Romans, Dwarves and Star Wars

Well March has been another busy painting month with more good progress on an assortment of projects and I even played a game or two...on-line!

My prime aim for painting was to add a few units to my 10mm Early Imperial Roman army. More auxiliary cavalry and infantry were a priority plus another cohort of legionaries. I had fun painting all those little shields. My box of unpainted Romans is almost empty now and I need to move on to painting a few units for my Ancient British. 

Chris and I also got busy making buildings for our 20mm Star Wars project as well as painting up more figures. We will be using Fistful of Lead 'Galactic Heroes' for our games set in a galaxy far, far away. These were quite quick and easy to make from foamboard, xps and a variety of bits and bobs then liberally covered with polyfilla and painted. Our main campaign will be based on Tatooine where the buildings have a Middle Eastern look so we have added a few little bits of tech to theme the buildings to Star Wars. I have another building almost finished and then I need to make something a bit bigger.  

This final photo shows a couple of Chris's buildings and some scenic scatter crates. He is currently making a much larger building and a crashed spaceship; Tatooine being full of them! You can read all about how Chris made his buildings on his blog:

 The Periodic Painting Table: Building Tatooine in 20mm

I also couldn't resist re-basing my 10mm Dwarves to be used with Fantastic Battles. The warriors are the wonderful Copplestone figures but the archers are from the GW Battle of Five Armies range. A quick check on E-Bay shows that these figures are probably the most valuable figures in my entire collection, (there is a blister on e-bay at the moment for £85).

I have a few more Copplestone Dwarves and a few from Pendraken to paint and then I will start on rebasing and adding to my Goblin army as I hope to play and create a Battle of Five Armies scenario using the Fantastic Battle Rules.  

Having tempted Chris into buying a copy of Fantastic Battles he raided his wargames loft (a veritable treasure trove of over 40 years of wargaming) and rediscovered some of our old 6mm Fantasy project. He kindly sent me some Dark Elves to paint whilst he works on his Orc army. These are the old Irregular Miniatures strips of figures, ideal for a speed painting project and based on 25mm square bases that will perfectly suit a smaller wargames table; using inches as the base width for movement and shooting etc... 

I enjoyed my on-line gaming experience playing the Gladiator combat game 'Sons of Mars', umpired by Pete. In the first bout, my Hoplomachus was well beaten in the 8th and final round by Dave's Secator. A few days later I took to the arena again and this time I thrashed a Thracian, in 6 turns thanks mainly to Martin's awful dice throwing. 

Coming next should be a few 10mm Ancient British, 10mm and 6mm fantasy plus more 20mm Star Wars and buildings. I am still reading 'Lionheart and Lackland' by Frank McLynn, a fascinating book full of battles and other information. I have discovered that King John was only 5ft 5" tall, and that Robert the Bruce was the Great, great grandson of Sir William Marshall, the greatest Knight of England!

A mixed bag of Figures and scales.

 During February I painted a whole range of figures in assorted scales. First up I added a few bases/companies to my 10mm armies for Fantastic Battles. 

The next lot are definitely all Chris's fault. I have just sold all my Wizards of the Coast Star Wars figures. However we are keen to experiment with the 'Fistful of Lead' set of skirmish rules and as they also do a sci-fi version called 'Galactic Heroes'  Chris was very keen to get me involved when he found his stash of Micro Machines Star Wars figures in his loft. These are aprox 20mm high and we originally collected some of these in the late 1980's I think it was. The figures in the photo have had a quick re-paint and our first battles (when we can finally get together for some games) will take place on Tatooine using my homemade desert mat. I think from their uniforms it is obvious who is on the dark side?

I also managed to get a few more bases of 15mm ancients painted. The Spartans are Museum Miniatures from their original range not the new 'Z' range. The Assyrians I acquired from Chris are Essex Miniatures to be used as levy infantry for my Persians-these are the first Essex miniatures I have painted in many years but I really enjoyed painting them. With about 60 bases/units completed I shall leave the Greeks and Persians for now. 

Time for a solo game of Fantastic Battles putting most of my 10mm Elves and Barbarians to good use. 

Fantastic Battles: The Battle of Skalik Water

Elf Force

Elf Warlord: Lord Athramael of the line of Guthelin.

Elf Magic User: Leofryn (Leaf) Spells: Bless, Lvl 1, Entangle Lvl 2.

Elf Captain: Emyn Lockharn, he who can shoot a wren through the eye at 100 paces.

Elf Rogue: Iruath Greycloak: follower of the silent way (Shadowy Cloak of Stealth).

1x company of Unicorns

2x companies of Elf Knights

2x companies of Mtd Raiders

4x companies of Spears

2x companies of Elf Archers

2x companies of Wood Elves

2x companies of wood Elf Archers

1x company Elf Ballistae

Total = 796 pts

Barbarian Force

Warlord: Bodvoc the Bold of C'Nos, the War Crow. (Lions Roar Talisman)

Magic-User: Yrfog of the Cave. Spells: Curse Lvl 1, Magic Missile Lvl 2.

Captain: Talorcan of Dunuik

Rogue: Black Cornaith (Winged Boots of Alacrity)

1x company of Buffalo Riders

2x companies of Mtd Raiders

2x companies of Outriders

6x companies of Warriors

1x company of Berserkers

2x companies of Scouts

1x Mammoth

1x Giant, Droth of a hundred battles.

Total = 798 pts

This is a basic encounter battle with a simple twist. Place a small lake in the exact centre of the table. This represents Skalik Water, a place of mystical power, often mist shrouded. At the start of each turn throw 1xd6.

12= The lake is clear

34= no change (Lake will remain clear or shrouded as per last turn)

56= The Lake is shrouded in mist and blocks all line of sight. When covered in mist Lake Skalik's mystical aura allows any Magic-User casting a spell within 2bw of any lake Edge to re-throw any dice that score a 1. (Don't forget that the mist also blocks line of sight!)

The Barbarians are deployed at the top edge, the Elves along the bottom edge. 

The Elves were deemed to be the Attacker and both sides rolled 'Seize the High Ground' as their objective. The Mishaps table proved to be fun with one unit of Wood Elves withdraw a few bw but the biggest impact was when the Barbarians Mammoth had to march forward 4bw leaving out on it's own and right in front of of the elf ballistae. Two turns were enough for the elves to concentrate as much missile power onto the mammoth to destroy it. On the right flank the elf heavy cavalry won the first round of melee against the barbarian Mounted Raiders. Over on the left flank the Wood Elves and the Unicorns clashed with more Barbarian Cavalry. By the start of turn 3 the magical mists appeared on the lake.  

 So as the mist formed across Skalik Water at the start of turn 3 fate decided that a random event happened. This proved to be a Troll Hoard which the dice decided was located upon the shores of the lake. Sadly all characters were too heavily involved in the battle action and were not able to take advantage of this yet. The large melee on the left flank resulted in the unicorns and mounted raiders being scattered. On the right, the Elf Knights easily destroyed the Barbarian Outriders and Lord Athramael slew Talorcan in a personal challenge (playing solo I wanted to see how this played out). 

Turn 4 was also very eventful. The lake remained shrouded in mist as the Barbarian Warriors on the right smashed into the Elf Knights, their Berserk trait which explodes 6's worked well when they actually threw six 6's so the Elf Knights scattered taking Lord Athramael with them. 

On the left Bodvoc himself charged into the Wood Elves at the head of his Buffalo riders. The Wood Elves proved quite tough and scattered the Buffalo Riders whilst Bodvoc had challenged Emyn Lockharn to an ineffective duel. In the centre the Giant Droth of the Hundred battles fought his last as he and the beserkers were easily scattered by the elf spearmen.

So with turn 5 yet to play the mist still shrouds Skalik Water and things do not look good for the barbarians as with their loses so far they are close to breaking. 

   Impetuous actions at the start of turn 5 prompted the Elf Mounted Raiders to foolishly charge the Barbarian Warriors on the right flank-they got hammered leaving that side open to a Barbarian advance. On the left flank the Elf spears could just reach the side of the Barbarian Warriors that were busy fighting the Wood Elves. This was enough to cause those Barbarians to scatter, Bodvoc running off with them. The only gain the Barbarians got was that their Magic User, Yrfog of the Cave went to look for the Troll Horde revealed on turn 3 and was lucky enough to find a Haughty Helm of Reassurance. However, with over 50& of their characters and their companies gone it was game over for the Barbarians leaving the Elves badly wounded but victorious.  

This was a very enjoyable game to play and I learnt a lot about the rules. Many of the decisions I took were often just to see what happened but it was all good fun and I can see Fantastic battles becoming one of my favourite games to play. 

I also did some reading this month to help me plot and plan a large club scenario based around Plataea using an almost double width table. Plans are to play this through using the 'To the Strongest' rules. Each side will get a copy of this map with their deployment marked on. As the table is gridded this is very simple to do. However, it seems it will be at least May before we can get together to play this. 

 Next Chris got me interested in William Marshall, 'The Greatest Knight' and I have to say that was the best historical factual book I have read in some time; each chapter was like an action adventure historical novel. Having enjoyed that book so much I am now reading 'Lionheart and Lackland' to get to know more about this fascinating period. A few of the guys at the Old Guard club are starting to collect and paint figures for the new 'Barons War' rules and I have to say I am getting drawn in (just ordered the rules). 

 

 

A Fistful of Lead solo game and more 15mm Ancients painted.

January proved to be a very productive month for painting 15mm ancients for my Greek and Persian armies. Over 70 figures plus a set of Greek buildings painted added several key units/bases to my collection and makes both forces much more useable with a range of rules. It also makes a slight dent in my lead mountain!

Time for a few photo's of the Persians so far...

...and gathered around my fortified camp.

Happily I now have a broad range of figures in this collection, plus scenery ranging from buildings to trees, rocky outcrops etc...  I currently have some Assyrian levy troops and a large unit of Spartans on the painting table. Once these are painted I will call this project done for now but have plenty left to paint and my Macedonians to start later in the year. 

I enjoyed reading all about the Romans during January. My reading matter for this coming month of February is all Greek and Persian War themed as I hope to create a scenario based on Platea. This game, (when we are allowed to play) will use 'To the Strongest' rules and the two sides will be created from at least Stig's, Pete's, John's figures and of course my own collections so should be quite a spectacle. Herodotus will be a key read on Platea as he lists many of the troops that thought there. Both Opsrey's have good maps to help me create an accurate tabletop to play across. 

Whilst I have been enjoying how much painting I am getting done I decided to take a break and play a solo game of 'Fistful of Lead Reloaded'. This was my first try at this rule system and it proved quick, bloody and very easy to learn.

 I devised a simple scenario of a renegade Indian brave being hunted by the US cavalry led by Sgt. Ed Fuller. However, the heroic Indian warrior, Blue Horse was also leading his braves in an attempt to rescue their fellow warrior. 

Fistful of Lead (FFOL) is a quick playing, card driven rules system. I have invested in the specially printed and themed pack of cards and it proved well worth it as they really add to the feel of the game. Many of the cards have special rules that can be used if you activate one of your figures with one of those 'special' cards. 

Despite Sgt Fuller getting a kill with his very first shot, the cards were kinder to the Indians over the course of the game.  The Indians not only rescued their fellow warrior but managed to kill all the cavalry for a loss of just two of their own warriors. 

Overall great fun and a super set of rules which are ideally suited for fast fun club action and mini campaigns. When we can get back to gaming Chris and I will be using these rules for all sorts of times/era's. 

2021 New Year Wargames aims and aspirations.

 I have always been guilty of flitting about between projects so I intend to try and actually finish a few more things this year. I recently got my 28mm Wars of the Roses Lancastrian force up to the basic 100 points you need for a game. With plenty of units left to paint I am now taking a break from that project for a while to paint a few more bases of figures for my 15mm ancients. Only a week in to the New Year and I have finished a base of 12 Museum Miniatures 'Z' range hoplites and a base of 8 Hobby Products Greek Peltasts. The Museum Miniature figures are computer designed, look lovely on the computer drawing but in actual metal the detail is so finely etched it proves quite a challenge to paint. The finished figures do look lovely though. The peltasts, now available from Fighting 15's are very old 1980's figures, true 15mm in scale, fantastic to paint but sadly only come in a single pose. 

Here are the hoplites with their rear base in support (painted sometime last year). 

Hobby Products Peltasts spread across the base at differing angles to make the most of the mono pose figures. 

To help organise my painting aims I made a list which is quite long and a little daunting but I really hope to make a big dent in my lead/plastic mountain this year.

PROJECT	AIM FOR 2021
28MM Wars of the Roses Never Mind the Billhooks, TTS, Hail Caesar and Impetus	Retinue bowmen for Trollope, Somerset Retinue (both bill and bow) and command stand. Men at Arms both mounted and on foot. 1x artillery Build at least one more house/more scenery.
15mm Ancients Impetus, TTS, Sword and Spear	1x Mercenary Hoplites, 2x Spartan Hoplites, 1x Peltasts, 1x Thracian Hoplites. 2x Sparabara, 1x Scythed Chariot, 2x Assyrian levy Add more buildings.
28mm Fantasy Oathmark, FFoL, Dragon Rampant	4x goblin wolf riders, 10x dwarf Heavy Infantry, 10x dwarf Spearmen, start on the elves? Paint small groups of fantasy for skirmish. Make/paint more buildings/scenery.
10mm Romans and Britons Impetus, TTS, Sword and Spear	1x veteran legion, 1x auxiliary Infantry, 1x auxiliary cavalry 2x warband
15mm WW2 Normandy Rapid Fire, Battlegroup, Iron Cross	Paint more British infantry and vehicles. Add more scenery
28mm Western Fistful of Lead, Rules with no Name	Add more buildings/scenery
28mm Arthurian and Dark Ages TTS, Impetus, Fantastic Battles, Lion Rampant, Saga and Hail Caesar.	At least 2 bases of Saxon warband, 2 bases of Pictish warband, Pictish cavalry plus various command stands. Norman Spearmen, more Anglo-Danes and Vikings.
10mm Fantasy Fantastic Battles, War of the Ring	2x companies of High Elf Cavalry and 2x High Elf spearmen. Need to buy and paint more Barbarian Fanatics and Bison Riders.
28mm Sci-Fi FFoL	Human and Alien troops and scenery to suit.
15mm Crusades Soldiers of God, Lion Rampant	Crusader spearmen and knights, lots of Saracens. Make/paint more scenery/buildings.
15mm Biblical Impetus, TTS, Sword and Spear and Hail Caesar	15mm Hittites purchased and ready to paint (a project for later in the year)
*

* the empty box is for the inevitable new period/distraction!

So a wide selection of stuff to do with not much to buy but an awful lot to paint. No room for or mention of projects such as my 28mm Gauls, 28mm Peninsular Napoleonics, 28mm Western Desert; I am only human! However, being a complete butterfly new purchases will no doubt be made and new periods and projects started.

Another 'resolution' for the New Year is to read more of my large collection of history books, especially as I now have them all out on bookshelves in the new house. I have started with 'The Complete Roman Army' by Adrian Goldsworthy, a book I have had for some time but have ever only really dipped into for a bit of gaming research in the past. Reading is going slowly as I am making 'useful notes' as I go. I aim to read at least one book a month. Of course, current covid restrictions and lockdown should give me plenty of time to actually read.  

So 20x 15mm figures painted and no new figures purchased, a slightly smaller lead/plastic mountain already!

Finally a 'shout out' for 'Warbases', a wonderful and customer friendly wargames company. Most of my armies are based on their mdf bases. Last night on their facebook page they very kindly offered to send a free pack of their mdf bases to anyone who was a little fed up with covid, lockdown etc... (and who is isn't). This is a truly wonderful gesture from Warbases but also ensures that many more of my figures will be based on their products. If you need any bases, buildings etc... please support Warbases.   

Never Mind the Billhooks.

 I think it was back in September that I got my free copy of 'Never Mind the Billhooks' (NMtB) rules from Wargames Illustrated. The rules are very period specific for the Wars of the Roses which has always been a period of interest for me. Opting for a Lancastrian force of around the early 1460's I started with a single box of the Perry Miniatures Wars of the Roses infantry. I have since added many more boxed sets and metal figures, all from Perry's. A basic 100 point force was soon drawn up and now in mid December that basic force is painted and ready for Battle-very quick work for me (despite several other gaming distractions along the way).  

Most of the scenery in the photo's is scratch built (the white house is a resin model from 'Conflix' that I have repainted). The hedges and fields were made many years ago but are ideal for this period I think. (I also need a better camera!)  

My 100 points of Lancastrians is as follows...

Commander: Sir Henry Percy

Leader: Sir John Clifford @5pts

Leader: Sir Andrew Trollope @5pts

12x veteran billmen @ 15pts

12x longbow @ 12pts

12x billmen @12pts

12x longbow @12pts

12x billmen @12pts

6x longbow skirmishers @ 6pts

1x artillery and 3 crew @ 9pts

8x light horse @12 pts. 

There will of course be many more units to follow, hand gunners, men-at-Arms, both on foot and mounted, Retinue for Somerset etc... I also need to add some Retinue archers to Trollope's command (the guys in green). I also plan to make casualty markers and add wagons etc.. My flags and Banners are either those that come free with the Perry Miniatures boxed sets or from Vexillia/Freezywater Flags. By the way, I went with multi basing to allow me to use the army with other rules sets such as 'Impetus' and 'To the Strongest' as well as NMtB. 

For now, I would just like to get a game in but I doubt that will happen anytime soon so as usual, several gaming projects beckon.