Elf Reinforcemenrts and some grubby little orcs

So after years of taking poor photographs with  bad lighting and background, the power of google has me testing some methods of improving my pictures.

First up is the sky background (I forgot the scenic base but oh well).

I purchased some Elven Knights from 15mm.co.uk and painted them last week. Three Stands for Hordes\RRTK (none of my army lists have Elven Cavalry but I'll make something up as I go). I still have not mastered the art of armour, which is why my Mantic 28m Elven army is not moving very far (I suspect I might have to try this dipping method).

The yellow lances need some work and my horse painting ability still falls short.

I also needed some bigger Orcs to act as Fanatic\Heavy Orc infantry. 15mm.co.uk came to the rescue again with some large chaps that I tried to make black and evil looking. The photos however have me thinking they might need a little highlight here and there, plus some red or yellow eyes will go down quite well. I think they need that "We are nasty people *gnash gnash*" look, at the moment they look too bland.

Over the weekend I shall make a little photo box with a proper set up (The sky background kept falling over).

Cheers

Treyine and Tropilium

Looking back at my photos it was August last year that I played the first two battles of the campaign. It was the third battle that threw the thing off balance as I didn't have the required armies ready due to not having enough figures or having them painted.

I've yet to post the first two seasons of the campaign but seeing as I am finishing two of the armies I would  show them off anyway.


Treyine

Treyine is based on the 100 Years War English so its a very "shooty" army with lots of bows, a few dismounted Knights. I have never painted a Historical ancient\medieval army before so I simply painted what I saw fit (As its only for a fantasy setting). The are based on my older style with paddock style grass and look OK for a fantasy human army, but probably not for 100YW.

Tropilium
Unfortunately for Treyine, the huge empire next door decided they liked to add their lands to their collection. Tropilium is based upon the Late Roman Empire which until,  I started painting I knew nothing about. I did a little research on shield design and colours and then painted them up over about ........erm......6 months.  The figures are the old  TTG figures so they have seen better days, a few highlights and some new basing have them looking a lot better than what they did previously.

The random dice rolls for army selection saw a large army being generated. 6 elements of Legion, 6 of Auxilia plus loads of Archers and Equites.

Unless the Long bows of Treyine can keep those blades away I think things might go a little sour in the Kingdom.

So hopefully I will play the game this week and then start posting the actions reports on the blog.

I don't know if i will ever play ancients as a period as such. I've seen a few games being played locally but, to be honest,  the participants don't like overly joyed to be playing. Perhaps its the ruleset they are using or I go and have a look at some miserable moment or when they are having abreak ?

Solo Talomir Campaign

At the end of last year I decided to start playing the RallyRoundTheKing Talomir campaign solo. The published campaign involves a lot more nations and armies that I have so I simply made my own map involving 7 nations. I would have no pet nation but simply play them all for some solo games on the Kitchen table and a little background and action reports.

• Goblin Clans
• Border Kingdoms (Normans)
• Dwarves
• Elves 
• Treyine (100 YW English)
• Tropilium Empire (Late Romans)
• Orc Clans

My simple map is below:

I did initially make a grand hex based map but updating it is a pain so I have embraced KISS.

I included the large Tropilium Empire simply as I have a very basic and old Late Roman army. I also wanted to see what life was like next to a large and territory hungry empire so they have started with a large domain already.

The campaign will begin in Spring 271 and the starting leaders are below:

• Goblin Clans - Grexgaz Shadowracket
• Border Kingdoms (Normans) - Baron François Dubosc
•  Orcs - Auhgan
• Dwarves  - King Numaen Drakecoat
• Elves - Lord Miirphys
• Treyine (100 YW English) - King Payne Tilli
• Tropilium Empire (Late Romans) -Emperor Tertius Equitius Constantius

I am rolling the random events to see of bad things happen (Dragons , Giants and the like) but I'm going to ignore them as I please if the event doesn't fit with what is happening.

Last year I did get to 2 seasons in and fought two battles. A third then occurred but I had not finished the army (The biggest of course - Tropilium) so it stalled while I started to paint them ..........and then did Napoleonics.

However fresh paint, new terrain and a better camera have me back in action !