There is no place like a pre-painted home whose roof can come off for gaming.  Or something like that.  While I was at Gen Con this year, I passed by this booth of pre painted buildings for all sorts of genres.  Their roofs can come off.  Their second floors can come off.  They are sturdy and deigned for gaming.  I thought about buying one, but bought the whole set, plus an outhouse and a boat.  It’s not that I’m doing a lot of gaming lately, although I am really thinking of doing something for a local gaming convention that uses the buildings and my army of painted duck people.  (I’m still working on the idea, basically I have this large rubber duck of Hideki Matsui jokingly called Hiducky.  I think he might make a good dragon mini.)

No, the real reason is that I must go against the true nemesis of mini painters … Victorian Christmas Dioramas.  I will counter this with a Christmas Diorama of my own with pine trees, and houses and all sorts of adventurers displayed on the fireplace, hopefully with some lights added in for effect.  It is in that spirit that I present my current attempt of the diorama on the fireplace.

I should point out that this photo represents all of the cardinal sins of mini photography, including the use of a flash.  Oddly enough it came out pretty good; you really can’t tell how bad a painter I am from the photo.  As I like to put it, I paint for old eyes, the older, (and the less accurate) the better!