Wargaming Recon | Longest-running tabletop wargaming podcast on the planet!

Painting Station

As a teenager I had a space and table dedicated to assembling and painting models. Back then I hated that aspect of playing miniatures games like 40k and Warhammer Fantasy. The table eventually went away but the desire for a painting table returned after my wedding. Moving into the new condo I knew that not only did I want a dedicated painting table but that the space existed for it.

My wife was onboard and preliminary thoughts were to put it in the bedroom. That proved impossible once furniture was set up. An even better space became apparent in the living room across from the computer. The previous residents used the spot for a tall breakfast table and I turned it into my painting nook.

The table is an old Ikea computer desk my wife had in her first apartment. Yankee ingenuity kept it from the trash heap. It is a sturdy platform to paint on. Measuring 30 1/2 inches wide, 19 1/2 inches deep, and 29 1/2 inches high it would do the job nicely. An Ottlite with daylight bulb provides the best lighting conditions for painting. A taller lamp, from Walmart, provides a gentle background glow.

A more fulfilling write up of the Battle of Chelsea Creek battle is forthcoming. Richard Claydon of the Boston Trained Bands (Chris was home ill) did a fantastic job as umpire and scenario creator. He ran the battle for the five of us and we had a blast! Below you can see numerous pictures. Adrian Benson of New England Grognard took the first group (20) of pictures and has given me permission to use them as I see fit. The rest of the photographs, mainly close ups, were taken by your’s truly.

They should give you a feel for the battle. The plan is to have another one of these events in December (yay my 30th birthday) at Battleground Games & Hobbies.

I have to give much thanks to Richard Claydon, Chris Bergonzi, and the entire Boston Trained Bands for creating this fantastic scenario and an extra thank you to Rich for coming down from the north shore to run the game. A huge thank you also goes out to Chase Laquidara and Derek Lloyd of Battleground Games & Hobbies for allowing the game to be held at their Abington location. Many thanks go to everyone who participated in the game. It was a great bunch of gamers and I think we all had a good time.

Groupon had a great deal for customers to pay half price for tickets to tour the USS Salem (CA-139) located in Quincy, Massachusetts. My father is a retired Chief Petty Officer after serving 23 years. I knew he’d enjoy visiting the ship. He never served on a cruiser, instead serving on two troops ships, an ammo ship, and the USS Independence (CV-62). But, he is intimately familiar with ship layout and the mechanical operation.

We headed down today and spent an enjoyable afternoon experiencing the world’s last all gun heavy cruiser. One of the highlights was meeting a volunteer who served onboard the Salem as part of its marine detachment. He brought us behind the scenes to show us artifacts and areas that visitors don’t get to see. We got to see a WWII Japanese mine training kit still in its original wooden box. We walked through the last crew berth in its original condition, uniforms from WWI onward (American, Italian, German including Gestapo and SS). We got to see WWII French hand grenades, Japanese live ammo found in the Pacific, and numerous artifacts left behind by the Salem’s crew when it was decommissioned in 1959.

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The Whiz store moved to a new location during Hurricane Irene. The new place can be found at 122 Turnpike Street (aka Rte 9 East) about 2 miles east of their old location.

Chris Walsh, who owns the store with his wife Lynne, invited me down for a pre-opening tour. That didn’t happen until today because of the problems the Verizon strike caused me. They opened the new spot on September 1st.