I got a kick out of this

It makes me want to play some Astrosmash.

Challenger: 30 years later

   

   
     It's hard for me to believe that it's been 30 years since the Challenger was destroyed.  I remember the day very well.  I was home from school on a snow day.  I knew that there was a space shuttle launch scheduled, but shuttle launches had become pretty routine by then.  They had lost their magic.  We could go into space.  Big deal.  I didn't watch the Challenger launch that day.  I had better things to do.  Most likely I was playing a game on my Commodore 64, or reading a D&D module.  Important stuff.
     That stuff seemed a lot less important when around noon, the phone rang.  It was my grandmother, and she said, "Are you watching the television?  I think the space shuttle just blew up."  I thought she was kidding.  She wasn't.  I spent the rest of the day glued to the television.  I couldn't be bothered to watch the launch, but I was unable to look away from the aftermath.
     I write this now looking back at what I had come to take for granted.  Today, 30 years later, we have to rely on the Russians to get us to and from the International Space Station.  I was born in 1969, just before the launch of the second moon landing mission, Apollo 12.  I was born into a spacefaring nation.  Children born in the U.S. today can't say that, and that makes me sad.

Miniatures Monday

This week, Miniatures Monday has a ranger from Reaper Miniatures that I just finished.  This was a case of a miniature that sat, mostly completed for many months.  I just wasn't sure of the colors that I wanted to use for the shirt and the pants, so I just let it sit.  Finally, over the weekend, I decided to just finish it up.  In the end, it didn't come out badly, but it's becoming clear that I'm a bit out of practice with the painting.  I need to get back into the swing of regular painting.

Miniatures Works in Progress

Here we see a few miniatures that I'm currently working on.  We've got a tentacle monster in a well, an evil sacrificial circle, a ranger, a bard, some thieves, and IG-88.  Quite an eclectic collection.  At any one time, I usually have a dozen or so miniatures in semi-painted states.  I find that I have a tendency to get partially through a miniature and then often hit a point where I'm not sure where I want to go with it.  In those cases, I will put the figure aside and wait for inspiration to strike.  In some cases this has taken years.  I paint other miniatures in between, but many seem to sit for extended periods of time. The tentacle monster emerging from the well, for example, was started in November 2008.  So, does anyone else find themselves setting partially painted miniatures aside for long periods of time?

Wow, it's been a bad year for music so far...

R.I.P. Glenn Frey 1948-2016

Miniatures Monday

This week, we have a superhero miniature that I was working on.  He's pretty much a low-rent Robin rip-off, but then I've always been a fan of sidekicks.  I'm actually rather disappointed with the way that this one turned out.  I've never been particularly good at painting yellows, and while the cape looks better than the photo shows, it's still not great.  I needed to use brighter red's and greens too, as the miniature doesn't quite have that four color comic feel that I was going for.  Nowhere near my best work.

Contemplate His Birthday on the Tree of Woe!

Happy Birthday to James (Thulsa Doom) Earl Jones!

Mr. Jones turned 85 today.  Honestly, these guys would have made quite the metal band back in the day. ;-)

Wargaming Saturdays and Afrika Korps

Bengasi falls to the Axis

     Way back when, in the early 1980s, my friend Keith and I would often spend dreary winter Saturday afternoons playing Avalon Hill war games.  Out favorites for an afternoon of gaming were Squad Leader (owned by me), and Panzer Leader (owned by Keith).  I can't remember how many times we replayed Hill 621, like two generals in a Twilight Zone episode,  damned for eternity to refight the same battle, but it was enough times that we both remember it to this day.
     Back in those days, one of the games that I had that we never actually got to play much was Afrika Korps.  It was one of Avalon Hill's older games, and was quite a bit simpler than most of their later products.  It was designed to simulate the back and forth battles fought across the western desert from 1941 to 1942, and while it has some issues that keep it from being a truly great simulation, it is a fun game.
     Well, this afternoon being wintery, dreary, and reminding me of those far off days, I broke out my copy of Afrika Korps, complete with an excellent set of replacement counters. and set it up just for fun.  Of course once it was set up, I decided to see if I remembered the rules, so I decide to play through the first few turns.  From the start, things went poorly for the Commonwealth forces, who upon losing Bengasi to the Axis, tried to send a blocking force to slow the Axis advance near Gebel El Achdar.  There was a natural choke point there, and success would have seriously impacted the Axis advance.  It was not to be.  As it turned out, I rolled an Exchange on the combat table which eliminated the Commonwealth forces, but cost the Axis 2 Italian Infantry divisions as well.

The Commonwealth troops try to block the Axis advance

This resolution, while weakening the Axis, allowed them to continue their headlong race to Tobruch.  Added to that, the Axis had rolled successfully on its first three supply rolls and was well positioned to continue its attack with the recently arrive 15th panzer division.  Tobruch was in danger!
     Just this short bit of play really took me back to those days long ago, with Keith and I sitting at one of our parent's dining room tables, struggling to see if we could outmaneuver one another and change history.

The Axis forces approach Tobruch

Note:  All place name spellings on the map board are from British Imperial war maps and don't necessarily match the modern spellings.

Happy Birthday Clark Ashton Smith

On what would have been his 123rd birthday.  I came to C.A.S. later than I did his contemporaries like Howard, and Leiber, but his Zothique and Hyperborean cycles are among some of my favorite writing ever.

Weird Adventure Idea Wednesday

Here is the first weird adventure idea for 2016!

On an icy winter evening you are approached by a flatulent drifter along a lonely road.  The drifter beckons to you and tells you a curious tale that 4 weeks journey to the west, across the Boiling Stream of Time, stands the Skull Covered Arena of the Night Witch.  It is believed that in the vaults below the arena is hidden the Ceramic Wand of Pernicious Dreams.  But beware, for the drifter cautions you that the Wounded Pain Maiden of Putrescence is said to make her lair there!

Miniatures Monday

Here is the completed set of adventurers from our current Iron Kingdoms campaign.  From left to right, we have Trayjo the Alchemist, Voldrag the Doomreaver, Lowgear the Steamjack, Kerbok the Gobber Mechanic, and Ellyon/Liness the Warcaster.  Overall I'm pretty happy with how these came out, and it's nice to have a fully painted party on the table.

R.I.P. Angus Scrimm

Fist Lemmy and now the Tall Man...

Actor Angus Scrimm, probably best know for his role as the Tall man in Don Coscarelli's Phantasm series, has died at the age of 89.  :-(
I've always been a big fan of the Phantasm series.  I know that the films don't make whole lot of sense, but I've always found the weird dreamlike sense of the first one to be quite compelling.  I wonder what if any effect with will have on the release of the final film in the series.  I guess I know what I'm watching tonight.

Rob Halford speaking at Lemmy's Funeral

Motörhead did a livecast of Lemmy's memorial service, and it was actually pretty cool.  A fitting sendoff.  

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!  Our heroes have defeated 2015.  Here's hoping that everyone conquers 2016 as well!

R.I.P. Lemmy

1945 - 2015

Lemmy has finally been killed by Death. :-(