April Fool

A lot has happened in the last 3 months, and I realized my January 7 post didn’t save properly! On no!

Anyways, life goes on…

My son got Undaunted: Normandy and Undaunted:Reinforcements for Christmas and we played a bunch of that. Great game.

My Oathmark Elf Cavalry arrived and I built those.

Like all Oathmark plastic kits, they are well made and easy to assemble.

I also built my Goblin Slaves. I also finished another 2 boxes of undead. 30 Skeletons and 30 revenants.

Next I built 3 4ground houses.

I also got the Century: Big Box and we played that. Very similar feel to Splendor which we enjoy mightily.


I also jumped in head first to HeroQuest and picked up all the expansions. My youngest son and I have almost finished the quests from the core box.


I also decided to start gaming a Very British Civil War (because I need another era to game in). Thankfully I already had this platoon of Footsore Miniatures Early War Scotsmen.

I primed them, painted the kilts and hats blue (base colour for Black Watch Tartan -wtf am I thinking) I also painted the webbing green, and all the black and brown bits (boots, scabbard, rifle). All that’s left is the skin, hair and metal bits.

In the end of March we attended Holyead. Southwest Ontario’s premier gaming convention. It’s in its 29th year.  Saw a lot of friends and played 4 games.

The first (Friday night) was a WWI game set in Africa in 1914. Rules were modified 1 hour skirmish Wargames. GM Dan Hutter runs a well oiled table. 


Saturday AM my youngest played a game for all ages but meant for kids. Wooden soldiers and armed teddy bears and frogs. Great way to introduce youth to the hobby. 

I also hit the bring and buy pretty heavily. I sold about $255 worth of old rule sets and codexes and some plastic figures I’m not going to use.

I purchased some interesting things. I did have a bit of buyers remorse though. I was debating buying two full painted Afrika Korps armies (one infantry based and the other vehicle based). Instead I bought painted 3D printed Battletech mechs that were printed to a larger scale (my kids and I played Gamma Wolves with those mechs last year and they loved it). I bought the mechs for them but they didn’t seem to impressed with them this year. I should’ve just bought the Africa Korps for myself then.

I also picked up a larger river (6 pieces) and a set of 4 fields from an estate sale. 

I came out slightly ahead all in all. Then blew the earnings and then some on some 3D printed vehicles for VBCW.

Saturday afternoon, my eldest had a nap so I brought the youngest down for a game of Speedfreaks! Think Gaslands using GW Ork vehicles and rules. Last year we placed a paltry 2nd place. This year we took home the cup.

Saturday evening, after his nap, my oldest joined us for a game of silly hats. Back of beyond somewhere in Warlord China. White and red Russians, Mongols and various Chinese factions all vying for the hand of a Warlords daughter.  Another Dan Hutter masterpiece.

All in all, quite a busy three months. We played a game yesterday but I plan to cover that later this week.

Cheers everyone!

A Grand Adventure

On Wednesday November 1, 2023 at 11pm, I packed up my car for a weekend getaway and drove out near Kitchener to meet some “friends of Hotlead” Dan and Brett.

Shortly before midnight we started the 5+ hour journey to Ligonier Pennsylvania.

We were in the first leg of our trip to Lancaster Pennsylvania to attend a HMGS convention called Fall-In.

We were the “East” group and would be meeting up with the “West” group comprising of David, Pete, Brian, Keith, Kevin and Joe.

We arrived at our preplanned meeting spot. A diner called Ruthie’s. Blink and you might miss it. We got in at about 5:50am. But the diner didn’t open until 7. 😂 

So we laid back and grabbed a nap. We went inside just after 8am.

I was hungry and needed a boost so I got two breakfasts. The special, eggs, ham, potatoes and toast for the princely sun of $6.95 and two hotcakes for $4.95.

As I drove the entire night, Dan graciously offered and paid for my breakfast.

The other crew arrived after 9 ( they had a longer drive 8hrs and took a little unplanned detour). 

After breakfast we drove down the road to visit Fort Ligonier. A French and Indian War fort erected in 1758 by the British. 

It was fairly impressive in two respects. It was build on a hill and had multiple walls several inches thick which meant it was literally an uphill battle just to

get to it. 

Secondly there was surprisingly large amount of artillery located at the fort.

There were 6lb guns, mortars, howitzers, and swivel guns on the ramparts.

Upon viewing the displays inside the museum and speaking with a volunteer guide, the purpose of the fort was to guard the thousands of tonnes of supplies and almost all the soldiers bivouacked outside of its walls.

From there we drove about 3 hours to the Wyndham Hotel in Lancaster Pennsylvania. With pit stops at a liquor store and Walmart for supplies.

We unpacked and divided ourselves into two rooms.

Then went to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse. I’d never been there before but it was amazing.

At 8:30pm, exhausted I crashed and fell asleep.

What I've been up to...

Since my last post I've been super busy. I've meant to post several times but you know what they say about good intentions. I'll split the 'news' up into 2 posts so I don't fall further behind.

For starters I had to redo the floors on my  1st floor. The guy that I bought this house from (over 4 years ago now) like taking shortcuts. I've trying to fix them one by one. I'm pretty handy so I don't like paying hard earned money for things I can do well myself. So I installed some new hardwood and trim. The laminate that preceded it was buckling in places and there were some critical errors so it was time to go. That and the 3-1/2 yer old ripped up a piece in the middle of the floor! D'oh!

 The floor all ripped up. Just over 300 square feet. I went to Lumber Liquidators and snagged some 3/8x5" "Hand scraped" Log Cabin Birch for $2.69sqft.

That first piece was a true bastard. It took over 1 hour to get it in. The tiles + grout (inside the doorway) were about about 1" tall. The hardwood is only 3/8 tall. I shimmed under the piece to get it level with the tiles but it sits on an angle. It was the best solution without laying new plywood down to build up the subfloor. It looks good but odd at the same time.

The floor took just under 2 days to lay. The living/dining room had the baseboard installed by me approximately 2 weeks later. The hallway is still waiting (eek) nearly 5 weeks later.

The trim I went with:

 I scored some unpainted poplar from my aunt at a local building store for a huge discount! But I had to paint it! That took 2 days.

I coped the inside corners instead of cutting 45 degree bevels. I hate coping. I truly do, but it looks neater in the end.

The finished room:

Unfortunately the door casing was mangled at the bottom (again previous owner taking short cuts). So to salvage them, I had to put plinth blocks on the bottom. I feel it really classes the joint up.

Unfortunately sometime during the installation of the floor(hammering) I loosened the anchors holding a shelf in the basement. This came crashing down resulting in 5 broken beer glasses and chips/cracks in my conflix terrain. I haven't fixed it yet. I'm still too upset.

Hold The Line Convention 

June 20th, 2015.

I was supposed to attend and play some games with my dad but my 3-1/2 year old didn't want me to leave. So instead of not going, I brought him along. 

The convention was a lot busier then next year. It may seem early but it shows the promise of growth.

I wasn't able to play but I got some cool loot. 

Renedra bases and mealie bags and some 4ground Saxon houses for my ongoing SAGA project.

The true find was a vendor with Copplestone Back of Beyond figures. It was a shame (or a blessing on my wallet) that he only accepted cash.

I picked up Chinese Leaders, buglers/flag bearers and infantry. I also got an Austin for my RCW Russians and a motorbike with sidecar for my Chinese bandits. The army/aliens tube was a game given for free to my some from a nice vendor.

 

Well that's all for now.