15mm Hordes of Things

Last night I visited Colin's for an evening of Hordes of Things in the true scale of war-gaming,  15mm !. Well its the true scale as we both have tonnes of armies so we might aswell use them.

 I have only ever played HOT 4 years ago so it was good to get back into it. I broight along my Goblins and Colin played with Goblins and Ratmen.

We had 4 games I recall - I got slaughtered in 3 as most new players are but I won 1 game due to a vast amount of luck and some tough troops performing at the right time. Experimenting with different troops types was a good learning curve so hopefully we can have some more games in the future.

Very enjoyable to get back into it and I am now finishing the big pointy things for my other armies.



Cheers

La Victoire est à Nous

This song has been stuck in my head for weeks now after I watched a clip of Waterloo.

It's quite helpful in getting into my work or sorting out my 28mm Napoleonic Westphalians. I touched up this unit last night, their uniform is so incorrect its laughable but I did paint them 8 years ago after a 10 year hiatus from wargaming.

Next to repaint are the Westphalian Guard Grenadiers, Westphalian Jager, all my artillery and then get cracking on the Saxons. Should be done in a week (seriously)!

Cheers

Planceniot Update

I've been pottering along getting my 6mm armies ready for my solo Planceniot game

Below are some units of the Young Guard. The first time I have ever painted YG figures so I had to learn a lot about their uniforms and also painting lace on small figures is easier than I thought. I need to flock the bases and some other small jobs and they are ready to go.

Below 16th brigade, IV Corps (von Hiller.
The first of the Prussian's painted and ready to be finalised and finished (With some French Legere on the side).

 

A close-up of my Landwher units.

So full speed ahead. Another 20 or so Prussians and more cavalry, 10 or so french and I'm all sorted. I don't have the exact cavalry units needed in some places so their countrymen of other units will stand in their place.  I have the terrain base tiles glues so I then need to texture and paint them - then move into my board and plan the table.  Ground scale will be blown out of proportion most likely but then again - its only toy soldiers.


I am also slowly re-basing my 28mm French and finishing off the 6mm Sudan and 10 Vietnam so next week I hope to play a few solo games to get used to the rules again.

New to brush care

I had two posts written in draft that have dissapeared over the weekend. I never delete drafts so Im not sure what happened - perhaps I mistakenly clicked on delete when logging out when my FF freezes (Due to that crappy HP software starting up).

I have recently started to try to take more care of my brushes as most are showing wear and tear. I have been really lazy with brushes, I simply use them till they die and then they get moved onto use with PVA for bases and then buy some more. very lazy and a waste. I did think I was cleaning them (clean water etc.) but over time the paint builds in the ferule and they slowly clog up. with child and that cat I have also had some interruptions that have me forgetting brushes loaded with paint. These then dry and lose all use. I'm not expecting the brushes to be back to new but just to look after them better and prolong their life.

So a month or two ago I scoured the interwebz for information and and tips and found two products:

1. Masters Brush Cleaner 

I used this on all brushes one night and wow it did a really good job of getting paint out or brushes I thought were clean. I also left it on some dead brushes for an hour and they came back to life slowly. Afterwards the brushes had more life back on them and regained some shape and I was very happy. I uses this at the end of every session and I'm finding it really helps clean the paint I can see.


2.Winsor and Newton Bruish Cleaner and Restorer. 

Some of the brushes though really need a defibrillator type shock so I used another product.

I have to say this stuff is the kryptonite to dried paint. The old brushes I soaked 9They were 100% dried solid) came back to life and all the dried paint came out of them. I think they have regained almost 70% of their quality and that is the end result I was looking for. It has no odour and is water soluble and it has worked wonders with these old brushes.

A good result from my searching on the internet and other peoples blogs so thanks to all those that posted videos and comments on the webs for others to see. I remember as a kid using turps on those Humbrol enamel paints -I must have been high as a kite for a time. Now I'm older I am more fussy - I found even the smell of Tamiya Acrylic to be bad so can only use it in the garage.

Cheerio.

Recent musings.

I’ve done a lot recently but haven’t bothered posting an pics – I find I should spend more time doing things and playing things than worrying about photos, lighting and all the nonsense that goes with it.

 Rally Round the King

I have been playing a solo campaign using the Rally Round the King mechanics to get some game time going. The human armies of the fantasy world are based on Historical armies (Which I know nothing about) so it has been fun painting and getting use to different troop types and their abilities. In my campaign the nations are Orcs, Goblins, Border Kingdom (Normans), Tropillium South (Late Western Roman), Treyine (English 100YW), Elves and or course Dwarves. So far it has been entertaining and a good excuse to learn more about Ancient warfare and how these battles fought. Of course I know very little about tactics in these ages but I’m slowly getting the hang of things. None of these games are blog friendly (Played on a simple green cloth) but it has me entertained and is satisfying my need for some fantasy wars.

A few brief shots below of some of the first battles of the year (Horrible board). I am working on a proper wargames board and decent scenery but for these initial games I just threw it down and rolled the dice. It would be nice to play some ancients but would mean learning another rule-set meh !

 Elves try to get the Dwarven gold but the solid battle line wears them down.

Goblins try to back stab the Orc nation and getting a royal beating\massacre.

Romans

Tropillius is based on the Late Roman empire and in this campaign it is twice the size of anyone else. Bigger borders mean more troops so I have been painting Romans to my hearts content. I have never painted a Roman before so I have tried to base them on a historical look but I’m not sure I have it. Anyway at least its an excuse to have a Roman army that could be used for DBA. Its interesting how little I knew about the Romans and how vastly they changed over time - I thought it was all Asterix type legionnaires for centuries.

Cats and Wargames

We obtained a cat from the SPCA and at night (When my daughter is asleep) it likes to be near me (Where I am usually painted at the kitchen table). In the last few nights it has found the paint pile an interesting place and keeps jumping on the table (Where it is not allowed).

 However the cat is tone deaf so no amount of talking to it will help. I have to walk around the table and pick it up from the front (Otherwise it gets a fright being deaf). I must have done this about 10 times last night so my output is being affected but I guess it is good exercise.

I have started to re-base my French and so far have changed 6 units around, finished painting another 2 and am just about to finish repainting one more. Then I'll tidy up my cavalry and fix some guns (the guns were shattered in the quakes) and then I'll have a handy small force for a game. All the standards were busted in the earthquakes too so more work is required on those.

Then I shall continue on with my Saxons and Hotspur figures, then maybe the Russians and Prussians too..........and that Austrian unit I have floating around.

To make things worse I have almost finished my 6mm 1815 Prussian Army for solo games. And when I mean games, I mean Plancenoit at Battalion level.

Blast from the Past.

My first purchased 25mm Napoleonic unit was from Military Miniatures in Auckland and was 25mm Hotspur French - I picked up 50 odd figures and 12 Chasseurs. Over my 10 year hiatus and the next 15 or so years the infantry dwindled down to 34 odd figures so I looked at finding if any more. I found the sculpter had passed away, some if its other ranges still existed under other companies but the Napoloenic line had dissapeared from the world. I managed to find another 10 figures at a swap meet and I also asked on a few forums if anyone had any (Surely i coudnt be the only person that had them) but no luck - Some NZ war gamers mentioned having them but they were sold.to others and their fate was unknown.

As they are my first ever unit (and my favourite figures to be honest) they are my favourite so I gave up getting more.  But a few weeks ago I tried one more time and I asked on the yahoo groups NZ forum if anyone had 4 of the figures so I could finish one of the units and a fellow wargamer replied. The end result is this, 100 or so beautiful little 25mm Hotspur French figures FREE. Thanks to the Brian at the blog Woolshed .

He wanted them to find a home (He had a load painted up himself) and gave them to me free and I am very thankful. (Of course I have his address from the packet so I'm sure something will find its way into his letterbox soon ;) as a thank you).

So I now have enough for 5 Units (plus my existing re-painted unit (Finished last night) which then leads onto another problem - I've been repainted a napoleonic unit every few weeks and that urge to do more is starting again. Considering I have 150 Hinton Hunt Saxons, 40 minfigs,40 Italians and 30 odd cavalry to finish up (As well repainting 6 existing Front Rank units) I could do with a good French Napoleonic phase - (The Russians and Prussians need a rebase and touch up too but the few British I have I might sell). What is the grand total of the French - well its a lot (Too many to be honest but you can never have enough can you).

French - 6 line (@24 figures), 1 Cuirrassier (@12), 1 Chasseur, 2 Dragoon, 2 Lancer

German Allies - 20+ units (@24), 1 Cuirrassier, 2 Hussar, 1 Dragoon

Guns for Africa.......

Prussians and Russians (About 12 units each plus 4 cav each)

I should really have a game with them.

A side note - As part of my 6mm armies I picked up a few aircraft and I have been painting them as I do the ground forces. Below is a Me109 for the France 1940 games I plan to play solo. I quite like how it turned out though I have to say basing them on the stands has been an epic journey. I drilled some holes but my first attempt failed so after about 4 attempts as a last resort I used super glue.

Ramelle "Take two."

Some time ago I managed to take part in a refight of the Ramelle area on 7th June 1944. Last weekend the same table was used again and was an encounter action between advancing Allies and a German batlegroup

All 10mm Pendraken figures from Colin and Jim Morton's collections (I need to get mine painted asap). I drew a map of the action and then promptly lost it so all I have are some out of sequence pictures.

My Panzer Grenadiers give some Paras who "came a calling" a good kicking in the woods. Very soon "For you the war is over" was being barked in bad English.

 The German HQ sits  in the village sampling local fare.

My Tigers prowl in the fields while getting bombarded by 105mm Howitzers (That didn't do a thing to them).

 Paul's German Infantry secure our objective.

 Colin's fabulous British Para Mortar section.

 A German battalion forming in the woods for its assault (They can't see us so no artillery is incoming).

 The Sherman's skulk in cover !

 The Tigers pounce.

 And "pounce" they did get as they missed all firing (You know those woe-full dice you roll when you don't need to roll them), the supporting infantry then missed......everything and some Paras in the woods took them out. It always amazes me how bad my dice get when its a "critical roll" and how that luck then transforms into my opponents dice that all become 6's.

I did feel better 5 mins later as some Stug's lit up the Sherman at 100m range but I only have 3 Stugs and there are still 10 Shermans floating around.

The game is in the balance and it will be continued, hopefully the moons all align and I can get to the game.

Very enjoyable game it was and I managed to game from 9am through till 4.30pm - A massive achievement.!.

28mm Perry ACW - 83rd Pennsylvania.

Hi,

Last year I was going to play in the Gettysburg Refight, I had some figures painted but then Pneumonia struck and and I simply faded out for a good few months. I found the figures last week and decided to finish them off and then sell them to anyone who would actually use them.

I used the same painting techniques on these as my 15mm so they are very blue. However on my various trips to the States I have seen all shades of Union uniforms so I think they are fine . Perry figures are a joy to paint, but after 6mm/15mm I forgot how much space a painted and based 28mm unit will take up.

(I am also amazed that my camera (held together by medical tape) managed to take such good photos)

I can't remember who I got the flags off but they are good. I d need to finish them off as there were glued on but not tidied up afterwards. (I should have really put the flags bases in the right position for my photo).

28mm figures look bloody great don't they.  I won't do ACW in 28mm (20mm and 6mm are enough) but it was good fun painting them up, if a year late that is.

I'm looking at my Napoleonics and WSS with Envy but I need to finish a lot of other things off first. I do need to rebase my Napoleonics first and also finish off the Allied Armies (Prussian, Russian and British) but as it means at painting 300 figures and rebasing 800 or so I'm not really THAT motivated.

Cheers

Rally Round the King testing.

So far this week I have played three solo Rally Round the King Games (from Two hour Wargames). These games have been to simply play test the rules as I get ready for a Solo Talomir campaign to generate some battles. The first game on Sunday night took around an hour and ended up in the Goblins getting smashed to pieces on a Dwarven shield wall. I then discovered that I got the rules on Goblins wrong (Skirmishers and formations) so I then played another game and it ended up in the Dwarfs getting a hiding (The dwarf General tried to turn the tide and ended up as a kebab) and I then discovered flaw 2 in that I had mistaken the Terror rule (It only applies to big nasty things like wolves but not goblins) so things wouldn’t have been as bad for the Dwarves. So a third game ensued – this took about half an hour and I found I knew the rules pretty well by now so I only had to refer back to the unit statistics a few times. The dwarves took the third game and the survived simply due to well train troops that could simply endure a battering.

You will see from the pic below I that I can get this on a table (I’ll have a bigger gaming mat and scenery of course) and have it all taken care of in an hour – right next to the kettle and biscuit tin.

The Talomir campaign involves a group of nations that fight in the world of Talomir. These are a mix of Humans and other folk (Goblins, Orcs, Elves etc etc). The great thing is the Human nations are simply Historical armies substituted into another settings.

I have never played ancients before so I will also be using RRTK to get used to these type of warfare and also learn about different nations and troop types that will hopefully form some bases if I ever get around to playing HoTT Tournaments at CWC. It was also mean I have will have 3 Ancient armies I could possibly use for something else.

Talmoir Nations

Tropilium – (Late Roman) – Legion and Auxiliary.

Treyine – (100YW English) – Archers and dismounted Knights.

Border Kingdoms- (Normans) – Retainers and levies.

Elf- Archers and Soldiers.

Dwarf- Crossbows and Soldiers.

Goblin- Little green men with pointy sticks and the odd wolf rider.

Orc- Bigger green men with pointy sticks and the occasional big nasty thing.

I am just finishing painting the Normans and Romans and then I will be ready to start.  The next project is to get some small WW2 6mm forces finished for the same purposes.

Cheers