I Will Not Be Denied!

Crappy camera phone pic of my makeshift paintbrush

After so long not having the energy or motivation to work on gaming stuff, I found myself energized to work on a terrain project (more on that another time). I had prepped a bunhc of stuff last night and then decided I would take it with me to work on Sunday as things are usually slow then. So, I got into work, materials all ready and a slow day ahead of me only to discover that I had forgotten my paintbrushes. What was I to do?

I wasn't going to let a perfectly good slow day at work slide by with my ready project mocking me from its plastic craft carrying case. Something had to be done.

Grabbing one of the sticks from the project and some of the twine that was binding them, I set to work making my own paint brush. I took a mouth full of cola and began to chew the twine, softening it and then spent a bit of time using my thumb nail to straighten the now supple fibers. I split one end of the stick and slipped one end of the fibers into the crack with the long end fanned out. Around this I wrapped a few hastily torn strips of office paper and then applied to super glue to bind it all together solid. I then trimmed the length of the bristles to a uniform length appropriate for a brush to be used for stippling and dry-brushing.

I was ready. The brush held up well, though it did have a tendnacy to gum up. A little rinse, some scraping, maybe a bit more chewing at times and I was able to get my makeshift paintbrush to last through a good 75% of the work I had to do that day.

I must say that I was probably more proud of myself than I had any business being, but it was a kick.

Take care!

-Eli

Going to Market

I don't know when this actually became something that I looked for, but I have recently fallen in love with the concept of buying locally sourced, made, and/or grown products. This summer my family and I have been spending a lot of time at the local public market that runs in our new town of Edmonds every year and we have found several vendors that produce some amazing stuff.

On our first visit we found not one, but two local creameries making cheese and other dairy products and a local producer of apple butter and related products including a absolutely amazing apple hickory BBQ sauce (Frawg n' Turtle). Frawg n' Turtle is also gluten free and corn syrup free if you are looking to be extra healthy or have friends who cannot due gluten like I do.

On our second trip, we discovered locally independent bakery producing homemade, gourmet pies, tarts, and torts. We also had to go back to one of our cheese vendors, Golden Glen Creamery, and discovered they had an amazing dill and garlic cheese curd in addition to the wonderful sun-dried tomato white cheddar that we picked up last time. Next to them was a place called Pete's Perfect Butter Toffee and never has the adjective "perfect" been so deserved.

Pete's toffee is delicious. It's creamy and flavorful and has just enough crunch to it to make it crunchy without making it jagged and overly hard. He's got dark and milk chocolate varieties as well as some mixed flavors like coconut, espresso, and a particularly yummy one with cranberries and pecans mixed it. The man also does fudge and buy is his fudge great. Thick, creamy, not gritty at all. It was firm enough to not start melting away at first touch but soft enough to never hold out against a good bite. He even cut the $5 chunk into family friendly slices after he had already wrapped it.

There have been others discovered away from the Edmonds Public Market too and other that I'm sure I'm forgetting. One last one worth noting was a locally sourced honey, called Pure Washington, that produces several varieties of honey including a delicious fire weed.

I like that I am supporting local small business, even if it is just with my weekend brunching or gourmet tastes. These folks worked hard and deserve the patronage. They have all been excellent in terms of quality and I never get better customer service than I do from a guy/gal on the other side of a stall. As an added bonus, most of this stuff tends to be a lot healthier than other stuff sold at stores. Sure it's pricier but you are paying for quality and hand-crafting. Besides nothing gets the creative cooking juices flowing like strolling through a market.

Take care and enjoy your Saturday!

-Eli

P.S, Nothing beats fresh made mini doughnuts fresh from the fryer with a light sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar.

Quar!

Crusader Officer (From Zombiesmith.com)

I seem to have fallen under the spell of these quirky anteaters again!

I'm not quite sure how to put my finger on it but somethign keeps drawing me back to these not hi-tech aliens who are both goofy and gritty at the same time. If you are not familiar with the Quar, then head over to Zombiesmith Miniatures and give them a peak. If you really want some good reading, go onto the forum over there and check out some of the posts in the Quar Discussion section.

The players and creators of the Quar universe share this wonderful symbiosis when it comes to making these creatures come alife. Countless pieces of fluff have been lovingly written by players covering the sprectrum from battle songs, poems, stories, battle reports, even detailed histories of the various units they create on one side of the war or the other. Some of this work has even been canonized in the early days before things were beginning to solidify meaning that much fo the Quar world is built off of the ideas of players whoe love it so.

I will say that I have been able to escape the siren song of Zombiesmith's lovely miniatures so far, but I don't think that resolve will last forever. I am too much in love with the creatures and the world they live in with its Moebius, meets Bakshi, meets muppets, meets WW1 feel. It doesn't help that they are now coming out in 15mm too, though these are 28mm figs that I can see myself buying.

Heavy Shotgun Team (from Zombiesmith.com)

Royalist Infantry (from Zombiesmith.com)

Quar Militia/Partizan (Zombiesmith.com)

When The Navy Walked or Why I'm a Bad Gamer Buddy

Hello all,

It's time for me to do something I should have and was supposed to have done a while back. Some of you who read the blog the Armchair General blog will already know that Rob over there is working on his own set of VSF rules called "When the Navy Walked". These are his own ambitious labor of love and he's already released a version for PDF purchase over at Wargame Vault.

Now, I have to admit, that my involvement in this product is a little on the lesser side than I might have liked. Rob did approach me to do some art for him but I didn't feel that my skills and style were up to drawing VSF machinery and so I passed. I have provided some design ideas, brainstormed, and helped with concept work, but for the most part I'm just a casual helper on this.

What Rob has done with WTNW is to try and update the typical VSF storyline to a little later in history than it usually gets played. It's my understanding that he's saddled it around the early 20th century and so is going for less of a Victorian feel to his world. He's got Mars in the setting (to be detailed in a future supplement) and has populated it with all manner of species very much like a Burough's type Mars.

Give it a check and let Rob know what you think.

Thanks,

-Eli

Figuring It All Out

You may have noticed that my posts have been sparse of late. Even without the excuses of a move, camping, etc, they have been remarkably few and far between for way too long. I will admit that this is due, to a great extent, to a growing lack of direction and motivation in the hobby. I have time, I have ideas, but what I seem to lack is the drive to pull out the paints and putty. I seem to have been doing a lot of what equates to pretty much pointless hobbying for a while, but I think this is because of a shift toward trying to get a game going and not simple love of the hobby.

For RPGs I have had several false starts and some aborted games that have left me feeling frustrated and a bit disheartened. I can come up with ideas and have made characters but getting a game going seems to have become a very big chore. I have a Pulp game planned to begin soon using a simple light system that I know well (D6 Adventure) and am hopeful that the familiar system; small, two-player game; and friendly genre will make for a thrilling, fun and simple game. RPGs are always a bit simpler to get out of a slump on. You can just shelve the books and not feel like they are rotting away.

For the miniatures side of things I think I need to go back to where I was a while ago and start working on stuff for the simple love of the hobby and forget about trying to do stuff to get games going. Games will happen or not, but if I'm working on the things that interest me and that I love then when they do happen, I'll be ready.

Another thing I have to do is stop trying to build entire games. Because of a lack of opponents in my area, I have long felt that, to get any sorts of minis games going, I would have to collect and paint forces for both/all sides of the conflict. Now this is true if I am going to be demoing games, but if I work on a force at a time as the mood strikes me, then eventually I am bound to have at least two forces for one game or another. The added bonus to working on a force at a time is that I will also at least have one force finished for if/when an opportunity to play with another already prepared gamer comes along.

So, what exactly is the plan in a nut shell?

I will finish existing projects for the sake of getting them done in  hobby sense. This means taking time and not feeling obligated or pressured to rush them to playable status. I will also collect and build units for games or genres for their own sake and let the big picture develop out of these individual works.

Sound good?

Who knows, but a couple of beers and a margarita have made me introspective.

Take care and don't let gaming become too serious or no fun!

-Eli

I am Back and I Didn't Get Eaten

The ranger said there was one of these in the area and though we didn't see it we sure as heck would have deserved it. Due to a bit of late night drinking and laziness we managed to leave out an entire pot of beans and a pot full of Guiness-boiled sausages sitting out as well as numerous snack foods.

In a way I am a bit disappointed by what all of that means. The fact that nothing bothered to go after the beans and brauts means that either we are good at scaring away animals or that there is nothing in the woods to get into our stuff. About the only animal life we encountered were ground squirrels, jays, the haunting call of an owl, some distant coyotes and a bunch of mice that seemed to want to get into everything, including one that drown in our dish pot over night.

The mice were almost comic relief as they invaded tents and even in one case chewing on somebody's shoe laces while she stood there oblivious. We even saw a few in the road. I figure the warm winter allowed a larger than normal number of them survive.

Anyhow, I'll post more about the trip when I have more pics.

Take care,

-Eli

Trooper Thursday #3

A quick post this thursday on realistic future warriors. Not all science fiction troopers need be bristling with weapons, overly armored up and looking morel ike robots than the men they are. In fact, some of the neatest future troopers are the ones who are just men with guns.

Remember the Colonial Marines, or the Hoth troopers. What about the contractors in Avatar? These guys were all wicked tough and cool even when they were fighting black nightmare bugs, stormtroopers or 10ft tall blue cat natives. I wish there were more of these guys in miniature.

I suppose the reason that we don't see more of these guys in miniatures is because really they don't stand out all that much as futuristic save for the details. I might even argue that the subtlety of such soldiers is lost on todays crop of scifi fans who seem to want an ever-increasing amount of wow factor in their toys. It also might be argued that such troopers are far too close to historical figures to really be bothered with by the guys forking out the cash to get the minis produced in the first place. Don't get me wrong, there are a few gems out there, but they are few and far between. Other than a few notable few (and you know who you are) future trooper minis almost all come out looking like Colonial Marine knock-offs. But you can have more than that.

A visor there, a shoulder plate here, maybe a knee pad or a chest protector or something and suddenly you are tripping the 22nd century nice and well and giving the public a really nice trooper they can believe in. Give the man a gun that is humanly possible to wield, and that has a sensible futuristic configuration and some kit that looks like it serves  purpose other than to hold his skull collection and BAM, future trooper goodness.

Well enough of the soap box today.

Seeya when I get back,

-Eli

I'll Be Here For The Weekend!

Well, not quite. I'll actually be a bit west and downhill about four hours hike from the place in the picture. The picture isn't mine but it is exactly the one I wanted to take last year when I went on the hike that nearly killed me (not really, but felt like it). This is a view from the trail to the old Monte Cristo mining town up in the Mount Baker National Forest and it looked exactly the same when I walked it.

I have to say that I have been eagerly waiting for family camp for the last few months. Time away from technology, work, civilization. Me, my family, and friends (they're family too!) at a big family campsite. We eat well, we play tag and hide and seek, we hang out around the campsite. When the kids are asleep, we drink and catch up. This year we made a bunch of boffer weapons to take with as well.

So, if it seems I'm not my usual lightning fast responding self for the next few days it's because where I am, I can't even get a cel signal.

Take care and have fun folks. I'll bring back pictures of the trip!

-Eli

New Stuff From Gaming Models

Gaming Models seems to be on the ball. Since my initially finding the place and a few emails back and forth with Craig, there have already been a few new releases. Now, I had nothing to do with these releases, but they do show the sorts of things that Gaming Models offers. In this case it is a host of captured French vehicles in use by the Germans during WW2 as well as the anti-tank version of the RSO.

Mosto f these models have German rockets attached in one fashion or another and look very lovingly rendered.

Good stuff!

-Eli

P.S. Sorry for not including a link to Gaming Models' site in the last post. That has been corrected and a link included in this and all future post for the company.

Gaming Models - 15mm Tanks and Vehicles At Budget Prices (Link Added)

Hey all,

I have to say that I am shocked, amazed, and disappointed that I have never heard of Gaming Models until recently. While practicing the Interwar Tank kata of my Google-Fu I stumbled upon some pictures of a couple of pretty cool BT-7 tanks. This lead me to a review of several producers of said tank among which were those that had been featured in the picture I found. Following the links in the review I came upon Gaming Models.

Gaming Models is a small operation independent miniature vehicle producer that works specifically in 15mm and they have this to say about themselves on their home page -

"Gaming Models original sculptings are 15mm or 1/108th scale. These miniatures are made with the gamer in mind and are not intended to be fine scale models."

What does this mean? It means that they make nice-looking models at price that allows the gamer to buy more than a few without breaking the bank. Now, they are not likely to have as much detail as some of those others out there, but they aren't lacking much. I sincerely believe that their vehicles are more than adequate for the gaming table.

I will be honest, I do not own any of their miniatures yet, but I did look around online and asked around a bit and it seems they do a good job. You can read a good product over view review of their models at http://jeremy.nandgate.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=65 as well as reviews and comparisons of their models against other manufacturers in severla other posts at the same blog. They have a ton of pictures and will get you up to speed well before I could get enough product to do a fair job of it myself.

I guess what stands out for me about Gaming Models is the value. You will get a good model that may need a bit of cleanup but it will only cost you $4 in most cases even for the biggest tank (T-35, Char 2C, Elephant, etc). They have sets of 16 15mm bunkers for $30. The line is also living and the artist communicated in an email to me that he was now more able to do new models which means expansions to the line soon. Heck, he's even open to wish lists, suggestions and requests.

One last note I can make is that the pictures in the galleries, though extensive do not show every vehicle in their inventory. I found that they had two versions of both the T-28 and T-35 in their catalog even though the pics only show one version.

I feel a shopping list coming on! Alcovia needs tanks!

-Eli

(Pictures from Game Models website. Used without permission for the purposes of spotlighting their product in this post.)

Trooper Thursday #2

Isn't she a little hot for a storm trooper?

I don't generally go for the sexy angle on ISLP but I figured I'd have a little fun with this post and highlight a new trend in science fiction trooper - Femtroopers.

I am a bit out of the loop on Star Wars fandom, but recently a trend in doing sexy versions of everyone's favorite evil grunts has become popular. They are all over the internet and sat nearly every convention. I personally think thisi s just an expression of how ingraned into our culture Star Wars has become that we can now have people with a Stormtrooper kink. But really this isn't all that new of a concept.

I remember back in highschool there were girls who would wear modified military jacked, hats, boots as part of their style. We see this today with military chic worming its way into the fashion world as well. Going back to earlier periods, women's fashion borrowed heavily from military uniforms with stylish upscale ladies wearing gowns accompanied by Hussar hats and jacked with braiding and epilettes.

Anyhow, that's enough intellectualism. Here are some attractive girls in Stormtrooper costumes...