The Laundry Room Barracks

The Laundry Room Barracks 

Welcome to the Drums of War miniature wargame blog. I hope to use this space to share ideas with other wargamers about topics such as terrain, rules, figures, etc. It's a place for me to talk about my hobby and passion for historical miniature wargames and the history behind them. Since I'm the "new kid" on the block so to speak, please bear with me. I know my painting isn't competition standard or my game board might not be the regular 6x8, but I hope you will enjoy my posts anyway. The hobby is a way for me to de-stress my hectic daily life and to get lost in the creative aspect of the hobby and broaden my historical knowledge. As of now I am mostly gaming moderns and the French and Indian War campaigns of the Seven Years War. For my moderns, mostly 20mm, I have concentrated on topics I know about, such as the Yugoslavia Civil War and the various civil wars in Central America.

I rekindled my passion for miniature wargaming after a 20 or so year break. Jobs, kids and family commitments can do that sometimes. In December 2015 I requested a military budget and funding from the Supreme Commander of all My Forces, the feared and formidable ginger-haired General ze Wife. The General hails from The Royal Colony of South Carolina and is of Scots-Irish decent, so as you can imagine, you do not want to hear the General's war cry. Expanding the military budget had to be taken with extreme caution. Late in the month of December, as the winter chill had settled in the New England woods, I opened my first "barracks" in a corner of the mess hall. The General did not take kindly to this nonsense and soon banished my men and me to our current home deep in a basement bunker now known as The Laundry Room Barracks. This is where I will be reporting updates to you about the progress of my troops. We are happy to be here. We have heat, a beer refrigerator, and a toilet close by. We have also been provided with a fairly ok Wi-Fi signal as long as General ze Wife's spies, ie: teenagers, are not streaming endless movies. I do not complain about these orders because I know that my men and I could be banished from the main base to the heatless barn with no toilet or beer within decent range.

My first miniatures back in the day were a pack of 25mm Old Glory AWI Continentals which I had primed. I only painted a total of two soldiers from that pack. They have now been re-enlisted into service for my FIW project. I also have a rather large collection of original 25mm Ral Partha British Colonials. They have been on leave in a storage box since about 1992. I recently recalled them back to The Laundry Room Barracks for inspection and to be issued uniforms. Yes, unfortunately most of the lot had only made it to the priming stage as well. Who knew being a dad consumed so much time and energy? Now that the General's spies have aged a bit, I am finding a little more time to paint, build terrain and learn new game rules.

I am glad to be back and learning so much from the wargaming community. One of the places that has been a great help is the Tabletop Commanders group on Facebook and Google+.  I joined in on a Paint & Chat session (an international live video chat) a few months back and have learned a great deal from that community. I try to login as often as I can. I tell the General it's training. It's a laid back group of like minded individuals who are very welcoming and open to sharing knowledge of the hobby. I tend to get much more painting done because of the chat sessions than I think I would on my own. I encourage you to check it out.

Thanks for reading. Until next time.
- Bob