Tuesday 31 March 2015

Empire Crossbowmen

In the loft I also discovered these things lurking in a cobwebby corner.
They're the "hybrid" metal and plastic Empire crossbowmen (6th edition WFB or thereabouts). Metal arms (and some windlass things and pouches) on the plastic Empire state troop bodies.





Very nice Perry sculpts, but an absolute arse to put together.
Fortunately past me did that ten or so years ago to save future me (or actually now me as it turns out) the pain of gluing heavy, slightly roughly cast white metal to fine plastic.
I was so thoughtful back then.
But ten years on I still remember the pain I went through.

There were a few more, including command, with them too, but twelve seemed about right, and anyway who uses command for missile troops?

Quite looking forward to painting them (though I need to locate a head for one of them).

Monday 30 March 2015

Guilford Courthouse at Cannon

Here's some eye candy from Steve Jones excellent (and award winning) game at Cannon yesterday.
This is the game he's very kindly invited me to help out with at Salute.
It looks magnificent and I'm looking forward to just being associated with it in April.










There's more about the game over on Steve's blog

Sunday 29 March 2015

Spanish Civil War CoC at Cannon

Today I played a big game of Chain of Command using Scrivs' extensive Spanish Civil War collection at the Cannon Wargames show in Retford.
We were originally due to play a WW2 Game using James and Scrivs collection of WW2 East Africa troops, as a climax to James' Keren campaign from Salute last year. Unfortunately James had to pull out at the last minute, but Scrivs manfully stepped into the breach.
So Matt and I made a more eventful than really necessary trip to Retford where we met Scrivs, who'd already done most of the setting up and were soon joined by James (the other one) ready for the off.
James and I took on the guise of the oppressed Republican Freedom fighters, whilst Scrivs and Matt were the Filthy Fascist Lackeys.

The table looked splendid and we played a very jolly and leisurely game with plenty of breaks to wander around the stalls.

Here's the eye candy:

 The calm before the storm



 Moroccans approach the Republican lines


 Anarchists de-bus




 Artillery arrives


 Francos men sample the Rioja








The last few brave men hold out

Here's a couple of those pictures in black and white for a period feel.


After quite a tussle Matt's forces eventually overwhelmed my right flank, but were given a thoroughly bloody nose in return. However the Panzers rode to the rescue and after a succession of double sixes giving them five (!) consecutive turns the tanks hosed down my centre and my forces broke and fled.

James was then overwhelmed by the remaining forces and the foul Francoist forces held the field.

It was a great way to spend the day and with great company. Scrivs collection is amazing for something he only really began this time last year.
Pop over to his blog for all his Spanish Civil War goodness

The show itself seemed quite quiet to me, which gave it the feel more of a "gaming day" with your mates than a wargames show, and I did hear a few traders bemoaning the lack of custom. Hopefully the show will keep going as its a good venue and there's a gap in the calendar at this time.

Loot from the Loft

Today I returned some half finished items and abandoned projects to the loft.
Inevitably I didn't return from the dark and cobwebby reaches without a few new items to add to the painting queue.
Primarily I grabbed a bunch of stuff for my Empire army, along with some other randomness.
However I also returned with a bonus.
Ten partly painted classic metal Flagellants that will be just the ticket for my Empire army.



I had forgotten I even had these, they weren't in with the rest of the Empire stash. I must have begun them years ago.
However I'm very glad that I found them as I've always been fond of these models, and like the background for Flagellants but dislike the current plastics.
This way I can have them in my army without having to do some sick in my mouth while painting them up.


I also located a small pile of unpainted ones, nine in total.
So I think I'll do a unit of 18 (3x6) and see if I can squeeze them into the Empire campaign forces

Friday 27 March 2015

Warhammer Campaign: Empire against Bretonnia

Abelard von Gesegnet shook his head. What in the name of Ulric was that drumming noise? He closed his eyes again, but the noise persisted. Now there was some sort of shouting going on. Could a man never get a moment's peace?
With a splintering sound the door to Abelard's chamber burst from it's hinges. Von Gesegnet leaped from his bed and seized a half-full chamber pot to hurl at the invaders.
"Sire" his secretary said, wiping the contents of the chamber pot from his ornate headwear "you appear to have overslept. The enemy has been sighted and the rest of the army has marched. Your knights are waiting in the courtyard"
"Bring me my armour" roared the half-naked General "Oh, and someone put some clothes on those halflings"

Flushed with success after last weeks triumphant drubbing* of the High Elves I ventured forth to Der Norden Notts Spielsaal in high spirits. The forces of Abelard von Gesegnet were once more ready to face down the Bretonnian strumpet and her foolish followers.
This time we were to play the Meeting Engagement scenario.The fickle Terrain Gods granted us nine pieces of terrain, including an interesting water feature in the right hand corner. The fickle Turning-up-on-Time Gods then decreed that about half my army would be late arriving at the battlefield. Fortunately the fickle Stealing-the-First-Turn Gods were on my side, so I got to go first.

 The Wissenland Whitespears (and friends)

 Pass me the pie plate template

 Where are they...

...just in time!
 
The pistoliers, mindful of previous encounters, sneaked behind a building, before whizzing out to march block the knights and pepper them with shot. Ineffectually.
The Bright Wizard summoned up a mighty Fireball, which gave him a huge headache and cost him a wound. The target unit of knights predictably passed all their saves.
The mortar landed on the Bretonnian archers, killing many, but they must be getting used to it by now and passed their break test with ease.

The last of Stephen's knights arrived, including a chap with a flamethrower attachment on his lance who duly roasted the pistoliers and saw them flee the board. Still not quite got the hang of this fast cavalry lark.
The peasant bowmen scurried to seek shelter in the nearby tower.The sorceress tried to get some Dwellers up from the deep, but they stayed down below where they belong.

 "You just press zis leetle button and WHOOOSH!"

 Skewer them!

My knights could just about see the Pegasi winging toward them and so charged home. Nothing else much moved.
Once more the Bright Wizard launched flaming death at his foes. But the flames hit a mirror and the wizard dropped dead. Bugger.
The cannon killed a knight or two.
Abelard and his men laid about the winged horses to pleasing effect and the Bretonnian nobles turned tail and were cut down. The general and his men cantered through the woods with no ill effects.

 If we run away then....oh, bugger

Failing to flee leads to fallen comrades
 
The Bretonian general launched his unit at the Kislevites. Who forgot to run away and were wiped out where they stood. The Trebuchets were proving to be pleasingly ineffective for a change, and the treacherous Dwarf allies and the peasant bowmen found it difficult to hurt the inner circle knights.

The Empire knights reformed to face the Dwarfs whilst the rest of the army took aim at the Bretonnian general and his men. Many of whom fell off their horses.

 Splish, splash, eugh!

 Bang, flash,splash,trample!

Attempting to charge home the Bretonnian standard bearer realised he'd forgotten his spurs and instead paddled into the water. The general however thundered home into a hail of lead and slightly toxic water and only he and the standard bearer made it into the handgunners. Whom they promptly chopped to bits. The Dwarfs and peasants continued to watch their missiles bounce off the Empire knights.

Abelard ordered the charge and his men cantered through the trees unharmed and crashed into the Dwarfs, wiping them all out. Which is coincidentally what the his Bretonnian counterpart was  doing to the cannon - as a result of which the mortar crew fled.

Come on, then, lets 'ave it!
 
The Bretonnian flag man threw the reverse switch on his unit and they backed out of the water, leaving one comrade putrefying in the eddies.
The sorceress finally got through to the Dwellers below, who dragged Abelard and most of his men beneath the ground. Those who survived were disappointed by the sudden arrival of most of a house on their heads from the nearby trebuchet.

And with that the battle drew to a close.

Good fun, but a bit of a walk over for the Bretonnians. I think my army may need a rethink.
  • The spearmen unit is too big and hard, so never gets into fights, just gets avoided and becomes the target of shooting and magic.
  • The knights unit is good, but big for this size of game, and my General isn't quite enough of a killing machine.
  • I can't use light cavalry
  • My wizard is a self-immolating liability.
So I'm considering breaking my self-imposed "Don't change the army list" rule. I may reduce the size of the spearmen, experiment with the general's kit, try and get another fighty foot unit. Oh and get a different wizard altogether.

*flukey win

Wednesday 25 March 2015

Pistoliers in Progress (2)

Pistolier painting has continued.
Washes and highlights applied to the clothes, gold and pistol stocks painted and washes applied to the leather and feathers.






In addition I've progressed their mounts. Two grey highlights applied. The final one almost white.
They still looked horrid, but painting the leatherwork really added some definition and neatened them up and I'm a lot happier now.





The hair is a creamy bone colour, which I wasn't sure about but has now grown on me.
I'm beginning to think the dapples idea may be a step too far and I'll just stick with grey horses. Like a massive coward. I may have another look at the Dallimore Painting Guide where he makes it look dead easy.