Rehabilitating a 1983 Grenadier Frost Giant (Fantasy Lords – First Series 103)

I have loved this John Dennett figure for many years. I know that I got it when I was back at West Point. The main problem was that its axe was prone to breaking off, and mine of course did. I tried different repairs over the years but to no avail. When I used the figure, I always had to say “imagine the axe being there”! Below is how the figure should have appeared as I purchased it. Note that it was guarding a treasure.

10 olf fg — Grenadier “Frost Giant” 103 (from Lost Mini Wiki Page)

At some point, Grenadier recognized the problem and updated the figure with a hammer and got rid of the horns when they released this in the “Fantasy Lords – Second Series”.

11olf fg with hammer — Grenadier “Snow Giant” 103 modification (from Lost Minis Wiki Page)

When my Frost Giant lost his axe, I tried all kinds of glue, but nothing worked. In fact, some of the glue actually went over the figures hair, which obscured some detail. At some point over the last 30 years, I came across a tomahawk charm that looked like it might work. At the time I did not have a pin vise and the project waited, with the figure looking like this below, for at least 25 years.

1 Frost Giant Before rehab — Frost Giant before Repair

Note that I had him on a balsa wood base that was painted green. The figure itself was chipped, as I never used varnish back in the day like I do now. I clearly painted some parts of him too thickly, but I really did not want to strip the whole figure. To a degree, I like to keep what I did back in the day as it was done. However, with a repair, I decided to go a little bit further.

I used an Exacto knife to shave off the end of the tomahawk and my pin vise to drill a small hole in the shaft of the axe in the Frost Giant’s hands. This fit well, though less appropriately than the previously missing axe.

3 Frost Giant with new axe removed from base — Frost Giant Removed from his old base with shaved tomahawk

I then removed the figure (and his treasure) and mounted them both with wood glue on a 2.5″ hex cut from 1/8″ plywood. I prefer this as it made the figure less “boxy”. I had used Krylon white spray primer to prep the new base and the new axe. I used E6000 epoxy to affix the new axe.

I then began to play with some paints and inks to improve the figure. The shaft of the new axe and the leather straps were base painted with Citadel “XV-88”. I then mixed the “XV-88” with Armory “Leather Brown” and Americana “Raw Umber”. I tried to see if a dry brush technique with Citadel “Prayeti White” would help the his loincloth pelt and his hair. It did not, so those waited for other interventions.

I used Tamiya “Gun Metal” on the axe itself, as well as on parts of his belt, armor, and helmet.

5 Frost Giant rebased with new axe (better) — Rebased figure

For his skin, I applied a very light coat of Americana “Sky Blue Satin” to cover some of the chips. I then mixed that with Americana “Snow” to add further highlights.

I changed the stone colors on his bracelet. I replaced the pinkish color on the bracelet’s stones with two altered colors. I used Polly-S “Demon Dark Red”, while I used Americana “Dioxazine Purple” on the other stones. I darkened the axe and its straps with Secret Weapons Washes “Heavy Body Black” wash. The horns I dry brushed with Craftsmart “Ivory”.

For the treasure, I used Citadel “Auric Armor Gold” on the coins. For the skull in the treasure pile, I used Craftsmart “Ivory” to cover the white color it had. I darkened the quiver with P3 “Brown Ink”, and used Polly-S “Demon Dark Red” on the fletchings. All the treasure pile then got a light wash with the Secret Weapons Washes “Heavy Body Black”.

I then decided that the white pelt and boots and snow-white beard had to go. For this, I used a combination of three inks – P3 “Brown Ink”, and “Sewer Water” and “Heavy Body Black” from Secret Weapons Washes. This made the boots and pelt more like something from a brown bear. For the beard, I just used diluted Secret Weapons Washes “Stone” to create a sooty appearance. These worked well. I then went back to the skin – luckily I had not painted that too thickly back in the 1980’s! I highlighted the muscles and the skin depressions on the arms and the legs, and then used Secret Weapons Washes “Blue” ink to wash the skin. I then did a second skin highlight, and used Secret Weapons Washes “Heavy Body Black” on the armor and the helmet. I applied a light highlight on the edge of the axe with Tamiya “Titanium Silver”.

On the plywood base, I worked in air-dry modeling clay and tried to make it like real snow. I even made footprints behind the figure. I let that dry for a day, and applied Americana “Snow” on the entire base. I used Citadels flocking snow with white glue to give a more snowy appearance to newer drifts. I sealed the figure with a spray coat of Krylon “Clear Glossy” varnish followed several hours later by a finishing coat of Krylon “Clear Matte”. I then used white glue to add some Army Painter “Wasteland Tuft” to represent dead plants popping through the snow.

7 Frost Giant completed, front — Frost Giant after Repair

All I can say is “He’s BAAACK!”. The figure is better than before and will last a long time on the tabletop – and he will bring along his own snowy environment!

Ziterdes Stone Bridges (11936)

I was in need of a few landscaping items for the tabletop. In particular, hills, rivers, bridges, and woods. I found many good options on eBay, to include a nice set of hills and rivers from Poland, a Geo-Hex set of hills that I have been looking for for several years, and two Ziterdes foam bridges. I had just finished up 39 landscaping trees, so on to the bridges. This was a good project to work on while recovering from sinus surgery – among others that will be posted here shortly.

As I said, these were made of foam and from Germany. I got them from Noble Knight Games. The detail seemed nice and the size appropriate as shown below.

1 Ziterdes Bridges in package — Front of the Packages

2 Ziterdes Bridges in package back — Back of One of the Packages

3 Ziterdes Bridges out of package — Out of the Package

I was reticent to prime them with spray paint and see them melt away from the acetone. Therefore, I primed them with “White Primer” from Armory paints that I bought in 1996. This project finished this stalwart bottle off and into retirement.

4 Ziterdes Bridges primed — After Priming

I then applied “Stone” wash from Secret Weapons Washes to get into the crevices and deep sections under the paving stones. This worked but used a lot of the wash.

6 Ziterdes Bridges first wash — After First Ink Wash

I was not overly happy with this look, so I went to another old paint, a Polly-S “Ocean Gray” from 1984 – (yes, a 32 year old paint from a company that long ago was acquired by Testors). It worked ok and while I tried as best as possible to be almost a dry-brush process, the colors were not yet to my liking.

5 Ziterdes Bridges basecoated — After Basecoat

I then went back and used the rest of the “Stone” ink wash. I then used “Pewter Gray” from Apple Barrel (which I had left from 2000) to dry brush, and that did the trick.

By the way, if you are getting the idea that I use all my paints until they are gone, you are correct. However, if I find them unworkable, dried out, chunky or even with mold in them (happened once), I toss them.

The final product looks pretty good. I did not apply varnish as I am still leery of melting them. They will work well as nice additions to my battlefields.

7 Ziterdes Bridges finished — Bridges Complete

8 Ziterdes Bridges on table front view — On Tabletop

9 Ziterdes Bridges on tablelong view — On Tabletop

The Iron Winds Metals Ral Partha Kickstarter – Orc & Goblin Legion, Briar Rose Knights on Giant Flying Bees, Dwarf Steam Cannon, & more!

Happy New Year to All!

This is my first post in a while! With the holidays, work and more, it’s been the usual hectic season. This year I hope to track my painting production on this blog as well.

I was happy to get my Ral Partha Kickstarter from Iron Winds Metals in late December – and is it impressive!

Added up, it’s about 254 miniatures. For the vast majority of these figures, they are great old (1978-1986) Ral Partha figures that are great to see again!

This is the list of all I got – it came in the form of the Orc & Goblin Legion, and some additional figures:

25-427: Orc & Goblin Legion: 218 miniatures total: 24 Goblin Archers (8 of each sculpt); 36 Lesser Goblins (12 of each sculpt); 48 Goblin Shock Troops (16 of each sculpt); 72 Orc Warriors (18 of each sculpt); 18 Wolf Riders (6 of each sculpt); 1 Orc General; 1 Orc Battle Standard Bearer; 1 Orc Mage; 2 Goblin Champions; 2 Goblin Standard Bearers; 3 Orc Champions; 3 Orc Standard Bearers; 3 Orc Musicians; 3 Wyverns; 1 Orc War Machine

SG-06: Briar Rose Cavalry on Giant Bees: Contents: 6 Riders on Giant Bees

SG-11: Dwarf Steam Cannon: 1 Cannon + 3 Crew

Free Gift #5 containing: 1 Wizard, 1 Winged Panther, 1 Armored Halberdier, 1 Armored Crossbowman, 1 Winged Demon

Bonus: 1 Skeleton and 1 Dwarf fighter and a large number of bases.

This will take a while to paint and get ready, but I am looking forward to the challenge. The miniatures were all there (I even got an extra wolf). The quality of the figures is great as you can see from the pictures below.

When I opened the box, I was a bit concerned about inventorying all these, as while they were packed well and by type, it was difficult to see if I got everything. Jacob from Iron Winds Metals came through (thanks Jacob!), sent me the picture guide you see here. This helped me to separate all the types and see what I had. I think that Iron Winds Metals wanted to get these out – but I would suggest that there was labeling on the bags for their next Kickstarter!

Here are some better pictures of the different units below:

Orc Warriors with Weapon Option I (axe, pike or cutlass)

Orc Warriors with Weapon Option II (axe, pike or cutlass)

More Goblin Archers and Goblins with Swords

The Armory was empty - Goblins with Clubs! — The Armory was empty – Goblins with Clubs!

Very Cool Goblin Wolf Riders with Javelins

Equally Cool goblin Wolf Riders with Swords (and an extra wolf)

Air Supprt for the Orc & Goblin Legion - Three Wyverns! — Air Supprt for the Orc & Goblin Legion – Three Wyverns!

Orc General, Army Standard Bearer, 3 Orc Musicians, 3 Orc Standard Bearers, 3 Orc Champions, and an Orc Mage — The Orc General, the Army Standard Bearer, 3 Orc Musicians, 3 Orc Standard Bearers, 3 Orc Champions, and an Orc Mage

The rest of the miniatures were special add-on’s or free gifts:

6 Knights with Lances on Giant Bees (Briar Rose Cavalry)

Some Nice Freebies - a Winged Panther, An Evil Wizard, a Winged Demon, and a Julie Guthrie Sculpted Skeleton and a Tom Meier Sculpted Dwarf from the Next Kickstarter Round — Some Nice Freebies – a Winged Panther, An Evil Wizard, a Winged Demon, and a Julie Guthrie Sculpted Skeleton and a Tom Meier Sculpted Dwarf from the Next Kickstarter Round

Lots of Free Bases with my Inventory Sheet

NOW I NEED TO PAINT THEM! As I do I will of course post here!

Spell Deck for Fantasy Rules – Done!

I have been working on a rewrite of my fantasy miniature wargaming rules for sometime. I have been working this in between golf and sinus attacks since June, and am in the home stretch (of both ironically)!

In the last few months, I have been significantly influenced by the Bear Yourselves Valiantly rules from Buck Surdu, Dave Wood, Chris Palmer, and James “Tank” Nickle. It’s a great set of rules, but for my purposes, I wanted something a bit different. The rules I am redoing started with Buck back at West Point, and I did a rewrite back in the 1990’s. I am aiming to make things simple, with unit and individual cards, as well as shortcut cards. My goal is to have a game that anyone can play right away and have fun. Magic is an important component of the game. It’s important to me that Wizards be more interesting and less predictable in the game. I also wanted to add a card element to the use of Wizards to eliminate use of charts.

Creating the cards has been a challenge – and one that has proved to be an interesting project. Buck shared with me some ways he created cards, and it was a tremendous help.

As a side note, Buck has just completed publishing his Combat Patrol rules(awesome WWII rules please check them out here and buy them if you can – THEY ARE REALLY COOL!

Buck Surdu’s Combat Patrol

Buck also helped me understand how he used Microsoft PowerPoint to make his cards. This was a game changer for me as I really was able to make good cards. I also had some questions about using fixative and spray adhesive, about which he also was a great sounding board.

I wanted to see what I could do without hitting a publisher. After all, this game is for playing with family and friends and my troops!

I initially thought about using templates and the like, but I came to the belief that poker-sized cards were too small for my needs, and too difficult to attempt printing on my home HP printer. I needed simple production with good results. I liked the idea of 3″ x 5″ cards, but the corners seemed too much like what you would use for recipes. Add on to that that they were not thick enough for use as cards in a game, and finding ones without one side ruled at Staples was a non-starter.

A search of eBay found the solution. A vendor known as colonialcards had 3″ x 5″ unruled cards with rounded edges! They came in a pack of 100, and were 65/67 lb. cardstock. I decided to use two cards to make each spell card – and thereby make each card effectively 130/134 lb. stock. I purchased white ones for the project.

100 Color Index Cards with Rounded Corners

I then created the concept of the deck in Excel, and inputted the data into my master Excel game attributes deck. Wizards are levels 1-4, and get 1 action chip (AC) per level per activation cycle. To allocate spells, I wanted to use the Spell Deck I was creating. In it, I planned to have three types of spells: Attack, General, and Mundane. The Mundane Spell Cards are issued to each Wizard “free” at the beginning of the game. Then, each player with a Wizard rolls a D4, and gets that number rolled plus the Wizard’s level of spell cards from the Spell Deck. This way, what spells Wizards had would be variable and more fun. I planned the Spell Deck to consist of 50 cards. Here are the spells and how they were allocated:

Spell Class	*Spell Name*	AC Cost	Range	Effect	Duration of Effect	*Nullified or Partially Nullified* *by?*	No Effect on?	Number of Cards in Spell Deck?
ATTACK	Fire Ball	2 AC	0 – 15″	Damages Target	Instantaneous	N/A	N/A	6
ATTACK	Cold Spell	2 AC	0 – 15″	Damages Target	Instantaneous	N/A	N/A	6
ATTACK	Lightning Bolt	2 AC	0 – 15″	Damages Target	Instantaneous	N/A	N/A	6
ATTACK	Mega-Blast	3 AC	0 – 15″	Damages Target	Instantaneous	N/A	N/A	5
GENERAL	Nullify	1-4 AC	0-8″	Nullifies or Reduces the effects of Certain Spells	Variable	N/A	N/A	5
GENERAL	William Tell	3 AC	0-8″	Enhances Friendly Missile Fire	Instantaneous	Nullify or The Yips	N/A	2
GENERAL	Wild Pitch	3 AC	0-8″	Wards Off/Diverts a Large Missile Attack	Instantaneous	N/A	N/A	1
GENERAL	The Yips	3 AC	0-8″	Reduces Enemy Missile Effectiveness	1D4 Activations	Nullify or William Tell	N/A	2
GENERAL	Charles Atlas	3 AC	0-8″	Enhances Friendly Melee Attack Effectiveness	1D4 Activations	Nullify or 98-lb Weakling	N/A	2
GENERAL	98-lb Weakling	3 AC	0-8″	Reduces Enemy Melee Attack Effectiveness	1D4 Activations	Nullify or Charles Atlas	N/A	2
GENERAL	Thorny Devil	1-2 AC	0-8″	Creates an Entanglement	1D4 Activations	Nullify	N/A	1
GENERAL	Alacrity	3 AC	0-8″	Doubles Movement Rate	1D4 Activations	Nullify or LSD	The Undead	1
GENERAL	LSD	3 AC	0-8″	Halves Movement Rate	1D4 Activations	Nullify or Alacrity	The Undead	1
GENERAL	Walk on Water	4 AC	0-8″	Allows Movement on Water	1D4 Activations	Nullify	The Undead	1
GENERAL	Wall of Smoke	2 AC	0-8″	Creates a Wall of Smoke	1D4 Activations	Nullify	N/A	2
GENERAL	Wall of Flame	2 AC	0-8″	Creates a Wall of Flame	1D4 Activations	Nullify	N/A	2
GENERAL	Suck It Up Sunshine	3 AC	0-4″	Removes All Current Fatigue, unpins or stops retreat	Instantaneous	N/A	The Undead	1
GENERAL	I ain’t a-skeered o’Ya	4 AC	0-4″	Removes Any Possibility of Fear from Undead, Monster, or Magic Attacks	Game unless nullified	4 AC Nullify	Elves, The Undead	1
GENERAL	Marshal Ney	3 AC	0-4″	Nullifies a Unit Morale Break and No Morale Checks for 1D4 Activations	1D4 Activations	Nullify or Overlook Hotel	The Undead	1
GENERAL	Overlook Hotel	3 AC	0-4″	Degrades Morale – Must Roll 2x for Morale for 1D4 Activations	1D4 Activations	Nullify or Marshall Ney	The Undead	1
GENERAL	Don’t Worry, Be Happy	4 AC	0-4″	Removes All Current Fatigue, and Resets Casualty Rate to Zero Losses for Morale Purposes	Instantaneous	N/A	The Undead	1
MUNDANE	Fly	1 AC per 10″ Flight	N/A	Wizard Flight	Instantaneous	N/A	N/A	6 cards – Reference only
MUNDANE	His Master’s Voice	2 AC per activation controlled	0-6″	Control Beasts, Large Creatures, Large Animals, or Individual Creatures	2 AC per activation controlled	Death of Wizard or Cessation of Spell	Trained or Semi-Sentient Animals	6 cards – Reference only
MUNDANE	Buzz	3 AC	0-6″	Control a Swarm, Reduce Enemy Effectiveness	1D4 Activations	Death of Wizard or Cessation of Spell	The Undead, Ents, Lizard men	6 cards – Reference only

The red cards are Attack Spells and the green cards are General Spells. These would have a yellow backing (see pictures at bottom of this blog), and would be consumed when used. The three Mundane Spell cards would have a white backing. Again, the plan was for the Mundane Spells to be issued free and capable of multiple use, but the Buzz spell (which summons a Swarm) is the only Mundane spell consumed by use. The way I made the deck was as follows:

I created the spell attributes in Excel. I have a large spreadsheet that I use for all the game data – and this lends itself to cutting and pasting tables into the PowerPoint.
I cut and pasted the parts of the tables I need from Excel into PowerPoint. (Once again, thank you Buck for your help!) I then inserted colors, pictures, graphics and adjusted the font sizes. This was a nice way to make cards legible. I just used clip art that I thought appropriate.
I then saved each PowerPoint slide as a separate slide and separate jpeg.
I set up a Word file with documents set to print to 3″ x 5″ cards for the Spell Deck. I then inserted each PowerPoint jpeg into the Word document, and adjusted these jpeg’s to fit the card. This made printing a breeze.
I printed the cards on my printer (well, my old printer – this project was its swansong). With 68 cards in the deck (50 total for Attack and General and 18 Mundane), I had 136 cards to assemble front & back. This supports 6 players as each Wizard gets three Mundane cards.
Then I coated the printed side of each card with Krylon fixative with each card on pieces of cardboard with “blue” painting masking tape. The fixative gave the cards a nice protective coating. The blue masking tape assisted in easy removal from the cardboard.
Fixative Being Applied to Printed Side of Cards in the garage
I then separated the cards so I could assemble them. I made a two jigs, one for applying spray glue and one for card assembly.

5Gluing application jig, front — Adhesive Spraying Jig, Front Side

8. For glue application, I affixed the card backs to popsicle sticks with blue painting masking tape on the printed side for applying spray glue (also Krylon). These I mounted on a display piece of wood from AC Moore that had three routed slots on it. I was able to spray 4 cards mounted on the wood at a time with the glue. I also made an assembly jig out of 1/4″ and 1/8″ plywood for card assembly. It had a small press with the weight being old casting plugs left over from our Academy days.

9. I then used the assembly jig to put the cards together with no misalignment.

Assembly Jig with Spell Card Front (printed side down)

Inserting the Card with Adhesive into the Assembly Jig

10. The jig had a short term press, followed by using some large medical textbooks as presses.

Here is what the Spell Deck looks like – although they are on 3″ x 5″ cards this is the PowerPoint I used to make the deck:

WMB Cards (all) ppt

I am pretty happy with the Spell Deck. It is legible and sturdy – and I can even shuffle it!

12th Annual USO Benefit Golf Tournament at Bay Path Golf Course – Success and Thank you!

The 12th Annual USO Golf Tournament was held at Bay Path Golf Course in East Brookfield, MA on September 5, 2015. It does not seem possible that our event has now had its 12th go around! We had 65 golfers spread amongst 17 teams. This was down a bit from last year, but thanks to very generous hole sponsors we are very close to our annual goal to support the USO and the work it does to support our men and women in uniform.

As for the event, the weather could not have been nicer. Jeffrey and Justyne Smith had the course in great shape and the clubhouse was packed.

With a few late hole sponsorships still pledged to come in (and yes, I can still take them just send me a message – all it takes is a check written to the USO!), we should just be shy of raising $6,000 for the USO! This brings our total for the time we have had the event to over $46,000! Thanks to everyone who donated or competed!

I want to give a special thanks to our sponsors. They were honored with placards on our “Wall of Honor”. Please click the link below to see the Powerpoint Show for our generous sponsors and how they were represented – there are some great images here not to be missed:

2015 Hole Sponsorships

Please note that we had some late donors who did not make the wall but who should also be acknowledged as well – Ed LaFlamme from Ken’s Citgo in East Brookfield, Ted Boulay from Voya Financial in East Brookfield, and Ron Lacaire from East Brookfield. Thanks!

As for the event, it was a very competitive event.

Here are the results – the 50/50 on the par-4 2nd hole was a closest to the pin on the second shot over the pond. This was won by Nick Guerin at 14′!

There were 5 skins – won by Jerry Dufresne, Pit Caron, Kyle Waterman, Jim Hemenway, and Stacie Chandler.

As for our individual winners, we used the Callaway scoring system. Nick Guerin shot 82 and had a Callaway score of 71 (-1) to win best scoring Male golfer. Stacie Chandler shot 85 and had a Callaway score of 73 (-1) to win best scoring Woman golfer. Bob Tilton (age 83 and 2 days) shot 74 and had a Callaway score of 72 (Even) to win best scoring Senior golfer.

Top Individuals - Nick Guerin (Best Man), Stacie Chandler (Best Woman), Bob Tilton (Best Senior) — Top Individuals – Nick Guerin (Best Man), Stacie Chandler (Best Woman), Bob Tilton (Best Senior)

As for the top three teams, as a USMA grad it pains me to say that both Air Force and Navy beat the best Army team (which was my team), but congrats nonetheless! We also used the Callaway Scoring System for team play.

The 1st place team played for the US Air Force, and comprised Jim Kularski, Lisa Kularski, and Mike Kularski, and had a score of +3. Congrats to the Kularski’s!

USAF WINNERS - Jim, Lisa, & Mike Kularski — USAF WINNERS – Jim, Lisa, & Mike Kularski

There were three teams at +4, so it went to a couple of tie-breakers. The second place team played for the US Navy and comprised Michele Holm, Ellen Morse, Stacie Chandler, and Denise Bruso. Well done ladies!

NAVY TAKES 2nd - Ellen Morse. Denise Bruso, Michele Holm, & Stacie Chandler — NAVY TAKES 2nd – Ellen Morse. Denise Bruso, Michele Holm, & Stacie Chandler

ARMY TAKES 3rd – The 3rd place team was mine, proudly playing for the US Army. My teammates were Bob Tilton, Russ McGee, and Jerry Dufresne. (I did not get a picture!). Thanks for playing with me guys – and watching an 83 year old shoot (Bob Tilton) 2 over par is a great spectator event for sure!

Here are the overall team results:

Place	Team	Team Captain	Score
1	USAF	Jim Kularski	+3
2	US Navy	Michele Holm	+4
3	US Army	Mark Morin	+4
4	US Army	Jim Hemenway	+4
5	USAF	Stein Berthiaume	+5
6	USAF	Jeffrey Smith	+7
7	USMC	Brian Ingman	+7
8	US Navy	Ray Lareau	+7
9	US Army	Ralph Davies	+10
10	US Army	Paul Sanborn	+10
11	USMC	Mike Waterman	+10
12	USMC	Pit Caron	+11
13	US Army	Sally Fiske	+13
14	Army/Navy	Jerry Perron	+13
15	US Navy	Linda Clayton	+14
16	US Army	Mike Morgan	+16
17	USMC	Jason Thompson	+18

There were some nice side stories as well. Jim and Janice Howe from Colden, NY sponsored an entire team of US Marines (Jason Thompson, James Dea, Carlin Monroe, and Austin Ahmed) from Springfield, MA. They had a great time and were very thankful for the sponsorship! These Marines are buddies of Russ McGee’s son and Bob Tilton’s grandson, Bobby McGee, who was killed tragically by a wrong-way driver on the Massachusetts Turnpike in 2012 as he drove to his USMC reserve weekend drill. You can see a picture of Bobby on the 2015 Hole Sponsorships link above in this blog.

This event for the USO reunited them and Janice and Jim, you really did a nice thing! It also was a great reminder of the main reason we do this – support of the troops and the great work the USO does in support of our men and women in uniform, of whom we are so very proud!

USMC Team sponsored by the Jim and Janice Howe

Just a few fun shots to add:

Mark & Lynn — Myself & Lynn Supporting the USO!

Lynn Morin & Debbie Rice working on the 8th Hole

LAST BUT NOT LEAST! Special thanks go out to the committee for all their help. An event like this is a lot of work! Without these folks and their dedicated help this event could not happen: Jeffrey and Justyne Smith for all the support from Bay Path; my lovely wife Lynn for her baskets, her help signing folks in, her work at the 8th Hole Contest, her well-received desserts, and overall help, love, and support; Jerry Dufresne for his help with the door prize raffle and the set up; Ray Lareau, Sr. for his help with the 50/50 and the scoring; Bob Tilton for his help with the Skins and the set up; Jim Hemenway for his help with the set up and the scoring; JP LeBoeuf for his help with the sign in, the scoring, and getting sponsorship; Debbie Rice for her help with the raffle and the 8th Hole contest; and Lisa Kularski for her help with the scoring. Of course, thanks to all the golfers who supported this event! Let’s keep this going next year!

Last, let me end this post with the motto of the USO:

“Until Everyone Comes Home”

God Bless you all and God Bless America!

12th Annual USO Benefit Golf Tournament, September 5, 2015

If anyone wishes to support this benefit tournament, here is our support letter – thanks in advance for the consideration!

12^th Annual USO Benefit Golf Tournament

Saturday, September 5^th, 2015 at Bay Path Golf Course

193 North Brookfield Road, East Brookfield, MA 01515

(508) 867-8161 (Bay Path Golf Course) or (508) 867-9634 (Mark Morin) MarkAMorin@aol.com

Dear Friend and Fellow American,

The USO supports our brave military with many morale support activities. We are looking forward to support the efforts of the USO and our troops our 12^th annual benefit golf tournament.

We need your help and support to be successful!

The USO is a non-governmental organization dedicated to volunteer support of our troops and their families. The USO is private & relies totally on outside support like this event.

The 12^th Annual USO Benefit Golf Tournament will be held on Saturday, September 5^th. The format will be a 4-person Callaway. Registration will be at 7:30 AM and we will have a shotgun start at 8:00 AM.

You can help in any or all of these three ways:

Sign up as a team or individually and come out and play – this is the biggest need we have! Please fill out and mail/drop off the attached entry form to Bay Path GC with your entry fee to or sign up at Bay Path GC. Please make out checks for golf play to Bay Path Golf Course. The cost is only $340 per foursome or $85 per player, and includes 18 holes of golf and a meal afterwards. Golf carts are extra and need to be reserved with Bay Path GC ahead of time on a first-come-first-served basis).Please reserve your team’s spot by August 27^th! we need to know this to arrange food, etc. – so letting us know you are coming is a very big help). Singles are welcome and we can help you get team mates – just let us know you want to play

Hole Sponsor – $50 or more (please make hole sponsor checks payable to the USO).

Donate a gift certificate or a raffle item that we can use! You can drop off at Bay Path or we can pick it up – please call Mark Morin at (508) 867-9634 for pick up.

Thank you so much in advance for your generous support of the USO and our courageous men and women in uniform!

Sincerely:

The USO Benefit Golf Tournament Committee: Mark and Lynn Morin, Justyne Smith, Bob Tilton, Ray Lareau, Sr., Jerry Dufresne, Jim Hemenway, JP LeBoeuf, Debbie Rice

12^th ANNUAL USO GOLF TOURNAMENT, Saturday, September 5^th, 2015

(Please check all that apply)

Yes, I’d like to reserve my foursome! My $340 check for golf, payable to Bay Path GC is enclosed. The names of my foursome are as below (if you know the names):

Please choose a TEAM NAME – you can pick Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, American Legion or VFW Post, former veteran or active duty member, or whatever you want!:
PLEASE CHOOSE A TEAM NAME: _________________________________________Team Captain:____________________________________________________________Player 2:_________________________________________________________________Player 3:_________________________________________________________________Player 4:_________________________________________________________________

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CHEVAUX DE FRISE (Old Glory Miniatures)

While I have been collecting many different fantasy miniatures this year, I have really wanted more terrain and obstacles for the tabletop. I was happy to come across this out of print (OOP) chevaux de fries collection from Old Glory Miniatures. This was acquired from Noble Knight Games which has a lot of OOP stuff. As a former Combat Engineer, I looked forward to installing real obstacles on the battlefield! Yes, “installing” is the word we Engineers would use – but I digress.

We have had the use of chevaux de fries in the fantasy miniatures rules for a while. However, I was never happy with my ad hoc representations. I have also known what chevaux de fries actually were physically in medieval days, but I was less familiar with their origin. I did some research, and I thought it would be useful to give a general historical background on them for the curious.

The term is of course French with the singular being cheval de fries and the plural being chevaux de fries. Typically these were mainly anti-cavalry defensive obstacles, but they could slow up infantry as well on land, and there were naval versions as well.

They were often constructed using logs with iron or metal spikes or spears jutting through drilled holes. The spikes could also be mounted on wooden frames. They were used from medieval times up to and including modern times.

Fellow USMA graduates will remember the stories of the Great Chain at West Point during the Revolutionary War. This was a massive iron chain with sharpened logs that was designed to deny the British Navy the ability to use the Hudson River from New York City to Canada in either direction as a means of communications. This employment denied the British the ability to isolate New England from the other colonies.

1777 map detail showing the chevaux-de-frise between Fort Lee and Fort Washington

Many early Civil War photographs exist depicting the uses of chevaux de fries such as the examples here from Atlanta and Petersburg during the Civil War.

Chevaux de Frise in Atlanta during the Civil War

Chevaux de frise at the Confederate Fort Mahone defenses at Siege of Petersburg

In WWI and WWII they were used to plug gaps in barbed wire defenses. Engineers devised the knife rest as a way to plug gaps in wire obstacles that could allow for passage through those gaps by friendly forces. They are even used today as a way to block roads and the like.

With horse cavalry scarce as a threat, in WWII Europe, chevaux de fries morphed into “hedgehogs” that were employed as anti-landing craft defenses on beaches and anti-tank defenses on fortified lines. I am sure that most would remember from movies and war footage the welded steel I-beam structures such as were used by the Germans on the Normandy Beaches or the Siegfried Line.

Beach obstacles at Pas de Calais, 18 April 1944

The advent of barbed wire and the demise of horse cavalry has led to the obsolescence of this trusty defensive tool. However, chevaux de fries have recently showed up in popular culture as well recently. I do remember their uses against Walkers in two episodes of The Walking Dead – one to reinforce the prison gate and a second by Morgan when he was in Rick’s home town. They were effective against the Walkers, as the walkers would impale themselves and get stuck.

In *The Walking Dead*, Michonne got her second set of “pets” off the chevaux de fries at the prison

The term chevaux de fries has its origins in medieval times. Frisia is an area from roughly medieval coastal Holland and northern Belgium to Denmark.

Chevaux de fries means, literally, “Frisian Horse”. Apparently the Frisians had little cavalry and first used chevaux de fries to defend against cavalry attacks. Whether this was derisive or not on the part of the French or whomever no one knows – but the term stuck.

Let me get back now to the miniatures! I found these on Noble Knight Games and got them for $14.95. Note the misspelling on the label on the bag!

Chevaux de Frise in the Package - not sure of what date these were made — Chevaux de Frise in the Package – not sure of what date these were made

The misspelled label on the package said 8 figures, but really it was a set of 6 pairs of chevaux de fries. Each set consisted of a log with spear-like wooden iron-tipped spikes and a wooden saw horse structure with screw-shaped iron spikes. I got them out of the package, cleaned all the pieces with a brush and dishwashing soap, and was surprised to see how many tiny pieces there were that needed assembly! There were also extra pieces that could have been flash or the bottom of the spikes.

I picked the best ones for stave pieces and moved on to assembling them with E6000 epoxy. Thankfully, I was able to effectively use my pin vise to make available some of the holes in the saw horses that were not well molded. My goal was to put these together to look as field expedient as possible – as if they were hastily made. These would have been made on-demand as needed for a battle, and I did not want them to look too polished.

Chevaux de frise out of package unassembled

After putting them together I realized that basing them first for painting was the best option. This would lead to some crazy angles in getting paint on the the undersides of the miniatures. However, the models were just not sturdy enough without bases. I decided the I would use my scroll saw to cut 1.5″ square bases from 1/8″ balsa. I affixed the models to the bases with my strong wood glue and that proved to be a good call.

Chevaux de frise assembled on balsa bases

I then primed the six with black Krylon primer spray paint. I then base-coated the miniatures and the bases. With some nostalgia, I used up the last of my vintage 1984 Polly-S Jungle Green on the bases. I must have used this paint on many figures over the years. I painted the logs with a combination of Americana Raw Umber and Americana Raw Sienna. I envisioned the sawhorses as being made from fresh lumber, so I base-coated them with a combination of Americana Raw Sienna and Americana Desert Sand, lightening and highlighting them with more of the latter on subsequent coats. The iron rods in the saw horses and the iron tips of the staves were painted with Citadel Mechanized Gray. The stave shafts in the logs were painted with Musket Brown from Armory (still some left over from 1996).

Chevaux de frise base coated and dry brushed before washing

I then dry brushed the logs with Apple Barrel Pewter Gray which gave nice detail to the bark. I the used a couple of wash applications with Secret Weapons Washes to add a a bit more realism – Red-Black on the wood logs and the saw horse frames and Heavy Body Black on the iron parts.

Chevaux de frise base coated and dry brushed after wash application

I then had the task of flocking and detailing the bases – on which I used three Army Painter’s products. I used a slurry of water and Elmer’s White Glue to affix two coats of Grass Green flocking. I then used Krylon Clear Matte spray varnish to protect the paint and stabilize the flocking before adding the final touches. These were the addition of a combination of both 4mm Wilderness Tuft and 6mm Wasteland Tuft. I found easier to attach these grasses with wood glue than with the Elmer’s. I like the finished products, andeagerly await the chance to deploy some archers behind them!

Chevaux de frise base finished in circle

Back of a Single Cheval de Frise - Defender's Side — Back of a Single Chevaux de Frise – Defender’s Side

Front of Chevaux de Frise - Attacker's Side — Front of Chevaux de Frise – Attacker’s Side

This is how to celebrate a Birthday!

This post is a little late! Lynn and I celebrated her birthday on June 12th by heading up to Hampton Beach, NH. This was our first trip back up there in several years, but it was a lot of fun.

We hung out at the beach for several hours, taking advantage of Lynn’s new beach umbrella. This kept us from roasting. I did hit the water briefly, but it was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit so when I could not feel anything in my legs I went back. We walked around the area – and it was pretty amazing that so much has been improved in terms of parking, signage, bath houses, etc. The old casino was the same with its many arcades, shops, etc. But again, it seemed less worn down than the last time we were there.

On the way home, had to hit Brown’s in Seabrook, NH. Had a couple of 2.5 lb. lobsters and a quart of steamers each.

Now that's a lobster! — Now that’s a lobster!

On the way in we were surprised to run into Jim Herndon’s mother and his sister who were up from Leominster, MA. Small world!

Need to get back up there again soon – or so Lynn tells me!

Congratulations to Chaplain (MG) Paul K. Hurley as the 24th Chief of Chaplains, US Army!

It was a rare privilege to attend the Promotion and Installation Ceremony for my fellow F-4 ’84 Classmate Fr. Paul K. Hurley as he was promoted to Major General and installed as the 24th Chief of Chaplains of the US Army.

The ceremony was fantastic, and it was great to be in attendance with nearly 200 fellow USMA 1984 grads, dozens of Army personnel and Fr. Paul’s family & friends. The chapel was packed!

The outgoing Chief of Chaplains, Chaplain (MG) Donald Rutherford spoke, and ribbed Fr. Paul of the Red Sox/Yankees etc. rivalries (he of course is from NY). The history of the Chaplain Corps was read, to include the recent losses of Chaplains in the War on Terror. There was a scripture reading from Ephesians.

LTG H.R. McMaster (another ’84 classmate!) was the senior officer, and presented inspiring remarks and performed the swearing in ceremony. His passion and love for Our Army was on display, as was his immense respect for Fr. Paul. It was great to see Fr. Paul’s parents and family take part in the promotion as well.

LTG H.R. McMaster and Chaplain Hurley at the beginning of the ceremony

Chaplain Hurley's parents help him put on his General's Stars — Chaplain Hurley’s parents help him put on his General’s Stars

I had not seen Fr. Paul since graduation, although we spoke once when he had a parish near Boston. He was the only other Massachusetts native around F-4, and it was great to have someone there besides myself with a proper accent!

He looked great, and gave a tremendous speech. I will always remember that he said the Chaplain needs to go “where it sucks most”. He has been living this mantra for 20 years, most of which while we have been at war. I am proud that such an inspiring man of God will be in a place of leadership where he can do so much good for so many. I PROMISE, I will be praying for Fr. Paul to succeed! The Chaplain Corps motto is “Pro Deo Et Patria” – for God and Country, and Fr. Paul has been a wonderful exemplar of this.

Here is the beautiful program from the ceremony: (in order of pages)

There was a reception at the Chapel at Ft. Myer, and I got to see many, many classmates whom I had not seen in 31 years (our graduation anniversary was the next day, May 23rd). I had many great conversations and along with Dave Wood (who was gracious to help me get there and to the party in Arlington afterwards – THANKS DAVE YOU ARE AWESOME) we had a great time. There is a photo of all from USMA ’84 who attended, and I will add it to this blog when available. From F-4, we had Fr. Paul, Dave Wood, Larry Carroll and his wife, and Jim Kelly and his wife.

The conversations and the celebration continued at Ireland’s Four Corners pub in Arlington. (fitting for a son of Hibernia!). The celebration and the night was great. Fr. Paul’s mother asked for us to sing the “Alma Mater” and I think that it was heard all the way to Annapolis! (BEAT NAVY!)

Here is the awesome cake that says it all:

Much credit goes to Steve Epling for organizing this after party and more – and Mike Kwinn too. I have only recently been made aware of all the class activities through Steve’s efforts and I appreciate them greatly.

God Bless you Fr. Paul and I will keep you in my prayers!

Old West Point ’84 Classmates Get in First Miniatures Battle in Decades in Arlington, VA

As I write this it is Memorial Day, and this weekend was spectacular in it’s breadth and depth of experience. I traveled from Albany, NY on the evening of Thursday the 21st after working at Albany Medical Center. I drove to Arlington, VA for the promotion of my fellow F-4 classmate Chaplain (COL) Paul Hurley, to Major General as the new Chief of Chaplains of the US Army (more to blog on that later as Fr. Paul’s ceremony and after party were indeed epic!).

The drive was going well until I hit an accident-induced traffic jam at the Baltimore tolls that lasted over two hours with ZERO movement. Finally, it cleared, and after five aggravated lanes of traffic merged into two, I made my way to our class hotel in Arlington, arriving at 2 AM. Got a key, went to the room, only to find that someone was in there. I felt badly that I woke whoever it was up at 2:15 AM – and made a hasty exit back to the front desk for a new key to an unoccupied room. This is why I ALWAYS bolt the doors at hotels. At least I knew what was going on – the poor guy in the first room only knew someone opened his door and said “sorry!”. I then crashed and slept until 7.

As backstory, the previous Saturday, Dave Wood, my classmate and old roommate from USMA swung through East Brookfield, MA on his way back from the Huzzah historical miniatures convention in Portland, ME with his wife Brenda. Lynn and I were happy to see then and really enjoyed spending some time with them and had a great lunch (thanks to Lynn and not me!).

Lynn Morin, Dave Wood, Mark Morin, Brenda Wood

Dave & Mark get together for the first time in 16 years!

While in East Brookfield, Dave and I made final plans to go to Fr. Paul’s promotion (at Ft. Meyer by the Pentagon) on Friday afternoon, which left us some time to plan to have a quick miniatures game using the Buck Surdu “Look Sarge No Charts”/Bear Yourself Valiantly system. Flash forward to Friday the 22nd – so Dave drove down to Arlington and met me at the hotel. After we grabbed a quick breakfast, it was on to the battle!

Dave set up everything and did a great job. He brought a drop cloth and that went right on the king-sized bed for a nice battlefield. The battle was between an attacking force of Elves (me) and a defending group of Ratlings (Dave). He also had a few orc/goblin ballistae, and I had an Ent. I do believe that Dave gave me plenty of forces and did a nice job teaching me the game mechanics as we went along.

The Battle Set Up, Elves attacking from Right to Left

Better Detail of Elven Left Flank and Center

I focused on maneuver and less on frontal assault. This allowed me time to marshal forces for multiple attacks on units. Dave of course accommodated by advancing his forces into woods that I could hit on three sides.

Elves attack into Woods and go after Wounded Ratling Leader

The Ratling defensive position on the Elven left flank became untenable, and they quickly scurried away to the next wood line. On the Elven right flank, casualties were higher, and progress was slower.

Despite Greater Casualties, the Elves push forward on the Right Flank — Despite Suffering Higher Casualties, the Elves Push Forward on the Right Flank

Ratling morale began to falter and their leaders faced multiple morale checks as shown by the red gaming stones. Dave’s Morale Check rolls led to retreats.

At the Second Wood Line, Fleeing Ratlings Crowd the Forest

At this point, the end was near, and we called it over. Dave was gracious – really he set me up for a win. Back in the day, we kept records of all the games we played, and he held a commanding lead over me in victories. He did concede that now I am ahead in the 21st Century!

Elven Casualties at Top (1 Unit), Ratling Casualties at Bottom

I was impressed with Buck’s system (no surprise). I was also impressed with Dave’s ability to teach me the system. I will be incorporating some of the mechanics and concepts into the version of fantasy rules that I am updating. I was also able to catch up with Buck on the way home to discuss them (again much thanks to Dave & Buck)!

And after the game, the promotion ceremony for Fr. Paul and the After Party! (my next post!)

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