Raycon 2011

Damn, I see it's been almost two months since my last post (not counting Daniel's last hi-jack post, of course). It's not that I've been completely hobby-idle even though I've painted very little. I was able to finish up the last few details of my Imagination Régiment d'Infanterie Roquefort, adding a grenadier division and artillery limbers (see photos below). After that, work and life got in the way and my painting production came to a crashing halt. Gaming has also fallen off but I was able to make it to Raycon 2011 a couple of weeks ago. This is an annual gathering of friends hosted by Ray Martin at his cottage near Southampton (Ontario...not the UK version) for steaks, beer, wine...oh, and gaming. I was lucky to have both my sons join us this year, along with another cadet from Royal Military College. Michael, Daniel and Phil comported themselves within the traditions of a national military academic institution...yes, they drank, swore and generally acted like soldiers on leave (without the whoring, I might add). Vidal and I, older and wiser patrons of the hobby, were models of gentlemanly behaviour...I'm sure of it. The first day of Raycon was wet and miserable but we rigged up a tarp and set the tables up outside, as is the tradition. You can see some pics of us braving the Lake Huron spring weather below.

 

The forces of Gourmandie to date.

The grenadier division of Régiment d'Infanterie Roquefort, with their distinctive red hat lace (Crusader Miniatures).

The two battalion guns of Régiment d'Infanterie Roquefort (Crusader Miniatures), with limbers and ammunition wagons (Front Rank).

 The outside set-up at Raycon 2011. It was a miserably cold day but we braved the weather for Daniel's fabulous WWI game.

Some random shots of Daniel's board and the game.

  

Vidal and Daniel pondering.

 French infantry nervously await the German assault. They were gassed from their trenches before the wave of German grenadiers hit them. The French are the product of Phil's brush...his contribution to Daniel's megalomania.

Some additions for my 1:2400 WWI project, awaiting paint. Russian cruisers and battleships (GHQ).

Hotlead 2011 & Cold Wars 2011

I notice it's been almost three weeks since my last posting and judging from comments at Hotlead yesterday, I need to get caught up. Vidal and I attended Hotlead yesterday with our posse (thanks Shane and Andrew, but I think dark glasses would have served better) and I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who told me they enjoyed the blog and were wondering about my recent dearth of posts. Thanks to all who expressed interest and all I can say is that my new job has very annoyingly jumped in the way of my hobby life. Surprisingly, it's not been a lack of time for hobby stuff (such as this blog) but a lack of brain power. The first four or five weeks of working again saw me brain dead in the evenings with little enough initiative to eat and find the TV remote let alone pick up a paint brush. Over the last couple of weeks I've started to get my brain power back to normal (no comments...Sean, I'm looking at you). 

So, what's been up? Starting with the most recent, as I said we drove down to Stratford for Hotlead yesterday. This convention never disappoints. James and his crew put on a first-rate show that seems to be very well-attended. I'll make some more comments about Hotlead on the Council Fires blog but in short, kudos to James and the Hotlead staff for all their hard work.

Two weeks ago I took the low road down to Lancaster, PA for Cold Wars to help Ken at the ATKM booth. From the moment I walked into the lobby of the Lancaster Host and smelled the musty carpets (the same carpets, I suspect, I trod on 15-20 years ago), experienced the re-modeled rooms (yeah, that's funny), and tasted the heinous coffee served in the dealer hall,  I realized that while it wasn't quite like the metaphorical "coming home," it was at least more like visiting a poor elderly aunt  in her dimly lit and musty Victorian home: oddly comforting and yet disquieting at the same time. 

Cold Wars proved to be a typically exhausting but highly pleasurable experience. Ken and I have the HMGS convention experience down to a fine art. Building and tearing down the booth has become a finely-tuned exercise and balancing sleep, work and cigars is often a challenge but always fun. Highlights of the show? Meeting up again with Bob and Matt Lehman from Ohio and co-hosting a huge 54mm War of 1812 game on Saturday night. I've included a couple of photos of the game here that I skimmed of off the ATKM site (thanks Ken!).

I received word yesterday that Bob and Matt will be bringing their 54mm goodness to Council Fires 2011!

 

Bob's terrain, as always, was superb. I believe we had a total of 48 units on the table, all in glorious 54mm! This battle was far larger than any historical 1812 battle, save perhaps New Orleans. Bob and Ken already have plans to host a massive 54mm Battle of Waterloo game in 2015 for the battle's anniversary and to showcase Ken's new Napoleonic figure range. I don't doubt for a moment Bob's enthusiasm for this project and especially his ability to pull it off. He's a painting machine! Thanks Bob and Matt for a great weekend!

Other points of note about Cold Wars? I thought their was marked decrease in attendance, at least from a dealer's perspective (note: I spent very little time in the games rooms during the peak hours). When I wandered the dealer hall, I never had to wait to get to a dealer's booth, I was never elbowed inadvertently, and the aisles were often empty enough to fire a cannon ball down.

This, of course, facilitated my shopping and I was able to fill my list (and more). I walked away with a bucket load of Crusader SYW figures from Old Glory to bolster my growing ImagiNation forces. From OG I also scooped up an entire British platoon for my WWII 1940 project (yeah, I know I said that project was finished but more of that anon). I also found a few GHQ 1:2400 WWI ships to fill in some holes in my squadron OBs (I'll say little about the new Russian fleet I also bought...).

Back to Hotlead for a moment to mention that this year saw the first appearance of WGG Distribution, a new distributor and vendor in Canada operated by Martin Jensen. It took very, very little convincing for Martin to talk me into buying an entire Warlord Games 1939 Polish platoon (I guess I'll need another box for this collection after all). Martin and Vidal are visiting the gaming palace here in Bramptonia this week for some gaming and Martin has promised to bring along some support teams and tankettes to bolster the Polish infantry. Can we see Polish lancers on the horizon? Look for a game report from this impending visit.

Last but not least for this posting, I haven't been completely idle at the painting desk of late (just slowed down). Today I finished the basing on the second squadron of the Grenadiers a Cheval Boursin, seen below.

 

2e Escadron, Grenadiers à Cheval Boursin 

backed up by 1er Escadron and led by Chef d'Escadron Phillipe Langeron and his newly-arrived trumpeter. Front Rank figures.

A closer look at Chef d'Escadron Phillipe Langeron and the regimental trumpeter.

3e Escadron will be arriving soon from the depot, resplendent in their violet facings.