Happy 100th post and Guns of April!

Well for starters this is my 100th blog post and sorry to say not much in the way of pictures but in the end thank you all for reading and I hope you have enjoyed the posts. Being as demon is fast approaching I have been hard at work on my entries in the hopes of having more then one or two done. As my mentor Mathieu Fontaine says though work on one entry and if you get it done worry about that entry. This way you never get truely bogged down and you can create something far better then trying to enter 9 categories with 9 average pieces. With all of that though this means no pics till either just before GD(if I finish stuff on time) or  after I return.

All of that aside I come to the next point of this ever so short yet monumental blog post which is the Guns of April 2013. For those who saw, or will see soon in Aug issue of Wargames Illustrated, last year a few of us meet to play out a what if scenerio for the Battle of Salamanica which took place during the Penninuslar Campaign of the Napoleonic wars. We decided, after 4 hours of cheerful play and drink, that we would do another such event at Adepticon 2013 except this time we would be doing a "What If" of the first day at Gettysberg. Being we will be coming up on the Gettysberg 150 anniversary this was a great chance for me to paint some rebs as I have for a long time been a fan of ACW. With the Unions Leader David Pauwels kicking off this years post I will now direct you all over to the blog. Stay tunned as I will be posting pictures of my confederates after Games Day as I begin the trek to painting my Brigade of the good guys.. I mean Southern Army...yeah! Until then keep painting and I hope you all had a delightful 4th of July.
-Alex

WAB closed for good

As taken from GW's Warhammer Ancients website itself
"We can no longer accept any further orders for our products

We would like to thank our customers who have purchased our publications over the years and hope you will continue to get many more years of gaming enjoyment from them

If you have any queries regarding orders that have been placed with Warhammer Historical please
contact the Forge World Customer Service team"

I am honestly extremely disapointed though not to suprised in this regard. WAB was a great system and I am glad I own a number of books from it as now they are out of print for good, but saddly their is not much that can really step up in it's place so this is rather disconcerting to begin with. In the end it's another bad choice in a long line of bad ones for GW and really does show it's the beginning of the end.
-Alex

Macedonians for Sale

So once I get these sold and out of the way I will finish up my adepticon wrap up. ATM I need to affoard major surgery for my wife so as such that means sale. I am selling my Macedonian army I used at Adepticon. All of the models are Wargames Foundry and painted to exceptional levels. I even took home a crystal brush for some of the Peltasts. I don't really want to part with this army but family first so as such I am looking for a total of $1100 for everything. The price even includes the shipping!

Here is also a link to some of the peltasts http://crystalbrush.coolminiornot.com/cbartwork/index/id/265
All told their is 48 Painted Armored Philangites, 32 Unarmored Painted Philangites, 8 painted archers, 10 painted Companion Cav. Unpainted their is another 10 companion cav, 8 archers,3 command on horse, 24 unarmored, and 8 armored command If you want everything else painted with the order to match the army I can do that np but it will cost and I can't get started until the beginning of August. Payment for that must be made though when purchasing. To finish painting everything I would throw in a deal at an additional $500 and that includes the shipping as well. If you are interested in this army let me know at alexanderakers (at) yahoo dot com.

Back From Adepticon Part 1

Fast overview of the trip as tons of pictures and lots to discuss. Starting off a local friend of mine and I decided it best to drive.. yes DRIVE to Chicago from Boston. Now I have made this trip numerous times so it wasn't as bad for me but being Sams first and being he decided to drive the whole way it was far from enjoyable I must say for him.

As you can see lovely weather not much to complain about.

Hrmm NY!!!! Personally not a fan of the state on the whole but to each there own.

I had an amazing Pulled Pork Cuban at a BBQ place called Dinosaur BBQ in Troy NY while we waited on our third passenger to get off work. It seems he screwed up which day we were leaving and had to rush around to fix it. Also I must say the waitress was eye candy worth waiting on but thats a different type of picture we just don't show on this blog!
Now a trip is not a trip until you see a Biker Chick rocking these on the road.

I will give her credit though as not much of a looker herself the restored Harley made my mouth water.
Saddly Dinner was of the more famed variety :(.

So after 18 hours we finally arrived in Lombard IL at 2am on Thursday morning. After 6 or so hours of sleep (less for the roomate as I had forgotten my alarm was set and woke him up at 7am) I decided to grab the camera and start taking pics. Mathieu had to finish working on the models for his classes (which he so graciously donated all of the proceds to charity) so I decided to go walk around.

As soon as I went downstairs I saw that the line was already forming for registration.. 5 HOURS EARLY!!!!!

3 hours before Registration opens

And of course the main man of the hour Hank Edley who is one of the lead organizers for adepticon. He is enjoying.. heck if I know but just before the madness begins.

Finally I sat down to start painting to end out my Thursday.

And a fast shot of my crystal brush entry which didn't even place :(.

He was no where near done at this picture but it was a good pic so why not. So ended Thursday thus bringing an end to day 1 of Adepticon 2012 for me. I will post part 2 in a day or two as I have to do a lot of work atm but until then keep painting.
-Alex

Out with the old in with the new.

So with Adepticon comming up I decided to clear out the closet of all of the old stuff so I could have some spending cash for new toys:). As such here's a big sale to clear out my personal closet and open up some room. If you want to buy any of these please email me at alexanderakers (at) yahoo dot com. I accept Paypal and credit cards.
All of the prices are simple, price as is plus shipping. On smaller stuff shipping is $5.00 and bigger is $12 as these are flat rate shipping boxes.

UPDATED to whats left!
Perry Miniatures American Civil War 2 Boxes $30 for the lot.
http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy129/empchild/IMG_1837.jpg

Warlord Games Crimean War $60 for the lot
http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy129/empchild/IMG_1825.jpg

Warlord Games Plastic British WW2 infantry $40 for the lot
http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy129/empchild/IMG_1823.jpg

Warlord Games WW2 Chindits 3 Boxes $50 for the lot
http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy129/empchild/IMG_1822.jpg

Warlord Games WW2 Screaming Eagles group $50 for the lot
http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy129/empchild/IMG_1820.jpg

Warlord Games British Warband $15
http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/yy129/empchild/IMG_1816.jpg

Adepticon is almost here!

Well adepticon is only weeks away and this painter is in a sprint in hopes of finishing everything in time(god willing). Over the next few days I will start posting pictures for you all but I wanted to just get out there and say herro to everyone and if any of you are going to adepticon please tell me on this blog as I would love to meet up for a drink etc.
-alex

A big Thanks and Overview of Onslaught GT 2012!

First I would like to start this post with a major thanks to my friend Dave Taylor. His help in directing people to me for the sale of products has helped take a good chunk out of several bills that the wife and I were not sure on how we were going to pay. I have insurance mind you but my copays start adding up and it makes things difficult. At this time if anyone would like to purchase the lot as a whole btw I am making a great deal on it all. $250 and that includes shipping world wide so first person to email me about it will be my huckleberry at alexanderakers at yahoo dot com.

Now for the review of the Onslaught GT 2012 held at Templecon in Rhode Island. I like to break these down into event direct, venue as a whole, and other:
Event Direct: First off this was the Organizers first time running something so big. It is a daunting task mind you to run any tourney but when they spread several days it gets to be a major hassle and is very exhausting as a whole. Keith did a wonderfull job though and his prep was just fine with no flaws that I could see. Unlike the "Da Boyz GT" the scenerios were straight forward and not hard to comprehend but not so much that they would cause major unbalances either in final points. The terrain was perfect for the tables minus a few gripes from a few but thats honestly going to be the case no matter what. As far as awards they were rather nice looking plaques which personally I love more then tropheys, reason being trophies tend to break easily in moves etc. where are plaques sit nicely and look pleasant on the wall. They were from the convention itself so no overly large but still very nice and again unlike the "Da Boyz GT" at least there was awards as oppossed to product. Now there were no swag bags but for me this was actually rather nice because it took me back to how tournies used to be. Minus the minor personal quip of not having a best painted I understood the conventions reasoning on it as there was a comp outside with the coolminiornot people. There was players choice but this can get rather finiky as I noticed a bunch  of people were forgetting to even walk around and look at others armies as is often the case, and will just write whoever down. Normally I have several negative but really not on this. Like I said the minor issue is a personal thing but didn't detract from the event for me in the slightest.

Venue as a Whole: All I could say is WOW. First off the hotels food was by no account crappy, nor was the bar and the drinks...mmmmm whiskey. Suprisingly I found the food well above average and you could get a great filling meal for under $10 if you went to there restaurant, or buy from the vendor etc. Lots of parking so no issues there, and even with thousands of people they kept the place damn near spotless and odor free.. we all know of gamer funk people! Also Templecon is heavily into Steampunk and let me just say... THANK YOU!!!! Besides the fun of the costumes the actually attractive women in them made one hell of a show. To the fat women PUT MORE CLOTHES ON!!!!! Overall the venue was honestly as nice if not nicer in other respects to Adepticon and far surpased my last gt in Oct... wait for it... "Da Boyz". Yes I am no longer a fan of the Da Boyz!

Other: Honestly I am extremely picky about tournies and often take a firm approach to whats good and bad as I was spoiled on the west coast with great events in Seattle and such, but this one really did an outstanding job and I am very happy to see people stepping up to the challenge of running these big events and what's more doing it well! My hat is off to the organizers Keith, and the terrain man Sam Butler you all did an outstanding job and I for one plan to return next year.

Overview: Out of 5 pts
Event: 4.9 as nothing is ever perfect but this was damn close
Food: 4.5  great prices and well done just I am biased towards Chicago sorry
Tourney as a whole: 4.9 This one is one to watch as I see great things in it's future!