Last year, my wife dealt with breast cancer. She had a lumpectomy and radiation. So far, there's been no sign of re-occurrence, for which we are extremely happy. Even my dad's treatment for bladder cancer seems to have gone well. You can never be sure but for these things, no news is good news.
However, we have learned that our dog, Surie, has a mass cell tumor. We thought initially that it was just a wart on the back of her leg. But Sylvie noticed that it had gotten a bit bigger so off to the vet we went. Dr Peter was pretty certain that it was benign and nothing to worry about. But he wanted to make sure and he took a biopsy. The thing is not benign but it is slow growing.
So Surie's going to have surgery. The tricky bit is that the vet needs to make sure he gets the entire tumor because this type has deep roots. If things go well, Surie will have just a bit of a dimple on the back of one of her legs.
Update: the surgery went well and there won't be much of a scar or dimple. It's going to be tough to keep her from bouncing around the house like she normally does.
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Monday, August 22, 2016
New Skillz!
One of the first projects that we wanted to do in the house was to add a back splash to the kitchen. The existing quality paint was in good shape but we wanted something even more durable. With a bit of time on my hands, I dedicated two days to get the job done.
I'm very pleased with the result
I've not tiled before but thanks to watching a number of DIY shows, I had a rough idea of the process. A couple of You Tube consultations filled in some gaps. The rest was going to be a combination of practice and trial and error.
We had originally thought of using sheets of small silver, grey, and black tiles but sticker shock had us looking for alternatives. Fortunately, someone at Patti Lynn Interiors suggested a subway tile base with an accent stripe of fancy tiles. This was much friendlier on the wallet.
Actually, I want to thank all of the folks at Patti Lynn. They were very helpful in answering my questions, providing us with design solutions, and with kitting me out with the proper equipment. The right tools made the job smooth and (relatively) quick.
The first day was a long one as I had to cut and tile the entire back splash (about 16 feet long or so). A profession would have done this in a few hours but I was taking my time and making sure I did things properly. I was racing the clock to finish my self-imposed curfew of 10 pm. The second day was grouting and cleaning up.
I'm very pleased with the result
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Napoleonic at Mike's
Continuing with my catching up on gaming activities...
Mike hosted a Napoleonic game with me running a Austro-Russian force against Stephen running the French. I generally went with the initial setup that Mike had made with the main exception being beefing up the center right by going 3 deep with my regiments. Stephen counter by stuffing the town with troops and moving all of his light troops to his left.
I got off to a really good start with some effective bombardment on the left. This prepared my cavalry for a successful charge. In the center, my plan was to sit tight and not take casualties while pushing hard for church. I felt that Stephen had left this area a bit open and there looked to be a gap between the town and the light troops to the far right. Here is result of these opening moves. On the far left, my first wave of cavalry had succeeded in chasing off the French cavalry and effectively pinning the French infantry by causing them to start turning to face the Austrian cavalry. On the right of the following photo, I was pushing hard on the church and overwhelming the defenders with weight of numbers. Not in the photo are Stephen's light troops, which were marching (leisurely as it turned out because Stephen forgot or did not hear that troops could double their speed if they were more than 18" from the enemy). I turned my militia to face them (more as a speed bump than actual effectiveness).
I continued with some clutch rolling on the left and continued to roll up the French with a devastating combined arms offensive of artillery, cavalry, and infantry. Stephen emptied the town to counter my church offensive and I was losing momentum. But I had succeeded in drawing out all of his reserves and putting some wear onto them. Meanwhile, my Russian grenadiers were coming up to deliver the final blow. On my right though, things were crumbling as the French lights swung into action and started to chew up my right flank.
At this point, we called the game with Mike awarding the Austro-Russians with a minor victory.
My thanks to Mike for hosting and to Stephen for providing a hard fought challenge.
Mike hosted a Napoleonic game with me running a Austro-Russian force against Stephen running the French. I generally went with the initial setup that Mike had made with the main exception being beefing up the center right by going 3 deep with my regiments. Stephen counter by stuffing the town with troops and moving all of his light troops to his left.
I got off to a really good start with some effective bombardment on the left. This prepared my cavalry for a successful charge. In the center, my plan was to sit tight and not take casualties while pushing hard for church. I felt that Stephen had left this area a bit open and there looked to be a gap between the town and the light troops to the far right. Here is result of these opening moves. On the far left, my first wave of cavalry had succeeded in chasing off the French cavalry and effectively pinning the French infantry by causing them to start turning to face the Austrian cavalry. On the right of the following photo, I was pushing hard on the church and overwhelming the defenders with weight of numbers. Not in the photo are Stephen's light troops, which were marching (leisurely as it turned out because Stephen forgot or did not hear that troops could double their speed if they were more than 18" from the enemy). I turned my militia to face them (more as a speed bump than actual effectiveness).
I continued with some clutch rolling on the left and continued to roll up the French with a devastating combined arms offensive of artillery, cavalry, and infantry. Stephen emptied the town to counter my church offensive and I was losing momentum. But I had succeeded in drawing out all of his reserves and putting some wear onto them. Meanwhile, my Russian grenadiers were coming up to deliver the final blow. On my right though, things were crumbling as the French lights swung into action and started to chew up my right flank.
At this point, we called the game with Mike awarding the Austro-Russians with a minor victory.
My thanks to Mike for hosting and to Stephen for providing a hard fought challenge.
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Hot Lead 2016 (long delayed)
Life has been eventful for me since Hot Lead. Now that things are settling down for me, I have finally gotten around to posting some pictures.
The first game was a recreation of one of Frederick the Great's victories. The layout was beautiful and there were lots of figures on the table. I ended up with the Prussian right flank. Generally, I don't like a game set up in which the player's first action is largely predetermined. I had a brigade of cavalry and nowhere to take them but to charge straight into battle against superior numbers and while being surrounded. With some timely luck, I managed to win some encounters before being forced back across the river.
My infantry battle was the exact opposite. Despite working with an advantage in numbers, I could not roll well enough to seriously hurt the opposing Austrians.
The rules were essentially Fire and Fury but modified for 18th century warfare. I found them to be a bit slow in a convention setting.
After that, it was on to Dux.
This was a lot of fun with the Saxons on both flanks eventually taking out their opposing Britons while having the center completely collapse.
The first game was a recreation of one of Frederick the Great's victories. The layout was beautiful and there were lots of figures on the table. I ended up with the Prussian right flank. Generally, I don't like a game set up in which the player's first action is largely predetermined. I had a brigade of cavalry and nowhere to take them but to charge straight into battle against superior numbers and while being surrounded. With some timely luck, I managed to win some encounters before being forced back across the river.
My infantry battle was the exact opposite. Despite working with an advantage in numbers, I could not roll well enough to seriously hurt the opposing Austrians.
The rules were essentially Fire and Fury but modified for 18th century warfare. I found them to be a bit slow in a convention setting.
After that, it was on to Dux.
This was a lot of fun with the Saxons on both flanks eventually taking out their opposing Britons while having the center completely collapse.
The third session was me running Big Chain of Command. I learned a few things from running it:
- Despite encouraging people to move their figures, players tend to be conservative and stay in cover.
- In a convention setting, play across the table rather than along it even if the probe scenario is fun. The Russian players did eventually make a go of it and nearly won but then they were spent as a force.
- While the patrol phase is the coolest part of the game. it might be best to skip it and just set up the deployment points for the players.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Present!
My lovely and wonderful wife bought me this for my birthday present. I'm looking forward to some nice weather so that I can use it.
T'is a beautiful piece of equipment.
T'is a beautiful piece of equipment.
Friday, February 26, 2016
Comparison between MMG teams
So now I have a German MMG team from Warlord and one from BTD. Let's compare them.
The Warlord one is on the left and the BTD on the right. The most immediate difference between the two is the tripod mount. The BTD one is thick and heavy. This gives it some welcome sturdiness. It also makes it way over-scaled. The other problem is that the stand looks very two dimensional.
The figures themselves are similar in size and chunkiness. The Warlords are a little more impressionistic while the BTD are firmer in detail. The difference shows up more when you are actually painting them. You have to use your imagination more for the Warlord ones while the highly raise details on the BTD make them easier pop them.
Overall, I generally prefer BTD figures but the Warlord ones blend in pretty easily and nicely supplement the gaps I had in my troops.
The Warlord one is on the left and the BTD on the right. The most immediate difference between the two is the tripod mount. The BTD one is thick and heavy. This gives it some welcome sturdiness. It also makes it way over-scaled. The other problem is that the stand looks very two dimensional.
The Warlord stand is far more accurate in scale. It also spreads out in three dimensions. But it wasn't easy to get there. The legs come flat and there were no instructions. Fortunately, I found a picture of the entire stand. So it was a matter of delicately twisting and bending the legs until they were the right shape and fit with the gunner. Of course, this meant that a stand was an absolute necessity.
The figures themselves are similar in size and chunkiness. The Warlords are a little more impressionistic while the BTD are firmer in detail. The difference shows up more when you are actually painting them. You have to use your imagination more for the Warlord ones while the highly raise details on the BTD make them easier pop them.
Overall, I generally prefer BTD figures but the Warlord ones blend in pretty easily and nicely supplement the gaps I had in my troops.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Support Options for the Germans (Part 3)
The Germans get some long range AT support:
These figures are actually Warlord 75mm gun and crew.
I find the Warlord and BTD figures to blend rather nicely. The BTD figures have more raised detail and slightly better sculpting (IMHO) that make them easier to paint but when painted, it is hard to tell them apart. I think the figure in the background with binoculars is BTD but I'm not sure.
Here's the front view:
These figures are actually Warlord 75mm gun and crew.
I find the Warlord and BTD figures to blend rather nicely. The BTD figures have more raised detail and slightly better sculpting (IMHO) that make them easier to paint but when painted, it is hard to tell them apart. I think the figure in the background with binoculars is BTD but I'm not sure.
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