Yet another Post

I have been meaning to get posts on here for a few days, but have only finally done it.

I have continued to paint, though only when I have time, which is rare these days.  I have managed to finish my 10 15mm.co.uk Canine Punks and 5 Corpulati.  The Punks look pretty good, in my opinion.  The Corpulati, well, they are slugs, so were pretty easy to paint.  I think they look decent, though the yellow I had didn't really cover them well and there are a few spots where you can still see traces of the black undercoat.

The Corpulati are the little slug guys.

 

I think the yellow looks a lot better for the goggles.

Besides painting, I have managed to get in some reading.  Starting in January, I began reading Harry Turtledoves TL-191 Settling Accounts Books.  I have previously read the very first one, the first WW1 one, and parts of the first Interwar one.  Settling Accounts was a fun read, though at some points, the parallels got in the way of the plot.  The thing that annoyed me the most was the character "Henderson V. FitzBelmont".  His name was quite unrealistic, and after looking it up, it appears there is no record of anyone having that surname, and I cannot imagine anyone named Belmont, so the name could not exist.

Also starting in January, I read the Machine Crusade by Brain Herbert.  I knew I had begun it, but did not know how far I got, but upon reaching the end, I realized I had previously finished.  However, I finished that series, then read "House Atreides".  After reading that, I have the same thought I did after reading the original Dune.  Why is it that House Atreides is comprised of only a few people.  The other houses are similar, with the Harkonnens having only about five, though at least Corrino has a dozen or so, though most of them are daughters of the same guy.  I would expect that the houses would have dozens, maybe hundreds of members, spread throughout the Imperium.

Finally, starting on Sunday and finishing today, I read Robert Conroy's "1945", in which General Anamis militarists take Emperor Hirohito in August 1945 and the US invades the Home Islands.  It was a pretty good book, though I did think having Hirohito being taken from Japan in a commando raid was sort of unrealistic.  However, the actual fighting scenes were pretty good, I thought.

Reading Settling Accounts has made me interested in playing out some miniatures games in a "Weird Civil War", featuring British, French, and Brazilian Interventionists on the southern side, utilizing Highlanders, Indian Troops, Black Confederate Troops, fighting in exchange for their freedom, and "D'Orleans Louisiana Zouaves" a unit of Zouaves under Gaston d'Orléans, Count of Eu and husband of a Brazilian Princess.  Opposing them would be Fenians and the Joseph Sturge Brigade, a unit of British Abolitionists.  Technology would mostly be real-world, but with gatling guns and possibly some airships to make it "Weird".

Yet another attempt to Restart

I have not posted in two and a half months.  I am not dead.  I have intended to post, but, being gone for a week on a camping trip with no internet access, and then another two weeks was not helpful.  Now, I am back home, and intend to post at least once a month.  I am now in school again, so that may not work out.

Anyway, I have been working on painting up my ratman army, and have at least 1 unit of Beastmen and 1 of Ratman hordes done if I remember correctly.  Unfortunatly, these days, I have little time to work on them, and, when I get out the paints and set up my station, I have to take it down many weekends, and Wednesdays, so work only occurs when I really am motivated.  I dont have any pictures at this time, but will try to get some up by the weekend (or on it).

Also, this summer I have played alot of moderated games on AH.com.  I guess this is because I actually have time to devote to it (more than 5 minutes), so I am able to create updates that actually fit in, not two sentences about an important country, covering 5 years of time.  In the first game I played, I played as "The Union of the Fourteen Countys", a Boer republic based out of Michigan and the Wisconsin coast.  Basically, in that world, it was decided that there were Dutch colonys up the Delaware River, (known as the Hudson in TTL).  When Spanish forces conquered it, eventually, many of the "Amerikaners", as they were known, fled west, into the Ohioland.  At the time the game started, in 1820, they had fled to Michigan.  Since we were in areas claimed by the Basque Republic (yes, there was a Basque state in New England), we came up with a deal to move to the Ozarks to assisst the Basques in gaining control of the west.  Unfortunatly, this area was dominated by the New Caledonians, crazy militaristic Scots based out of Texas, and Pennsylvania, theocratic militarists based out of Virginia.  Unfortunatly, my people thought the ruling council was in the Basque sphere, so they headed into the Missouriland and set up a new Town, Fort Niuewland north of OTL St. Louis.  I decided to play as them, and so began play as the Niuewland Republic, and set up town guards and even began construction on a new capitol, but while I was gone for a week, the game died.  It was pretty cool because I had the Roosevelts, van Halens, and de Walles, and if the game had gotten into the early 1900s, I was planning on having a Theodoor Roosevelt as a major military leader, and later on maybe a President Eduard van Halen.

Amerikaner Flag

A map of the Amerikaner movements.

Also, this summer, I did a good bit of reading.  Some of the books I read are (and know that I write them out, I cant remember most of them):

• The Man with the Iron Heart  I liked it, but at some points, it was just kind of boring, and at others, really strange that the German partisans never seemed to get caught or make mistakes.
• Dorsai!  Pretty good book of Military Science Fiction, the idea of a dozen human states with their own speciality is intriguing.  I wish there had been more about the with the United Orthodox Church.  The book is quite short.
• Flashman on the March  First one of the books I have read.  I really liked it, though it is really quite vulgar.
• The Guns of August  I actually read this for extra credit for school, but I had it on my shelf and had planned on reading it for a while.
• The Last Kingdom  Part of Richard Cornwells Saxon Tales, it is just good all around, but especially in describing the battle scenes.

I am now reading Flashman and the Tiger as well as Three to Dorsai, which is three of the Dorsai novels in one big book (which still is only a little thicker than Flashman and the Tiger).

Another Update

It has been a few months since I updated this place.  I keep meaning to get around to it, but never do.  Anyway, two weeks ago I picked up the book Conquistador and 2001: A Space Odyssey at the library.  I just finished Conquistador yesterday, it was a pretty good book, although it almost seemed like the last few chapters were originally three times as long, but then compacted down to take up less space.  Aside from that, I thought the book was quite well written, and I only wish that more information had been given on the outside world beyond the gate and that we learned what happened after the Gate was closed down.  I am currently almost done with 2001, having really begun reading it (past the Ape section).  It seems that I remembered alot of it incorrectly, even though I have read it twice before.

I also finally got around to watching that Spike "Alternate History" show.  It was awful.  First of all, I wondered why would there be SS troops in America after 70 years.  Then that "inauguration" scene was ridiculous, I dont really see why this nation would have technology so advanced as to track a single person in a crowd, yet could not find him until he was that close to the president.  That brought up the point of why they would even have elections in an authoritarian state.  Moving on, the idea that the usage of Me262s at D-Day would somehow magically repel the invasion was stupid, it seems that if they were that great, they would have turned the tide in the real war.  Then the part about the two German submarines going to America with nuclear missiles in tow was just crazy.  And that was about as much as I remember, due to the fact that at the second commercial I just stopped watching, because I figured waiting a few seconds for it to buffer was a waste of my time.  There were also alot of errors in the making of the show, such as showing modern Logan airport in the nuking of Boston, as well as the fact there was an African American soldier in a white unit, meaning that the directors really didnt bother to find out about the Armed Forces Desegregation order.  I am almost glad the show didnt continue, although it would be quite funny to watch the show in which Alexander the Great conquers all of Europe, yet 2000 years later, Barack Obama is elected president of the United States, the only difference being that it speaks Greek.

Yes, I am sure this would happen.

Aside from that, my brother and I have painted up some 1/72 scale dwarf minatures as well as the Norse peices from the Eagle Games game Age of Mythology.  I hope to put some pictures of them up soon.

An Update

I have had a good week, I have joined The Minatures Page (TMP).  Loaded Civilization III and even reloaded  the Battlegroup 42 mod for Battlefield 1942.  It is a great mod because you can play as Australians, Netherlanders, and even the K.M.T.!  In Civilization, I played the Fall of Rome scenario, eventually I hope to run a Nationgame with a Migration age P.O.D., so there could be Franco-Saxons, Hispogoths, or Scottish Goths.  After finishing The Machine Crusade about a week after I started it, I have no major ideas stemming from it.  In the meantime, while waiting for my birthday, in hopes of some Warzone Bauhaus Troops I am drawing Space Creatures (Ratmen and Dogmen.).  I will attempt to scan them and upload them.