nycjadie's blog

Introducing Hickory Crane Coates

nycjadie — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:00:45 +0000

New Patrick Keith sculpt for Cavalcade Wargames

nycjadie — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:33:36 +0000

New Winter Terrain

nycjadie — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:54:01 +0000

I had a visit to Michael’s craft store to scout out for some sale items for winter terrain and had a good day. All of the Christmas Village items were 60% off and we had a coupon for an additional 15% off. I picked up 2 stream sets ($12 each), 4 sets of bare sycamore trees ($3.40 each) and 3 bags of pine trees (only 1 shown open – $5.75 each which comes out to about $.25 a tree). I thought the sycamore trees might be a waste as I was going to build my own, but my wife pointed out that these aren’t made of natural materials and won’t disintegrate. I’m sure you can pick up cheaper items, or even buy these cheaper after Christmas at Michael’s, but we cleaned out all the local store had left. Total for these items (plus 46 more trees that are not shown) was less than $50.

The terrain is for the Roger’s Rangers Battle on Snowshoes miniatures I am producing for Cavalcade Wargames. I plan on producing a roughly 1:1 skirmish game for the battle. The only large item I need now is a winter mat. I think I’m going to make my own out of a vinyl tablecloth, spray paint and fine glitter. I might also add some dead trees and snow covered shrubbery.

On a separate note, I also bought 2 each of their brick and water mats (roughly 18″ by 36″, if I recall) at $5.75 each. The water is planned for a naval game for the Wako Pirates miniatures I’m producing for Cavalcade.

Bulldogs

nycjadie — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:54:54 +0000

I’m a big softy when it comes to bulldogs. You have your French (my favorite), the English, and of course the American. And here, they are all present, all only a few months old.

Cavalade Wargames – Roger’s Rangers

nycjadie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:24:30 +0000

We’ve got new greens for our line of Roger’s Rangers. They’re decked out in snow gear and perfect to game the Battle on Snowshoes. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_on_Snowshoes In fact, you could field Roger’s entire army – 180 men – without breaking the bank.

We’re making some minor modifications on these models and hope to have them for sale shortly.

Best,

Steve

Cavalcade Wargames

cavalcadewargames.com

and Twitter twitter.com/CavalcadeMinis

Roger's Rangers

Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor 1156-1868

nycjadie — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:31:44 +0000

Next week, an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens on Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor. See http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId={F8E9ACA7-5B17-471F-9394-D298E7E53159}. Should be a good show. They’ve got some great pieces in the collection and this looks to be supplemented by some rarely seen pieces. The Met is hailing this as the first exhibition devoted to Japanese Arms and Armor conservation. I’m not sure if that’s true, but it will be great to see some works on paper and many of the spectacular pieces you rarely get to see. I hope to get in there and take some pictures, if possible. Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156–1868 October 21, 2009–January 10, 2010 The Tisch Galleries, 2nd floor.

Photographing Miniatures with an SRL Camera – Part II

nycjadie — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:04:45 +0000

Here are photos of the miniatures, including some from Cavalade Wargames (www.cavalcadewargames.com). I chose the subjects due to the contrast in black and white or the abundance of color.

Cavalcde Goblin Wolfriders

Cavalcde Samurai Orcs

Perry Samurai

Empress Miniatures - Zulu War

Wargames Foundry Orcs

Photographing Miniatures with an SRL Camera – Part I

nycjadie — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:39:49 +0000

My education in photography was with 35mm film on an srl camera. It was completely manual. You needed to set all the settings according to the type of picture you wanted. Since the advent of digital cameras, my photographs have not had the same quality. Most of that is because I’ve always purchased cheap point and shoot cameras. They’re pretty good for family gatherings and some vacation trips, but they’re no substitute for a good srl. For Yom Kippur, I treated myself to an entry-level digital srl camera (a Canon Eos Rebel Xsi) and a 50mm macro lens. The lens was specifically to take macro shots of miniatures. In the last few weeks, I’ve been shooting and reshooting photos for Cavalcade Wargames (www.cavalcadewargames.com) and it’s been a learning lesson. Really, all the technology has changed since I last seriously picked up a camera. Light bulb technology has changed, digital cameras are even more affordable and many things are easily obtained online – such as light boxes. I’ve also learned the limitations of digital point and shoot cameras. So, in my first experiments with my new dsrl camera, I’ve found immediate results.

The new camera is great, but the macro lens is a real boon. To illustrate the real world differences of a regular lens and a macro, here is a two close-ups of my dog Crumpet (some might also refer to her as a miniature). The first is Crumpet on the regular lens with auto settings and a flash. The second is with a macro lens on the macro setting and several other manual setting changes. I chose her because she’s black and white on a black chair. It’s not easy to photograph black and white things and I wanted to test the waters. The macro shot came out great. The lighting on the regular came out too dark. Some of that can be alleviated with the manual settings. Click on the Crumpets to get the full size photo.

Crumpet Macro

Crumpet Regular

Crumpet - Regular (Full)

Cavalcade Wargames Officially Launches

nycjadie — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 03:17:34 +0000

Cavalcade Samurai Orcs

Cavalcade Samurai Goblin Wolfriders

It’s officially day 5 of the launch of Cavalcade Wargames and only now am I making an announcement on my blog! So, we’ve made our first sales, we’ve had some positive feedback, and we’re very excited for the things to come. While this will still be my personal blog, I’ll be posting Cavalcade-specific news items on the Cavalcade website at http://www.cavalcadewargames.com/cavalcade/news/news.html.

We’ve officially opened business with Bob Olley’s Samurai Orcs and Goblin Wolfriders. Here’s a few shots of what’s currently on offer.

Grenadier Miniatures Boxed Sets

nycjadie — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:01:02 +0000

Here’s some photos of some old Grenadier boxed sets I’m offloading, back from the early to mid-1980′s.