Sunday, August 30, 2015

Free books to a good home...

I have the following books to give away to a good home.  First come, first serve.  You pay shipping.  I'll ship worldwide.  I take PayPal to reimburse the cost of postage.  I'll also ship the most economical way.  I have the following books to give away:

K-19:  The Widowmaker.
Yanks by John Eisenhower.
Not a Good Day to Die:  The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda by Sean Naylor.
A Distant Challenge:  US Infantrymen in Vietnam, 1967-1972.
HP Lovecraft's Dream Cycle:  Tales of Terror and Tales of Death.
The Arab-Israeli Wars by Chaim Herzog.

If interested in the books, then please email me at blakewoodwalker(at)gmail(dot)com

Be warned, I'm in the process of moving.  I won't be able to get the local post-office until later this week for estimates on postage.  Thanks.

Regards,
Blake Walker

Saturday, August 29, 2015

End of August Blues...

My painting will be down for at least a month starting today.  I'm in the process of moving.  I finished my 15mm SYW Reichsarmee infantry brigade 1.  The figures' bases need to be flocked.  I need to pack up my painting supplies and paint table.  I've moved all of my painted 28mm historical figures to my mom's condo.  The rest of the figures are in the basement.  I have five boxes of unpainted figures needing to be moved.

I have to wait until the basement carpeting is cleaned and new carpeting is installed upstairs.  That could be another month.  That means I won't be able to paint until October 2015 at the earliest.

Joy of joys...

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Review of The Wars of Atlantis by Phil Masters

Author:  Phil Masters
Title:  Osprey Dark Series No. 6:  The Wars of Atlantis.
Publisher:  Osprey Publishing.
Copyright:  2015.
Pages:  84.
Price:  $10.49 (US, ebook).

Overview and Impressions:
This is a fantasy history of the wars of Atlantis.  It involves Greek gods, Amazons, and Plato's Legend of Atlantis.  Phil Masters wrote an entertaining history.  Was there an actual Atlantis?  Who knows. 

I wrote a short story based on Plato's story.  Still, this Osprey is a work of fiction.  Edgar Casey's work has more truth to it than this ebook, lol.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Review of Troy: Last War of the Heroic Age by Si Sheppard

Author:  Si Sheppard.
Title:  Troy:  Last War of the Heroic Age.
Publisher:  Osprey Publishing.
Pages:  77.
Price:  $11.49 (ebook).

Overview and Impressions:
Troy:  Last War of the Heroic Age is a summary of Homer's Iliad.  It covers the mythology and history of the Trojan War.  Though I recommend Feagles' Iliad and Odyssey translations.  This Osprey is a good introduction to the subject.

However, I'm a student of classic antiquity.  I already knew the story behind the Trojan War.  If you want more info, read Wood's In Search of the Trojan War or Barry Strauss's The Trojan War:  A New History.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Review of Unbreakable: Book One in the Chronicles of Promise Paen by W.C. Bauer

Author:  W.C. Bauer.
Title:  Unbreakable:  Book One in the Chronicles of Promise Paen.
Publisher:  TOR.
Copyright:  2014.
Pages:  368.
Price:  $25.99 (US).

Overview and Impressions:

I enjoyed this book.  However, it took me two months to finish it!  The chapters were short and read fast.  My father's illness and death got in the way of me completing. 

Unbreakable is military sci-fi about the adventures of Lt. Promise Paen.  She's from a frontier world called Montana in the Republic of Aligned Worlds.  It's several centuries in the future and Terra no longer exists.  RAW is trying to defend its turf from the Lusitanian Empire, who'd like Montana for themselves. 

Unbreakable spends the first half building up to the conflict Lt. Promise Paen's mechanized marines the Lusitanian baddies.  Once things get moving, the action doesn't let up until the very end.  I enjoyed reading about Promise Paen and her marines.  His writing is solid.  But the technical details don't gloss over the human element.  This is a different story about space marines in their power armor.  It's worth finding online or at your local book store. 

Definitely recommended.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Some downsizing for an impending move...

My father died in late July 2015 from stomach cancer.  It was expected.  He'd been in hospice for over seven months.  I've been dealing with his funeral and family related stuff since then.

One thing I've haven't been able to do is paint on a regular basis.  I bought some new 28mm figures from Sapper Joe.  It was an old 28mm Spanish-American War project he'd decided to get rid.  I went ahead and bought an army of 28mm Old Glory Span-Am Americans.  I decide to complete things this month and get some more 28mm Old Glory Span-Am Spanish infantry, artillery, and command.

In desperation, I wrote a new TS&TF variant for the Spanish-American War called Yellow Journalism.  It needs to be play tested.  I also picked up some 25mm Napoleonics and 28mm Weird WWII figures from Sapper Joe.  I have no idea what I'll use them for.  They'll probably go into my trade pile of figures.  Unless I decide to put a small Sharpe's Practice game together...

Now that my father died, I'll be moving back to my parent's house to help take care of my mom.  I looked at my current collection of wargaming figures.  My collection has gotten out of hand.  I don't have enough space in the place I'll be moving to store all my figures cases.  So I started downsizing...

The painted 28mm ECW armies went.  My unpainted 28mm Trojan War armies also went to my friend Don Cox.  He got new armies, I got his remaining 15mm SYW Austrians.  He got the better deal.  But that's OK.  Don isn't getting my 28mm Spanish-American armies.  Once he saw the figures, Don started bugging me for them.

The PROBLEM is Don already has two COMPLETE 28mm Spanish-American War armies NIB that will never see the day of light.  I was lucky to get his remaining 15mm SYW figures from his basement of death.  I'm still waiting for him to find some 28mm Britannia British Colonial units he swears are still in his basement.  Don doesn't let anyone go into his house.  I joke about his kids having the mother of all estate sales when my friend finally dies.  It's not so much his figure collection, which is about 60,000 figures, it's the 500,00 pieces of LEGO that's in his house that his LEGO club will be fighting over, ugh...

My goal isn't to wind up like Don.  I want room to move where I live and work.  Hence, me getting rid of some of my projects.  I didn't like getting rid of them.  But I don't have the room to store all my stuff!

Saturday, August 1, 2015

WIP, 01AUG15, 15mm SYW Reichsarmee Dragoons

Here are some photos of WIP, 01AUG15, 15mm SYW Reichsarmee Dragoons:


                                          WIP, 01AUG15, 15mm SYW Reichsarmee Dragoons


                                          WIP, 01AUG15, 15mm SYW Reichsarmee Dragoons