Prussians, Dwarves & Samurai

I went on a journey with Emily today in search of an airbrush and an appropriately sized air compressor. Bunnings had an air compressor that was the right price for my budget - although it was still too large for what I want despite being the smallest they had.

We continued our journey and ventured to a nearby hobby shop where I did find the right size of air compressor (a lovely little brass model that is small enough to sit on the bench while I paint) although it cost over twice as much as the beast at Bunnings! If I hadn't already spent my toy money this fortnight I would have grabbed it - but my bank account can't take any more hits of that magnitude without sinking... so I guess it will have to wait until next pay.

Speaking of spending money, I have new toys that deserve a mention.

Koenig Krieg: SYW Prussians
Last weekend I popped into the Brisbane Muster to see what was happening. There were a number of interesting games being played (everything from a modern Iraq encounter in 1/72nd scale to a Blues Brothers car chase game - complete with soundtrack!). I didn't have time to play anything although I did hover near the Koenig Krieg booth long enough to check out what was on offer... once I saw all those bicornes and tricornes ranked up in neat lines I had to open my wallet! Also, the game is written by some Brisbane guys so I felt obliged to support them.

I grabbed an army deal (2 bags of Musketeers, 2 bags of Dragoons, 1 bag of Generals) and haggled gently for a good price on some resin bases - commiting me to yet another project: Seven Years War Prussians.

The plan was to get the airbrush and air compressor up and running today so I could get these guys undercoated. Now it looks like they'll have to go back into the box for a little longer.

Uncharted Seas: Iron Dwarves
I've been hearing good things about Uncharted Seas on the net. It's a fantasy naval game (re: Man o War) that has been around for a year or so and is published by a small company in the UK. The ships have resin hulls and pewter sails which I believe is a great idea (based on my experiences with Flames of War tanks).

After carefully considering the available factions I settled on the Iron Dwarves; mostly because they suit my usual wargaming play style but also because they are not affected by wind direction (yay steampower). So anyway, they arrived the other day in a suitably large postage box.

By my calculations I'm the only Uncharted Seas player in Brisbane (and one of only a handful in Australia) so it might be a while before I get a game! Still, that's a good excuse to buy a second fleet for a friend to borrow ~ assuming I can convince anyone to play... Emily has already made it clear that she will not be joining me on the high seas.

Legend of the Five Rings
I've been meaning to "get into" L5R for years. A few months ago I discovered that now is an excellent time for new players to get into the game as a new set of cards is about to cycle in - and make most of the old cards redundant for tournament play (well, the old cards can still be used in Legacy tournaments, but as a new player I'll be avoiding them anyway).

So off I went across the internet in search of a bargain (this sparked a short but intense flamewar on the forum which I won't go into again; other than to say I got a good bargain from Troll & Toad in the USA). Only a week later (!) I received a box of "Glory of the Empire"; the first expansion that is legal for Celestial Edition tournaments.

I went along to my first game last weekend. Four of us met up at Ace Comics in the city and had a small match. As these were my first games (since dabbling briefly in L5R way back in 1995) I didn't do too bad; two losses and one win. That result sounds worse than it is - three of us ended up with the same win/loss record for the afternoon... the fourth player in this equation actually got through undefeated! So overall not bad for a new player.

I have "Death at Koten" on order from AEG which will add to my Celestial Edition collection and help buff up my newbie deck, hence the lack of spending money for today's air compressor.


Wrapping this post up I'll return to the start; having abandoned the air compressor idea Emily and I decided to head over to Carindale for some non-gamer shopping. It was nice to spend the day together and casually wander about the place looking at things - although the crowds were annoying. Despite my best efforts I actually returned home wothout purchasing anything!