Google Analytics & Other nonsense

While reading the "This One's Split" blog a few weeks ago, I learned about Google Analytics. Absolutely nifty little tool. Using this, you can track how many people actually visit your blog. Saturday November 21st seems to be a banner day as I had 6 visits! Whoo Hoo!. :)

Anyway, it is a very clever tool that would prove to be really useful for someone who gets significant traffic to their blog or any website and it is absolutely free. Thank you Google.

Anyway, enough of that. I have just purchased from TheWarStore.com, two finished river sections of terrain (JR Miniatures - muddy river). I have a home made bridge section that was about 11" long that looked just silly with just felt on either side of it to serve as a stream or river. Now I have a mighty river for my gaming table of a whole 31.5" in length! Hmm.... I guess I know what to ask Santa for this year.

They seem to be nice sections that should match up enough with my home made piece and will look much better than the felt I had been using. Once Thanksgiving is over, I will try to get a game in at home. Something just to use my AWI items with again and to keep up the enthusiasm for the follow up for This Land Divided.

So here is my question for my faithful readership (yes, all 6 of you), what do you believe is the most essential piece of terrain that you have/use on your wargames table? Which piece do you find makes it on to the table time and time again?

Lancashire Miniatures Arrive

I just received my miniatures from Lancashire (http://www.test.gtns.co.uk/). they are rather nice models.

The first pack is: ARC9 Light Infantry/ Mounted in Hunting Shirts.

There are four models in two poses. The first pose is a man with slung rifle holding a sword out in front of him wearing a tricorn hat and a hunting shirt. The second is a man cradling a rifle in a round hat. Both are nice poses but have some flash on them that will need to be corrected. They look very compatible with my Freikorps mounted infantry.

The second pack is: ARB10 Southern Tories.

The southern Tories have ten miniatures in just one pose. The pose is well done of a soldier marching at shoulder arms. Again the hats seem a bit larger than they should and ride rather low on the miniatures head.

The third pack is: ARB11 Tory Command.

The command pack has two drummers, two officers and two standard bearers. The officers are holding their swords out in front of them. The drummers are holding their drums. The standard bearers have a cast on standard poles. The metal is very soft on the standard poles which might prove difficult later on. The hats are pulled low over the eyes of each of the miniatures. This is the opposite issue than the OG Militia drummer has with his hat pushed far on top of his head as if it were several sizes too small. there is little to no flash on the miniatures and they seem to have very nice detail.

The fourth pack is: ARA1 Militia

11 miniatures were included in this pack. Three are loading weapons, three resting on them, three cradling their rifles and two advancing. They come in five different poses and have several different hats. The detail is less pronounced compared to the Tory militia but still quite nice casts.

Overall view:

This was money well spent. The figures look like they would be very compatible with my existing Old Glory miniatures. At least much more so than the Freikorps infantry miniatures. I will try to get some pictures done tonight to give a better idea of what these miniatures look like. The mailing time took slightly longer than Freikorps but not by more than a couple of days. I am definitely going to be going back to Lancashire again. My only gripe is that they do not have any artillery - just crew.

FreiKorps Order Arrives

Again, I am very happy with these miniatures. The personality pack is very nice. Why they depict Greene reading a book, I am not too sure. The Gates figure is very nice with his hand out pointing to something important, I am sure. The American Colonels pack has two figures with Tricorns and one with some cavalry looking hat. The British Colonels are very nice indeed. Two have their swords out and look very commanding. These will make their way to the painting table in short order. Problem is, between now and Christmas, I doubt there will be much painting time and even less game time.

Hopefully I can get some more work done on the follow up to "This Land Divided." I have 14 scenarios blocked out and three of them are complete. The text is pretty much complete. All that remains is the order of battle for the engagements and maps. That and not getting distracted by another period - say Dark Ages - while Richard keeps churning out more and more excellent work on Lard Island.

Lancashire & Freikorps Miniatures

I just placed an order for some of their miniatures. I am getting a pack of their Southern Tories and Tory Command. I am also picking up some of their Rebel Militia and Mounted infantry. Reviews of Lancashire on DeepFriedHappyMice.com are not that flattering but they do have things that few other manufacturers have.

Between my Lancashire order and the Stone Mountain order I should have plenty of Rebel Militia infantry. I will have a total of 12 mounted infantry. I am just hoping that the Lancashire mounted infantry will not be too out of place with the Freikorps mounted infantry. The Freikorps mounted troops for the AWI are bigger than their infantry counterparts.

I did get a few more Freikorps miniatures. I picked up some mounted Colonels for my Rebels and British and one of their personalities packs (Greene, Gates and Washington). Interesting selection in that pack. Not sure why they would not have put in Sumter or Marion instead of Washington or even Benjamin Lincoln.

This leaves me with nearly a complete rebel force for the Southern theater. I have some more work to do for my Loyalists but they are coming along. What I would like to do is obtain some British Legion Cavalry and a few guns to round everything out. The British Legion cavalry should not be an issue as everyone seems to have these in 15mm. But Galloper guns are another story. I know that Minifigs makes them but they are in a large bag when I only want one or two per side. Artillery was generally rare in militia battles so having a huge pack of them does not make sense. Anyone have a spare galloper gun laying about their bits box?

Stone Mountain Miniatures

I managed to get a hold of a brochure of their AWI offerings. It seems that they have a nice variety of things that would be useful for the Southern Campaign. This pictures of the miniatures in the two page flyer look promising and the prices seem very reasonable.

They are packaged with 21 troops, 1 officer, 1 drummer and a flag bearer to a pack for $7.25. I will have to give their militia a try. You are also able to order individual figures as well for $0.35 per foot figure. Cavalry comes in a package of 12 miniatures for the same $7.25. Only British or American Dragoons are available though.

Interesting to note is that they have an officer looking figure looking through a spyglass. I will probably try to order that miniature whenever I get around to placing an order.

The one thing that they and most manufacturers lack is mounted infantry. It seems only QRF and Lancashire Miniatures offer those. QRF's mounted infantry is four figures to a pack with only one pose in the pack. I have not been able to order the Lancashire ones yet so I have no idea how well they would do.