Friday, February 10, 2017

2mm American Civil War: Finally Done!

It's been a long time coming but I finally finished painting and basing my 2mm ACW figures. Here is the entire lot:

 




















The Union consists of the entire II Corps and the Cavalry Corps plus most of I Corps. The Confederates consists of three divisions of Longstreet's Corps.



I used the Union Corps insignia plus division colours to identify the regiments. So the second brigade of the first division of II Corps has a white trefoil on red field.

Here is a detail shot of the Union Cavalry Corps:




















The skirmishers took a little time but the payoff is nice:


Here's a picture of the Confederates, including tents and a baggage train (the last thing to be painted):






















Charge!


A final shot before I put them away. I have no idea when I'll use them or what rules, but at least they are ready for use.






















Yeah!

Monday, February 6, 2017

Russian cottage from 4Ground

Having posted about the relative flatness of the Ukrainian house roof compared to the glorious furriness of the Russian cottage, I realized that I did not post any pictures of it. Here it is in all of its hairy glory:


And here's a pic of the inside.

I do have a couple things to note:

Pro tip #1: Don't just glue the chimney onto the fur and hope it stays in place. Actually make a hole in the fur to glue it solidly onto the MDF. Mine isn't going anywhere but it's not as flat as I would like. I'm not sure but I think the instructions called for cutting a hole and I ignored them. Sigh.

Pro tip #2: While it is nice to break up the flatness of MDF, glue the shutters back against the wall instead of having them stick out at a jaunty angle. They will be much more durable that way.

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Ukrainian house from 4Ground

I assembled this house a while back but haven't gotten around to posting about it until now. As with other 4Ground kits, it assembles nicely as long as you dry fit everything first and you follow the instructions.



These kits come with nice details inside and out. The shutters and the cracked plaster on the outside are a nice touch to add a bit of dimension.


But after the lushness of the fur thatch on the Russian house that I have, the absolute flatness of the roof is a bit disappointing. I guess I could add some really thin card over some of the scored planks and add some paint, but that's pretty far down the priority list. It still looks very good on the table.


Friday, September 30, 2016

Musket and Tomahawks at Mike's

Last weekend, Mike hosted a French vs British set in the French and Indian Wars. The British were tasked with protecting the settlers and the French were supposed to burn all the buildings. As this was a play test for a convention, these divergent goals played a huge role in the outcome.

I took the British regulars and the friendly Iroquois while Larry controlled the light troops, the militia and the settlers. I hid the Iroquois in the corn fields as a surprise for the French.



Things started up badly for the French when my regulars took a long range shot at some French lights who were deployed in the open. A kill and a retreat put them out of being a threat for a while.

Luck turned the French way as the French Hurons blundered into my Indians. But the French got another Indian activation card and managed to get into an advantageous battle. Both side's Indian massacred each other. The difference was that all of mine disappeared in the subsequent recoil while the French managed to keep a few from each Indian formation. This eventually was the turning point.

Meanwhile, Larry was having problems dealing with the French militia and regulars. Eventually, numbers counted and the British lights had to give ground, which lead to the burning of one cabin and inevitable burning of the other. On my side, after the clash of Indians, the way was open for the French irregulars to burn the largest building, which they did. The remaining Hurons slipped over to the other building and set it on fire too, despite the intervention of a second British regular unit.

But remember those civilians? We had provided them with enough time to run away into the woods, and as far as we were concerned, we had fulfilled our victory conditions. So the game was basically a tie with both sides having achieved what they set out to do.

So onto my thoughts on the rules. I'm not all that impressed with them. They have the typical problem of all card driven games in which everyone else waits for the guy who has had his units activated to do something. This isn't necessarily a killer but it has the potential to really bog down a game.

The firing seems a bit clunky to me. First you determine your base to hit. Then you modify it for terrain and range. This is pretty standard but the chart wasn't great at showing it. After you hit, you then roll for effect. It's basically modelling power or lethality. The problem is that basically all of the weapons in use were a 3+ to kill and the only units that weren't using a 3+ were some of my Indians and they never got off a shot. This essentially turned the second roll into a "restore 1/3 of your troops" event.

The melee makes the firing seem smooth by comparison, It is a huge time-suck as you resolve each set of figures one on one. So instead of taking 6 dice for 6 figures and rolling them as a group, you have to do it individually. Then your opponent rolls for his defense. Then you do it all over again as your opponent strikes back. And you keep doing this attack and defense until there's no more figures in direct contact. After all of that, you finally roll for morale to see what happens to each unit in the melee. If your units recoil or flee, you have to check each figure to see if they run away completely. This is what did my Indians in.

The morale is very volatile with a roll of a 1 or 2 on a fresh unit recoiling back or a 6 saving the sole figure in a unit from running to the hills. It's OK in effect but something to remember.

Would I play it again? Yes, but it won't be my first choice. I think there should be better games out there.


Recovery!

Well, after the surgery, we had to keep Surie to limited activity to let the incision heal. That took the full three weeks. I took her to the vet to have the staples and sutures removed.

To celebrate both her recovery and to participate in the Terry Fox run, I decided to have her nails done. I may have overestimated her recovery though. She was so tired from the walk to the start location and all of the excitement of so many people that she only lasted about 1K. I had to carry her the rest of the way.

Here she is when her nails were fresh and shiny:

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Cancer Sucks Part 2

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.

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'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