Posted on May 31, 2026
Tags: war, trojanWell... after a slow April I seem to have really caught up! Below are the last 24 regular figures for my Trojan War project. Most of the figures were purchased between 1998 and 2024. In the last 6 months I've painted 189 of them. That is a phenomenal...
Posted on April 26, 2026
Tags: war, trojanNot too much accomplished this month in regard to the painting queue. But, this being the first month of decent weather, I did some yard work for the first time in 15 years: weeding, mulching, general outside clean-up. More importantly, I got the gar...
Posted on March 30, 2026
Tags: trojan-warProgress continues with the Mycenaean/Trojans. These are all Foundry figures. The first set is a batch of characters of the major heroes, both Achaean and Trojan. Interestingly enough, Old Nestor, Menelaus, and Agamemnon are all included in another p...
Posted on March 5, 2026
Tags: trojan-warAfter my slight 18th century division I've gotten back on track. The latest Trojan War figures are the last of my Redoubt figures. I think I'm getting close to having two Triumph! size forces so maybe some gaming with these figures might occur in the...
Posted on February 25, 2026
Tags: trojan-warStill working on the next batch of Trojan War Bronze Age warriors but I've been sidetracked. A few weeks ago I played in a 'Not Quite Seven Year's War' game hosted by Rob D., a local gamer. He's been running these games for a few years now using the ...
Posted on February 14, 2026
Tags: trojan-warA few more figures finished last week. In fact, I've completed 88 Trojan War figures in the last 2 1/2 months and I've got another 24 nearing completion. I'm currently at 61.7% complete with 179 out of the 290 Trojan War figures I've acquired over th...
Posted on January 20, 2026
Tags: trojan-warI've been hammering away at the Trojan war project. Thirteen of these Redoubt figures were already painted but they were never photographed so here they are along with the recently painted six (picture 1). According to my handy-dandy tracking app I'm...
Posted on January 18, 2026
Tags: trojan-warI grew up a profligate book buyer. Perhaps there was an intervention by loved ones. I don't recall. But eventually I adopted the practice of buying any book I wanted... once I finished reading one. Read one; buy one; read that one; buy another, etc. ...
Posted on January 11, 2026
Tags: trojan-warAs folk like to say these days… it’s been a moment. Life™ has been topsy-turvy. My last burst of blogging was in 2021 while we were still reeling from the effects of the pandemic. Truth be told, the pandemic really put a damper on my gaming activitie...
Posted on January 23, 2022
Tags: trojan-warIt's a gray, dreary December 31st here in Washington, D.C. Seems appropriate somehow for 2021 to end this way. Four years ago when I wrote the last 'year in review' post I was upbeat in restarting my gaming hobby. Well... let's just say it didn't go ...
Posted on December 26, 2021
Tags: paleolithicReaper Miniatures is not a company I've been familiar with. To be honest, I couldn't tell you how I ended up perusing their catalog of figures. Probably in my search for figures of generic 'critters' to be used in 'Palaeo Diet'. Sure enough, I found ...
Posted on December 5, 2021
Tags: paleolithicProof that I've been productive this week. These are plastic figures manufactured by Reaper. I thought they'd work well as 'critters' in Palaeo Diet, Eat or Be Eaten. A pack of angry pugs seems appropriate the spirit of the rules! (The Neanderthals a...
Posted on November 28, 2021
Tags: trojan-warThe Iliad inspiration continues.... While I've had these figures for quite a few years I've never managed to complete more than four or five. So, I'm feeling pretty proud of myself for getting 32 figures across home plate in the past week! Most of th...
Posted on November 20, 2021
Tags: trojan-warMy gouache experiment left me a bit flat and unmotivated. In addition, the 'main' project on the painting desk (32 plastic hoplites) doesn't provide much inspiration either. So, I needed to complete something to regain my painting momentum. I don't k...
Posted on November 7, 2021
Tags: trojan-warSo... I think I've learned all I need to know about using gouache paints for figure painting. I don't think so! The first issue is the thickness of the paints. I knew that with a paste-like consistency they'd have to be thinned to avoid an impasto e...
Posted on October 22, 2021
Tags: trojan-warA number of years ago I fished two Lifeguard trumpeters out of a $.25 box at a toy soldier show (manufacturer unknown). I painted the first one with craft acrylics, much as I've been painting figures since the '70s. Ten years later, the second one is...
Posted on October 16, 2021
Tags: collection-managementI've always been a collector of books. About 10 years ago we were moving for my wife's job. Her employer was paying the cost of the move and, of course, insisted on insuring our possessions. So, I was given the odious task of determining the replacem...
Posted on October 11, 2021
Tags: collection-managementSince I'm on a blogging roll I figured I'd give a tour of my hobby space. These types of posts seem to be perennially popular. (That, and I just spent most of the day straightening up and I want to show it off!) I'm a lucky guy to have such a space. ...
Posted on October 10, 2021
Tags: Paleolithic, Age-of-SailWelcome Back! While this blog has been moribund, I have not. My gaming activities have increased substantially over the four years since posting here. Well, not gaming, per se, but collecting and painting figures and accumulating rules and terrain. I...
Posted on December 28, 2017
Tags: Paleolithic, Age, of, SailThe past year has seen something of a rebirth of my interest in the hobby—mostly due to three factors. First, I had shifted my hobby focus to the fine art of card modeling as exhibited at papermodelers.com. It is a satisfying hobby. I designed models...
Posted on September 19, 2017
Tags: photographyThe warrior woman delivered the goods. I'm amazed how bright LED lights are these days. I can clearly remember (not too many years ago) when they were sold as auxiliary lights for inside closets, under cabinets, etc., and they were simply useless. No...
Posted on September 17, 2017
Tags: photographyInternet shopping is amazing. Two days after my last post regarding photographing figures, I've got a small cell phone tripod, a remote shutter release and a macro lens with which to experiment. My goal was to use the tripod and remote shutter to avo...
Posted on September 14, 2017
Tags: photographyAs I revive my gaming interests I've decided I need to up my game in terms of miniatures photography. I've got two options here: rely on my trusty Nikon CoolPix which I've used for years; or, use my new Blu smart phone. The Nikon has always been a bi...
Posted on June 21, 2016
Tags: ACW, 10mmSince 1/160th (the rough scale of a 10mm tall figure) is a whole new scale for me I need new terrain. For my first scenario that means I need to create some roads, a small river, some high ground, and who knows how many trees. 99 cent foam sheet Craf...
Posted on May 24, 2016
Tags: ACW, 10mmI am painting an army, not soldiers… I am painting an army, not soldiers… I am painting an army, not soldiers… This is the beginning of the Confederate force for my 10mm ACW. These, too, are Cracker Line/Plank Road figures. Same quality castings and ...
Posted on April 17, 2016
Tags: ACW, 10mmMy order of 10mm figures from Cracker Line/Plank Road arrived a while ago. Customer service was great. Delivery was fast. The order was accurate. I received 48 infantry figures, 4 figures for a command stand (officer, drummer, two ensigns without fla...
Posted on March 30, 2016
Tags: ACW, 10mmIt's been a long time since I've picked up a gaming project… or even played a game for that matter. But I miss my hobbies so I decided it was time to DO SOMETHING. I have some limitations, though. Things are not as they were. First, my work schedule ...
Posted on June 23, 2013
Tags: gladiators, 54mmBigfig gladiators continue to hold my magpie attention. Here are a couple more of the 54mm Pegasus gladiators which I painted up yesterday. I should have paid a bit more attention to what was in the background when photographing! Myrmillo Thraex (unu...
Posted on June 4, 2013
Tags: gladiators, 54mmNot a great deal to say about these. I felt inspired by the '100 Ancients' post over at the Lead Adventure forum and figured I'd break out the brushes. This figure is (these figures are?) included in the Pegasus 3202 set. These are soft plastic, 1/3...
Posted on May 11, 2013
Tags: 1/600, ironcladsWhich made me think that I should charge up the camera battery and snap some pictures of ironclads. In the 1980s I devoured everything I could find about American Civil War ironclads and started scratch building my own 1/600 scale models. I even trac...
Posted on February 26, 2013
Tags: buccaneers, 25mmThe inventory continues...up next: buccaneers and colonial militia. I have two full shelves of books regarding pirates and buccaneers. For a few years it was my favorite period yet I never really gamed it. I picked up some odds and ends over the year...
Posted on February 1, 2013
Tags: old-west, 25mmI'm on a bit of a photography jag. Mostly inspired by getting all my gaming stuff out of storage after a year. Partly because I'm in a 'documentation mode'. I've been creating databases and spreadsheets to track my toys and books and photographing th...
Posted on January 27, 2013
Tags: ancients, 25mmI first became interested in historical miniature gaming in the mid 1970s. However, the first time figures became readily available to me was in 1980 or 1981 when I took a part-time job at Light Brigade Hobbies in Concord, California. I believe that ...
Posted on January 26, 2013
Tags: gladiators, 25mmAnother year, another move, another part of the country. And while the new apartment has fewer square feet, more of those feet are dedicated to closet space so all my toys and books have come home to roost. It's a good feeling. Over the past month I'...
Posted on May 6, 2012
Tags: gladiators, 54mmSome projects never end. I have a collection of 25mm gladiators which are pretty much finished. But for some reason when I started gaming with 54mm figures I really wanted some big-fig gladiators. Of course, that was years ago. But with the recent mo...
Posted on May 6, 2012
Tags: ecw, 25mmNot much gaming going on in my life. I've started rebasing some Wargames Factory Ceasarian Romans, bought some Numidian cavalry to augment them and some plastic Celtic cavalry to add to their opponents. To be honest, though, my inspiration has been s...
Posted on February 4, 2012
Tags: 54mm, spanish-american-warOne thing about having your toys packed away... you catch up on stuff. I did a little bit of verbal tweaking and formatting for my simple Spanish American War rules "Splendid Little Warriors." My goal for these rules was for a simple, fast play game ...
Posted on February 4, 2012
Tags: ancients, navalWell, I've moved and all my gaming stuff sits in storage. Nigh well inaccessible for now. But that's given me some time to get back to thinking about rules and rules writing. I recently saw my old ancient naval rules mentioned on The Miniatures Page ...
Posted on November 23, 2011
Tags: ancients, navalWell, it’s been an interesting year in a Chinese proverb kind of way. Suffice to say that a life-style change is upon me which will provide endless challenges for my hobbies. In one last hurrah, however, I did get the opportunity to play a classic wa...
Posted on May 4, 2011
Tags: 54mm, WWII looked high and low to find a Krupp gun for my Spanish-American games. I knew Emhar made a 1/35 scale model but I could not find a retailer who had one in stock. So, the week after the big Span-Am game I attended the Indianapolis Toy Soldier show a...
Posted on April 8, 2011
Tags: 54mm, spanish-american-war'Splendid Little Warriors' had its first actual game. Overall, I'm fairly happy with the system. The scenario was kind of, sort of, based on the encounter at las Guasimas. In short, the Americans were advancing through the Cuban jungle on two paralle...
Posted on March 29, 2011
Tags: 54mm, spanish-american-warThe Splendid Little Warriors (hmmm... I think I'll use that as the name of my rules!) are also completed. There are a few more options in 54mm Americans for this period than there are for the Spanish. My Americans are composed of BMC and Armies in Pl...
Posted on March 29, 2011
Tags: 54mm, spanish-american-warIf wargaming projects ever really get finished, then this is probably it. Of course, I still have four American flags to attach. Of course, I still need horses for the caissons. Of course, casualty figures and terrain stuff would add to the overall e...
Posted on December 30, 2010
Tags: game-roomCan you really have too many shelves in your game room? No, I didn't think so. My game room came equipped with three, rather shoddily built bookcases. Of course, they were instantly filled. As far as I'm concerned an empty bookcase is an unnatural va...
Posted on August 29, 2010
Tags: 54mm, spanish-american-warI've got plenty of American command figures for the SpanAm game. Six Teddy Roosevelts, three Pershings, seven standard bearers. Geesh... it even looks like about half the Buffalo Solders wear chevrons. I don't really have any figures that will work a...
Posted on June 26, 2010
Tags: 54mm, spanish-american-warOK, I had my 25mm fix with the Gauls and Romans. Working on a Master's degree has me a bit burned out on AWI stuff. So what's a guy to do? Well, I do have some BMC and AIP Spanish American War figures... and I did commit myself to running a SpanAm g...
Posted on June 26, 2010
Tags: 54mm, spanish-american-warThe SpanAm game I'm running next February could have as many as 12 or 15 players. I normally run skirmish games for that many players since it's too time consuming and expensive to create complete armies for both sides. Even with inexpensive 54mm fig...
Posted on June 26, 2010
Tags: 54mm, WWII'd forgotten how enjoyable it is to paint 54mm figures rather than 28mm. There have been a couple of Armies in Plastic German figures in my bits box for a few years now. I picked them out of $.25 bin at a local show. I've not felt a great deal of lo...
Posted on June 22, 2010
Tags: 28mm, ancientsSo I've been back into historical gaming for a few years now but never really picked up any of my old projects. I've been leaning more towards doing games in 54mm due to the exorbitant price of metal figures and aging eyesight. Then I noticed that Wa...
Posted on June 22, 2010
Tags: game-roomAfter 35 years of wargaming I think I can assume it is not a passing fad. So, when we decided to move into a larger home, a wargaming room was pretty high on my priority list. We hit paydirt. The house we chose provided us with a large finished famil...
Posted on June 22, 2010
Tags: 28mm, ancientsA Gallic army is a necessity for any serious ancients player. After all, they fought against just about everyone at one time or another. These are mostly Old Glory figures from probably 15 years ago. I think I purchased them about the time that DBM w...
Posted on March 8, 2010
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warWe played our second game of 'Victory Without Quarter' on Saturday. Lots of fun! We had to tweak things a little bit to account for a larger scale and different mounting systems. My 54mm figures are mounted two figures to a stand so each regiment was...
Posted on June 22, 2009
Tags: 54mm, american-revolutionBeing satisfied with the first test figure, I finished the other three figures over the weekend. Why four figures total? Well, I ran out of BMC figures to cut heads off of to make the conversions. Next time I get to a toy soldier show I'll rummage ab...
Posted on June 15, 2009
Tags: 54mm, american-revolutionLittle by little I'm recovering from 54mm burnout caused by the ECW stuff. I've been accumulating Rev War figures over the past few years and decided it's time to get some of them painted. I can't explain it but I feel the need for jägers. I don't ha...
Posted on December 19, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warIt's been an unbelievably busy Autumn. Real Life™ has demanded almost all my time. Things seem to be getting back to normal now. I've recently re-established my hobby space (in the new house ). (Various, 54mm) × Of course, now that I have dedica...
Posted on December 18, 2008
Tags: 28mm, french-indian-warWe inaugurated the 'war room' in the new house with its first game last Sunday. Sad to say, but it's been such a long time since I've run a game that I really flubbed up on the rules. Note to self: Even though you wrote the rules... READ them before ...
Posted on September 13, 2008
Tags: 28mm, french-indian-warIt's been a slow few months for gaming projects. But I did hunker down and get my ship rehab project pretty much complete. I've still got one un-built galleon kit, but the stripping and repainting of the used models is complete. For whatever reason, ...
Posted on August 23, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warIt's been a long time since posting. But I've not been entirely idle. But this project does seem to be winding down. I've got two more 24 figure units to complete and then I still need a handful of officers and commanders. But after that it will prob...
Posted on July 19, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warOne of the challenges of collecting 54mm English Civil War figures is that it is a pretty specific area of interest and few figure manufacturers pay a lot of attention to it. Consequently, except for indulging in some more expensive metal figures for...
Posted on June 19, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warThe fourth 24 figure unit has been completed. Notwithstanding that all my other units are generic, for some reason I think I'll label this unit as Talbot's regiment. The yellow coats would be appropriate but I'm not sure about the color of the pants....
Posted on June 19, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warI've attended a number of wargaming conventions over the years. But the Columbus Toy Soldier Show on October 3rd, 2007 was my first 'Toy Soldier' show. It was a pretty smallish one-day affair with thirty or forty dealers in attendance. Following my m...
Posted on June 19, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warHa! Auto-Focus-Nemesis strikes again! Nevertheless, an eight figure squadron of 54mm cavalry makes for an impressive sight. I really do like these figures. Once again, a forthcoming game proves to be a wonderful inspiration for getting things done. W...
Posted on June 19, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warBravo! I've been told that Michigan Toy Soldier Company provides excellent service. My first experience with them supports that. I recently ordered some more ECW figures from them and when I received the stuff it wasn't quite what I wanted. I had mi...
Posted on June 19, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warFairly often when searching the web for information on the 'A Call to Arms' English Civil War figures you'll come across a statement along the lines of 'Yes, the figures are nice, but there are no cavalry available.' Not true! The company makes two s...
Posted on June 19, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warI've whined before about the limited number of poses available for plastic 54mm English Civil War figures. This is especially true for command figures where I'd prefer to have more individuals. It pays to have friends. I got an email not so long ago ...
Posted on June 19, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warBig-Fig Battle Day finally arrives. I must confess... I've had a decadent wargame weekend. On Saturday I participated in a Zulu vs. British game. On Sunday we play-tested Quindia Studio's 'Victory Without Quarter' ECW rules. Both days were exquistly ...
Posted on June 19, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warHappy Holidays to you all! I do not believe my wife reads this blog. Nevertheless, I'm sure that somewhere between the basement (where I photograph my figures) and the upstairs study (where I post to the blog) I must have mentioned, in passing, once ...
Posted on June 19, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warIt's been a while but things are finally coming back together. Since getting the new camera I've been itching to test it out. However, I started a new job just two weeks before the holidays, and for the last week and a half I've been fairly, though n...
Posted on June 19, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warIn a previous post I mentioned picking up some artillery pieces at the Columbus Toy Soldier show. Cool stuff. It was a pleasure painting them, no eyes, no belts, no draped fabric to shade. Just hardware. Wood, bronze and iron. I had previously slappe...
Posted on June 19, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warMy collection is a bit shy on command figures. Eventually I'll have to jump into conversions simply to have enough flag bearers. But I've been stalling on that. This gregarious sergeant is a stock figure. He'd probably make a good addition to the lin...
Posted on June 18, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warSomewhere, on some computer, at some time, I saw a web site with a simple listing of coat/cuff/breeches colors for the various ECW regiments. Of course, I can't find it now. Haythornthwaite shows this blue/brown color combination as in use by the tra...
Posted on June 17, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warOne of the goals of this project is to create scalable standards that can be used for any size figure. I've been using SVG (scalable vector graphics) for a few projects at work and figured it would be a good format to use for flags. Size 'em to whate...
Posted on June 16, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warThe first officers to answer the call. The figures in the Call to Arms command set are large. In fact, their size and styling makes me strongly suspect they were sculpted by someone other than the rest of the range. They are not my favorite figures t...
Posted on June 15, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warThe bargain artillerists. While the Call to Arms figures are very decently priced, at over $10 for a single gun (with no crew) their artillery is not. Now, I lucked out by finding a box of artillerists at half price at my local hobby shop. But I have...
Posted on June 14, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warSeen here is the first of the painted cavalry. I'm not real happy with the buff coat. Too yellow, methinks. Finding cavalry figures may be the biggest challenge of this entire project. Call to Arms makes two types, an 'Ironside' and a Haslerigge 'lob...
Posted on June 14, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warThe second regiment has been completed. While this is, ostensbily, a green regiment, it might be difficult to tell from their uniforms. The color that most catches the eye is the yellow of the buff coats on both the pikemen and the at-attention muske...
Posted on June 13, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warMy original intention was to use 36 figures for a unit; 16 pikemen in block flanked by 8 musketeers on either side. But the more I read the more I disliked the pike component being deeper than the gunners. So I'll probably go with 8 pike in 2 rows fl...
Posted on May 31, 2008
Tags: 54mm, american-revolutionIndividually, the BMC figures are nothing special. However, make a unit of them and they don't look too bad. In fact, I think they look better in the eyes of the painter simply because a unit--even a small one--gives one a greater sense of completion...
Posted on May 31, 2008
Tags: 54mm, american-revolutionI'm always a glutton for project distraction. My projects never grow too large for my space, there are just too many projects that appeal to me. Though for the most part I've not been too tempted by 54mm figures. I've stuck (mostly) to my original pl...
Posted on May 26, 2008
Tags: navalSmall scale plastic galleon kits seem to have been more popular in the past. I don't think any of these kits are in production any longer. Nevertheless, I was lucky to find 8 kits, 7 already assembled, to augment my ever so slowly growing fleet. Afte...
Posted on May 25, 2008
Tags: navalI started out scratch building galleons but didn't get too terribly far. However, not too long ago I acquired seven old plastic models--a couple of assembled Pyro/Life-Like/Lindberg Golden Hinds, Santa Marias, etc., at a toy soldier show in Indianapo...
Posted on May 25, 2008
Tags: navalBeing blind in one eye and near-sighted in the other, I decided that I wanted to play The Perfect Captain's Sail! in 1/400 scale. Being cheap, I found that if I wanted to do that, I'd have to make my own ships to avoid spending a fortune. Being lazy,...
Posted on May 22, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warInteresting enough, there are no poses of musketeers firing included in the musketeer sets from Call to Arms. However, they do include four of them in the command set. Seems a little odd. Nonetheless, I'm glad to incorporate them into the musket comp...
Posted on May 10, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warSo I took the plunge and ordered three more boxes of pikemen, four boxes of musketeers, two boxes of cavalry and a box of command figures from my local hobby shop. I also found that they had a box of artillerist on the shelf for $5. Scarfed that up, ...
Posted on May 8, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warSo I tried a number of different techniques gleaned from the internet on how to keep acrylic paint on plastic figures. Special soaps and glues, chemical brews, plastic etching shenanigans. None passed my rather gentle scrape test, I might add. So aft...
Posted on April 10, 2008
Tags: 54mm, english-civil-warA fellow gamer and I were commiserated over how the scale of figures that appeal to us seems to have a direct proportional relationship to our accumulating years. Furthermore, I've always shied away from plastics simply because of the problem of keep...
Posted on February 10, 2008
Tags: 54mm, american-revolutionOddly enough, working on the BMC AWI figures made me feel somewhat nostalgic. Many years ago I painted up some 54mm metal figures for a local collector but had few of my own. At about the same time another friend was tinkering around with home castin...
Posted on February 9, 2008
Tags: 54mm, american-revolutionNot too long ago when I first started working with 54mm plastics I purchased a set of BMC figures for the American War for Independence. Price and availability are their greatest virtues. Realism is not. Nevertheless, I wanted to see how a few of the...
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