Miniature Wrestling

 There were two items of note this week. First, regarding this picture:

Somebody gave my wife some of these candies a while back. I ate them. I wanted more. When I suggested that she get back in touch with the friend who gave them to her, she went and bought me some. I think these are my new favorite candy: dark chocolate and what looks and tastes like real peanut butter (not the grainy sugar and peanut butter substitute found in America's most popular candy). These are a real treat--in spite of what the writing on the wrapper might lead you to believe. I give them 5 stars and would recommend them to a friend, but only if I were opening a new bag. If I were down to the last few, I would keep them for myself and not say a word about them.

Next was the miniature wrestling tournament. By miniature, I don't mean Hobbits, Dwarves, Munchkins, or the little people among us. This is what I'm talking about:

 Over a few days, I assembled ten of these American Militia miniatures. They're supposed to be 28mm, but they may be slightly smaller, or the ones with which I'm comparing them are slightly larger than 28mm. I'm putting them together for use in a campaign with my skirmish/RPG rules with Les Freres Corses and perhaps another guest set in my Tomahawks and Dragon Fire Universe. Anyway, some assembly required is a euphemism for the combination of gladiatorial combat and mud wrestling it takes to put these plastic chaps together.

Cutting out the body and gluing it to a base is deceptively simple and easy--no real problems, apart from the accident with the knife and the blood drops. It's everything after that becomes a death match in the mud--except the mud is glue. The head, both arms, and some weapons have to be cut free from the sprue and attached to the body. While the heads provided can be attached to any of the figures, the arms and some weapons match only particular figures; it's not a mix-and-match at will operation. Every part has to be properly matched.

 Round one of the contest involves scanning the schematic to find compatible limbs for the selected body. 

Round two is cutting them free and trimming the little nodules of sprue remnant from the parts. 

Round three is where things get sticky--literally: Fit the limbs to the body and remember how they go; add a dab of superglue to the precise position; attempt to fit the first limb to the figure as determined by the earlier test; smear glue hither and yon as the limb slips into every position except the one way it fit earlier--adjust, adjust, and readjust; hold the limb against the body while the glue dries; remove fingers from the figure--only to have the arm come away (glued to one hand) and the body come away (glued to the other hand); peel the miniature parts from finger along with top layer of skin; repeat previous phase; glue finger to table and drop miniature limb; find the lost limb glued to the back or base of a different miniature or to the front of your shirt; finally get one limb attached; repeat the previous phases for the second limb and note that if both hands are supposed to be on the weapon, the second hand won't reach it because one or both arms were not glued into the proper position; decide that's good enough even better because it gives the illusion of movement to the miniature.

Anyway, I got ten of the 30 figures completed, and I'm happy to note that there were no casualties or grotesque deformities, and the glue holds extremely well. (I know because I dropped some of them from an altitude of five feet to a concrete floor with no breakage or loss of limb. Also, there are left over muskets and tomahawks that can be left separate for game purposes, or added to some of my other miniatures. I already have some metal British Infantry (that are at least partially painted) for the campaign, along with some wolves, and natives. I'm not sure what I'll use for the stone cats and dragonlings, but I know those will be integral to the campaign. The first episode will involve the blowing of a bridge before the British Regulars can cross.

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Editing continues on Book 6 -- Crisis in Fire and Snow -- in the Tomhawks and Dragon Fire Series. It will be ready just in time for Christmas!