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I finally finished the last 4 spearmen for these two stands of 1/72 scale Vikings (the Cold Islanders in my miniatures campaign). On to the orcish army...

I finished up two more stands of fantasy Vikings for more portable 1/72 scale campaign set up. These are intended as “Blades” for Hordes of the Things, so I grouped all the two-handed axes I could get out of a box each of Zvezda and Orion Vikings and possible Revell Saxons. This puts me up to twelve bases for the ‘army’, with three to go, so I’ve got enough to swap the order of battle around a little bit between games.

There are times that I wish I could concentrate on one project at a time, but my muse apparently doesn't work that way. In preparation for Huzzah last weekend, I finished two stands of 1/72 scale plastic Vikings from a mix of manufacturers. I have been painting these guys fairly carefully, basically one at a time. This is partly for my own amusement, since you can't see some of what I'm doing with them under actual game conditions, partly as a thought experiment about future downsizing of my hobby space, and partly, of course, to be trying to get an army on the table for my planned solo war-games campaign. The bases are 6cm by 4cm.

My older son (now 27...) has been up to visit twice in the past month or so. Because of the portability we found ourselves playing an old favorite, Hordes of the Things, using 1/72 scale plastic armies assembled from an eclectic variety of sources. In my usual scattered way, my muse led me to pull out a delayed project, a Hordes expansion army of fantasy-ed Viking barbarians. My troops, if they are ever completed, will be assembled from a mix of Revell, Orion, and Zvezda figures, mixed within the units. These two are Zvezda. I'll go back and collect pictures of the rest of the finished figures later...

This morning at 7:05 Eastern Time, the Orion Deep Space Vehicle was successfully launched from the Cape atop a Delta IV Heavy Lift Rocket. This is an unmanned mission to test the systems, at this time it has been a flawless mission. At 8:05 Mountain time it should reach its highest altitude of 3600 miles, the farthest flight of any space vehicle since the Apollo Missions. It was suppose to launch yesterday but due to some cranky valves and high winds at the Cape, the launch was scrubbed. The only disappointing thing for me is this is the first space exploration mission that has not directly involved a member of my family. My brother is currently working on the James Webb Space Telescope and was not involved in designing any of the components for this mission. For those of you who feel that the space program has little or no impact on your lives here is a quick look at products that were a direct result of our manned space missions (this is a short list). http://kearth101.cbslocal.com/2011/07/21/list-stuff-we-use-everyday-that-was-invented-from-the-space-program/