Ships of the Sea Museum

A few days ago I decided to go to the Ships of the Sea Museum here in Savannah. As one can guess this a museum on ships and features some very nice models. The last time I was at this museum was over twenty years ago when it was still on River Street. I didn't get any pictures back then, but I did now.

First room of the Museum

The steam liner Pulaski. Over 290 people were killed when the boiler of this ship exploded and broke the it into 3 pieces.

One of the Ironclad models.

Another Ironclad model. This one of the CSA Savannah.

On the bottom floor there is a display dedicated to ships in bottles.

More ships in bottles.

The Titanic

Another model I found interesting.

At the time I visited, the museum was hosting an art exhibit dedicated to the Savannah River. One the artist made artwork only from trash he had found along the river's bank. Here we have the lighter fish.

In installation made with more junk.

An early doctors surgical kit.

A whale died to give you this politically incorrect ship model.

A model of a WWII tanker.

Just down from the tanker was this model of a Liberty ship. Below it you can see a model of the nuclear powered merchant ship Savannah.

On of the highlights of the trip was this very large model of the cruiser USS Savannah. The Savannah had a little fame having survive a hit from a radio controled glide bomb during the Salerno landings.

Here's a picture of the ships aft.

In the last room I visited was this large and lite model of the Titanic sinking.

Overall a nice way to waste a couple of hours. Now for some gaming news. I've still got a number of scenarios ready for Shipwreck. I'm hoping to do one of them sometime in the next month. I'm also very close to finishing my HOTT army. After that I'm planning to make some more Megablitz units.

Gnomecon 3

Last weekend we had Gnomecon 3 here in Savannah. Unfortunately I didn't get to do much gaming, but I did get several pictures. Though its a bit late (I've been sick) here are the pictures.

Day 1: I was only able to stay for an hour or two before I had to go to work.

Michael was running this Distopian Wars game.



Martian Walkers advancing.

An Iron Arena Game, with some nice terrain.

Some very nice terrain from Impudent Mortal.

This year's door greeter with his lunch.

 Day 2: Was able to stay longer. Unfortunately Star Dust, the game I want to play, was cancelled. I did take some more pictures though.

Michael running another game of Distopian Wars. This time a naval scenarios.

Like last year, there were a large number of Warmachine players.

A large game of Star Trek.

A Memoir 44 Game

An Ogre game. Hard to believe someone actually spend the $200 for that box. Then again there's suckers everywhere.

 Day 3: I actually got to play Legion Strike this day. I ended up cancelling my Shipwreck game to try and sell stuff at the flea market.

The terrain set up for Strike Legion.  We ended up only using the right side of the table.

Michael had a large defense scenario set up, but all of the players hadn't played Strike Legion before. So he set up a quick demo game instead. Here are my forces, 2 Medium Grav tank battalions and 1 light grav tank battalion, fighting the enemy green troops.

All my tanks lined up for a mass attack. Unfortunately I would lose too many tanks to continue the game.

So that's what happen last weekend. Hopefully next year I'll be able to do more gaming. In the meantime I've got several Shipwreck games ready, I just need the time off.

Cold War Classics

A little while ago I order some new aircraft for Shipwreck. I decided to expand my early cold war forces with some aircraft from the 50s and 60s. Instead of painting them as needed as I usually do I decided to paint them all at once. Here's a look.

First we have the small aircraft. A group of hunter fighters, a group of Gannet ASW aircraft, and finally a group of MiG-17 fighters.

 The hunters and Migs are going to very useful as both were used in the early cold war by NATO and the Warsaw Pact. They were also use extensively by several third world countries in later years.



Now for the larger aircraft we have a group of Canberra bombers, a Shackleton ASW aircraft, and a C-130.

The Canberra was a workhorse aircraft that was deployed by several countries throughout the cold war period. The same can be said of the C-130, which is still in use today. Anyway that's what is new this week. I'm now getting ready for Gnomecon this weekend. I'm a little bummed that my friend Christian won't be able to get to my Shipwreck game. I am planing to tryout his Stardust game on Saturday. Should be fun

More Ships

I managed to get some painting done this weekend. These are my early British and Indonesian ships. I'm not sure if I'll use them for Gnome Con yet. The scenario I got in mind may not work to well for a convention game. Anyway here's the pictures.

First we have the early British ships: a Type 61 class frigate, a Type 41 class frigate, and 2 ton class minesweepers

For my Indonesian fleet I have a Riga class frigate, 2 Kronstadt patrol craft, and 4 P-6 PT boats.

I also expanded my merchant fleet with a ferry and fleet of 6 trawlers. Note the names.

Finally for my air units, I've added a group of Su-17 attack aircraft.

I hope to use at least some of these units soon. I've also have about half of my HOTT army painted.

It rained on my parade Part 2

Here are some more pictures from the St. Patrick's day parade.

The 2 trucks from the Savannah Fire Department.

The Harley Davidson Float.

It's the Pink Panther!

Yet another pirate ship.

A Clydesdale unit. In the past the Budweiser Clydesdale's would be in the parade, but they couldn't make it this year.

Once All the units are set and moving, the adjutant staff follows behind making the end of the parade.

The crowds in front of the Cathedral. Very thin this year due to the rain.

The WTOC news station with it's multiple cameras.

My ex-brother in law.

You never know what you'll see on Bay Street

More of the spectators that were wiling to brave the rain.

It rained on my Parade Part 1

Yesterday was St. Patrick's day. St. Patrick's day is a BIG deal in Savannah and to my family. One of the biggest parts of the celebration is the St. Patrick's day Parade that I, as a member of the parade committee adjutant staff, helped set up. I've been doing this for about 15 years along side my father who's been doing this for over 30. He was brought on by my grandfather who was a member back in the 60's. Here are some of  the pictures from this year's parade.

We started the day before with the Jasper Green ceremony. This is a ceremony named after Colonial hero Sargent William Jasper and honors Irish American Veterans. It starts with a procession down Bull Street and ends with a wreath laying.

3rd Infantry Division Band practicing.

The Scottish American Military Society color guard.

The Flags of Ireland.

A regular visitor, the Irish Air Corps band steps off.

 Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the wreath laying and awards. The next morning me, dad, and the other adjutants met at a hotel to eat breakfast. It was raining, but that wasn't going to stop the 2nd largest St. Patrick's day parade in the US.



Me in my awesome adjutant's uniform.

 The part I work on is the floats some most of following pictures will be of them.

Shriner Hillbillies start to arrive.

Big Truck

Another Shriners car

Being a port city, Savannah a long nautical history as well as a history in pirates. This could be seen in the many ship/pirate themed floats.

Then their were the many animals, such as...

Living traffic cones.

Polar Bears

Green Goats

Another regular visitor is the Well's Fargo stage coach.

I'll post the rest of the pictures up in the next post.