LEGO Elves Terrain Project, Part 2

This weekend has mostly been used for work outside; the night temperatures finally crept over 0 Celsius, and the garden must be tended to.

But a part of this afternoon I was able to use on the LEGO Elves terrain project:

1. Drawing a grid on the map of Elvendale
2. Transfer outlines to a sheet of styropor
3. Employ the thermocutter to cut out the shapes of the land mass.

Below is the progress so far; I hae used my old GW hot wire cutter to bevel the short piece of riverbank/coastline to the far left, but I think I need to buy a powered model like this one: http://dorchdanola-netbutik.dk/product/proxxon-gloedesav-thermocut-12e-4201/

I shall cut out the shape of the Treetop Hideaway, plus a 'creek' running from the water section (the light blue part) to the coast.

The land mass is cut from 10mm styropor, and already at level 2 the thermo cutter slides through the material like a sharp knife through butter. I am going to have SO much use for this device!!

The Gardening Season Has Begun!

Yesterday, I started preparing the vegetable garden for planting potatoes; I needed to remove some weeds, and then harvest and spread the compost from our composter.

There was not quite enough for the entire area where I am going to plant potatoes (hopefully today), but I removed everything that was sufficiently decomposed over the 4 years we have been living here, so now there is plenty of space for new organic waste to be processed.

After spreading the compost, I left it to dry a bit while I was cleaning op the composter bottom (in order to be able to place the 'body' and the worm tube back in place on it), and then I used my trusty spade to mix the compost into the soil.

Now I just need to rake the area (which I shall do right after finishing this post), and dig out the string for planting in straight rows, and I am set to start planting (which I expect Lea to assist me in, when she returns from buying sandals with the wife).

More Mead, Coming Up!

About 1½ week ago, I was cleaning a glass wine fermentation container (I simply cannot find a proper English translation for it), while at the same time cleaning some bottles.

BAD idea!

I tipped over a bottle with my elbow, and in fell directly on top of the container, resulting in much misery.

It was not a complete disaster, as I had two unused containers in store, but, never the less, I decided to have a look at the interweb to see if I could find some cheap second hand ones.

And just a couple of days later, I found an offer of
seven containdrs at DKK 75 each (many wanted up to DKK 200 for used ones, which is more than I am willing to pay).

I immediately responded to the ad, and was lucky to be the first person intersted.

As it turned out, the guy selling them has a wife who is a beekeeper, and I was able to negociate a sweet deal regarding honey (effective from the first batch this spring).

I stored the seven new containers in the attic, and went about my business, readyieng another container for tha next batch of mead to be stored a full year before being bottled.

Below is a pic of the siphoning ikn process.

The first time I did this, some of the mead overflowed (the class container cannot hols quite as much as afull plastic container, it seems), so this time, before filling the glass container, I siphoned some mead into bottles to prevent spillage.

When the plastic container was empty, I poured the content of most of the bottles into the galss container as well, bus as it turned out, I had a full bottle's worth of mead in excess, which I shall have to consume (oh, the sacrifices one must make!).

I have had a batch fermenting for 3 weeks now, and I set about starting another batch yesterday, making the yeast-starter.

This morning, I started boiling hte first half of the brew, and I have just now removed the pots from the stove.

As you can see below, no mead-brewing without enjoying a glass of the liquid gold!

The mead I am consuming today is the excess from siphoning as described above, and although is hasn't had time to mature, it tastes very fine, indeed.

I am going to designate the mead I mature for a year as 'Huskarle-mead', as it will be the best mead I can make with common baking yeast.


When I have the first 4 or 5 batches of Huskarle-mead maturing in glass containers, I shall start experimenting with other types of yeast; I have found a vendor of brewing gear that sells various types of yeast that should give a higher alcohol-percentage, and I am curious as to how that influences taste.

That is all from Argonor's Mead Brewery for now!

I hope I have not bored the hell out of all my readers with this, but as the motto of Attic Attack is 'Mead and Dice!', I think my endeavours in bringing this sacred beverage to the gaming tables are well worth recording!

All Quiet... or is it...?

I have not had time for updating these hallowed pages the last couple of days, but it does not mean that I am not doing anything that could be reported here - far from!

Monday, Lea got her (delayed) present from her school class - another set of LEGO Elves: 41072, Naida's Spa Secret (I know, kinda cheesy title).

Here is a shabby photo of the build:

It is, of course, going to be integrated in our upcoming mutual project, introducing my Proxxon Thermo-Cutter:

And lots of styrofoam:

I have not told the girls, yet, but when I was in Bilka (a kind of BIG supermarket (think Wal-Mart) here in DK) earlier today to get honey for another batch of mead, I bought the LEGO Elves set 41073. Naida's Epic Adventure Ship (http://dk.midhobby.com/produkter/1648-lego-elves/48311-lego-elves-naidas-fantastiske-eventyrskib/) to add to the collection.

We are going to flesh out the Land of Elvendale, using the map provided with the Treetop Hideaway, and we are going to do it bit by bit at the same pace as we acquire the various sets!

Skeleton Warriors for GoB - WIP 10

Finally started working on the paper banner for the standard. Just glued the bottom part together and letting it dry - it will need to get trimmed a bit, but otherwise the size seems right.

I am going to paint it black, and then apply an old transfer from a sheet of mixed Citadel transfers I have had in my possesion for ages.

Am looking forward to close this case and try the unit on the table!

GoB Viking Army (Blood Gorged Proxies) WIP 2

A bit of progress; The Thrall unit finished, and started assembling the Huskarle unit with Dane Axes.

GoB Viking Army (Blood Gorged Proxies) WIP 1

I have not been making any progress on existing projects these last few days, but I have started preparing Gripping Beast plastic Viking Hirdmen for a 24 pts GoB army, for which I shall use the Blood Gorged list.

The army will, of course, double as a SAGA Viking warband, as soon as I have added a few bits and bobs to the first 3 units.

The initial 24 pts will consist of a unit of 10 Huskarle (Brute Ravagers, 12 pts), 10 Huskarle with Dane Axes (Brute Slayers, 9 pts), and 8 Thralls (Younglings, 3 pts, GB plastic Dark Age Warriors), boosted with 2 heroes (Herdlords, 12 pts each).

The next 12 pts will probably be 2 units of 10 Bondi each (Brutes, 6 pts per unit, GB plastic Dark Age Warriors), but I have not decided on the Command and Support composition at 36 pts, yet (I shall probably want to include 6 Hirdmen (Brute Watchers (bodyguard), 13 pts) though).

When the 36 points are done, I think I'll start fleshing out a Rohan army for GoB, too - It is about time I get some Rohan horsemen ready for the table, and the Thousand Tribes list allows for 4 different grades of cavalry, so should prove to be the bee's knees for some Rohan flavoured warbands/units!