Halloween

Note to parents: getting your five year old son, no matter how badly he wanted it, a black and camouflage head-to-toe ninja outfit to go trick-or-treating after sun down is a baaaad idea. At least he had a flashlight, I could almost keep an eye on him.
We moved over the summer. We had so few trick-or-treaters at our old neighborhood that we actually drove back there and hit a few houses so they would have somebody! At our new neighborhood, it was like a block party, with gaggles of 30 people at a time moving up and down the streets, meeting each other multiple times as we criss-crossed the subdivision blocks. And they won't stop ringing the bell! Here's a tip: when it's 9:00 and the lights are all out, WE ARE OUT OF CANDY!! Besides, you look like you're 18, I wouldn't give you any candy anyway!

HistoryShots

I've always wanted the History of [U.S.] Political Parties posters from HistoryShots, and I see they have now some military history posters-- History of the Confederate Army and U.S. Army Divisions in World War II. Edit: If you like things like this, check out the classic graph of Napoleon's casualties during his Russian invasion, by Minard.

The Classic Solo Wargame

Historifigs is reprinting old articles by Joe Morschauser from their old Table Top Talk magazine. The Classic Solo Wargame looked like an interesting article. Definitely a classic article now, it's 40 years old!

Saxe-Bearstein

I just saw Saxe-Bearstein, a blog primarily about the construction of a fictional 18th century army. It has some nice other stuff, too, like this simple linear campaign system.

Books I'm Reading

So, part of my recent resolution was to read some books. Here's what I've read so far:

5150 Star Wars

Here are the 5150 rules for Star Wars I wrote up with input from my buddy Mik. It's mostly from ANH and ESB as those are the figures I have. I'd love to have any additions you come up with, as I probably won't stat up anymore than this since this covers most of my figures. After watching Clone Wars, though, I could see myself getting clone trooper and droid forces down the line... Anyway, you can see some pictures here of some playtest games Mik and I played.

Okay, nevermind

The resolution is out the window once I get my current batch of Trident 40mm AWI figures painted (and they're next in my queue). Check out the new releases I just got in an email!

Working around the shame

Well, one way to get around my resolution is to trade! I traded a buddy some VOR Union power armor for some of his old Harlequins, and am currently working a deal for some more Star Wars figures. I think this in the spirit of my resolution and no big deal.

Shame Update

Here's the update on my no purchases resolution-- sixteen days, two paychecks and no purchases! In all honesty, though, I did see a couple of deals I couldn't pass up, but they either got bid up on eBay so they weren't a bargain anymore, or shipping was a killer, or stuff like that. So far, so good, but it does seem that I might be tempted by a deal too good to pass up!

Interesting Art Forum

The Concept Art forums have some pretty inspirational stuff, including some well-illustrated large scale sculpting tutorials.

Great Stuff

Or at least interesting stuff. In the US, Great Stuff is an expanding insulating foam sealant. You can get a can for about $5. I've been wanting to try it out for a while, and finally got some and made some test pieces.

CISAPWADD

Yesterday was "Call In Sick And Play Wargames All Dang Day." A guy we used to game with came into town, and I took the day off to hang out a buddy's house and play some games with them. We did some Supersystem and then some Warmachine, but we mostly just fooled around and chatted. In the evening, the rest of the guys who didn't take the day off showed up and the guy from out of town wrapped up the Sci-Fi d20 Modern campaign we had been playing when he moved away. It was a pretty fun day, but I'm beat today.