Happy New Year 2020!

I hope all of you have a most Happy New Years.  My you all play more games and paint more figures then the past year.

Last day of 2019

  Good bye 2019!  We will be sending the old year out and greating the New Year here in Kauai by swimming at the beach in the morning attending a wonderful Luau in the evening.  Not a bad way to end the old year!

   Hobby wise 2019 saw me painting less (a lot less) but playing more more games.  I hope for 2020 to add to the number of games I will play.  In addition I have reinforcements on my painting table waiting the paint brush.  More figures to add to my American Rev War armies as well as some civilians.  I have a few terrain projects that need to be done and ideas for games.  Lastly, I have a few research articles to share.  So 2020 is shaping up to be a interesting year.  See you all then.  Happy New Years to you all.

Hawaii; the big island

 just a few pictures of our time in the Big Island

Down in the Waipi'o Valley falls.

Coast line by the Waipi'o valley.

National Park Service site Place of Refuge.
During time of War if you get here you were safe.
Outstanding National Park Service sites here.

Rainbow Falls

Waikoloa Petroglyphs

Spam on everything!

My time :)

Mele Kalikimaka

  🎶"Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say
In a bright Hawaiian Christmas day
That's the island greeting that we send to you
From the land where palm trees sway..."🎶

    This year, Janine and I decided to do something different for Christmas and New Years.  After celebrating earlier in the month with Alexandra and Nathaniel we were off to Hawaii. No snow or cold weather, but sun and swaying palm trees as the song says.

   I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.

  To celebrate the day we wanted to do something special.  So we went out to the Waipi'o Valley.  It is incredibly beautiful.

  Merry Christmas to all my friends here and in this wonderful hobby.  I hope you have had a great day.

Midway (2019)

   I recently saw the movie Midway.  I know most individuals who saw the movie complained of a convoluted plot, poor script and too much CGI. Others said there were historical errors or they glossed over too many important points.    In fact the negative reviews almost stoped me from seeing it.  But in the end I am glad I ignored them and saw the movie.

  I am not an expert in the war in the Pacific. I have read Walter Lord's Incredible Victory and it created a fascination with carrier operations. That, and  the Old Avalon Hill game Midway.  So I went to the movie to see planes flying, carriers turning in to the wind to launch planes and the like.  I wanted  historical entertainment, not a documentary.  And I got all that with this movie.

  The CGI gave me the opportunity to see WW2 carriers.  Not modern carriers.  Good old flat tops as they were.  It also gave me a glimpse into what a dive bomber did.  Where the explosion over the top?  Ya, but I could live with it.

  It also got me hunting down questions afterwards. I picked up the book Carrier Operations from Amazon.  I looked up most of the people mentioned in the movie.  I think they did a good job with all of them.  I was particularly amazed reading about the actual Bruno Peter Gaido.  Check it out at https://markloveshistory.com/2017/06/05/bruno-peter-gaido-and-the-battle-of-midway/

  Little things I liked included the sets for the night club scene.  Great period music and feel. Best clothing diverge period.  The code breakers room.  Again the great Carriers.  My daughter taught in China for a year so the part with Doolittle and the sacrifice the Chinese people made during the war was heart breaking and moving.  And lastly the ground crew doing a FOD walk in the deck of the carrier!  a throw away scene but I loved it and a important part of the operations.  Outstanding!

(All pictures in this posting were captured on the internet and were from the movie.  These appear to be in the public domain.)



 

The painting queue

  Things have been a bit quiet here.  What with Thanksgiving and planning our holiday vacation and the first big snow storm of the year I have not had time for any painting.  But I took some time out from the schedule and got a few figures ready for the paint brush.

  First off is a nice vignette from the Perry Brothers.  It is a American camp scene with a camp follower preparing a meal while a soldier fetches water.  In addition a few veterans sit around ( one getting his hair dressed) smoking and setting things right with the world.  I am going to paint the figures as American Continental line infantry.

  Next I felt I needed more elite troops for Lord Cornwallis'  Division.  So I am adding a additional light Infantry and Grenadier battalion. These figures are from Fife and Drum miniatures.  And most beautiful figures they are!

  First off they are lightly tacked into popsicle sticks. Next they will be given a coat of black gesso as a primer. Once dried they will be dry brushed white.  I find this gives a nice shades appearance to my figures.  Once painted the black gives nice shadows while the white highlights gives the appearance of faded material.  This is not for everyone but it works for me.

Adventures with Nathaniel

Occasionally my son and I will play a miniature war game together. While I am.more I go the period and the history he is a much better gamer.  Here is an example of our approach to the game.

Playing Wings of War:

Me:  Ok, see this plane.  It was flown by the famous ace Voss.  This is how he painted his plane, and this was a special insignia he used...
Nathan:  Hey Dad, my plane is behind you, and here are my cards shooting at you.
Me:  Oh!  Well down I go, let's play again.  This time this plane was flown by the ace David Putnam.   I painted his plane based on a photo and....
Nathan: Dad, I am behind you again....
Me: Oh drat!

  This weekend was Nathaniel 's 24th birthday.  We have started a tradition of going to a football game together to celebrate.   Our airline JetBlue  is the official airline of the Patriots. So we get tickets sent to us  occasionally.  usually pre season games sometimes regular games.   This year we were given two sets of tickets to two different games.  One set of tickets was to the game against the Cowboys, the other against the Kansas City Chiefs. in the drawing I won the set for the Chief's game!  We are most excited for what will be a incredibly excellent game.  Happy Birthday Nathaniel!