Marching to Kettering

Captain General of Marienburg. Or something like that.



Also a standard bearer for the unit of swordsmen I'm trying to finish in time for Marauders.

I made the standard with plasticard & plastic tube, like on Imperial Forge's page (Is it down? I was going to post a link!)



Ideally I'd like to add something else, either a lion or some nautical blazon, or possibly just s simple cross of St. Andrew (like on landsknecht banners) But since I'm on a tight schedule to finish in time for the GT, I'm OK with this for now.


I've got less than 10 days left an still have 8 swordsmen half finished, and 10 more swordsmen about 20% finished. Doesn't seem like alot, but I've been moving slow lately, so I'm worried. And I also have a display board to build!

http://marauders-inc.com/

Progress!

I've got a little bit of painting done. Not much, but I feel accomplished.

I've added two more pistoliers to the five I already had in my Marienburg army. The five get shot up so quickly, I thought I'd try more. Not sure if it's worth it, but I'll give it a few games.




More importantly, I finished those pikemen I've been working on for ages. Well, almost finished. I still want to hand-paint a standard. In the mean time, I can continue sliding on a temporary (and fairly nice!) printed banner.






I have decided to paint up some more archers for the next Burgundian project. I've only used a single unit of handgun skirmishers so far and I've got a mixed opinion. I think some longbow skirmishers might be a good idea.

More to come... (of course)

Two-Day WFB Tournament

I'll get some more detailed information on this ASAP: There will be a WFB tournament at Recess Games in the Cleveland area (North Olmstead) the weekend of Nov. 7, 8, 9.

Friday Nov. 7 will be open gaming & registration.
Saturday Nov. 8 will be registration and games 1-3.
Sunday Nov. 9 will be games 4-5 and awards.




Also, just thought I'd mention that there's some pretty cool photos of Warhammer Historical stuff at UK Games Day at their blog: http://warhammerhistoricalwargames.blogspot.com/

Random Thoughts

This week I picked up two of the new GW washes, Black and Delvan Mud. I've heard a lot about them and thought I'd see for myself. I actually quite like them, though they're very thin. I will still use some stronger black washes of regular paint in some cases. I will most likely pick up a few more colors next week. I'm hoping to find a replacement for the now discontinued Flesh Wash. I may go back to using Coat d'Arms' Flesh Wash, which I preferred anyway. (The reason I quit using it was just lack of a local source.)


I'm currently reading Richard Vaughan's "John the Fearless," the second book in his series on the dukes of Burgundy. John's one of the reasons I'm considering the previously mentioned HYW era Burgundian WAB army. I like John. He's a ruthless S.O.B.


The Marauders tournament is fast approaching and I've barely started the figures I want to have done for it. Two half painted horses. That's it. I still need the riders and 25 swordsmen to assemble and paint. I'm just not motivated. But the weather seems like it will be crappy all weekend, so perhaps I will get something done.

Follow-ups

Next Project

On second thought, as nice as the new plastic multi-piece Celts are, I'm not so sure I want to assemble hundreds of them. I'm exhausted from assembling just two GW Empire pistoleers. ;)


Historicon


New pics posted at the NEWS web site, including a bunch of the AoC division.

In this one, you can see the calm before the storm in my second game. I'm the one relaxing on the left, thinking this will be a pleasant game. About ten minutes after the photo, the entire center of my army (that large bit directly in front of me) ran off the table.

Next Project?

I've been taking it easy and not painting much in the past month. I've worked on a little terrain and a few odds and ends, but that's about it. I am contemplating my next moves.

First, I would like to finish 25 more WFB Empire swordsmen in time for the Marauders Mayhem tournament in early October. They'll need to match the swordsmen I've already done. I also need to add two more pistoliers to match the existing five I've been using. I'm also working on painting a few things for a friend to pay off my Historicon room & board debt, and should be done shortly. (That's actually a bit of an unintended joke - they're WFB dwarves.)

After that, I have several options for projects...

1. Burgundians. I've got some more archers and cavalry, as well as a unit halberdiers. This would wrap up the army at 2250 points +/- and start pushing towards 2500 and beyond. I've also go some pike... see item 2...
2. Low Countries. I've picked up some Low Countries pikemen to use in the Burgundian army. This has led me to consider a complete Low Countries army as well. So I could begin working on this, which would both compliment and oppose the Burgundians. I could also use them for a slightly earlier period, which could also lead to the dark horse, item 3...
3. More Burgundians. I've been contemplating some earlier Burdungian - early 15th century, Hundred Years War era. Not certain on this, it may sit on the back burner for a while, since I already have figures for most of the other possible projects in this list.
4. Ancients. I'm considering a classical army, probably some sort of barbaric horde. I'd really like early Germans, but the new plastic Celts have made Gauls look a whole lore more affordable. This might also give me a wider historical range in order to hopefully find opponents for WAB or other ancient/medieval games.
   
5. WFB. I've got Empire & Skaven to respectable (though by no means "complete") levels. But lately I've been itching to screw around with something that doesn't involve hundreds of figures on the table. Partly it's just me looking for a little variety, partly it's cynicism about the direction the rules have recently taken. Most likely candidate is Wood Elves, largely because I've already got 95% of the figures I'd need. I also have a theme concept in mind. WFB also has the bonus of being the only game for which I have regular opponents.
6. Warmachine. I really like some of the figures and the concept behind the game. I've also enjoyed the games I've played. So I could always finish up the Cryx force I've started and/or the starter Khador force I recently aquired. I could probably even dig up an opponent or two, with a little effort. My fear is that once I get into some more hardcore games, I won't dig the rock-paper-scissors nature of the game so much. But at least the figures are still great.

Honestly, WFB is easiest (practically only) game I can find opponents for, but the historicals (especially medievals) are the ones I'm most interested in.

But I haven't decided what I'd like to do.

Historicon, Eureka

While walking through the open gaming area Saturday night, I did a double-take as I passed by a table with an in-progress game set up...

Teddy bears.

Wonderful figures, beautifully painted, and a great table set up for a game. I was in a rush, but stopped to get a few quick photos. They are apparently from Eureka Miniatures "Seven Years Picnic" range.

http://eurekamin.com.au








I've still got a few odds & ends from Historicon to post as time permits.

I'm also still getting in some games & taunts for the Marienburg campaign mentioned previously, though my horrible losing streak has become frustrating. I'll be heading out to Erie, PA for a small WFB tournament at a store this weekend.

Painting has been slow. I've finished a few odd figures, and have started working on some terrain. Almost finished those Burgundian pikemen, too.

Crisis in Marienburg

I've been contributing to and trying to play in the Crisis in Marienburg campaign...

http://marienburgcampaign.com/

... being run by Warhammer-Empire.com


I'm looking for more local (Cleveland, OH) WFB opponents for some games, especially if you're interested in using the campaign lists or their allies. I'd also like to try a siege game as well as Man-o-War.

A shot from last week's game, in the marshes surrounding Marienburg...





For a full battle report: the original post at the forum.

Historicon WAB Tournament (game 3)

Game 3: vs. Italian Condotta


My last game saw me near the bottom of the rankings for our division. My opponent was someone I recognized from my earlier years on the Historicon/Cold Wars tournaments, but had never played. Another good match-up, and another great looking army


Deployment ended up determining quite a bit of the game. We both played out 2000 point armies. From left to right in the photo he had knights (casa?), stradiots, two big pike units screened with skirmishers, and more knights.

From left to right I had a similar deployment as last game... crossbow with pavise, light gun, dismounted gendarmes, archers, pike, archers, skirmishing handgunners, household gendarmes and coustilliers.

In the first photo, I've already moved up and taken out the stradiots with missile fire.






The battlefield rotated counter-clockwise, as each of our main knight units broke through each others weaker flank. In the center, I ended up winning out mainly (in my opinion) because I had a numeric advantage that allowed me to swing in on the flanks. If his knights had turned in to the center and hit my dismountedgendarmes, it might have turned out differently. In fact, I originally had them facing left expecting just that.


So in the end my return to the NEWS/Lancaster WAB tournaments resulted in a 1-1-1 record and three enjoyable games. I was glad to see some enthusiasm and beautiful armies for the medeival division, and can't wait for next year. If I can pull it off, I may even try to make it to Cold Wars.

Historicon WAB Tournament (game 2)

Game 2: vs. Low Countries

I was pretty excited about facing off against this army. It's likely going to be my next AoC army, since it can be used equally as an opponent and ally for the Burgundians. I was hoping to play this match up since I first saw the army listed on the roster.

The scenario was a take & hold game, with the objective in the dead center. We had a nice open centered table for this. We both used our big 2250 lists for this game. My reasoning was more guys = more potential for holding an objective.




From left to right in the photo, my opponent had knights (mercenary?), skirmishing handgunners in the woods, light gun, two units of pike and one unit of planconier, with two units of skirmishers in front of them, followed by one more gun, another pike unit, and light gun #3. Behind the rightmost gun was a unit of sergants.

From left to right I had crossbowmen with pavise, set up at what I was estimating to be enough to shoot the handgunners while forcing them out of the woods to get me in range, my gun on the hill, archers (again, with the nad-and-a-half swords), pike, more archers, a big unit of dismounted gendarmes (I needed to fill points somehow!) coustilliers, gendarmes on the end, with skirmishing handgunners in front of them.




Our first few turns were somewhat mirrored, except for one vital detail. We both moved up on my right, held off and shot on the center and on my left. The big problem was two-fold. One, his shooting was more effective. Two, his more effective shooting set off a chain reaction of panic that saw my pike unit, general and army standard off the table by the second or third turn, and two further units panicking and running away, taking them out of the game for an extra turn or two.





That was a large part of the game. After that, I figured I had two choices, either conceede or try to inflict as much damage on him without hope of holding the objective. Maybe as a bonus I could at least deny it to him, but it would take a miracle for me to win.

I at least feel that put up a really good fight. My gendarmes easilly beat his light cav on the right, but did little else. In the center. My ordonnance archers fought a good fight and took out two of his formed units, though I lost one of mine in the process. As expected, though, he I coulnd't prevent him from taking the objective, which pretty much sealed the win for him. I feel good that I at least made him work for it.