Monday 29 February 2016

Test game for Brandywine refight

The Game

Saturday was a club day for the Hutt Club so the magpies were out in force. We are aiming to have the big refight of the Battle of Brandywine (American War of Independence - NOT the bloody hobbit river!) so we set up the table and units and played out what we had.




The part of the battle we are concentrating on is Cornwallis' flanking manoeuvre. The 3rd and 4th brigades plus the Guards, Grenadiers and Light Infantry supported by a Hessian Grenadier Brigade versus Stephen's, Sullivan's and Stirling's Divisions on Birmingham Hill.




One thing was clear pretty much straight away. While in real life the British outnumbered the Americans we had mistakenly taken the formations of that the Americans had and assign a quantative size similar to the British when the Americans should have been represented by smaller units. The British had battalions of 300-500 men where as the American regiments were only 150-200 men. An American Division is only the size of a British Brigade!




In the interests of keeping going on as we are and not changing too much, I've had a fiddle with the stats of both sides, dropping the quality of the Americans a bit and boosting the sizes of the British troops. There will still be more battalion/regimental sized on the American side, but the British should perform better.




The pics below are from the test game. Under the original set up, the game ended with the British being held up by only two of the American Divisions as so many casualties had been caused that the British were a spent force. The table is 6' x 12' long.




Mssrs Goldstone, Leamy, Steer, Ward and Tibby deploying the troops 

Mr Goldstone teaches Mr Avery the fine points of not rolling double 6's for an order test in Black Powder (by rolling a double 6)

The march of the second American Division towards the guns!

Mr Leamy wondering how he was going to reach the troops in the middle of the table...


Flags

Flags are the best thing about wargaming. Sure, I like WW2 and Moderns as much as the next magpie, but flags are the 'ooh shiny' moment for me. They are the last detail I put on a unit and, to my mind, they really make a finished unit.

I recently brought some AWI flags from Flags of War (www.flagsofwar.co.uk). These are high quality, high pigmentation prints of flags from the period. For the British each regimental pair was only 2 quid and with the Christmas special I was able to get 13 for the price of 10. They were ordered and delivered in about 10 days.

After the test game I spent Saturday night putting the flags together for the 6 regiments that I had painted that needed flags. The Grenadiers (both British and Hessian), the Lights, the Jaegers and the Cavalry all did not have flags as, in the case of the infantry units mentioned, they were composite battalions made from the companies of several different regiments.

I've used Flags of War before for my 15th Century Scots Impetus army and knew they were of excellent quality. Learning from last time, this time when I made the flags I first cut them out, then spread PVA lightly across the back. The difference at this stage is that this time I cut out a piece of tin foil (baking foil from the kitchen) to be just smaller than the flag and stuck it on the back of the flag. Some more PVA over the foil then I wrapped the flag around the pole. Previously at this point I would have let it dry slightly and then manipulate the flag into the shape I wanted, dealing with PVA spurting everywhere. Now, with the foil in place I could let the whole thing dry flat for a couple of hours then use the strength of the foil to bend the flag into place without any issues of tearing or sliding out of place. 

Some snaps below of the 44th and 42nd (Highlanders) with their flags. Basing (ie flocking etc) still to be done and also painting the flag poles.




  


Saturday 13 February 2016

Meet Gary, Gary Glacier.

Gary is a Glacier King for Trollbloods in Warmachine and Hordes. The Glacier King is a Gargantuan model which is a very large model standing about 10" tall. This is a huge model for me and I am not used to panting on this scale but I was really looking forward to it.

Clean up on this model was a real b#tch. I had to slice around 3cm of resin off his kilt and there is a lot of filler plugging gaps. I used Vallejo Putty which works a charm.
I put the core together, then I decided to paint the arms and head separately and stick him together later.
After an undercoat of light grey the base coats went on. I recently bought the P3 Trollbloods paint set and used the official colours for the skin. I then gave the skin a wash with Agrax Earthshade.
The icicle spikes were painted light blue and then washed with a dark blue wash, The the process of blending and highlighting started.
Then the snow needed a good couple of coats of white and then we were ready to stick it all together.
Next there are a few touch ups.
Lastly the job of painting and flocking the base, and Voila - meet Gary Glacier.
I can't wait to get Gary out on the table - I'll probably aim for Lords of Ruin in September - but I'll need lots of practice before then.

Cheers

Tank

Tuesday 9 February 2016

What, pray tell, is a wizgang precisely?

Wizgang
/ˈwizgaŋ/
Noun

noun: wizgang; plural noun: wizgangs

1. a group of soldiers led by a wizard for the Osprey Games publication "Frostgrave."
                 "I've finished my wizgang! Shall we play a game of Frostgrave?"
    synonyms: warband, mob, army.




So this post comes a few days after I finished the project, but when I went to write it Pooch already had a post up and Tank's architecture photo op was already in the works. Patience, dear reader, is a virtue I am told.

To be fair, this wizgang has been something of a work in patience as it's taken me some months to locate and paint a suitable wizard model to lead them. But they are finally done.


The Wizard and his Apprentice. The Wizard is from the Island of Blood set from GW and painting him was the first time in a long time I've painted a model in bits. Points for the design though, he just slotted together. There's no glue there at all. The Alarielle model is just an old favourite.


The Captain. I don't have a copy of the new expansion for Frostgrave yet but it's on the list. I picked this guy up at a bring and buy locally last year and have been wondering what to do with him. He's quite the captain model though. It's not GW although I found the model recently while looking for daemon substitutes and now I can't remember where!


The specialists - from left to right - the Barbarian (White Lion of Chrace), the Knight (Dragon Prince of Caledor), the Templar (Swordmaster of Hoeth), the Treasure Hunter (Aenur, the Sword of Twilight) and the Tracker (Shadow Warrior). It was nice to paint one model from of each of the serious units from the old High Elf army (and if I can get hold of a Phoenix Guard, I'll absolutely add one in!) and the Aenur model from Mordheim has been sitting in my bits box for....well, since I got him when I still played Mordheim. I know there's no cavalry in Frostgrave but the Dragon Prince was too nice a model not to do.

The Men-at-Arms - these Maiden Guard are some old favourite models of mine and I wanted a couple in the wizgang to go with the Alarielle model. It seemed fitting to have them in.


The Infantrymen - the traditional High Elf spearmen. I figure that campaign-wise, I'll start them off as Thugs (just because it's more practical) and they'll grow into the role.


The Archers - because what respectable High Elf doesn't bring a couple of these? The new plastics are quite nice and painted up well.


The Warhounds - after a fashion. Eagles are somewhat more Elven so I figured they'd do. And I like the models too - culled from my no-longer used Malifaux collection.

I've taken the Elves out for a run and with an Illusionist, a very different spell list and different ethos, they've been a nice change from my Orcs and my repeated blatting of things with Elemental Bolt. The spells de jour have been Shield and Glow thus far and while they haven't been desperately successful so far, I suspect that when I pull them out for our next campaign day, whenever that may be, that they'll be quite a bit more useful.

Check one project off the list for the year. Only about a dozen to go. Here's a sneak peak at a couple of the AWI figures I'm painting for Triple T which are now on the block:
The Officer and Drummer for the 6th Maryland

I have to say that the Perry AWI metals paint up beautifully. I've started on some of the plastics now and I'm not enjoying them half as much. Mercifully, once I've cleared the 1st and 6th Maryland for Triple T, I'll start on a combined battalion of Hessians for McBeth and those, well, those are going to be a treat.

Saturday 6 February 2016

Builder's Crack

I have had a great summer of modelling and creating terrain. A couple of projects have been on the go one of which is the Brandywine work. With a few cool looking buildings needed for the table I have used the Perry American Farmhouse and based it up to create a nice little property.


The Renendra Ramshackle Barn got the same treatment. These two pieces made their debut on the gaming table against Scott in a game of Bolt Action at the club. They make a fine addition to the table.


Recently I have discovered a great Aussie laser cut MDF company called Knights Of Dice. I have managed to get hold of three of their buildings and a small plaza. I love the Art Deco feel of the buildings and they are going to be used on my Zombie/Infinity city table. I love the Sushi house, I only need to decide on a paint scheme (which I am finding a difficult choice).


I also put together a small park for the City table - with all these tall buildings it is good to get a little bit of open ground. I have some scatter coming from TTCombat (dumpsters, skips and park benches) and I have some wooden fencing from 4ground.


Here is the city table so far.
So now it's back to the painting and building.

Cheers Tank

Pooch's Painting: January

Well, it is only a week late, but here is what I managed to finish last month:

Bolt Action US Paras

I have had these guys painted for a while now (like... 4 months maybe?) but I hadn't based them up. So in January I based them all and painted up the 57mm AT gun and the M5A1 Stuart/M8 Scott to complete the army.


Close up on the Lieutenant


Rubicon M8 Scott


And the same tank, just with the Stuart turret- excellent work by Rubicon!
 Team Yankee 6mm US

The whole force
 My 6mm was previously painted in an all over desert scheme for Desert Storm era gaming, so to fit in better with Team Yankee, I decided to repaint it all into NATO 3 tone camo. Now, this isn't anywhere close to all of the 6mm I own, but rather this is just everything which I can use from the Team Yankee book, once Bradley's etc are made available in the rules, I will give them a repaint too!

My US is made up of three companies, two tank companies in M1A1 Abrams, and a Mechanised company in M113 APCs. Supporting them is M109 artillery, ITOW vehicles, mortar carriers and Vulcan AA guns. As well as the air support of 2 A10, 2 FA-18 (subbing in as A-10s), 2 AH-64 (subbing in as Cobras) and 2 AH-1 Cobras.

Close up on the first of the Tank Companies


Objective #1


Close up on the infantry


Objective #2
In Her Majesty's Name

The whole warband
 Well, I said that I was a magpie, and this warband is definitely proof of that! When IHMN came out, I bought this set and promptly played one game, and have never touched them since. So, as part of my "finish stuff this year you lazy git", I decided to actually finish them!

In the interm, I think they will make a good frostgrave band actually (Necromancer? Either the Mummy is a zombie, or a construct I think).

You know if you are in matching red robes, you are definitely the good guys.
The big bad guy himself


Close up on the big bad's tattooed skull. I used a fine pen to draw on the tattoos.



Mummy!


What a dramatic pose. And a scary looking assassin....
From the cupboard....
Right, lastly we have the completed models from the cupboard. This time it is two Wiesel light tanks in 1/56 scale, produced by Company B. These are pre-production versions, and are actually 3d printed. My only tip with the material is to clean it before you paint it. Twice! I had some issues where I hadn't cleaned the mould release well enough, and it did funny things to the paint. Anyway, two 1/56 scale armoured weapons carriers (they really aren't tanks)- with a 28mm soldier for scale. Can you believe they fitted two (on the 20mm) or three (on the TOW) crew into these?


Without a scale reference, these could look very imposing!


With a scale reference, you realize how you can fit two into the back of a CH-53....
Not a bad spot of painting for a month! I can promise you that there won't be this much everytime, as I will only be showing off things that I have finished. Just in case you were getting your hopes up...

Oh, the other thing I painted was a boat! Right, back to the painting table. February's painting involves so much red.....

Pooch