BACK TO SQUARE ONE--MINUS A FEW

 

The cleared out (almost) Games Room...

Well, for those who may still be checking in around here, I thought I'd do an update on what has been going on here in Meanderer Central--by way of what has not been going on as far as blogging (and gaming).  In my last post, I concluded with a note about "real life" intruding on hobby life. That has continued (and intensified).  It all began with the skylights in the Game Room (above), which are original to the house. In other words, about 30 years old and now allowing water seepage. Thus, they will need to be replaced (and the water seepage damage repaired, repainted, etc).  

This was/is a particularly discouraging development in the light of the major effort that I had just gone through to reorganize the space and set it right (above), the process for which I reported on in this blog (and earlier reported on the major cull that preceded it). All of this, of course, meant that I would need to clear out the contents, eventually. Given that we have reached an agreement with a contractor to do the work but have not yet been scheduled for the job, this was something that could be put off for a bit (or so I thought).  Meanwhile, running in the background, Mrs Meanderer and I have been in the market for places we might move to, and at this time, we saw a house that ticked all the boxes--and put in an offer. Consulting with our realtor, we also decided that we should put our current house on the market. Suddenly I was under the gun to clear out the game room as part of prepping to show the house (and hopefully an accelerated date for repairs) on top of everything else that was happening (prepping the rest of the house, dealing with the myriad of things involved with the new house)...arrrrrrgh!

So in short order, I wound up repacking my hobby stuff and schlepping boxes,  boxes, and more boxes up into the attic. Above is a shot of a portion of the haul.  We are fortunate to have a house with a swing space like this to store stuff.,,but still. There was no joy here.  As I was going through this process, I was struck by the obscene amount of space my hobby stuff takes up, and all of this after I thought I had cleared out and streamlined my collection.  Looking at the opening picture, you will note the still full shelves against the back wall that have yet to be shifted. After going through this, I'm not sure that all of the stuff that went into the attic will be coming back...

...in particular, when I cleared out what (I thought) was a modest two-shelf remainder of my culled book collection and found that it still amounted to 9 boxes of books, plus two plastic bins, I was about ready to walk them to the nearest dumpster rather than to the attic.  But I decided to store them for now and take another hard look when I pull them out.  Meanwhile, we were doing similar work in the rest of the house, not just in my game space. But the effort involved with shifting my hobby stuff dwarfed any other chore.  Like many, though, I guess I've reached that point in life where we reassess our hobby pile. For now, it's all safe and sound. I know that I'll need to find a more settled time to do a sort rather than do a hasty purge under duress. In short, a very busy time (to say the least)....

...but then, the inspection for the place we were going to buy came around and we found some things that made us decide not to close. So we weren't moving after all. Fortunately, we had not yet listed our current residence, and so put a halt to that process as well.  In short, we're back where we started.  While all this was going on, we had family visiting from out of state, a major heatwave, and a bout of near flooding rains (although we were fortunate in these parts to just be very, very wet and not suffer any actual damage).  Despite the halt on the move, we have taken this opportunity to continue to clear out the house, declutter, and make it easier for us to move when that time comes.  In addition, this has meant a parade of DYI projects for me--all those little things that you live with but need to set right in order to show a house.  Regardless, I will need to keep my game room empty in anticipation of the repairs that will happen there (eventually)--and most likely I will probably just keep my stuff boxed up rather than putting it back again. So I probably won't be running any games for some time. 

So, like Jonah, I have been swallowed by events. Once the "real world" spits me out, I hope to be able to return to the far better world of blogging and toy soldiering.  

Just so that this isn't too dreary and a complete waste of time, toy soldier wise, here is a cache of images from my  Joust for the Fun of It  Big  Knight Collection. I have put together six teams, each with unifying theme...

Each team consists of four knights, two "ordinaries,"  one "notable," and one "lord." For most of the ordinaries, I used the same figs (above), painted and modified for each team. 

As a play aid, I made these markers for each team. They are 1.5 inch x 1 inch wood wargame stands, stained, with each having the shield design of the knight. They track which knight has been used (flipped over) and which has yet to joust.  Each team has a color and/or theme (as usual, you may clix pix for big pix)...

Team White

Team Black

Team Red

Team Blue and Yellow

Team Green

Team Paladin (Crusader Themed): nicknamed "Salt and Pepper" for the black and white.

That's it for now. Looking forward to resuming normal levels of surfing, blogging, and commenting in the future. Thanks for stopping by. 

Excelsior!

HOUNDED BY THE WIFE

 

Our two hounds, doing what hounds do best, Rose (left) and Gracie (right). 

I have occasionally mentioned the canine wing of Meanderer House, the establishment of which has recently expanded from one to two, Gracie being the junior and new addition (just passing her sixth month). Both are rescues, so neither has any definitive lineage or pedigree.  Both fall into the broad category of "Coonhound"--we worked with "Northeast Coonhound Rescue" for both. We are almost certain that, given her size, Rose is of English foxhound stock. Gracie, who promises to outgrow her elder sister, we are inclined to believe is probably mostly American foxhound (the larger of the two adjacent breeds).  "Coonhound,"  is a rather vague categorical that includes many branches.

Our previous "Coonhound" (Roxy, above) was in fact a Plott Hound. You will note the similarity to Rose and Gracie (please read that ironically).  At the end of the day, labels wot not. We're not concerned with breed standards or pedigrees. We call them what works for us, (and we like to be able to say something other than "mutt" when asked what breed our dogs are). Getting back to the foxhounds. You may be wondering what this has to do with toy soldiers? 

When my Joust for the Fun of It project was nearing completion, and the completed figures were populating their display case (above), I noticed that a toy dog had appeared (also a Schleich). The wife (bless her) had run across it somewhere and slipped it in among the other figs...

...recognizing the little fellow as a member of the family, I took the logical next step.  I based it and made it an official part of the collection (although I've yet to give it... her?... a name). 

You will note the little guy to the left (viewer's right) of the heralds in the above picture. I use it as a marker to keep track of which side issues the challenge in the current joust (left or right of the heralds=players on the left/right of the table). 

In other news, this has been a particularly busy stretch, with lots of things going on (nothing bad; just the adult stuff that happens outside of toy soldiers).  These have have squeezed out time and attention available for the hobby, and so I've been in something of a "time out."  We're coming to the end of this busy period in about a week (fingers crossed). I'm looking forward to making the rounds again and catching up with the circle of "usual suspects" in the blogosphere in the near future.

Excelsior!

HERALD-THREE

Another spontaneous production: the Herald Stand.

Following up from the previous post on the reviewing stand, this will be a more abbreviated post reporting on another fabrication in the big knight jousting game. In this case, what began purely as a bit of embellishment wound up providing that and a utilitarian function. As usual, in this post you may clix pix for BIG PIX.

Originally, I picked up a couple of the herald figures with the intent of having a pair of them flanking the royal stand. I was experimenting with the idea of having each stand on a block or some sort of simple raised platform (above). Somewhere along the line, I wound up with a third herald, which gave me other ideas. I was also kicking around the idea of adding flags to the reviewing stand.  I realized that I could combine the three heralds and the flags in a single platform that would add a bit of eye candy and also provide a game function (a sort of score board tracking the rounds and jousts/courses).   

The complete project, with all flags flying and all three heralds in place. The game can have up to five rounds, each represented by a flag. Each round consists of  matches between paired players, with each match consisting of three "courses" (ie jousts), represented by the three heralds. 

This provides a paperless tracking system to help run the game and a visual means to help players see where we are in the tournament. The above illustrates how the tracking system works. The two flags means that it is the second round. The two heralds mean that it is the second course/joust within the match/round. 

The platform sits to the side of the reviewing stand and is tall enough to be seen from the far end of the table. Before the game starts, I have all the heralds posted and all flags flying. When the game starts, I pull the heralds and announce the first match and first course, putting up the first flag and spotting the first herald--to much fanfare.  

The flags are simple pennants (triangular affairs) that I put on dowels that fit into holes on the back of the stand. 

Like the royal stand, the herald stand looked a bit too austere once done. So I added a dowel to the front and fashioned a set of hanging banners. I designed them using a medieval clip art set that I picked up years ago. Using my standard approach for flags, I cut these out and folded them over with a coating of white glue on the reverse to hold the two halves together. I then gave them a bit of a bend and a flutter with the handle of a paint brush while the glue was still wet. Upon drying, the white glue stiffens nicely and the flags hold their shape.  The three banners also provide an additional visual to help track the progress of each match: there is one for each herald, so the number of heralds tells which course it is, and the number of banners without heralds informs the players of how many courses there are left to run in the match. 

The view from the far end of the table during the recent Mayhem convention game. It is the second course of the fourth round (two heralds and four flags): there is one more course to be run in the current match (1 banner without herald).  The thing that I still need to add is some sort of score board to show a running total of the scores through the various rounds (an excellent suggestion from the players).  I'm thinking of some sort of mini white board set up on the other side of the royal stand, opposite the heralds.   

Excelsior!