November has been a month; not an especially good one, but better than some. I got started for the month with the intention of working up some scenery for games. I had a package of fantasy scenics from the Bones 4 kickstarter, and started off with two pieces. Bother required some boiling to encourage them to assume their proper unwarped shape. Boiling large pieces is problematic; it’s hard to fit them in the pot without contacting overly hot surfaces, hard to cool them quickly without further twisting, and hard to pull them out of the water with kitchen tongs. Nevertheless, I managed it, only to find that the spray primer I used on them remained tacky. A coat of paint and some final varnish seems to have contained it, at least for now.
Scatter terrain is always useful, so the first piece I did was this ruined doorway, originally (judging from the curve) part of a round tower.
 |
| Bones 4 ruined doorway |
The set also included this attractive ruined temple. Once I was done with it, though, I wondered a bit at the scale. I have fantasy figures in three similar scales which I don’t generally mix (1/72 plastic, vintage “true 25s”, and modern Reapers, whatever you want to call that scale). I’ll show the comparison pictures, but to my eye, it looks like it would be more comfortable with the 1/72 scale plastics than with the Bones.
 |
| Bones 4 ruined temple |
 |
| Bones 4 ruined temple with 1/72 Caesar Adventurer |
 |
| Bones 4 Ruined Temple with Bones figure |
My brother and I bought a village worth of resin buildings from
Apocalypse Miniatures about two years ago, and I hadn’t gotten any of them painted yet. So I dug out a couple, and decided to start with the simplest...
 |
| Apocalypse Miniatures building |
 |
| And the other side... |
Unfortunately, the other two I unpacked haven’t seen much work yet this, and other, more urgent matters will soon overtake them.
In an effort to clear my desk, I finished off a vintage Minifigs Ent. This fellow is ME37, the “large” ent. I attempted to suggest a more bark-like patter, based on the tree in front of my window at my desk at home. I wasn’t displease, but possibly a finer brush and longer strokes next time.
 |
| Minifigs ME37 Large Ent |
 |
| Large Ent again |
After that, all done the first weekend, things rapidly spiraled out of control. I had arranged to take a week off from work and expected to get some painting done, but we ended up getting a new furnace installed instead. So, I had to restack all of my storage boxes to be out of the way of the work crews, and then the house was rather cold for two days. Rather than paint, I ended up spending my time baking, including getting a start on my Christmas cookies. That still counts as “productive”, but wasn’t what I had been planning.
With all the baking going on, I managed to spend enough at the local grocery store to qualify for a free turkey. My older son, Norman, was hosting the joint family Thanksgiving dinner, so he came up last Saturday to collect it. We took the opportunity to play a game of Dan Mersey’s
Dux Bellorum, with Saxons against Romano-British. The Romano-British, consisting mostly of figures given to me by Ross Macfarlane, gained a narrow victory over the Saxon hordes. I looked through my records...this is only the third time Norman and I have played, but I finally felt like I had an idea of what I wanted to do with the leadership points, and I am hoping that the next game will both be sooner, and include a few more figure choices for each side.
 |
| Norman and a Dux Bellorum game |
 |
| Romano-British holding off the Saxons |
And that was November...
With time off coming up in December, I really need to get back to the French Revolution project, if I hope to bear my part of a six player game for Huzzah. At least the casting has ben done...
