Hot Lead 2015

Last Saturday, Beth, DJ, and I drove up to Stratford, ON, for Hot Lead, a very nice convention held every year in that fine city. It's a good size, had a number of vendors, quite a bit of gaming, and we get to see old friends we don't get to see in the winter. Andy, Martin, Steven, and Kevin had to be there early (Like 9:00am) because Kevin was assisting in the running of an early game. Our car came up later since we were there primarily for the shopping. I need my dose of lead/pewter/white metal!

"Another successful convention, guys! Just bring the cart up to the hovel there!"

A Napoleonic game in progress using Shako rules.

I watched a bit and kibbitzed with the Mad Padre who was general of the Baden contingent.

Some of the flower of Baden's metal manhood.

A Light dragoon regiment that controlled the entire end of the board...
even with a trash barrel of one rider's head.

Austrian Landwehr, fusiliers and grenadiers take the fight to the French.
Hoch Hapsburg!

Some space gaming with many and varied space ships
"In space, no one can hear you whine."
(Such a great line. I wish I'd said it first.)

A huge ancients game. Here are the Carthaginians - Gauls and the Citizen phalanx

The Roman legions form up.

Carthage's greatest tourist attraction - War elephants!
No Carthaginian army should be without them.

A Battletech game preparing to start.
That town is TOO pristine. Do something about it!

A WWI game preparing to start.
This was an afternoon offering, not the one Wayne and Kevin ran in the morning.

British and Imperial troops form up for an assault.

German troops in their staging area. They'll break into less rigid formation shortly.

Russians in the redoubt? It looks like it.

French preparing to assault? I'd think so.
A nice looking game and I don't know what rules were used.

RAFM miniatures ran a Steampunk RPG game with a huge airship and lots of adventurous folks.

The loot at the end of the day.
Pooka is doing a security check for anything edible.
I picked up some great things. More 15mm Aztecs and 15mm Pike&Shot Poles.
The bring-and-buy is always a great source of bargains

I enjoy this convention. I've been to Historicon, Fall In, and Winter War in the States. Hot Lead is not nearly as big, but it is more personable. The crowding is less, the comraderie is greater, and the stench of the unwashed is FAR less. Keep up the good work, James! I look forward to next year!

Summer 2014 painting projects - on display

For a number of reasons, including just living, I've been busy and haven't painted a whole lot... until lately. Since you've invited me into your mind and computer, I'd like to share some of my painting work with you.

US Paratrooper mortar crew by Bolt Action.
Done for my son's collection of WWII American Airborne.

US Paratrooper light machine gun by Bold Action

ACW Confederate artillery crew by Old Glory (I think)
These were a find at the bring'n'buy at Hot Lead
After the weekend at Fort Erie, I can smell the sweat, gunpowder, and hot metal.

"The Strumpet" from Reaper.
I generally like these figures and find them fun to paint.

Rats... by Reaper.
Since my daughter has two pet rats and figs like this often get used for D&D,
why not?

French Napoleonic Line Infantry by Perry
I wish I knew why the blue I use is dark to the naked eye and SO bright on camera!
Well, nice figures in any event.

The entire battalion. There are also six skirmishing figures who are not seen here.

Reaper's clay golem which gets used as a what-ever golem for our D&D games.
Lots of definition on this figure so inking and drybrushing really stands out.

A Cossack officer for my wife's Imagi-Nations army where we use 20mm figures.
This is actually a very 'meaty' 15mm WWI British cavalry officer.

The Elector of Fredonia's mistress, who asked to remain nameless (in case she gets a better offer.)
A Ral Partha unicorn rider on a Frying Pan & Blanket team horse.
Don't tell Elector Rufus.

Southeast Asian civilian refugees (RAFM)
I wanted some refugees to use on the battlefield for our Imagi-Nations campaign, but little is available in 20mm. Except for RAFM. To me, these appear to be Bob Murch's work. He used to sculpt for them. Now he's the man for Pulp Miniatures, a range I'm very fond of!

More refugees with a water buffalo
Another Hot Lead purchase from RAFM's own stand.

Courier coming in! French Napoleonic light cavalry in 15mm mounted as a courier for Shako

Pikemen, some of them Swiss, in 15mm by Old Glory
courtesy of the Bring'n'Buy at Hot Lead

Landsknecht arqubusiers - again Old Glory 15s

Landsknecht pikes
Painting these guys is a interesting job to say the least.
Break all your odd colours!

Landsknecht command stand

More Landsknecht pikes

Napoleonettes French hussars
I found these on the Bring'n'Buy table at Hot Lead and they were the buy of the con!
50 mounted figures for $5

More of the same. I'm now got plenty of hussars and plenty to share with a friend who's building
a French or French ally army for Napoleonics.

A French line battalion in field dress - Old Glory 15mm

Westphalian Line Infantry based for Shako - Minifigs 15mm

Pendragon 10mm Polish Pancerni for either a Polish historical army or a Kislevite Warmaster army.

10mm GW Warmaster Orc rock thrower

The troll to do the heavy lifting. I was pleased with how he turned out.

10mm Pendragon Polish/Kislevite winged lancers

10mm Pendragon Polish/Turk light horse

10mm Pendragon dragoons/medium horse mounted for Warmaster
I've used a more-or-less historical Swedish TYW army in Warmaster with some measure of success.
I found a set of rules on line for a 10mm Warmaster variant for ECW/TYW which permitted me to do that.

10mm GW Warmaster Black Orcs - these are the bigger, nastier, orc-ier orcs

Their banner - Orcs can't spell worth a darn.

10mm GW plastic orcs from the "Battle of Five Armies" boxed set.
You get lots and lots and lots of the same strip with fills out an orcish army cheaply.
No banners are included so I do my own... with my own version of English spelling.

Yeah, more of the same.

It actually says "Splat!" in the middle of that splash of colour.

Oh, look! These guys can spell, although I think they intended to have the standard say "Victory!"

10mm GW orc boar riders in metal
I decided to jazz up the colours.

10mm GW dwarf "Hammerers" - some sort of veteran elite troops for the Longbeards.

The Hammerer's standard on the left and an improvised standard for a unit of plastic "Battle of Five Armies" dwarfs.

My son asked me to paint up some of his Snotlings for his 25mm Orc units.
There's a lot of whimsy in these figures.

Minifig 15mm Moscovite Streltsi for her DBR army.

Since I'm on holiday, I'm reading just for fun and I picked this gem. I've had it a long time and I enjoy re-reading it. The story takes place in an area of Pennsylvania where I spent a big chunk of my life. It's also interesting to see how an author handles a Pike & Shot army. There even used to be a set of table-top figure gaming rules from this story called "Down Styphon!" You'll have to read the story to find out why this makes sense.

So how's your summer going?