12 Wargames Factory Romans (well, slightly civilised Celts more probably) on horses, for your viewing pleasure.
Monday, 29 March 2010
Roman auxiliary cavalry
I still need to matt varnish them, but here are the next addition to the Romani Plasticii:
12 Wargames Factory Romans (well, slightly civilised Celts more probably) on horses, for your viewing pleasure.
12 Wargames Factory Romans (well, slightly civilised Celts more probably) on horses, for your viewing pleasure.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Painting Log: Roman auxiliary cavalry
Right, that's 12 [Wargames Factory](http://www.wargamesfactory.com) [cavalry](http://www.wargamesfactory.com/_product_16676/Roman_Auxiliary_Cavalry) done dipping style. The figures are nice and poseable, though a few of the horses have very weird heads.
As these were not provided with shield transfers I did a very basic free hand design (a stylised eagle over an equally stylised wreath) after the figures were dipped.
Any remorse I might have felt at awarding myself full painting points for dipped figures is now completely gone, after noticing that the time you win in painting, you lose in assembling as the 12 figures took a whopping 4 hours to clean and assemble completely.
So, that's 24 points done for a total of 39 this month. Seems things are picking up.
As these were not provided with shield transfers I did a very basic free hand design (a stylised eagle over an equally stylised wreath) after the figures were dipped.
Any remorse I might have felt at awarding myself full painting points for dipped figures is now completely gone, after noticing that the time you win in painting, you lose in assembling as the 12 figures took a whopping 4 hours to clean and assemble completely.
So, that's 24 points done for a total of 39 this month. Seems things are picking up.
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Swedes on horses
Pictures of the recently painted stuff. First the cavalry:
And next two views of Major General Roos:
All the figures are Reiver Castings. On a related note, I have decided to follow the 1:35 ratio of Beneath the Lilly Banners ruleset (which makes sense, as my infantry are to that specification) for the cavalry. That means that the two bases (six figures in total) form an entire squadron - less figures to paint :).
And next two views of Major General Roos:
All the figures are Reiver Castings. On a related note, I have decided to follow the 1:35 ratio of Beneath the Lilly Banners ruleset (which makes sense, as my infantry are to that specification) for the cavalry. That means that the two bases (six figures in total) form an entire squadron - less figures to paint :).
Saturday, 6 March 2010
Painting Log: 1st company Åbo och Björneborgs läns cavalry and a major general
The first of the Swedish cavalry are done - they're the first company (half squadron) of the (and I shudder to think in how many creative ways I'm spelling the Swedish here) Åbo och Björneborgs läns ryttare.
A company in 1:20 for Swedish cavalry regiments around the time of Poltava comes to (very roughly) 6 figures, so a squadron is 12. I'll be trying to paint a squadron for each of the regiments present in the main battle at Poltava (11 or so) - these are the first.
The figures are Reiver Castings whose horses look absolutely horrendous in the metal, but who luckily do look the job when painted and based up.
I also finished the first command figure - major general Roos, who took a third of the infantry strength of the army off to swan about trying to capture redoubts instead of bypassing them. He'll be based on a somewhat elaborate base, so he gets three points instead of the normal 2 for a mounted figure.
As always, pictures to follow, but I'm counting 15 points for these - 12 for the 6 cavalrymen, 3 for Roos. Next up is probably a bunch of Romans again, as my black primer has run out for the moment (and the Romans are grey primered).
A company in 1:20 for Swedish cavalry regiments around the time of Poltava comes to (very roughly) 6 figures, so a squadron is 12. I'll be trying to paint a squadron for each of the regiments present in the main battle at Poltava (11 or so) - these are the first.
The figures are Reiver Castings whose horses look absolutely horrendous in the metal, but who luckily do look the job when painted and based up.
I also finished the first command figure - major general Roos, who took a third of the infantry strength of the army off to swan about trying to capture redoubts instead of bypassing them. He'll be based on a somewhat elaborate base, so he gets three points instead of the normal 2 for a mounted figure.
As always, pictures to follow, but I'm counting 15 points for these - 12 for the 6 cavalrymen, 3 for Roos. Next up is probably a bunch of Romans again, as my black primer has run out for the moment (and the Romans are grey primered).
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Uncharted Seas ships
And here are the pictures of my latest paint jobs.
_The Empress' Cynical Smile_, the human flagship joining her [friends](http://www.nirya.be/snv/ttm/archives/000306.html):
And their slightly more scruffy adversaries:
More pics of the orc ships in their own [set on Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/robartes/sets/72157623355135073/). As you can see, these were again painted with speed in mind rather than beauty. Oddly fitting, for orcs :).
_The Empress' Cynical Smile_, the human flagship joining her [friends](http://www.nirya.be/snv/ttm/archives/000306.html):
And their slightly more scruffy adversaries:
More pics of the orc ships in their own [set on Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/robartes/sets/72157623355135073/). As you can see, these were again painted with speed in mind rather than beauty. Oddly fitting, for orcs :).
Saturday, 20 February 2010
Category archives working again
For those who have been missing them, the various [archive pages](/snv/ttm/archives.html) are working again. They were a victim of my recent rebuild of the templates of this here site when I switched the blog software behind it to a new version, which lost backwards compatibility with my (admittedly ancient) templates.
So, month and category archives work again. Rejoice!
So, month and category archives work again. Rejoice!
Friday, 19 February 2010
Painting log: Uncharted Seas orc fleet & human flagship
And another bunch of tubs is ready to set to sea. This time some ships for [The Uncharted Seas](http://www.spartangames.co.uk/uncharted.htm):
* An Orc fleet pack consisting of:
* 1 battleship
* 3 cruisers
* 6 frigates
* An Orc battlecruiser
* An Orc assault ship
* A human flagship, the _Empress' Cynical Smile_
According to some ridicilously arbitrary formula I made up (2 points for the 6 frigates, 1.5 points each for the remaining Orc ships and 2 points for the flagship - many sails to paint) I'm giving myself 13 points for these, for a total of 32 so far this month. Next up on the painting table are some Swedish GNW cavalry by Reiver Miniatures.
* An Orc fleet pack consisting of:
* 1 battleship
* 3 cruisers
* 6 frigates
* An Orc battlecruiser
* An Orc assault ship
* A human flagship, the _Empress' Cynical Smile_
According to some ridicilously arbitrary formula I made up (2 points for the 6 frigates, 1.5 points each for the remaining Orc ships and 2 points for the flagship - many sails to paint) I'm giving myself 13 points for these, for a total of 32 so far this month. Next up on the painting table are some Swedish GNW cavalry by Reiver Miniatures.
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Dal Regiment, all pretty like
And here they are with finished bases, the 1st battalion of the Dal Regiment:
I've tried something new on the base with the cannon ball 'in transit' on the righthand (lefthand for the unit itself) base. Not sure about the effect yet.
For those of you wondering, I'm basing these to fit in with 'Beneath the Lily Banners'. For the Swedes, that's three bases, of which I'm using the bigger 60x60cm size. I fit 19 figures on the three bases, which in a 1:20 figure to men ratio gives 380 - 400 men to the battalion, which is more or less (more on the less side thereof :) ) correct for the battalion sizes at Poltava (except for a few regiments which were given the remainders of the batallions retreating from Lesnaya earlier).
On to the cavalry now!
I've tried something new on the base with the cannon ball 'in transit' on the righthand (lefthand for the unit itself) base. Not sure about the effect yet.
For those of you wondering, I'm basing these to fit in with 'Beneath the Lily Banners'. For the Swedes, that's three bases, of which I'm using the bigger 60x60cm size. I fit 19 figures on the three bases, which in a 1:20 figure to men ratio gives 380 - 400 men to the battalion, which is more or less (more on the less side thereof :) ) correct for the battalion sizes at Poltava (except for a few regiments which were given the remainders of the batallions retreating from Lesnaya earlier).
On to the cavalry now!
Friday, 12 February 2010
Painting log: Dal Regiment, 1st Battalion
And that's the final of Roos' battalions done, the 1st Battalion of the Dal regiment. Here's a quick badly lit pic I took of them on my painting station awaiting basing:
Again all Musketeer figures. I did a very minor conversion on the officer and NCO (central and right hand stand respectively), swapping their heads around to keep some variation going, as there is just the one figure for these essential positions. The flags are printed copies from the Höglund book.
Painting this, the classic Swedish blue / yellow combo, and going over my notes for the remaining battalions, it suddenly struck me that the non traditionally coloured regiments (Närke-Värmlands and Jönkopings with red facings and Västerböttens with white) were all with Roos at the redoubts, while the more traditionally coloured ones were in the main infantry battle (with the exception of the second battalion of the Närke-Värmlands). Funny, that.
That makes 19 points. Next up in the queue is an Orcish fleet and a human flagship for Uncharted Seas.
Again all Musketeer figures. I did a very minor conversion on the officer and NCO (central and right hand stand respectively), swapping their heads around to keep some variation going, as there is just the one figure for these essential positions. The flags are printed copies from the Höglund book.
Painting this, the classic Swedish blue / yellow combo, and going over my notes for the remaining battalions, it suddenly struck me that the non traditionally coloured regiments (Närke-Värmlands and Jönkopings with red facings and Västerböttens with white) were all with Roos at the redoubts, while the more traditionally coloured ones were in the main infantry battle (with the exception of the second battalion of the Närke-Värmlands). Funny, that.
That makes 19 points. Next up in the queue is an Orcish fleet and a human flagship for Uncharted Seas.
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
The Pilsen Prerogative: a Trafalgar scenario
Last night, a bunch of us played a game of [Trafalgar](http://www.warhammer-historical.com/acatalog/Trafalgar.html). The game is the first in a narrative campaign called _The Enbevian Endeavour_. For those of you unfamiliar with our use of the term 'narrative campaign', allow me to explain a bit.
Over the years, like many wargame groups, we have played a few full blown campaigns, some successful but most, as usual, foundering after a few moves. As with most game groups, we find that the high level of commitment needed for playing in and especially running a full featured campaign is often difficult to achieve. However, campaigns do give a large added value to wargames, so to still capture some of that we have been doing these things we call 'narrative campaigns'.
A narrative campaign is essentially a series of linked scenarios, often involving the same two (or more) antagonists in every scenario, but only linked in a general overarcing story line, not through any campaign system or rules. We find that a narrative campaign gives the added value of a rich context to the individual games, without the attending overhead of an actual campaign. For those familiar with the recent publications by C.S. Grant and Phil Olley, _The Raid on St. Michel_ and _The Annexation of Chiraz_ (get them from [Caliver Books](http://www.caliverbooks.com) ), the scenarios in those books can be played as simple linked scenarios and are thus very similar to our narrative campaigns. We stand in the shadow of giants!
Anyway, I've currently got a narrative campaign underway for SF space (and land) games (_The Beryllium Wars_), and have yesterday started one for Napoleonic age games. This one features the nations of Enbevia and Posch-Enhausen, going to war over a seemingly innocent proclamation involving beer. The first game in this campaign, _The Pilsen Prerogative_ (I'm big on alliteration :) ) is a naval game using Trafalgar rules. You can download it here (warning: big 6.3M file):
A full battle report will follow, but as a teaser I can tell that the Posch-Enhausian navy managed to score a hard fought victory. Many ships were left ablaze and/or sunk.
Over the years, like many wargame groups, we have played a few full blown campaigns, some successful but most, as usual, foundering after a few moves. As with most game groups, we find that the high level of commitment needed for playing in and especially running a full featured campaign is often difficult to achieve. However, campaigns do give a large added value to wargames, so to still capture some of that we have been doing these things we call 'narrative campaigns'.
A narrative campaign is essentially a series of linked scenarios, often involving the same two (or more) antagonists in every scenario, but only linked in a general overarcing story line, not through any campaign system or rules. We find that a narrative campaign gives the added value of a rich context to the individual games, without the attending overhead of an actual campaign. For those familiar with the recent publications by C.S. Grant and Phil Olley, _The Raid on St. Michel_ and _The Annexation of Chiraz_ (get them from [Caliver Books](http://www.caliverbooks.com) ), the scenarios in those books can be played as simple linked scenarios and are thus very similar to our narrative campaigns. We stand in the shadow of giants!
Anyway, I've currently got a narrative campaign underway for SF space (and land) games (_The Beryllium Wars_), and have yesterday started one for Napoleonic age games. This one features the nations of Enbevia and Posch-Enhausen, going to war over a seemingly innocent proclamation involving beer. The first game in this campaign, _The Pilsen Prerogative_ (I'm big on alliteration :) ) is a naval game using Trafalgar rules. You can download it here (warning: big 6.3M file):
 |
| The Pilsen Prerogative |
A full battle report will follow, but as a teaser I can tell that the Posch-Enhausian navy managed to score a hard fought victory. Many ships were left ablaze and/or sunk.
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