Something forest-y this way comes - Wood Elves

 Not quite dead, but new work in combination with the usual gamers ADHD means I've mostly done small parts on large projects this year. Hopefully, soon some of them will come into completion, and we'll get more blog posts.

But meanwhile, Frostgrave to the rescue, since you "only need 10 models" (we all know this is a lie, but it means you can paint a starter band in one go, so good enough). First, I recieved my Wood Elves from Atlantis Games kickstarter (from back before the pandemic, but got delayed by it). Then my friend decided to forest-ify his frostgrave terrain, so I needed a more wooded warband. Two things that solve each other, excellent.

 First out, is Good Mistress Spellweaver. Master mage, and one of the leaders of the Wood Elf community. And someone carrying that big a staff, also packs a mean whallop, do not underestimate her.

 

And next to her, her apprentice. A bit more rough around the edges, but he's got a good heart, and is willing to give it his all.

The other leader among the Wood Elves, the Prince. Wood Elves are usually confused by human notions of nobility and command, but he's a master of applying force at a point, be it by himself, or with his warriors, and that seems to be more or less what human princes are for, so the title fits.

The Ranger has no official position of power, but she knows the forests like her own boots (or possibly even better), so often runs before the warbands when they go out to do their business. She's fast, she's sneaky, she's able to shimmy up a tree and rain down arrows from above before her enemies (or the small, fuzzy creatures of the forest that she's friends with) even know she's there.

The Archer is an uncomplicated soul. He's strong, and can thus pull a worryingly strong bow, launching arrows a tremendous distance and with a hard punch. Useful both when hunting for venison, and when there's intruders in need of correction.

While the Ranger prefers to fight from a distance, her good friend the Pathfinder instead use the trees mostly as an advantage point from which to jump down behind her chosen prey.

The Scout, and his hawkish buddy, watch as things happen, and then report to the village leaders, going and leaving while remaining unseen.

There is very little differentiating the veteran Wood Elf Warriors from their less experienced fellows, other than a certain willingness to rush into the fray in a berserker fury, trusting their compatriots, their leaders, and their mages to have their back.

The less experienced Warriors, are more likely to hang back and fight defensively, using the reach advantage of their weapons to its full potential (even if it means less flinging of enemies in all directions).

 Of course, the long glaives are not always the optimal weapons. Sometimes, the forest grows thick, or you're needed to carry other, heavy, stuff. In those cases, a solid long knife will make do.

Last, but certainly not least, there is their furry companion. A suspiciously wolf-y dog? A curiously doggy wolf? We only know that he's called Kitten.

All in all, a nice little starting Warband, with Wizard and Apprentice, 2 Archers, 3 Infantryelves, 2 thieves, and a thug. With Kitten available, in case one of the spellcasters summon an Animal Companion. Also, plenty of upgrade options, with infantryelves becoming Barbarians, and Archers becoming Trackers and Rangers.

The observant will have noted that I painted a bit more than the 10 figures (11 if you count Kitten) necessary for a Forestgrave warband. They can also trivially be repurposed for Ghost Archipelago, with Heritor and Warden (probably a Vine Warden), 2 Treasure Hunters, 2 Archers, and 4 crewelves with two-handed weapons.

All in all, these models are absolutely gorgeous one and all. I am very happy that I got these, as well as their friends (whom I doubt will remain unpainted for long). Just need to get some bears or similar, for when the spellcasters want animal companions not able to fit in the doghouse. And some treasures, of course.

/Fool Out

SAGA - Republican Roman Legion

 How did this happen? Suddenly, just like that, I have a second warband for SAGA: Age of Hannibal. In my defence, this is exactly one bag from Victrix (would be a box from most other manufacturers).

End result is 7 points, an extra warlord, and some left over bodies (including another 6 Levies). I didn't bother with shield decals, to keep both cost and time down (did all of these in slightly more than a month from getting them from the FLGS).

The main bulk is 24 Principes, serving as 3 points of warriors (I'm debating between running these as 3 units of 8, 4 units of 6, or a more cheeky 7-7-6-4). Assuming we get to game again, I will have to test this out.

Next is the Velites. Levy in SAGA terms, and most likely elephant hunters as well. Javelins can be surprisingly useful, I've realized (although perhaps less so when you don't have a horde of angry gauls)

And then, there is of course the Triarii Hearthguard. Can be distinguished by their spears, and the fact that they've had enough time to do some doodles on their shields (and/or don't see combat often enough to need to constantly replace said shields).

Finally, the Centurion. Well, centurions, and helpers. The Warlord, basically. I didn't have any normal legionnaire bodies to use for the musician, so he got a second standard bearer body. The bigger base is an old Victrix 3-base movement tray, that's too tight to use as a movement tray, but as an expanded base (that you can deconstruct for ease of transport), it should work perfect. And just because, I made a second centurion alone on his smaller base, for if I ever need it.

Is the warband finished? Well, that depends on how you define "finished". It is enough to play, but there is lots of ways I might expand it (and I think I will, it was nice to paint something this easy, especially after all the plaid on the gauls (no, I'm still not quite recovered)). Getting them some mercenary support in the form of Cretan Archers seems like a given. There is also the option of getting some Mounted Warriors, for a more mobile element (even if the battle board might not overly support it). Or just a second bag of roman infantry, this time in lighter armour, for some Hastati, i.e. more Warriors.

And then, there is of course a third warband, because you always need more. Probably something with elephants. But Numidians or Carthaginians? And of course all my other projects...

/Fool Out

Big Red Dragon

 A friend of mine turns one year older today, and one of those annoyingly even ones too, so I "had" to get them something special. And I knew they like dragons (they're the one who "commisioned" me to paint a dragon for tea), and at the same time, I knew of an epic dragon. So said and done.

Say hello to Rodric. Or Firkraag. Or Drogon... name is still a bit pending.

Got a ferocious mouth, though.

And if you wonder how large he is, he's large. In act, so large that he almost didn't fit into my usual camera setup.

The wings were tricky, but ended up quite nice.

Even the base is surprisingly nice. What first looks like a random pile of rocks, turns out to be some ruin, possibly from a temple...

/Fool, Out

New Years Resolutions 2020/2021

 So... 2020, the year that has been both too long and too short at the same time, is finally over. At least with the situation, I have gotten a fair bit of painting done. Let's see how I got through the resolutions I made last year.

• Bad Squiddo Games released some Amazons in a kickstarter. I got them, just need to paint them (which should be quick, as they're already primed and waiting)

As expected, these were swift and easy. They even got expanded later with a dedicated mage.

• Bad Squiddo Games also released some Dwarves at the same time. These are not primed yet, but should also get some loving paint. Possibly, I'll combine them with some Oathmark and/or Atlantis Miniatures Dwarves.

It took some time, but they all got done in time. Admittedly, most of them were quick, but as usual the last 10% took 90% of the time. Eh, they're done. And I hear rumours of another Bad Squiddo kickstarter "soon"...

• The Landsknecht need more love. Let's aim for the pikeblock being done, and hopefully some crossbowmen as well.

Managed to chip away some more, and I have now painted most of the old built models. I might have to make an actual post with these soon...

• Expand the Blood & Plunder French with some more Sailors (also primed and ready)

Swift and deadly, as French tend to be.

• Similar for the Blood & Plunder Spanish, one starter box should round out my force nicely.

These also got rounded off, and I should now have all the Spanish I'll need.

• Dito (although smaller) for the Blood & Plunder Dutch, they can do with a few more sailors, mostly to get up to units of 8. And maybe a second unit of Enter Ploeg

The Dutch, however, has been put on the back burner for now. Models are ready, but other stuff managed to push past them in the painting queue (yes, despite this year, I still have a significant painting queue).

• Shipwise, I have a Bark, a Tartana and a Piragua that need some paint (these are all from last year, and primed, so should be quick)

They were quick. Sadly, I haven't gotten to use them in an actual game, though.

• The Galleon! Keep the shippainting going, get this humongous thing done.

However, that was that for ships. The Galleon has been assembled and primed, but no actual final paint on it yet. Guess it'll have to wait for next year.

• Firelock is also releasing a 6th Rate Frigate for Blood & Plunder... I need it! Even if it's supposedly almost as huge and the Galleon

I got the 6th Rate, and it is as assembled and primed as the Galleon, but that's about it.

• Oak & Iron is incoming. Since I intend to run demos for this come Gothcon, it will be catapulted to the front of the queue as soon as I get it.

Both the Oak & Iron delivery, and Gothcon, became casualties of corona. I've got it, and a few of the ships have been painted, but not nearly enough for a post yet. Ah, well, next year, for sure.

• Take 2 on the Mace of Malcor Monsters for Frostgrave.

I have managed a few, and by "a few" I mean exactly 4. To little surprise, that is not enough for a photo session or a blog post. But at least I have another 8 that I've started to prepare, so next year?

• Victrix Vikings have caught my eyes, and I'm tempted to get a pack to paint as Jomsvikings for SAGA

The Vikings, however, got done with a vengeance. I still have a few more to assemble and paint, but this is a full warband (that even managed to see some careful gaming, when things were calmer).

• Perry Mounted Knights are assembled, but still waiting for paint. Let's try to do something about that. Perhaps I can use them for SAGA: Age of Magic...

Two of them have gotten primed, but that's about it. However, a friend got me Age of Empires II, and suddenly I have motivation to paint these up as french knights (no idea what game to use them for as that, but you can often find some way to use heavily armored mounted warriors, I think).

• Speaking of SAGA: Age of Magic, I have 2, or potentially 3, new ideas for warbands, either on their way (yay, kickstarters), or at least planned for purchase as soon as the FLGS gets them. (I'm being non-specific in the interrest of being coy with the fellows at the club, always fun springing surprises on them)

One of these ideas got tabled (and I will blame that one on temporary insanity), another was kickstarter'd, and has gotten delayed (but will hopefully be delivered early next year, and I can't wait to get my hands on it), but the third one...

The third one would be my Gauls, which not only got finished, but also rapidly expanded for SAGA: Age of Hannibal when it arrived.

• Blood & Valor (also from Firelock) is coming, I should probably look into it (which means whichever plastic ww1 army I find most interresting... or go with Italians, because my competence at the table shouldn't prevent me from playing historically)

It has not exactly been a good year for starting entirely new games in unfamiliar eras, so no...

Of course, as is usual for me, there were a few unscheduled things that got painted as well. And talking of starting new games, Oathmark was released...

...which meant that not only did my dwarves get a few additions, although mostly on the level of rounding out units...

... I also got a whole bunch of elves! Not quite an army on their own, but since Oathmark allows for mixing races, they make formidable allies to the dwarves.

Back before things got too bad, I also got some Rangers of Shadow Deep played, in co-op mode, which ended with a few models for that swiftly getting painted. Despite RoSD being a possible single player game, I haven't actually played it that way, yet...

There was also various loose and sundry, including a few more 15mm tanks, some dragons for a friend, several more-or-less random rpg characters, and a whole lot of built but unpainted stuff (darnit, I'm supposed to reduce the amount of unpainted stuff I have).

What about next year? By now, it's tradition that I make a whole lot of resolutions (and fulfil about half of them), so...

Let's start with the carry overs (the ones I am supposed to prioritize):

• Blood & Plunder need some more Dutch.
• And that Galleon.
• And of course the 6th Rate.
• Oak & Iron needs paint and love. At least these ships are smaller...
• That last warband for SAGA: Age of Magic, as soon as the kickstarter gets here.
• Mace of Malcor, now take 3.
• The Mounted Knights from Perry. Now, with some idea for getting started.

And, of course, some new ones.

• As said, I have some ideas for the Perry knights. And it requires more Perry, that has to be ordered (as soon as we know how brexit works), built, and painted. Should be easy, right?
• I have at least 2 ideas for SAGA: Age of Hannibal warbands, one easy and one hard (why do I always look at factions with a significant portion mounted on horses...)
• I also intend to finally make my own table. I have a good base (a friend got rid of his and asked me if I wanted it), but I need terrain for it, especially trees. The idea is to be able to run the first mission for Rangers of Shadow Deep, and perhaps combine it with some Frostgrave
• Talking about Frostgrave, Kromlech has some absolutely stunning terrain for it, that I need. (I just need to figure out how and where to store it first, because it doesn't look small.)
• Those Napoleonics have refused to leave, and I'm currently considering focusing on one battle, and then building a brigade from each side of that battle. No idea if it will see any table other than against myself, but it would somewhat solve my problem of being unable to pick a side and regiment.
• The Landsknecht are in eternal need of reinforcements. Perhaps a cannon this year, and possibly some ponybird knights.
• Oathmark has managed to do the impossible, and tempt me with undead. These will have to form a second army/kingdom.
• There are also promises of several exciting new Oathmark kits. Revenants will join the undead, Dwarven Light Infantry will be welcome for some variety among the short folk... and the Human Cavalry might just tempt me into a third kingdom
• Stargrave ("Frostgrave IN SPACE") is coming, so I will of course need at least one crew for that, possibly two, once it's released.

Happy new year, and may the dice see a lot more table than last year

/Fool Out

Dwarfen ladies from Bad Squiddo Games

 It would seem that 2020 finally caught up with me. But here's some that's been painted throughout the year. Along with the Amazons (that I painted in January) from Bad Squiddo Games kickstarter, I got a band of dwarfen ladies (the initial reason I pledged). They have now all been finished, even the ones I didn't quite know what to do with. Not all by me, but they're all painted.

First up, the ones I had some idea about

These three make excellent leaders for my Oathmark Dwarfs. A grizzled General, a proper Princess, and a veteran Warrior (who got a shield from Oathmark Dwarf Heavy Infantry, to fit in with her unit of Warriors).

The Princess, of course, got a similar cloak to her father, with an intricate fishnet design. Why do I do this to myself?

These three fills out the Soldiers for now, but are ready to form a nucleus of Militia (once it's tie to expand again).

These three Shieldmaidens were strictly speaking released after the kickstarter, but looks absolutely fabulous and had to be had. With Oathmark Dwarf Infantry shields to match the rest of their units (their own, fancy, shields will instead be used for various characters).

Baggage trains is something that's rarely cared for in tabletop wargames, but sometimes it's useful. Until then, they can serve as unit filler, or generic marker for pretty much anything somewhat mobile.

Don't trust that pony, though, he's got a twisted sense of ownership...

Finally (for my part), a random dwarfen bard. You never know when such might be useful, especially as I've started to use miniatures when playing roleplaying games as well.

This wizened wizard was not, in fact, painted by me, but by a good friend, who I've had the joy to introduce to painting minis this year. Still, she's part of the kickstarter, and needs to be represented.

Finally, these stunning adventuresses was painted by another good friend, and someone who I consider myself to have only a sliver of his talent, of at best. He needed something to paint as an adventuring group, and since I didn't have any good ideas for what to use these for, he got them. Then I got them back, in incredible colors.

That's it for me this year. Happy holidays, and see you all on the other side of the fireworks (when it's once again time for me to look through what I've painted this year, and see how it matches my resolutions)

/Fool Out.

SAGA - The Gaul Horde surges forward

 Some time ago, I got a brilliant idea, of the kind that makes my wallet scream in terror and try to hide. Victrix makes some excellent kits, and their Gauls, with their chariots and all, could make an excellent Horde for SAGA: Age of Magic. And with the rumours going around at the time, that a "SAGA: Ancients" were in the works, this seemed like the perfect time to get a two-armies-for-one. And then the FLGS started carrying Victrix, so... said and done. Some off the cuff calculations (and a whole lot of looking at sprues over the 'net) said that just the Chariots and Warriors should get me enough for a warband, which would allow for more options "later", once the wallet dared out of the closet again.

All said and done, and off to gluing, basing and painting I went. And here we are, at long last. At least I didn't have to tear my hair out over the shields, as with my Vikings, I used shield decals.

First up is, as is traditional, the Warriors. 24, for 3 SAGA points, usually divided up in 2 units of 10 for punch, and a unit of 4, for some cheeky SAGA dice. Decent punch, the usual workhorse of SAGA warbands.

Then there is the Hearthguard. Nobles and trusted fighters, with more experience as well as heavier maille armour (incidentally, by most accounts an invention of the celts).

One fun thing with SAGA: Age of Magic, and especially the Horde, is the amount of heroes your warband can include. Here we have a Magician (druid from the Chariot kit, and I have two more I can do fun stuff with), a Lieutenant/Champion on foot (almost as dangerous as a Warlord, without having to risk your Warlord), and two Chariots (they hit hard, are surprisingly resilient, lightning fast... and an invitation to overreaching).

Finally, the Warlord (Warlady?) herself, available both on foot and on a Chariot (ruleswise, a "Beast", but more or less the same as a Chariot). For a challenge, I decided to paint her as close to exactly the same as I could in both versions, differing equipment aside. And I'll have to say that I succeeded.

All in all, it seems like quite a good warband, and I've already had some success with them.

And then SAGA: Age of Hannibal was announced, and gauls were included, and all felt good. And then we started getting sneak peeks as to what options they had, and suddenly, it wasn't quite as good any more. Chariots were no longer 1 point heroes, but just substitutions for 2 Hearthguard. And those Hearthguards were only available as mounted (or in chariots), as were the Warlord.

Well then. "Emergency" procurement of some Gallic Cavalry, some more gluing, basing, and painting, and here we are. 8 Hearthguard, and a mounted Warlord, just in case. And these are also the f---fellows that almost broke me. While the previous gauls had quite a lot of multi-colored trousers, shirts and cloaks, with some of them (especially the heroes and the Warlord) having plaid, for these, I somehow thought it would be a good idea to go almost all out on the plaid. Note to self, don't do that. At least I won't have to (hopefully) paint any more plaid for at least a year...

But with that, I now also have a finished warband for SAGA: Age of Hannibal. And just as the book is released, too. (I got a notification that the FLGS got the books in just as I was writing this, in fact).

And combining it all, shows a truly powerful force (nevermind that I'd never be able to field all of this in one go, but it gives plenty of options). Of course, as further things were revealed for SAGA: Age of Hannibal, I emergency speedbuilt some Levies with Javelins, too, although I haven't managed to speed paint them yet. So much for "no more plaid"... well, they're levies, they won't be getting any plaid. In fact, most of them will have to make do with single colour fabrics.

And I'm also considering how to expand things for Age of Magic. Right now, the force is quite mundane, crazy priests aside, but perhaps some creatures? I do have 3 riders left over from the Gallic Cavalry kit, I just need to find them something suitable to ride... and a unit of levies with bows could be useful, both for AoM and AoH... truly, no army is ever "finished".

And yes, the extra heads are kind of a theme among these fellows... but they do all look quite splendid. 

/Fool Out