July 2026

A big month for miniatures.

Had a great time at Historicon, thanks to all the GMs. I ran a convention game for the first time...it is a lot of work!

In a major milestone, I finished off selling the 15mm collections. Bitter sweet to move on from the original Katzenstein figures, but it does simplify things with one set of terrain. I may revisit the Kingdom in 28mm later. 

Painting focus has been on several smaller catch up items. Quar, some VSF additions, and a batch of kitbashed sci-fi figures in the works.

Continued with tinkering with three sets of home rules. I am also making up up some rocky ground with bark. My big Historicon purchase was a big batch of trees from battlefield Terrain Concepts. Expensive, but they do look great.

ACW with Carnage and Glory

A Very British Civil War with Combat Patrol

Congo

AWI with Blood and Steel

Innsmouth pulp game with Fist Full of Lead

Seminole War with Fist Full of Lead Bigger Battles

War of the Worlds with GASLIGHT

My AVBCW game with Combat Patrol

Ditto

Battle of Brandywine with FOB3

More Quar

VSF tribesmen

VSF militia and pioneers

Mix of figs

PAINTING 

69 various figures: 69

2 x vehicles

Total: 71

YTD: 682

GAMING 

1 x  Quar with Battleground HD

10 x games at Historicon

YTD: 33

BUDGET

$12 Quar, $750 trees and supplies at H'con

YTD:  $2729 (Sold: $3646)  

February 2026

AVBCW game at home with 8 players from last month

FFOL/GH and 5PFH mash up

Quar

Hosted a AVBCW game at home and made it to the Cold Wars HMGS convention in Lancaster, PA. 7 games over three days. Enjoyed it as always. Only bought some bases and varnish. 

The 15mm fantasy figure collection sell off is in full swing. The unpainted are all sold, and I have started on the painted armies. 

Cold Wars HMGS convention- played in 7 great games and kept my spending to a minimum. 

Next up...6mm sci fi project reboot #3!

PAINTING 

1 x 28mm sci fi figure

16 x Quar, 2 x Quar vehicles, 6 x Quar terrain items: 19

Total: 20

YTD: 90

GAMING 

7 x cold wars

1 x club game

2 x FFOL/5PFH games

YTD: 13

BUDGET

$275: $11 on Quar MMF, $114 bases, $62 bases/dip, $62 supplies, $26 rules

YTD:  $442 (Sold: $1839) 

Cold Wars Games:

Fall Out with Fist Full of Lead: Wasteland warriors

Reeving with Feudal Patrol 

Sea Lion with Combat Patrol

Anarchy England with Feudal Patrol

Wild West (and zombies) with Fist Full of Lead

More knights in action with Feudal Patrol

Star Wars

December 2025 and year end wrap up

In my first full year of retirement, I spend a lot of time on the hobby. Club and convention games, solo play, lots of painting. 

I hit some of my 2025 plans, missed on some others. I knew the Quar sci fi project would be the main effort especially with the new 3D resin printer. I did not expect my foray into Victorian Science Fiction. VSF dominated the second half of the year. I am using ChatGPT to flesh out the background and campaign fluff for the project. It really adds an interesting element for solo play. 

Snow brawl at the club

O Group

Afghan tribesmen for VSF

PAINTING 

165  points of Colonial/VSF

Total: 165

YTD: 1438

GAMING 

1 x VSF game

1 x 5 Parsecs From Home w/BGHD

1 x game at the club

YTD: 50

BUDGET

$11 on Quar MMF

YTD:  $3656 (Sold: $1367)  

How did I do: Plans for 2025

1) Next wave of Quar 

--- My forces are "mature"...but never done! Several games during the year with these fantastic figures. I have about a months worth of figures printed/built to be painted. More come out every week so I will build up a batch and then attack them all at once.

2) Focus on some terrain upgrades: trees, rivers, roads

---Not done...bought more MDF buildings. I need to make 2026 a terrain year.

3) Host a club game in Feb

---Done...hosted two games this year. 

4) Work on 6mm sci fi home brew rules with 3D printed figures

---Continue rules tinkering. May make this the lead 2026 project.

5) Spending <$2000, sell $500

---Spending failure...but sold much more. Retirement is expensive.

6) Attend all 3 HMGS conventions

    Cold Wars 

    Historicon

    Fall In

---Done...this dramatically increased my number of games player for the year. 

7) Complete on hand 28mm fantasy figures

    a. Plastics

    b. Metals

---Done. A few random leftovers for kitbashing. Still not 100% sure where I go with this project. 

8) Add to 28mm sci fi by getting select sprues instead of full boxes

---Not this year...maybe in 2026 as a slow addition project. 

Plans for 2026

1) VSF:  Plan phase 2 which will focus on more 3D printed additions and some terrain.

2) Attend the 3 HMGS conventions again. 

3) Keep spending <$3000. Consider selling the 15mm fantasy collection and massive 15mm fantasy unpainted stash.

4) Restart the 6mm sci fi operational level project. Focus on 3D prints. Keep working on the rules.

5) Host a club AVBCW game and a home AVBCW game.

6) Backup small project: add single sprues of 28mm sci fi figures and use my Wargames Atlantic MMF subscription to print 3D figures for kitbashing.

7) Terrain. It's time to make some improvements now that I have transitioned to almost 90% 28mm vs 15mm collections. 2026 should be the year of terrain. Reduce the painted figure count for the year, but make terrain. Consider selling the hexon terrain and moving to terrain cloths.

8) Next batch of Burrows and Badgers figures to keep up to date with the whole collection.

9) Continue Quar.

Project Update: 11 projects

6mm Sci Fi Big Battles:

---Last Painted:

---Last Gamed:

Victorian Science Fiction:

---Last Painted: Dec, 2025

---Last Gamed: Dec, 2025

Quar:

---Last Painted: Sep, 2025

---Last Gamed: Nov, 2025

28mm Sci Fi:

---Last Painted: Jan, 2025

---Last Gamed: Dec, 2025

A Very British Civil War:

---Last Painted: Oct, 2024

---Last Gamed: Jun, 2025

28mm Fantasy:

---Last Painted: Apr, 2025

---Last Gamed: May, 2025

Pulp:

---Last Painted: Jan, 2023

---Last Gamed: Feb, 2025

Burrows and Badgers:

---Last Painted: Sep, 2024

---Last Gamed: Jan, 2023

Slaughterloo:

---Last Painted: Dec, 2023

---Last Gamed: Jan, 2024

Kingdom of Katzenstein 15mm Imagi-nation:

---Last Painted: Dec, 2018

---Last Gamed: Nov, 2024

Fantasy 15mm:

---Last Painted: Jul, 2019

---Last Gamed: Jul, 2021

Fall IN 2025, HMGS convention

 I attended the 2025 Fall In convention at the Lancaster PA Wyndham Host over the weekend. Played in 6 games and bought very little loot for a change.

The venue is passable. Cost was OK, food on site acceptable with many options close by. The hotel is a maze and not very mobility friendly, but the smaller rooms did help with convention noise. The flea market area was very dark, that has to be corrected. 

Thanks to all the GMs, especially the HAWKS club for the Combat Patrol games. 

Only loot is not worth a picture...4 boxes of plastic bases.

Chain of Command 2, France 1940

Wild West movie set with Combat Patrol

Mongolia Back of Beyond with Setting the East Ablaze

Pulp Jonny Quest with 7TV

Quar with Clash of Ryflers

Bataan 1942 with Combat Patrol

July 2025

Very busy hobby month.

I had a great time attending the HMGS (Historical Miniature Gaming Society) Historicon convention in Lancaster for a long weekend. Played 10 great games. Many thanks to the hosts for all these games (Peter, Greg, Buck, John, Dale, Mike B., Gunnar, Dave, Evan, Eric). Saw some regulars and met some new friends.  Spend way too much money, but kept the figure purchases to a minimum. I have set a goal for my self to paint them all before the Fall In convention in November. I did get the set of 28mm MDF pre-colored East Front buildings from Micro Arts Studios...I already have the Normandy set.  

Travel to the hotel from south NJ was 2:15 (2:00 getting home early Sunday). No issue with parking since I arrived wed afternoon, and I was fortunate to be staying at the onsite hotel. Food was acceptable, check in for the hotel and the convention were a breeze. Attendance numbers looks good from my end, but there are some vendors missing. I think that is the nature of online shopping now. I do like to brows and see some product in person before purchase, so I encourage the vendors to keep coming even if on site profit does not show it, there is probably an uptick in post convention online orders. 

I saw several father/son pairs, lots of kids (call it under age 20), and more woman gamers than I have in the past. All good things for the hobby. Good mix of historical an other (fantasy, sci fi) games. My personal experience and general observation is that this is good for the convention...I played historical and sci fi games with some of the same players so there is cross over. 

I have blown my budgeting plans for the year. Such is life. 

1st day at Gettysburg

Star Wars with Combat Patrol

Wild West

Victorian Science Fiction

2nd sci fi on the ship board

Galactic Heroes

Chain of Command in Normandy

Quar with Chain of Command

Battlefield HD in Sicily demo game 

Salamanca with Field of Battle

Loot!

Played in a 6mm (1/285) scale Vietnam game in the delta during club day. 

PAINTING 

93 points of VSF figures

Total: 93

YTD: 667

Next up: 

1) Finish on hand Quar

2) 7 units for VSF project

GAMING 

1 x club

10 x games at Historicon !

YTD: 24

BUDGET

$1076: $11 Quar subscription, $24 paint stand, $77 VSF miniatures, $680 at H'Con( rules, figures, paint/brushes, buildings), $154 bases, $130 kickstarter

YTD:  $2709 (Sold: $1367)   

June 2025 and mid-year review

I ran another game at the club this month, A Very British Civil War with the Combat Patrol rules. Sold off a bunch of things, a few more to go. Spending for the year to date has been more than expected, but I should cover a big portion with the sold items. 

3D printed and assembled the next batch of Quar. Such fun figures.

Registered for lots of games for Historicon, working on my shopping list. 

Started my Victorian Science Fiction project. Some great figures and the Wargames Atlantic plastic and 3D STL releases will help build out the forces. I have been having fun using ChatGPT to generate background for the fictional "lost world". 

A sample, I will start a separate post with the units. 

PAINTING 

106 foot and 16 mounted VSF figures: 138 points

Total: x

YTD: 574

GAMING 

1 x AVBCW game I ran at the club

YTD: 13

BUDGET

$31: $11 Quar subscription, $20 brushes

YTD:  $1633 (Sold: $1357)   = $276

Mid-year Review:

Plans for 2025

1) Next wave of Quar 

    - Complete

    - Printed next batch, ready to paint

2) Focus on some terrain upgrades: trees, rivers, roads

    - No progress

3) Host a club game in Feb

    - Complete, plus another in May

4) Work on 6mm sci fi home brew rules with 3D printed figures

    - Tinkering continues

5) Spending <$2000, sell $500

    - Spent more than planned, sold more than goal

6) Attend all 3 HMGS conventions

    Cold Wars (this one is a maybe): Complete

    Historicon: Registered

    Fall In

7) Complete on hand 28mm fantasy figures

    a. Plastics; Complete

    b. Metals: Complete

8) Add to 28mm sci fi by getting select sprues instead of full boxes

    - Nothing

Project Update: 10 projects

Victorian Science Fiction:

---Last Painted: June, 2025

---Last Gamed: not yet

Quar:

---Last Painted: Feb, 2025

---Last Gamed: Mar, 2025

Slaughterloo:

---Last Painted: Dec, 2023

---Last Gamed: Jan, 2024

28mm Fantasy:

---Last Painted: Apr, 2025

---Last Gamed: May, 2025

Burrows and Badgers:

---Last Painted: Sep, 2024

---Last Gamed: Jan, 2023

Pulp:

---Last Painted: Jan, 2023

---Last Gamed: Feb, 2025

A Very British Civil War:

---Last Painted: Oct, 2024

---Last Gamed: Dec, 2024

28mm Sci Fi:

---Last Painted: Jan, 2025

---Last Gamed: Jan, 2022

Fantasy 15mm:

---Last Painted: Jul, 2019

---Last Gamed: Jul, 2021

Kingdom of Katzenstein 15mm Imagi-nation:

---Last Painted: Dec, 2018

---Last Gamed: Nov, 2024