Dark Elves and Dark Ages.

First army of 2020 finished is a Pendraken 10mm Dark Elf army. This was painted for fellow club member, James (of the Old Guard Wargames club) for a charity project he is doing. You can read full details of the project and the very sad reasons for it here... https://themadtinhatter.blogspot.com/2019/09/for-joshua.html Several of us at the club are contributing armies and we received a very generous discount from Pendraken to help us get going. James is happy to texture the bases of the figures to hopefully get some consistency in the basing. If anyone feels moved to contribute please do get in touch with James. The Old Guard club will be touring the shows with a 10mm fantasy battle game this year and all the armies and scenery will be raffled off to raise funds for a very worthy cause. The Dark Elves are wonderful little figures and very cleanly cast. They were also quite easy to paint, mainly painting and dry-brushing over a dark blue spray undercoat (that I had left over from the clubs ACW project).

I particularly like these figures, the raptor riders especially, so I may well end up getting myself an army pack one day. I have also been busy with painting my Late/Sub Roman British army, in preparation for the TTS tournament in February. Over the last few weeks I have completed the following...

Which just leaves me a unit of spearmen to do to complete my 130 points - although I already have plans to expand upon this, increasing the number of Early Saxons, painting up King Arthur himself and expanding properly into Late Romans.

Starting the KIngs of War Campaign and a bit of Lord of the Rings.

Today Chris and I started our much anticipated 15mm Kings of War Campaign, my goblins bravely taking on his ogres. Starting with a 500 point clash where Chris had to get his ogres to capture goblins slaves and my goblins had to stop him. We placed four counters/bases of small goblins around the village in the centre of the table. Here is how it played out...
 

Clash at Stiltz.               Jan 2020.

Hostilities between the Goblins and Ogres commenced early in the year when an ogre raiding party surged north and attacked the small goblin hamlet of Stiltz, which lies just a few miles south of Azgarheim. Expecting easy prey, the ogres advanced swiftly to try and capture as many goblin slaves as they could. By chance, Banga, a goblin wizard was close by, scouting the border area with his own force of brave goblins and trolls. 

Banga sent forward his goblin fleabag sniffs to try and get round the enemy flanks only to be hit hard by the ogre Warlock, Grik n Grak. In the centre the trolls quickly gathered some of the young goblins to safety and the Goblin Fleabag riders rode around the other flank.

Sadly some Ogre Braves captured a group of poor goblins so the Fleabag riders charged in and after a few rounds of combat routed them and freed the goblins. By now the fleabag sniffs had been routed as Grik n Grak blasted them away with his enhanced boomstick (there is a joke in there some where???) and drain life spell. Banga was caught hiding a couple of times so could not get line of sight to counter the Warlocks magic (I had positioned Banga very poorly). 

The kindly trolls were charged in the flank by the Ogre Warriors and were soundly beaten, allowing the Ogre Warriors to capture more goblins. Banga himself then suffered the pain of Grik n Grak's boomstick leaving the ogres victorious. The ogres had managed to grab two bases/tokens of goblins and the other two had run off- a clear ogre victory. 

Next we played our first small game of the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game for some time. My brave band of Elves of Lothlorien proved to be a complete group of failures hardly able to hit a thing either in missile fire or melee. 

Chris's Mordor Orcs proved to be quite tough and comfortably overcame the elves. The aim of the game was to try and get back to the opposing edge of the table. With both of my warbands tied up with the larger of Chris's he was able to easily break through on my right. Another victory for Chris but with both of us wanting to play again soon. 

New Year, New Plans

Well 2019 proved to be a busy and fruitful year for wargaming. Many figures were painted and many games were played. Alongside the planned 10mm and 15mm ancients painting plus the 15mm 'Kings of War'  'Herd and Goblin armies, 28mm Napoleonics etc...; 28mm Bolt Action in the Western Desert sprang unplanned onto the painting table (thanks Stig!). 
A quick glance at the current state of my desk shows 28mm Sub Roman British and Saxon Mercenaries as I try to get an army  finished for the 'To the Strongest' competition at the end of February. Also on there are some 10mm Dark Elves for James' very worthy club/charity project-these should be completed soon. You may also spot some 28mm halflings and a goblin drum from Reaper Bones, all hints at plans for 2020.

A quick glance further along the desk reveals the box of projects 'to be returned to soon' as the hobby often leads me astray. In this box are some 10mm Early Imperial Romans and Ancients British, 15mm Goblin Chariots and 15mm Greeks and Persians.

Santa (in the guise of my lovely wife) was very kind this year, buying me the expensive but much longed for boxed set of 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons and I treated myself to the new edition of the GW Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, both hints for future plans.

So, my plans for 2020 are...

Complete the 10mm Roman and British armies, about 5 units to paint and a Roman watch tower. 

Complete the 15mm Goblin army ready for a mini campaign against Chris's Ogres, hopefully starting later this month. I will then move onto 15mm Elves.

Continue with the 15mm Ancient Greeks and Persians, hopefully expanding into Alexandrian Macedonians (should I mention the large order I have just placed with Museum Miniatures due to their January sale-to be picked up at the York show). Plus finish a few more pieces of scenery, buildings etc... 

28mm Fantasy will hopefully feature in many games this year so I will try to paint many single based figures useable with D+D, LOTR SBG and Dragon Rampant, and I may even persuade myself to start a new 28mm KOW army later in the year and create some 28mm fantasy scenery of course. 

28mm Ancients, mainly Sub Roman British and Early Saxons to begin with. These are based for TTS, but in a way that I can also play Lion Rampant and Dux Bellorum as well. I also have one more building to paint and may tart up my 28mm stockade, made many years ago. 

So that lot should keep me busy, and then, being a total wargames butterfly...what other projects will tempt me along the way? Do I hear the call of 15mm Biblicals or be lured by 28mm Medievals...of course I will!