Where You At You Blogg'in Fool!

Wow, where the heck have I been?  It's 2019!

Well, here is some brief answers for any who may be wondering just what the heck I've been up too while I have not been blogging very much.

This is a long post but I cover a lot of stuff here ...

First, to those who still follow along on this blog - thank you!  I do admit I find myself having to look at Facebook groups more than I like --- mostly because I really don't like Facebook for a number of reasons, but that is where much of the action seems to be these days.

If you don't know, I'm a tech guy.  I work in the Silicon Valley and for the most part avoid startup companies.  I was convinced to move to a startup this time last year (Cohesity).  About the same time my son had moved over from playing recreational Soccer to competitive (all year) Soccer.  The combination of the two really changed my day-to-day schedule and free time (changed ... err ... eliminated).

All that combined with a general lack of motivation to blog (likely from being tired or stressed out) is really what has taken me away from blogging this past year.

That all being said - and perhaps as a direct result, I had to focus my time on my projects and playing games.  Every year the boys and I say we need to play more games ... we've been doing all right but really want to do a lot more this year.

So what's been going on?  Sometimes I feel like I have just too many projects and plans in front of me ...

But this year I plan to focus my energy on trying to finish out long standing/large projects - mainly Napoleonic armies and my ACW.  So what does it come down to doing you say?

Napoleonic's

The battle of Waterloo last year was a big success.  A memory of a lifetime was the game hosted at KublaCon 2018.  That was the finest day of gaming in my life to date.

I have a long time and deep love for this period of history.  My next game - which is already well at hand being completed, is to do Borodino.  I have a great start to a rather large Russian army I'm pulling together for this large game.

Some of the initial units for my Russian army.

I've decided to focus my efforts on the battle between the great redoubt and the fletches.  I've a preliminary map I've drawn up and the orders of battle settled (scenario coming in a separate post).

Preliminary map for Borodino.

Roy Scaife has done a great job of pulling together the Anglo-Allied army for 1815, and pulling together the scenario/game for Quatre Bras.

Quatre Bras!

Dan Kerrick is focusing his efforts on a large expansion of the Prussian army which will enable us to also cover Wavre and Ligny - which would complete the major battles for the 100 days campaign.

The Wargame Company
Campaign Guides
(highly recommended)

One thing I've come across that I highly recommend are the campaign guides from The Wargame Company.  My copy of their 1812 "Master of the World" guide arrived today and it is excellent.  I've ordered their other guides now as well.  Check them out --- maps, orders of battle and copious amounts of uniform plates make for a wargamers dream in these pages.

Waterloo say me really fill out the rest of my Napoleonic French army.  I have just a few small odds and ends to finish up and I have everything I could every want for the army.

The 1:300 Napoleonic ships are still very well at hand.  There are now 12 British ships done.  I need to get back to this once I clear some basing and miniature cleaning/assembly.

Adam Clark running a 1:300 Napoleonic ship game.

Adam Clark sent a picture along of a game he ran ... which sits in the back of my head as we get close to hosting our first game for this visually stunning period and scale ... 

But many more things are in motion ...

American Civil War

No pictures here yet ... but getting a lot of the last odds and ends finished up here.  Mainly more casualties, some siege artillery for the Union, camp sets, wagons, and a few more Union infantry units.  I recently added 5 additional Confederate infantry units - which are awaiting basing right now.

Lord of the Rings

DundraCon is two weeks away and I'll be running my "Charge of the Mamuks" game there.  All figures are done/painted --- table is done --- just basing all the Rider of Rohan.

I continue to work towards the Battle of the Pelennor Fields ... to that end I have a 3D printed walls of Minas Tirith set coming from Coastal Creations - enough to cover 6 feet of table width.  Really looking forward to this set coming in ...

Likewise for Helm's Deep ... Small Scenic's has a great resin set for this ...

This set will combine with their future set for the Hornburg ... which is modular.

Plans for the Hornburg ...

So great stuff coming together on the LOTR front.

Ok, I've gone on long enough.  While work will continue to be crazy, I will continue to make progress across these fronts.  I also hope to be motivated enough to post more than I have been because in the end, this is the written record of my hobby life that I reflect on to see how far I've come ... from terrain to rules, scenarios, armies, periods, and so on.

So stay tuned as there is always more to come.  Until then, happy gaming!