I'd Buy That #2: Miss Havisham from Dickens' Great Expectations

Great novel, spooky character. Most "bride" models are more ghost than corpse - young and insufficiently grotesque. There's an old GW Banshee that is in the neighborhood but thinking more of something like this - and sure a banshee screaming mouth would be neat too: 

The cane would be cool I guess or just pointing and looking ahead instead of down. Pip unnecessary.

 "She was dressed in rich materials,—satins, and lace, and silks,—all of white. Her shoes were white. And she had a long white veil dependent from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white. Some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands, and some other jewels lay sparkling on the table. Dresses, less splendid than the dress she wore, and half-packed trunks, were scattered about. She had not quite finished dressing, for she had but one shoe on,—the other was on the table near her hand,—her veil was but half arranged, her watch and chain were not put on, and some lace for her bosom lay with those trinkets, and with her handkerchief, and gloves, and some flowers, and a Prayer-Book all confusedly heaped about the looking-glass.

It was not in the first few moments that I saw all these things, though I saw more of them in the first moments than might be supposed. But I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre and was faded and yellow. I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes. I saw that the dress had been put upon the rounded figure of a young woman, and that the figure upon which it now hung loose had shrunk to skin and bone. Once, I had been taken to see some ghastly waxwork at the Fair, representing I know not what impossible personage lying in state. Once, I had been taken to one of our old marsh churches to see a skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress that had been dug out of a vault under the church pavement. Now, waxwork and skeleton seemed to have dark eyes that moved and looked at me. I should have cried out, if I could."

Once again, thanks for looking - questions, comments and followers are welcome and encouraged! I'm going to try to do more and more on Facebook so follow my page there too! https://www.facebook.com/One-of-My-Men-Became-Restless-100659928063858

 

Messin' Around with the Craft Punch for Oathmark Movement Tray Enhancements

I just set these in after cutting them as a test. Once the trays are primed, painted and terrained, I'll center, and glue these down properly. Read below for the whole story:

I like the Renedra movement trays, but I've gotten kinda fussy looking at the gaping holes that appear as models are removed. Also they don't make trays that are three ranks deep - just two and four. I came up with this for two reasons: first - to close off the last rank without wasting time making plugs for the last rank for my 15 man units (which I will of course do anyway in all likelihood.) Second, I want to make sure every slot is serviceable and also looked passable instead of the common black or dark brown hole people leave behind. And these will be flat and won't interfere with the circular edge of slottas where I use them.

These were from Hobby Lobby - cheap!

 

This whole thing is kinda self explanatory - the punch I got was the 3/4" even though the slots are 25mm (an inch) across. Both less than five bucks each - cheap as experiments go. 

I'm sure, with practice, I can get more cut out per sheet - I got almost 75 per page so not too bad.

As mentioned, I bought a 1" punch and they create discs, like my 1" washers (pictured) that are ever so slightly too big. They don't sit perfectly at the bottom but creep up around the edges, forming a bowl/basin. That would simply pop figures up above the ground I fear.

Here is a standard slotta base - the bottom is 25mm/1" but it bevels up to exactly 3/4" at the top - nice, if I use these for plugs later - I will probably use wood disks though for that purpose.

Then I thought it'd be neat to mark the dead in some way. Originally I was looking for Skull and Crossbones decals/stickers but they all seemed to be 1" - and thus slightly too big.

These were cut hastily for this blog entry, but you can get a sense of what I have in mind. Some are to scale, others not - I think I prefer the sepia tinted at-scale ones better than the stylized big ones, to get a sense of they were submerged in earth recently. I suppose any bones motif would be cool here too. My intention for these four-deeps is to do some with just the last rank in the moss, and for 20 man units, all skulls in every slot.

I printed up a sheet with the image repeating, to do up some more. I'll print them on color safe, sticky backed/decal paper for the finals and pop them in over a dark earth color to match.

 Are you fine with just dark holes left behind in your trays? Let me know in the comments what you think - any other neat ideas? I see many don't even bother painting their movement trays - not my style as long time readers here will already know. 

Once again, thanks for looking - questions, comments and followers are welcome and encouraged! I'm going to try to do more and more on Facebook so follow my page there too! https://www.facebook.com/One-of-My-Men-Became-Restless-100659928063858

Tables of Interest - Historicon 2021

In typical fashion, I am almost exclusively a day tripper. Usual caveats: I may very well have missed a room or to - it was pretty dispersed in my opinion and I'm not sure I saw everything. I was there from opening to around 3-4 pm do missed games that began outside that window. Here's what caught my eye at Historicon on Saturday 11/13/21 at the Valley Forge Casino Resort, best looking games, plus what surprised me in the dealer hall at the end:

Of the periods I'm interested in, this Rorke's Drift one is the best game I saw all day - beautifully done!

I've little to no interest in gaming Vietnam as readers of this blog should have picked up upon by now. That said, this table was the best overall I saw all day. Gorgeous!

 

This is a battle mat for a 15mm crossroads encounter yet to be set up. No? Oh, it's the carpeting in the main hall. Very inspirational, I wonder if there are scraps around.

This is a battle set in Baum's Oz - it is eye catching with some fun elements to it. Little bit kitchen-sinky about it all and no real cohesion to the overall effect, but certainly novel (see what I did there)!

RavensFeast- a Dark Age skirmish set (provided free to all the convention goers) being played here -  a runner up table for me in terms of visual appeal and quality - I like to see all the seasons reflected and this one hits the mark. I'd like to see more white birches around.

Gnome Wars - 10 years ago this would  have been on a billiard-table green piece of felt. Some nice details here.

Some ACW thing - the rolling terrain and mats look great but the unbased regiments and tabletop clutter mar the effect. I'm sure it was a fun game and the table otherwise looks great!

Interesting back drop for this ?LOTR? game

I like the storybook quality of this one. If only my HOA was as tidy with the landscaping.

ACW but in New Mexico?

Folks are eschewing lush green tabletops a lot these days.

This was a pretty good looking ECW game run by: an English guy! ECW seems very rare in the US and it takes an immigrant to do it properly. Beautiful table!

Simple but effective.

An airborne scenario that I'm told is still used in training today.

One of the few tables that were following the theme of the convention: Aircraft of War: Balloons, Bombers, Helicopters, and more...

Great WW2 North Africa game! Not really my period either, but this is what I'd want it to look like.

Interesting game boards for Musketeer era skirmishing. The bottom is to be a busy marketplace, yet undecorated. It reminds me of the Lost World game books, a paper, scossors, rock kind of gameplay. Looked fun!

Italians in Ethiopia - the rolling hills are the real draw here.

Beautiful, Men who Would Be Kings (Osprey) game here - Darkest Africa. I always like these last stand scenarios: Rorke's Drift, Camerone, etc

This little set up was not a game in progress but an auction item, a nice one too.

Gunfighters Ball! This was the first thing one sees in the Dealer Hall this year and it's a beut! The propreiter has really pulled out all the stops with this demo game - every conceivable detail has been thought of. I didn't get any shots of the game itself but I'm a sucker for well painted western figs!

The renaissance man behind GB sculpted, painted, designed the game from the bottom up. Amazing output and I was certainly surprised that this was the first I had heard of it. Best presentation of the show in my book - really well done!

Despite no Old Glory, no Brigade Games, I found plenty of vendors to spend on. 

What I find striking about Wally's Basement every time is how common everyone seems to be ditching their Napoleonic armies. I feel like we're losing something in the US, but in retrospect, it's a wonder why the Napoleonic Wars were a thing at all here. 

Thanks for looking - questions, comments and followers are welcome and encouraged! I'm going to try to do more and more on Facebook so follow my page there too! https://www.facebook.com/One-of-My-Men-Became-Restless-100659928063858