Sunday, November 9, 2008

Mustering for departure

The two columns converging on Frankfurt both have taken the opportunity of a small defile to have a quick review of the troops. They have been told off into their brigades, and various contingents have been combined to form grenadier battalions, horse grenadier squadrons, and the like:


The Imperials:





And the Fedorans and their allies:










All in all, it took 14 boxes, most of them with two infantry or one cavalry brigade in them, to prepare the armies for the march north to Millenium Con!

Sorry for the blurry pictures...someday I'll figure out how to take a clear picture.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Raising a new unit!

For those of you who haven't picked up on it yet, I really don't like painting. Sure, the figures I have actually painted don't look bad, and I am usually happy in the end. But the process is not usually pretty.

But, hold your breath now, I'm going to paint a brand new unit in time for Millennium Con in November. I've had the Fedoran Landgrafin's Fusiliers staring at me for too long, but they're moving to the back of the line. The Imperium needs help!

So, I will paint up a 66-figure regiment of Minden Austrians. By the way...FANTASTIC figures, Frank!!

Here they are in their naked, just mustered-in glory:





They will be painted as the Furstenthal Regiment of Graf Prosper von Furstenthal. Who, amazingly enough, has this interesting red-vested look going for them:


Wish me luck! I will post updates as to their progress.


Sunday, September 21, 2008

OSW weekend

Over on the OSW Yahoo group, it was asked what people were up to this weekend.



In my case, I was rebasing troops. LOTS of troops:




  • Four 60-figure 30:1 Prussian regiments into 4 BAR Germanian Battalions (2 musketeer, 2 fusilier with grenadier companies included)

  • One 24-figure Prussian Standing Grenadier battalion into half of a BAR Germanian battalion

  • 24 Prussian cuirassiers

  • 30 Austrian cuirassiers

  • 16 assorted mounted general officers



They look marvellous, and once I get the table cleared, the photos will follow.



I also made up ~40 movement trays for BAR out of thick card, paper steel, and green paint.



Note to Jean-Louis:



Snibor-Renraw is the ImagiNation of my friend Ray. The troops will be Eureka Dutch War of the Austrian Succession.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Soldiers of Gallia

General Chevert-Protz has ordered Louis Renault, Comte de Maison-Blanche, to take charge of a column and move into Mittel-Nirgendwo. Renault's orders are to offer his assistance to the Imperial general von Blei-Sammeln, and to sustain his soldiers from the bounty of those lands.

Although the Comte de Maison-Blanche was not himself able to attend, his units paraded before departing.

Regiment Conde























Regiment La Sarre























Regiment Royal Allemand






















Regiment Raugrave























Royal Artillery

The Britannian Contingent

Major General Sir Harald Dawes reviewed his command on this hot Sunday afternoon.

11th Foot, with Sir Harald.




















20th Foot is reviewed by Sir Harald.




















The 37th Foot gets their turn with the commander.




















The combined grenadiers--the cream of this little army.




















And finally, Sir Harald looks at the artillery.

37th Foot and Fedoran Hussar Patrol

Just a couple pics to see how the set up looks.


















Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Two New Brigades Ready for Action!

Over the weekend I was able to finish rebasing my British and French units for BAR. Well, apart from the French cavalry. Those are based with some unknown rock-like immovable substance from the UK and short of sawing the horses off at the feet, they are NOT coming off!

I hope to add some pics this weekend:

Brigade of Major General Sir Harald Dawes
  • 11th Foot, 36 figures
  • 20th Foot, 36 figures
  • 37th Foot, 36 figures
  • Grenadier Battalion, 36 figures
  • Artillery Battery, 2 6pdr, 8 gunners, 1 officer

Brigade of Louis Renault, Comte de Maison-Blanche

  • Conde, 1 battalion, 48 figures
  • La Sarre, 1 battalion, 48 figures
  • Royal Allemand, 1 squadron, 12 figures
  • Rougrave, 1 squadron, 12 figures
  • Royal Artillery, 2 4pdr, 8 gunners

Saturday, July 26, 2008

The Army of Saxe-Jungbach

Infantry
1st Musketeer Regiment Prinz von Saxe-Gotha
2nd Musketeer Regiment Prinz Maximilian





























Each regiment of one field battalion

Each battalion of four musketeer companies of 12 figures (10 privates, 1 NCO, 1 officer), one grenadier company of 13 figures (8 grenadiers, 1 pioneer, 1 drummer, 1 fifer, 1 NCO, 1 officer), and a regimental/battalion staff of 7 figures (2 drummers, 1 fifer, 2 standards, 2 officers)

Total, 68 figures

Total force = 2 battalions, 136 figures

Cavalry

1st Cuirassier Regiment
2nd Dragoon Regiment
3rd Chevauleger Regiment[*] Graf Brühl
4th Hussar Regiment*

Regiment of two field squadrons

Each squadron of 12 figures (8 privates, 1 drummer, 1 trumpeter, 1 standard, 1 officer; chevaulegers have no trumpeters and replace with privates; hussars do not have standards or drummers and replace with privates)

Total, 24 figures

Total force = 8 squadrons, 96 figures

Artillery

1st Artillery Company

Company has 8 figures and 2 6pdr guns
The artillerists are supplemented by infantrymen from the battalions (4 figures)

Total force = 2 guns and 12 figures











[*] Chevauleger and Hussar regiments can each dismount one squadron (12 figures plus horseholders)

Thursday, July 24, 2008

The Army of Hesse-Fedora

The Army in Review























Infantry

Leib Regiment, 1 bn and 1 grenadier co

Musketeer Regiment von Blaine, 1 bn and 1 grenadier co

Musketeer Regiment von Earle, 1 bn and 1 grenadier co

Musketeer Regiment von Spade, 1 bn and 1 grenadier co






















Each musketeer battalion has 4 companies of 12 figures (10 privates, 1 NCO, 1 officer), plus a staff of 6 figures (1 private, 2 drummers, 2 standards, 1 officer)

Each grenadier company has 12 figures (10 grenadiers, 1 drummer, 1 officer)

Total 66 figures.

Normal-Infanterie-Regiment (Fusilier Regiment Landgrafin Loren), 1 bn and 1 grenadier co




























Battalion of four musketeer companies of 12 figures (10 privates, 1 NCO, 1 officer), one grenadier company of 12 figures (9 grenadiers, 1 drummer, 1 NCO, 1 officer), and a regimental/battalion staff of 6 figures (2 drummers, 2 standards, 2 officers)

Total, 66 figures

Grenadier companies of the first four regiments are converged into Grenadier Battalion von Dobbs; grenadiers of Landgrafin Fusiliers are not converged.












Total force = 6 battalions, 330 figures.


Heavy Cavalry
Garde du Corps, 1 squadron

Karabinier Regiment von Marlowe, 2 squadrons






















Each squadron has 12 figures (9 troopers, 1 trumpeter, 1 standard, 1 officer; 2nd squadron of Karabiniers replaces trumpeter with trooper)

Total force = 36 figures


Dragoons
Dragoon Regiment von Gunn, 2 squadrons






















Each squadron has 12 figures (10 troopers, 1 standard, 1 officer)

Total force = 24 figures


Artillery
Artillery Company

The artillery company has 20 figures and 4 guns

The artillery company supports each infantry battalion with a 4pdr battalion gun





















Total force = 4 guns and 20 figures


Light Forces
Jägerkorps, 3 companies

Hussar Regiment von Steele, 2 squadrons

Each company has 10 figures (1 officer, 9 jägers), no colors

Each squadron has 12 figures (all troopers), no colors

Total force = 54 figures

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Mittel-Nirgendwo

I plan on doing some housework and tidying up on the blog over the next few days.

I have decided that, among other changes, the links section is getting a makeover.

Originally I planned to link to all of the ImagiNation blogs, but that just isn't working. Besides, Emperor vs. Elector is doing it already! So, except for some personal favorites I will give just the link to E vs. E.

There are a few sites that I feel compelled to keep here, for various reasons. Mostly, though, they are the ones that most fire my own ImagiNation:

Stollen
Pils-Holstein
Hesse-Seewald
Battlegames
and some others

Personally, I am using Google Reader as my main blog source. Since it automatically tells me when there are new posts plus has folders for keeping things organized, I find it very useful. Now, if someone can just tell me how to read blog comments in Reader...

Since I use Reader, I can export my full blog list to anyone interested.

Also, I will be doing Army-specific posts showing each ImagiNation's order of battle with embedded uniform templates from the Not By Appointment plates, and also digipictures of the corresponding miniatures as they are completed. This will be an ongoing work for a few weeks.

In the meantime, here is my working map of the Imperial Circle of Mittel-Nirgendwo, where all of this lace and thunder is taking place.

Cheers!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Awarding Battle Honors (Honours)

So far I've only been able to get in two (2) games of BAR. The first was a solo run through, the second was the game I hosted at ChimaeraCon 2008. Several units had noteworthy performances, and I was writing up some fluff for battle honors when it occurred to me: the Hesse-Fedorans LOST at the second battle.

So, what to do? No army wants to memorialize a defeat that served little purpose. But two units of the Fedoran army distinguished themselves during the battle. (We won't mention one that, ahhhh, did not.)

So, are "honours" just for the unit, or must the army do well in order to recognize the individual?

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Top Five Wargames Articles

We all have favorite pieces of writing that we can enjoy over and over again. Sometimes these are books, sometimes short stories, and sometimes they are magazine articles.

Over my 30-plus year wargames career, I have read plenty of hobby magazines. It all started with board games and Avalon Hill’s The General. Then during college I was first exposed to miniature wargames by a history professor using George Nafziger’s Pas de Charge rules and exquisite 25mm Napoleonic figures, which lead to finding The Courier and Miniature Wargames. I look back at those figures and magazines with a mixture of nostalgia and gratitude for today’s higher quality productions. Not to mention the treasure trove of the Internet!

Narrowing down the field to just miniature gaming, I find plenty of magazines that I acquired over the years: The Courier and Miniature Wargames have been joined on my shelf by (in no particular order) MWAN, Historical Miniature Gamer, Wargames Illustrated, White Dwarf, Battlegames, First Empire, Age of Napoleon, The Journal of the Seven Years War Association, Empire, Eagles, & Lions in various editions, Wargames, Soldiers, & Strategy, Napoleon, and I’m sure there were others. Throw in a subscription to Magweb.com and you can see my opportunities for reading have been legion.

Only a few of these numerous issues have produced articles that draw me back time and again. Don’t get me wrong: there are lots of excellent articles in my collection. But there are just a few that I purposely go back and read again.

What makes these articles so popular with me? There are a number of reasons. They are all well-written. Most of them are from a gamer’s point of view and describe a project about which the writer was passionate. And they conveyed that passion to me.

So here is the list. If you have not read these, I can obviously recommend them. Perhaps you could suggest your favorites in turn?

Number Five

Jack Gill, “Vermin, Scorpions, and Mosquitos: The Rheinbund in the Peninsula,” The Age of Napoleon #17, 1995.

This is a great overview of some of my favorite Napoleonic units, giving a short history and brief orders of battle. Ever since that first Napoleonic miniatures game in 1982 I have had a fondness for the small German states caught up in the inferno of Napoleon’s Empire. Gill’s work is an excellent companion to his outstanding book With Eagles To Glory, which details the German units in the 1809 campaign.

Number Four

Steve Dake, “Napoleonics: Black Hole of Wargaming”, MWAN #94, 1998.

Steve wrote of his introduction to gaming Napoleonics in a very big way. Having bumped into Herr Alte Fritz in his previous incarnation as a purveyor of big Napoleonic gaming (which role he is now reprising!), Steve dove into a project that dwarfs what most people attempt to do. Along the way, he has plenty of interesting lessons and opportunities. Steve amasses the troops, paints them, concocts his own rules, and presents them at a convention. And that’s just the start!

Number Three

Hal Thinglum, “Hal's 25MM Seven Years War Project Continued or ‘Is There No End To This Madness?’", MWAN #87, 1997.

Hal’s Seven Years War Project was legendary to the readers of MWAN. The project just went on and on and on. As far as I know, this was the only time that Hal sat down and described it completely in print. Or rather, as far as it had got at that point! There was a separate article containing the rules he wrote to go with his collection. I find Hal’s almost breathless narration to be both compelling and soothing since it describes my own wargaming collecting so well! “Highly recommended!”

Number Two

N. H. Hyde, “Fictitious Wars”, Miniature Wargames #47, 1987.

Once upon a time, I was a dyed-in-the-wool historical gamer. The idea of fictitious nations left me cold, much less fictitious uniforms! But over the years I have come to see just how much fun a fictitious campaign can be. Henry, who of course is now editor of Battlegames magazine, published this wonderful article long before I was even aware of these concepts except in the realm of fantasy role-playing. I can only hope to reach this level of chronicled detail in my own projects.

Number One

Brian Carroll, “Birth of a Notion, or ‘You want to put how many figures in a battalion?!’”, MWAN #86, 1997.

I really can’t enthuse too much about this article: it is the single influence that I can point to and say, “This got me started on 25mm ‘Big Battalion’ gaming.” Similar in vein to both Steve’s and Hal’s listed above (in fact, Hal writes that this piece encouraged him to write his own article), Brian chronicles the conception, expansion, and exploration of his own “Big Battalions” wargame project. I happened to get this issue of MWAN given to me by a local club member who was cleaning out his stack of magazines. The combination of studying the period, planning and building big battalions, how he put the project together, in fact the whole article just fascinated me. It still does; whenever I want to rekindle the gaming flame, I reread it again.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Two months?! And a request for help

Wow, where in the world has two months gone? I've got a bunch of troops based up over the last few weeks, but not much else has been accomplished on the ImagiNation front.

I wrote up a post on my favorite wargames articles, but must have left it on the other thumb drive. I'll post it tomorrow.

In the meantime, does anyone have a copy of Military Modelling Manual 1983? I would like to get a copy to peruse Charles Grant's article, 'Generals, their Personalities and Staff in Wargames.'

Also, I'm looking to get a copy of Practical Wargamer, September/October 1994 for the article on 'Mainz 1792.'

Finally, can anyone give a comparative review of Don Featherstone's "Solo Wargaming" to Stuart Asquith's "The Partizan Press Guide to Solo Wargaming?" The Asquith version is much more accessible, and I'm looking for some pointers in this direction.

Thanks,
Ed

Monday, April 21, 2008

So...to which "Saxe-Gotha" are you referring??

During my collecting of Seven Years War miniatures, I have somehow managed to pick several units that are all identified as “Saxe-Gotha.” Having just recently noted this, I thought it would be interesting to see if these units were all, in fact, named after the same proprietor (Inhaber or Chef depending on country).

Here are the units I have discovered with the name Saxe-Gotha. In German, it would be Sachsen-Gotha, but I will use “Saxe-.” Actually, at the time of the Seven Years War, it was technically Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg.

The ruling Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg in 1756 was Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. His consort was Luise Dorothea of Saxe-Meiningen. Their only son of military age, Frederick, died on 9 June, 1756.

Austrian IR 30, Saxe-Gotha Infantry Inhaber ?? Raised in the Netherlands

Austrian DR 28, Saxe-Gotha Dragoons Inhaber Field Marshal Prinz Johann August prince of Sachsen Gotha, brother of the ruling Duke

Hanoverian IR 9A Infantry “Herzogin” von Saxe-Gotha Originally a Saxe-Gotha unit, then under British subsidy, then absorbed into the Hanoverian army in 1759. Later known as Saxe-Gotha von Wurmb.

Electoral Saxon IR Prinz Gotha Infantry Inhaber Johann Adolf, Prinz von Sachsen-Gotha youngest of the Duke’s brothers; captured at Pirna; reformed 1757 in Hungary and then transferred to French service

IR Saxe-Gotha Infantry Diocese of Münster Inhaber??

Ducal Saxon Regiment Infantry Upper Saxon Circle Inhaber??

DR Saxe-Gotha Dragoons Upper Saxon Circle Inhaber??

I have been unable to find a list of the full names of the Austrian Inhaber, to confirm which “Saxe-Gotha” was Inhaber of IR 30.

Any help, on any of these units, would be appreciated.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Da Lead! Da Lead!

It certainly can build up when one isn’t paying attention, can’t it? As usual, my ambitions and toy soldier-acquisition have far outstripped my painting speed and contract painting service budget!

My Brunswick/Fedora project is mostly complete except for the Landgrafin’s Fusiliers still are unfinished, and some basing is left for other units. However, my other projects are not so far advanced.

I have been rebasing my figures from six figures in two ranks onto single bases. That way I can play any of several rule sets simply by using movement stands. Most of the Austrians and roughly half of the Prussians are rebased, but the British and French are not even started.

Then there is the Pile o’ Lead. On top are the Landgrafin’s Fusiliers, which are at least started. Next is a company of Eureka Arquebusiers de Grassin.

After that, I have three battalions of Eureka Saxons with guns, a Minden Prussian battalion that shall become the first battalion of the Prince-Bishop of Zwischen-Andere, a Minden battalion for Hesse-Homburg, and a newly ordered brigade of Venture Miniatures Hanoverians. That’s around 500 foot and over 50 mounted.

Plus I have my Eureka 100 club figures that will be delivered over the next few months: 4 regiments of Saxon cavalry and a big force of Dutch.

So much lead…

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Some more eye candy from ChimaeraCon

These pics were taken by Lloyd von Zolms-Braunfels, who led the right flank of the Homburg-Imperial Army.

Here's a pic of the Imperial right flank. The Serbelloni cuirassiers (Old Glory figs) are closest to the camera, with the Ferdinand cuirassiers (Crusader miniatures, painted by Old Army Painting Service) behind. These were Lloyd's brigade. In the distance, the Imperial reserve made up of IR Salm-Salm and IR Neipperg have changed to column and are marching to the Imperial right flank.



This one shows the Ferdinand cuirassiers just before their ill-advised charge against the Fedoran Leibregiment. They were shot from the saddles, almost to a man. I think 4 figures survived the volley, and amazingly passed their morale check. Only to be destroyed the next turn.



Finally, here's a pic of the Fedoran-Germanians. In the foreground, Germanian (Prussian) Dragoon Regiment Schorlemer (Old Glory figures) just before the Serbelloni cuirassiers charged. In the background, the Fedoran (Brunswick) Karabiniers are about to change into column formation to move behind the dragoons, while the Leibregiment takes post near the town of Balcones. Leib and Karabiniers are RSM95 figures painted by Fernando Enterprises Miniature Painting Service.

Monday, March 17, 2008

The ground we fight on…



I have been asked how I made the ground sheet used in my latest battle report. The answer is that I stole ideas from other gamers!

Back in the days of The Courier magazine, there was an article by a gamer who made 6mm Franco-Prussian maps that were just gorgeous. I actually saw them at Cold Wars and they were even better in person. He used T-shirt material, dyed and airbrushed, stretched over Styrofoam--or expanded polystyrene if you prefer.

Now, for Big Battalions I needed a big map, which was portable, relatively small, and relatively cheap to make.

I grabbed one of my wife’s 40% discount coupons and trotted off to Jo-Ann Fabrics. I bought a piece of 100% cotton muslin, in a single piece that was 96 inches wide and 11 yards long. Cost was about $20 with the discount. I also picked up four bottles of green Rit Dye.

After washing the muslin to get rid of sizing, I poured very hot water into a 20 gallon rubber container, and mixed in the Rit with a wooden stick. Note the directions for Rit say to do it in your washing machine, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that. Then I slowly layered in the fabric.

Two things here:
1. I used rubber gauntlets up to my elbows. Rit will dye ANYTHING it touches. You have been warned.
2. Do this outside, in the grass or somewhere that you don’t mind sloshing the dye on. Rit will dye ANYTHING it touches. You have been warned again.

I left the fabric in the container for 4 days, occasionally stirring it, unfolding the fabric, and mixing again. The washing machine would have been faster, but I did not want to risk staining it green (or having my wife kill me for doing so). After 4 days, I poured out the dye, and let the cloth dry for a week.

Then I bought a variety of cheap green spray paints, plus brown and blue. I laid out the cloth in my garage and taped out the patterns.

Two more lessons:
1. Put newspaper under the cloth, as the spray paint WILL bleed through since you have to apply a lot.
2. Use three times wider tape or paper than you think is necessary to prevent overspray. I thought 2-3 inches wide would be enough but as you can see in the final product there was more overspray than looks good.

I worked from a map for our Napoleonic battle at the Millennium Convention 2007. For the green fields, I just randomly picked areas to give that look you see from an airplane.

So, voila! One 7 foot by 33 foot reusable green ground cloth. You can even fold up unused portions underneath without a problem.



For hills, I place 3 inch Styrofoam underneath and use T- or U-pins to mold the cloth over the hill. For towns, I put my buildings down on gray felt, cut to the shape of the building, so that if necessary the buildings can be removed but the location is still there.

You could even do smaller pieces and then piece them together just like most gamers do with their 2-foot or 4-foot terrain boards.

Here is one last photo of the final product.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

ChimaeraCon 2008--San Antonio, Texas, USA

ChimaeraCon 2008 is over, as far as “The Big Battalions” are concerned. And it was a complete success! Unless you are a Fedoran, that is.

C-Con has a larger portion of the Crossroads Mall Convention than last year, providing plenty of space for all of the various events. Sadly, turnout looked to be down. My guess is that Spring Break started this weekend and lots of people left town.

I showed up plenty early to see the sights and visit with the club members. My game wasn’t scheduled until 1400 but in another unfortunate turn for C-Con, the games scheduled for my table were cancelled due to the Game Master being injured. I took advantage, however, and set up my game early--by 1100.

My idea was that I could take my time and visit with passers-by. I also hoped to recruit some players since there was not a single person pre-registered for the game. Soon, the table looked like this:



My plan worked wonderfully. Maybe too wonderfully.

The scenario was indeed CS Grant’s “Table Top Teaser 3: Advance Guard.” I planned on 4 players initially, but had units for all of the possible reinforcements. Each side had 5 infantry battalions, 4 cavalry regiments, a jager or grenadier detachment, and a couple battalion guns. Infantry had 48 figures each, and cavalry had 24.

A number of club members stopped by, and a surprising number of non-historical gamers did also. I attribute that to the sheer “Wow!” factor of big battalions of “28mm” figures. One of the con’s guests, actor Marc Singer of “BEASTMASTER” and “V” stopped and asked a few questions.

At least nine people decided to play. My first reaction was “Uh oh!”

So I threw out the scenario and just threw all my troops on the table. There were two small brigades of cavalry on each end, with two infantry brigades in the center.



None of the players had played BAR before. Two, Lloyd of the Zolms-Braunfels blog and Rusty of the local club, had copies of the rules. Rusty even brought his Austrian battalions and a couple guns…but there was no room on the table!

At 1400 I gave an overview of the rules. That took 20 minutes, and the one thing I learned later was that I did not give enough information about the methods to change facing and formation as given in the “Drill Manual.”

The game began at 1425 after a brief planning session by the players.



Things went quickly due to the small size of the board. The sheer size of the movement rates and firing ranges is daunting, even on a table 6.5 feet by 10 feet.

Both ends of the field had traffic jams, due partly to terrain, partly to set-up, and partly to not explaining as mentioned above. But the players worked it out soon enough, and the game quickly started with Fedoran and Germanian hussars tangling with Imperial dragoons. You can sense the scale of losses by the amount of bare magnet visible on the movement trays!



In the center, the infantry engaged in some horrific firefights. Most of the units held their fire and caused around 15 casualties per volley…and that is AFTER the saving rolls!

We had a few questions come up, but the rules answered most of them with a little digging. The cavalry scrums ended up in Imperial victory on both ends, with about one squadron surviving out of four. These two squadrons were preparing to intervene in the center when the Fedorans withdrew.

In this photo, Germanian IR 9, which was the Fedoran reserve, is moving up to fill the hole left by the rout of a Fedoran battalion. In the middle distance you can see the melee which ended in the destruction of the Imperial Esterhazy battalion, and in the far distance you can see a fresh Imperial battalion preparing to drive the Leib regiment away from Balcones.



The Imperials held both victory objectives (Balcones town and the Olmosbach bridge), and also inflicted more casualties.

Overall, the players seemed pleased and I may have recruited a few new BAR players. One, Sherrill, is soon moving to Illinois and I have already aimed him at Herr Alte Fritz and company!

Some more eye candy, and then it’s off to bed. Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

How NOT to prepare for a game convention

Monday it rained here in San Antonio; the first substantial rain in months.

If you live in the desert, you know that after an extended period without rain, things are VERY slick when it finally does rain.

And so, despite this knowledge, when I attempted to descend the tile staircase at work after lunch on Monday, my feet took a different route to the bottom than I had intended: over my head.

After landing on my back right ribs and before bouncing the last 8 or 9 steps, I lacerated my right elbow. The doctor took one look at the road rash on my ribs, poked once or twice to see how high I jumped, and pronounced "at least 3 broken ribs."

Fortunately, the X-rays showed no fractures at all (although apparently rib fractures frequently don't show up). So after 3 days on pain pills, I have returned to the gaming prep, albeit having lost all of the "cushion" I had built up over the weekend.

So, while everything is drying tonight, I will return to "better living through chemistry" and hope to finish it all tomorrow night. The game WILL go on, but some of the troops may not be quite as "finished" as I had planned.

Cheers, (ouch...darn elbow!)

Ed

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Quick question for local readers

Is anyone besides Lloyd von Solms-Braunfels planning on attending my BAR game at ChimaeraCon on 15 March?

Just curious if I need to rebase more troops quickly!

Ed v. H-F

Monday, February 25, 2008

First pics of the Fedoran hordes

Just a few snaps. I am NOT a photographer!

The von Steele Hussars




















The grenadiers of Regiment von Earle



















Generalmajor Norris' pride and joy: the Jagerkorps!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Back home...and packages were waiting!

Hello, and thanks for still dropping around.

I have just returned from a week visiting with my mother to help out while she recovers from a fall. She's doing well, although she has little short term memory and becomes confused when she's tired.

On a MUCH more cheerful note: there were packages awaiting my return:

1. Eureka Saxon infantry (the Duchy of Saxe-Jungbach's recruits)

2. A BUNCH of painted RSM Brunswickers...I mean, Fedorans. Yes, I "outsourced" to get the troops done quickly!

3. A check I made out to a painter. Oops. I was so excited about getting the troops (Crusader Miniatures Austrian dragoons and horse grenadiers) that I forgot to put a stamp on the envelope.

More pics and info to follow.

Cheers,
Ed v. H-F

Monday, January 28, 2008

Lack of Updates

I'm sorry to say that 2008 has not started well on the ImagiNation front.

Although I've been slowly rebasing units for the BAR game in March at ChimaeraCon, I have not got much else accomplished. Add to that a bunch of business travel and some familial health issues which have already forced me to cancel plans to attend the SYWA convention.

Oh well, hopefully February will be better. At least I have a huge parcel from Eureka Miniatures for which to look forward!

Ed

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Unexpected Tidings

Landgraf Bogey frowned and looked up as a disturbance in the reception chamber to his office intruded on his thoughts. The noise of voices rose to a crescendo, followed by thumps and bumps, and then the door to his office burst open. A large overcoated man, hat pulled down low over his face and carrying a large package lurched into the room. Servants and officers attempted to hold the man back, but he shrugged them off and stumbled toward the Landgraf.

“You’re…eeka…” the man mumbled, dropping the bundle onto the desk with a thud and collapsing into a nearby chair. Bogey was on his feet, moving to the man and gesturing to the crowd at the entrance.

“Shut that door!” he commanded.

Fräulein Effi, one of the ladies of the court, quickly pushed the door closed, but with herself still in the Landgraf’s office. She placed her back against the door and turned to Bogey, who was peeling open the wet coat of the stranger.

As she realized that the wetness was the man’s own blood, Effi sharply breathed in, making an “Ohh!” sound that she tried to stifle with her hand.

Bogey, shot Effi a stern glance, and turned back to the man. Or rather, he turned back to the body. Reaching inside the inner coat, covered in blood and worse, the Landgraf plucked out a folio of soaked papers, then turned to the frightened young woman.

“He could not have come far with all those holes in him,” Bogey stated matter of factly, gently peeling the red-stained papers apart before tossing them in the fireplace. “Why could he not live long enough to tell us something?”

Bogey strode to the desk and tore open the cover to the bundle. Effi, despite herself, could not resist crossing the room to her Landgraf’s side to look at the contents: toy soldiers, dozens of them, painted in white with various trims. Some kind of bill of lading lay beneath, but she could only see a few letters that read, "..eka Miniatures, Victoria..."

“Do you know who he is, Your Excellency?” Effi asked in a hushed whisper.

“Ja. He was Herr Jakoby, master of the ship Der Vogel.” Bogey lifted one of the soldiers and then glanced at the lists beneath. More to himself than to Effi, the Landgraf muttered, “So, Saxe-Jungbach is contracting with Herr Robson to raise an army, eh?”

Bogey rolled the bundle together and thrust it under his arm. He grabbed Effi by the arm, causing her to wince. “Forget all about the bundle. You got that? You can tell anyone about what happened here, but don’t mention the bundle!”

Effi twisted painfully, “You’re hurting me,” she cried.

Bogey released her arm. “You’re an angel, Fräulein. Now get me General Norris.”