Monday, May 28, 2012

Noel's Log Back from Vacation 5-28-12

Well I am back from vacation and I would not say I am rested, but I am relaxed. My trip was on a cruse from NY to the Bahamas, and back to NY. I was on the Norwegian GEM.
The over all cruse was great, the weather was not so great. Our trip was from NY to Nassau, then to the island of Great Stirrup Cay, next was to port canaveral FL. We spent a day at each location.

The Ship was fantastic, with a ton of activities for the hole family. It was clean, and the staff was fantastic. There is a ton of stuff I never got to do as I was over whelmed by it all. Well worth a second trip.

At Nassau we went to Atlantis to enjoy what they show on TV. Well let me say this, this was an over priced day trip. The water slides were great, the tour of the hotel and grounds was great, the aquarium was really cool, but the over all park IS A DUMP. The pools a littered with pot holes, exposed electrical wires, trash, and just unclean. The best thing at Atlantis was Virgil's BBQ and this was not part of Atlantis. Do not take this wrong the water park was fun, but not worth the price. It was over $400 for two adults and 2 kids. I have had just as much fun at Dorney Park in PA for a heck of allot less money. I could have got to Disney for the same money and enjoyed a much better park.

Next was the Grand Stirrup Cay. I loved this island, and only wish I had more time on the island. The weather did not play nice with us on that day. We were on the island for and hour when it started to rain, and rain it did for the rest of the day.

Then can FL, and the beach there was just perfect, as well as the day. On the beach we got to see a treat.
 This photo was taken from the beach, and I love the way the pelican went through the shot. I have more of the shuttle and will share photos of it in another post. This shuttle was on it's way to it's new home in Huston TX.

So back on the ship we had a full day at sea before getting home. One thing we learned after the curse is do not eat in the buffet. My little Girl got really sick and spent the last night on the ship getting sick. The next day my Wife got sick. We Googled Norwegian + sick and found people get sick from the buffet, and all the people who do not wash their hands before they touch the serving tongs. All I have to say about this is Norwegian DID every thing to combat this, it is the sick people (filthy scum bags) who shit and do not wash after they shit. If you cruse on a free style and go to the buffet do not use the tongs, get your flat ware and use that to get your food. We will use the sit down dinning next time. Also  when my Girl was getting sick we call house keeping and this really nice guy (Johnathan) came to help. He stripped the bed, and gave us all new bedding. Thanks John. This was at 1AM and I did not sleep till 4AM.

So that is my trip in a nut shell, and do not take it the wrong way. I know I have posted the bad stuff, but the over all vacation was great, and I would suggest this trip to people, I just want to point out the pit falls that should be avoided.

As for TTG, and stuff on the hobby well I read 1/2 of the rule book Rally around the King from THW games. As this is not my true style of game I think this will be a great game. I will have to kick the rules around with some minis, and the rule book states read the entire rule book before playing the game. So I will.

I also heard that Pride of Lions II is out and it was on sale while I was on vacation. I will be picking this up as well in the next week or so. I have not had any ideas pop up during my vacation, and I have been reading my emails and blogs to get caught up. I had some 148 blog posts to read, some 200 email to go through, and this dose not include my work stuff.

I also have a crap load of minis to sort out n the next month or two. My wife want to re do the office/paint room and make it more of a craft/office/paint room. Sounds like I just have to make room for the crafts right? No it means take all my stuff and cram it into one corner of the room. So I will be putting up a few shelves and getting a corner desk for the puter, and printer.

Well that is it for now.

My the die land in your favor.
Noel

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Noel's Log 5-14-12

Well this is a fine start to my Log. I stated I would post weekly and I have nothing for this week. Well I am a bit behind as I am off on vacation (holiday to all of you across the pond from me). I have a ton of work at work to get ready for vacation. See I am a one man IT department at my company, and they are sending a temp from another site to fill in. Then i have to pack and such at home.

I am off on a cruse for 7 days with the wife and kids. I have a new rule book to read from Two Hour Wargames "Rally around the King. I also need another audio book, and will get one on Friday. I am thinking another Johny Ringo book. I read Live free or die, so I will get the second book for that series.

So I will not have any thing for at least two more weeks.

Noel.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Noel's Log 5-1-12

Welcome to my very first posting of Noel's Log.

Well here it is my first log. I have changed the look of the Blog to help it be a bit cleaner looking. I still hate the Blogger tools, and the lay outs never work well. I start a post and some thing all ways goes wrong, and lines to not line up any more. You can see this on the bottom of the Old Crow photo. I spent 20 minutes trying to get the line right. Well it work, just not great, and I have tried some other tool and there is all ways an issue. Read, enjoy, comment, and if you have some thing to add, or want to post some thing I will create a guest heading.

*Miniatures....
I have been painting some of the fine miniatures from Khurasan Miniatures, and I have been working on the Terran Federal minis. In a past post I talked about these miniatures, and coming up with a color scheme for them. Well I have made yet another change to this. After applying the dip I found them to be to dark. I have altered the color for lighter green with brown clothes.
It is a bit hard to see from this photo but the trooper on the left is a bit lighter then the trooper on the right. I did still keep the orange highlights. Over all I have to say I love these minis. I have painted 18 of them and prepped another 12, and only one had bad lines, and 2 had bad flash between the legs. I will buy more of these guys in the future.

Next I would like to show some side by side form different manufactures. This is just for fun, and I take no responsibility for the miniatures, as I only painted them.
Right to left: The Scene, Old Glory 15s, Khurasan, MJ (oop), Shia Khan 15mm UK.
Right to left: The Scene, Old Glory 15s, Khurasan, MJ (oop), Shia Khan 15mm UK.



























Old Crow tank with miniatures from The Scene.


*Book Review....
Book: The Kingkiller Chronicle: The Name of the Wind
Book: The Kingkiller Chronicle: The Wise Man's Fear
Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Genre: Fantasy
Format: Audio book
I did not read these two book but rather listened to them, as I do audio book. I have a 45 minute commute to work each way and this is my free time.
These two books were unlike any I have done. The tale is a bit strange as the main character sits down to relate his life story to a chronicler. I was hooked in the first 45 minute trip home. I was so nuts about this book I would get to work and sit in my car for 10 more minutes. 10 minutes is how long the power stays on in my car when you turn the key off. I really can not get into the story as I am not that good of a writer my self. But I can say this guy tweaked fantasy just enough to make it fresh, and like new. Well worth the read, or listen.

Big con: The third book is not out!!!!!!

*Work Bench....
Well I have the minis I have picked up on the bench, but I also have downloaded all the scenarios from Barking Irons for the USE ME 001. I will be playing them out solo using the online tool Universal Battle. I am going to tweak Gavin's work a bit, and make it mostly Orcs fighting the human forces, as that is all I have for bad guys. I have the units in UB all ready, I just have to build the map boards. I know UB is a fantasy based system, but with the unit builder and a touch of imagination you can make all most any thing.

I have been thinking of this type of scenario for a while now, and have been thinking of doing my own. So I am jotting down some notes, and mine will most likely be open for a large number of rule sets.

*Spotlight....
Robin over at Gruntz, has come up with some new videos showing off his shooting, and close combat rules.
Over the last two years Robin has risen to the top in my book as a force behind the 15mm SciFi moment.
Head over to his site and have a look at not only his rules, but the fantastic tables, and miniatures he put forward.

Well that is is for now, but I will have more for next weeks Noel's Log.

May the die fall in your favor!
Noel
noelvh AT gmail DOT com