A few games and a few Normans

 I have been lucky enough to get a few games in recently. First, Pete came up for some games of Saga. His visit prompted me to paint up a few new recruits for my Normans to fill out units. I am now collecting Normans in multiples that would suit units for Blood Eagle, Saga and Lion Rampant Dark Age variant, so 4, 6, 8, or 12's. So with the newly painted figures leading the way Pete proceeded to beat me twice with his Vikings!

With the paint almost still wet, my new commander (William the Conqueror) failed to impress. 

To be fair, Pete was using some new figures too but his new flags and banners proved to be inspirational to his men!

 A few days later I went to Andy's house to try out 'Force on Force', the Osprey modern rules. Whilst not really an era of interest to me I enjoyed the game (set in the Vietnam War) and found the rules to contain some very good game mechanics. No I won't be rushing out to buy a load of helicopters and jungle terrain but I did enjoy the game. I managed to land my US troops and quickly close down quite a few of the enemy 'hotspots' making it difficult for Andy to get his troops deployed, thus I managed to bag a win!

Then Pete invited Steve, John and I over for a large game of 28mm 'To the Strongest'. Pete had devised a Roman Civil War scenario around the battle of Lauron in 76BC.We all contributed figures to the game which looked great. Things did not start too well for John and I, in particular as my Gallic allies failed to get down out of a wooded hill quick enough to be of any help until the second half of the battle. So Pete and Steve won, but we were starting to press them hard towards the end of the game. TTS is a great set of rules for multi-player big battles. John's Romans looked stunning and they are an army I could be tempted by? 

Now we are on the last day of October and the news is full of the possibility of a second lockdown all chances of future games could once again be reduced to zero, so it was good to fit in 3 games in such a short space of time. 

  

The Great British Build Off Cottage completed.

My first cottage based on a building (no 19) from the old Warhammer Townscape booklet is finished. This was part of a challenge from my long time gaming mate Chris which we called 'the Great British Bake Off' as we both created house from the same plan; a fun challenge to keep us busy whilst we cant meet up to play. Chris had spotted during his build that the plans on the pdf are set slightly larger than 100% but to my eye this slightly larger scale seems to fit the size of the figures just fine. 

In this photo you can see the little extra details such as a barrel and an axe in a log that I like to add to any buildings or scenery I create to help 'bring it to life'? I added some fencing to the side of the house made from coffee stirrers plus I have also painted up a well from Mantic games which seems to fit in nicely. 

Two more views of the cottage from differing angles with some of my recently painted Wars of the Roses Perry miniatures to show the size of the build. Here are some more pictures of the house with my WOTR collection so far; the artillery being the latest piece to be finished. 

 The field and hedgerows are also scratch built from an earlier scenery project (about 20 years ago but spot on for my current project). 

Of course Chris is busy completing his house. He is currently trying out paint schemes to see which he is happiest with. As you can see he has moved the chimney and made it a more detailed stone one. I can't wait to see these two house together on the gaming table. 

As for 'the Great British Build Off', looks like we could be headed for a score draw!

   

'The Great British Build' Off part 3

 Progress is being made on my house (in between painting 28mm figures for 'Never mind the billhooks' and a few Normans for my Saga force). I have added texture to the walls, a milliput chimney and made a start on tiling the roof. I am using the inner side of the cardboard from my Perry miniatures plastic figure sets. I have drawn out all the tiles in strips which I then cut one strip at a time, snip a few corners etc... for added detail and glue into place. It does feel like the house is coming together now. 

As mentioned earlier, I am continuing to paint figures for my Lancastrian Wars of the Roses force for 'Never mind the Billhooks'. Today I completed my first command stand, Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland. I have read that standards like his had batons in them to keep them rigid and therefore more recognizable, so just how much 'ripple' effect (folds) can I put into a banner like this? The banner comes free with the boxes of Perry miniatures although the heralds flag is freehand. 

Great British 'Build Off', part 2.

 So my Great British 'Build Off' is slowly coming together. I have cut out and made the walls and add detail such as the windows, doors and the wooden beams.

 I used the 'Gary Chalk method' for the windows and doors - this means building them flat and then adding them once made. I even built them directly onto the plan and then cut them out. I see this as a short cut, not cheating? 

Chris is making good progress with his build too...

Interesting how Chris has added the basic roof before adding doors and windows etc, the opposite from what I did. He has also made a rather good chimney. The competition continues...