Some Projects are marked by big life events

 January of 2022 was going to be a big month in my life.  Little did I know my son Peter was going to be born that month.  He was due in March but complications in my wife's pregnancy led to him being born 6 weeks early.  So my "Live Free or Die" project will always be very special too me because of his birth.  

This is my son 4 weeks after he was born.  He just had the feeding tube removed.

So Little Wars TV was very influential in my early months in the hobby and their rule set "Live Free or Die," looked amazing in their Brandywine episode in 2021.  Of course I had to try it.  But what scale do I pick?  What Miniatures do I use?  How do I base them?  I ended up buying my Rev war collection in 15mm from Old Glory Miniatures.  I took advantage of their 40% off for members and I took the next 6 months buying my collection and getting ready to paint them.  (Don't tell my wife it cost over $400). That is a secret between us.  No this is only the 2nd collection I ever painted.  So they are not perfect but I am proud of them because they we a great improvement over my Civil war miniatures.  

I used 20mm mdf bases, mounted my miniatures with Quickcrete Concrete patch.  Gives a nice solid base and looks like earth when painted brown.  It is also the first time I flocked the bases.  For me these looked great and I was getting excited to play.

I even hand painted my own flags.  I bought cheap cloth material from Wal Mart and hand painted each flag.  They are far from perfect but I do believe the early  flags had imperfections too.  Then Peter was born in a whirlwind moment if my life.

He was just over 4 lbs. and the next 4 weeks of my life would be to take care of him and his mother in the ICU and NICU.  And during the waiting I painted miniatures in the Hospital.

This is why my "live free or die" AWI set is special to me.  It was during a life changing event in my life that these miniatures I will never sell, repaint or rebase.  They are wonderfully made just the way they are.