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

Oak & Iron has finally arrived!

After some slight delays (a missed containership, a new year, and a global pandemic,if I've managed to keep things straight), it is finally here. The Oak & Iron kickstarter, the new game from Firelock Games (the Blood & Plunder folks). Since it got delayed for Europe, it's not quite the new hotness any more, but I found myself quite excited when I got it none-the-less (certainly helped by the fact that I've conciously not followed the game much on social media).

Doesn't look all that much, does it? Still, the art is pretty to look at, that's always nice.

But we're not here to look at pretty boxes. What's in them, you ask? Well, let's have a look.

First up, we get some nice cardboard markers, rulers, and tokens. Good printing, but not something to get overly excited about. More exciting is almost the gaming mat included in the box, with a very nice bright blue Caribbean sea printed on it. Surprisingly good quality, but then this is in part sold as a full game in the one box, and you need a gaming mat for this (unless you want it to look truly bad).

Next up, more cardboard, some flat but quite beautiful terrain. Double-sided, too, allowing for either fog banks or islands, or rocks/shoals for the smaller parts. And very easy to get of the cardboard squares as well (yes, the big island fell out by itself when I picked it up the first time).

And it matches amazingly well with the included gaming mat. The advantage of designing everything at the same time and place.

Finally, the thing everyone's excited about, the ships. You get six ships in the core box, a Light Galleon, Corvette, Sloop, Brigantine, Fluyt and a Petit Frigate. These ships should all be familiar to players of Blood & Plunder, who might own larger versions of these (and I'm not kidding about that, see further down).

Not shown is the 30 page rulebook and a small trees worth of cards. All of which I will probably memorize, if I know myself right.

Of course, all the ships in the core box are a bit... not compensatory enough. Men of War include some heavier girls, with the 4th, 5th and 6th Rates (the 4th rate being a true Ship of the Line, while the 5th and 6th still counts as Frigates). And yes, the 6th Rate looks suspiciously like the 6th Rate I haven't yet managed to paint in 28mm for Blood & Plunder.

And of course, you get tokens (shown) and stat cards (not shown) for these ships as well.

And if you want some true compensation jokes, look at the Ships of the Line, for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Rate. All of them are humongous. How humongous, you ask? Suffice to say, most of the ships are incredibly light, but the 1st rate have some honest weight to it, to the point that it amazed me when I first picked it up (as a happy coincidence, after having looked at the Sloop directly before that, for maximum contrast).

The last box is smaller, with only a Sloop (upgunned, of course) and something converted to be close to a 6th Rate (the infamous Queen Anne's Revenge). I find it oddly amusing that this box contains so much revenge, Blackbeards Revenge, with the Sloop Revenge and the ship Queens Anne's Revenge... someone's looking for revenge, all right.

Of course, also included is the expected tokens and ship cards, but also a captain card for Stede Bonnet. And yes, I'm very tempted to use the Revenge for my ordinary Sloop, simply because the rigging looks awesome.

All in all, that's a moderately sized fleet that now enters the painting queue.

The details on all the ships are exquisite. Just look at the tiny gun carriages on the Sloop. I'm equal part excited and terrified for trying to paint these. (Mast removed so that it's easier to see everything)

Talking about details, the sides of the Brigantine share an amazing amount of detail with the 28mm version, including the curlies on the fore and aft deck railings. I might have to invest in some truly tiny brushes for this.

The stern of the Petit Frigate looks familiar to anyone who's looked at the Blood & Plunder ships. I am eternally amazed at the amount of details they've managed to fit in there.

And now for something that isn't just a down-scaled version of a 28mm ship (if only because the thought of this one in 28mm is terrifying, and my back hurts just imagining carrying it). The 1st Rate. 

Look at all those cannons! (Masts again removed for ease of viewing)

The decks also look incredible, with capstan, stairs (that at least look reasonable), and a whole lot of cannons.

And with a massive, and at the same time exquisite stern, too. I probably shouldn't paint her first, I need practice before that.

I did say the 1st rate was huge (in case the fact that she barely fits onto the base isn't a clue). Here she is next to the Sloop, once again for maximum contrast.

Now I just need to 

• Paint all of these
• Read, learn and understand all the rules and cards
• Figure out how to give them interchangeable flags (because I want them to have full flags, and of course they need to be for the correct nation I've elected to play this time)
• Figure out how to transport them all. Because while they're small, at the same time, they're not.

Any advice welcome

/Fool Out, slightly overwhelmed

Blood & Plunder - Tartana

I'm still alive, even in these times. I have mostly painted smaller things (finishing off various units and forces, a few stand-alones), not things worthy of a full blog post by themselves lately. With one major exception: yet another ship have been painted. This time, a Tartana (as usual, for Blood & Plunder). 

I modified it a bit, usually, the Tartana does not have a flag on the bowsprit. But ships looks so boring without flags, and the Bark didn't really need two, now did it? So a swift exchange of parts, and one more ship can show her allegiance. I got a bit of plastic tubing as well, to hold the flag, since the bowsprit does not have the usual rigging components I use to hold flags.

She looks slightly strange, with two quite large sails forward, and very little sternward. But it's not a unattractive strange, I'll give her that. Oddly pretty in fact, probably due to the sleekness.

She's also able to hold a decent amount of sailors (try to avoid the dirty joke...), with fairly open decks. The all forward arrangement of her masts means that the stern deck (nominally the quarterdeck, I think, although that might only be applicable for larger ships) is especially easy to get access to.

The ease of access is especially welcome, since the back deck is where most of the heavy ordnance will be, since there might be need to remove both crew and guns, depending on which kind of enemy fire comes pouring in.

As is usual for me, the masts can be taken down (thank you, elastic string), so that she is compact and easy to transport. additionally, the bowsprit can be demounted, with some more plastic tubing for a socket to hold it in place while "working", since she'd otherwise be too long for my usual cases (seriously, she might not look it, but she's a looong ship, especially with the bowsprit. The viking in me can't not like it). Thankfully, the elastic string is more than enough to keep the bowsprit in its socket, so no need for some kind of smart magnetization.

And all ship mounted guns are of course magnetized for storage, exchanging, destruction and whatever else may befall them, but that goes without saying for my ships.

All in all, she seems like a slightly smaller Sloop. Fast, maneuverable and with a decent but not too intensive battery of guns, while still having at least some fortitude against cannons. But we'll see how that actually works on the blue sea (well, blue table cloth, but you get the point).

The fact that the heavy artillery is sternwards, while the gaggle of swivel guns are forwards, opens up for a potential tactic of firing a salvo with the cannons at an opportune moment, and then charging in, firing the swivel guns to clear way, and then board the enemy ship. Perhaps something for Spanish Corsairs (who may or may not be led by Blas Miguel, in another attempt to achieve a melee skill of 3).

Now she just need a crew (well, not really, but I have a few more spaniards on the table, because somehow, the spanish are no longer my largest force in Blood & Plunder, and that needs to be rectified). And then I really need a game or five, once this crisis is over. At least I have enough of a fleet to lend most things smaller than a ship of the line. Although step one would probably to see how well she fares against a Bark, if the extra points are worth it (and then, against the only marginally more expensive Sloop).

Do tell me if you've got experience with this ship. Is she as nippy as I think? Is she worth it (from a pure gameplay perspective, she's cute enough to be worth it from a modelling perspective).

/Fool Out

Blood & Plunder - Bark & Piragua

Painting has happened (to the absolute surprise of noone). And this time, it's more ships (well, a ship and a half, really, and not a very big ship at that) for Blood & Plunder. Yes, plural. Because they're both too small for a decent blogpost each by themselves.

First up, the Bark. A tiny fishing ship, runabout, coastal trader and general ship-shaped thing, that were never-the-less quite popular among the buccaneers in the Spanish Main (as well as the Spanish Guarda Costa), possibly because they were easy to get hold of.

Maybe not plenty of space, but enough for a trusted crew (one kind of harbour rat or another, be they english, dutch och spanish) and some trade goods (legally obtained or otherwise).

Neither is she the most heavily armed, but once again, enough. A few cannons and swivels, enough to keep heads down as you approach. More cannons is not always better, because if you sink the enemy ship, then it gets much harder to plunder it (remember Maxim 1: Pillage, then Burn).

And there she is, Lydia as she's tentatively named (although I haven't bothered to get her a nameplate). All in all, she's a very cute ship, and just enough to teach one the basics of sailing (at least in Blood & Plunder).

Of course, all the masts can be taken down, and the flag replaced, for ease of transport and change of allegiance. And all armaments are mounted with magnets, for reasonably safe play and ease of removal (even if it will probably be rare to change all that much, since she doesn't have many options... but still, if I have a system, then I have a system).

If the Bark is small, then the Piragua is tiny. Only slightly larger than the Longboat and Canoas, this boat mostly compensates by girth, allowing for a decent amount of crew. Interrestingly enough, a Piragua can technically be towed as a ship's boat by a Bark, despite being almost as large. Ah, rules conundrums and literal reading, aint it wonderful.

 
She's got very few guns mounted, but that can be compensated by muskets. She's small, she's fast, and can carry both a decent boarding party and some fellows who keeps enemy heads down. Is it any surprise that this was also a favored ship by the buccaneers?

Once again, the sails can be dismounted for ease of travel. Although here, they're likely to be left of, because the magnets I used aren't quite strong enough (and/or aren't getting enough contact due to the layers of paint), and the rigging is non-existent, leaving them somewhat wobbly and too prone to randomly falling down for the average game. Still, it's nice to have while it's waiting its turn on a bookshelf.

And of course, the swivel guns are only attached by magnets, and can trivially be removed (especially useful if the Piragua is to be used by Native forces).

Still, she looks splendid and fast even when slimmed down. And one can appreciate the fact that Piraguas weren't as much built as carved directly from a large tree, with only some timber enhancements.

All in all, not a bad start for a buccaneer fleet. Now I just need to get a chance to field them in action, and see how they work in game... They both seem brittle, and perhaps not the most agile, but they're cheap, so one can fill them up with good troops. I'm really tempted to try the Piragua with a small unit of Sailors, and a medium-to-large unit of Boucaniers. Although perhaps those would be better in the Bark, with some gunners, and then a boarding party of some kind in the Piragua... as can be seen, ideas are multiplying.

/Fool Out, there's more sails on the horizon

Blood & Plunder Fluyt

It only took me half a year, but another Blood & Plunder ship has been finished. I seriously need to up my painting time for these. Especially since my effective painting time isn't all that long, it's just that I keep procrastinating and painting smaller stuff (painting gods know how that will work with the Galleon)

Anyway, one fully armed bathtub Fluyt is now done and ready to battle it out on the table. Painting inspiration is somewhat from Kalmar Nyckel, with my usual judicious application of "this color seems nifty here".

The jack (front-most flag, for us not so nautically inclined) was a bit of a rushjob, but it will do for now. And until such  time that I manage to decide between red och orange on my dutch flags, she will get to fly both.

As is usual, I have of course given her a female name, Amelia in this case (as it is suitably dutch-sounding... and close enough to Maarten Tromps ship, Aemilia). Historically, there should have been a painting here, but until I trust my freehanding skills, I will go with names.

The interior is relatively sparse in various shades of wooden browns. My first try with a lighter deck color, and... I think I like it, will have to do similar with more ships.

Of course, it doesn't feel right to have an empty ship. Much better when she's filled up with dutch seamen. Also allows us to get a sense of her space. Just for fun, I drew up an almost fully WYSIWYG 300 points list.

The larger decks have 2 units of 6 models each, with a commander on the rearmost full deck, while the subsection to the rear (the poop deck, unless I mangle my naval terminology again) only a single 6-strong unit. From this, we can see that the rearmost full deck is full (the subsection could probably fit a single model more), while the front deck have some space left... and the middle deck has plenty of space, one could probably fit another 6 models here without problems. Perfect space for some larger cannons...

And a swift change of flags, and she's suddenly belgian (Ostend Privateers, almost-dutch except under spanish command). Truly, she's a versatile ship.

And a somewhat shitty joke to finish us off. Sorry, but I've been itching to make this joke for a year by now...

Now I just need to figure out how to best transport Amelia. The (very) tall stern structure makes my usual boxes insufficient...

/Fool Out