A fresh wind blowing in!

With the arrival of the 15mm Swiss army and the Impetus rules that they are intended for, I feel more in the mood to paint.  So, in order to keep many projects moving I have decided to break each project into small chunks, such as the Swiss into 1 Impetus unit (16 figures) etc.
I am planning on working on just 2 chunks at a time.  Currently that will be a unit of Swiss pike and the HMS Belvidera.  This will give me sosome me variety and still be able to see progress (I hope).  Once again I have found that trying to too much at one time fails miserably.  (My work bench has been occupied by movement trays for Impetus, Norman foot, Ancient Brits, 4 ships for the 1812 battle, terrain for DBA, some Welsh and
some older pieces in need of some TLC.  I have put everything but the 2 items of focus away, so I hope to be less distracted.
Random observation:  300+ 15mm Swiss figures fit in a 1 gallon ziploc bag with room to spare.

Also of note:  I recently discovered that Omega Artworks is back in business make swords and daggers.  I was at one point negotiating with them to purchase the business, but it did not work out. (Which I think has turned out for the better for all of us!)

I will get back to posting pictures of the work in progress in the next few days.

(Why does is seem that the work bench is messier now that I "cleaned it off" than it was before?)

A grumble about ordering miniatures

Back in May, after getting hired as a direct employee with the company that I have been working for as a contract employee, I decided to get myself a "good going!" gift.  So I ordered a large army of Essex 15mm Later Swiss for use with Impetus.  Instead of ordering direct from Essex in England, I ordered them from the US distributor, Wargames Minis.  I figured that I could get them sooner and then ship them out to a painting service and have them ready for play this fall.
Well, I was mistaken.  I placed the order on May 29th, and the figures arrived on September 9th.  And they were shipped to the billing address, not the ship to address.  Since I am working out of state I wanted the figures shipped to me instead of the house.
It appears that the order is complete, as it was placed in May.  I tried to add a couple of things to it last month was promised a freebie for my patience, which were not included.
During this long summer, I have stayed in touch with the owner of Wargames.  He has had a difficult summer including serious health problems.
You may ask why did I not cancel the order?  I do not have a solid answer for that other than I am a "nice"guy.
Will I order from them again. No.  But I will buy from them if they are at any of the conventions I attend.
So, here I sit in Illinois, with the army in Michigan.  I will get them next weekend.  *sigh*

Movement trays for Impetus

Here are pictures of some movement trays I am working on to use my DBA armies with the Impetus rules. Each unit in Impetus consists of either 2 or 4 stands of DBA figures. The top picture is a sample with a disorder flag marker (flag is removeable). The bottom picture shows a full unit of blades on the left and an empty tray on the right. Each tray has a magnet inserted where each DBA stand goes (the magnet is the same thickness as the tray bottom.). This will hold the figures in place and I can store the stand in a container with a steel liner and they will not slide around. Each tray will get a series of holes drilled in the raised lip for markers.

War of the Roses Armies

I recently purchased a set of painted War of the Roses armies. Here is how they were packaged. Each stand was wrapped in foam, with a cardboard "back". They arrived with only a few bent weapons and one rider seperate from his horse.
I thought it was worth showing, and a picture of one of the cannons, just because.

Bill, thank you for the time spent to pack these.

Reinforcements

After much discussion and some negotiations, a large contingent of War of the Roses English and a force of French troops have joined my growing armies.
There are enough troops for 2 English DBA armies and a French DBA army.
These will also go well with my Swiss for use with Impetus. (This assumes that the Swiss ever get here, I think they ask a rabbit for directions in Albuquerque back in June and are still lost...)

Thanks go to Bill Johnson for selling these beautiful troops to me. I look forward to using them in the field!

As for other work, I have not been able to do much as I am preparing to sell my house and move the family to Illinois, where I have found permanent gainful employment. (Yay!)

A question of scale

Recently I was asked how small are these ships?
Well, they are 1:1200 scale (1"=1200" or 100ft in scale).
And what does that mean?
This is where I think the first President can demonstrate much better than I can.
Here is the recently rigged HMS Shannon facing off with the original George W - Washington that is. He's giving those limey's that stern look that founded a nation, and started many a video game.

HMS Shannon Standing rigging is finished

The HMS Shannon now has all of her standing rigging run. Next is to touch up the paint damage from running the rigging and paint the base.
I experimented with modifying the rigging sequence and found that there is a method to the madness, a very complex method.
The reason I adjusted the sequence is that the method described in the rigging manual can cause the later rigging steps to create slack in the previously installed rigging. The slack may be preventable without changing the sequence. We will see, I have plenty of ships to rig!

HMS Shannon takes shape

Here is the second British frigate, HMS Shannon having been assembled and based last Saturday.
And a second picture of her with HMS Aeolus.

The next step is Dullcote followed in a few days by rigging.

I continue to make progress on the HMS Belvidera, the HMS Africa and the USS President. Those three are between half way and 2/3 done with painting of the hulls.

I also have some terrain markers in process for use in DBA/Impetus. More on that later.

Impetus!

May 23rd I played in a game of Impetus. The group here is just starting to play it. It was Doug, with his Welsh, and Jeff and I with his English angainst Mike's English and Jim's French. We did not reach a conclusion before the shop closed, but we did learn alot about how the rules worked.
The first 2 pictures are the battlefield from 'our' side.
Next is some of Jeff's Longbow and then some of his Knights, including the General.

Carthage arrives!

After breif negociations at Drums last weekend, a Later Cathagian army has join my ranks of DBA armies. And they brought 2 elephants!
They need a little clean up and repair, and I am planning on doing a little work on the bases.
This brings my feildable DBA armies to 3. And I only have 4 waiting for paint...hmmm.

With my recent change to fully employed status, I think I will be hiring more DBA armies while I focus on painting the ships.

Drums at Fort Miegs 2010

Here are some pictures of the games that were going on at Drums this year.

I played in the afternoon DBA tournament and placed 3rd. This continues to be a great little convention with really nice games and great people to play with.

The Ocean arrives!

The HMS Aeolus is now at sea!
There are a couple more touchups and to brush on some clear coat over the touchups.
Next is the sails for the HMS Shannon.
This coming weekend is Drums at Ft. Meigs convention, so no miniature work.

HMS Aeolus gets standing rigging

Here she is with the standing rigging in place.
Still needs some paint touch ups from the rigging work and painting the base.
This took most of a day to do. I hope to get faster as I get more done.
I hope to be done with this one this week.

Then only 9 more to go after this for the 1812 event.

next weekend is the Drums at Fort Miegs convention. I hope to play some DBA and once again defend to honor of Michigan in the Michigan-Ohio war.

HMS Shannon

Here are 2 shots of the HMS Shannon in process.
The first is from a few days ago and then second is from a few minutes ago.
The hull just needs some final touchups and then on to the masts.

HMS Aeolus gets masts and sails

More progress on the HMS Aeolus. Masts are 80% painted and glued in place.
Next is finishing the mast details, fighting tops, banding and general cleanup of the sails.
Then 2 days to dry and then clear coating.
That will just leave rigging and basing...

I decided to assemble the ship before clear coat mainly because it made some of the finish work on the masts much easier.  I have decided to put a brush on sealer on the ends on the yard arms before clear coating, with the hopes that it will extend the life of the paint there, since these are the most likely place to grab the ship to move it.
May 5: I believe I have fixed the first pictures link.

HMS Aeolus hull finished!

Here are 2 pictures of the hull of the HMS Aeolus with the painting complete.
Tomorrow night it gets clear coated.
Sails are still in process and should be done by Friday, I hope.

The last picture is of the flags that I recieved for the British squadron. In prepareation for the next ship to be done I sorted through what I have at the moment. These were in a bag with the bases, so I had not looked at them other than to glance at the ones I could see, which were the upper ones. The lower ones were face the bases, so I could no see them while they were in the bag. I pulled them all out for quick review and to match paint colors and you can see what I found. The The upper ones are what they should look like, the lower ones are black instead of blue. I will have to get these replaced.

So, some real progress.

A new posting!

So, what happened to the plans to post regularly?
Well, hmmm. 
Life. Life is what happens while you are making other plans.

I have not done much in the realm of miniatures or gaming since the last post.
A little work on the ships and some of the 15mm figures but no real progress.
I have gotten a new job and moved to where the work is.  Which is 400 miles from the house and wife.  I am sharing an apartment and only recently set up a painting desk.  There was some doubt as to how long the job would last but it looks like it will be for a while.

I will post updates as work gets done.

Its a new year, a new location and a new job, so I guess I have been busy.
I do hope to get to a couple of large conventions and some smaller ones this year. We will see.