Some musings on blogs, and local gaming stores

I just don't get it. You'd figure there is nothing to this "blogging" thing. Yet, I cannot for the life of me get the formatting of my photos correct. I can never seem to post them so a viewer can "click to enlarge". I'm of average intelligence, so maybe it's the system? Oh well. I'd love to get some feedback from you on how to manage this beastie called blogging!

Local hobby stores. They're getting harder and harder to find. I just made my first visit up to Maplewood, NJ to browse at Maplewood Hobbies. Great store; huge selection of paint and FOW items, friendly owner and patrons, and pretty active as well. Huge upstairs gaming area with 3 or 4 tables. Very nice, and a great visit. Then the owner told me he's having a difficult time staying open. This isn't the first time I've heard this. My local store, Gamer's Realm in West Windsor, NJ has told me the same tale.

Years ago I had a dream that maybe one day I'd open a hobby store. It makes me sad to say I'm relieved I never realised that dream. I guess it's the "internet revolution", and nobody even thinks of buying from a brick and mortar store anymore. I wish both of these stores, and their owners, nothing but the best. It would be a far more boring world out there without them.

The GWOT: The Good Guys

I've been working on these for a while. The first is a photo of all of my completed western forces:

This force is comprised of US marines (3 fireteams), British Infantry (3 fireteams), 1 fireteam of Australian Special Forces, and one fireteam of US Special Forces (since they all dress in the same mixture of clothing, they can be any of the services forces, Delta, SEALs, of SF). All are from Liberation Miniatures.



Here are a few close ups:

USMC

Australians

British

I've painted and organised these for use with Ambush Alley, and they'll soon be seeing service in Afghanistan.

I found these incredibly easy to paint and base up - I'm using US nickels as bases as they have the "heft" I prefer.

In a near-future posting, I'll have some photos of the bad guys.