Thursday, January 28, 2016

Four Swashbucklers, a Wizard and a Templar Walk Into a Tavern…


Sorry, you can make up your own punchline for that one. (If you've got one let’s hear them in the comments below!)

Anyway, a few new things rolling off the work bench this week.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


Two Women from Hasslefree Miniatures (with weird-looking googley eyes!? Why do I not notice these things BEFORE they get blown up in pictures on this blog!? My eyes must be getting worse than I thought!!) The Wizard is on a slightly larger base because I meant her to go with that other mage I painted last week and he's on a larger base.... so... 


And here they are together – Wizard and Apprentice… Which one do you figure should be the wizard and which one the apprentice? I was kind of thinking the female should be the wizard as she’s carrying the BIG STICK…. but she seems so… diminutive…? (I always forget how slight Hasslefree Minatures are…) Perhaps I should repaint the dude’s goatee so he looks a tad younger…

What sort of wizards do you think they should be for Frostgrave? Jade Wizards - casting earthy-planty-hippy-magiks? Witches, then, perhaps?

If I'd done them with a slightly darker skin tone I could have passed them off as Dragon Clan Shugenja... (bald, dressed in green). Of course they might have needed a tattoo or two...

Which just gave me an idea! I should look through the L5R/Ronin stuff I have and find a pair of Shugenja and some warriors to come up with an eastern-themed warband for Frostgrave! 


The last of the Red Gang for En Garde!. All are from Wargames Foundry


And here is the Red Gang all together. I’ll have to come up with better names…

I finally finished reading En Garde! and it looks like a LOT of fun! I’m hoping to get in a game this evening – or on the weekend at the latest. Looks like it will be a hoot!

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Hopefully a game report of En Garde!

I have all manner of stuff polluting my workbench at the moment 40K Imperial Guard, Wizards and Warriors for Frostgrave, the last of the  swashbucklers for En Garde!, entire units of stuff for Dragon Rampant

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Odd and Sundry Items: Wizard, Swashbuckler, etc.


A small group of odd items rolling on the workbench this weekend…. I’m kind of all over the place, torn between finishing up fantasy units for Dragon Rampant, Frostgrave, and A Song of Blades and Heroes and swashbucklers for En Garde!… and other stuff…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


Two fantasy figures from Reaper Miniatures. the Wizard is for myself (and I need to find an apprentice for him!) and the Barbarian woman is another addition to John’s Cheesecake Warband  for Frostgrave.


Two English Civil War figures from Wargames Foundry; a clubman and a general.



A woman with a Kalishikov assault rifle of some sort – also form Wargames Foundry.


An old, old Dark Elf and a Skeleton casualty marker made from a Games Workshop figure.


Finally another member of the Green Gang for En Garde! – also form Wargames Foundry.

In other news, En Garde! arrived on Friday and it’s pretty much exactly what I expected (which is good!). I am very pleased to see how flexible it is and designed to be used in many theatres throughout the renaissance. I hope I can find some time to try it out sometime this week!


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Swashbuckling Renaissance types… More Fantasy Warriors and Wizards… and hopefully an En Garde! game report! 

Monday, January 18, 2016

Swashbucklers!


Back to working on a few more Swashbucklers in anticipation of the immanent arrival of En Garde! (I just hope I can make a gang out of these lots for the game somehow!?)

I had previously mentioned I was painting the newly arrived swashbucklers in similar coloured clothes to easily identify to which band or gang they belonged. This latest batch is the complete grey/brown gang…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


All these figures are from Wargames Foundry.

Now to finish up the Green, Blue and Red gangs and then eagerly await the arrive of En Garde! (and hope they will all be useable gangs in the game!)

I got to thinking it might be fun to organize a campaign in the kingdom of Florin during the reign of Prince (and later King!) Humperdink… I would have to convert a figure to add a sixth figure for Count Rugen.


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Swashbucklers…? Or more fantasy stuff for Dragon Rampant… 

Sunday, January 17, 2016

More Elves for Dragon Rampant


I found a few more figures I could paint up to finish up a couple of units for Dragon Rampant. All are Elves from West Wind Productions that I’d originally picked up to make elements for Hordes of the Things (actually, now that I think of it, they were picked up for a short-lived 28mm Warmaster project that quickly turned into a 28mm Hordes of the Things project…). They came in unit boxes of 24 so for each I planned to use 18 for HoTT elements and the remaining six would be individually based for skirmishing/role-playing. A few of them were painted eight years ago - One of the batch of three HotT Elements and the leaders of these two units. I couldn’t find when I painted the other three axemen, but I imagine it was about the same time.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


Elves with Great Swords – all but the champion are newly painted. I figured these could be fielded as Elite Foot for 6 points.


Elves with Great Axes – two of the guys without helmets are not.  These could also be fielded as Elite Foot for 6 points.


I also have these Wood Elf War Dancers (I think I actually have a total of 18 now). What could I field them as? Bellicose Foot? Three reduced model units (6 figures each) of Bellicose Foot?

With the Elite Elf Archers @ 6 points (for Light Missile, Sharpshooters, Reduced Model Unit), three War Dancers @ 4 points each (Bellicose Foot, Reduced Model Unit), and the two units of Elite Foot above @ 6 points each. I have 30 points worth of Individually based figures I could field as part of Elf Warbands…


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Swashbucklers seem mostl likely… but who knows... I might find some other fantasy stuff for Dragon Rampant to finish up... 

Friday, January 15, 2016

Elite Elf Archers for Dragon Rampant


After playing our first game of Dragon Rampant my attention has been split between painting stuff for  Dragon Rampant/Lion Rampant and En Garde!…. So less stuff getting done… This is why it’s good to have a plan to focus on ONE THING and stick to it… of course not having a plan and doing what you want is fun too… so…

(All of the figures pictured in this post are from Games Workshop. They are © and ™ Games Workshop and painted by myself and posted here entirely without their permission.)

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


One elf archer.


Yeah, that’s all I got done… but it’s all I needed to do, because I already had five others:


The whole unit. I painted most of these years ago (like, back when I was playing Mordhiem - which was a LOOOOONG time ago - before this blog was around!) – though I did do some touching up on a few as I painted the new guy.


I see elite elf archer/scouts as the fantastical equivalent of modern Special Ops forces. There is a temptation to call these guys “Scouts” but scouts are actually crap at hitting stuff.

I guess it would depend on the role I was expecting them to take in a particular action. If the goal was to be sneaky beaky and just get from one place to another and avoid contact… then yeah, maybe I would take them as scouts….

But if they’re more Direct Action Special Ops they would be better off as a Light Missile reduced figure unit (2 strength points per figure) with Sharpshooters for a total of 6 points. That would make them a small group of hard-hitting shooters that can take some hits.

I was tempted, at first, to give them “Invisible” but for another three whole points (making the unit NINE points total!?) it seems a little weak considering all it does is make them immune to mundane shooting – they can still be targeted by magic and still be charged by anyone close enough and wishing to attack them.


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Swashbucklers for En Garde! or some Elf Elite Foot for Dragon Rampant… or maybe something completely diffeent!?

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Medieval Peasants


While working on more swashbucklers I also finished up a few medieval peasants to finish up a unit for Lion Rampant (or Dragon Rampant… or A Song of Blades and Heroes… or any medieval or fantasy role-playing or skirmish game… but it was Lion Rampant I had in mind when I purchased these and Lion Rampant I had in mind when I decided to finish up the unit… so… Lion Rampant).


The new guys. These are all from Crusader Miniatures.


The whole unit – at the moment. All but one is from Crusader Miniatures - I’m not sure where the one fellow with the sickle in the middle came from….

They seem a little too… I don’t know…  “well-armed”..? to me. Luckily I included some Peasants from Black Tree Design in my latest order. They’re armed with scythes and staves and pitchforks and such that peasants really ought to be armed with.  I will mix and match with these when they arrive to make two more believable units.

I did at least try to make one of the shields look a bit battered and bloodstained (like it’d been stolen from a dead soldier). I should have rustified some of the swords… Ah well…


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Swashbucklers… though I have some figures working their way onto the workbench to finish up units for Dragon Rampant - not that I got in a game of Dragon Rampant I’ve been feeling a little more motivated to paint Fantasy skirmish figures to finish up potentially useable units for that… 

Dragon Rampant


I’ve been doing lots of planning and organizing and imagining and dreaming about putting together a few forces for Dragon Rampant… but then this afternoon I got to thinking “why the heck don’t I just get on with playing it with whatever I can gather up from the hordes of fantasy miniatures I already have!?” And so I did…

I cobbled together a couple forces that were a mix of multi-figure-based elements from Hordes of the Things armies and individually based figures for skirmish gaming or role-playing.

I apologize in advance for the abysmal quality of the photos. The room we played in has the WORST lighting… I really need to clear off the tables in the basement and get back to playing games down there, were, unbelievably the lighting is better!?


SITUATION

The nasty smelly Orcs of Puljack’s Punks have been rampaging about the good lands of Twinklebottom. Deciding this must be stopped Galadria Thistlebottom set out to intercept them and put an end to their rampage!


SCENARIO

We played the Death Chase scenario out of the Dragon Rampant book. The boy played the “defending” Ocs (defending against an ambush set by the elves), and the Girl played the “attacking” elves.

The Defenders set up on one short end of the table, the Attackers set up on either (or both) of the long ends but not within 18” of any of the Defenders troops. The Defender gets Glory points for getting troops off the opposite end of the table (3 points for a unit over half strength, 1 for a unit at or under half strength), the Attacker gets points (2) for each enemy unit destroyed or routed.


FORCES

I came up with the forces from my own collection of figures, but the kids provided all the names.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

Puljacks Punks


Puljacks Punks (Heavy Riders, Leader) 4 points
Brambley’s boys (Heavy Riders) 4 points
The Skullhelm Brothers (Heavy Riders) 4 points
Worlen the White’s Woeful Wargs (Lesser Warbeasts) 4 points
Gurjunk’s Grunts (Heavy Foot, Offensive) 6 points
Skimpy’s Scouts (Scouts) 2 points


Galadria Thistlebottom’s Warband


Galadria Thistlebottom (Scout, Spellcaster, Single Model Unit) 6 points
Bluehood Division 2 (Light Missiles, Sharpshooters) 6 points
Bluehood Division 3 (Light Missiles, Sharpshooters) 6 points
Purple Loincloth Division 54 (Light Missiles, Sharpshooters) 6 points


THE GAME


As per the scenario, The Boy set up his orcs in contact with one of the short ends and The Girl set up her elves on the long ends.

At some point the kids selected some Glory Quests. The Boy picked “I Shall Strike the First Blow”, and the Girl picked “My Arrows Are Deadlier Than My Spears!” and “Our Missiles shall rain down upon them!”.

We also rolled for Leader Traits. The Girl rolled “Brave” – her leader’s unit is not affected by Fear (which wasn’t really an issue as none of The Boy’s units caused fear). The Boy rolled “Sky Darkener” – each turn one unit within 12” automatically passes a shoot activation test… now THAT one the girl totally could have used. If she’d gotten that one this would have been a much, much shorter game!


Turn One

The Elves had the first go. The Girl decided to move Galadria Thistlebottom..


Galadria Thistlebottom didn’t want to move…

So the Orcs had their go. The Boy thought he’d start off with The Skullhelm Brothers…


They seemed a bit reluctant to get things moving as well!?

Seemed an inauspicious start to the game - I'm sure the kids were wondering what the heck kind of game I was making them play... 


Turn Two


The elves woke up and everyone moved. The Orcs did the same – except for the Wolves (which had been left off table as there wasn’t room for them to deploy, they were unable to move onto the table this turn)


Turn Three

Galadria Thistlebottom cast Power Bolt on Puljacks Punks and knocked out one of the wolf-riding orcs. It was decided amongst the kids that what she actually cast was a torrent of toads and one of the wolves stepped on one and squished it into go and slipped on the goo and the Orc rider fell off and got one of the toads in his mouth and choked on it and died. Kids.

On of the Archer units failed to activate ending the Elves turn…

The Skulhelm Brothers failed to move ending the Orcs turn…


Turn Four


Galadria Thistlebottom moved out into the middle of the battlefield to be in a more central location to both block the advance of the orc horde and offer support to the units under her command. Then her units didn’t move and all of the orc horde moved rapidly towards her!


Turn Five

Galadria Thistlebottom moved back into the swamp! For a third turn in a row none of the Elf Archers did a thing… I was starting to wonder about play balance and I think The Girl was starting to wonder if any of her elves would survive and what kind of stupid warband did dad come up with her to play…

Luckily the Orcs failed their first activation and went nowhere as well.


Turn Six

Aaaaand this turn NONE of the Elves did anything at all… at least during their OWN activations…


Brambley’s Boys charged over a hill and straight into a unit of Elf archers! The Elf archer were caught by surprise and two were run down as they fell back (in good order – despite their losses, they kept their sh!t together and did not fail their courage check)

+1 Glory for the Orcs for succeeding in their Glory Quest of  “I Shall Strike the First Blow” (being the first unit to make a successful Attack – Attack here referring to a melee attack, as opposed to Shooting or Defending) 



Then all the other Orcs units moved. Things not looking so good for the elves…. Yes, it was starting to look like these Orcs were just going to waltz across the table sweeping everything before them and the elves wouldn’t even get in a shot.

And then it was Turn Seven…


Turn Seven


Galadria Thistlebottom started things off by unleashing another Torrent of Toads (Power Bolt) at the Skulhelm Brothers – taking TWO of them out of action!


Then the Purple Loincloth Division 54 darkened the skies with their arrows and killed a third. Two Orcs getting killed when inundated with a Torrent of Toads… who could take that seriously!? It’s comical, right? But when they lost that one dude to bow fire, well that’s when the Orcs lost it and fled!


Unfortunately the archers on the other flank with the Orc Wolf Riders breathing down their neck didn’t quite get their stuff together enough to get off a volley before the wolves were upon them again (Elves failed to activate on a shoot order, Orcs passed another attack order… of course that was after the Skulhelm Brothers and the wolves failed their Wild Charge Check…). This time the Elves lost three more – but still managed to pass their courage check! Unfortunately they lost more than the single casualty their caused so they were obliged to retire once again. 


Puljacks Punks surged forward once again – almost leaving his entire warband behind!? Another move or two and they’d be off the table.


Turn Eight


Galadria Thistlebottom and the Purple Loincloth Division 54 standing around doing nuthin…


So the Wolves did another Wild Test charge and tore off after the retreating elves!


Three more elves were lost and this time they did fail their courage test (but luckily didn’t route!).

Brambley’s Boys failed the first Ordered Activation and were unable to follow up and chase down the fleeing Elves.


Turn Nine

The Girl failed to rally her battered elves and the remaining survivors fled off the table. The Bluehood Division 3 was made of sterner stuff and rained arrows down on the wolves that had mauled their comrades… killing one of them. But somehow that one dying wolf’s howls caused panic among the pack and set them to flight!


Yipe! Yipe! Yipe!

Galadria Thistlebottom and the Purple Loincloth Division 54 rained down toads and arrows on the Skulhelm Brothers knocking two more out of action – leaving a single the Skulhelm Brother on the field – he kept his cool though passing all courage tests!

Later in the turn the Wolves rallied and Brambley’s Boys charged up the hill at Bluehood Division 3 – both lost one in the melee, both passed their courage tests, so it was Brambley’s Boys that had to retreat back down the hill!

The Skulhelm Brother, Puljacks Punks, and Gurjunk’s Grunts all moved. Skimpy’s Scouts thought they might shoot at the magician, but then a toad croaked nearby and it scared the living daylights out of them and they hid a little deeper in the marsh.


Turn Ten

Bluehood Division 3 rained arrows down on Brambley’s Boys, killing another but failing to scatter them.

Puljacks Punks ran off the table edge scoring another +3 Glory. All the other orcs felt abandoned and were unable to activate this turn.


Turn Eleven

Bluehood Division 3 rained arrows down on Brambley’s Boys once again, killing another two and cased them to fail a courage check and retire. Galadria Thistlebottom and the Purple Loincloth Division 54 just stood and watched on with awe.

When it was the Orcs turn, Brambley’s Boys spectacularly failed their rally test and routed off the table. (+2 Glory for the Elves!)


The Wolves activated on a Wild Charge and went up the hill after Bluehood Division 3. The Bluehood Division 3 would just not give ground! Though they lost one of their archers, they killed two more wolves and the wolves fled back down the hill.

The Skulhelm Brother moved. Gurjunk’s Grunts moved. Skimpy’s Scouts shot at Galadria Thistlebottom and caused 1 Strength Point in damage – not a big deal, she’s pretty badass.


Turn Twelve

Bluehood Division 3 shot another wolf and the remainder routed. (+2 Glory for the Elves!)

Purple Loincloth Division 54 pincushioned the remaining Skulhelm Brother (+2 Glory for the Elves – putting them ahead and the remaining orcs in an unhappy place!)


Galadria Thistlebottom turned her attentions on the pesky scouts in the swamp and inundated them with a Torrent of Toads – which dragged three of them to their murky graves! They totally passed their courage test though…

Orcs failed to activate.


Turn Thirteen


Bluehood Division 3 shot down two of Gurjunk’s Grunts but the Orcs soldiered on. Well, not well enough to actually activate this turn… but well enough not to rout… just yet.


Turn Fourteen

Bluehood Division 3 killed three more of Gurjunk’s Grunts and the rest routed from the field of battle… (+2 Glory for the Elves!)


Purple Loincloth Division 54 turned their attention on Skimpy’s Scouts. One scout when down in the hail of arrows and the remaining two fled off the table (+2 Glory for the Elves!)


And so... 

Everyone seemed to have fun. I like the game. Sometimes I’m not so sure about the one fail means your entire side doesn’t get to move… but there was enough of that on both sides so it didn’t turn out so bad.  Also I'm not so hot on the no one can go within 3" of another unit thing - I'm all about making it clear which unit is which and keeping them separate - but 3" is a bit much and makes for some fiddly moving about that doesn't always make sense to me. But these are not deal-breakers by far. After our First Game of Lion Rampant I'd considered reducing the no go zone to one or two inches and allowing the leader to confer a +1 to activation rolls to units within 12"... I'm still considering it (but I do like to play a few games with rules as is before I start tinkering... 

While the girl clearly won, we weren’t sure about how to count her Glory Quests. One required that she rout or destroy more strength Points with Shooting than Attacks. Shooting refers to casualties caused by shooting, obviously, and Attacks refers to casualties caused by a unit making an attack on them, but what about casualties caused by magic or caused by a unit that causes casualties in while defending against an attack…? We couldn’t remember how each of them was destroyed immediately after the game. Looking back at my notes… I guess some were killed/routed due to shooting and none were killed by Attacks – because the elves made no Attack Activations the whole game.
Skimpy’s Scouted were routed from a shooting attack (though they’d lost more Strength Points initially from magical attack)
Gurjunk’s Grunts routed from damage caused by shooting.
The last Skullhelm Brother was killed by shooting. But half of the earlier casualties were caused by Spellcasting.
The wolves routed due to a loss caused by shooting, but half of their previous losses were due to casualties caused by elves defending themselves against the Wolves attack (I guess an argument could be made that those casualties were probably caused by pointblank bow fire…)
Brambley’s Boys routed due to a spectacularly failed rally test. Half of their casualties were caused by shooting, but half were caused by Elves defending against their Attack…
I’m probably over-thinking this… It’s pretty clear that some were destroyed/routed due to Shooting where none were destroyed routed due to Attacks (+2 Glory for the Elves!)

The other Glory quest required that she must reduce at least one of your opponents units with missile damage alone. This one is less clear. While a number of the opposing units were reduced to half strength or less – I think most of them were due to a combination of Shooting and wither magic or while defending against the opponents attacks (again, an argument could be made that those casualties were probably caused by pointblank bow fire…)? (+/-1 Glory for the Elves?)

I’m nickel and diming here… I should just stop. Fun was had. Elves won. Despite his loss The Boy pointed out that his leader did survive and is determined to cobble together a warband of his own miniatures and fight again…  Good game.

I think it took us a bit over two hours - but it was our first go at it and I had to look stuff up in the book a number of times and taking copious notes for the game report. I'm sure we could easily get games down to under two hours... 


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Well considering how much fun this was, maybe there’ll be some more game reports in the not too distant future…? I do have a few peasants I finished up this evening as well – they just need some static grass and then I’ll be posting them… 

Monday, January 11, 2016

More Swashbucklers


Here are some more swashbucklers I hope will be useful for En Garde!. I really know nothing about the game, but I’m working under the assumption that it will involve gangs or some sort of team similar to theBuntai in Ronin – Skirmish Wargames in the Age of the Samurai with an average or 6-8 guys per side - maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less, depending on quality and such… I’ve started to organize these new figures into 4 teams or gangs in similarly coloured clothes.


(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


The most recent batch. Figures are from Wargames Foundry

(Dang, did I miss painting a pupil on that guy in red!? AARRRRRG!?)


Team Green so far (or The Green Gang?)


Team Red/The Red Gang so far (Ugh, that eye… and I think I missed the bit of lace tucked into his glove!? I’m slipping… but I’ll have that fixed before I post the completed gang!)


The Blue Boys – feeling a bit lonely by comparison – but I have more almost done! 


In other news…


I got to play a game of Firefly with the family on Saunday afternoon. We played the easy (and shorter) “First Time in the Captain’s Chair” goals – as we haven’t played for a while and this was more or less just to refamiliarize ourselves with the rules.

The Girl totally trashed us all – AND she did it all doing legal/moral jobs!? The game seemed so short we kept on playing to see how many more turns it would take the rest of us to complete the three goals.

I came in second, but only because earlier in the game when Amanda had the chance to tip off the Alliance cruiser that I was sliding through Alliance space with a shipload of contraband (and gain herself $500 in the process) she elected not to (bless her socks!). She probably did this because she was also running not-so-legal jobs and had herself a ship full of fugitives and wanted crew and at some point someone else might draw that same nav card…


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Swashbucklers and some medieval peasants. 

Saturday, January 9, 2016

Imperial Guard and Swashbucklers


Well now that I’m all done with reminiscing over the past year and planning this coming year, it’s time to get back to painting toys and playing games!

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):


With realease of  En Garde! just around the corner I ordered some swashbucklers from Wargames Foundry  during their 20% off xmas sale. They finally arrived this past week and here are the first few to roll off  the workbench!


At the same time I ordered a few more English Civil War miniatures – figuring they could also be used for swashbuckling adventures! 


Here is a gen-u-ine Games Workshop Imperial Guard rocket launcher team. This is one I got off ebay and the prevous owner decided to remove the bipod on this launcher unit…?


I was feeling there was a lack of female troopers in my Imperial guard units – and as Games Workshop makes startlingly few of their own, I ordered these women from Copplestone Castings and replaced their firearms with GW Lasguns.



I also kitted them out with some other spare GW Imperial Guard equipment I had kicking around – canteen, ammo pouch, fighting knife and scabbard…


They fit in pretty good with the one other genuine GW Female Catachan jungle fighter I have…


But I’m not sure any of them quite fit in with the ridiculously overly muscular men of the unit… ah well…



Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Swashbucklers…? More Guardsmen…?