And I've painted the components for the first two Armorcast buildings -- a small wood house, and a wood barn.
Now I just need to assemble them! I've prepped & primed two more, a blacksmith shop and a medium stone house.
ZeroTwentythree
painting toy soldiers
fighting their battles
Showing posts with label Celts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Celts. Show all posts
12 October 2011
27 June 2010
Origins 2010
I drove down to Origins in the morning, picking up my co-pilot on the way. After discovering the parking lot I had mapped to was full, we drove around a bit (in confusion) trying to find another spot and unfortunately picked a garage by the Arena. We have the plan for next time, however, for making use of the loading docks.
Before lunch we wandered the massive vendors hall. I ran into a few people I wanted to say "hi" to but not all (nor even most) of them, unfortunately. I could have used a few more hours to really wander around and look at everything. A lot of interesting stuff...
I stopped by "the bitz guy" (The Game Room) booth and picked up a few small things I had been looking for. Unfortunately, none of the DoW I was looking for.
There was one place that had a ton of cheap books and 50% off old Confrontation metals. I grabbed one box of gunners for which I have been looking, but didn't have enough time to really go through it all.
So I was pretty successful in not spending money. I did, however, find something with which to score points with my fiance. She's a big fan of Michael Parkes and there are a few prints/posters she's been dying to get. At the big art booth, I thought one of the posters at the back of a stack looked familiar...
... I win.
WAB
After lunch I met up with the small WAB group organized by Ralph K. It turned out that I was the only one with a civilized army (and their opponent,) everything else being what some of the WAB-list refer to as "bog wallowers." I almost got suckered in to acting as a Viking general, but ended up coaching a couple of new players through the game using my Romans & Cimbri (Gaul list from HatPW.)
A few interesting twists before the game started. The armies were still packed up from my previous demo games, which use a bit more than 2000 points. So each side had some extra troops. Then we were put on what looked to be the smallest table (about 5' wide) with some really clogging terrain. It was interesting watching the players deal with it.
The game went back and forth for a bit, with the Romans scoring some early advantages. Both players seemed to have a good grasp on the game and tactics, however neither one of them could roll dice to save their life. Quite a few large "buckets o' dice" combats resulted in a single wound or none at all. Everyone enjoyed themselves however, including me, and the game took a dramatic twist at the end when the Roman general couldn't seem to roll anything under a 10 on two successive waves of panic tests.
There were five games going at any given time, with a number of experienced players coaching some of the new players along the way.
It's been quite a few years since I've been to Origins, and the last time I went I didn't get much time to leave the table where I was helping to teach miniatures painting.
The miniatures hall at Origins is HUGE, with plenty of space for twice as many miniatures games. With all of that room, and a large number of people wandering around, several things seemed strange to me, especially given that it was Saturday:
So my plan for next year is to come back for more of the weekend, and try running some games, and maybe even play in a few.
Before lunch we wandered the massive vendors hall. I ran into a few people I wanted to say "hi" to but not all (nor even most) of them, unfortunately. I could have used a few more hours to really wander around and look at everything. A lot of interesting stuff...
I stopped by "the bitz guy" (The Game Room) booth and picked up a few small things I had been looking for. Unfortunately, none of the DoW I was looking for.
There was one place that had a ton of cheap books and 50% off old Confrontation metals. I grabbed one box of gunners for which I have been looking, but didn't have enough time to really go through it all.
So I was pretty successful in not spending money. I did, however, find something with which to score points with my fiance. She's a big fan of Michael Parkes and there are a few prints/posters she's been dying to get. At the big art booth, I thought one of the posters at the back of a stack looked familiar...
... I win.
WAB
After lunch I met up with the small WAB group organized by Ralph K. It turned out that I was the only one with a civilized army (and their opponent,) everything else being what some of the WAB-list refer to as "bog wallowers." I almost got suckered in to acting as a Viking general, but ended up coaching a couple of new players through the game using my Romans & Cimbri (Gaul list from HatPW.)
A few interesting twists before the game started. The armies were still packed up from my previous demo games, which use a bit more than 2000 points. So each side had some extra troops. Then we were put on what looked to be the smallest table (about 5' wide) with some really clogging terrain. It was interesting watching the players deal with it.
The game went back and forth for a bit, with the Romans scoring some early advantages. Both players seemed to have a good grasp on the game and tactics, however neither one of them could roll dice to save their life. Quite a few large "buckets o' dice" combats resulted in a single wound or none at all. Everyone enjoyed themselves however, including me, and the game took a dramatic twist at the end when the Roman general couldn't seem to roll anything under a 10 on two successive waves of panic tests.
There were five games going at any given time, with a number of experienced players coaching some of the new players along the way.
It's been quite a few years since I've been to Origins, and the last time I went I didn't get much time to leave the table where I was helping to teach miniatures painting.
The miniatures hall at Origins is HUGE, with plenty of space for twice as many miniatures games. With all of that room, and a large number of people wandering around, several things seemed strange to me, especially given that it was Saturday:
- Most of the games were small, and while some of them had some pretty interesting tables/boards, most were small games and quite a few were using unpainted figures. This is a big, big contrast to even the smaller HMGS conventions where there are quite a few large games, and even the smallest are usually a beautiful visual spectacle.
- There didn't seem to be much manufacturer promotion in the gaming area, and even the vendor's hall was missing a lot of "big names." I think Origins is an ideal place to promote your game & figures. I just don't understand why some of the manufacturers/publishers would pass up this great change to make an impression on so many people. So even beyond the "big names" I'm not certain why on a Saturday afternoon I didn't see even the small scale people putting on at least one table worth of demos or participation games with a big visual "wow" factor.
So my plan for next year is to come back for more of the weekend, and try running some games, and maybe even play in a few.
15 March 2010
Cold Wars - WAB Demos, Part Two
The second WAB demo was on Friday morning.
The Germans and Gauls deployed tight, in the center, with just one unit of cav on the far side of the woods in the distance. The Romans put most of their infantry in the center, but send their allied Gallic cav on the near flank, and the Numidian cav escorting a legion on the far flank, beyond the woods.
The battle in the foreground was the first, and most important of the game. The Gallic cav just barely beat the German cav, but sent them fleeing. Unfortunately this also set off a wave of panic, with the flank player's entire portion of the army fleeing, and unable to rally for the remainder of the game. (I felt bad about that, but I wasn't certain what I could do, since it was all down to a few bad dice rolls.)
Here's a later shot, from the opposite side of the table. The barbarians were able to crash into the Roman line before they could take advantage of the victory on the flank, or equalize the numbers, since one legion was running around the flank. They hit, but not quite as hard as they needed too. The second pivotal moment of the game was another odd dice moment, when two of the center warbands failed to do any wounds, but took a remarkable seven wounds from the legion they were double-teaming (that included two chieftains!) Even against lesser troops (Spanish auxiliaries) they failed to hit hard enough to win the combat. So the center broke, and once again set off a bit of panic, and the line retreated. Miraculously they all rallied, but the momentum was stopped, and it was the Romans turn to charge, stealing the initiative from the barbarians. In the last fight of the battle, the German cav on the flank smashed itself on the Roman legion, fled, and was run down by the Numidian cavalry.
Another Roman victory, this one more solid than the first.
14 March 2010
Cold Wars - WAB Demos, Part One
I'm back from Cold Wars, I've unpacked, drooled over the small loot pile I brought home, so now I'm relaxing a bit before bed. I've started going through the photos. Some of the first are from the WAB demo games I ran Friday night and Saturday morning.
It's been a while since I've done any convention or demo games, but it everything seemed to go pretty well. The players seemed to enjoy themselves - though in each game there was one person who got a bit screwed by position or the dice. (I felt bad and tried thinking of a way to "bend" the rules, but didn't want to then upset the opposing side. A bit of a dilemma.) In both games the players all picked up the rules pretty quickly.
I probably could have stepped back and let them play the game themselves, and just hung around to answer questions. But my convention game "policy" is to keep the game moving at a steady pace by running through the turn phases and keeping people motivated. In this case it meant that we more or less finished each game to a discernible conclusion in three hours, even with me explaining the rules for part of the time slot and all the players being new. I didn't exactly calculate the points, but the armies had to have been over 2500 points.
It hit me, as one of the games was going on, that these demo games summed up a lot of what I like about WAB. One, it's easy to pick up, as I mentioned above. Two, it's a fun game. With eight players, everyone was moving figures, rolling dice, and joking around for the bulk of the game. I hate those games where you're stuck waiting around doing nothing for 20 minutes, or have to constantly dig through rulebooks & charts. Three, even new guys can play a decent sized game in just a couple hours. And four (and I will actually take partial credit for setting this particular game up this way) it can frequently look like what I would imagine an ancient battle to generally look like. And even play out in a generally historic way, for that matter.
There was no scenario, just a straight forward fictitious battle. The setting was the Cimbric War, so it was Marius era Romans (plus some allies to spice things up) against a mixed German & Gallic army.
So how about a few pics? (Click to enlarge)
Game one, Friday night:
The battle lines approach each other, Romans on the left, Germans & Gauls on the right. The flanks were the first to engage. In the foreground a unit of Roman allied Gallic cavalry first engaged some German cavalry and chased them off, resulting in a second battle between the Gauls and the German infantry backing up their cavalry. The German warband's victory sent them impetuously pursuing far forward, and getting flanked by the Romans on the hill. Surprisingly, they held! Valiaint as their stand may have been, the Gauls eventually rallied and came back a few turns later to turn the tide of this flank.
On the far flank, the Germans fared better. They managed to catch the Roman allied Numidian cavalry who had been harassing them with javelins. Using this area of victory to their advantage they started to press the advantage by pressuring the legionary line. Romans, being as flexible as they are, managed to respond in time. The furthest legion was defeated, but not before they were entirely surrounded and held out for several rounds of combat.
It took a little while, but the main lines eventually clashed. The Roman center held against the initial charge of Germans and Gauls, and pushed them back. This gave them the breathing room they needed to deal with the far flank, as well as re-deploying the legion and allied cavalry on the near flank once those troops had dealt with the stubborn resistance of the isolated warband.
The Romans ended up occupying the center of the table, with barbarians on both sides, but had the advantage. The barbarians had lost the initiative and the advantage of numbers.
The game ended in a minor victory for the Romans.
Pics and another quick report on the second game coming soon...
It's been a while since I've done any convention or demo games, but it everything seemed to go pretty well. The players seemed to enjoy themselves - though in each game there was one person who got a bit screwed by position or the dice. (I felt bad and tried thinking of a way to "bend" the rules, but didn't want to then upset the opposing side. A bit of a dilemma.) In both games the players all picked up the rules pretty quickly.
I probably could have stepped back and let them play the game themselves, and just hung around to answer questions. But my convention game "policy" is to keep the game moving at a steady pace by running through the turn phases and keeping people motivated. In this case it meant that we more or less finished each game to a discernible conclusion in three hours, even with me explaining the rules for part of the time slot and all the players being new. I didn't exactly calculate the points, but the armies had to have been over 2500 points.
It hit me, as one of the games was going on, that these demo games summed up a lot of what I like about WAB. One, it's easy to pick up, as I mentioned above. Two, it's a fun game. With eight players, everyone was moving figures, rolling dice, and joking around for the bulk of the game. I hate those games where you're stuck waiting around doing nothing for 20 minutes, or have to constantly dig through rulebooks & charts. Three, even new guys can play a decent sized game in just a couple hours. And four (and I will actually take partial credit for setting this particular game up this way) it can frequently look like what I would imagine an ancient battle to generally look like. And even play out in a generally historic way, for that matter.
There was no scenario, just a straight forward fictitious battle. The setting was the Cimbric War, so it was Marius era Romans (plus some allies to spice things up) against a mixed German & Gallic army.
So how about a few pics? (Click to enlarge)
Game one, Friday night:
The battle lines approach each other, Romans on the left, Germans & Gauls on the right. The flanks were the first to engage. In the foreground a unit of Roman allied Gallic cavalry first engaged some German cavalry and chased them off, resulting in a second battle between the Gauls and the German infantry backing up their cavalry. The German warband's victory sent them impetuously pursuing far forward, and getting flanked by the Romans on the hill. Surprisingly, they held! Valiaint as their stand may have been, the Gauls eventually rallied and came back a few turns later to turn the tide of this flank.
On the far flank, the Germans fared better. They managed to catch the Roman allied Numidian cavalry who had been harassing them with javelins. Using this area of victory to their advantage they started to press the advantage by pressuring the legionary line. Romans, being as flexible as they are, managed to respond in time. The furthest legion was defeated, but not before they were entirely surrounded and held out for several rounds of combat.
It took a little while, but the main lines eventually clashed. The Roman center held against the initial charge of Germans and Gauls, and pushed them back. This gave them the breathing room they needed to deal with the far flank, as well as re-deploying the legion and allied cavalry on the near flank once those troops had dealt with the stubborn resistance of the isolated warband.
The Romans ended up occupying the center of the table, with barbarians on both sides, but had the advantage. The barbarians had lost the initiative and the advantage of numbers.
The game ended in a minor victory for the Romans.
Pics and another quick report on the second game coming soon...
29 January 2010
Celtos Celts
I picked up a few old Celtos figures a while ago and decided to paint one up just for a little something different. I might sneak it into a unit of Gauls. Stylistically and scale wise it fits with the Renegade figures anyway.
08 August 2009
Historicon WAB doubles and a local game
First some comments on a local game. This afternoon I played 2k Burgundians vs. Swiss. As usual, it ended badly for the Burgundians. I need to rethink my tactics. I've been hugging my own table edge for the main line, while trying to shoot the Swiss to pieces, as well as whittling them down with some of the support troops. But I just can't seem to do enough damage to them before the pike & halberd hit my line. Also, since I keep my own line tight, I seem to get caught in this giant, single battle with a single combat result, as the units don't line up 1 vs. 1.
So next time... less shooting, more agressive movement? MORE shooting? Not certain. I'm curious to either take a Low Countries army for a test drive, or maybe just change the composition of the Burgundians. My opponent suggested interspersing some organ guns in my line to blast his face off as he approaches. (Kind of him to suggest the methos of his own demise.)
Historicon
I've been too lazy to do much about battle reports from Historicon, and my photos are all blurry. (I kept knocking one of the dials on the camera out of place every time I pulled it out of its case.
But here we go with the WAB Doubles. I took a "Cimbric War" army, a mix of German and Gallic units, using the Gallic army list from Hanibal and the Punic Wars. I only use three units: Cavalry, Warband and skirmishers. No fanatics or chariots. I like the list better than the one in the rulebook, even for Germans. I disagree that Germans deserve the "stubborn" rule, and I've read enough of them moving through woods & rough terrain, ambushing, fleeing back through woods & rough terrain to think that the "stealth" rule is more appropriate as well (not that I really get to use it.) So on wih the reports:
Game 1
Gauls & Warlord vs. Macedonians and Barbarians.
Here we join the game already in progress. I was more interested in playing than in photographing, so the camera didn't come out much.
My Gauls are on the lower left, my team mate's Warlord army (essentially more barbarians) were on the right. I was more or less facing off against Macedonians, with more Barbarians opposite the Warlord.
On the far left flank, the cavalry battle was already over. My cavalry overran some skirmishers and flattened out the Macedonian cavalry wedge. After a craptastic round of dice, the Companions held. The following turn they beat the Gallic cav and sent them running.
My skirmishers are all fleeing at this point, with the exception of one unit of javelinmen who bravely charged the enemy slingers in front of the hill, then followed up into the Macedonian artillery crew. (There were 3 ballistae on the hill.) This is also the moment of warband impact on the various phalanx units. Our armies stretched from table edge to table edge, so there wasn't much room for manuver. It was more like a blind charge forward and pray for the best. :/
At this point it's fairly clear that we did not get the best. The initial contact actualy worked out OK. I actually sent at least half of the pikemen running. I just failed to catch them (except one unit, near the center?), they rallied and then beat me on the second charge. The elephant and companions mopped up what the pike couldn't catch.
Not as obvious to see in the pic (maybe after this) was that my partner at least managed to handle his side of the battlefield successfully. His two units of cavalry defeated the opposing cav. The two lines of barbarians met and the good guys won. The game ended in a draw, no thanks to the cramped and rash Gallic line.
Game 2
Gauls and Warlord vs. Carthaginians and Greeks
This game seemed a bit roomier. Not necessarilly because we had more space, just that there were some openings across the table that we could exploit.
I faced off against a mixed Carthaginian (Africans) and Spanish line, with some skirmishers and Numidian cavalry mixed in at the top of the pic. My opponent faced a smallish Greek force, including some uber Spartans near the bottom of the pic. The Good Guys are on the left, the Bad Guys on the right.
Right about the middle of the table, there is a cap in the enemy line. Opposite that is a unit of my cavalry. This was important.
In this pic you can almost see (through the blur) that my cav have overrun (after rashly charging on a failed warband test) through some skirmishers and ended up behind enemy lines. In the distance, my other unit of cav also rolled poorly and rashly charged some ranked scutarii, bounced off but rallied. Barbarian warband followed up, beat the Spanish, and my two units then started to push the cowardly Numidian cavalry back behind the Carthaginian line, working around the hill. In the center, the Gauls didn't smash through on initial contact, which I thought was the end of me. But somehow I managed to stick around and start grinding down the Africans and remaining Spanish while my cav got behind them.
In the foreground my team mate fared much worse. Our fortunes were reversed from Game 1. The Spartans managed to get a combined charge with some flanking peltases against the largest warband (with the Warlord general) and sent them fleeing. They rallied, but the Warlord line was broken. I think one of the other warbands either panicked or was caught in the flank. After this, the Greeks just keep pushing back the Warlord army.
So in the end, I think we had another draw. If I remember correctly, we were something like 30 points +/- from actually pulling off a win.
So that was it for the WAB Doubles. A lot of fun. The Wall of Barbarian didn't do too bad, though in both games the phalanx rules really hurt us, especially combined with the lack of manuver space due to us filling the table with figures. Maybe next time I will try for a smaller army. Maybe Carthaginians -- even though I beat them, I liked the way the army performed. Maybe Romans. Depends what I feel like painting by Cold Wars.
Hopefully I will write something up about the WAB Medieval division soon...
So next time... less shooting, more agressive movement? MORE shooting? Not certain. I'm curious to either take a Low Countries army for a test drive, or maybe just change the composition of the Burgundians. My opponent suggested interspersing some organ guns in my line to blast his face off as he approaches. (Kind of him to suggest the methos of his own demise.)
Historicon
I've been too lazy to do much about battle reports from Historicon, and my photos are all blurry. (I kept knocking one of the dials on the camera out of place every time I pulled it out of its case.
But here we go with the WAB Doubles. I took a "Cimbric War" army, a mix of German and Gallic units, using the Gallic army list from Hanibal and the Punic Wars. I only use three units: Cavalry, Warband and skirmishers. No fanatics or chariots. I like the list better than the one in the rulebook, even for Germans. I disagree that Germans deserve the "stubborn" rule, and I've read enough of them moving through woods & rough terrain, ambushing, fleeing back through woods & rough terrain to think that the "stealth" rule is more appropriate as well (not that I really get to use it.) So on wih the reports:
Game 1
Gauls & Warlord vs. Macedonians and Barbarians.
Here we join the game already in progress. I was more interested in playing than in photographing, so the camera didn't come out much.
My Gauls are on the lower left, my team mate's Warlord army (essentially more barbarians) were on the right. I was more or less facing off against Macedonians, with more Barbarians opposite the Warlord.
On the far left flank, the cavalry battle was already over. My cavalry overran some skirmishers and flattened out the Macedonian cavalry wedge. After a craptastic round of dice, the Companions held. The following turn they beat the Gallic cav and sent them running.
My skirmishers are all fleeing at this point, with the exception of one unit of javelinmen who bravely charged the enemy slingers in front of the hill, then followed up into the Macedonian artillery crew. (There were 3 ballistae on the hill.) This is also the moment of warband impact on the various phalanx units. Our armies stretched from table edge to table edge, so there wasn't much room for manuver. It was more like a blind charge forward and pray for the best. :/
At this point it's fairly clear that we did not get the best. The initial contact actualy worked out OK. I actually sent at least half of the pikemen running. I just failed to catch them (except one unit, near the center?), they rallied and then beat me on the second charge. The elephant and companions mopped up what the pike couldn't catch.
Not as obvious to see in the pic (maybe after this) was that my partner at least managed to handle his side of the battlefield successfully. His two units of cavalry defeated the opposing cav. The two lines of barbarians met and the good guys won. The game ended in a draw, no thanks to the cramped and rash Gallic line.
Game 2
Gauls and Warlord vs. Carthaginians and Greeks
This game seemed a bit roomier. Not necessarilly because we had more space, just that there were some openings across the table that we could exploit.
I faced off against a mixed Carthaginian (Africans) and Spanish line, with some skirmishers and Numidian cavalry mixed in at the top of the pic. My opponent faced a smallish Greek force, including some uber Spartans near the bottom of the pic. The Good Guys are on the left, the Bad Guys on the right.
Right about the middle of the table, there is a cap in the enemy line. Opposite that is a unit of my cavalry. This was important.
In this pic you can almost see (through the blur) that my cav have overrun (after rashly charging on a failed warband test) through some skirmishers and ended up behind enemy lines. In the distance, my other unit of cav also rolled poorly and rashly charged some ranked scutarii, bounced off but rallied. Barbarian warband followed up, beat the Spanish, and my two units then started to push the cowardly Numidian cavalry back behind the Carthaginian line, working around the hill. In the center, the Gauls didn't smash through on initial contact, which I thought was the end of me. But somehow I managed to stick around and start grinding down the Africans and remaining Spanish while my cav got behind them.
In the foreground my team mate fared much worse. Our fortunes were reversed from Game 1. The Spartans managed to get a combined charge with some flanking peltases against the largest warband (with the Warlord general) and sent them fleeing. They rallied, but the Warlord line was broken. I think one of the other warbands either panicked or was caught in the flank. After this, the Greeks just keep pushing back the Warlord army.
So in the end, I think we had another draw. If I remember correctly, we were something like 30 points +/- from actually pulling off a win.
So that was it for the WAB Doubles. A lot of fun. The Wall of Barbarian didn't do too bad, though in both games the phalanx rules really hurt us, especially combined with the lack of manuver space due to us filling the table with figures. Maybe next time I will try for a smaller army. Maybe Carthaginians -- even though I beat them, I liked the way the army performed. Maybe Romans. Depends what I feel like painting by Cold Wars.
Hopefully I will write something up about the WAB Medieval division soon...
14 July 2009
Tartan
Someone at Warseer asked about the tartan on the standard bearer in the previous entry.
Below is an animation of the steps I used. I made sure all the paints were well thinned out (just with water) so they would flow smoothly and not leave brush marks or start stacking up thickly.
I just "eyeballed" the pattern and tried to visualize the layout on the figure ahead of time, so I would know how to space out the first lines (in step 2.)
13 July 2009
Gallic Standard
One last shot. It's still not done yet. I had a few extra hours tonight so figured I'd try painting an army standard bearer that would stand out...
29 June 2009
Painting Frenzy
About two weeks to go. I have one half painted warband, one primed warband, and one primed unit of cavalry to finish.
Plus I need to finish a few movement trays. Not much work involved in those, I just need to remember to proceed to each step, since I glue them in stages in the basement and forget they are there for weeks on end.
My fiance is out of town for the next 5 days. My plans? Nights out with the guys? Wild debauchery? Nope. Probably going to hide out in the back room and paint toy soldiers like a man possessed. I lead the the exciting life, I tell you. ;)
I recieved myRoman command figures, as previously mentioned. Unfortunately my pack of Roman generals had two Pompeys, one Caesar, and no Consul. Also, Caesar's foot appears to have broken off and is MIA. So I emailed Caliver to see if I should contact Foundry about it, but they are taking care of it. So between the quick shipping and the helpful customer service in taking care of the minor glitch that wasn't even their fault, I'm pretty happy with Caliver and will use them again in the future.
In regard to the actual figures, I will give more details when I actually paint them (not until post-Historicon). But looking at the unpainted figures, the standard bearers all look decent, but the generals look really disappointing. The faces really lack the usual Foundry definition to the extent that they're bordering Mr. Bill territory. I'll wait until they're painted and post some pics before final judgment.
Plus I need to finish a few movement trays. Not much work involved in those, I just need to remember to proceed to each step, since I glue them in stages in the basement and forget they are there for weeks on end.
My fiance is out of town for the next 5 days. My plans? Nights out with the guys? Wild debauchery? Nope. Probably going to hide out in the back room and paint toy soldiers like a man possessed. I lead the the exciting life, I tell you. ;)
I recieved myRoman command figures, as previously mentioned. Unfortunately my pack of Roman generals had two Pompeys, one Caesar, and no Consul. Also, Caesar's foot appears to have broken off and is MIA. So I emailed Caliver to see if I should contact Foundry about it, but they are taking care of it. So between the quick shipping and the helpful customer service in taking care of the minor glitch that wasn't even their fault, I'm pretty happy with Caliver and will use them again in the future.
In regard to the actual figures, I will give more details when I actually paint them (not until post-Historicon). But looking at the unpainted figures, the standard bearers all look decent, but the generals look really disappointing. The faces really lack the usual Foundry definition to the extent that they're bordering Mr. Bill territory. I'll wait until they're painted and post some pics before final judgment.
08 June 2009
German & Gaul skirmishers
I've finished some more of the skirmishers I need in order to warm up a bit before really diving in and painting furiously to get the large warbands done.
First some Wargames Factory Celtic slingers....
...and some javelin armed Germans from Foundry and Black Tree...
As before, I'm temporarily passing on painting the shield designs until after I've got the basics of all the figures done, that way I've got a painted army to field, and I can add detail at my leisure.
Next up, hordes of Germans.
No, really. My workspace is overflowing.
First some Wargames Factory Celtic slingers....
...and some javelin armed Germans from Foundry and Black Tree...
As before, I'm temporarily passing on painting the shield designs until after I've got the basics of all the figures done, that way I've got a painted army to field, and I can add detail at my leisure.
Next up, hordes of Germans.
No, really. My workspace is overflowing.
27 May 2009
Cavalry Comparison
Just a few shots comparing some ancient cavalry: Renegade and Wargames Factory Celts, Crusader Numdian, and Foundry German. As always, clicking enlarges the image.
These are the first of the Celt cavalry I've painted. I've got a unit of each. They really couldn't be at more opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of size and scale of objects/details on the figure.
My concern with the Renegade figures is that they look out of scale with everything else. It's a shame, as they've pretty nice. In regard to my previous comments about them, I was mistaken, there are actually two horse poses, but they're so similar it's difficult to notice. The essential difference is just the position of the head. The legs & body seem the same. As far as the difficulties mounting the riders on the horse, I ended up snipping the back end of the saddle off, then filing it down. If you look very carefully, it does look like he's sitting far back on the saddle, but you really have to be looking for it. The cloaks cover the back of the saddle anyway.
The Wargames Factory figure was easy to assemble. I like the riders a little better than the Celtic infantry (which I was a bit underwhelmed by -- see previous entry), and they give you two riders per horse -- one armoured, one unarmoured. The sprue is filled out with some more heads, shields & other equipment. The horse has a bit of a squat look to it, but when put next to the Foundy German it's not too far off. The neck suffers from the same problem as some of the GW plastic horses (especially the older ones) -- the separate head leaves an obvious joint at the neck. The solution, presumably, will be the same as the GW figures as well, try to fill with a bit of greenstuff.
These are the first of the Celt cavalry I've painted. I've got a unit of each. They really couldn't be at more opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of size and scale of objects/details on the figure.
My concern with the Renegade figures is that they look out of scale with everything else. It's a shame, as they've pretty nice. In regard to my previous comments about them, I was mistaken, there are actually two horse poses, but they're so similar it's difficult to notice. The essential difference is just the position of the head. The legs & body seem the same. As far as the difficulties mounting the riders on the horse, I ended up snipping the back end of the saddle off, then filing it down. If you look very carefully, it does look like he's sitting far back on the saddle, but you really have to be looking for it. The cloaks cover the back of the saddle anyway.
The Wargames Factory figure was easy to assemble. I like the riders a little better than the Celtic infantry (which I was a bit underwhelmed by -- see previous entry), and they give you two riders per horse -- one armoured, one unarmoured. The sprue is filled out with some more heads, shields & other equipment. The horse has a bit of a squat look to it, but when put next to the Foundy German it's not too far off. The neck suffers from the same problem as some of the GW plastic horses (especially the older ones) -- the separate head leaves an obvious joint at the neck. The solution, presumably, will be the same as the GW figures as well, try to fill with a bit of greenstuff.
17 May 2009
Some Assembly Required
I've continued prepping more figures. Usually this is the stage I hate, so while I've been in some sort of mood for it, I'm just going to take advantage. So I prepped up a unit of 10 Renegade Celtic cavalry to round out my previous list of figures I require for Historicon.
I've also prepped 1/2 of the Spanish scutarii I have. I picked up a cheap back of Old Glory figures in the flea market at Cold Wars, so figured I would round that out with a pack of Crusader scutarii and two commend packs. This will give me two units of 24 figures. I've got to admit, the OG figures actually look pretty decent. I'm impressed. Sadly, these shouldn't really be high on my list of painting priorities at the moment. But I'm anxious to see how they'll turn out when they're done.
I'm going to prep some figures I'm doing for someone else (on commission) and then I should be done for a moment and getting down to some serious painting.
I may have a few surprise figures appearing sometime soon, as well...
I've also prepped 1/2 of the Spanish scutarii I have. I picked up a cheap back of Old Glory figures in the flea market at Cold Wars, so figured I would round that out with a pack of Crusader scutarii and two commend packs. This will give me two units of 24 figures. I've got to admit, the OG figures actually look pretty decent. I'm impressed. Sadly, these shouldn't really be high on my list of painting priorities at the moment. But I'm anxious to see how they'll turn out when they're done.
I'm going to prep some figures I'm doing for someone else (on commission) and then I should be done for a moment and getting down to some serious painting.
I may have a few surprise figures appearing sometime soon, as well...
11 May 2009
Law of the Instrument
Gauls and Germans: "When all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."
WAB Day
Our first WAB day didn't really get off the ground. Of about six people we were trying to get together, there were just two of us that actually showed. We talked gaming stuff for a while, and played our 1000 point battle pretty quickly. It was my Gauls vs. his Romans. My cav was almost immediately swept away by two small units of Roman cav. My infantry rushed forward as fast as possible, trying to engage & sweep away the legions before the cav had a chance to turn around. The legions kept backing off, and after I made contact I learned why: they were all raw recruits. The big (heh heh) surprise was facing an elephant, though -- but I suppose that explains the cheap infantry. I managed to not only survive the elephant, but he stampeded back into some redeploying legion.
I was using the Gallic list from Hannibal and the Punic Wars. I'm actually painting/playing mixed Gauls & Germans from a bit later, but I like the Punic list better than the one in the rulebook. I'm really only taking three troop types anyway. But the big difference in this game was the mixed weapon rule. I've previously used the older list, and getting the benefit of throwing spears really helps the barbarians. This is good, IMHO, as it decreases the reliace on characters to help win combats.
Painting Plan
My plan is to bring the Gauls & Germans ("The Hammer") to Historicon. I'll use them in the doubles. If there's a medieval division (and it's bigger than Cold Wars) I'll also bring the Burgundians. I'm hoping John runs the medieval division again this year, as last year's multiple point value event was a really good time. If the medievals don't happen, then I may just bring The Hammer.
Over the weekend I assembled & primed about 70 German (Foundry and BTD) infantry. Normally I'm a 2-part epoxy guy. I hate having to repair painted figures, and CAsuperglue has never worked too well for me. But I've heard rumors that the new Gorilla Super Glue. So I tried it out on their shields and spears. I hope it holds up. I just didn't have the patience required for the slow cure time on 60 figures using epoxy.
I also cleaned pieces for 9 Wargames Factory figures to use as slingers. I haven't assembled them yet, but at least the plastic aleviates the epoxy vs. superglue dilemma.
Next all I need is 10 more cav. My choices are more Foundry Germans, Renegade Gauls, or order & try out a box of the Wargames Factory plastics. I'm still undecided.
So that's my goal for the next 2 months +/-
WAB Day
Our first WAB day didn't really get off the ground. Of about six people we were trying to get together, there were just two of us that actually showed. We talked gaming stuff for a while, and played our 1000 point battle pretty quickly. It was my Gauls vs. his Romans. My cav was almost immediately swept away by two small units of Roman cav. My infantry rushed forward as fast as possible, trying to engage & sweep away the legions before the cav had a chance to turn around. The legions kept backing off, and after I made contact I learned why: they were all raw recruits. The big (heh heh) surprise was facing an elephant, though -- but I suppose that explains the cheap infantry. I managed to not only survive the elephant, but he stampeded back into some redeploying legion.
I was using the Gallic list from Hannibal and the Punic Wars. I'm actually painting/playing mixed Gauls & Germans from a bit later, but I like the Punic list better than the one in the rulebook. I'm really only taking three troop types anyway. But the big difference in this game was the mixed weapon rule. I've previously used the older list, and getting the benefit of throwing spears really helps the barbarians. This is good, IMHO, as it decreases the reliace on characters to help win combats.
Painting Plan
My plan is to bring the Gauls & Germans ("The Hammer") to Historicon. I'll use them in the doubles. If there's a medieval division (and it's bigger than Cold Wars) I'll also bring the Burgundians. I'm hoping John runs the medieval division again this year, as last year's multiple point value event was a really good time. If the medievals don't happen, then I may just bring The Hammer.
Over the weekend I assembled & primed about 70 German (Foundry and BTD) infantry. Normally I'm a 2-part epoxy guy. I hate having to repair painted figures, and CAsuperglue has never worked too well for me. But I've heard rumors that the new Gorilla Super Glue. So I tried it out on their shields and spears. I hope it holds up. I just didn't have the patience required for the slow cure time on 60 figures using epoxy.
I also cleaned pieces for 9 Wargames Factory figures to use as slingers. I haven't assembled them yet, but at least the plastic aleviates the epoxy vs. superglue dilemma.
Next all I need is 10 more cav. My choices are more Foundry Germans, Renegade Gauls, or order & try out a box of the Wargames Factory plastics. I'm still undecided.
So that's my goal for the next 2 months +/-
- 70 Infantry
- 9 Slingers
- 10 cavalry
24 March 2009
More barbarians
Finally had some time to finish some more Celts & Germans, as I keep writing.
As always, click the photos to enlarge.
First is a comparison photo showing some figures I recently recieved, Celts from Wargames Factory and Renegade, and early Germans from BTD. I tried to include a couple different figures from each manufacturer, like the "fat guy" body from WF, and a command figure from Renegade. I should have included a shield armed figure from WF, but there are a couple in the next pic, below.
Styalistically, they're all over the place. WF seems to be going with smaller, more natural proportions, Renegade with an exaggerated "Cabbage Patch Kid" look, and BTD is somewhere in the middle. Each has its advantages. "Fat guy" aside, WF look the least cartoony, but then some of the detail is so small that it's more difficult to paint quickly, whereas the minimal detail and large surfaces on the Renegade figures paint up easy (with a larger brush, even.) Since I use more layering than washes when painting, the larger surfaces also allow a smoother gradient on the Renegade figures.
Still, as much as I like large detail (as previously mentioned in regards to the Foundry early Germans), the Renegade Celts start to step beyond the line as far as the "cartoony" look goes. (In their defence, however, I love the WWI Early War French that I got from them. But that's for another day...)
As I excitedly mentioned when I got them, I really like the BTD Germans. They've got a nice balance between detail and paintability. I think the Germans are more cleanly sculpted and better posed than their Celts (photos posted previously.) I prefer the Foundry shields, but I can live with these. I particularly like the pose on the guy on the right. My initial feelings about this line haven't really changed. I really like them and wouldn't mind picking up a few (hundred) more, but I'm wary about the delivery issues.
As far as the Celts go, here's a few more I painted at the same time I painted all the figures above...
As mentioned, they've got some smaller details/proportions. This isn't necessesarily a bad thing. Compare the swords, for example, to the mortar trowel the Renegade guy is carrying. (For this reason, I only ordered the Renegade spearmen.) So I like the proportions of the hands, standard, shields, etc. They work well. I think the spears that are part of some of the shields could have had slightly smaller shafts, but I just cut down the one in the second guy from the left, above. I also liked the variety and extras on the sprues. I really liked that there were a variety of weapons, including slings, in the kit. Something I hadn't thought of, but I also liked that a couple of the javelins look like little more than fire hardened pointed sticks. Simple, but nice touch.
When I stopped by the WF table at Cold Wars and talked with Tony & Howard, my first comment was that I didn't care for the seams at the arms. They are especialy noticable on the bare chested guys. But when I looked at the samples they had on their table, the seams were un-noticable. I asked about it and was taught the trick of brushing a little liquid cement over the joint, so I will have to try it. (I've always used the cheap tube stuff, though a friend has tried to get me to switch before.) This is the second or third "trick" I've learned with the WF figures. This may partially be because I'm more familiar with metal figures, but it seems that there's a small learning curve to getting the most out of plastic figures. Trimming the neck and occasionally the waist (noticed that on the zombies) really makes a big difference. It's a quick/easy fix because of the plastic, but still something I didn't initially think of.
Although in some places they seem to have improved on the depth & crispness of detail over the previously released Romans, I found the Celts to still have some issues with this, and the detail was a a bit inconsistant. The heads are the most noticible thing for me. Some of them look absolutely great. It may be hard to see in a photo, but I really liked the heads on the two outside figures in the pic above. Very nice detail, well proportioned, east to paint. The second guy from the left, though, had pretty much smooth hair. Strangely enough, I just painted a base color and then dropped a thin wash over it and it actually looks pretty good. But I would still prefer actual hair. They recently posted a pic of a WSS figure that looks like it's got better hair, so I'm hoping they're still improving on this. But still, I would have liked all the heads on the sprue to be consistant. Some of the eyes seemed a bit weird too. The head in the center looks a bit Muppet-y because of eyes too close together.
The other detail issue I had was the belts. They were just so small and detailed that it would/will get a bit annoying painting an army of them. Like the hair, it's just another point at which a little exaggeration and "cartoonyness" helps someone painting a pile of figures.
That actually brings me to something I mentioned in my review of the WF Romans -- that I think a lot of criticism is coming from people who haven't seen the figures. I will agree that the detail is a bit shallow in places, and as I state above, I've got my share of criticisms. But they're actually fairly detailed models in many places (with the exception of some places like the lack of hair I mention above). But just as I said that it's a bit of a pain to paint tiny & subtle details (more proportional to reality than the exaggeration of most 25/28mm figures), it just doesn't show in the pics. Take a look at the renders on the WF page. There's a whole lot of detail that would probably show up great if they were 1:1 scale models. So I think some of the criticism of the sculptors is a bit unwarrented, or at least misdirected. In my humble opinion, it's more a lack of translation from full size down to a 1" tall figure than a lack of talent for sculpting humans. Almost like the opposite end of the Renegade comments I made above, in which the exaggerations go too far.
So my now longwinded review ends similarly to the Roman review. After meeting the WF guys in person, I wanted to give the new figures a glowing review. But realistically, what I can say is that although they've made some steps forward, over the previous Romans (which I actually prefer due to stylitic reasons) in terms of detail, extras, variety, etc., I think there's still room for improvement. But once again, for the price, I think the figures are hard to beat. I still think these are better than their Old Glory counterparts, for example, which are actually more expensive. Anyone expecting Foundry quality is once again looking in the wrong place, but one should hardly expect that at like 1/6 the cost. (Actually, I'm not fond of the new Foundry Celts from what I can tell from their pics. I'd get some to examine them in person, but I'm too cheap to buy from them anymore, unless it's one of their uber-deals on figures I already know are good. I assume they don't send samples anymore.)
Compared to their competition for plastic Celts at Warlord Games, I think they've both got their pros & cons that put them fairly even, in my opinion. I think that one of the only advantages Warlord has is their detail. But that's a fairly important factor. Wargames Factory, on the otherhand is less expensive, has better poses, more variety and more "bits" in their kit, and less contorted orc/GW "waaagh!" faces. ;) After I paint the entire box of WF Celts I may have more to say about it. The annoying poses on the Warlord Celts was enough to keep me from buying any more, from a practical wargaming stantpoint, but I didn't see that until I painted a full box.
As always, click the photos to enlarge.
First is a comparison photo showing some figures I recently recieved, Celts from Wargames Factory and Renegade, and early Germans from BTD. I tried to include a couple different figures from each manufacturer, like the "fat guy" body from WF, and a command figure from Renegade. I should have included a shield armed figure from WF, but there are a couple in the next pic, below.
Styalistically, they're all over the place. WF seems to be going with smaller, more natural proportions, Renegade with an exaggerated "Cabbage Patch Kid" look, and BTD is somewhere in the middle. Each has its advantages. "Fat guy" aside, WF look the least cartoony, but then some of the detail is so small that it's more difficult to paint quickly, whereas the minimal detail and large surfaces on the Renegade figures paint up easy (with a larger brush, even.) Since I use more layering than washes when painting, the larger surfaces also allow a smoother gradient on the Renegade figures.
Still, as much as I like large detail (as previously mentioned in regards to the Foundry early Germans), the Renegade Celts start to step beyond the line as far as the "cartoony" look goes. (In their defence, however, I love the WWI Early War French that I got from them. But that's for another day...)
As I excitedly mentioned when I got them, I really like the BTD Germans. They've got a nice balance between detail and paintability. I think the Germans are more cleanly sculpted and better posed than their Celts (photos posted previously.) I prefer the Foundry shields, but I can live with these. I particularly like the pose on the guy on the right. My initial feelings about this line haven't really changed. I really like them and wouldn't mind picking up a few (hundred) more, but I'm wary about the delivery issues.
As far as the Celts go, here's a few more I painted at the same time I painted all the figures above...
As mentioned, they've got some smaller details/proportions. This isn't necessesarily a bad thing. Compare the swords, for example, to the mortar trowel the Renegade guy is carrying. (For this reason, I only ordered the Renegade spearmen.) So I like the proportions of the hands, standard, shields, etc. They work well. I think the spears that are part of some of the shields could have had slightly smaller shafts, but I just cut down the one in the second guy from the left, above. I also liked the variety and extras on the sprues. I really liked that there were a variety of weapons, including slings, in the kit. Something I hadn't thought of, but I also liked that a couple of the javelins look like little more than fire hardened pointed sticks. Simple, but nice touch.
When I stopped by the WF table at Cold Wars and talked with Tony & Howard, my first comment was that I didn't care for the seams at the arms. They are especialy noticable on the bare chested guys. But when I looked at the samples they had on their table, the seams were un-noticable. I asked about it and was taught the trick of brushing a little liquid cement over the joint, so I will have to try it. (I've always used the cheap tube stuff, though a friend has tried to get me to switch before.) This is the second or third "trick" I've learned with the WF figures. This may partially be because I'm more familiar with metal figures, but it seems that there's a small learning curve to getting the most out of plastic figures. Trimming the neck and occasionally the waist (noticed that on the zombies) really makes a big difference. It's a quick/easy fix because of the plastic, but still something I didn't initially think of.
Although in some places they seem to have improved on the depth & crispness of detail over the previously released Romans, I found the Celts to still have some issues with this, and the detail was a a bit inconsistant. The heads are the most noticible thing for me. Some of them look absolutely great. It may be hard to see in a photo, but I really liked the heads on the two outside figures in the pic above. Very nice detail, well proportioned, east to paint. The second guy from the left, though, had pretty much smooth hair. Strangely enough, I just painted a base color and then dropped a thin wash over it and it actually looks pretty good. But I would still prefer actual hair. They recently posted a pic of a WSS figure that looks like it's got better hair, so I'm hoping they're still improving on this. But still, I would have liked all the heads on the sprue to be consistant. Some of the eyes seemed a bit weird too. The head in the center looks a bit Muppet-y because of eyes too close together.
The other detail issue I had was the belts. They were just so small and detailed that it would/will get a bit annoying painting an army of them. Like the hair, it's just another point at which a little exaggeration and "cartoonyness" helps someone painting a pile of figures.
That actually brings me to something I mentioned in my review of the WF Romans -- that I think a lot of criticism is coming from people who haven't seen the figures. I will agree that the detail is a bit shallow in places, and as I state above, I've got my share of criticisms. But they're actually fairly detailed models in many places (with the exception of some places like the lack of hair I mention above). But just as I said that it's a bit of a pain to paint tiny & subtle details (more proportional to reality than the exaggeration of most 25/28mm figures), it just doesn't show in the pics. Take a look at the renders on the WF page. There's a whole lot of detail that would probably show up great if they were 1:1 scale models. So I think some of the criticism of the sculptors is a bit unwarrented, or at least misdirected. In my humble opinion, it's more a lack of translation from full size down to a 1" tall figure than a lack of talent for sculpting humans. Almost like the opposite end of the Renegade comments I made above, in which the exaggerations go too far.
So my now longwinded review ends similarly to the Roman review. After meeting the WF guys in person, I wanted to give the new figures a glowing review. But realistically, what I can say is that although they've made some steps forward, over the previous Romans (which I actually prefer due to stylitic reasons) in terms of detail, extras, variety, etc., I think there's still room for improvement. But once again, for the price, I think the figures are hard to beat. I still think these are better than their Old Glory counterparts, for example, which are actually more expensive. Anyone expecting Foundry quality is once again looking in the wrong place, but one should hardly expect that at like 1/6 the cost. (Actually, I'm not fond of the new Foundry Celts from what I can tell from their pics. I'd get some to examine them in person, but I'm too cheap to buy from them anymore, unless it's one of their uber-deals on figures I already know are good. I assume they don't send samples anymore.)
Compared to their competition for plastic Celts at Warlord Games, I think they've both got their pros & cons that put them fairly even, in my opinion. I think that one of the only advantages Warlord has is their detail. But that's a fairly important factor. Wargames Factory, on the otherhand is less expensive, has better poses, more variety and more "bits" in their kit, and less contorted orc/GW "waaagh!" faces. ;) After I paint the entire box of WF Celts I may have more to say about it. The annoying poses on the Warlord Celts was enough to keep me from buying any more, from a practical wargaming stantpoint, but I didn't see that until I painted a full box.
22 March 2009
Ancients horse comparison
I'm taking a break from alternating between painting (should have new pics later tonight - maybe tomorrow at the latest) and chores around the house. I figured I would take a quickie pic showing the scale comparison between Foundry early German cavalry, Crusader Numidian cavalry, and Renegade Celtic cavalry.
As always, click the photo to enlarge.
Granted, the Germans were supposed to ride mangy little horses. So maybe they're OK if they look a bit small. Compared to the Renegade Celt, though, the two look like completely different scales. The Crusader is a nice between scale.
All three are well sculpted (further review/comparison on that in the future.)
One more complaint about the Renegade, however. Most of the figures (not the one depicted) have cloaks that interfere with the back ridge along the saddle. I'll either have to cut the backs of most of the saddles off, or somehow drill/rout out a space underneath the cloak so the riders can fit without their asses"floating" above the saddle.
Actually, two more complaints about the Renegade. I haven't sorted out all 18 cavalry on the table, but in digging around in the bags it seems that all 18 horses are identical. I was a little disappointed with only two poses from Crusader, but a single horse pose will be significantly more disappointing if it's true.
As always, click the photo to enlarge.
Granted, the Germans were supposed to ride mangy little horses. So maybe they're OK if they look a bit small. Compared to the Renegade Celt, though, the two look like completely different scales. The Crusader is a nice between scale.
All three are well sculpted (further review/comparison on that in the future.)
One more complaint about the Renegade, however. Most of the figures (not the one depicted) have cloaks that interfere with the back ridge along the saddle. I'll either have to cut the backs of most of the saddles off, or somehow drill/rout out a space underneath the cloak so the riders can fit without their asses"floating" above the saddle.
Actually, two more complaints about the Renegade. I haven't sorted out all 18 cavalry on the table, but in digging around in the bags it seems that all 18 horses are identical. I was a little disappointed with only two poses from Crusader, but a single horse pose will be significantly more disappointing if it's true.
15 March 2009
Home Again, Home Again
Back from Cold Wars, settled in and relaxing a bit.
As usual I had a good time, and enjoyed catching up with old friends as much as playing games.
I played in the WAB tournament, had three great opponents including Duncan MacFarlan who ended up winning the sportsman award. I won "first place" in the Medieval division -- a division in which I was one of two players. ;) My first game was against Teutonics, but then I was out of period with Sassanids and Early Crusader (El Cid). I had a win and two draws. More on that later.
I learned to play Field of Glory (FoG) later that night, in a Rome vs. Rome game put on by a friend. I've got mixed feelings on it so far. I think I picked up the game pretty quick, but it seems needlessly complex in places, and has a few wonky spots in which the mechanics seem a bit out of focus from common sense. I'm willing to give it a few more tries, though, and I do have to admit that seeing all those figures in a 15mm army, even in a "small" game looked more like a real wargame and/or battle than WAB.
I met Tony Reidy of Wargames Factory & chatted a bit, and got another box of Romans, so I can field a WAB army of at least 2000 points. To that end, I also picked up a few support troops (mainly Spanish skirmishers & some Numidian Cav) at Crusader. My ever-shifting Classical era plan is this... get Romans (with allies) done for doubles tournament at Historicon. If enough people sign up for the medieval division, then I will most likely play Burgundians. If not, I play Romans again. But who knows, I'll probably change my mind twenty three more times before then. A longer term goal would be to have enough to field two Roman armies (or one large one, obviously.) I'm not certain I can get the painting done in time, but I would love to run a WAB demo type game at Historicon, either Rome vs. Rome (which would require more Romans) or Rome vs. "Barbarians" (most likely Celts with a few Germans) which would possibly require a few more more Celts/Germans.
In any case, I've got a pile of painting to do. Romans, Celts, Gauls, Spanish, Numidians.... plus GW High Elves, Swiss, Undead, and more Spanish for other people.
But wait, that's not all... I was shopping around at the booths of a couple of dealers who sell a lot of 1/72 figures, looking for the Zvezda human knights for their "Ring of Rule" fantasy 28mm line. I struck out. BUT, I did find two boxes of the "Royal Infantry" from the same line, which are essentially 15th century European infantry. They are multi-piece plastics. I'm not sure if they are still producing them or how easy they are to get in the US or elsewhere. So I asked about them and was offered a price I couldn't pass up. ;) Actually, I told him I would definietly buy one box, but would like to open it up immediately to see if I wanted the second box. I ended up buying both boxes. Initial reaction is that they're not as crisp as some of the other plastics, and a few of the weapons are a bit oversized for historicals (which is what I plan on using them for) but I think they will still make decent Burgundians or Swiss (or Germans, maybe French... etc...)
I'll have some more comments, pics and maybe some WAB battle reports coming soon. But now, back to my relaxation.
As usual I had a good time, and enjoyed catching up with old friends as much as playing games.
I played in the WAB tournament, had three great opponents including Duncan MacFarlan who ended up winning the sportsman award. I won "first place" in the Medieval division -- a division in which I was one of two players. ;) My first game was against Teutonics, but then I was out of period with Sassanids and Early Crusader (El Cid). I had a win and two draws. More on that later.
I learned to play Field of Glory (FoG) later that night, in a Rome vs. Rome game put on by a friend. I've got mixed feelings on it so far. I think I picked up the game pretty quick, but it seems needlessly complex in places, and has a few wonky spots in which the mechanics seem a bit out of focus from common sense. I'm willing to give it a few more tries, though, and I do have to admit that seeing all those figures in a 15mm army, even in a "small" game looked more like a real wargame and/or battle than WAB.
I met Tony Reidy of Wargames Factory & chatted a bit, and got another box of Romans, so I can field a WAB army of at least 2000 points. To that end, I also picked up a few support troops (mainly Spanish skirmishers & some Numidian Cav) at Crusader. My ever-shifting Classical era plan is this... get Romans (with allies) done for doubles tournament at Historicon. If enough people sign up for the medieval division, then I will most likely play Burgundians. If not, I play Romans again. But who knows, I'll probably change my mind twenty three more times before then. A longer term goal would be to have enough to field two Roman armies (or one large one, obviously.) I'm not certain I can get the painting done in time, but I would love to run a WAB demo type game at Historicon, either Rome vs. Rome (which would require more Romans) or Rome vs. "Barbarians" (most likely Celts with a few Germans) which would possibly require a few more more Celts/Germans.
In any case, I've got a pile of painting to do. Romans, Celts, Gauls, Spanish, Numidians.... plus GW High Elves, Swiss, Undead, and more Spanish for other people.
But wait, that's not all... I was shopping around at the booths of a couple of dealers who sell a lot of 1/72 figures, looking for the Zvezda human knights for their "Ring of Rule" fantasy 28mm line. I struck out. BUT, I did find two boxes of the "Royal Infantry" from the same line, which are essentially 15th century European infantry. They are multi-piece plastics. I'm not sure if they are still producing them or how easy they are to get in the US or elsewhere. So I asked about them and was offered a price I couldn't pass up. ;) Actually, I told him I would definietly buy one box, but would like to open it up immediately to see if I wanted the second box. I ended up buying both boxes. Initial reaction is that they're not as crisp as some of the other plastics, and a few of the weapons are a bit oversized for historicals (which is what I plan on using them for) but I think they will still make decent Burgundians or Swiss (or Germans, maybe French... etc...)
I'll have some more comments, pics and maybe some WAB battle reports coming soon. But now, back to my relaxation.
03 March 2009
First shots
I still won't have a lot of time to do much painting or anything for a few days, but I threw together a couple of the plastic figures for comparison.
First, a plastic Celt match-up. Unfortunately, I have no more Warlord Games Celts unpainted, but I do have some that are only primed, so here they are next to a few unpainted Wargames Factory Celts...
...I'm still going to hold off on a full review until I've painted at least a few of the WF Celts. The only comment I'd like to make for now is that the scale looks pretty close on both.
The Wargames Factory zombies compared to the Games Workshop plastic zombies, on the other hand...
Not so similar in scale. Different, uh, "historical" zombie periods, I suppose, but still, not really close.
First, a plastic Celt match-up. Unfortunately, I have no more Warlord Games Celts unpainted, but I do have some that are only primed, so here they are next to a few unpainted Wargames Factory Celts...
...I'm still going to hold off on a full review until I've painted at least a few of the WF Celts. The only comment I'd like to make for now is that the scale looks pretty close on both.
The Wargames Factory zombies compared to the Games Workshop plastic zombies, on the other hand...
Not so similar in scale. Different, uh, "historical" zombie periods, I suppose, but still, not really close.
22 February 2009
More BTD Celts
I finished the 20 man Gallic warband from (what I've recieved of) my Black Tree Designs order. I'd really like to expand this with 5-10 more figures, but since these figures only showed up after I complained a month after my account was charged, and it's now going on two and a half months and I still haven't recieved the other half of my order, nor replies to my emails, I think I'll just have to hope to find some other manufacturer's figures that will fit with the scale and look of BTD.
The figures themselves are OK. A little blocky or angular on the details, but not as bad as some of the Old Glory figures. Not as clean as the Foundry or Warlord Celts. I've recently painted. The faces are good, and the the poses are nice other than one or two on which it was difficult to put the shield because of the position of the spear. All the spears were integral, by the way. That's something I'm not normally fond of, but it worked quite well on these figures. They were thick enough to be sturdy, but not so much that they looked like telelphone poles. Best of all, that meant less time gluing figures together.
I think I just wasn't in the mood to paint them or something, and I did rush a bit. I don't think they're up to my usual standards. I've based them up but still have to finish some of the sheild details.
I got the figures as part of a bargain deal BTD is offering. They end up around $1/figures, but the figure selection is random, so out of 40 figures I ended up with the 20 above, 8 slingers and 12 casualties & civilians. So really, only about 28 "useful" figures out of 40. Considering that's competing with Warlord's figures and the recent "Renegade Regiment" deals, combined with BTD's apparent unreliable service, I'm not sure I'll beplacing any more orders with them. As it was this order was to "test the waters" for precisely that reason, and they've failed to deliver. (Literally.)
I've started about 4 other groups of figures, not certain which I will finish next. Among the contenders are a second unit of WF Romans, more Foundry Germans, and some Front Rank crossbow and archers. Stay tuned...
The figures themselves are OK. A little blocky or angular on the details, but not as bad as some of the Old Glory figures. Not as clean as the Foundry or Warlord Celts. I've recently painted. The faces are good, and the the poses are nice other than one or two on which it was difficult to put the shield because of the position of the spear. All the spears were integral, by the way. That's something I'm not normally fond of, but it worked quite well on these figures. They were thick enough to be sturdy, but not so much that they looked like telelphone poles. Best of all, that meant less time gluing figures together.
I think I just wasn't in the mood to paint them or something, and I did rush a bit. I don't think they're up to my usual standards. I've based them up but still have to finish some of the sheild details.
I got the figures as part of a bargain deal BTD is offering. They end up around $1/figures, but the figure selection is random, so out of 40 figures I ended up with the 20 above, 8 slingers and 12 casualties & civilians. So really, only about 28 "useful" figures out of 40. Considering that's competing with Warlord's figures and the recent "Renegade Regiment" deals, combined with BTD's apparent unreliable service, I'm not sure I'll beplacing any more orders with them. As it was this order was to "test the waters" for precisely that reason, and they've failed to deliver. (Literally.)
I've started about 4 other groups of figures, not certain which I will finish next. Among the contenders are a second unit of WF Romans, more Foundry Germans, and some Front Rank crossbow and archers. Stay tuned...
10 February 2009
Comparing Barbarians & eBob
I ordered some sculpting armatures from eBob Miniatures and they made it from the UK to Cleveland in about a week at most. A small order, but it was very quick service!
Perhaps the title above is a bit misleading -- I'm not comparing eBob to barbarians. ;)
But below is a comparison shot of some various Celts & Germans that I've currently got:
As I get some more, I will take new photos. I'm still waiting on: BTD Germans & Renegade Celts (on order) and Wargames Factory Celts (waiting for release.) I'm open to other recommendations. Does anyone else make Early Germans?
Perhaps the title above is a bit misleading -- I'm not comparing eBob to barbarians. ;)
But below is a comparison shot of some various Celts & Germans that I've currently got:
As I get some more, I will take new photos. I'm still waiting on: BTD Germans & Renegade Celts (on order) and Wargames Factory Celts (waiting for release.) I'm open to other recommendations. Does anyone else make Early Germans?
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