Early Church WiP (1)

I started work on this earlier today.
It'll be a simple Romano British Church for my Saxons to pillage/be converted in.

Similar construction to all my buildings, foamcore, PVA and pins while it dries. I'll be thatching the roof I reckon, and giving it a timber frame and wattle and daub walls (very little evidence of early early churches in Britain, suggesting a predominantly wooden construction).

Have just realised I should probably have cut out any doors or windows before starting assembly. *sigh*

Another SAGA AAR

After some time off my regular SAGA opponent and I reconvened, dusted off the battleboards and went at it once again. As we were coming back to it after quite a while and having played lots of other games between times we settled on a 4pt game to re-introduce ourselves to the mechanics.
I went with my usual 2 hearthguard, 2 ceorls set up and would be facing a single unit of knights and 3 of warriors, one armed with crossbows. Ulp! Again keeping things simple we went for the Clash of Warlords scenario - so it was kill or be killed with just six turns to get the job done.

Unfortunately the pictures I took are not very good. A combination of bright green table, energy saving bulbs and a not very good camera means they're all a little, well, green. Sorry about that.
But anyways, here they are, and I'll let them tell the story:

 The Normans are coming, rouse the Fyrd! Getwin calls out his men to defend their peaceful Saxon settlement.

 Over beyond the woods the mailed scions of Normandy are approaching.

 The Shieldwall is formed

 Though peppered by crossbows the Ceorls advance

 Fleetfooted knights and their Lord sweep round the side of the wood

 Whilst their fellows plod remorselessly onward

 The crossbowmen find themselves out of range

 Lord Jean rallies his men and they plunge forward into combat

 

 But come off worst and are forced back

 The Norman centre halts beside the wood

 And Getwin rallies his men behind the trees

 Jean urges his Normans forward

 Finally, as the battle nears it's end the rival warlords meet in hand to hand combat

 The game ended climactically on turn six when Jean launched himself at Getwin. The mighty Dux landed six wounds on the Saxon hero, but three saves and the proximity of some handy ablative hearthguard meant Getwin was bloodied but unbowed. In return Getwin managed but two wounds, however Jean failed to save either and victory was mine!

It was great getting back to SAGA. A few months of WAB and HC have given me a taste for big games but this was a great reminder of how much fun SAGA can be, and how challenging. We struggled to remember what to do for the first turn or two, but soon were back in the swing of it. Once again the Saxon ability to stop activations proved crucial (and pretty irritating I imagine), allowing me to control the flow of the game a bit. Also the Normans were very unlucky when they charged my hearthguard early on, inflicting only two wounds, both of which I saved and taking two casualties in return. With their hammer gone they were on the back foot from then on.

Blood Bowl Orc Linemen

Two posts in one day!
I did these for #MiniatureMonday on that there Twitter.

(And also because the smallest boy wants to play BB with painted models as is only right and proper)

From the front:

 And from the rear

I know these are old models and in some ways dated, but I love their cartoonish simplicity. The fact that there aren't loads of intricate details suits my somewhat agricultural painting style.

And to prove there are actually two of them, rather than just photoshop trickery here they are one behind the other!

Another Dark Age Building

I finished making this today.

Another little hut for my Saxons to live in or loot (as the fancy takes them). Ideal for SAGA, WAB or Hail Caesar (as the fancy takes me).
I made it from foam core in much the same way as I made this one earlier.
This time however I elected to clad it in balsa which I scored to look like planks.
The plans were the same ones I originally got from The Nothelm Chronicle blog. (Thanks once again).

And here's the finished article with a proud Romano British owner.

When a Win Doesn't Feel Like It

Pretty much every Thursday evening I have a regular game of Warhammer with my chum. Sometimes we play a campaign, sometimes other people are involved, quite often we just play "2k using the book scenarios". We've known each other for a long time and played lots of games. He's better at Warhammer than me (he reads and understands the rules - or cheating as I like to think of it) and as a result victories are probably 2:1 or more in his favour. That's fine, we drink beer, moan about wives (our own, rather than other peoples) and jobs and have a laugh. Currently I'm on something of a roll in our one on one games, a fact I attribute to the arrival of the new Ogres book rather than a sudden upswing in tactical awareness on my part. I don't do anything particularly snazzy with them, just push them forward and let impact hits and stomps do the rest, but he's been struggling with how to counter them, particularly with his fledgling Empire army. A couple of years ago we went through a similar phase when my Slaaneshi Daemons consistently trumped his Bretonnians. This was the same Slaaneshi list that finished in the bottom two at a subsequent Throne of Skulls event (with his Brets finishing respectably mid-table), so it wasn't just the frisky Daemon Army Book that was gifting me success.
Anyway tonight we went with 2k, and decided to use the diagonal deployment scenario. Rather than strictly follow the rulebook we used my screen to conceal our deployment. We'd both swapped our armies around, with me dusting off the Dwarfs and him opting for VC. I'd also gone experimental with my list using a Dwarf horde for the first time in 8th and taking an anvil and Runelord for the first time too.
The game unfolded with me castled in one corner and the hordes of undead shambling towards me. I duly attempted to "snipe" his Vampire lord with my cannon. I know it's a bit gamey, but I also know it's what he'd do and I wanted to give a game, not "go easy". Turn one and he passes his "look out sir". Turn two, however he fails both LOS and his 4+ ward. One dead Vamp.
Even though the new crumble rules are not as devastating as they were he was facing a big uphill struggle from then on, and when his other Vamp crumbled in combat against the Dwarf horde in turn four it was all over. Less than an hour start to finish.
So I chalked up another win, but it wasn't a very satisfactory one. I play WFB for the pleasure of pushing soldiers around with my mates. This felt a bit like playing the rules to get a win. In fact I felt like I'd cheated myself of the pleasure of the game. Fortunately I'm pretty sure normal service will be resumed shortly, but it was a salutory reminder that this hobby really isn't about winning games at all.

Dark Elf Blood Bowl Player

I've had these models for donkeys years.
I put an undercoat and about three colours on them donkeys years+1 ago.
However smallest boy is currently quite excited about Blood Bowl, so that persuaded me to dig them out and have a go at finishing them off. So far I've done this one.

  First on a blue background, and again on white.

I went for old school Goblin Green  over sand bases as they seem to suit the models best, to my eye at least.
I've got some of his team mates and some plastic Orc linemen on the go. Wonder how many I'll finish before the butterfly takes my attention elsewhere?

Look What the Postie Brought

I arrived home from taking smallest boy to swimming lessons (he's up to level 6 now!) to discover a couple of packages waiting for me.
First up was this:

Northanhymbre Saga by John Marsden
I've been after a copy for a while, after it was recommended on the WAB forum. I'm  a big Dark Ages fan, and hail originally from Hull, so this was clearly going to tick all my boxes. However I couldn't find copies aywhere, it seemed to be out of print, with second hand ones being quite expensive. So when I spotted one for £0.01 in Good condition on Amazon last week I didn't hesitate. It arrived in less than a week, is indeed in Good condition and I'm really looking forward to reading it. Great service from Delicious Deals.

The second package held this:

The new issue of Wargames Soldiers and Strategy. And the reason I was particularly excited was because I've got an article published in it. When I spotted that this months theme was going to be Dark Ages (well, Vikings specifically) I was in the middle of playing lots of SAGA games, so I approached Guy with an idea for a simple SAGA campaign article. He liked the plan and so I scribbled it down and sent it off, and next thing I know he's only gone and published it. So I'm pretty pleased wth myself. I've had stuff published in Whte Dwarf and on the GW web site before now, but as I was in charge of both those teams and could bend them to my will I don't think it really counts.
I've had a quick scan through the rest of the magazine, and it looks great. It's Dark Age theme means it was aways going to have lots to hold my interest.  Looking forward to spending some quality hobby time with it later this evening.