Cold Wars playtest

Norman helpfully provided a couple of friends yesterday for a test of the Cold Wars medieval skimish scenario. I hope to have a more complete report posted this evening...

Tonight's skirmish in progress...

A Busy Day

View of the computer at the conclusion of our second Skype game

My work schedule and the federal holiday schedule have combined to give me a four day weekend this week, so there has been some time to devote to hobby pursuits.  In fact, today has been quite a busy day across the household.

I reported recently on a playtest of the latest revision of the Rough Wooing simple Renaissance rules that Ross hosted over Skype.  We came back for a second try today, with a scenario built from the "black book", Programmed Wargames Scenarios, by C. S. Grant.  Ross graciously agreed to host the game again earlier in the week, when it was uncertain as to whether we would have the time to set the gaming table back up at this end.  The situation (#10 from the black book) involved up to four players with individual interests, so both of my sons agreed to take a hand.  As it turned out, I ran the attackers against a defending coalition of Norman, William and Ross.  Today was the day for my luck to turn; most of my rolls, for a change, approached the expected value, and the kids were unusually cold, so I managed a rare victory in about two and a half hours.  Ross and I hope that we will be putting on some Renaissance games at Huzzah in Maine in a couple of months, so it was good to feel that the rules were working more or less as intended.  I hope that he'll have a battle report with some pictures shortly...

William's new personal Medieval Mayhem figure

William working on a mounted standard bearer, composited from two Accurate figures

William has working on a personal figure for Medieval Mayhem, which was finally finished today.  He's following it up with a standard bearer, hoping to have it finished by Cold Wars, now just three weeks away.  Personally, I like these low pressure projects: it'd be nice to have, but it won't break the scenario if it hasn't been finished in time.  High pressure projects tend to make me freeze up.

After a couple of months without the table, it's good to have it back.  We got it set up Friday, cleared it enough to lay the ground cloth back on it yesterday, and then re-cleared it today.

Somewhere in France, a quiet village is blissfully unaware of the approaching storm

Having gotten that far, it wasn't hard to find the inspiration to put down the scenery for what I hope will be tomorrow's game.

Here are a few more detail shots from the layout.  I didn't dig out my close-up supplemental lenses or a tripod, so they are all still rather broad.  Perhaps tomorrow ...

The scenery, mostly assembled in haste in 2003, seems to be holding up.  A scenery upgrade is on the agenda as a possible emphasis for this year.

Peasants are revolting

As my teaser shot earlier today showed, I had some time to work on miniatures this afternoon, and chose to invest it in finishing up two peasants from my recent order of Irregular Miniatures. While rather larger than the Accurate figures making up the bulk of my project, there are limited options in 54mm, and I'm hoping that the overall look of the table will be acceptable.

A little bit of work...