Yet another month has passed. This one seemed a bit slower than the others which was ok because it has seemed as though the year was just flying by. I imagine things will speed back up soon enough. Well, let's take a look at what went on this last month.
Books
I only finished one book this last month But, it was a really good read.
I had bought this some time ago because the subject intrigued me. I was not disappointed. Excellent book on the Spanish Blue Division and their operations, as well as all the political maneuverings going on between Germany and Spain. I have always remembered a political cartoon I saw as a teen when Franco died. It was him joining a card game with Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. Kind of odd in retrospect. I think the subject is way more nuanced than that. But I guess it was the times. I did start some great books and look forward to sharing those when I am done.
Purchases
I did manage to keep things to a minimum this month. Early in the month I placed an order with Warlord games to pick up some stuff they had on clearance, mostly to fill in my Alpini, and I also picked up the Heroes of Camelot set. I am wanting to do the Arthurian period with Midgard, and they were discounted, so, why not. I also got in a batch of tents for my Pavia game from Noble Knight, as well as about 12' of printed streams for the same. I found a few deals on eBay, like 15 10mm European buildings from Musket Miniatures which will be great for my 1859-1870 games. I got a good price on a pack of Slaughterloo Elves, and the 1866 rules. I probably won't ever play those rules but they are valuable for the other things in the book. Organizations, scenarios, etc.
Gaming
Wasn't any gaming this month, Had a tone of other things to concentrate on unfortunately. And with the countdown now for TaKtiCon in November, I'm not too sure how much I'll get in before then. But we shall see how it goes. If you are interested in TaKtiCon the link is here November 7-9 in Kansas City.
Much of my time has been spent trying to figure out rules so I can get things sorted out, and storage. I have a decent amount of storage but I am running out of space. I started weeding through rules and figuring out what I am going to actually use so I can get rid of some, and get miniatures done for them. That has opened up some space, and I am trying to get my minis organized better. I had a great plan to use RUB 9L boxes with 3 Sally 4th trays.. Unfortunately, when put into practice, I found that the flags were too tall for the 35mm high boxes. back to square one, ruining my plans for this weekend as well.
My next big project, I think I will start in the next two weeks, is lighting down in the hobby room. I had bought some LED can lights last year. Just need to get them in.
Painting
I have known for some time that my painting time was going to take a hit, and that finally happened this month. I am able to get plenty of painting time regardless. I did manage to finish up 175 figures/terrain pieces, which was pretty good, and likely the new norm for awhile. Here are ones I got based and flocked this month. There is usually a month lag between what I paint, and basing, so, this is stuff from July.
I had a free German Grenadier sprue from way back, and my reading (see above) inspired me to build them out as Spanish. I had these 6 I put together, and I have another box and a half waiting for assembly. Warlord makes the decals for the Espana patch which I used on these. I have to say, I don't know who uses all those other tiny patches, but that is way beyond my talents.
Got some old Clan War stuff done as well. Not entirely sure what I am going to do with these, but, they are fun to paint.
Some Warlord Games Alpini weapons teams and support groups
Some Waffen SS weapons teams
A few ACW figs. I was looking at doing New Market and decided I needed more cav dismounts for both sides, and when I did the figures for VMI, I had to buy a specialty command pack from Stone Mountain. That gave me 2 sets of command for VMI, US Sharpshooters, and Bucktails. I incorporated the 2 sets of VMI command into the Corp of Cadets, the sharpshooters were split, one going as sharpshooters for an already painted unit with no command, and the other as a generic Union command with the long coats. That left the Bucktails, so, I placed an order for some Bucktail figs and made 2 units out of them. Flags are all from Maverick Models.
I had painted these Persians some time ago, but, I was just putting off finishing the shields with LBMS transfers. Not a big fan of how they turned out, but they are slung on the backs so not as visible anyway. Figures are Xyston.
I bought these cool little buildings second hand so I don't know where they are from. They are 10mm and super easy to build. The timbers and doors are finished, so you assemble the base house, paint it white, then glue on the timbers and doors, the roof is precut cardstock so you glue that on and you are done. Pretty sweet.
Then last week I got these finished up. I am doing my SAGA Age of Chivalry stuff rather generic so I can use stuff for more than one army. As I said above, I am running out of space.
Well that is pretty much it this time. I always start looking back and see that I did more than I was thinking I had. That was the case again. Well I will see you all next month!
