Lord of The Rings Miniatures Gallery

One of the things that I love to do, but seldom have time for, is paint miniatures.  I don't claim to be the best painter, but I am very happy with how my skills have progressed over the last eight years.  So here are a few pictures of some things I've done in the past.  I will occasionally post galleries in lieu of posts, some of recently-painted minis, others which I painted years ago.

1/15/2014

Boromir of Gondor

Clearly, I spent more time on this angle than the
front of the miniature. 

Gandalf the Grey

Photo credits to my lovely wife, who
arranged these snapshots.

Trivial Pursuits- The NFL

Many Americans have a comprehensive understanding of how the National Football League is structured.  However, imagine a scenario with me...

The National Football League is the organization
responsible for the regulation of the highest level
of professional American Football.

Someone close to you (boyfriend, father-in-law, etc.) is absolutely hooked when it comes to football, but you can't tell a hash-mark from a halftime show.  For some reason, it is required for you to reach-out to this football maniac, and you think that this might be a good bonding-point... If only you could appreciate the subtle differences between the New England Patriots and the Texas Longhorns (just so you know, one is a college team). This Trivial Pursuit should help you to understand how the NFL is organized in terms of who plays whom, but it won't do anything to help you understand the game itself.

The NFL is divided in two ways, first by Conference, and then by geographic location.  Let's start the breakdown.  There are two conferences in the NFL: The American Football Conference (AFC), and the National Football Conference (NFC).  Each conference contains sixteen professional teams, which combined make-up the thirty-two team NFL.  The origin of both conferences is found in the 1966 merger between the National Football League and the American Football League.  Up until that point, the two Leagues were not associated, but in an effort to consolidate, they merged.  The teams from the old NFL stayed together as the NFC, and the old AFL became the AFC.  Of course, the name of the two consolidated leagues remained the NFL, so don't get confused between the old NFL (NFC) and the new NFL (NFC and AFC).  

Now for the second way that the NFL is divided: Geographically.  Each Conference is divided into four geographic regions of four teams each- North, South, East, and West (4+4+4+4=16; 16x2=32 NFL Teams). These four units within each Conference are called Divisions.  Here is a quick breakdown of each division.

The logo of the National Football Conference.

NFC East:                                                    NFC North:

Dallas Cowboys                                           Chicago Bears

New York Giants                                         Detroit Lions

Philadelphia Eagles                                       Green Bay Packers

Washington Redskins                                   Minnesota Vikings

NFC South:                                                 NFC West:

Atlanta Falcons                                            Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers                                        St. Louis Rams

New Orleans Saints                                     San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers                               Seattle Seahawks

The logo of the American Football Conference.

AFC East:                                                   AFC North:

Buffalo Bills                                                 Baltimore Ravens

Miami Dolphins                                           Cincinnati Bengals

New England Patriots                                  Cleveland Browns

New York Jets                                            Pittsburgh Steelers

AFC South:                                                 AFC West:

Houston Texans                                          Denver Broncos 

Indianapolis Colts                                       Kansas City Chiefs

Jacksonville Jaguars                                   Oakland Raiders

Tennessee Titans                                        San Diego Chargers

'What's the point?' you ask.  Why lay-out which teams are in which division, and why does it matter to you?  Because it helps to know why each team plays the opponents they do (believe it or not, it isn't random).  Each team plays sixteen games in a seventeen-week season, with one week off.  Of those sixteen games, six are played against other teams from the same Division (two each).  Another six games are played against teams within that same Conference (one each).  Finally, each team, over the course of a football season, will play four games against teams from the opposite Conference (one each).  Therefore, out of sixteen games played by a given team, twelve are played against teams from the same Conference, six of which are from the same Division and six from other Divisions, with a further four games played against teams from the opposite Conference. 

A brief recap might help.  There are four teams to a Division, four Divisions to a Conference, and two Conferences in the NFL.  Therefore, there are thirty-two teams in the NFL.  Any given team will play sixteen games in a season, three-quarters against teams from the same Conference, one-quarter against teams from the opposite Conference.  Each team gets one week-off during the season where they play no game. 

So the next time your football-crazed family-member wants to bond over some gridiron action, remember this Trivial Pursuit, and enjoy the game. 

Trivial Pursuits- The Schlieffen Plan

Imagine with me for a moment:

You are having dinner at the house of someone with whom you have nothing in common (in-laws, boss, distant cousins, etc.).  Apart from the clink of glasses, the clearing of throats, and the awkward sounds of chewing and swallowing, there is no sound.  You try not to make eye-contact with the already-irritable host, lest you be compelled to tell him about your comprehensive five-year plan for economic success.  Carefully, you flit your eyes upward, trying to catch sight of the grandfather clock in the hallway-- do you really have to stay for dessert?-- to see that it's only 7:33.  As you move your eyes back to your plate of rubbery chicken and overcooked green beans, thinking about that other thing you could be doing, you lock eyes with your host (think cranky boss).  They raise their eyebrows, obviously desiring some form of human communication.  You open your mouth and all that comes out is a gurgling sound reminiscent of a small animal being strangled.

This blog post, and those that are sure to follow, will prevent you from making a gurgling sound in someone's dining-room.

The Schlieffen Plan, the German plan for the invasion of
France designed in 1904 and executed in 1914.  The purpose
of this strategy was to avoid the French line of defense.

In the Summer of 1914, Germany invaded the neutral nations of Luxembourg and Belgium in an effort to bypass French defenses along the Franco-German border.  These defenses had been built as a direct result of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1), in which Germany put the French to shame.  The French reasoned that if they could build an elaborate string of well-defended fortresses on the border, any attempted invasion would be thwarted by sheer force of defense.  The German counter-strategy was sinfully basic-- they would go around the complex network of heavily-defended fortresses, rendering them useless.  Their plan, originally developed in 1904, was called The Schlieffen Plan, after its architect.

Of course, in order to bypass the French defenses, which ran all the way to the Franco-Belgian border, the Germans would have to invade neutral Belgium.  The original plan of the German government was to ask politely whether or not the Belgians would allow Germany the use of their o-so-splendid railway system.  The Germans, however, learned that in no uncertain terms the Belgians were not interested.  So the Germans thought 'What have we got to lose?' and marched on Belgium anyway.  The move allowed the majority of the German Army to come down behind French lines, in a drive straight to Paris.  The Germans would fail to reach the city after a tactical blunder allowed the French and British forces time to reorganize, resulting in the Battle of the Marne.  The Germans would never reach Paris.  After the Marne, the battle-lines would largely stabilize, leading to the now-infamous trench warfare.

So my friends, the next time you are expected to fill an awkward silence, you have no excuses.  Remember the German invasion of France, and you should be able to fill the time long enough to stimulate someone else to trivial conversation.