win and 2 losses. There are subtleties in the rules that take some time to get used to.

I fielded the following army:
III/51 Normans (~1066AD)
1x3 Knights (General)
6x3 Knights
1x2 Light Horse
2x4 Spear
2x2 Psiloi

The 2 losses were against an army with 3 elephants (Indian?) and an army with lots of bow. Both elephants and bow kill knights if the beat them at all (quick kill). The only thing I had that would work against the elephants was psiloi, which was not a winning strategy. Against the army with the bow I ended up having knights scattered all over and the spear locked in a fight to the death with the other armies spear. I lost my general and then the dice decided to go on vacation. Oh well.
After reviewing the army list I think I will swap one knight for a cavalry and one psiloi for a bow. This should give me a little more flexibility to deal with armies with bow. Elephants, well, that is a whole different problem. (I don't think William the Conquorer had to deal with elephants...)

My folks are coming to visit for a few days so I won't get much done on miniatures, but Dad and I are planning to play some DBA and maybe some Don't Give Up the Ship or Trafalgar.

Here is the pallisade camp and followers. The camp did not turn out as well I would like, but it's usable, which is just in time for Origins this week. Tomorrow the followers get flocking and then packed to go.

Camp Followers

Here are the camp followers for my palisade camp (the 2 in front).
To the right are some of the command figures for the army.
Behind is some of the spearmen for the same army. I am trying to do more interesting shields for this group. The 4 all the way in back I am planning to paint family coats of arms, both of my families and both from my wifes' family. (If I can paint lions rampant on this small of a shield...)

The camp is progressing well, it came out of the 'sculpy oven' just before dinner. I will post a picture later.

Norman Light Horse

Here are 3 elements of Light Horse waiting for the flock to dry on the bases.
These are part of the 15mm Norman armies I am working on for DBA.

As I sit here typing this out I begin to wonder, which list needs 3 or 4 Light Horse elements? After looking at the army lists I realize that these elements allow me to field 102b Bretons and 102c/134 Normans at the same time. I don't remember planning it this way but, I did buy these in the mid to late 90's.

I am still using the army lists from ver. 1.1, but I hope to pick up a copy of 2.2 at Origins this week.

64 gun SOL

Work in progress:
This is a 64 gun SOL, 1/2000 from Valiant.
The hull is finished and the sails are progressing.
This little project is serving as filler for when I am tired of whatever is the current "main" project.
This is also why it has taken 2 months to get here.
And in the background is the mess I like to call a "painting table".

Normans for DBA

15mm Normans (left to right, front to back)
3 elements of Spear
6 elements of Knights and 1 element of Knights with the General
3 elements of Cavalry, 1 element of Light Horse, 2 elements of Auxilia (spear and shield)
1 element of Crossbow
5 elements of Psiloi

In back there are 12 spear and another mounted command in process.
On the left there are sails for a 64 gun ship of the line, also in process.

This is all of the Normans that are finished, which includes army 102c with almost all variants (3 elements of Crossbow are waiting on final clear coat.)
This also includes 2 elements of Auxilia for army 134. I have Psiloi and Crossbow waiting for final clear coat (maybe today), and 3 elements of Light horse waiting to be based.
I am working towards having 2 complete Norman armies done (102c and 134) this summer.

Projects list and Goals for this year

Currently I am working on the following:
For 15mm DBA:
Late Norman army
Auxila, Psiloi and Light Horse done, next are Spearmen
Palisade camp with 2 camp followers

These are being prepped:
Scots-Irish army
Welsh army
Viking army

1/2000 Napoleonic sailing ships
Finishing the last 64 gun ship of the line, hull is painted and the sails are in process

28mm for Warhammer Ancient Battles:
2000 pt. Swiss, built around a core of Ral Partha swiss pikemen I painted about 1981.
I have added more pike, artillery and crossbow from Old Glory.

Terrain:
I have started assembling some Woodland Scenic tree kits, with marginal results.
Recently purchased felt for use with DBA to make mats and terrain features.

Stuff for eBay:
I have decided to sell all of my Battletech stuff, including about 100 miniatures, of which about 75 are painted. And I have way too many books and supplements. I need to put together a list and start taking pictures.

And I have many, many projects "waiting in the wings".

I have 3 goals for this year:
1. Find a regular gaming group.
2. finish the DBA and Swiss armies listed above.
3. Sell the Battletech stuff (so I can by more games and minis, of course).

I will post pictures soon.

Pictures of 15mm Normans

Here is the command element and 2 elements of knights from my early Norman army.

And here are 3 elements of spear from my early Norman army.

Current projects: DBA armies

Last month at Drums Along the Maumee convention in Ohio, among other things, I participated in the 15mm DBA tournament. This was my first time playing DBA in more than 10 years. I placed 6th out of 12 with 2 wins and 1 loss. I used my Early Norman army (102c under the old rules) that I painted in the mid to late 90's. And, of course this renewed my interest in playing DBA.

So, I have looked through the miniatures that wait to be painted and pulled out the other 4 DBA armies I bought all those years ago.
These are Late Norman (134) (Yes! More knights!), Early Welsh (92), Scots-Irish (61) and Viking (106). I have spent time in the last few weeks cleaning up these figures and painting. I have started painting the Late Norman.

Next, I will be trying to work out posting pictures to the blog.

To begin...

This is the first post in my blog about "My Gamer Life".
My goals are to use this space to talk about me and my gaming activities.
- Log what is going on in my life that relates to gaming.
- Talk about my current projects.
- And prattle on incessantly about me, me and me. ;-P

This is also my first attempt at "blogging". So beware this could be chaotic, silly, annoying and probably useless to most people.

And like many blogs, we will see how long this lasts.