Play test "Warrior Heroes" and "Song of Blades and Heroes".

A cold weekday night has led me to play test two sets of rules I quite like - Song of Blades from Ganesha games and Warrior Heroes from Two Hour Wargames. In both games I match 4 Human Warriors against 4 Orcs warriors to see how the games end out. This was done in 15mm, I did take photos but they are terrible so I have left them out.

Song of Blades:
Both Forces start a distance of around 24inches apart. The humans and orcs both move slowly at first with activation switching between both sides (No one seemed to pass more than one activation and only had one action to use). Suddenly the lead Orc, Thraka Ughead sprints forward towards the Humans (He was successful on three activation roles and sprints 24cm). Seeing the Orc isolated Harry the barbarian charges in the same manner and enters into melee while his comrades watch from a safe and cowardly distance. After a few poorly aimed blows the melee is tied and so continues to the next round. More dice rolling but Harry looks tired and seeing an opportunity Thraka launches a powerful thrust that forces harry back several yards whilst the 3 other orcs rush to join the fray. Unfortunately for Harry he is distracted (and worried) by the other orcs advance and Thraka manages to knock him down onto the ground. Seeing a good chance for a kill, Zaghal joins Thraka in an attempt to finish off Harry who is desperately fending off blows from the ground. He does indeed manage to knock Zhagal back with a kick to the groin to buy himseld a few seconds but it isnt looking good.

This spurs the other barbarians (Bob, Reginald and Clarence) in an attempt to save Harry, so they advance however just as they are about to reach the melee Harry is dispatched by Thraka and the orcs surge forward for more. The Morale of the barbarians slumps, Bob and Reg fall back but Clarence is made of sterner stuff and stands his ground which is a shame as the Orcs pass all activation roles and Clarence is cut down, he never really stood a chance. With the orc frenzy on full tilt Reg and Bob can't run fast enough and are gradually run down, knocked to the ground and slaughtered.

Results - I enjoyed the game as there are no move as such, you keep rolling activation until you fail and then it passes to the other side until they fail. (I think I did over 30 activations in 30 mins ) The first few moves were very slow but Thraka charging like a maniac caught the Barbarians off guard and the lucky hit on Harry to force him down sealed the deal. The Orcs them seemed to speed up and once Clarence was cut down the other two humans had woeful move roles and retired far too slowly while the orcs moved at lightening speed. The rules are simple and fun though lack any Solo controls that the TwoHour wargames have but I can see myself using them a lot. Thrakas charge looked like suicide but he inspired his men to victory and the game had a very cinematic feel to it.

Warrior heroes -
I match a group of 4 Orcs against 4 Barbarians same as before. The Orcs win the activation role with a 5 but dont have anyone they can move as they are all Rep 4, so the Humans actually move first. Humans win the second activation and advance to 12" off the Orcs, both sides takes a test of wills and come to a halt.  Orcs win activation on 5 again but cant move and humans advance to within 4 inches, orcs fail again and humans charge (As they were so close no charg test was needed). A melee of 4 on 4 both sides count as frenzy (Humans were classed as Borderers) so both get an extra dice. One orc (Beezul) is knocked down (OOF - not dead but out of fight) by Reginald while the orc leader Thraka forces  Clarence back with a frenzied attack. From the rules I interpreted that as Clary and Thraka were still going I had to reroll another round, which I did so and Thraka was knocked down by Clary OOF as well. As the leader and another comrade were down, Orcs take a crisis test and bolt. Thraka and beezul then become dead as they are finished by the Humans, while Reginald gets cocky and charges single handedly at the retiring orcs, who fail the charge test and bolt away even faster.

Results - I liked the solo mechanic and the reactions though this ruleset is a little more complicated than SoBH but will be great for solo games where I only control one side. It will be interesting to see how larger games go given the reactions etc that occur when figures are split from groups etc.

More test games to come with photos.

Im also looking at gaming mats\cloths for the table .

Terrain

All this purchasing of figures for solo games and the fact that all my terrain is sitting on a table far away has meant I have decided to get more terrain. When I say get, I mean make and so I have been on a terrain baking project that is going suprisingly well, and a rather out of hand !

For a Eben Emael skirmish I started by making a Casemate out of some foamboard and a pillbox out of a yoghurt container. The 15mm figure is to show the scale, pretty quickly (and roughly) put together but all the materials were free. Sure I could have bought one of each for $10 but why not get the creative juices going.

Then I thought it would be a great idea to make some larger buildings for some more ww2 skirmish games. The below are half done, a station house and a storeroom, painted but with most bits needing highlightng - made form foamboard and a weetbix box with a dash of PVA.. I plan to base them and add some Vine\Ivy to hide some of the crappier finish I have done on it. The first building I've made so Im not complaining, but I need to weather them a little as they are seem rather glossy !


 So while I was making them I remembered I had a half baked Airfix Dutch windmill somewhere that I attempted to make several years ago. A quick recce of the shed found the box and so this has been added to the queue. Ive lost some of the bits so I will need to craft some addons to make it complete (Like doors and such)




I have two ww2 rulesets I wish to use - Hell by Daylight by Jim Webster, and THW NUTS plus Blood of the Risers US Airborne supplement. HbD is for partizan type games which I plan to use for a scenario and NUTs is well, looking pretty good. The campaign in the US Airborne book is ingenious and the rules strike me as bing very exciting. I have 3 THW rulesets from various periods and I quite like them. of course the US Airborne supplement has 10 linked scenarious for Normandy, and as I have a tonne of 15mm Germans, US and Brit Para's Im going to play these out solo. but of course I need the highlight of all Normandy tables........bocage. The below is a test run I made to see how it would go. The base is some "plastic-iey" stuff that was used in the box our TV came in, cut and PVA'd to a base. Applied some filler, painted it black and then turf colors and then glued varying shades of flock\clump foilage to it, and I am quite impressed at the results.

 The test bocage ! I have noticed though I have no consistancy between stands, so need to hide some pretty bad join lines if two bases are side by side.

  

It has been fun, but has taken me a little while to get done but now I know what I'm doing (or not) I can get a bit more done each night. so much done in fact the last hour of each night is spent adding more stuff to the list - barbed wire, dungeon walls etc etc as well as painting more 15mm stuff (ww2, fantasy, napoleonics...)

"Her indoors" has raised on valid question - where am I going to store all that "junk" lol and I dont actually know BUT at least I am recycling.

Pre-Winter Colds

Winter is here and thus starts the long run of colds and other illness that haunt or house. I swear my health has decreased since all these fecking earthquakes started as I'm just sick all the time. Of course a snotty 2 year old doesnt help :) I've been off work now for 3 days, was ordered on bed rest and am pretty much sick of it. Now that whinge is out of the way, I did get to spend some time at home with my daughter as well as paint some figures during daylight hours - which is a bonus.

I have finished another Prussian Heavy Cavalry unit. Apologies for the photo quality, I seem to have lost any skill for taking photos. I blame my constant coughing ! I also need to touch up the horses as I havent done much on them.

 

A new Prussian Line infantry unit, again in my rush I forgot to paint the buttons on so another touch up needed. Ive yet to detail the base and flock it etc, as I tend to do basing en-masse and wait till I have 5 or so units to complete (Just because its a pain to get all the stuff out).

Some 15mm SciFi finally, I picked up some Old Crow Resin vehicles for my solo SciFi skirmish stuff. Below is an APC that I have base coated and "inked", so hopefully I'll do some more layers and then weather it a bit.

I am also building some ruins, as I was kindly given some scenery for free when I purchased a second hand castle. The owner was moving away and gave me a lot of stuff he didn't need (Paint and scenery) so I'll make good use out of it. These are GW ruins but I plan to use them for a ruined European church. I'll add some detail to the clear area, perhaps a statue or tomb or sorts.

And the Zvedza castle - jeez this thing is massive - its for 1/72 so I can use it for 15mm (For a Citidel), 1/72 and 28mm. I've grabbed a tower and 2 wall sections to start on, but I won't need the entire kit done, but hope to  have a few towers and 6 wall sections for gaming. So far Ive done a some layers and all it needs is a final light drybrush, and some detail painted in (I plan to add some Ivy aswell)

The toaster in the background gives some idea of scale. I didn't really need to buy it but I couldnt resist !.

Its only 12.56pm and I still have all day to do something !

Battle of Harburg, May 1809

The campaign in Prussia is off and running, King Frederick Wilhelm III has stayed true to Tilsit and has moved troops to support the French in giving the Austrians and British a damn good thrashing.

Yes its not historical, but it will lead to some damn good games. Our first battle is Harburg, where a Prussian\French garrison is abruptly interupted by a British Division, well not interupted as I knew they were coming. It was a bit lopsided numbers wise (4 Inf, 3 Cav, 2 Guns against 12 inf,1 cav and 2 guns), and no one expected the game to last a night BUT showing true tenacity the allies (French\Prusse) came out biting and we are going into our third night of gaming. Of course I forgot the camera batteries the first game night !

Some pictures of night two ! Below is early in the game, the British have advanced and the Allies have sensed an opportunity, the Silesian Uhlans roll over some british batteries and the left flank surges forward crushing all before them.

 The next shot shows a closer view - british square cower as Prussian troops surge onwards - For Glory ! For the Fatherland !

 But after that intial surge we needed to reform our lines, so back we went and reformed, a solid line of cold steel and big guns.

 Some more action shots, East Prussian Heavy Cavalry await a chance to get amongst it.

 Prussian Grenadiers (using Landwher figures) impale a British square and send it running.

 And with most games, smoke is everywhere - in VLE smoke does certain things to firing so it pays to make the first volley count.

More to come - will Prussians hold, will the french actually fight ! Night is closing and the British dead are mounting - Bring me Night or bring me Blucher !

May

Hi,

A brief update - I am still alive but I just havent had a chance to update anything. I have a new job and its pretty full on and I am just finding my feet, but its been great so far and is very exciting. Over the last month I've really only painted one 15mm Prussian Cuirrassier unit and I cant take a photo as its on Barry's games table as we have a game to finish on wed.

One thing I can say is how fantastic is a Napoleonic game when the table is crammed with figures !. Painting the figures (for me anyway) is extremely enjoyable, recently I've received some great comments on my figures but seeing them on the table is also very enjoyable.

I havent even had time to read other's blogs which I updated myself with last night, whilst trying not to play Europa Unversalis III on the PC. I also purchased 120 trees from Hong Kong that I am basing up for our gaming as we seem to have a tree shortage.

So this coming few weeks I intend to get normal painting service back on track and pump out some more:

i)Prussians
ii) Normans
iii) Fantasy figures for solo gaming - none of the GW crap - 15mm all the way.

Cheers
Paul

Prussians

So as there is a possible Prussia 1809 campaign about to kick off I thought it prudent to actually get painting my 15mm Prussians. So far I have done a few infantry units and some Uhlans. Below is the infantry, all old glory 15mm - 2 Landwher and the Silesian Jaegers, as well as a brigadier (slash Dragoon officer). I've made more effort in basing them and realised that brown paint certainly gets used up quickly these days!. Also how expensive is bloody paint, Most of my paints I bought 5 years ago and am only running out now - GW is like 8 bucks so I'm going back to P3 and CdA as I can get it cheap enough from the UK from Maelstrom games - to buy in NZ or Aussie seems expensive. I often think I'm stuck in some wargaming time warp and land every 10 years and everything seems to change lol.

A close-up of a Jaeger stand, quite neat figures and they have loads of personality. I like the OG figures in 15 and 25, I do have Front Rank but they all look the same and after painting 4 of them it gets boring. the OG figures have such personality it makes it refreshing and also amusing when you find the odd figure, like the Wurttenburger who appears to be proposing while looking into sky (OK he been shot but its quite theatrical !)

My Dragoon officer in the midst of the militia hordes.. OG packs come in 16 cav figures each when I only need 12, so all the extra figures will be used as Mounted Staff, ADCs and such other stands that take my fancy.

Some Flags for AB standards - the OG packs come in 50 so you dont get a choice as to the command ratios, which is fine however in one Landwher pack I seemed to get 6 standards. I seem to recall the landwher werent authorised to carry flags, but the tended to ignore that order so lucky me.

And finally my Uhlans painted a while ago based and annointed with a standard, A Dragoon standard of course to fit my typical "get it wrong at some stage process". I cant wait to a see a good force of Prussians painted - did I really need a Prussian 15mm army aswell as 25mm - YES !.

Oh oh Shiney !

Its been a busy month, Fletchers working on the house (which has been good apart from the bricklayer who seems to be a retard), birthdays, illness and a change of jobs. I have been steadily painting but haven't had a chance to actually base some units due to the garage being overfilled with housewares.

I bought some AB Cuirrassier figures off trademe as I wanted another unit and couldnt face painting them, quite well painted figures but just needed rebasing. Below they are sitting in the sandbox along with a Prussian Line Infantry unit allowing some sand to soak into the PVA. I don't really go in for buying painted figures, but the ease of it all was tempting and I have so many projects going on it would make things easier I suppose.

 Below is the command stand of the Prussian Regt (Pomeranian I think - I need to find my notes), Old Glory figures and also fun to paint (and easy !) yet I have a few hundred more to go.



A Swiss Regt (AB figures) after "sanding" and awaiting the base to be painted, highlighted and flocked. I enjoyed painting this unit as the AB figures always look good and I look forward to the next

I have a few more posts to come over the next week as I roll into some more units.

Cheers
Paul