For fun and possible frustration (?)

Frustration for those who want to know but don't, perhaps.  What is this?:

Now, I wasn't interested in this but the much older equipment that was steam powered.  I just thought the Pulponauts here on LAF would like to see this little beauty.  And, why, if properly tempted and given adequate time, I might be able to post additional shots of 'cool stuff'.

Buildings, Lots of Them, and Ruined Ones, Too!

There are twenty-five building models in the shot below, not counting the gates in the walls - or the walls.  The two in the lower right will be used up on top of the Tartar Wall, they are the smallest ones.  There are a lot of duplicates but paint should make it hard to tell once in a game.

 I think there are 21 ruins in the shot below but it might be 17.  Whichever number, I'm hoping that is enough to represent the damage in the legation quarter.

For certain, one walled compound will represent Prince Su's Palace (the Fu).  I might use the other in a different configuration(s?) to represent part of the Imperial Palace - maybe two 'half' compounds.  

With the six legations I've acquired, the Tartar Wall to be built, and the stand-in for the Pekin Hotel, I think it will be pretty impressive to look at.  One day.

New Arrivals

So, received my latest order today - added in some structures for my FIW native villages and some more villagers and a Conestoga wagon just 'cuz.  Bought in the Blue Moon 15/18 mm Old West buildings, all of them.  They are Very Big and have lots of extra detail.  Won't really work with other manufactures products so it will be a 'stand alone' town I'm guessing.  Had been hoping to mix in with Peter Pig and Stone Mountain Old West buildings but not sure they'd work well together.  No matter, it will make a good size town - in numbers and physical size (heck, could easily use for 20 mm figures).

And the big influx was a whole bunch more structures for my Boxer Rebellion setup.  Only added one 'European' building for the British legation.  Got a whole bunch more ruins in various sizes.  And then lots of Chinese buildings, most of them I bought two of each.  My plan is to paint them in groups, green roofs, red roofs, yellow roofs, blue roofs.  Doing this partly to help with setup.  But also to disguise, a little bit, the duplications.  I also plan to paint each group with a slightly different base wall color, though I expect all will be some variation of off-white.

The big question is this: will I be buying more?  And, again, it depends on what gets made - a horse drawn hearse?  Yes.  More animals for the plains of Africa?  If I don't have them or I like them better than what I already have (even if painted), heck yeah - especially gazelles.  (Oh, baboons are now covered courtesy of a friend with a 3D printer, very cool.)  Old West chain gang.  Yup.  German East Africa?  Definite maybe.  A beautifully sculpted and complete range of Napoleonic figures?  Nope.  Hard to know for certain but, unless something fits within my existing collections, I can't really justify adding anything else.  So, I might be done!  We'll see.

E-Friending Some Photos

Below are some photos of a 15 mm building from MBA and then, finally, a comparison with a Blue Moon building from the Boxer range.

This is the main building interior, bottom level - note the stairs on the left.

This is the second floor in place with the stairs up to the attic.

And here is the attic floor which has warped a bit in storage so I've flipped it when putting it back in storage to see if it levels out.

And here is the roof without the cupola in place.

And here it is in place.

And, ta da, the building itself - note the little finial piece missing on the right which I have but need to glue back on.

And the real reason for all these photos - a comparison between the building on the left which comes prepainted from Miniature Building Authority (while supplies last I guess because they've announced they are leaving the 15 mm world) next to one of the buildings from the British Legation from Blue Moon and Old Glory25s.  That little ball on the tabletop is the missing piece mentioned above, carefully stashed back inside before putting things away after snapping the photos with the old iPhone.

I've posted the photos the way I did so people will be aware of the interior.  I may use this to represent the Hotel d'Peking in my developing Boxer Rebellion game.  And I must credit Richard G. of War in 15 mm fame for the idea.

Before ever putting this piece in a game - I guarantee - I will securely glue the cupola to the roof or too much chance of a fall and breakage.  This will also be my Musketeer headquarters building for games from an earlier time frame and a couple continents west of Peking, more or less.

Leopigerion?

Bought this bit of fake fur a few months ago and now wondering how to best put it to gaming use.

 Here it is in the "plain".

And here it is with piece of 'flavor' terrain in process (temporarily sprayed green for a game last year).

Bridger's Stockade

I promised someone I'd upload these photos and I finally transferred them from my iPad to my Mac so now I can post them here.

 The benches are for interpretive events.

The fur press.

A shed full of supplies.

 I hope you can read the sign!

 A reconstruction, actual buildings have much neater and cleaner clinking.

A bit of sun's rays and a jaw bone and some bones.  Maybe it was a sacred 'cow'.

I made the sign as large as I could to help with reading for those so inclined.

An update on the Unified Field Theory (UFT)

Here are some photos of my "flavored" terrain pieces in their current condition, all 102 pieces.

An overall shot covering most of the 4' x 9' of the total 4' x 12' playing surface.  That is a piece of brown marine vinyl under the pieces.

 

 Some 'blonde' grass on temporarily green painted bases - 16 pieces.

 Then the 'tall' green grass, some on finished pieces and some in process with only the sand glued on - 12 total pieces.

 The 30 blank pieces that have just been spray painted brown, probably will give a couple or a few colors of fake fur added.  Very likely I will add some additional pieces, at least six, so that there are no fewer than 12 pieces for any 'flavor'.

 This is the late spring or summer grass, the farthest from the camera finished and the closer ones just with the green spray paint (rushed into service for a game last year, maybe even longer than that), 16 pieces.

 This would be the late summer into fall grass, 16 pieces.

 This is the 'tall' brown grass, 12 pieces.

Eventually, all of the pieces will be textured like this one with my 8 colors of paint layered on.  Blends pretty well with any season (winter is not a season in my gaming world!).

I welcome ideas for elements I can add to increase the diversity of my flavoring pieces.  Just remember, this is for use with my collection which is all 15 or 18 mm figures and stops circa 1900 and doesn't really get into ancient times - oldest are Vikings, newest are Boxers, might extend to WWI German East Africa.

Delayed Progress and Changes Opening Up

So, it's been a while - and I don't even know if I've mentioned this here on this blog or not, been a bit of a blur in many ways - but one of the big sources of delay in forward progress on many hobby fronts was my mom being diagnosed with dementia in 2013 and my being actively involved in her care and especially in managing her affairs since that time.  Well, this past January she passed away after a very long life.  I don't say this to seek any sympathy - she will be missed but death is part of life and her time came.  The point to be made here is that once all of her affairs are settled, there is a very good chance of a lot more progress on many of my too many hobby projects.  This may help some understand why a lot of posts seem excessively delayed in moving forward.  Not to say I've been idle on the hobby front, I've bought in most of what I will be acquiring, mostly just buildings and a few critters to get in and maybe an odd bit here and there.  There is still that bug-a-boo of too many projects, however.

To improve your brain...

...head over to the Boxer page tab above.  Okay, it might not improve your brain but it has a good chance of putting more information inside it.  Can't guarantee any staying power.  That's your responsibility.

More Photos...and more...and more...

Well, if there are too many photos, people asked for "lots" of photos.  And I'm still cheating.  These are not photos from the game but from the 'after-game' photo shoot.  Hopefully, there will be something viewers appreciate.

Natives skirting a forest.

Natives about to burst out on an opponents flank.

Higher command native stands - the 'generals'?

More natives, the two larger stands to the front are the unit command stands.

More.

And even more.

That is Nathaniel waving his hat with Chingotchkook and Uncas (sp?) behind him.

Here is a longer shot where they are waving the rangers forward.

A "Hawkeye" view?

Some special appearances by some specialty figures, closer shots and more of them following.

No fort for the ladder climbers but here they are climbing a tree. Go figure.

A ladder carrier team, three of them painted up and ready to go.

The torch bearers.  Need to re-glass the flames after the dull coating.

A game of lacrosse, anyone?

The battering ram team.  Fun figures to add to the collection.

We interrupt the native program for some victimization - um, unarmed civilians on display.  There are a couple of casualty stands in this and the following group.

Civilian group number two, European descent of course.

Before I rolled up the ground cloth I added another table and just took a 'bare' shot.  I do plan to make a few changes to reduce those 'seam' lines, easier to see in the image below.

There will be photos - or there were photos above? - with this same setup but without the guns.  There are two in the image above.

One gun, four crew (two each on two bases).  A 6 pounder or a 3 pounder, I think the latter.

Not the best focus but a howitzer.

Another gun shot - with the French this time.

Closer gun.

Dang, another out of focus howitzer.

Native villagers group one, '30' folks - though some are babes in arms so not that many castings.

Village number two, 29 folk - and a dog.  Can you find it?

These six stands are for when I add in Hero and Villain element to my rules - includes the Hawkeye stand.

A shot of guns on each end of a provincial company.

Rangers - duplicated somewhere here?   Did I say a lot of photos.

I believe that is La Reine.

Companie Franche de la Marine to the front, Canadian militia to the rear.

Another shot.

If this is La Reine, then the one above was the CFdlM in winter uniform.

A closer shot, a little, of the militia.

 Coureur du bois skirting the woods.

Some more natives in the woods not far from the CdB.

 An overhead of both of the above.

 A long shot.

I'm sure this is a duplicate but I'm leaving it for the moment.

 Highland grenadiers.

 Highlanders - without bearskins.

Blue coated provincials - Virginia regiment, Jersey Blues at need.

 A yellow/buff coated provincial regiment, probably from New York.

And a green coated regiment of provincials, Pennsylvania.

And that's enough for now.  Whew!