More Wars of the Roses

 January is rapidly passing and I have finally got some more painting done. No gaming except online, but staying in is the least I can do during this pandemic.

Anyway, painting. Firstly I made and painted up some stakes for my archers to hide behind use when enemy cavalry threaten. Just toothpicks cut to size, hot glued to a spare plastic base and then painted and based. I think they will do the trick when I finally do get some gaming in and they have the added bonus of being cheap.

Ten bases of stakes

Now onto the figures. All these are plastic Perrys Miniatures figures. Firstly some mounted archers, an 8 man unit for Never Mind the Billhooks. A light horse unit which has the option to dismount as a skirmish archer unit, at least they will do once I paint some figures up for them.

8 Mounted Archers

Then some Hobilars, 8 light cavalry again but with spears this time. 

Hobilars

Finally some mounted Men-at-Arms, again 8 strong and much heavier armoured than the others. 

Mounted Men-at-Arms

That's the lot for now, I am hoping to get some more done soon but real life keeps getting in the way. I have some more mounted MaA to paint, then it's back to the foot troops with some more bows and bills. At some point I will get some crossbows too, but not just yet.

Take care folks, stay safe.

First post and painting of 2021

 Happy New Year to you all, I hope it's better than last year. Although it's not off to a great start with a new national lockdown here in the UK. 

Anyway, fingers crossed and all that. I have been a bit productive over the Christmas break, cracking on with the Wars of the Roses figures I mentioned last time. The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that I painted a few of the Perry Miniatures figures back in 2012 for a Christmas game at Devon Wargames, sadly they were sold on some time ago due to lack of use. So now I am painting more of the same again. 

So, here we go. Just the infantry done so far but there will be some cavalry done at some point. All these figures are Perry Miniatures plastics, bought 2nd hand at one show or another over the last few years. The revival in the period for me has been caused by the arrival of the Never Mind the Billhooks rules. These rules use units of 6 foot for skirmishers, 12 foot for everything else and 8 cavalry for mounted units.

First we have 24 foot men-at-arms, 6 hand-gunners , 4commanders and 2 standard bearers. That's enough for 2 units of men-at-arms, a unit of skirmishers and up to 4 leaders. 

Next we have the blues, blue and yellow on the left with blue and white on the right. Each group has 12 archers and 12 billmen, along with a 3 man command group with matching flag. I do need another musician for the blue and white unit though. An extra man-at-arms has stood in for now.

Finally, for now, we have the red and black/yellow units. Again each has 12 archers and 12 billmen with a command group of 3 men, both with musicians this time. That lot gives me about 150 points worth of units, so most of the way to a 100 points per side game.

All told that is 144 figures finished so far, with another 52 foot and 40 odd mounted waiting to be painted. The extras will add another bill and bow combined block, an extra unit of archers, some crossbowmen and a couple of units each of light horse and mounted men-at-arms. That should be enough for a small scale skirmish I hope.

Adios for now folks, stay safe and I will catch you next time.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and thank God that 2020 is over!

Salutations and seasons greetings to one and all. I hope you have all recovered from any Christmas excesses you may have been subjected too and I also hope that you got what you wanted, not what you deserved, for Christmas. 😉

My production has switched to Wars of the Roses figures for the recently released "Never Mind the Billhooks" rules recently released with Wargames Illustrated. They look like a fun set, simple enough to pick up but with enough in them to make them interesting. It has made me get out the Perrys Miniatures plastic figures that I picked up at a bring and buy somewhere many moons ago. I have over 120 foot and 30 mounted, so that should be enough to be going on with.......hopefully.

My family was pretty generous this year, actually asking what I wanted instead of buying chocolate and whiskey. It does help that I can't have chocolate and whiskey anymore mind, although I do miss the whiskey. So I got a selection of burnt wood mdf from Sarissa Precision from my wife and my mother. I now have a selection of Mediterranean buildings for Mortal Gods from my wife and the Dark Ages Hamlet bundle from my mum for use with the Vikings. I also got some grass tufts, which are always useful, and a 1/56 Char D2 tank from my eldest son and his wife.  My daughter gave me cash as it's easier, so that will be spent on something soon, maybe a cannon and some command from the Perrys range. No 2 son also gave me cash, then promptly borrowed it back to get his mum a present. Some things never change. That plus the usual bits and pieces, a book, some smellies etc, and some more Really Useful boxes means I did very well indeed. Please bear in mind that December 25th is also my birthday though, so the presents covered both.

The Char D1 was a surprise, I found it on eBay, told my son about it and said I would order one after Christmas. I did not expect him to remember and get it. It really is a lovely print and I would recommend it to anyone who needs one. The seller is gardenshedprinting and he does a nice range of vehicles, so please check him out. I will be ordering more once the New Year has passed. 

Char D2 tank, unpainted so far!

I know the D1 is a limited use item, but I am running the Many Bridges campaign for two of my wargames buddies and the French player keeps picking the later D2 for support. So far an R35 has filled in, but now he can have a more similar tank.

You watch, he won't pick the damn thing now, assuming we ever get together for a game again. Now I just have to decide on a camouflage scheme, top or bottom?

Well that's it. I hope you all have a Happy New Year tonight. I do hope it improves soon as the lack of socialising is beginning to wear very bloody thin. Fingers crossed for a reduction in the Covid rate everywhere and I hope you all stay healthy. 

More Vikings

 Just a quickie (ooh-eer missus).

I painted the other Vikings from Victrix, so here they are.

30 Victrix Vikings

That makes 64 including the Celtic fanatic Berserkers. Hopefully I will get a game in this week now that lockdown has finished.

I also painted some villagers and militia type figures as targets for the raids.

24 Assorted Peasants

I think they are a mix of Gripping Beast and Black Tree miniatures, I picked them up at some of the local shows last year, so it was nice to get some paint on them.

Next up will be either Wars of the Roses figures or some 15mm Cold War, it depends what takes my fancy tomorrow.

That's your lot for now,  stay safe folks.

Age of Blood Warband

Hello again, I hope you are all well out there.

As I mentioned in my last post number one son wants to play some Viking raid games after watching Vikings on Amazon. 

After a search online he found a set of rules called Age of Blood and coerced me into playing it with him. I already have a fair sized collection of Dark Ages figures, but they are mostly painted up as Romano-British and Saxons. They are also less dynamic than #1 wanted, so I ordered some Victrix Vikings and set too with some cutters, knives and glue. The 30 figures I have done so far were shown in the last post, there are another 30 to do.

Age of Blood is a campaign skirmish system that will see your starting force gradually grow in size, at least hopefully. You have a leader or Hersir, supported by a few Champions and Berserkers, some Huscarls and some Carls.  The Champions, Berserkers and Huscarls are all permanent additions to the group, unless the are killed in a raid. The Carls are hired on for a single mission, being farmers who feel the need to go raiding for a quick cash fix. I have worked out a starting force and made up a roster, so here is a rundown of my merry bloodythirsty  band.

The Hersir is Eirik of Horkidalr. He has the shipmaster trait which allows him to carry 10% more men and cargo in his ships and also reduces the cost of voyages. Being a man of means and a rising star of the Viking world he is well equipped, with  sword, axe, shield, chain hauberk and a helmet. 

Eirik's renown has meant his call to arms has gathered a small but strong force. He is joined my two champions, both capable warriors with abilities that will aid in the raids. On the left is Bjarni, a very tough man, believed to be descended from the dwarves. He also has mail and a helmet but favours the Broad Axe over the sword and shield, relying on his resilience to keep him going. To the right is Gylfi, equipped in the same manner as Eirik. He is a scout, giving the ability to see what force defends a village before the raid takes place.

LtoR, Bjarni, Eirik and Gylfi

Tales of Eiriks fine mead and plans to go raiding led to a pair of Berserkers joining his group. First up is Gauti the Red, a fiery character with a Broad Axe. He is joined by Ottar Bearslayer, armed with a sword and shield. These two are faster and stronger than other warriors but cannot wear any armour so are more easily injured.

Gauti and Ottar

Five Huscarls have sworn their service to Eirik, a decent number to start with. On the flanks are the spearmen Aun and Jacob. In leather armour with helmets and shields, they carry spears and swords. Inside of them are Ingjald and Estrid, wearing chain and a helmet while carrying Broad Axes. They are the impact troops to try and smash through any enemy shieldwall with Bjarni. Finally, in the centre, we have Fafnir, equipped like Eirik he is a jack of all trades, able to fill in where needed.

Aun, Ingjald, Fafnir, Estrid, Jakob

Last, and least, are the ten Carls. These farmers are less capable than the others but should still be more than a match for enemy villagers and militia. They are hired on in groups of 5 and come with mixed weapons. One group have spear and shield while the others have shield and axe. Yes, I know two have Broad Axes, I got carried away when gluing them together. I have some more with axe and shield in the painting queue.

Ten Carls

This merry band are going raiding in a light Drakkar or Longship. This can carry 30 crew and 30 cargo, up to 33 of each due to Eiriks skill.

A starting warband has 1000 silver pennies(sp) to spend, with costs ranging from 20  to 80 for the man, then adding weapons and equipment. For example Fafnir cost a total of 99sp, half of which was the cost of his chain hauberk while Aun only cost 58sp. In addition you also need to keep some money back to pay for the voyages to get to the target of your raid and to return home. You also have an upkeep cost to pay after each raid, 2sp for a huscarl, 6 for a champion and 8 for berserkers and your Hersir. 

My initial spend came in at 966sp, so I have 34sp left in the bank. The upkeep of my band is 46sp, so I really need to be successful to keep them all together.

All I need now is for lockdown to end so that #1 and I can get together for a game. 

Plus I might need some more buildings.......

And maybe a Viking longship........

Take care of yourselves and I will see you later.

Some more Mortal Gods figures plus a few Vikings

 Hello again to my reader. I hope you are well and getting more gaming in than I am. 

I have cracked on with a few more figures for Mortal Gods, so here are a couple of pictures.  Along with the usual historical Greeks Footsore have also added myths to the range, so I added a few mythical figures to the collection. First I did a few Athenians as additional troops to face the Spartans. Only 8 so far, although I will add some more at some point.

Eight Athenian Hoplites

Then I did up some mythical figures, starting with Jason and a trio of Argonauts. I tried to make them look like the classic image from the 1963 film, which I watched several times as an impressionable young lad. Nice enough figures, although the Argonauts are noticeably larger than the other Greek figures and Jason towers over them all.

Jason and a trio of Argonauts

Hoplite, Argonaut, Jason

As you can see, the mythical figures tower over the poor Spartan. Ah well, they will do for the game. Maybe size does matter in Mortal Gods. Talking of towering figures the main faction I am doing first is Zeus' followers and creatures. This force includes the mighty cyclops, minotaur and thundering Centaurs. I have a cyclops and minotaur now, although not the "official" figures as I couldn't justify £100 for two figures. The Footsore cyclops is £65 and the minotaur is £35. That's a bit excessive to my mind, so I started searching for proxy figures that would be imposing enough for the game.

The official Cyclops is a sizeable figure standing at 105mm(4 inches) to the top of his head. It is very reminiscent of the cyclops in the 7th Voyage of Sinbad movie from 1958, but that is not really Greek history.

In Greek history the cyclopes were giant man like creatures, brothers of the Titans and creators of Zeus' thunderbolt, so I wanted a more human looking figure. Luckily I found what I was looking for on Amazon and it even came pre-painted and just needed a base. Its bigger as well at 115cm tall!

The Mortal Gods minotaur is also a sizeable figure, although at 62mm it is no match for the cyclops.  

    

However as the cost was prohibitive again so I searched some more and found what I wanted on eBay. One quick payment later and I had what I wanted. A minotaur from the Mythic Battles boardgame, available for the grand total of £8. It is a bit smaller at a mere 50mm tall, but that still makes it a lot bigger than the Greek figures. So, here they are along with a priest and a champion of Zeus. A nice little add on and gives a few more options for the game when I do get to play it again. I do need to get some centaurs, sadly they are £15 each from Footsore so Wargames Foundry are looking good for an order soon(ish).

Cyclops, Minotaur, Priest and Champion

In addition to Mortal Gods I have also been painting a few figures for a Viking raider game that my son wants to play. He has watched Vikings on Amazon recently and wanted to play something along the lines of raids and warband building. He found a game called Age of Blood online and promptly got me to promise to play it with him. A quick purchase later and I had a bag of Victrix Vikings to paint. So here are the first half of them, along with four slightly modified Celtic fanatics as berserkers. Now we just need lockdown to end so we can get a game in.

Victrix Viking types

So that's the lot for now. I do have another 30 Vikings to put together and paint but we have enough for the game now. I have some villagers ready to be painted up for it though, so they will probably get done next. Then it is back to the 15mm Cold War vehicles I have sat waiting to be painted.

Keep safe folks and I will catch you next time. 

Greeks for Mortal Gods

 Hello again, welcome to lockdown 2.0 and all the joy it has brought us. 😕

A while ago(last November) I took the offer of Mortal Gods on sale, along with the Athens and Sparta supplements. Mortal Gods is a skirmish level game, if you have not checked it out then please do so as it is a fun game and plays very well. There are much more detailed reviews elsewhere so I will leave it there. The total package should have cost £120 but the offer was for the lot for £70 so I had it, plus the Persian cards for variety. The boxes came with 76 assorted Greeks in 28mm, mostly Victrix plastic figures but the supplements each came with 3 metal figures as well. 

Lockdown 1.0 gave me the chance to start assembling the figures and then paint was slapped about. To get me in the zone so to speak I started with some plastic Hoplites I bought many moons ago from Immortal Miniatures, they are now available from Warlord Games. For some reason I had 8 of these in an part-painted state for several years. So here they are to start it all off.

8 Immortal/Warlord Hoplites

Then it was onto the Victrix and Footsore figures. I started off on some generic Hoplites. I did 15 in armour first, trying to vary their outfits as befits a citizen military force. The shields are all done with LBMS/Victrix decals as I am not painting that many individual shields. Also they look really nice.

Armoured Hoplites

Then I did some unarmoured Hoplites, same principle as the others just less protection. I did up a few as leader/heroic types as well. Plus I painted the Athenian character figures I had. So here are 9 unarmoured hoplites and 4 heroic individuals.

Hoplites and Leaders

After the heavier troops it was time to start on some lightweight types. I may have got a bit carried away with the number of peltasts I did, but I like them in the game so I did quite a few. There are 16 of these annoying javelin men.

Peltasts, peltasts everywhere

Then it was the really light troops, some slingers and javelinmen to supplement the others. I did 6 of each as they tend to be an extra you take to make up the points. An irritant rather than a game winner.

Skirmishers

Finally so far I did some Spartans. Only 20 more figures but they have proved to be pretty tough so far. There are 9 each of armoured and unarmoured hoplites plus a couple of metal leader figures. 

The Spartans are coming!

So there they are so far, 84 figures in total done and ready to go. I still have some more to do as Athenians (spit) but the mojo has gone for the moment. I think the lack of gaming this year has had a major effect on the productivity, it's hard to get inspired for something you can't play.

I hope you lot are having fun anyway, hopefully Christmas will bring some cheer to a pretty shite year.