Happy New Year! Out with the old! In with the New!

First I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and best wishes to all for a great 2015!

I really need a good year myself....the past few years have been seeing family in and out of the hospital including my other having brain surgery and we just hit the one two year mark on that, my wife's mother passing in 2013, her sister passing a few years before and my brother in law passing this fall., plus add in over the past two years that I have had to put one of my own bassets down and my wife's father's family poodle as well. Throw in the disaster of the past few years my job getting cut and finding a new one. I am having a heck of a time trying to cram several years of experience of my co-worker and supervisor into a year is no easy feat and I feel that things will just come in time with a few hard knocks, but that is also a scary concept to think about when I find myself stumbling. Save for my wife, my wonderful dog and hobby these are the only things I think of that has kept me sane and grounded with all that has happened. Frankly, I am tired of the drama and sometimes I just want to break down, run away to some hidden island and live a quiet life away from everything.

So, enough of the sob story time for some fun stuff eh?

Kickstarters: I invested in 6 new ones: Strange Aeons 2nd Ed, Mad Bob's Hungarian Tank project, WWII Assault Skirmish game, Crossover Miniatures (two seperate ones) and Angry Mojo's big box of terrain. 

Here is the score: 

• WWII Skirmish Game: Estimated 2015 Feb.
• Angry Mojo Big Box of Terrain: On Target and received in December! A+ guys!
• Strange Aeons 2nd Ed: Aug 2015, I suspect earlier.
• Hungarian Tanks KS: Estimated April 2015, sounds like some items may be early.
• Crossover Miniatures: Rusty kicked ass in 2014, on time.
• Crossover Miniatures 2015: This just happened and Rusty seems to be keeping to the goals.
• Games and Gears Battle Boards: Delayed, but looks like mine may be here in Jan/Feb...
• Reaper Bones II: Est Dec 2014, overdue, but they are close to shipping...I didn't get much this time.
• Winter Wars: Gav is almost done, he sent me  message the last trucks are in and being shippped soon.
• Robotech: Got my first wave in fall, no word on 2nd wave, I am betting next fall as nothing has been teased yet.

What have I done goal wise?

• Painted a large WW2 German Force both FJ and Heer....still have tons to finish up though.
• Painted up a large Early War French Army still have several vehicles to finish up...
• Painted up a large Finnish WW2 army, again have lots to finnish up including vehicles...
• Finished Several Super Hero figs, again tons do.....
• Started to assemble some of my Robotech miniatures....not much progress here.
• Worked on a few Strange Aeons figs but mostly sorted my stuff to figure out what to do next...
• Finished several scenery items and expanded my collection....
• Purchased 2 mats from Frontline Games, love them ! 
• Purchased 5 more mats from Deep Cut Studios near the end of 2014 soon to arrive!
• Assembled almost all the Angry Mojo scenery!  
• Helped develop the Super System Rules, proofing and dropping ideas to help make the game better...
• Name in the credits for Super System 4!
• Purchased On the Seven Seas game...
• Recruited several new players to Bolt Action....slowly building the community.
• Returning in 2015 to Crucible IV with a second year of Bolt Action gaming!

What I have not really done in 2014 I wanted to do!

• Play as much Bolt Action as I would like. As a Sarge I give priority to players ahead of me if uneven attendance.
• Play Power Legions or SuperSystem 4 games...
• Play Shoot and Skeedaddle or Legends of the Old West
• Play On the Seven Seas or Legends of the High Seas
• Finish an entire WW2 army...like that will happen!
• Finish enough Robotech figures to play a game!
• Buy the Dropzone Commander city set.
• Buy any modern or future style buildings (Dredd, Supers, etc)
• Organize my hobby room like I want....
• Play Strange Aeons...
• Tried the Batman Miniatures game
• Tried the Star Wars fighter game...

Things I want for 2015 hobby wise:

• For Crucible IV to be bigger than last year with 18 players!
• Recruit More Bolt Action Players
• Play some of the games I did not get to play in 2014.
• More Bolt Action games!
• Try Gates of Antares (new Warlord Sci Fi game)
• Try the new WWI Bolt Action game out in fall...
• Try the new Fantasy Flight Stars Wars games Armada and the other mini one that has cool figs...just expensive!
• Get more stuff painted!
• Use the Airbrush more, perhaps buy a better one.
• Get more scenery for Old West, modern/future, WW2 and Robotech...
• Get rid of more 40k items....make a few bucks.

I am sure there is more, but this is a start!

Thank you to my Secret Santa!

So, in tradition of my family one gift got opened early before Christmas. I picked my Secret Santa one as I was REALLY wanting to know what I got. To my pleasure was a plastic church kit by Rendra. This has been on my list to buy for some time now after I picked up the barn kit and really enjoyed putting this together. I always thought this would be a great kit for Old West and Strange Aeons, perhaps even with a bit of work even WW2 stuff!

I am looking forward to getting this together soon! Thank you Leif! Great choice there my friend! I hope you like what I got you. Yep, I laughed when it turns out that out of the 28-30 Secret Santa's we drew one another! I got a kick out of reading your post, "What the hell did I get from Warlord" and it  was an easy buy as my buddy is making a German Afrika Corps army also.

Merry Christmas from Florida!

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays (whatever you may celebrate) and enjoy the time with friends and family loving life.

Best wishes to all from Florida!

About time! Warlord releasing WW2 Senegalese Tirailleurs

Yep, Warlord dropped a 12 days of Christmas teaser saying there is a run of new French goodness which to me this has been one of the long overdue! Nobody made Senegalese Tirailleurs and I for one have been starving for them to enter my French Army, I was so desperate I was about to order WW1 figs to use! Now instead I get a cool boxed set with an SMG, LMG and Grenade Launcher! Whoo!


Can't wait to order two packs! Looks like 10 to a box based on the images shown...images are from Warlord Games!

WW2 Movie Review: The Fallen

The Fallen has been sitting in my queue for some time on Hulu for various WW2 movies and documentaries to watch when I get a moment...hahhahaha

The Fallen is Ari Taub's gritty WW2 drama, set after the tide had turned on the Axis powers in 1944, chronicles the conflict through the eyes of an ill-fated unit of German soldiers, their disheveled Italian allies, and an American supply group.

I don't care to spoil much about the movie but I wanted to give my thoughts on it. First, this is a drama, there is combat and action but the focus is more on what went on during the war, the psychology and perceptions at that time. I found the Italian resistance at odds with the Italian army to be very interesting on how two types of people formed from the same people in a county split by ideals. The Germans also were not portrayed as monsters but soldiers fighting as war as ordered and the mixing of the Germans and Italians leads to many comical scenes that break up the dark points of the movie. The American supply group was also interesting to see how the US troops treated civilians and the challenges they had. Overall, it was a great movie....the only thing is you have to read translations unless you speak Italian, German and English, then your good....

Well worth a watch!

Preview....

Full movie on YouTube enjoy!

Another great holiday giveaway!

The Miniatures Man just hit a milestone in 100,000 in page views, to celebrate he has a cool giveaway going on!

http://miniatyrmannen.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/100-000-pageviews-its-time-for-give-away.html

Holy Giveaways Batman! It's a Batman giveaway! By Takes of a Tabletop Skirmisher

A cool giveaway is underway to giveaway two of the Knight Models Batman figs....

http://pressganger.blogspot.com/2014/12/batman-holiday-giveaway.html


Head on over and find out more at this great blog!

I was visited by not one but two Santa's this week!

You read that right, I got two surprises this week!

First a gift from my Sick-Reet Santa....not the good kind of gift or the one you would not want to be part of! Yea, a bacterial bronchitis infection hit me starting Saturday, but Sunday I was in bed and hated the world, by Monday I was telling my wife to take me to the Urgent Care. I went back to work today, I hate missing work, I would rather save my leave from PTO not being sick! If I am going to stay home I would like to work on my hobby stuff or spend time with my wife. Not coughing in bed and feeling like I went a few rounds with Cthulu! I would call myself functional now, but not better 100% still get winded easy, lungs are still clearing and the junk is still leaving my head....

Now, to the other Santa! The good one! The Secret Santa! Thank you, I got a package on Sunday, the Post Office delivered it either late Saturday or Sunday (I know they deliver Priority and Express on weekends around this time). It arrived safe and remains under the tree until the devil temps me first or I wait until Christmas Eve or Christmas to open. The funny thing is my wife is more excited than I am about the idea of a Secret Santa and thought it was cool that I was doing this (she is just the curious type that does not like surprises). I know mine already got his goodie and waits to open theirs on Christmas.....thanks again Secret Santa!

Oh no....

Oh well we can still have a Cthulu Christmas

Das Germans! Again!

Finished a few Germans off that have been sitting on my work table, about 30 more to go! That does not include the Fins and DeGaul! Gah! Or the vehicles! Oh dear, the pain...the pain....

FJ MG Team

Volkstruum

Warlord Partisan I am using...

I rather like the Hitler stash I painted on him.

Another figure done!

On the Road Again!

Chris brought over a few days ago some of the new roads he is working on and all I got to say is wow, simple, easy and look great!

Thanksgiving Today!

I think the image says it all! Today I am cooking cranberry sauce and three corn casserole to bring to my wife's brothers house where we are opted to gather this year. Tomorrow we are having a small feast also for food we really want to enjoy and love! Plus my wife likes my cooking!

What are you thankful for? I am thankful for the following:

• my wife
• my family
• my friends
• my pets (current and those that passed)
• good games
• great shows to enjoy on TV
• our freedom
• to those that came before us and settled this country and fought to make it is what it is today. We are far from perfect but it is a good country.

And if you have to ask, yes I own a basset hound, he is about 13-14 and is currently guarding the kitchen to ensure that nobody steals the cranberry sauce as it cool.

Robotech Factory Update 1!

Well, been working slowly on a few items from my Robotech Tactics Kickstarter that arrived on Veteran's day.

So far, 12 Battle Pods, 1 Officer Pod, 1 Scout Pod and 2 Spartans are done so far. I went an extra step inspired by some others on Robotech Facebook page that allowed me to tackle adding magnets to my minis to expand my weapon options.

Also see the images below on how I added the magnets to the Spartans to expand the weapon options.

The weapon pods, clip the nub off and drill out the hole. I have a few bits that are the same size at the magnet that makes a perfect snug fit (at some times, no glue is needed).

'

Drill out of the side.

First magnet in the torso, the second now waits for the arm.

The weapon pod with a magnet. I used some plastic glue to fill in the crack from adding the extra magnet taking up space.

Finished Spartans with both weapon options.

Missile Pods. One open and one closed.

The magnets I used. This size works well for many projects.

Shot of the Zentradi horde so far.

Still on the fence about this pod. I wanted to capture movement but more forward instead of a leg behind running as typical in most poses.

Another one I tried to get a different feel of movement and action.

Officer pod

Scout Pod.

What do you think? Feedback welcome!

Saturday exploring Hernando County

Chris and I headed up to Hernando County on Saturday to check out a few things up there....

We first hit Harbor Freight where I purchased another of the yellow storage cases that works great for holding my Bolt Action Armies. Chris found an inexpensive calliper.

The case, has storage on top and 4 smaller trays.

Example of how I store my figures.

Space on top for the big goodies!

Next we hit Dana's Railroad Supply which I have to admit is a hidden jewel in Hernando County. This is a must stop for train enthusiasts, but also for those building scenery and need general hobby materials. Plus, their prices were very reasonable.

Chris bought some scenery materials and paint while I picked up a plastic strip to use as a girder for a building frame for my supersystem games. I also nabbed two Vallejio paints (which I will add they had two racks, not everything, but not all of Vallejio) and some plastic glue. 

Check them out! http://danasrailroadsupply.com/index.html

We made a quick stop at Tactical Supply, a military surplus store....sadly they had no Drill Sargent hats that were my size or a LT cap with butter bars! Oh well, it was still fun to walk around and look at the cool displays and items they have.

A great cartoon on Bell of Lost Souls

This was posted on Bell of Lost Souls a great 40k fourm and this made me laugh.....

To me this applies almost to every game that has small plastic fiddly parts....Robotech, Bolt Action as well as GW stuff!

Wed. Night Gaming at Anthem!

We had 8 attend the Warlord open gaming night at Anthem...we had 1 Japanese, 1 Finnish, 2 German, 1 American, 2 British and 1 Soviet.

Here are a few shots....