Changun and a Mycenaean

I added another Black Cat Bases dog model representing Changun to an earlier completed Crocodile Games Mycenaean. I added a Green Stuff curled tail for the Changun figure. I think it's actually listed as a jackal on the website, but the form is pretty close to Changun. The model is a bit oversized as Changun was medium sized Jindo, but I think he fits well with the Crocodile Games figure. Also, as I reminisce, Changun had a big heart and full of life - so it is indeed a fitting representation of him.

At the moment I have very little to no desire to paint or game. The thought of building a Korean Imjim War army, in memory of Changun, has crossed my mind, but will wait until I feel sure I can complete the project. I still think of Changun everyday and miss him very much. Warmest regards to all, Dean

Changun & Changun - In Memoriam

Here is a piece I painted in memory of my dog, Changun. The mounted figure is from the Perry Korean commanders set. He represents the Korean General Kwon Yul who is remembered as one of the more successful Korean commanders during the Japanese invasion of Korea in the late 16th Century.The figure of the dog is from Black Cat Bases. Changun means General in Korean, and my dog was of the Korean breed Jindo.

My wife's family name is Kwon, and she said her dad proudly proclaims that their family is decended from this very same Kwon Yul. Their family does indeed hail from the same region as Kwon Yul - Andong, South Korea.

The Black Cat Bases sculpt was modified a bit to better resemble my Changun. Green Stuff was used to lengthen his muzzle and also for his perpetually curled tail. I also painted his eyes in the funny almond shape he had in life. Maybe a bit longer in life, but the forelegs remind me of Chang's stance - somewhat stocky looking.

Anyway, I will cherish this piece and keep it in a place that will always remind me of my little Changs. I also hope to get back into painting and gaming again, but I still feel a bit out of it at the moment. Kindest regards to all. Dean

Foundry WWI German HMG Teams

Here are a couple of German MG08 HMG teams that I hope to use in a Great War game. The figures are Foundry and were picked up at the Bring & Buy at Enfilade! this past May. I'm slowly getting back into painting, but don't feel like tackling large projects at the moment. These painted up very quickly with only a few basic colors and given a Minwax stain. Anyway, hope you like them.

The coats are Vallejo Field Grey lightened with white, and the trousers are a mixture of black, white and a little blue to replicate the Stone Grey trousers introduced around 1915 - later switching back to Field Grey. The helmet covers are Vallejo Green Ochre and Field Grey mixed with white.

Thank you all for continuing to follow my blog.

Crocodile Games Mycenaean - A Dedication

This figure is dedicated to Changun. It is a Crocodile Games Mycenaean that will be the Army Standard for my favorite WAB army.

Not a Gaming Post

I am posting this with a heavy heart and mixed feelings - mixed feelings because this has nothing at all to do with gaming or painting, which is what I normally post. But I feel like letting all of you who kindly follow my blog know why I haven't posted anything in a while, and the possibility of me not posting anything for some time. A very long story short, I decided to turn my beloved 2 year old dog, Changun (which is general in Korean), into Animal Control. By today, I pray he is running with the Lord above without having to worry about getting into any kind of trouble. I take full responsibility for what he did and what I decided to do. I hope you can understand. If you could, please say a prayer for him too. My kindest regards to all of you.

NOTE (I've added more detail since the initial post - I felt the need to clarify what happened - which is the worse thing that I've had to do for as long as I can remember):

A few weeks ago I received an official notice that Changun was declared a "Dangerous Animal" by the authorities. Initially, I was going to fight it at a hearing, but after reading the eye-witness statements and other evidence which I recently received, I decided to withdraw my request for a hearing. Not the least of which was sparing the 14 year old girl who owned the dog that Changun killed. Also, he was a good dog to us, but he was always a bit worrisome around other people and animals. He was always a bit on the nervous side - a fear biter, I suppose some would say. My wife and I loved him dearly, but he was causing us a lot of worry and stress (my wife was actually losing hair).  I was just about to start behavior modification training (even ordered a training collar), but that was before the notice and evidence was received. The actual incident occurred over two months ago (May 2, to be exact) - he was accused of crawling under the back fence and killing the neighbor's dog. Of course, we've felt terrible since that time, and wanted to make things right with them. Strangely, the neighbors had planned to move out the very day it happened. They have not been there since. Although we had thought everything was okay after not hearing from the authorities for such a long time, he still worried us and feared that he could do the same again - or worse, hurt a person or child. We have a fenced yard, but he was able to dig under the fence. My wife still thinks the hole was started on the opposite side. It appeared so, and our dog's paws weren't dirtied at all the day of the incident. To make matters even worse, almost two months after the neighbor dog being killed, a neighborhood kid who apparently has a history of coming into other folks yard uninvited was bit by Changun. My wife had him tied out in our front yard while she was about to wash her car. She saw this kid riding his bike in our culdesac - where we'd never seen him in before (he lives in another culdesac). She waited until he finally left our culdesac and turned for only a second to get the car wash soap and hears the kid crying while standing in our lawn with his bicycle in our yard saying the dog bit his but. My dog had bit him only once as a warning, and it was totally the right thing as the kid came into our yard and he was doing what he should be doing - defending his territory and my wife. But Animal Control was called again and my dog had to be quarantined for 10-days. We were allowed to quarantine him at our home. My wife diligently watched him for the entire time while I was at work for over 10 hours a day. She became even more stressed out during this time. It was just about the end of the 10-day quarantine when we received the notice of Changun being declared a Dangerous Animal. They said it had nothing to do with the recent bite of the kid, but it was for the earlier killing of the neighbor's dog. I was mortified and was going to fight it at a hearing initially. This is the worst thing I can remember ever having to go through. Losing Changun has changed my life and I miss him every day. I am constantly troubled wondering if I did the right thing or not.

Here are some memories of happier days with Changun.

Just a few months before - Winter 2011-12

A few months old - early 2010

Winter of 2010

With Pungsani

This was taken the night that he killed the other dog - I wanted to take a picture of him because I thought the authorities were going to take him away that night or the next day. He could tell that I was upset and saddened by what had happened. Although, he himself only did what was natural for him. The neighbhor's dog was a miniature - and would always yelped at my dogs and stir them up - not putting blame on the little dog, but just adding more detail to make any sense of this.

My last day with him -

I apologize if I've offended anyone with this post, it is surely not my intent. Nor is it my intent to depress anyone either; I just wanted to let you all know up front if you don't see me making regular post as I had in the past.

Hail Caesar Playtest - The Sack of Troy VII

I finally got to playtest a Hail Caesar game using troops I specifically wanted to use with these rules. Thanks to Pat Lowinger and Mike Butcher - two veteran WAB types, the game went off quite smoothly and enjoyably. Mike has been working on Fort Lewis for a few weeks while supporting the annual ROTC camp. He actually drove out here all the way from Wisconsin! It's been tough on him since the government is only paying him enough money to eat chow in the mess hall!  Anyway, on to the game - Mike has never played Hail Caesar before and Pat has played it before but always tries to include rules from all the other game he's played. Still, I had a great time GMing the game with these two seasoned gamers. Here are a few shots I managed to snap as I was living up to the Iliad and partaking of wine. In fact, I only started to take pictures midway through the game when Pat reminded me about it.

The rules are close enough to Black Powder for familiarity, but there are many nuances to make them different. For one, shooting isn't as big a deal as it is in Black Powder. Supporting units for Hand to Hand Combat are very important in Hail Caesar. In fact, even small units of skirmishers made significant impact on some rounds of combat as supports. As with Black Powder, the flow of the game is not only fast, but very smooth. We called the game after enough troops had been broken off the table. I think it was a Greek victory, but I'm not really too sure. Anyway, here are the two generals, Pat on the left who ran the Trojans and Mike on the right who ran the Greeks.

Trojan War Set Up - Using Hail Caesar

Well, I hope this game gets off the ground tomorrow - my buddy Pat wants to try out his Ancient naval rules he so diligently drafted this past week; after the game I hosted last Friday. Incidentally, I couldn't make today's Truants game due to some other commitments. I did however manage to set up the table for the Trojan War game. It's a basic set up with Greeks and Trojans, each with three "divisions" of various types of units facing off each other over an open plain.

I plan to use very basic stats for the several types of units - formed infantry, archer skirmishers, javelin skirmishers and chariotry. Only the Myrmidons have a special rule - "Tough Fighters" as well as being "Stubborn." I added the 6 Dendra guys for the heck of it as a Tiny unit too - I may give them some special armor save though. Here are some shots of the divisions and units.

Again, this will only be a playtest to feel out the rules. Once I feel comfortable with them, I'll likely come up with a more interesting scenario. Maye one where different allies can join in after so many turns, or if a certain unit is broken. Something along the lines of Memnon and his Ethiopians (or Cissians, according to some sources), and Penthesilea and her Amazons coming on later in the game if Hector or enough Trojans are killed.

Rounding Out Ancient Armies/Units

Added another unit to a WAB Campanian army - bringing the points up to 3,000. It is a small unit of 12 Warriors with light armor, large shield and throwing spear. This is actually a previously painted unit that I was going to use as Veterans in a Carthaginian army. Along with the unit are standards for the two Hoplite and Aetolian peltast units, as well as the Army Standard.

Next are the command figures to finish up the Hittite, Sherdan and Philistine units for Hail Caesar. The figures were given to me by fellow-TMPer Cheriton - who also traded me a bunch of Foundry Napoleonics earlier in the year. He answered my TMP trade request for some Biblical command figures. The Sherdan guy is a Black Tree Design figure and the Philistine leader and musician are Newline. The two figures in scale coats are unidentified figures. I added different legs to them to add height - the figures the legs came from are also unidentified. The head of one of them is from another BTD Sherdan with the disk on the helmet removed. The axe-wielding arm is also from an unidentified figure.

Here are the two mishmashed figures prior to painting.

Although the BTD guy is a bit larger than the Old Glory figures, and the Newline a little smaller, they look okay in the units as command figures.

I should be able to host a Hail Caesar playtest soon. On the home front, my oldest boy flies out for Air Force basic training tomorrow morning. He just graduated from high school with honors (including Presidential Scholar) a couple of weeks ago. After basic, he will immediately begin his technical school (what the Air Force calls their advanced individual training) - he is due to graduate that course end of March 2013. He will have a two week break during Christmas - will we surely miss him until we see him again.

Front Rank Red Lancers - Ready to Charge Home!

Finally got the motivation to finish these guys - and glad I did. Here they are on some beautiful Hotz Works mats.

Eric sent me a bunch of these mats to sample and I am proud to post them here on my blog. The are truly nice pieces and as with all of his works, of the highest quality.

Oh, and the Front Rank guys are also top-notch. I am happy to say that they are a pleasure to paint as the details are not only excellent, but have the painter's brush in mind.

The lances are brass rod with hammered spear heads. The pennons are made from a basic design found on the internet and printed out on plain bond paper - I did add some highlights to them though. The eagle is from a spare Old Glory 2nd Edition guy.

The horses were sprayed with Krylon Brown Boots - which I found at the local Walmart. It works perfect for a base coat color for horses. I will be using it a lot in the future.

This what they looked like prior to a stain of Minwax Tudor Satin. I gave them a finish of Testors Dullcote when dried. No other highlighting was added. Of course, the musician's horse was given a base coat of white.

Without a doubt, using the Krylon Brown Boots spray and Minwax stain is the fastest, and easiest way to get horses done. BTW, the Imperial Eagles on the horse blankets were painted for effect, rather than accuracy.

Truants 2012 First Game - Ancient Naval Gaming

We kicked off the third season of Truants with an Ancient Naval game today at The Game Matrix. Having just received the excellent 1.5" hexed mat from Hotz Works, I figured it was time to get my 1/1200th Ancient fleets bloodied. I chose a free set of rules called Diodochi for the inaugural event. These rules are amongst the many listed on the Hotz Roman Seas site. I have Roman Seas too, but figured for fleet action with multiple squadrons, Diodochi may work a little better (read simpler and faster-playing). With some, or maybe a lot, of great suggested tweaks/improvements, Diodochi was agreed upon by the experienced Truants as a decent set to work with. There were 9 players with me GMing (or pretending to be). Each of the players ran about an 8-ship squadron. Everyone started out with their squadrons in Line Abreast - the best way for attacking.

 I even got to use some of my Roman Seas (1/300th scale) markers.

Even a gigantic Grapple marker that Al just had to use!

It was a very close game with the red fleet narrowly beating the blue. The rules include missile fire, combat with ram, raking, grappling and boarding rules. I intend to run this at conventions and similar venues where no prior-rules experience being needed.

All of the gamers, except for one, have years of experience with many sets of rules, including naval, so this was a great play test which I received a lot of great feedback and suggested improvements. Stay tuned for more Friday Truants' gaming posts. Disclaimer: I stole all of the photos off of Adrian's Facebook.