Weird 'Sight' on a Long Colt?

I have been cleaning up a Foundry mounted U.S. Cavalryman for my Old West project, but I stalled when I reached his Colt.

It looks like there is a sight 2/3 down the barrel, instead of near the muzzle, and this baffles me a bit.

I wonder if any cavalry revolver actually looked like this, or if it is just the result of a casting vent on an old mold?

I would be much obliged if any of my readers can shed some light on this for me, as I haven't been able to find anything on the matter...

Celebrating a Catholic Saint.

In Denmark, it is tradition to celebrate 'Mortensaften' (Eve of Saint Martin of Tours) on November 10th (we always celebrate on the evening before the actual day here, like Christmas Eve, Saint John's Eve (Midsummer), New Year's Eve, etc.) with a feast of bird.

Originally, the bird was a goose, as Martin of Tours is said to have hid in a goose pen to avoid being appointed Bishop of Tours, but the geese, startled by the monk coming into the pen, cackled and thus gave him away.

With households having shrunk to a mere 2-5 persons, though, most people these days feast on a roast duck instead, as it is a more manageable meal.

Here in Denmark, much winter's food (like pork roast, roast poultry, 'medister' sausage, etc.) is served with 'browned potatoes' which is small cooked and peeled potatoes covered in caramelized sugar on a hot pan, so, naturally, I have prepared some 'tatoes for todays supper, too.

Now I shall go for an eight kilometer walk with the dog to get my appetite up for tonight, before I put prepare the duck for the oven.

Then it is time for doing some tidying up in the house (we had a delayed Halloween party in the attic Saturday, and I had to remove some of my boxes from up there to make space for the kids - so now I have to make space for the boxes in the conservatory, which means sorting out the contents of some of the boxes already there, and see what I can ditch, and what I need to find storage room for)...

So, probably not much hobby time today, but I hope to be able to report some progress tomorrow!

USUTHU! - Another Project Born...

'Zulu!' and 'Zulu Dawn' have long been my favourite films depicting redcoat action in the Age of Imperialism, and I have felt the itch to get some action going on the South African plains (and as any native Africans can easily be pressed into service for Pulp games, this is actually a no-brainer).

I have now set out to scratch that itch, first getting these books from Osprey:

(In Her Majesty's Name rulebook should be in the mail any day soon)

Heroes, Villains and Fiends contain rules for using Zulu in IHMN, so I expect to start making a Company or two of Zulus (unmarried and married springs to mind), and one of Brits, then perhaps expand by making Pulp Alley leagues of some of the other native peoples available (like Ngoni, Matabele, Pygmies, Azande, and perhaps some 'fantasy' cannibals and other imaginative Africans).

At first, I thought about doing Colonials in 1/72 plastics as I already have some Esci Zulus and British infantry for the Zulu War (1879), but there seems to be a limited supply of figures for this period; although a lot of sets have been made over time (notably from HaT), only a few seem available at the present.

So, I end up - as usual - collecting and painting 28 mm sized stuff, and as I remembered to have a box of these, I dug it out and have begun prepping a few redcoats.:

The models are not great, but I got the box as a freebie when ordering WGF's Republican (Caesarian) Romans, so no harm done in getting them a lick of paint so they can be brutally slaughtered by the natives of many a distant corner of the Empire.

I shall be basing them on 20mm washers, and go for a 'ready' or 'avancing' pose for as many as possible, as I really do not  like the sculpt of the firing right arm/hand - and I am primarily going to use these for skirmishing, so it only seems right to use poses better suited for open formations.

For the Zulus, I am almost set on getting the Empress/Warlord Zulu Starter Army, which should keep me occupied for several gaming seasons.

Just need to get that November paycheck...

Retro Raygun

Got this rule set in the mail yesterday (ordered through Wargames Emporium in the UK).

I have had some Robot Legion and Galacteer models (plus a few odd bits) from Hydra Miniatures for several years, so I thought I should finally get the rules to accompany them (and possibly motivate me to get some of them painted).

I have given the rules a quick read-through, and the system seems to be unlike everything else I have tried (which can be a good thing), making use of multiple dice for opposed rolls, and hardly any removal of single minis (except for the 'Horde' troop type), instead making use of morale type results for whole units.

I am looking forward to trying it out somewhen after having painted a bunch of minis - but the figures, especially the Robot Legion,  are likely to see use in other settings long before I get two sizeable forces ready for the table.

Interlude

Well, I spent most of the day sorting out my household accounting/budgetting, and then got stuck in front of the computer reading forum and facebook.

BUT, I also managed to dig out some minis I am going to re-base and paint (at least some of) for the first actual High Moon game - AND, I have also ordered some packs from Foundry to have some stuff to flesh out the town.

Tomorrow, hopefully I should get stuck in and get some work done!

Testing High Moon: Dead Reckoning

I had my regular gaming buddy ulolkish/Duregar come by my house to roll some dice for testing the mechanincs in the Two Hour Wargames Reaction System.

As expected, we had to look a lot of things up, and often had to discuss how to resolve a tricky situation, or to read an example a couple of times to get our heads wrapped around the workings of the rules, but Duregar agreed with me on the potential of the rules.

I did not take any in-game pics as such, as we were only playing through some of the STOP!-boxes to see how the rules worked in action, but I shot a couple of the set-up after Duregar left (after having generated a character for future adventures in the Weird Wild West).

First, one from the top, where it can be seen that Doc Holliday Ducked Back from Wild Bill Hickok's bullets into the soon-to-be small saloon.

And another view down the street. Even though I have not done anything to the raw mdf-surfaces, yet, I can already see how atmospheric the games are going to be when I add civilians, scatter terrain, and some signs and colour to it all.

I am really happy with my decision to go the mdf-route for this project - especially the possibility to just lift off a roof and gain access to the interiors of a building will be such a game-changer over the alternative use of a buildings footprint!

Vacation 2015 - Day 8: Relaxation!

After a very hot trip to Venice, we stayed in Camping Oasis the next day (we may have taken a trip into Sottomarian to buy som food, but that's all).

Here, Lea is taking a soda break from eating wonderful sun-ripe grapes. As you can see, she has been in either the ocean or the pool.

My wife also ejoyed the shadow, and some fridge-cooled water.

My ever-creative eldest offspring was drawing (when she was not reading or frolicking in the pool).

Of course, we also planned what to see next, and the consensus fell on Pisa, and in particular the famous leaning tower.

So, my next post about our stay in Italy will be about a full day's trip from Sottomarina to Pisa, and back.

I have a plethora of photos to edit, first, so a few days will most likely expire (and we are also going to London  on a 5-days trip soon, so I may not get around to do something about it, right away).