Musings and news(-ings...)

Hello again.

No pics this time, as the weather, real life and sundry factors have limited my ability to get anything finished, let alone write about it, so I thought I would drop in a quick post about general stuff.

Item 1:
I still have not finished the unit of Combined Grenadiers for my FIW project. However, I am now painting the last four figures for the 24-strong unit and hope to get them done this weekend. I may even get around to some varnishing and basing! This has been a real labour of love and it must be two months since I started them.

Item 2:
Not having been totally idle on the painting front (see Item 1), I have also managed to cobble together the 10 Goliath gang figures from my pre-Christmas purchase of the "Necromunda" boxed game from Games Workshop. Just the girlies of Escher to do, ten on to the inevitable need to paint them...

Item 3:
Last year, I managed to squeeze in maybe a dozen games at most, with a chunk of them coming at various shows with the "Wyrley Retinue". This year, however, it looks like we are having a year off, as life intervenes for many of us. Not a situation I am happy with, but there you  go. It also means I will now have to pay to get into the shows I do visit rather than spend all my cash, not to mention of chunk of available plastic, on purchases. Ho hum.

Item 4:
The future...

Hmmm.

I have so many potential projects, as many of you will know, and the aforementioned time constraints will mean I still have many potential projects this time next year!!!

So, what do I think I will get up to this year?

• The FIW still holds my attention so I expect to have a few more units done over the next several months, all of which I will display here on the blog for those who want to look.
• I also foresee the purchase of some cavalry and other bits this year to bring my FIW aims back across "the Pond" to Europe for some regular Seven Years' War activity.
• I also expect to get my Necromunda stuff done, along with some terrain. Whilst I can foresee some MDF purchases to facilitate that terrain, I can also see a few scratchbuilt pieces coming along as the mood takes me.
• Crimean War. Having bought loads at Derby last October, including extra reference material, this is still something I want to do soon. I can see me adding to what I have (Cossacks and Scots primarily, I think), probably at the WMMS show this March.
• I intend to buy a load of suitable bases for my 10mm ACW lead pimple which may see me kick-start this project.

On the subs' bench are:

• The French Wars of Religion, for which I have numerous figures already.
• A return to my Williamite and Jacobite forces for the Irish conflict c.1690, prompted by the "League of Augsburg's" release of various uniform and flag PDF's.
• Something totally out of the blue (as always!)
• A return to WH40K.
• An expansion of my Lord of The Rings forces for Mordor, now I have so many reinforcements to add to my existing stuff.

Being a less than adequate clairvoyant, who knows how much of the above will actually come to pass?

G

Penkridge Tabletop Sale

Hello again and a very Happy New Year to all.

Last Sunday, 7th January, saw yours truly drive the five miles or so to the village of Penkridge in Staffordshire, England, to visit this inaugural wargaming "show" of the year. It is not really a show, I suppose, but was full of wargaming goodies and people I had not seen for a while.

As well as catching up with a number of notaries of my acquaintance, I no sooner walked through the door into the hall, which was free to enter (!!!), looked in the very first box on the very first table and promptly fished out 62 Mordor Orcs for the "Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game", bagged them up an handed over the princely sum of £20 for the privilege. A good start, at just over 30p per figure!

Moving on past sundry traders with assorted wares, I came to one worthy I know well and whose products I have bought in some number before, namely Walter Anstiss of Commission Figurines. He relieved me of £10 for four of his MDF figure storage trays, which should have cost me £12. Thanks again Walter.

Finally, rummaging through another box of Lord of the Rings "Evil" figures, I came across Gothmog the Mordor Orc, on foot and mounted on a warg, for the sum of £12. A total of £42 down, I left after more rummaging with a sizeable addition to my Mordor forces and something to store my burgeoning 10mm collection in. A quick visit to my local DIY store and I had a 9 litre plastic storage box to hold the four MDF trays once built. Job done.

I had gone to the sale looking for MDF bases and perhaps something to add to my Sci-Fi scenery for forthcoming intended games of "Necromunda", which I did not find, but was well happy with the stuff I did pick up.

A couple of hours well spent!

I believe there is another show at the same venue on the first Sunday in July, so get yourself along for a browse.

G

The pinkoes and peaceniks in society will no doubt baulk at the thought of a "war" gaming show being held at the "PEACE MEMORIAL HALL", but I just think it is indicative of how sad and deluded such people are to find offence at every turn simply for the sake of having something to shout at the world about. Obviously, and with due grace, the owners/ custodians of this facility are above such puerile and entirely spurious correlations.

The haul.

Derby Loot

Hello again.

After my belated post on the Derby Show, held on the weekend of 7th and 8th October, I thought I would muse on the things I went for, what I missed and what I bought from the show.

Perhaps unusual for me, I had actually made a definitive list of what I wanted. I reckoned I wanted two further regiments of French foot for the Seven Years' War in America/ French & Indian War. I also wanted another three British regiments for the same conflict. All five regiments, along with some half a dozen individual French figures, would come from Eagle Figures. I then planned on visiting Redoubt for some Highlanders and Light Infantry, together with a British gun or two. That would see me right for my FIW needs, I felt.

I also went with the express intention of boosting my 10mm Crimean War project, mostly with Russians, but I also wanted to check out Magister Militum's offerings in this arena, so that too was a definite. Most importantly in this project, I wanted the uniform book by Laurence Spring on the Russian Army, which Caliver Books had stocked at previous shows but I had not so far purchased a copy of.

I had planned to get the new "Ghost Archipelago" book, and possibly a few figures, new in from the "Frostgrave" people, but learned that it was not yet out (at the time of the show). Also, I wanted some Chinese Pulp-style characters for something I had in mind for the reasonably near future.

Anything else would be ad hoc.

So, what caused me to part with my money on the day?

A large selection of Eagle Figures SYW castings, which will bolster my FIW ranks considerably. I managed to get a whole single pack of British command from Redoubt too - their stocks were rather low, so I missed out on Highlanders, etc. The book looked interesting, so I picked it up from Paul Meekin Books.

A host of the desired Crimean War figures from both Pendraken and Magister Militum, along with a range of bargain books from Paul Meekin again. Almost £80 worth of books for less than half that! I now have a miniature British Light Brigade, the Heavy Brigade, the Guards Brigade, a Russian Light Cavalry Brigade, two brigades of Russian infantry and whatever the Pendraken packs hold. Quips that I want to host Balaklava in one-to-one scale are wholly unwarranted!

THE book I had set out to get, covering all aspects (I hoped) of the Russian army. A flick through showed just how much I did not know, such as Russian cavalry regiments having identically coloured horses within each regiment. I have started my first regiment of dragoons with their horses and had painted around half of them chestnut, with a view to doing the rest bay with the odd grey. NO!!! All chestnut now, which makes them either the Tsarevitch dragoons, Prince Emil of Hesse's dragoons...there are a few options! Flags are described too, so I can hopefully get them right as  well.

Related to my Crimean War interests, these two books were nice to have. The very new Osprey offering covers the Piedmontese but also other Italian forces in the unification struggles. Gringo 40's were at the show with some wonderful-looking troops for this conflict...The large, hardback book features loads of uniforms in colour for conflicts ranging from the Crimea to the Boer War (the 2nd one, featuring Spion Kop, etc). Ideal I felt not just for my Crimean interests, but also my latent ACW, 1859 and 1866 collections, all of which are awaiting their turn in the spotlight.

I have a passion for the Wargamers' Annual series, so this was a must-have. My currently dormant interest in the Thirty Years' War also meant I had to have the book on the Bavarian army too. Returning my 30YW figures to the tabletop is long overdue!

A hefty dose of whimsy! All looked interesting and "Bolt Action" may well see the light of day with my First World War figures, although I do have a 28mm Japanese army in the "To Do" pile...

And finally, more whimsy and necessity. I always need bases, but the Goblin Spider Rider and the two LOTR trolls were just "shiny".
 

So, I got a lot of what I went for, bought a lot of stuff on top of that, and still missed out on a few things.

1. No Highlanders or Light Infantry for the FIW.
2. No FIW British artillery.
3. No Fu Manchu or similar for Pulp games.
4. No "Ghost Archipelago".
5. Rather stupidly, I did not stock up on magnetic sheet and steel paper. I used the last of my supply of the latter yesterday! D'oh!

But, that was what I call a successful show overall. Whilst I felt there was too much crammed into the hall, some games not really "on the money" in my opinion and it was a bit of a pig to get to from where Nephew Nick and I live, the trade was lively, the money well spent and the Winter reading and projects well stacked up.

I really should take stock of the mass and bulk of my "To Do" list, however, and curtail my expenses going forwards. That may well mean I curtail one or two show visits for the next twelve months and Derby may well be one I miss next year. We shall see.

G

The Latest Loot

Hello again.

Every show is something of a cornucopia for wargamers, and the WMMS is no exception, despite various "gaps" in the trader line up, but what exactly did I buy? Read on!

I went with a list of stuff I "needed" (henceforth "NEED") and had vague intentions of sticking to that list. A lot of stuff below was definitely "not on the list" (henceforth "NOL") however!

 



First up is a book I found on the always-useful and enlightening CALIVER BOOKS stand. For those who cannot read or understand German, the title translates as "Flags and standards from the time of the 30 Years' War, part 4". This is definitely "NOL", but could well have been a "NEED" had I known about parts 1 to 3!!! It is chock full of colour plates of artists' renditions of various flags, this volume covering Saxony - towns, areas within Saxony and individual colonel's regiments, including cavalry and dragoons. I have a paperback booklet covering this area in some detail, but this volume is more conclusive, covers far more options and is in lovely technicolour!!! I still have several regiments-worth of figures to paint towards my own 30 Years' War collection, so this purchase will certainly help that process when the time comes. Now I just have to find volumes 1, 2  and 3...

 

 

Pure indulgence and definitely "NOL". CALIVER BOOKS supplied the book, PENDRAKEN the figures. I blame watching "The Charge of the Light Brigade" twice over the past couple of months. I also blame my desire to fulfil my megalomania to get seriously into wargaming the mid-19th Century. Quite why I am not concentrating on Austrian 1859 or 1866 (I have figures for both!), Piedmontese-Sardinian for 1859 (again, I have figures), Prussian for 1866 or 1870 (yep, you guessed it...) or my 10mm ACW collection (which has grown in metal terms but has still not been started in painting terms) is something of a quandary. One to watch. I am unclear on rules for this era too. I have a set by Ray Lucas entitled "Voice of the Guns", I have "There Are Your Guns" by Dennis Williams, I have Principles of War", I have the set by Neil Thomas in his book on wargaming the 19th Century, I have "Regimental Fire & Fury" (which I will be using for ACW and 1859/ 66 when I finally get started on those) and no doubt one or two more options lying around somewhere. Perhaps RF&F will convert to the Crimea too? But can I be bothered with all those markers to go with it???

My usual visit to MAGNETIC DISPLAYS (very definitely on the "NEED" list) yielded the customary purchasing of steel paper and magnetic sheet. I also needed some brown Basetex, some more 25mm diameter round bases and some more grass to texture bases with, so tick, tick, tick and all on the "NEED" list. I also added a pack of 60mm round bases pending the creation of some 28mm command vignettes for one of my growing collections. Missing from the shot is the matt varnish I picked up from them, or, at least, paid for. It did not seem to make it to the bag they gave me and certainly has not come home with me...

More pure indulgence, but on the "NEED" list. My desire to wargame the Austrians in various eras was missing a biggie, namely the Seven Years' War. I still do not have any figures at all for this conflict, but thought buying this might spur me on in due course. CALIVER BOOKS were again kind enough to supply me with a copy.

And indulgence does not come any deeper than this! OAKBOUND STUDIO were making their debut at the WMMS show (at least, I had never seen or heard of them before), but chatting with the chap on the stall and seeing some of their product in the flesh convinced me this was a good buy, though certainly "NOL". I bought the "Secrets of Shandisholm" sourcebook, the "Barrow Ring Burning" campaign book, got a little tool for use with their house rules (the light brown thing that looks like a crown) and a box of Spriggans to start me off. Many years ago when I was but a teen and heavily into RPG's, I was getting away from the usual Vikings/ Medieval vibe and checking out Celtic folklore, reading the Tain etc. This is it. If only this had been around in my mid-teens, I could have died happy!!! I have been reading the sourcebook and my initial enthusiasm is still very high almost a week later!!! I heartily recommend you check the website out (www.oakbound.co.uk) and I cannot wait for their forthcoming post-apocalypse rules "Factious Waste". In addition to Spriggans, they do such worthies as Phooka, Wulven (werewolves to you and I), Fae Rades (nasty faerie-types who like to manipulate the world and its denizens) and the book is littered with pictures of Warlord Celts and Gripping Beast Irish. I have figures to use for this already!!! Bonus! And not only does the website have the house rules as a free download, but they also feature in the sourcebook, so you can start playing straight away! This game should be up there with "Frostgrave" if not higher.

Definitely not an indulgence and on the "NEED" list were some reinforcements for my FIW project. MAGNETIC| DISPLAYS furnished the Indian canoes and Redoubt the various figures. I bought more Rangers, some Colonial Militia, some Indian civilians and a French artillery piece with crew. Unfortunately, the man seems to have given me a mortar instead. However, that did at least spark interest in what I might do for a future show game, interest piqued by watching "The Last Of The Mohicans" again recently...

And, last but not least, and another definite "NEED", are a couple of reinforcements for my Mordor Orcs. I have been looking to add Trolls to their ranks for some time and toured the usual suppliers of secondhand figures, as well as firsthand ones, to no avail over the course of several shows. Then I saw the drummer on such a secondhand figure stand (whose name sadly escapes me) and, duly bought, I asked the chap if he had any more, as none were on show. Returning five minutes later, he had found me a metal figure representing a Mordor Troll Captain, we agreed a price and away I went, happy and joyful! I knew those 60mm bases from MAGNETIC DISPLAYS would come in handy!!! And I got both figures for less than I would have got a brand new one from the GW webstore! To top it all, Nephew Paul insists he has another one going free, so I could be breeding trolls for a while yet. All I have to do now is find some ancient article on how to paint them...

And so concludes the tale of the WEST MIDLANDS MILITARY SHOW, 2017. I by no means got everything I was looking for (I was desperately looking to add Reiter to my fledgling French Wars of Religion collection, but TIGER MINIATURES brought none to the show and FOUNDRY were not there at all), which probably explains why I came away with Crimean War Russians and a book to boot on that conflict. I had to spend the money on something! Smoking pockets syndrome...

G

The Right Hand "Man"

Hello again.

Every cruddy soldier needs someone to lead them, and what better "someone" than an undead former king of men with a passion for breathing heavily when he speaks, a rather nasty knife up his voluminous sleeves, who gets to play with a very big mace whenever he chooses and can ride anything from a rather weird, ill-tempered horse to some great, flying beast from a nightmare place no one ever visits?

Many, many years ago in a time known only as the "Eighties", Games Workshop had a range of metal figures they marketed as "Lord of The Rings", well before a certain Mr Jackson ever sought to play fast and loose with Tolkien's finest work. They mostly (I think) came three figures to a blister pack and captured a view of Middle Earth that was probably in vogue at the time. I bought the Orcs offerings (which feature in my Orc army for Warhammer in their various guises), I bought various Elven offerings (which probably languish unpainted in a box somewhere), I bought a pack of Barrow Wights (one of which is now mounted in an ancient, Elven chariot and calls himself a "Tomb King") and I bought other bits and pieces, including the pack featured here.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, I give you the foremost of the Nine, the former ruler of Angmar and Destroyer of Arnor, the infamous Witch King!

I had him lying around, I had need of more command options for my Mordor Orcs and I could not stomach the extreme amount of currency required for the official LotR figures, so he got the gig!

This is the end of the Mordor Orcs for a while, though I do intend to grow the collection in time.

G

He must have been having a command meeting with Shelob, judging by the cobwebs hanging off his crown (or I have just left him lying around a tad too long...)



The Witch King in concert mode, singing his little heart (?) out for the adoring fans (or cowering Orcs)

Slightly less cruddy Sauronistas

Hello again.

The Mordor Orcs have approached a "logical" stopping point in their growth with the acquisition of a few leaders and specialists to accompany the dregs that have gone before.

These figures must be worth more than the average Cirith Ungolite as:
a) They are made of metal.
b) Some of them have names!
c) They come in packs the size of which makes them far more expensive per figure than the common or garden crud they get to lead (especially at GW prices...)

But, what is an Orc army without a few Uruk-hai, a few cunning nasties who call themselves "leaders" and the odd runt whose trickery, sneakery and general skullduggeriness outmatches that of Joe Average? Or should that be Azog Average?

I am looking to add a few more Uruk-hai, another couple of the named characters (though they will probably not be used as such in future games), a troll or two and I have an exceedingly venerable Grenadier Miniatures "Wraith on Fell Beast" to build and paint too. And I could always use another plastic boxed set of crud to add to the orc numbers and options.

I shelved the original experiment with the Army Painter dips on these and stuck to my usual collection of basecoats, washes and highlights. I am much happier with the finished result than I was with the original orcs. I could have tarted them up a bit beyond the dip stage but, as I wrote when I posted the orc pictures, it seemed counter productive to do so...

G

The command, including a "Grishnakh" with sword held low in his left hand. Note to self: stay away from trees, especially those that can walk and spring up unexpectedly when you chase hobbits into woodland...

Some Uruk-hai. I may commit figure heresy and get a box of plastic Morannon Orcs to fill out their numbers. The Morannon folk have better armour than the usual crud and are cheaper than these metal figures! Plus, I reckon they would fit in if you did not look too closely...

Some Trackers, a fabricated offering that basically gives you some archers who do know which end of the arrow to hold AND can very occasionally hit something with it.

More of Sauron's (less than) finest

Hello again.

As some of you will know, if you have bothered to read some of my more recent posts, I have been busily scampering through a few mini-projects in the past few months in order to try and clear up some quickies before I get sucked into yet another big project. The main two focal points in this regard have been my French & Indian Wars and Lord of the Rings "collections" - the parentheses are there because I am not really sure "collection" is the right word for a few dozen figures versus the several hundred I tend to get through as a minimum when I do a larger project...

Anyway, the figures below were painted ages ago, but only recently brought up to full completion with basing work, and they are something a little different to my normal techniques.

The figures are bog standard Games Workshop Mordor Orcs, twelve to a box and in various poses, but I avoided my usual base/ wash/ highlight routine and used the Army Painter wash on these. My thinking was that they were just a sideshow to my main interests and I wanted something quick.

Hmm.

I will come straight out with it and state that this way of working is not for me.

The product itself is fine, giving a suitable wash and varnish to suitably base-coated figures, but I do that anyway. What I missed out on with these, through choice, was the highlighting back up to my usual standard, which sort of makes the varnish side of the army Painter wash irrelevant. Also, I use washes specific to the base colour, so an all over gungy brown does not appeal, except in certain specific circumstances, I suspect. Those circumstances could include Mordor Orcs in truth, but I am more thinking Sudan Wars British in khaki, Afrika Korps/ 8th Army/ Italians in Libya - that sort of basic, uniform thing.

So, I have long since packed away my two jars of Army Painter wash for such projects and will continue with my usual techniques. Fair play to those who swear by this product - the great thing about this broad, wargaming church is that there is no heresy (unless using unpainted figures counts as such. OK, I'll come clean again - it DOES!!!) - so paint your own figures exactly how YOU want to. It just isn't for me.

Anyway, here are a few Orcs.

And the great thing about Orcs???
They constitute the sort of crud I get the most joy from!

G

The whole "army" of 30 combat figures...the good thing about GW games is that the paucity of figures required helps offset the massive cost of buying their figures to start with!

Lots of nice, varied poses provide the different equipment options allowed to Orcs in the LoTR rules.

And I have a few poor quality archers to keep the odd Goodly head down whilst the Orcs get over any initial flakiness and charge home.

Just how did the tortoise beat the hare?

Hello again.

I have had the makings of a Mordor Orc army for GW's "Lord of the Rings" game for ages, but have struggled to get them ready for battle with the various big projects I have had on for the past few years on behalf of the "Wyrley Retinue". Well, now I have no major project on for next year, I have managed to pursue some more of Sauron's less-than-finest with a view to finishing this little project off this year.

I bought these mounted fellows ready-built, undercoated and with the Wargs already done a couple of years ago from the Stafford Games (RIP) secondhand table. They cost me £18 for 18 figures, which, at GW prices, is a BARGAIN!!!

So, I have finally got around to painting them and they fulfil both my Mordor Orc reinforcements desire and the love of crud - their stats in the game are rather poor, as befits a lowly Orc. They are just rather speedier crud than their foot-slogging brethren.

I did not touch the Wargs at all, but tarted up the bases, which had basic texture work done (sand and glue probably), and painted the riders throughout.

 



As you can see, I have three "squadrons" of six figures each, one with spear, one with bow and one with sword. The sword and spear guys also have shields, which is nice. That armour rating needs to be as high as possible in my book!

G

The Quest for THE Rules

Hello again.

Nephew Nick, Nephew Paul and I decided several months ago what next year's show game would be in terms of its theme, but we did not sort out all the details. One of the missing details was which set of rules to use to depict our chosen arena. We have one definitive, period and scale-specific set to hand, but I at least had reservations about their suitability for a smooth-flowing, demo and possibly participation set up at a show. This is because they require certain specific tools to be able to use them, which adds a small amount to the game complexity, the likelihood of forgetting something and so on.

And so, the quest for alternatives began in earnest yesterday morning with a game or two Chez Nick.

We have some ideas for alternative sets and the first of those was to try out "The Lord of the Rings" fantasy battle game rules, Games Workshop's Tolkien-inspired offering that accompanied their alliance with Peter Jackson's films. (This is not the later big battle rules by the way). It is not a set I am massively familiar with, though I have played a few times and, indeed, after several years waiting to finish them, I almost have my Mordor Orcs ready to go! (It is that absence of a major project allowing me to do other mini projects instead yet again. I quite like this no project thingy!!!)

So here, hopefully for your delight and delectation, I have some photos of three things that do not feature very prominently on my blog to date. Firstly, they are taken from a game in progress. Secondly, they are fantasy figures. Thirdly, they are not mine. A fourth factor, which is unfortunately rather too common, is the poor quality of the photos! I am no photographer at the best of times but the weather conditions yesterday made light and dark a somewhat random affair, so apologies in advance!

I took the part of the valiant Dwarves, led by a King, with four Captains and various warrior types. I chose not to drag out the usual suspects like Balin or Dain Ironfoot. Arrayed against me were Nephew Nick, aka Durburz the Moria Goblin King, with sundry nefarious Goblin types, a couple of Bat Swarms and three Cave Trolls (I told you it was dark outside, even in daylight!) We had a nice, even 755pts each on the table.

It was a very close run thing, with Nephew Nick's favoured lilac dice doing their usual "roll 'em high" routine rather too often for my liking!

The Dwarf battleline, King Thorin Snowbeard of the Solitary Knoll centre right. (The Solitary Knoll is very like the Lonely Mountain, but a lot smaller...)

The Goblin right flank, with two of those pesky trolls...

This troll would have won the "Troll of the Match" award, if he could hit a barn door with his spear...The Shaman points the way to the enemy, if the Goblins or Troll were in any doubt about that, but it was rather funny when he failed dismally to cast his first spell, despite a re-roll!

A longer shot of the Dwarf line, the Goblin archers having already started to cause a gap or two. Better get into melee asap.

Those drums. Forever banging away like small, green Cozy Powells, these two helped keep the Goblins interested in the fight with their motivational percussion.

A few lowly Dwarf archers take on a Cave Troll and some Bats. This was only likely to go one way...and it did! The good news for the Dwarves was that it took a fair amount of time before the Cave Troll was able to burst through and attack the left of the Dwarf battle line.

Carnage. The Dwarves have broken through in the centre, but are in difficulty on their flanks. King Thorin himself almost single-handedly shored up the left flank of the Dwarf line, but those Trolls were going nowhere fast.

Both sides hit their breakpoint simultaneously. From here on in, it was a question of whose morale would hold longest.

Naturally, the Dwarves held on longest and this is the final scene, where the last Troll is cut down for a Dwarf victory. I say "Victory", but how many games are truly such with an almost 90% casualty rate for the victors??? To misquote Lord Cornwallis, "With another victory like that, we shall be ruined." A wounded King Thorin, a wounded Captain, an unwounded Captain, a Khazad Guard and a Dwarf warrior are all who will trek home to the Solitary Knoll for beer and bathtime tonight... 

So, did these rules work for us and is our quest complete? Yes and no. The rules worked fine, but they are a little labour intensive with each individual man to man combat worked out individually and they give far too much freedom for individual figures to do what they want to most of the time. However, the mechanisms are simple and they would be easy to convert to our chosen Dark Ages scenario, so they are still in contention for that outing next year. A few more games and some alternative rules will trim things down a bit further.

G