Return of the blogger

It's been over 4 years since I last posted on this blog. In that time life has changed significantly (all positive!) and made time for painting and wargaming very limited. Many board games have been played but not many little metal soldiers have seen action but now I hope the hiatus is over!

So what can you expect from this humble blogger..........

• Punic wars with Impetus rules in 6mm - both Joey and myself are big fans of the Impetus rules and plan to make good use of the big bases with lots of 6 mils from baccus. I have already completed the bulk of the Romans (see below for pics) and Joey has already commenced work on the Carthaginian opposition. This is our priority project at the moment.

• Samurai Skirmish with Ronin rules and Perry Miniatures - I have lots of lead for this but nothing painted as yet. Joey will be painting up a Korean Buntai for this. This will be the second priority to Impetus but with the small number of miniatures needed shouldn't take long for two playable sides to be assembled.

• Napoleonics 1809 Danube campaign with General de Brigade and 6mm Adlers miniatures -This is the project I initially started the blog for and the one closest to completion as I have almost completed a division a side for the French and Austrians. Just need to get some cavalry done and some more artillery and skirmishers. Once we have Impetus armies up and running I will likely return to concentrating on this much loved project.

• Pulp/Lovecraftian Horror skirmish game with Strange Aeons/.45 Adventure rules and various 28mm figures - This project is the most ill defined at the moment. I have plans to do a story campaign set on some god forsaken isle off the west coast of Scotland, sort of the Wickerman meets Innsmouth. 

And now for some pictures.....

Roman Legion consisting of 2 units of Hastati and 2 of Príncipe with a unit of Triarii and 3 units of Velites.

Roman Cavalry 

Miss Marbles from Artizan Designs soon to face Eldritch Horrors.

T.

A quick update

This will be just a quick post to show off something I painted recently that I'm really pleased with. Below are some pictures of a recently completed (um ... completed today) miniature from the Perry Brothers' Agincourt to Orleans range. Before I started on it I decided that I wanted to try and paint it to a higher standard than usual. I was aware of other painters using wet palettes before but had never got round to making one myself and so for this mini I decided to stop being a lazy git and get round to it. I have to say it made a huge to difference to the standard of painting, and also the painting speed. It was very satisfying being able to get a 28mm miniature to a standard I was happy with and if you have never got round to using a wet palette before I definitely recommend it! I haven't decided what I'll use the mini for yet (I have five more in the unit to paint)- possibly the beginnings of an Impetus army? My 15mm projects have taken the back seat for the moment as I've become reacquainted with 28mm.
On a different note I just discovered the Broadsword Adventures ruleset (you can download a demo here). I've been looking for a generic, miniatures-based RPG-style ruleset for a while now and came across this whilst reading about the .45 Adventure pulp rules which Tom has. Both are made by Rattrap Productions and both have excellent reviews and so I may be tempted to pick up a copy at Salute 2010.
Anyway, pictures... The highlights and shading are a bit more pronounced than these pictures would have you believe.



























J

French cavalry, beware

Painting has been as slow as ever round these parts but I thought I would write a post about my progress anyway. Here are the first three archers for the English Hundred Years War army I am working on. Bar one Italian light halberdier (shown in an earlier post) they are the first 15mm miniatures I have ever painted. The miniatures in brown and red still need the odd highlight before they're properly finished and, annoyingly, I need to buy a couple more paints to do this.
I used Medieval European Armies by Terence Wise and The Armies of Crécy and Poitiers by Christopher Rothero (both from Osprey) as reference points and I am going to try and keep the colours I use quite autumnal. If anyone has any pointers with regards painting HYW colour schemes or heraldry then please do leave a comment as they would be very much appreciated!






J

The Eagle's Claw completed

So, finally, here is The Eagle's Claw in all their fully painted glory!






Record: P3 W0 D1 L2 F3 A7 Pts1 GD-4
They've been close to complete for quite a long while now. It has been one of those things where because they were basically finished I decided it was worth focusing on other things but never actually got round to completing the project ... until now. There was a slight delay when it came to applying transfers. I tried to apply them to the players' curved shoulder pads but, try as I might, I just couldn't get them to sit so I had to scrape them all off again with a craft knife. Anyway, here they are finished and ready for the field.

J

More miniatures

Over the weekend I decided to order the bulk of an English 1330-1415 Hundred Years War army for Basic Impetus and I was surprised to find that it had been delivered on Monday morning. Unfortunately I was not in so this morning I went down to the post office to collect the box. I opened it up as soon as I got it home...










What a beautiful sight! The miniatures are all Corvus Belli and they were ordered from Vexillia Limited. I will continue to flog off the bulk of my Games Workshop stuff on eBay and will focus on this project. Also, in other hobby news, my Blood Bowl team (The Eagle's Claw) is now complete and so I will put up some pics soon.

J

First steps

I have finally got round to taking some pictures of the beginnings of my latest project- 15mm. I have already decided on my first project in this scale which I have detailed in the previous post. 15mm does seem to polarise opinion: for some (me included) the minis are small enough to achieve mass effect and large enough to appeal to the painter in you, but for others it's the complete reverse: too large for true mass effect and too small to bother picking out all the detail. I have only completed one mini as a tester but I though I would take some pictures of the various ranges I have samples from to show how they scale up next to each other in case anyone else is interested in buying some.










From left to right: Mirliton (from their 'Condottieri Italiani' range), Venexia ('Italian Wars 1495-1559), Corvus Belli ('Hundred Years War'), and Peter Pig ('Wars of the Roses' and 'English Civil War').
Below are some better pictures of the painted Italian light halberdier.














J

Scaling down

So as the temperatures tumble and the nights draw in you'd think that this time would be perfect for getting some hobby activities underway. Unfortunately life has got in the way for both me and Tom and so things have slowed down a bit over here.
Despite this I have managed to get some painting done, and I also intend to use today to crack on with my current obsession: 15mm. As an incredibly slow painter of 28mm, I am enjoying the novelty of actually starting and finishing a miniature in the same day! I'm also finding that due to the relatively cheap miniatures, it is easy to build up an impressive looking force in a short space of time. Those who've been playing 15mm will know this already but it is a bit of a hobby revelation for me!
I have been asking around for samples to try and decide which period to go for and I think I'm settled on the Hundred Years War- I will use Corvus Belli minis, and the rule set will be Impetus. This decision was mainly inspired by a similar HYW project going on over at the fantastic Geektactica blog- you can view it on our blogroll. I have also collected samples from Venexia, Mirliton, and Peter Pig (whose great WotR range I may collect next) and pictures will hopefully be up at some point this week.
In other gaming news, The Eagle's Claw, my Human Blood Bowl team, recently played Tom's Bolog's Brayn Broozaz again and this time managed a hard-fought draw: 1-1! I was a bit disappointed because I lost the lead in the game but I was pretty pleased because most of my players finished the game in one piece!

J

The Punic Project

Ever since reading the Fall of Carthage: The Punic Wars 265-146BC by Adrian Goldsworthy a couple of years ago I have been keen to wargame this very interesting and colourful period of ancient history. The Punic Wars spanned decades as two major superpowers struggled desperately for dominance in the Mediterranean. Its a period of history that has everything a wargamer could want; interesting characters, high drama, empire building, tactically diverse armies and a multitude of classic battles which are still studied for there tactical principles today.

With my 6mm Napoleonic project now well on its way to completion, and having received the latest edition of Ancient Warfare magazine (highly recommended if you have the money by the way) which focuses on the doings of the Barca family during the wars, my interest in this period has been re-ignited. Some of the excellent illustrations in the magazine reminded me how ethnically and culturally diverse the armies where with a large percentage, if not the majority of the armies fielded, being made up of a mix of client states, allies and bands of mercenaries. These could be Numidians, Iberians, Ligurians, Gauls, Celtiberians and Italian tribes which fought at varying times on both sides; the shifting alliances between the two major superpowers and the various smaller kingdoms, tribes, mercenary and ethnic groups being very dynamic. This is another useful aspect of this period as it allows you to use lots of the same miniatures (Gallic warbands, numidian light cavalry, Iberian Scutarii etc) for both sides or on their own as independent armies.

My plan is to do a lot of reading up on the period (with Nigel Bagnalls' The Punic Wars: Rome, Carthage and the Struggle for the Mediterranean next on the reading list) while I sort out the dilemma of what figures to use from the extensive variety of ranges available. I already have a rule set picked, which is of course the excellent Impetus. I have been using these rules for games of War of the Roses recently and I think they will work well for games set in the Punic period. There are special rules for Roman line-relief, using pilum and the way that the 'Impetus bonus' works means that you will have to use different tactics depending on whether you have 'Impetuous' or more steady units. The large base sizes mean that whatever scale I go for the units should look impressive.

The Dilemma
So I have my period and my rule set, the problem is I am having a rather difficult time deciding which scale and manufacturer to go for, but I have narrowed it down to three options:

6mm is the scale I originally intended to do this period in. Using Baccus figures I was going to go all out for mass effect with lots of 6mm figures on the 15mm size bases (8cm x 3 or 4cm for heavy infantry). I would have to sacrifice a lot of the detail that distinguishes the various units but the armies would look more like real armies and would suit Impetus' top down approach to the battles. A typical unit of Hastii/Principes having 60 figures on a base but despite the large number of figures it would still be reasonably cheap with a base like this only costing a bit over £3 and bases of skirmishers and other looses order troops costing much less. This would allow me to collect more than the main two armies with enough miniatures to do all the other nationalities that participated in the wars and also collect some of the contemporary Successor forces. However with the prospect of this range (one of Baccus' older ones) being re-sculpted next year and doubts about whether I would find it satisfying to paint large numbers I have some reservations.

10mm is the compromise scale that would still have some of the mass effect of 6mm but with a bit more detail giving me around 30 Hastati/Principes figures to a base with more variety of poses but 50% more expensive. Magister Militum, have an excellent and large range of figures covering all the various forces with a nice level of detail for the scale and some nice characterful figures for the generals. Though I would have to compromise on just focusing on the main armies, if painted well they should look very good, giving a less generic looking army than 6mm. However I'm not sure whether the extra detail would make up for the loss of mass look.

28mm is the scale where any hopes of creating some the 'mass' look go out the window. One of the advantages of 28mm with Impetus' large bases is that you can create some nice diorama type bases with wounded figures or terrain pieces built in. This option appeals to the painter more than the wargamer in me with the chance to have a stunning looking army. Both Gripping Beast and Crusader, plus Armorum & Aquila, have some excellent ranges with a variety of stunning looking transfers for shields that would make the figures look extra special. However this is by far the most expensive option and I would probably have to invest the majority of my hobby budget and painting time into it to get it done to the standard I would want.

A tricky dilemma but I suppose quite a good one to have; lots of options all with their own pros and cons. I thought I would write this post in the hope that it would help me decide but am finding myself even more torn between the scales, so if anyone has some views or advice especially if you have embarked on a Punic wars project I would be very happy to hear from you. Meanwhile I'll keep painting my Adlers.
T.

Limbering up! - French Foot Artillery

Completed this four gun battery a while ago and I am quite pleased with how they have turned out. One of the many advantages of doing Napoleonics in 6mm is that its not too much extra effort to paint up the nice little extras that make a collection of miniatures extra special. One of my pet hates are 'levitating' artillery batteries that seem to maneuvre themselves around the battlefield by some magical force or are man handled by crews who must have muscles the size of the incredible Hulk! So I'm doing my artillery in two versions; limbered and unlimbered which I can swop round when they deploy or need to make a quick get-away.

Limbered up and on the move (click to maximise):

Like the rest of my collection I've based these on magnetic bases, so its easy to swop the guns around and keep the limbers and teams on the table so the battery takes up a more realistic amount of space.

Crews hard at work preparing their guns:

The battery even comes with some neat artillery officers (I especially like the one with the telescope) and drummers which I put on a seperate base to prevent crowding the guns:

''Austrians? Where?'', ''The white bits over there, sir!''

Just a Legere regiment and a regiment of Chasseurs to do then my French division will be complete. Hope you like the pictures.

T.

The Fellowship of the Ring (one down, eight to go)

Here are some pictures of my recently completed Pippin figure from Citadel. Legolas and Gimli will follow next. I have also tried to brush up a bit on my photography skills - I messed around with the brightness and contrast as the pictures were quite dark. I am quite proud of his cloak but it looks quite flat in these.


J