Time Flys!

It really is true ~ Time Flys when you're not painting and blogging!

Somehow it's mid-January 2009. Yes, we have been busy with lots of work. Which is a Very Good Thing. Yes, we are finally almost better and almost over the nasty bugs that we've had since the weekend after Thanksgiving. (Before Christmas the Doctor actually told me that I had worked myself sick, and ordered me not to talk . . .)

And yes I have gotten a little painting done! But not as much as I wanted, or hoped. We're past Christmas and the Holidays. The house is back to normal. And it's time for me to get back on the painting wagon! I need to paint ~ and I need to paint regularly!!!

I must have been pretty good last year . . . Santa Aelf supplied me with a four figure sample pack from Askari Miniatures and a copy of Two Hour Wargames Colonial Adventures rules. The figures are 28 mm and beautiful ~ perfect porportions and great animation. The detailing is amazing! They are very worthy successors to my beloved Ral Parthas. Colonial Adventures look like a great set of fun playable rules too!

Now I'm planning a French Foreign Legion, and Enemies, collection for once I've finished The Secret Project! I'm really looking forward to it too.

In the meantime I'm following Al Maurer's excellent blog, which you can find at http://edsarmy.blogspot.com/ . I highly recommend his lines and company! Al is great to deal with and I am really looking forward to acquiring and painting a lot of his figures.

I was able to almost finish painting my sample Berber while our Family was here for Christmas. The other three figures are primed and waiting. I hope to post photos and review soon.

We did get to play/fight Tim the Elder's brillant Battle of Barnet (which he called "Stay Misty for Me"). It was a great game and I have a bunch of backlogged correspondance to post yet. (Which I will do. The lead up was so much Fun that I really want to preserve the, ahem, "historical record".) I have an incredible number of photos of the game to sort and edit too. So continuing the Barnet Saga is definitely on my to do list.

In the meantime though, as of today I'm getting back into my regular painting and posting regime!

I'm including this photo of my character figure since long psots without any photos can get boring. (Goodness knows my recent posts have been long and haven't had any photos!)


This 25 mm Dixon figure was a gift from Tim the E. Half of the horse armour is finished for the mounted version. Of course I still have six more figure characters to paint for Tim's Castle Devin games!



Even though I'm not very happy with his eyes I do like how he turned out.

Next up is a unit of six Ral Partha AElvish Archers. They are truly beautiful figures that have been waiting for me to paint them for about thirty years!

My goal for The Secret Plan is to finish painting one unit a month. Since I want to get back into the routine and get a unit finished this month I think a small unit is a perfect start! The figures are cleaned and washed and ready for me.

Before I begin I'm going to write back to my sister Terry. She sent me a wonderful note this morning. Pat and I got so busy, and so sick, that it's been awhile since we've been in touch and a lot of really exciting things have happened!

More soon and more photos to follow!

Warwick ~ BoB III

From the pen and demented mind of PJ ~ the Perfect Warwick . . . (He really is! Even though I was honoured to play "Neville the Devil" in TtE's long running, and often hilarious, PBM Kingmaker game, PJ is perfect for a Warwick. And his Roman Commander is Whineous Maximus!)


(overheard during a meeting between Warwick and his military counsel)

"What is pomp, rule and reign? As far as I'm concerned, it's gigantic castles full of tasty food, comfy sofas, and a mistress behind every chamber door."

(loud cheers, hurrah's, etc. from the assembled faithful)

"...and I intend to pomp, rule, and reign now that I have that idiot Eddie right where I want him, trudging up that bloody road from North London. We should be well rested by the morrow, and he, along with that rabble of garlic-swilling Frenchies, should be exhausted"

(more hurrahs and vigourous back-slapping)

" OK. Exeter, you get the left flank. Montagu, the center. I shall be in the rear with the horses....er, um, the Reserves ready to deal with any desertions....um, er penetrations, yes, that's it, penetrations that might occur in our lines! Lord Chisick. be certain that a particularly fast horse is saddled for me should I need to flee..cough, harrrumph, um....fight with the Reserve."

"OXFORD! You ineffable bastard! Where are you? OH, there you are..couldnt see you because of this damnable fog! You get the right flank. Now remember, Chappie, be sure to only attack the guys to your front! Dont turn around if you hear any scary noises behind the line. That would only be me brilliantly maneuvering the Reserve to support your efforts. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know its foggy, dark and scary. But should you stub your toe on assending ground while you are advancing, TURN THE BLOODY HELL AROUND! I dont want to find myself accidentally chopped to bloody rags because you think you see Eddie's banner painted on my breastplate!"

"Oh.........and no column assaults just to see what might happen.....RIGHT?"

"That is all..........for now"

Stay Misty for Me ~ BoB II

Stay Misty for Me

Being a sort of prelude to the Battle of Barnet, April 14, 1471
Re-fought January 10, 2009

The Fog of War
"The air temperature dropped quickly after dark, and moisture that had evaporated from the wet clay of Gladsmuir Heath during the day condensed into a thick mist. Smoke and shockwaves from Warwick's thundering artillery caused a thick chemical fog, so that when morning broke an unusually dense "pea souper" enveloped the battlefield."

Martin Reboul – Richard III Society

In 1471, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, had almost as much money and influence as God himself; "God" of course being the newest King of England, Edward IV. However, Edward had achieved the rank of deity by three strokes of good fortune rather than by his own divine doing.

First, he was born the eldest son of the "true" royal bloodline, at least by the Yorkist scorecard. It is no secret that his two younger siblings – Richard, Duke and Gloucester, and George, Duke of Clarence – viewed this "elder" status as but a minor obstacle to their own paths to fame, fortune, and Godhood.

Second, Edward was fortunate enough to have his dear daddy, Richard, Duke of York, killed by the "false" King Henry’s Lancastrian supporters at Wakefield a few years back. This unpleasant act of treachery gave Edward the chance to play in the big leagues. But he would need some help.

Third, help came in the personage of Earl Warwick – a long time advisor and friend to the late senior Yorkist – who also came with a great idea: Why not claim the crown for young Edward, lock up Old Weird Harry, and become "advisor for life" to the weak and naïve new king? What a plan! What could go wrong?

Women, that’s what. For a while everything went according to Warwick’s plan; Henry was safely locked away in the Tower, the Lancastrians were stripped of titles and lands, and Edward was coming of age, i.e. he was in "rut". Fine, wonderful even. A quick trip to France and Warwick would come back with the daughter of the French King, and not only gain a queen for Edward, but a powerful ally for himself…er, England that is. Unfortunately, the young, naïve King Edward preferred "home grown" Yorkshire pudding rather than the imported variety. While Warwick was away playing royal pimp, Edward married a local hotty named Elizabeth Woodville; bestowing her kin with all those extra titles and lands he had laying about and acted – oddly enough – like the King of England. This, of course, pissed Warwick off, and I do mean royally.

Warwick’s own journal records his thoughts: "Kids. You try to raise them right and what do you get? No respect, no appreciation for all your hard work, that’s what. What’s a powerful, egotistical, megalomaniac to do? Well, one bad apple doesn’t spoil the barrel. I’ll just get me another brother. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Not Richard though. That one is kind of weird, scary looking even. That other brother though, the youngest one, what’s his name… George, I think. Yeah, George. He’ll do just fine."

So Warwick wines and dines George, promises him the world, or at least England, and returns from France with the full blessings of – are you ready? – Queen Margaret and all the former Lancastrian enemies. Seems the silver-tongued Warwick also promised to return Henry to power – failing to mention his little pep talk with George. Soon, Henry is back on the throne, Warwick is back in charge, and George is again in back of the lineage bus. Now it’s Edward’s turn to set sail for the continent. He finds safe harbor in Burgundy, since the Duke there is also royally pissed; only his anger is at the King of France for backing Warwick, as it seems Warwick ALSO promised to send troops to France to help kill Burgundians. Rumor has it that Warwick was also engaged in a lucrative real estate deal, selling land off the coast of Dover to the Spaniards ("Great location. Ocean view. On a clear day, you can see Calais").

Edward soon returns to England with some new friends in the form of unintelligible German and Flemish mercenaries, a "loaner" group of fairly expensive Burgundian handgunners and men-at-arms ("You break ‘em, you bought ‘em"), and a hearty "break a leg" from his supporters in Europe, who, frankly could care less what color rose ended up on the English royal tea set.

Edward marches into London, trundles up poor Henry ("Yippy! I’m going for a horsy ride!"), takes the crown for himself, and heads north to have a little chat with his old friend and advisor Warwick. Along the way, who should arrive on the scene with flowers and candy but younger brother George. It seems George was just "playing along" with Warwick’s scheme, pretending to support the Lancastrians, and, ha ha, wanting the throne for himself. How absurd! I mean, who ever heard of a King George?

Which brings us to Barnet. Warwick, his brother Montague, and his two favorite axe-men, Exeter and Oxford, are waiting at the upper end of Gladsmuir Heath, just north of town. Warwick knows he is no longer welcome in Europe, and without Henry the puppet king, he can’t return to London. Scotland? Get serious.
So tonight, Edward, his brothers George and Richard, along with his old friend Lord Hastings and a trussed up ex-King Henry are stumbling up the Great North road, through the dark and an unnaturally dense fog – which seems to be the only thing thicker than the plot.

The Battle of Barnet ~ BoB I

A fast run down on the state of things before heading into the Fun of Battle or, in this case, the Fun of Pre-Battle Planning and Trash Talking!

We drove Pat's Father to the Charlotte airport this morning. Got home a little over an hour ago, so it was a five hour round trip. Pat got the cold/flu Mike and her Dad brought when they came down from Mike's the day after Christmas. She's crashed out on the couch, sicker than ever now. I don't have the energy to get started on the house yet. We have today and the weekend to recover, then we have to hit the ground running Monday.

I had hoped to get some gaming time in over the Holidays. Don't know why I thought that! It definitely was wishful thinking. Though I'm pretty sure Mike would have had fun with Wings of War. I had thought about trying to set up a date with David and Thomas and John, if he could make it, to play Wings of War sometime this weeked. Now I'm glad I didn't ~ I'm truly beat! So . . .

My first game of the New Year will be one of Tim the Elder's great games using his 15 mm medievals and his "DBA - MACE" rules (Morale and Combat Enhancements). Inspired by and using many of the points of DBA but with a very TtE twist(s)! This one will see the four of us at the Battle of Barnet. With his permission I'll be posting our lead up and then details and photos of the battle.

Since it can sometimes be so difficult to get the four of us together we tend to invest a lot of our lead up time in pre-game trash talking by email. Some of them are hilarious, some of them profane. They are always fun and really help to keep us excitted! So, without any more blatthering, here is our first inkling of our upcoming Battle of Barnet '09 courtesy of the wicked pen (and planning) of Tim the Elder!

"Why, what is pomp, rule, reign,
but earth and dust?
And, live we how we can,
yet die we must."

- Earl of Warwick, dying of wounds from Barnet (Henry VI)

Gentlemen!

Hope I'm not giving away the ending, but I couldn't resist quoting the Bard, or boating the quard, or whatever. But its getting near time to start some Ye Olde royal mud slinging. I don't expect anything as flowery as Shakespeare but come on now! I've seen your work!

Warwick (PJ) is chagrinned, hell PISSED at Edward. He has changed sides more often than his underwear, and is in short, a perfect lawyer. He backed the Yorks, then just Edward, then the Lancasters, then George (never cared for Richard), then the Lancasters, then Edward, then the Lancasters again.... PJ, you were MADE for this part.

Edward (TT) is God's appointed one on Earth. He'll do as he damn well pleases. And screw who he damn well pleases. Queen or "advisor", same thing. He isn't known as "Crazy Eddy" for nothing.

Richard (TtY), damn shame if something happens to BOTH of those ego bloated oafs, and that worthless toad Henry. That would leave you in charge. Hmmm....

Oxford? (me)... Why, I'm just a loyal servant to my Lord Warwick.

I've attached a "precis" of events leading to our forthcoming confrontation, having a blast recalling all these dead guys and times and troubles. Yes, just as TtY brought us some personal history with his Naseby battle, the Battle of Barnet was the first miniature game I ever played: 25mm, Detroit gaming convention, 1978!!!

Didn't know a damn thing about mediaval history, Kingmakers, or mini-wargames. My dear brother talked me into going, had an absolute blast, collected my own set over the next year and put on my own battle at the next convention. Some of those 25mm minis we used for Road Rash are from that first collection. Ahhh, memories.

I'll be sending the order of battle to each of you soon.

Oh, and I got my ass handed to me that first battle playing Oxford (I knew you were wondering).

Happy New Year my laddies! Can't wait to see you all again!

Happy New Year !!!

Wow ~ it has been a busy time for us! I find it hard to believe that I haven't posted in over two weeks, and that it has been even longer since I really got any painting done.

My voice still isn't back to normal. Pat is sick again with, we think, a new bug strain her Brother and Father brought when they came for Christmas!

Despite everything, I couldn't let the New Year begin without posting ~ without beginning work on this blog again! There is so much to talk about too! Painting my Ral Partha collection, The Secret Project, The Next Project, Askari Miniatures and Colonial Adventures and . . .

The Battle of Barnet '09 !!!

So, rest assured, there will be lots more soon!

Updating & Future Plans ?

Well, at some point, awhile back, I did say that I wasn’t sure how much painting I was going to be able to get done in the next couple of weeks . . .

Man, was I right!

I haven’t painted or posted in about a week. I started a long rambling update yesterday. Instead I’ll just hit the highlights and get back into the groove of writing and painting!

Last week was a long one for both of us. We were both still sick and everything seemed to take a lot longer than usual. We were due at Arrowcraft, in Gatlinburg, to be the visiting artists at their Jewelry Focus’ Open House Saturday and Sunday.

Jeannie was back in her shop so Pat went in Friday. Around noon Laurel called from Arrowcraft, to make sure that we were okay. I was in the middle of finishing up the pieces that we were taking. It took me a couple of minutes to understand that she was calling because they expected us there Friday and Saturday!

Talk about embarrassing. Fortunately she was laughing and understanding. (I still can’t believe that I wrote down the wrong dates!)

I stayed up late finishing the assembling and pricing. Made it to bed by 3 AM. The alarm went off at 7. Yeah, another long night followed by a long day. I was barely able to speak while we were there. That made demonstrating and interacting with the public kind of difficult!

I wasn’t able to prepare any food. I wish I had. Their spread was spectacular and a lot of fun! Great folks practicing great hospitality. It was really good to get to spend some time with Ken again. Craig and Laurel and I had some good talks too.

Most of the demonstrating fell to Pat. She did a great job. Fortunately some of the customers that expected us Friday came back on Saturday to meet us. And our favorite collector came to pick out her Christmas presents! Pat made her a pair of oxidized shield earrings with a nice 5 millimeter citrine to go with her new amber pendant. (She doesn’t suspect a thing about the special rhyolite pendant that her husband choose to surprise her with!)

Since I could barely speak we stayed home Sunday. Pat mainly spent it writing and reading. After I ran errands and did the shopping I was done. Totally. No energy for painting. I cooked a small standing rib roast, roasted a squash and diced beets. (It was good too!) Then I took to the couch and watched movies.

Pat went to Jeanie’s this Monday and left me with orders to take it easy. I did. Same thing today. Lots of napping and coughing and hacking.

So that pretty much brings us somewhat up to date. Except that as part of my resting regime I’ve been spending a lot of time online mainly browsing some great SYW Imagi-Nations sites and TMP. Pretty cool and exciting stuff.

I really am excited to be working on my Ral Partha AElves. I am determined to finish them in time for our Game Day in June too! I had been thinking that after them I might begin work on my own 17th or 18th century Imagi-Nations. I may have changed my mind . . .

I read a couple of after action reports about games using the Colonial Adventures rules. Which lead me to http://www.askari-minis.com/ beautiful 28 mm figures.

I’ve played, and enjoyed, plenty of TSATF games. But I have to admit that these rules have some really interesting ideas in them. (And I’m beginning to wonder about trying them for future games using my Ral Partha Aelves against the barbaric orcs!) I’ve always wanted to do the French Foreign Legion, in their classic blue uniforms. (Maybe because my Uncle Ely served in the Legion?) These figures are beautiful! The ranges seem to be complete and through.

Legionairres and Saphis and Tirailleurs, and Zouaves??? Oh my!!!

I wonder if I can limit myself to buying a unit or two at a time and painting them before I buy the next . . .

Yeah, I have to admit I really am thinking about it!

Isn't that part of the Fun ???

Sick Songs

We're both still sick . . . and it sucks! I thought I had passed the worst of it Tuesday night. Turns out I was a little optimistic. I think Pat is a little better, but she still isn't over it yet.

I did get a little painting done Tuesday night. I was all ready to work on the chestnut Centaur when I realized the mail needed highlighting on both figures.

I had a major, fatigue-induced, slip on the grey. Yeah, a whole swipe of wet brushing that I'm going to have to go back and re-do. I finished up both of them; highlighting with Shiny Silver.

Then I gave up in disgust.

I haven't had the energy or concentration to paint since then. It's pretty much been a case of eat, maybe doze off, cough and blow my nose. Go to bed. That's been it for both of us.

Since I don't have a stylin' progress photo, it's time for another Game Day Song by Tim the Elder. (I have no idea when this one dates from, but I will never forget him singin it, on his knees, hand in shirt, newspaper bicorne on his head . . .)


The Ballad of Napoleon the Frog

Come and listen to my story bout Napoleon the Frog
Who tried to gobble Europe like an insane bloated hog
But then one day he was shootin at some Krauts
And as his men came running by
He heard their screaming shouts

Prussians, Sir!
And big, nasty, sharp-pointed-teethy Limeys

Well the next thing you know, ole Nappy starts to pee
Bayonets and round-shot where his hemorroids used to be
They kicked his ass so high he now sneezes when he farts
And he keeps a weiner in his pants
'Cause they blew his bone-a-part


I told you it's a sick song. And we laughed our butts off.

I'm glad I posted it ~ I needed a smile this morning.

We did get the Jewelry Focus pieces shipped in time. Now we're trying to get everything else done, and the repairs, and we're both hoping we get our voices back before Saturday!

The next song I post will have to be Tim's classic "Why, Why Can't Johnnie Come By?" Which dates back to when he became Poppa John . . .