Catch up from 2009

I've been to three Williamsburg cons and enjoyed them all greatly. It's a relaxing time with your buddies. Nice, but small venue, but they may outgrow the place eventually. Great price for rooms in a resort area by the way.
Skipped both Historicons for various reasons, but looking forward to Fredericksburg. Still go to Cold Wars and Fall-In in Lancaster. Drove home in the snow on the Fall-In Saturday.
Made a good deal on 40mm painted Sash and Saber Union infantry. I've got to paint my Confederates now and a few more Union. Really want to do some Zouaves.
Looking at simple rules now, having bought most of the new ones. They usually don't suit me in one aspect or another so now I'm finding some old simple rules, especially those that are quite modifiable. Even found a set that says, Modify me, add different modules and play different periods. This will be a lot of fun in the long run.
I've had great fun in this hobby, but I think I could have enjoyed it more not falling for every new rule set that came along and then trying to get some units together to play. Usually the real painters in my groups had already moved on to the next rule set, leaving me with partial and unpainted figures, which I usually sold and bought the next great thing. I think I have finally stopped doing that. It has to be what I want to paint and play. Otherwise I'm spinning my wheels and they are very worn wheels.
Keep it simple, Stupid and God is on the side of SMALLER battalions. And the latest best piece of advise, why pay so much attention to casualties when most of the game can be handled by morale rolls. Because I like to shoot, darn it. It doesn't seem right, but it makes a lot of sense if I can wrap my brain around it. Hope to be painting by New Years. I would really like to put on a game or two in 2012. Borodino comes to mind but I would have a lot of cav and arty to paint first. So either 28mm ACW or French and Austrian 28mm Napoleonics. I have figures for 1809. I'm just a little late on the anniversary. Well, I do enjoy reading when a club puts on a big anniversary game. It's very inspiring to me and tends to keep me going and looking for more ideas. Movement foreward would be good for me.
Even though some Old Schoolers have some monster armies, others do not and there are a lot of brigades and divisions fighting each other which look like fun battles and can still represent a much larger battle. So I'm pumped and hopeful, that my new approach will work and I can really feel like a wargamer/hobbyist. I hope painting becomes as fun as it once was.
Happy Thanksgiving. Despite the rotten economy, we Americans, on the whole, still have a lot to be thankful for and we will correct our errors, I'm sure, starting this coming year. So hang in folks. The rough times aren't over, but they are a little closer to being over each new day.

A Successful Muster

The Holiday Inn Patriot had great accomodations although there was not much food available outside of normal meal times. Bring your favorite drinks and snacks and keep them in your room. There were interesting games run by the likes of Dave Waxtel, Sam Mustafa, Old Dominion Games, Southern Maryland Partisans etc. Vendors like Age of Glory, Chesapeake Miniatures, Colonial Connection (selling off the Hinchliffe figures) Flag Dude, Cotton Jim and Toby Barrett. It felt like a smaller, friendlier HMGS convention, not soon to be forgotten. So plan to be there next year. Also a raffle with great prizes also made it interesting. Now on by order of the Shogun to the next American town, Lancaster PA.

Off to a an American colonial muster

The Shogun has commanded me and several retainers to observe the Williamsburg Muster and perhaps glean some ideas about war and gamesmanship. We are cautioned not to give away the sacred ways of Bushido to the barbarians, but they will surely learn from us about the heart of a warrior and dedication to our Shogun. The American calendar places the dates as beginning February 6, 7, 8 in the year of the Ox, 2009. Upon our return after two long journeys, we can inform the Shogun of our progress.
Daimyo Oda

Inaugural Post

Greetings and welcome to the Shogun's Castle. Hopefully with the right spirit the Shogun's Castle will be more than a reminder of the samurai and their Bushido code, it will remind all lovers of freedom of what we hold precious and dear. The greatest reminder is Freedom Isn't Free. So as we enjoy our lives in this land of freedom let us not desert our vigilance or our great heritage.

On a lighter note, now that we have that out of the way we can talk about more mundane things such as hobbies, my favorite is wargaming and a desire to share projects and ideas with fellow hobbyists and students of military history. No matter what your niche, welcome aboard.

The photo in the header is a model of a samurai castle. It was built by Leroy Simpson of the Lonely Gamers who are from Australia and who have one of the coolest wargame blogs ever. Please visit them if you like terrific well painted models of wargame figures and terrain. Plus you are in luck if you play WW2, Napoleonics, Ancients and Renaissance. Fabulous photos. A must see.

You will find that I am not quite up to snuff on projects, but am very well meaning and though very little has been painted by me lately, here in desperation for your enjoyment is a project of 14 years that has turned out to be very satisfactory to me. Samurai Tortie. Enjoy.