Why I Broke Down to Blog

I game at least once a week here in St. Louis, MO.  My interests are in miniature wargaming.  They range from the Victorian era to modern Afghanistan.  I also have a large collection of Japanese Samurai and Choson Korean figures, too. 

My latest project has been 15mm Seven Years War Austrians.  I hate painting 15mm figures.  I don't like it.  I got talked into doing 15mm SYW armies back in 2009 with some gamers who played Koenigs Krieg.  I built up 15mm Saxon, French, Hesse, Hanoverian, and British forces for the Battle of Minden.  My friends stopped gaming with me.  And I was left holding the bag.  Now I run my own scenarios and games with the figures I currently own.  It got to the point where I ran a Battle of Minden game at the Seven Years War Convention in South Bend, IN back in late March 2011. 

The problem I have with 15mm figures is that I base all the figures I'm going to work on and then prime them.  Afterward, I paint all the base coats and then go back to do the detail work to correct the mistakes I made putting on the base coats.  Right now, I am waiting on some paint to dry on my 15mm SYW Austrian gunners.  I've always painted my 15mm figures this way.  I've bemoaned the fact I've sold off most of the 15mm armies I've owned when I still had good vision.  Now that I'm 41, my vision has gotten to the point I need bifocals.  I've done my eyes a disservice in not investing in a magnifier or a good jeweler's lens.  I can still see to paint.  It's just the 15mm figures are more demanding to paint than the 28mm figures I enjoy doing.  Part of miniature gaming is painting.  If you want to wargame, then you either need to paint, pay someone else to paint your miniatures, or buy already painted figures.  Given my means, I can't afford to pay someone else to paint my minis, so I labor away painting 15mm SYW Austrians. 

There are some solutions to my plight.  If I'd based the figures on golf tees and painted them individually, that would have solved some of the problems trying to correct all the mistakes associated with working around the figures aready based on a stand.  I did purchase some more 15mm Flames of War Vietnam figures several months ago.  It is another project down the round for 2013.  Friends of mine want to play Too Fat Lardies' Charlie Don't Surf.  I like the FOW Vietnam figures.  Charlie Don't Surf is designed for company level games.  I could afford to do that.  I purchased a company of US Airmobile infantry, 2 Huey Hogs, and 4 Slicks to face a comany of NVA infantry.  But the modern uniforms are much easier to paint than 15mm 18th Century "Lace War."  These 15mm FOW Vietnam figures will be individually mounted on golf tees to make my life easier.

But 15mm FOW Vietnam doesn't even cover some of my other projects.  Currently, I have too many. 

I also play Warhammer 40K on a weekly basis.  I have four different armies for that game.  Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Traitor Guard, and Chaos Space Marines.  If I break the Chaos Space Marines down, I have Khorne World Eaters and Thousand Sons.  I just purchased a Thousand Sons army last weekend.  Half of that is painted.  Most of my Blood Angels and Dark Angels are painted.  I now have about 1,450 points of DA Ravenwing bikes and two BA Stormraven gunships to assemble and paint.  I also have several Chaos Space Marine Land Raiders and Rhinos to assemble, prime, and paint also.  And this doesn't include my 28mm Franco-Prussian War project (something that has been five years in the making).  I could go on and on.  But at some point, I must stop.

In summary, I have the following projects in various stages of completion:

1)  28mm British Colonials:  1882 British; 1890's British; 1882 Egyptians; Boer infantry; 1879 Zulus.  All painted.  Rules used:  The Sword and The Flame

2)  28mm Darkest Africa:  Belgian Force Publique; Congo Arabs; Native Congolese; German East African Schultze truppe and askaris.  All painted.  Rules used:  The Sword and The Flame.

3)  28mm Modern Afghanistan:  US Marines; Taliban insurgents.  All Painted.  Rules Used:  Ambush Alley Contracting Trouble.

4)  28mm Samurai/Imjin War:  Red Devils Clan (samurai); Western Army (samurai); Choson Korean Royal Army.  All painted.  Rules used:  Sengoku - House Rules by Blake Walker.

5)  25mm Mongols:  Mongol light cavalry, Mongol heavy cavalry, and Mongol dismounted bow.  All painted.  Rules used:  Storm in the East - House Rules by Blake Walker.

6)  28mm English Civil War:  Royalist Army; Parliamentarian army.  All painted.  Rules used:  Warhammer ECW.

7)  15mm SYW:  French; Saxon; British; Hessian; Hanoverian (All painted).  Austrian (in the process of being painted).  Rules used:  Koenigs Krieg - 2nd edition.

8)  Warhammer Fantasy Battles:  Warriors of Chaos; High Elves.  All painted.  Rules used:  WHFB 8th edition.

9)  Warhammer 40K:  Blood Angels (mostly painted); Dark Angel Deathwing (painted); Khorne World Eaters (mostly painted); Thousand Sons (in the process of being painted); Traitor Guard (painted).  Rules used:  WH40K 5th edition.

10)  28mm Korean/Japanese Naval:  Korean Turtle Ship (NIB).  Rules used:  Straights of Noryang - House Rules by Blake Walker.

11)  28mm Franco-Prussian War:  1870 French; 1870 Bavarians; 1870 Prussians.  Figures are based.  Rules used:  Chassepot & Needlgun.

12)  15mm Vietnam:  US Airmobile infantry; NVA infantry.  Both NIB.  Rules used:  Charlie Don't Surf.

As you can see, my gaming interests are too spread apart for my own good.  But I have other hobbies besides wargaming.  Classical music is one.  I used to be a French horn player.  That is something I want to get back to.  I'm also a writer.  Mondays evenings are usually filled with a local writing group I've belonged to for 15 years.  My most successful work has been poetry.  At least that is what has been published.  I now have a third draft of a hard science fiction novel done along with a novella.  I've also been rewriting a second novel that is mainly military science fiction.  But wargaming will be the primary focus of this blog...