Other than paint...

...I think that the office is basically completed. It is a nice place now to work (when I work from home) and to game. The desk arrived Friday, and was actually quite the fiasco. I stayed out back with the dogs while the delivery folks were here bringing in the two desk pieces. Well, they did some measuring and said to my wife that they were not going to take if off the truck since it would not fit through the door into my office. Well, she got me, and the furniture was quickly off of the truck. The measurements were correct, it was not going to fit...but...I have dome this before as I worked for a couple of years in the office furniture industry. I took the "feet" off of the desk and took down the door to the office and one door stop strip and slid the desk in...no problems. This mess was going on when I was supposed to be on a conference call however...but, I was only going to be a listener anyway.

So, here are some pictures. This one is as you come into the office from the hallway. You can see the desk in the left. At the far right is an antique desk that has been in the family for generations - handed down to me from my grandmother. This desk spent some time in Seven Oaks Plantation (now long gone) near New Orleans. Also shown are my replica uniforms. I have a Confederate Major's frock coat, and a Confederate colonel's shell jacket (this is actually my brother's...now that he has a great house, he may want that back for his office), and an 1879 British tunic of the 24th Foot. A rebel kepi, British Glenngarry, pirate hat and WW2 ammo belt round out the items. The helmet above is from WW1 (my great grandfather's).

You can see that the walls beg for color (Mom!). Also, I think a reproduction WW2 German tunic would go nicely in here.

The next image shows the workstation. One of the selling points of my desk was the computer power center on the right. I have a 33" monitor for use when writing code, styling web pages, etc.

The final image is the chair my wife wished added to the room. Now when I am locked up in here gaming or coding, she can sit there and play sudoko. The images on the wall are from the awesome, and free, National Guard Prints. The golden framed picture is my great-grandfather from when we went off to WW1.

Vikings Raid the New Table

Yesterday, my good friend Matt was unexpectedly available for gaming and visiting. As I consider him a very good friend, person and dad, I quickly suggested that we get together and christen the new gaming table in my office! With 28MM Vikings! He readily agreed and it was on.

First, the table. My upstairs wargame room doubles as my office when I work from home, so the table in there needs to be functional for many things. I have been looking and not finding a suitable table for some time. But, a week ago, my wife found the perfect table! It is 22 inches high (coffee table height) and is 42 inches square. A very nice size for playing games like: DBA, DBN, Legends of the High Seas, Legends of the Old West, Viking Raids, Modern Zombies, etc. Here are a couple of shots showing the table - dressed for a Viking raid on a hamlet in Engaland. The second shot shows how the table has four "stools" that slide under the table and offer excellent storage (terrain, felt, additional miniatures, etc.).

The following images are of the battle in progress. The Vikings were victorious but were roughly handled at first and Matt was nervous. In the end, some loot was gained (the inhabitants had warning of the raid and had hidden as much loot and as many animals and civilians as possible). Turns out I did not take as many photos as I had thought, but here they are...

I'll write a blog posting soon about the Viking Raid rules we use, as we think they are quite fun and interesting. I'll also post about the campaign Matt and I wish to run.

The War Cabinet

We took delivery today of a display cabinet that my wife bought for "my little men". It is upstairs in my office. The office is actually undergoing a little bit of a transformation - getting rid of the old crappy computer desk - adding the display cabinet - adding a 3.5' X 3.5' table for small gaming. The new desk won't arrive for about 10 more days. When completed, I'll post more images. In the fall, my mother is coming out and will help me choose a wall color and do some wall painting.

For now, here are some images of the display cabinet. I am filling it with miniatures that play well in a small gaming setting. The top two shelves hold the 28MM pirate collection. The next two shelves hold the 28MM Old West collection. The fifth shelf in the top half hold some of the 28MM dark ages collection. The remainder will be stored in the closet. The bottom half has no shelves at present, as I used them all in the top half. So, we'll get some glass cut for additional shelves in a few weeks. I think that those shelves are reserved for the 28MM American Civil War miniatures. However, they don't play well in the small gaming environment. So I may keep them otherwise stored and place 28MM zombies and 15MM Napoleonics on the remaining shelves. I have a few weeks in which to decide...

The mirrors on the back have a nice effect...