Battlefields 2011

By the time you read this the Con will have come and gone. I took my Wild West Shoot-out game and had a great time running it. Thanks to everybody that played for keeping your semse of humor and fun. In the afternoon session I played in Larry Campbell's French Foreign Legion game, I had a blast. The figures and fort were great and the game was fun (although the French might have thought otherwise). Many other games were on offer and all seemed to be full of happy gamers. Thanks to everybody that helped me lighten my load of 15mm minis, I hope you enjoy them (and actually get around to painting them!).

 The calm before the storm

More photos after the break...

Battlefields

We will be getting together at my place at about 0700 before leaving for Battlefields in Dearborn on 26MAR11
I will be running my Wild West Shootout game and taking pictures as time allows and hope to have a report when I get back.

Anybody looking to get some cheap 15mm anything (I have stuff from Biblicals to WW1) get in touch with me there, I am bringing  all of the stuff that didn't move at the Flea-Market.

Hope to see you there.

Wild West Shootout Rules

I have finally completed the upgrades /proofreading/ reformatting of my Wild West Shootout rules. I would attached the rules to Flickr but they won't allow pdfs any more.

If you are interested in a copy to print out for yourself just e-mail me at daftrica89@yahoo,com and I will send you a pdf as an attachment. You must include the words "Wild West Shootout" in the title of the e-mail; or it will be deleted without opening. I have included ready-made character sheets with the rules and I am working on an expanded version with examples of play and some scenarios.

UPDATE: I will be running these rules at Proor Con / Battlefields this weekend 26MAR11 in the morning session.

New Immortal Spartans

Yes, it is me again with yet another reveiw of some fresh plastic minis. This time we will be looking at the new Immortal Minatures plastic 28mm Spartans. This is essentailly the plastic hoplites with additional parts to make Spartans, i.e. four extra sprues that provide new torso and all the bearded-but-no-mustache Spartan heads that you would need to upgrade the lot to Spartiates one and all. As always superlative detail and casting are of evidence throughout. Nice high quality plastic in a neutral color will make assembly and painting a dream.
 Photos after the break....

This Weekend and other news

Dan A has offered to present the follow-up to his last GURPS game in which the heroes will now attempt to make good their escape through the native city in the center of the Caliphate. This promises to be a delicate operation. I hope to make it a string of two straight games in which my character does not die!!!

In the other news portion Gary V has informed me that he is a member of the the Blue Water Sportsman Club and that he may be able to set up a Saturday when we could go there to shoot. The club is just off of I-94, I have been there in the past and it is a very nice facility. If anyone is interested in going there and shooting please contact me so that I can discuss date/time issues with Gary and get things pulled together.

Update

The Swap Meet has come and gone, Thanks to everybody who stopped by. It seems that everybody found something to swap/sell/buy and I hope that you all had a good time. I am sure that we will be having another one when the weather improves. Now all I have to do is decide which boxes to haul to the flea market at Battlefields.

I scored a real cool Spanish Church from Chuck, I plan on building it and creating an interior for it to go with the Spanish villa that I got at Spartacon. With any luck I will manage to takes some photos as I do so and I will post it on the blog as a sort of how-to  article.

Meanwhile, Keep Painting,   John

I think that I am ready

It took the better part of two hours but I got out my stuff for the swap meet, it is rather sobering when you look at how much "stuff" you can accumulate in forty years;

A Query

A while back I ran a Victorian Science Fiction campaign for several years under the title Daftrica 1889. I still have all of the stuff that I put together for the sadly stillborn website. If readers are interested I can load bits of into the blog from time to time.

This was one of those "monster" campaigns that covered everything from international diplomacy and resource development down to RPG style spy missions. Lots of pretty models and many battles were involved, a large portion of it documented in the various battle reports and the yellow-journalism papers published by certain players. As a teaser here is a map of the continent;

The AK-47 Republic Project

Well, I thought about it for a while, and I have decided to build the Communist Intervention Force, largely because I think the T-54/55 is a cool tank and the Commie uniforms will be easier to paint.

I will be ordering a few bags from the Old Glory line and some odds and ends (Soviet recoiless rifles are oddly hard to find in 15mm) from other manufacturers. I intend to document my progress, or lack thereof, here on the blog.

Helpful hints are welcome, taunts will no doubt be well-deserved.

Upcoming Events

Just wanted to freshen up the events calendar;

5MAR11 Swap Meet at my house 1900hrs, gaming afterward (if there is time)
12MAR11 Gaming at my house 1900hrs
19MAR11 Gaming at my house 1900hrs
26MAR11 Battlefields 2011 see this website; http://proorcon.webs.com/ for times and schedule


2APR11 Gaming at my house 1900hrs
9APR11 Gaming at my house 1900hrs
16APR11 Gaming at my house 1900hrs
23APR11 Easter weekend, no gaming
30APR11 Gaming at my house 1900hrs

As usual I am open to anybody who wants to take it upon themselves to run a game, Recently Dan A. ran a GURPS game that was quite fun and rather different (oddly enough my character survived for once). Anyone wishing to set something up give me a call.

The Monday Flames of War group should be meeting on all Mondays at 1900hrs throughout this period.

Also, for anyone who is a shooter I would like to set up a time in the near future when we can all get together at Bald Mountain on a Saturday and fire some of my antiques (and any cool guns you may own).


                                                                                              Keep Painting,  John

Back from Texas and getting ready for the Swap Meet

Got in from Texas last night.

Five days straight of gaming, movies and beer; I never thought that I could get tired of gaming but I found myself exhausted. Thanks Tom, it was a grand time!!

I return to find a foot of snow, WTF!!!

Anyways, while gaming my butt off, I had a little time to think and I have decided that there is little chance of me ever finishing most of the projects that clog my "toy room". Thus I will be opening the vault and making available almost all of my collection of "unfinished business". From 1/12 scale plastic figures to 5mm minis and everything in between, I have tons of stuff for trade or sale.

I am looking for 25/28mm Victorian Science Fiction/Back of Beyond, 25/28mm French and Indian Wars, female Pirate figures in 28mm, 1/2400 scale WW 1 cruisers and destroyers, 1/100 scale Cold War helicopters (Soviet or US) circa 1965, 15mm AK-47 Republic  stuff (T-55s, kalishnikov-armed Africans, etc), 28mm buildings that can be used for Mexico/Sicily (you know that red tiled roof and stucco walls look), 28mm Victorian/Wild West buildings. And, of course, CASH.

Anybody reading this and needing to find my house send me an e-mail at; daftrica89 at yahoo dot com and I will reply with my street address so that you can "google maps" me.

Keep Painting!    John

Some painted Perrys French Heavy Cavalry



A while back I painted some of the 28mm Perrys plastic French heavy cavalry, they turned out pretty well given my limited skills. I have always liked the Perrys horses, they seem to catch the energy and position of an animal in motion better than most, the riders aren't bad either.
Pictures after the break....