Perry Choson Korean Archers

Here is the bow unit for Changun's army. They can also be in combined formation with the spearmen - filling the rear rank. For now they'll be in their own unit as Open Order Light Infantry with massed missile fire.

Here they are in Skirmish order.

I plan to work on two artillery pieces next.

Perry Choson Korean Infantry - Completed

Here are the three spear units for Changun's Choson army - two regular units with halberds and a militia unit with thrusting spears. They will be joined by archers - who can combine with the spear units as an option.

This unit has the flag of the center commander.

The next two actually have ambush flags, but they look nice so I gave them to them as left and right flank units. All the flags were downloaded from the Perry site.

Here is a shot of the rear of the units.

They are all mounted on fender washers as it eases ranking them up with their lunging poses.

Perry Choson Korean Infantry - WIP +1

Finished the two commanders to lead the regular infantry units.

They are both same pose, but hopefully the different coloring will make them look a little different.

The details and sculpting by the Perrys are always incredibly impressive.

How to Speed Paint 28mm Perry Choson Koreans

Here are some WIP photos of what will be three units of spearmen for a Korean Imjin War army. They are all Perry figures and include two units of regular infantry and one of militia/irregulars. Besides still needing their bases flocked, unit banners need to be added as well as painting the two regular unit commanders.

They were sprayed with a white undercoat and given a block paint job with basic colors. Over this a Minwax Tudor Satin stain was applied, followed by Testors Dullcoat and some highlighting. I really like the simplicity of the Korean costume of the period.

I was fortunate to have obtained these figures from a TMP sale several weeks ago. As I've not felt the desire to paint for sometime, this is a good project to start back up - ever so slowly. The army will be led by my Changun figure, and the Koreans were the underdogs in the Imjin War.

P.S. I recently added word verification for comments as I noticed I started getting a ton of spam comments - sorry for any inconvenience.

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.