...turn out to be highly efficient weights for holding down Batbases whilst the superglue cures, that will hold the magnets in place.
They will also provide a useful lubricant for the baser, later today during the basing process. :-)
Saturday, 9 July 2016
Thursday, 7 July 2016
A Midsummer Night's Gaming
I had a very pleasant outdoor game this evening with mate Ian using my new pike and shotte armies. The armies were freshly sprayed wooden blocks. It took about an hour to purchase and spray them, a useful investment of time compared to my usual insanely high ratio of painting to gaming time. Youl'll be able to make out the pike battalia and troops of horse. The terrain cloth is a very nice 4' x 3' Deep-Cut "fields" mat with a 10cm grid.
Tonight's game was based on the Montgomery 1644 scenario that I recently played with Andrew Brentnall. The game was literally ended by dusk, unfortunately at an interesting stage.We had chatted too much and drunk too much Gavi di Gavi to complete it. Still, it was a whole lot of fun.
This is very circular for me because I remember playing my very first ECW game with Lego brick regiments just after the film "Cromwell" came out in 1970, with a set of wargames rules that I wrote especially for the occasion. In 1970 I lost; couldn't even win with my own rules! ;-) Mind you I wasn't doing a whole lot better tonight; plus ca change.
Wednesday, 6 July 2016
Rebasathon II - Not a tray bake!
The Great Numidian Rebasathon continues apace. Above I've partially based 24 out of a required 40 stands. Each pair of stands will join together along the long edge to form a unit of ten light horse or eighteen light infantry - when complete, there will be around 300 "light"miniatures in this army. Most of the stands have been grouted.
Above is a close up of one of the units. The light cavalry will all be circling, and there will be quite a few casualty miniatures dotted around on the bases. My new large bases allow for very dynamic basing styles. The brown areas of the bases will need to be painted, of course. There's also a good amount of retouching to do, as well, as I once dropped a couple of boxes of the cavalry and they are quite chipped. I was not amused.
Aside from the lights there will be a couple of units of militia, a couple of cohorts of imitation legionaries, half a dozen nellies and a small force of cavalry "with bridles" to provide bodyguards for the generals. Altogether, it will constitute a most unusual army that will first see the light of day at the Wargames Holiday Centre on 23rd September.
Friday, 1 July 2016
Rebasathon
Above are a pair of my new 19cm-wide Batbases. I designed these for my own collection and will gradually re-base many of my troops onto them. The idea is that the irregular edges, with a chambered profile, will blend into the terrain cloth. Below, I've started to rebase a few units of Numidians. I chamfered the edge of the bases, added magnets and primed them with some cheap auto-primer to seal them. I sliced the minis off of their card bases and mixed them in with some new recruits recently painted by Shaun McTague.
Below, I like to salvage as much of the old base texture as possible as it saves time and money and reduce landfill.
Re-basing the Numidians will be a big job as I have 400 or more of them altogether- including over 100 cavalry. When finished I estimate they will fill ten 4L Really Useful boxes.
Wednesday, 22 June 2016
Montgomery 1644
I have a very enjoyable day, today, experimenting with ECW rules with Andrew Brentnall. Andrew has a fabulous 10mm ECW collection. We fought Montgomery 1644, above. I was defeated, but it was a close-fought battle. Below is one wing of Marston Moor, which we didn't have time to play. I have come away with some ideas for version 2 of the TtS ancients rules...
Wednesday, 15 June 2016
Thorakitai and t'other Partizan
This (clickable) photo is of the latest unit to join my Hellenistic forces- a phalanx of early thorakitai. These are the armoured equivalents of thureophoroi, wearing a mixture of linen and bronze cuirasses (which were later replaces with mail as it became more common). The shield designs are based on Ptolemaic grave paintings. In To the Strongest! they are represented as spearmen, deep, veteran.
These boys will represent the Greek Mercenaries on the Seleucid right, tough fighters who defeated the Ptolemaic agema and peltastoi guards (who had, admittedly, already been trampled by their own elephants). Most of the minis are Foundry hoplites and hypaspists with replacement thureos shields. Some were painted by Shaun McTague and others are drawn from the boxes of "reserves" in my loft.
I'll be running my "too big for Salute" Raphia game at t'other Partizan in Newark on Sunday 21st August. With over 1600 minis, and with improved terrain, the extended game will be even bigger and better than the version played at the Wargames Holiday Centre, shown below. If you would like to play, please drop me a line and I'll book you in for a game. I'll also be in town the night before if anyone fancies a beer and a curry!
Sunday, 12 June 2016
Battle of Horn Gate
Today we played a jolly game set in Prax, using modified To the Strongest! rules, at Broadside in Sissinghurst. It went very well and there were some hilarious incidents. One poor young player drew a string of Aces, culminating in the loss of his general who I had nicknames Acus Maximus.
Above massed bison riders and below the Lunar centre, screened by expendable scorpionmen allies.
Above, the Bison riders tended to get the better of the exchange. Below a view from the sable rider camp.
Above, Batty made a brief appearance; lots of people can over to talk about him. Below, the sable tribe's ancestors turn up to lend a hand.
The magic rules worked pretty well and I have some excellent suggestions that Ian made on the way back, to digest.
The Broadside show was really excellent and I'm sure we'll be back next year!
Above massed bison riders and below the Lunar centre, screened by expendable scorpionmen allies.
Above, the Bison riders tended to get the better of the exchange. Below a view from the sable rider camp.
Above, Batty made a brief appearance; lots of people can over to talk about him. Below, the sable tribe's ancestors turn up to lend a hand.
The magic rules worked pretty well and I have some excellent suggestions that Ian made on the way back, to digest.
The Broadside show was really excellent and I'm sure we'll be back next year!
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