Well...somehow...I won the Paint Hammer March Painting Challenge.
I entered the classic Orc Shaman on War Wyvern from Games Workshop Citadel Miniatures, circa 1991, described here in this post.
I have no idea how I won. Pretty awesome.
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Dutch Plans
This is just a post to keep track of my (potential) plans for the Dutch army. It's mostly incoherent.
2 regiments of Coehorn
1 regiment either Nassau Friesland or Orange Friesland
1 Nassau Carmine
1 Grenadiers Orange Friesland
Miniature Inventory:
Horse 6 Officers Mounted 12 stands
Dragoons: 4 officers mounted, 8 stands
4 grenadiers unpainted
12 infantry unpainted
4 artillery unpainted
3 command bases mounted unpainted
6 standard/drummers/officers unpainted
2 regiments of Coehorn
1 regiment either Nassau Friesland or Orange Friesland
1 Nassau Carmine
1 Grenadiers Orange Friesland
Miniature Inventory:
Horse 6 Officers Mounted 12 stands
Dragoons: 4 officers mounted, 8 stands
4 grenadiers unpainted
12 infantry unpainted
4 artillery unpainted
3 command bases mounted unpainted
6 standard/drummers/officers unpainted
Saturday, March 12, 2016
Orc Shaman on Wyvern
This is a project I've wanted to tackle for decades but I never had the guts to
a) assemble this large metal model
or
b) attempt to paint such an iconic figure.
I found it at a flea market a few years ago (specifically, Wally's Basement at Fall-In historical wargaming convention in Lancaster PA) for $20; somehow less than the original 1992 list price!
Over this past christmas I finally decided to give it a shot. Three months later I finally finished it. I wanted to paint it as close to the original box as possible. Even though that early 90s Orc and Goblins style was very red and cartoony, it's what's stuck in my memory and always what I envisioned for this figure.
The only major change I made was to simplify the color palette: I opted for a plain, brown fur hide for the saddle instead of the zebra pattern. I always thought the zebra pattern looked too busy and you lost sight of the actual rider.
a) assemble this large metal model
or
b) attempt to paint such an iconic figure.
I found it at a flea market a few years ago (specifically, Wally's Basement at Fall-In historical wargaming convention in Lancaster PA) for $20; somehow less than the original 1992 list price!
Over this past christmas I finally decided to give it a shot. Three months later I finally finished it. I wanted to paint it as close to the original box as possible. Even though that early 90s Orc and Goblins style was very red and cartoony, it's what's stuck in my memory and always what I envisioned for this figure.
The only major change I made was to simplify the color palette: I opted for a plain, brown fur hide for the saddle instead of the zebra pattern. I always thought the zebra pattern looked too busy and you lost sight of the actual rider.
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| I first saw this box over 25 years ago... |
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| First set of test scales... |
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| I was probably about 75% done at this point |
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| The finished product |
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| Raaargh! |
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| taking center stage in the greenskin horde... |
Thursday, January 14, 2016
The Defense of Embrun
In a surprise appearance, the Bretonnian player from our long-dormant campaign will be making an appearance this weekend with a painted army.
And so, we pick up were we left off, sort of. It's scary that the Clash of Hordes game was posted in Jan 2015...about one year ago. We really need to play more!
Anyway, quick background to set the scene for the game.
After Waaagh Gorfang routed the Skaven horde, he sacked the small town of Summersall Fort. News of the raid quickly spread to nearby farming village Embrun. Luckly, Lord Parravon had finally returned from campaign in Lustria and roused the defense. The greenskin horde was quite large at this point and the Bretonnians new they were coming.
We'll be using Age of Sigmar rules, but still set in the Old World (or World that Was).
Battle report to follow!
And so, we pick up were we left off, sort of. It's scary that the Clash of Hordes game was posted in Jan 2015...about one year ago. We really need to play more!
Anyway, quick background to set the scene for the game.
After Waaagh Gorfang routed the Skaven horde, he sacked the small town of Summersall Fort. News of the raid quickly spread to nearby farming village Embrun. Luckly, Lord Parravon had finally returned from campaign in Lustria and roused the defense. The greenskin horde was quite large at this point and the Bretonnians new they were coming.
Battle report to follow!
Monday, December 14, 2015
Latest Dutch Units
I realized that if I wanted to start gaming Maurice I really needed to get more units completed for my 6mm War of Spanish Succession (WSS) project. I made a minor basing change - originally I had based my first two units on four individual 25mm square Renedra bases. After playing one game with these, I decided to switch to 50mm by 25 rectangular bases, two per unit. I made the change for two reasons: 1) the bases were two thin for such small units - it's easier to pick up the 3mm thick bases and 2) the bases just look better on longer rectangular bases.
After that decision was settled, I had to decide on what regiments to paint them in. In the end, I went with another regular unit representing Nassau-Usingen, and a grenadier unit from Orange-Friesland.
Here's a few pics.
After that decision was settled, I had to decide on what regiments to paint them in. In the end, I went with another regular unit representing Nassau-Usingen, and a grenadier unit from Orange-Friesland.
Here's a few pics.
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| Both units - grenadiers on the left |
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| Orange-Friesland grenadier unit |
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| Nassau-Usingen infantry unit |
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| above shot |
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Project Greatswords: Part 2
So more than one year after I began my project to build a unit of greatswords with alternative miniatures, I'm finally done. Well, mostly done. I still need to add a standard bearer and musician, but that's for another project. The unit is now 18 strong and ready to be varnished for protection.
As I mentioned before I really never liked the GW greatswords in any of their incarnations. And once the "new" Empire army book came out for 6th edition, the Reiksguard Knights on Foot disappeared forever from the army list.
After lots of hunting, I settled on a collection of figs from various manufacturers: some dismounted men-at-arms from Front Rank miniatures Hundred Years War range, men-at-arms from Wargames Foundry War of the Roses line, and some dismounted nobles from Steel Fist miniatures 15th Century Nobles line. As the unit champ, I lucked out with a single fig from Wargames Foundry that was included free with my order of some other stuff. Score!
This link will show some of the work-in-progress shots, as well as the variety of sizes I was dealing with. For the most part, everything was compatible. But the Foundry figs were from the mid-80s and noticeably smaller. I boosted them up by mounting them on pennies before basing them. Not the greatest result, but those guys were mainly to fill out the unit cheaply.
Here's some pics of the final results.
My favorite fig out of the whole group is easily the Steel Fist guy in the center of the below pic with the holly leaves on top of his helmet.
As I mentioned before I really never liked the GW greatswords in any of their incarnations. And once the "new" Empire army book came out for 6th edition, the Reiksguard Knights on Foot disappeared forever from the army list.
After lots of hunting, I settled on a collection of figs from various manufacturers: some dismounted men-at-arms from Front Rank miniatures Hundred Years War range, men-at-arms from Wargames Foundry War of the Roses line, and some dismounted nobles from Steel Fist miniatures 15th Century Nobles line. As the unit champ, I lucked out with a single fig from Wargames Foundry that was included free with my order of some other stuff. Score!
This link will show some of the work-in-progress shots, as well as the variety of sizes I was dealing with. For the most part, everything was compatible. But the Foundry figs were from the mid-80s and noticeably smaller. I boosted them up by mounting them on pennies before basing them. Not the greatest result, but those guys were mainly to fill out the unit cheaply.
Once I get the standard bearer and musician dilemma sorted out my plan is to rank these guys up 5 wide, 4 deep. The background of the unit is the personal guard of Baron Edmund "The Absent". They bear his colors of blue and yellow. To represent this, I alternated the colors of the sword scabbards. Some guys have yellow, some blue. The champion has the blue and yellow feathers, and the Captain , Dieter Krup usually joins the unit in battle (also blue and yellow).
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| Unit champ with feathers was the free Foundry fig! |
My favorite fig out of the whole group is easily the Steel Fist guy in the center of the below pic with the holly leaves on top of his helmet.
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Friday, August 28, 2015
Age of Sigmar...Redux
Fresh off the heels of our first game of Age of Sigmar we got together and played game last night. It was, again, High Elves vs Empire, but this time we used some of the advice in the Warhammer podcasts and the Internets: play a scenario, use lots of terrain, and have some limit on army composition. We decided to keep it simple and just limit the number of Wounds in each army to 80. We used no other restrictions, but I sent my list over to Rookie Wargamer beforehand so he had a sense of what I was bringing. This was a natural comp and produced two pretty balanced armies.
We played a pretty simple scenario. There was a large, strange rock in the center of the board. Objective was to capture the rock as it may potentially be warpstone or some other useful rock-like item. At the end of the game, add up the total number of models within 3 inches of the rock (can't be a single character, war machine, or unit with less than 5 models, i think is what we agreed to). Whoever has most models, wins. Any other result is a draw. The other thing we learned was to ditch the rule that says all terrain pieces have to roll for an effect on the Terrain Table. It's just too much stuff to remember during the game. So we picked two pieces of terrain, and rolled for those. The farmhouse on my side of the table (empire side) and the far hill on the Elf side with the Bolt Thrower and Elf Mage. Both rolls were "Mystical" which basically meant any unit within 3 inches, in the Hero Phase had to roll a die. On a 2-6 they got a buff, on a roll of a 1 they were "befuddled". As the game went on the elves on the hill were befuddled almost every turn. It was kinda funny.
We divided the table up straight down the center in two halves on either side of the road, with deployment zones on each of the far edges. Because of the road, it made for a bit of a zig-zag deployment which was cool.
I wanted to try out the "battalion" rules and brought a State Troop Detachment battalion of an Empire General on foot, unit of 18 swordsmen, unit of 12 halberdiers, 10 Hunstmen Archers, and 5 Pistoliers. With the Detachment was also a unit of 5 Knights, a Battle Wizard, a Battle Standard Bearer (General with War Banner), and my newly painted Helblaster Volley Gun. (i'll follow up with a post about that later...)
With one game under our belt, we got started pretty quickly. The simple rules make this game super easy to pick up. You rarely pick up the rules to check stuff. After about two turns you pretty much remember everything. The only real hiccup is that you're referring to all the special rules in the warscrolls. That can be a little annoying. But like anything, once you play enough with the same army you'll memorize almost everything.
We played a pretty simple scenario. There was a large, strange rock in the center of the board. Objective was to capture the rock as it may potentially be warpstone or some other useful rock-like item. At the end of the game, add up the total number of models within 3 inches of the rock (can't be a single character, war machine, or unit with less than 5 models, i think is what we agreed to). Whoever has most models, wins. Any other result is a draw. The other thing we learned was to ditch the rule that says all terrain pieces have to roll for an effect on the Terrain Table. It's just too much stuff to remember during the game. So we picked two pieces of terrain, and rolled for those. The farmhouse on my side of the table (empire side) and the far hill on the Elf side with the Bolt Thrower and Elf Mage. Both rolls were "Mystical" which basically meant any unit within 3 inches, in the Hero Phase had to roll a die. On a 2-6 they got a buff, on a roll of a 1 they were "befuddled". As the game went on the elves on the hill were befuddled almost every turn. It was kinda funny.
We divided the table up straight down the center in two halves on either side of the road, with deployment zones on each of the far edges. Because of the road, it made for a bit of a zig-zag deployment which was cool.
I wanted to try out the "battalion" rules and brought a State Troop Detachment battalion of an Empire General on foot, unit of 18 swordsmen, unit of 12 halberdiers, 10 Hunstmen Archers, and 5 Pistoliers. With the Detachment was also a unit of 5 Knights, a Battle Wizard, a Battle Standard Bearer (General with War Banner), and my newly painted Helblaster Volley Gun. (i'll follow up with a post about that later...)
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| I spy, with my little 28mm eye, some elves... |
With one game under our belt, we got started pretty quickly. The simple rules make this game super easy to pick up. You rarely pick up the rules to check stuff. After about two turns you pretty much remember everything. The only real hiccup is that you're referring to all the special rules in the warscrolls. That can be a little annoying. But like anything, once you play enough with the same army you'll memorize almost everything.
Turn 1, I won the initiative and moved up.
This wasn't really a battle report game - we were really interested in playing the new rules and getting familiar with them. But we took a few snaps here and there to grab the more interesting moments...like...when the special rule for the High Elves "Storm of Arrows" unleashed a ridiculous volley of fire into my archers and wiped them from the board!
I've been wondering how Age of Sigmar would hold up with larger armies. It's definitely a skirmish game and seems perfect for a smaller-sized game, especially after our first game when it just degenerated into a slog in the middle. I was also hoping that i could continue to deploy in ranks and movement trays even if it wasn't "ideal" for the best effect with the rules.
However, there is a subtle tactical element to this game that is not apparent the first time you read the rules and first time you play. The first time we played we totally screwed up the alternating combat in the first battle round. This time, we both knew it going in and it really made a difference. you can also make the pile in rule work with ranked units - just deploy them on your movement tray as normal, move the unit around that way (unless you need to go around scenery or whatever) but then for combat, just charge them in and remove them from the tray. Way fucking better than the old "lap 'round" rules which were never good. Plus, stuff dies very fast and in large numbers in this game. It still has a tendency to turn into Operation Grind Face once you're in combat, but you also have the Retreat rule and can leave a combat whenever you want. And if you're playing a scenario, getting stuck-in isn't always the best plan.
I had placed my Knights on the far right flank behind the town, shielded from the elf bolt throwers on the hill. But in my excitement to get them into game, i charged them into the spearmen unit a little too early and the Swordmasters of Hoeth hit piled-in on the Elf turn.
As usual, the horses did more damage than the riders.
Anyways it was getting late and we were going to play 6 turns but we called it at the top of Turn 4. we thought it was a draw but I noticed that the Elf Spearmen unit (seen above) was probably within 3 inches of the objective stone. We measured, he had 7 guys within 3 inches. Now, we had decided that the objective stone was also "Deadly", Option 4 on the Terrain table which meant that after each battle round on a roll of a 1 the model is slain. So it came down to whether or not he could roll seven 1's. If they were all 1, the elves in range were dead and no objective claimed (draw). If any survived, he wins. Sure enough, only one elf died and the Elves had claimed the objective. Win for the Elves!
So I won't get into a long discourse about AoS, but overall, after 2 games, it's pretty good. Sure, it has some flaws (like measuring movement by any point on the model. that's just plain dumb. we immediately ditched that and measured base-to-base). But overall I like it. It's not Warhammer Fantasy, but it's a cool, different game. It's really easy to pick up and fun to play. That game last night was probably the most fun I've had playing Warhammer in a long time. AoS doesn't provide (yet) the same level of mental stress and challenge as Warhammer Fantasy, but I think it might be there later.
This wasn't really a battle report game - we were really interested in playing the new rules and getting familiar with them. But we took a few snaps here and there to grab the more interesting moments...like...when the special rule for the High Elves "Storm of Arrows" unleashed a ridiculous volley of fire into my archers and wiped them from the board!
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| shit dies fast in Age of Sigmar |
However, there is a subtle tactical element to this game that is not apparent the first time you read the rules and first time you play. The first time we played we totally screwed up the alternating combat in the first battle round. This time, we both knew it going in and it really made a difference. you can also make the pile in rule work with ranked units - just deploy them on your movement tray as normal, move the unit around that way (unless you need to go around scenery or whatever) but then for combat, just charge them in and remove them from the tray. Way fucking better than the old "lap 'round" rules which were never good. Plus, stuff dies very fast and in large numbers in this game. It still has a tendency to turn into Operation Grind Face once you're in combat, but you also have the Retreat rule and can leave a combat whenever you want. And if you're playing a scenario, getting stuck-in isn't always the best plan.
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| Pistoliers and General charge in but the Halberds failed their charge. Boo! |
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| Take that you elves! Uh..er..Aelfs! |
I had placed my Knights on the far right flank behind the town, shielded from the elf bolt throwers on the hill. But in my excitement to get them into game, i charged them into the spearmen unit a little too early and the Swordmasters of Hoeth hit piled-in on the Elf turn.
As usual, the horses did more damage than the riders.
Anyways it was getting late and we were going to play 6 turns but we called it at the top of Turn 4. we thought it was a draw but I noticed that the Elf Spearmen unit (seen above) was probably within 3 inches of the objective stone. We measured, he had 7 guys within 3 inches. Now, we had decided that the objective stone was also "Deadly", Option 4 on the Terrain table which meant that after each battle round on a roll of a 1 the model is slain. So it came down to whether or not he could roll seven 1's. If they were all 1, the elves in range were dead and no objective claimed (draw). If any survived, he wins. Sure enough, only one elf died and the Elves had claimed the objective. Win for the Elves!
So I won't get into a long discourse about AoS, but overall, after 2 games, it's pretty good. Sure, it has some flaws (like measuring movement by any point on the model. that's just plain dumb. we immediately ditched that and measured base-to-base). But overall I like it. It's not Warhammer Fantasy, but it's a cool, different game. It's really easy to pick up and fun to play. That game last night was probably the most fun I've had playing Warhammer in a long time. AoS doesn't provide (yet) the same level of mental stress and challenge as Warhammer Fantasy, but I think it might be there later.
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