A pleasant surprise!

Over at his fine blog, LEVIATHAN, Leutenant Brittan recently reached his 100th post and, in a way of celebration, decided to mail off some of the spare pieces of his collection to his adoring fans!

Here is what he sent me:



Described as an 'Elven sorcerer on lizard' he is part resin and part metal. The detailing is very nice, although the metal head/neck piece makes the assembly rather front-heavy. I will need to find a suitable base for it.


I have never painted resin so this will be an adventure! And, since I have nothing in my collection that matches, a search for some suitable companions will commence with the goal of making an appropriate Song of Blades & Heroes warband.


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Old projects, part 2

Traveling down memory lane again with some more incomplete projects!

First off, Warzone:


Mishima ashigaru - Warzone was a big hit with some of the gamers around Seattle and these (and a few more ashigaru) were my contribution, and were the first 28mm minis I ever painted. These minis had not been out of the box, however, for many many years. I do not have any immediate plans for 28mm sci-fi skirmish gaming, but most are painted and still useful.

Status: Uncertain


Next, Heavy Gear:


Northern gears, and:



Southern gears. I bought quite a few (30+) HG minis, mostly on runs up to Vancouver B.C.'s finest game shop, Imperial Hobbies, back when the exchange rate was more favorable. I like the minis, but I find the game system to be a bit clunky, although I have not tried the new Blitz variant. I do not have any plans to start this project up again, and I really do not see using them in another setting. If anybody reading this is interested, please leave a comment - prefer trades!

Status: Heading toward the eBay pile


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A welcome addition

Found this while shopping at the not-quite-local Half Price Books:



Not a bad find for $12. This will be moved up to near the top of my book reading queue!

On the table...

No major update for now, just a look at the overall situation:


Nice and cluttered! Lots of bits and pieces of projects on my painting table, including some stuff that are not part of any current project...


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A brief update

A snippet or two of activity here:


The mini in the foreground is Affondatore, with Regina Maria Pia to starboard, mounted on thin steel bases - 30mm x 60mm - and primed. The bases are much larger than any I have used in the past, but I rather like them as there will be plenty of space for labeling and splash markers - many thanks to SteelOnSand for the tip!

But, I feel that in my haste to get them mounted I have made a slight error. The bases are very thin steel, which will probably lead to players, in the heat of gaming, to grab the mini instead of the base for movement. So, I imagine that I will add a layer or two to the bottom of those steel bases to give some needed thickness.

Also on the workbench:


Here is Re d'Italia in her packaging.




And the contents. You will notice that the fore and main sails and yards are separate pieces. I am thinking that I could just leave the sails off the mini, and add some yards. The staysails would require much more work to remove; they look OK to me as they are.



Now, all of this work on minis for Lissa has, of course, got me to thinking... Compared to the Baltic, there is a lot more naval action in the Adriatic: Greek triremes, Roman quinqueremes, Venetian and Ottoman galleys, all the way up to WW1 and beyond. Maybe I should be looking at the Adriatic more than the Baltic as a focus for my naval activity?

Legion of Ever Present Glory, part 7

Another brief update...


I have started to modify some of my Ever Present Glory troopers from carrying spears to swords. If I was a little more forward thinking this step would have been done long ago, as it is a bit more work to take apart a mini after you have already assembled it and started the painting!

I have removed his sword from the left side of his armor and removed the spear. (The remains of the spear have been safety tucked into my bits box for future use!) The right hand needed to be drilled out a second time as a chunk of the spear stayed in the hand - one of the perils of using plastic rod for the spears. I also feel fortunate that I was able to remove the sword in one piece as the metal used by Eureka is flexible and could have broken.

As the pommel will not fit through the hole drilled into the hand, I have cut the hilt of the sword into two pieces, to be glued into place later today.



All told, I have 24 Ever Present Glory troops, not including command types. 11 of these are being converted to sword-swingers...


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Another naval gaming blog...

Scott is just starting up a ACW ironclads naval project, which can be followed at his blog.

Some interesting Tekumel links...

Just some links to old and new Tékumel stuff on the 'Net:

Alfrik posts about his Atlanteans (we know them as Mu'ugalavyani) on his blog and at the Lead Adventure forum - a nice collection including non-humans!

Katherine J. Grantham's work has graced many official Tékumel publications - some of her work is posted at Elfwood.

Mark Allen is another illustrator working on Tékumel projects - lots of good stuff on his blog, Marjasall Productions.

And, if you are not reading Howard's The Tékumel Project blog and Chirine's chirine's workbench blog, you are missing out!



(This is by no means everything out on the web for Tékumel - just a few tidbits I have looked at recently)


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