What A Tiny Tanker

Memoir 44 tanks

pipe blower

Jim Kibler Colonial Rifle Kit Unboxing

 Rifle kit comes in a custom-made plywood box.  All the small bits and lock were in the cardboard box.  Everything is included.

 Brass parts will need final finishing.

Even though I ordered a plain stock, there is visible curl in the wrist and forearm.

https://www.jimkibler.net/

Sight now installed:

Brass added to patchbox cover:

Some new stuff for Dust 1947

 Some terrain items - a few sandbag positions, and some minefields

 30 points in 30 days?  No problem.  The Bloody Blitz alone fills that need. 

 But I also took a picture of his friend PanzerPrinz next to Big Daddy.

And so the Allies don't get left out, here's a Storm and Sergeant Victory

Paleo Diet time

The Saga of the Hoon Tribe

Hoon, an experienced hunter, recognized with the melting of the snows it was time to take his fellow Hoons on a hunt.  It had been a hard winter, and the tribe was hungry. 

Hoon:  A Crotchety old hunter, he always insists on leading from the front.  He carries a club and likes to set things on fire.  Today he is bringing fire with him.

Thang:  spear-armed twin

Thong:  Thang’s spear-armed twin brother.  Over the winter he has “domesticated” one of the feral dogs that managed not to get eaten.  He calls it “dog”.

Gluck:  The oddball.  He insists on using a contraption made of wood and sinew that (sometimes) throws pointy sticks in the general direction of animals.

Hoon and Thang start at bottom left.  Thong and Gluck start upper left.  A small herd of grazers are attempting to drink from one of the last half-frozen puddles.

Hoon and Thang

Thong, dog, and Gluck

Wind is from upper left corner to lower right corner

For today, all are of the same herd.  I need more figures!

There are icy patches on the ground and all the hunters start hungry.  They may not be able to control themselves once the smell of blood is in the air.

First round:
Hoon leads off by loping in a wide arc to get ahead of the beasts.  He doesn't trigger any reactions.   Thang follows him, splits off between some rocks.
Thong moves in a parallel fashion up top.  Dog forgets what he is supposed to do at first, then follows.  Gluck moves towards some rocks.
Round 2:

Hoon sneaks closer and starts a fire.

Hoon make fire!

Thang gets close enough to stab a beast with his spear.  He misses!  The beast flees.  Not a good start.
Thong goes.  1P 2F.  The closest beast moves away, he's heading for the edge of the board!  The other does nothing.  Thong decides to keep going after his original target and lopes.
Dog gets 2P 1F.  He moves in and attacks! one wound.

The beast flees directly away, almost charging into the fire.

Why is that crazy beast running at me?  Can't he see I have fire?

Everybody on the board sees this.  Everybody is hungry.  Everybody moves toward him.
Gluck tries to go, gets 2 failures.  1st beast flees, trampling the dog.  The dog dodges. 
2nd beast is alarmed, he is moving right along the board edge. 
The fire spreads!

Round 3:
One beast had fled right towards Hoon and his fire. Hoon misses his first attack!  The beast flees. Hoon moves short, will attempt to light a bush next turn.
Thong is in the best position for a kill, so he goes next.  2 successes. He moves a short and attacks the wounded beast.  A 6!  The beast is dead.  One other beast sees this and moves away. (I forgot to trigger the dog on the kill)
Boss, dog and Thang keep their cool, but hunger overcomes Thong and Gluck.  They must spend all future actions loping towards the kill and eating it.
Dog skulks to next beast, attacks, misses.  Beast attacks, misses.
Thang gets 2 successes. He stabs the nearest grazer, 1 wound.  It attacks in return!  The beast can only hit Thang on a 6.  Guess what he rolls?

These beasties aren't supposed to fight back!

Thang takes a wound.
(I missed that everybody should have skulked towards him here).
Gluck (2 Successes) lopes twice to get to the downed beast.  That triggers the other grazer.
He attacks dog again.  Barely misses. 
Fire keeps spreading.

Round 4: 
Hoon goes first.  2S.  He runs a wide arc around the beasts, attempting to head them off.
Thang goes next.  He's wounded, so he only rolls 1 die.  1S.  He kills the beast. 
The other beast sees it go down.  Leaves the board.
(Again, forgot to trigger dog)
Thong 2S.  Moves up and eats beast for 1 bulk.  No longer hungry.
Gluck 1S.  Eats beast for 1 bulk.  No longer hungry.  No more beast.
Fire spreads more slowly.

Round 5:  There's only 1 beast left on the board, and dog is chasing it.
Hoon:  1S 1F.  Beast moves away short.  Hoon lopes.
Thong goes next.  2P 1F.  The failure triggers the beast, who stampedes off the board. 

Final tally:  2 bulk of meat.
Thang has 1 wound.  He rolls for survival and recovers without a problem.
But according to the scenario description, we did kill 2 beasts for 4 hunters, so the hunt is a success!
Thang and Thong both got kills, but Thong lost his head and went for the food.  Thang gets the upgrade for the successful hunt.  Thang now has the "hunter" trait.

Paleo Diet

Sellswords and Spellslingers

My warband tried again:

Sir scarlet starts out with leg wound -1" to movement.  Ranger Ricki was unable to heal, so the party decided to go visit the mountain healer.  But she is being beset by brigands as they arrive!

Oh Lawks!  Who will save Granny Weatherwax?

Deployment:
Brigand horde started on west side near hut. 
Brigand Boss started on south side near edge. 
My group decided to start on south edge and attack boss first, then hit horde after they hit the hut.

Should be an easy kill?

for once Ricki started sober
Ricki Ranger went first: 2P 1F 
First card drawn: Thats a big one.  Boss brigand now has 3HP.
Second card:  Reinforcements.  Nobody off board, so no problem.
Ricki does an aimed shot, hits him for 1
Sir Scarlet 2P 1F.
Failure card:  He's Loaded!  Brigand boss has lots of gold bling. 
Sir Scarlet starts hobbling toward boss
Thief Corsi:  2P 1F
Failure:  Horde activates.  They start moving towards the hut.
Corsi runs close to Chief but does not engage
Tim: 2F 1P
1st card:  Wandering Monster!  Right off the bat.  And he drops in right next to Tim and Ricki, within 2".
We don't have the money for a bribe.  He attacks Ricki.  She rolls a 1, but she doesn't have a shield.  One wound.
2nd card:  Horde activates, moves towards hut.
Tim wisely moves 4" away.  Sorry Ricki.

Sir scarlet activates:  3F
Mana Flux:  all rolls +2!
Horde activates and gets to the door of the hut
Monster Frenzy!
Horde doesn't break down door.
Minotaur attacks Ricki  She goes down, out of the fight
Boss attacks Corsi.  He evades
Tim:  2P 1F
reinforcements:  No minions dead yet, so no problem
Tim has 2 activations, and it looks like Ricki is dead.  He decides to magic the hell out of the minotaur, since he feels so powerful.
Fireball!  Hit, 2 dmg to minotaur
Fireball!  Critical hit, minotaur is down.
What about ricki?
Corsi: 1P 1F
failure:  Wandering monster - he's dead.  Reshuffle.
Corsi shanks the boss for 1 wound

Scarlet:  2P 1F
Failure:  They are at our backs!  No minions dead yet.
Starts heading towards Hut
Tim:  2P 1F
Monster activates!  Boss attacks Corsi.  Corsi gets a 20.  Boss is down. 
Tim runs to help Scarlet.
Corsi:  3P and a 20!
Loots boss:  20SP
With his other activations, he could make it all the way to the horde, but wisely chooses to stop short.

Tim 3P
Hobbles into battle and attacks the horde.
Takes a wound.
Corsi 3P
1 to move into battle and attack twice.
takes 1 wound, kills 1
Tim:  2P 1F
Ambush!  1 minion jumps Tim.  He rolls a 1.  Tim takes a wound.  He attacks back.  Brigand is down.  Tim loots. 11 SP.

Scarlet:  1P 2F
reinforcements:  1 brigand appears
Scenario event!  The hut is on fire! 

Well, crap

Healer will now activate with Scarlet.
She dodges the fire. 
Scarlet kills a brigand.  1 left. 
Corsi goes for a big activation.  If he kills the last brigand, we win.
1P 2F.  Really, Corsi?
Failure 1:  Ambush!  A brigand attacks Tim.  He barely dodges, kills the brigand.
Failure 2: Monster activates.  Since single hordlig is last left on board, he attacks Corsi.  Corsi takes a wound.
Corsi counter-attacks.  Kills last brigand.  11SP for him. 

group:  7 SP for 2 other brigands. 25 for Minotaur plus battleaxe (80SP)
Ricki survived at a 14. 

scarlet 2 wounds
Corsi 1 wound
Tim 1 wound
Ricki 2 wounds

The healer will start training Ricki, when she gets 5XP she can start making healing potions.  5XP later she can be a full alchemist. 
But this game only the other 3 characters gain XP.

Sellswords and Spellslingers

S & S stats for my first warband. 

Not bothering with pictures, as these are all old Descent figures. 

Wizard, Warrior, Ranger and Thief 

Tim the Wizard (20)
Spellcaster
Fireball spell
-Taking spellcaster off the bat is a huge hit on your XP.  I like the way Miles did it below

Sir Scarlet the Warrior (13)
Fighter:  Mace 1
Armor 1
Shield 1
Glory Hound
weapon:  mace
-This guy is fun.  Between his shield and armor rolls, he can stay in a fight 

Corsi the Thief (16)
Fighter:  Knife 1
Acrobat 1
Stealth
weapon:  knife
-just snuck across the board, hasn't had a chance to shine yet

Ricki Ranger (10)
Archery 1
Forester
Healer 2
Heavy Drinker
-She was fun.  Started her first game with a bad hangover.  After she took a wound and sobered up she started being more effective.  The Healer trait is very helpful.  Whenever possible we use her to check on downed PCs.

Miles went a different route.  Spellcaster is a very expensive trait

Thief (died on the board) (12)
Fighter:  Knife 1
Acrobat 1
Traps 1
weapon: knife
-Guy got swarmed and mauled right off the bat.  Never made it off the starting line.

Wizard lite (13)
Spellreader
Fight:  Staff
Weapon:  staff (crushing)
Scroll:  Frostblast
-Although he only could read one spell, he did have some combat capability with his staff.

Warrior 1 (29)
Fight: 2-handed Axe 1
Hero
Strength 2
weapon:  2-handed axe
-Big burly dude with one giant weakness:  No armor!  That's Miles' highest priority now, get this guy some protection.

Warrior 2 (10)
Fighter:  Spear 1
Shield 2
Clumsy
weapon:  spear
-This model had a tower shield so the stats worked well.  And (Miles' luck), this guy pulled the "Loss of Balance" card twice in one game!  

motorhome fire

Figures for Paleo Diet

I needed figures in a hurry for Paleo Diet, the new Ganesha Game.  

Paleo Diet - Eat or be Eaten

Looking around, I had a bunch of Descent figures not being used any more. 

The Spear and Club men were Descent Beastmen, with toothpicks added.  The Archer was a Descent Skeleton Archer.  I used greenstuff to add hair to his bald skull.  Maybe archers shave their heads as a sign of their craft?

And here is their first "domesticated" animal.  This took a lot of cutting parts off of the Descent Fire Wolf creature (or whatever he is).  Had to get rid of the flaming tail, and most of the back hump.  Still a work in progress.

Now for the Huntees.  Most figures came from a "tube" pack of prehistoric creatures from my local Michael's Craft Store.  I just based them on styrene bits, did not do any repainting.  

First, an apex predator and his mate.

Next, a giant grazer.  This was a stand-alone figure from Michael's.  A bit out of size, but he would work as a Steppe Mammoth

A baby mammoth?  And a generic herd-beast.  Might buy a couple more tubes to get more of these.

These are the other figures from the tube.  Haven't based them up yet.  But I think we should hunt the giant sloth...

And finally, the rules contain a large section about fire and its use.  I made up a few fire markers (1 short on each side), and a way to designate if a club-carrier was using fire.

Thor Battery Control Center Fix

Solar on the Hurricane, Part 2

Well, the hardware bit arrived so it was time for a late afternoon install.

The dead center of the roof had the least obstructions.  It was also the shortest run from the fridge vent, so I actually ended up with about 6 feet of excess cable.

Put the panels where I wanted them, marked the area, then moved the panels and cleaned the spots.

(When I say "I", I mean "WE", because the 14 year old actually conquered his fear of heights and came up.  Made 5 trips up and down the ladder for me!)

After cleaning, laid down a chunk of Eternabond tape under each Z-bracket, then drilled 3/8" holes.

Once holes were drilled, I put a blob of caulk in each hole, then put the rubber well-nuts in.  This was the hardest part of the operation.  The wellnuts were very reluctant to go in the hole.  The final solution that worked best:  Insert screw into wellnut, tighten just a couple threads so it is connected.  Push that mess into the hole.  Wipe off excess caulk and remove the screw.

Very messy.  But once in place, we just dropped the panels back over top and all the screws snugged right up.  A lot of prep work but the install was easy.

BUT:  I attached one end of the first panel before realizing I hadn't connected the 2 panels.  Thankfully my small helper could snake his hand under the panel and grab the connectors. 

Here's the 2 Z-brackets, in a position to drive all OCD people crazy.  The panels themselves are only about 1/8 inch offset.  The brackets have some play in them.  The bracket is sitting on top of the Eternabond tape.  The white goo is the caulk pushing up around it.  Stainless Steel screws were recommended, but zinc plated was all I could find.  All screw heads were covered in a healthy glob of caulk afterwards.

Renogy makes a big deal of recommending these rubber wellnuts instead of just screwing into the 1/4" plywood roof.  Just for fun, I took an extra one and cinched it up under some scrap plywood.  Definitely looks worth the effort.

Other steps not shown:  

padding the wires as they went into the roof vent

using expanding foam on the various holes I drilled to route the wires

Oh, and half an hour after the top picture was taken, once everything was buttoned up, I was still getting 15 volts on the panels, even with one shaded by the house.

Solar on the Hurricane, Part One

This is part one of the Solar Install on my 2009 Four Winds Hurricane 34B

Purchased the Renogy 200W "Premium" kit.  

This kit comes with monocrystal panels and an MPPT controller.

renogy-200-watt-12-volt-solar-premium-kit/

The inverter is still an option.  We did find a couple issues right off the bat:

• 20 feet of cable isn't enough for this motorhome layout.  Ordered extension cables
• The remote only has 6 feet of cable.  I couldn't move the controller inside.  
• Renogy ships the z-brackets with self-tapping screws, then says not to use them on RV roofs.  Now waiting on another order of fasteners.

Started by mounting the controller unit.  Renogy recommends vertical mounting, but there wasn't quite enough room.  It's as high and protected as possible.  Nice 20-amp fuse as part of the kit.  

It's pretty important to hook up the controller to the batteries before the panels, so I just started at this end and worked backwards. 

Next is the remote head-unit.  It uses RS485 connectors, not RJ45 (ethernet).  With only a 6 foot cable, I couldn't go far.  Put the unit in the pass-through storage ahead of the batteries.  It has an aluminum brace behind it in case stuff slides around.  

This is not my final solution, I want the head unit inside. 

Now it's time to start routing the PV wires.  Cable clamps just behind the charge controller to start things off.  Hooked everything up to one panel first just to make sure it works.

Routed the cables across the underside, above the frame rails.  Followed other wiring looms as much as possible.  Battery box is on the driver side of the vehicle, under a large slideout.  Best roof access is further aft on the passenger side, using the fridge stack vent.  So wires went across the undercarriage.  Underneath the fridge is the propane tank, and a storage compartment just in front.  I followed the propane lines.

Here are the propane lines coming in to the storage compartment, then exiting the top into the body of the coach.  I added a new hole for the wires.  Still to do:  rubber grommet and new foam insulation. 

The wires entering the coach.  This will be a good place to add the extension cable.  

From here, the cable will continue:

Up into the fridge area, then on up the stack to the roof.

But all that is waiting for Part II, the Need for More Parts...

Edit:
The sequel is here:  Solar part 2