Painting Challenge 2015....

Things have slowed down for me considerably as far as painting is concerned.  I wanted to start painting for others locally starting in September 2014.  But my family situation went from worse to insane with my father's stroke and stomach cancer.  I'm losing track of the weeks.  It hasn't allowed much time for hobbies.  But I need my downtime so I don't go crazy from my family.

So I've taken time time during the week to paint at night.  Here is what I've accomplished painting for 2014:

30mm Menoth Protectorate Army
30mm WH40K Stormraven Gunship
30mm WHFB High Elf cavalry
28mm FPW 1870 Prussians
28mm FPW 1870 Imperial French
28mm FPW 1870 Bavarians

I have two 28mm 1870 Bavarian infantry battalions to finish painting, one 28mm 1870 French Turco infantry regiment, and 28mm 1870 French artillery battery.

I put finishing all the 28mm 1870 FPW armies at the end of February 2015.  With the completion of that project, I'll move onto my second project for 2015.  Namely, finishing my 30mm Menoth Protectorate army.
That is to be followed by a second Warmachine army, the Steelhead Company mercenaries.  I also have a 30mm WH40K Baneblade tank kit to assemble and paint.

If I get anymore done next year, great.  But I'm not pushing myself because of time constraints.  Hopefully, I'll get more free time as things progress....

Learning to read ancient Egypt: Part 1

They say the way to hell is paved with good intentions.  I bought a small library of books on ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs with the intention of teaching myself ancient Egyptian.  Of all the things I could do with my time, I decided upon doing this.  I would have been better off learning Norwegian or Japanese.

Alas, I'd already bought the books including one called "Learning to Read Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs."

So about a month ago, I finally get around to learning the first lesson.  Each hieroglyph stands for a consonant.  I'm in the process of learning 1 consonant signs.  This whole process has been interrupted by my father's deteriorating medical conditions.  I'm sending a good part of my day watching him.

I should be using my downtime with my father to study ancient Egyptian.  I've spent my free time watching American football or English Premier League soccer.  I haven't finished the first lesson.  I want to finish it.  I'll go through the first part of the lesson and then move onto determinative signs.

I'm not good at languages because of my written dyslexia.  I had troubles through out high school and college with both German and Latin.  I still think I can get more accomplished if I devote my downtime to studying and working out the hieroglyphs.  Still, it's slow going.  But I think with enough time, I'll be able master it and then move on....

15mm SYW Game AAR, 28NOV14

We game the day after Thanksgiving.  I ran a small 15mm SYW British/Hanoverian army.  Don Cox ran a 15mm SYW French army.  We did a generic meeting engagement using Koenigs Krieg 2nd edition rules.  Again, the dice weren't kind to me.  So I lost...

                                          15mm French infantry brigade.

                                          15mm SYW British infantry brigade.

                                          Don Cox advancing his troops.

                                          The British left flank before the cavalry collapse.
                                             

                        Remaining British infantry brigade forms square in the face of French Horse.

                              The battle of the other flanks.  French and British dragoons going at it.

                                          French Horse attacking my infantry in square.                          

By the time we got to army morale, I blew my roll and the remaining British forces withdrew from the battlefield.  So much for my dice rolling...                

Review of Gone Native by Alan G. Cornett

Author:  Alan G. Cornett.
Title:  Gone Native - An NCO's Story.
Publisher:  Ballantine Books.
Copyright:  2000.
Pages:  292.
Price:  $7.99.

Impressions and Overview:
Gone Native:  An NCO's Story is a fast read.  The author is a former medic who served in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne, the Green Berets, and the Phoenix Program.  Alan Cornett eventually finished up as a senior NCO serving in Western Europe during the 1980s.

However, he had problems along the way.  Cornett admits to serving time in the brig for assaulting an officer and other violations.  He flunked out of college.  Cornett got his draft notice and volunteered for the Green Berets in 1966.  He would then spend seven years in Vietnam.  Along the way, Cornett became fluent in Vietnamese and worked with the ARVN Rangers capturing high level Viet Cong officers in the central highlands.

Overall, it's an interesting account of a senior American NCO with a checkered past.  Recommended.

28mm 1882 Egyptian Campaign AAR, 21NOV14

Here are photos of my game with Don Cox at a local gaming store in St. Louis, MO:

                                          28mm 1882 British infantry company in line.

                                         28mm 1882 British line advancing.

                                          28mm 1882 Egyptian infantry company firing.

                          28mm 1882 British survivors rout off the board after I failed multiple morale rolls.

Trying to paint 28mm 1870 Franco-Prussian War forces and other nonsense...

My weeks are filled taking care of my father.  He's wheelchair bound and recovering from a stroke.  This hasn't allowed me much time for other things like painting, reading, and writing.

I did get a 28mm British Colonial game using The Sword and the Flame in with a friend Friday evening.  I'll post photos up tomorrow evening when I get a chance.

I'm in the process of painting 28mm FPW figures.  The current unit is the 4th Bavarian infantry regiment.  I have the 1st Turco Regiment to finish once I'm done with the 28mm 1870 Bavarian infantry.  Then it's on another 28mm 1870 French artillery battery.  I'll then be done with all the 28mm FPW armies!  This project has taken over three years.  That's too long...

I've shifted my reading to a book on the Vietnam War called "Gone Native."  I'm about 40% finished.  I need to find sometime and just read it.  "Gone Native" is an easy read and flows easy.  Unlike some Vietnam books I've read, I can read a chapter and come back to the book later on and pick up where I left off.  I'll have an entire review on the blog when I'm done with it...

I've also started learning to read Egyptian hieroglyphs.  I'm working on the first sections trying to memorize the 1 one sign consonants right now.  Once I've mastered them, I'll move onto the next section.  But that's been slow going, too.

Review of A History of Ancient Egypt by John Romer

Author:  John Romer.
Title:  A History of Ancient Egypt - From the First Farmers to the Great Pyramid, Volume 1.
Publisher:  Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press.
Copyright:  2013.
Pages:  475.
Price:  $29.99.

Overview and Impressions:
John Romer's A History of Ancient Egypt is more archeology than history.  Romer starts in seventh millennium BCE and works forward through pre-dynasty Egypt.

This book is more an academic work than a general history.  The author starts off with the agricultural revolution that swept the neolithic Near East.  Building up farming techniques and pottery, Romer argues a case for the differing settlements of the Nile valley.

Unfortunately, there's no military history in this book for your average gamer.  It's more the technical workings of civilization from the neolithic stone age into the early bronze age.  Romer makes a convincing case that the tools that brought about civilization in ancient Egypt were home grown

What helped Egypt succeed was an abundance of agriculture and necessary trade routes.  It also allowed Egypt to became one of the first imperial states in the later part of its long history.  Romer concludes Volume 1 with King Khufu and the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The logistics that went into the construction of these monuments is impressive.  Romer estimates at least ten percent of the population was involved the construction of the first pyramids from 2650-2550 BCE.  About 25,000 men were needed to actually build the structures, while over 5,000 stone masons were employed on site to quarry and carve the limestone with copper chisels.  But those are only estimates.

Recommended reading for the scholarly.  Volume 2 will cover the rest of ancient Egypt from Khufu's death through the Roman occupation, which is due out sometime next year.