Still Here....

Hi All
Just a quick post to let you all know that I'm still here!! I'm just not getting any painting done at the mo. I've also only played two wargames since August (both WAB Bretwalda games at my club) and got trashed in both...

Anyway, just to say that I still have Colonials as a work in progress. I still intend to paint some more Welsh and Saxons for Age of Arthur and I am dragging out my half-purchased but never started Republican Romans, inspired as I have been by Aventine Miniatures fabulous new range and by Phil Hendry (see his blog to the right in my blog list) where he gets the most amazing results on 3rd Century Romans using Army Painter dip and LBM shield designs. Accordingly, my Romans will follow his lead - watch this space over the next 6 months as I attempt to put together a force with which to play WAB and Crusader rules...

In other news, my son is 18 months old, nearly walking (yup...he's a lazy blighta, just like his dad...LOL!!) and becoming a right typical 'little boy'.

I hope to do some painting next week, which may result in more finished colonial Brits... Pics as soon as possible, but don't hold your breath, as life has a habit of getting in the way here at 'Hawes Towers' these days.

All the best to you all.
Andy

Losing....and regaining....the joy....

Ok...I admit it!! I'm jaded...I lost the joy!! 3 solid years of painting Dark-Age/Early Medieval minis have taken their toll. That and running an Arthurain campaign at my club, where I experienced first hand both the best and worst of wargamers and their approach to gaming and to the humble efforts of others have just beaten me into submission!!

I haven't played a game since August (the fabulous El Cid campaign day at Newark) and I think it's actually a good thing. I've had time to stop, to read, play a bit of guitar, watch some cool DVDs and TV (Spooks...bloody marvellous programme!) and I experimented with the Army Painter dip as you saw on my last post.

So, what now? Well, I decided I really ought to pick up a brush again and paint something 'properly'. But I took one look at those half complete Welsh cavalry and El Cid minis and couldn't face them. So, you know what? I pickled up the Empress minis Zulu War Brits that I raved about last post and had a look at them. I filed off the gaiters, green-stuffed them a bit and then undercoated black. And slowly, I started to paint... And I got out my undercoated, but thus far unpainted Mordheim Norse warband and started the Jarl...

And you know what?? I'm starting to enjoy it!!! I'm not back up to speed by a long shot, but slowly, ever so slowly, the joy is returning!!! I've begun to put my thoughts in gear for my LOTOW adaptation for Colonial gaming and have bought the excellent new skirmish rules 'Triumph and Tragedy' and am eagerly awaiting their new Colonial supplement.

So, what does it all look like? Well, here are the first two Brits.... Next up, some rank and file Brits and that Jarl...

Pathans (Thank Goodness for Dip!!!)

Hi All

Here are the first Pathans for my 'Legends of the Old West Alamo' adaptation set on the NW Frontier of India in the last quarter of the 19th Century. The models are by Old Glory (one of the best ranges they actually do!) and Castaway Arts. 6 models were painted about 5 years ago 'properly' and the rest have been painted with neat basecoat colours over either a white or off-white undercoat, metallics were washed witha 50/50 mix of black ink and water and then the models had a good brushed-on coat of 'Army Painter Strong Tone' dip. This has been followed up by a good blast of Testor's Dullcote.

The secret is to be REALLY neat with the basecoats and to choose the colours carefully!!

Photos were taken on the 'rockery' area at the back of my garden...perfect NW Frontier terrain!!!

I haven't painted the banner yet...

Basically, there will be three types of Pathan warrior in my rule set: Fighters, marksmen and Ghazi fanatics. They will be led by the following heroes: Senior Mullah (priest/war leader); Mullah (priest) and Malik (Tribal headman). Here you can see a unit of fighters supported by a unit of marksmen, led by a Malik. I have decided that all my marksmen models will be the Old Glory 'kneeling' poses for ease of differentiation on the tabletop.

Next up, 12 more fighters followed by a unit of Ghurka Riflemen for the Brits....

Quick update...

No pics yet, but you'll all be pleased to know that I have 30 painted Pathans ready for this NW Frontier thang I'm planning... have 12 more on the go at the mo and anticipate them being done by middle of next week, then it'll be a blast of Dullcote so I can take piccies!!!

I must say that the 'neat basecoat colours and Army Painter dip' technique is bloody brilliant for this kinda thing. They actually don't look too crap, even without matting down the bright shiny gloss finish that the dip gives!! Ok, they aren't going to win me any prizes, but that ain't the point. It's about getting 160 odd Pathans painted and ready for gaming by about next Easter along with about 60 Brits/Indians to fight 'em. They look more than decent enough for that and are stil better than 90% of what you see on the cover of Miniature Wargames magazine!!! (Sorry MW...great articles sometimes, but far to many cruddy pics of relatively poorly painted minis...)

Actually, am very tempted to paint some of the Brits 'properly', as I succumbed to some Foundry and Perry models and some of Empress Miniatures FABULOUS Zulu war Brits - ok, so the latter ain't really NW Frontier, but they are the best Colonial Brit models since Perry's Sudan range and I had to buy a unit. They are so good, that Army Painter would almost be an insult...but having said that, it's all about time and getting them onto the table, so I may well end up biting the bullet and dipping...

I have also bought some Eastern buildings via EBAY from the Colonial Steamboat Company, which are lovely...pics of those when I do the Pathans...

Next job is to actually write up properly on the PC the rule tweaks for Legends of the Old West/Alamo that I'm going to use, along with the 'solo play' rules for controlling the natives... At least if I do that, I can get some solo games in playtesting before I take them to the wargames club....as it stands, they are on about 15 sheets of dog-eared A4 where I 'jotted'...not good!! Can't possibly even play a solo game with those!!

Tune in in a week or so for the pics...

Still here...

Hi Folks
Sorry for lack of updates recently. Am in the middle of rehearsals for a Thin Lizzy tribute gig in October, so most of my limited free time will be taken up with that til then. However, I have undercoated 50 or so Northwest Frontier British/Indian trops and 150 or so Pathans ready for painting - am basically going to use Army Painter dip on them, as it works beautifully with the sort of colours I'll be using on these chaps, especially the Brits with all that khaki!!!

I hope to get the 1st Company, 67th Foot done in the next couple of weeks - well, it's only 12 models and, as there is minimal highlighting (only the black boots!) it's all single basecoat and dip, dip, dip!!! Might even get some of the Pathans done too just to see how they work out. Models are Castaway Arts for the Brits/Indians (plus Perry mountain gun) and Pathans are Old Glory and Castaway Arts.

The rules I'll be using are adapted LOTOW Alamo rules, using ideas 'borrowed' from Dan Mersey's superb article about a similar approach in a recent issue of 'Battlegames' magazine, plus some of my own additions. He has a fabulous non-player system for native hordes, so basically, as long as the scenario is sound, one can play it solo, or in a multiplayer format, all can be the Brits, which is cool!!! Anyway, it's all a bit 'in progress' at the mo, esp writing the additional rules down, but I'll keep you posted with ideas as they come and the playtests I intend to do for my 'additional' bits.

I will get back to 'proper' painting later in Oct with some more Arthurians and El Cid alongside the colonial stuff - I just bought some 'ballasteros' for my El Cid army, so they need doing, plus I want to finish my new mounted Welsh teulu and do some more Saxons/Franks...

Stay tuned...
Andy

Age of El Cid Event - plus, 'Why I suck at WAB!!!!'

Well, what a cracking day!! Mr Morris & Co certainly know how to put on a gaming day!!! Thanks to all the Newark Irregulars for their input into the day...brilliant stuff!!!!!

So, how did I do? Well, won one, lost two: had a stinking cold and cough so felt like sh*t anyway, but fortunately, had such fun that the malady was easily forgotten once the gaming began, although by game 3 I was beginning to falter a bit!!!!

In the end, I won a prize for 'best painted characters' (GB models) and for being in the winning faction (lovely Almoravid Priest-dude on a wooden display stand.) So that was nice!!

I had 3 great opponents and played all 3 scenarios.

In my first game, I played Chris Payne (I think that was his surname) with his Andalusians playing 'Cattle raid' from Age of Arthur.

He had a well-chosen army and got off to a flying start by destroying the attacking potential of my caballeros in turn 1. He killed half the unit with his mercenary X-bowmen, reducing my potential for overlapping and flanking and for destroying his light troops.

My infantry gained hatred for this scenario, which was great, as I simply advanced them up to take on the Andalusian spearmen while manoeuvering for the killer charge with the caballeros hidalgos. Where Chris lost the game was in moving his own mercenary knights along the road - he should have stayed in position flanking his foot and threatening my charge. As it was, I charged his archers, pursued into his knights, won the successive combat and forgot I had ferocious charge!!!! Tw*t!!!! Anyway, justice won out 2 turns later and I broke his knights, pursued and killed them. In the ensuing panic, virtually his entire army melted away, leaving me able to capture 2 out of 3 baggage bases and win a mighty victory. Had it not been for hatred on my peones, it would have been different, as they held on most of the game, even when flanked by 24 more spearmen... Lesson there: Learn your special rules!!!

Game 2: Lee McColl and Christian Spanish. This was where it all went wrong. he had a superior, but smaller force - 2 units of caballeros hidalgos, 2 of caballeros, 1 unit of X bow and some slingers gained in the bonus card round. I gained Sudanese spearmen in the bonus card round.

I basically attempted a mass outflank on his right and he was right to be worried, as it seemed to be working. However, he cunningly countered my audacious move with caballeros on his left flank by charging them with foot archers. I slaughtered those, but, in the pursuit, hit his general's unit in the flank. I lost the combat and the caballeros fled, leaving me in trouble! What followed was typical me: he destroyed both units of foot with his knights (despite arming them with throwing spears) - the Sudanese FBIGO'd but panicked when the peones were destroyed and the pursuit of the peones hit the running sudanese by HALF an inch!!!!! My general failed his panic test by throwing double 6 so my best unit ran - it rallied, but failed another panic in the very last turn again on double 6- can't recall why... but they panicked anyway and handed about 600VPs to Lee to give him a 1450 to 91 pt mighty victory!!! He was embarassed and I was gutted! However, I know where I went wrong! I should not have pursued those archers, but got behind his knights... Different story then, I feel!!

Game 3: Against Chris Stone and his Almoravids. Now, his was an example of a brilliantly chosen army list!! It was designed to play well and to win without being beardy. He fielded 2 stubborn units of mixed spear and bow, each with 2 drummers and a Sheik (massive close-combat monster - 3 attacks each!!) One unit had a priest so gained hatred. He fielded his ASB and a Christian captain in a unit of mercenary knights, then fielded 9 Ghuzz horse archers (basically nomad cav -BS4, parthian shite...err...shot, etc) and 3 units of foot skirmishers. No general - as he said, why throw points away? He didn't need one!!!!!! Stubborn, hatred, ld 8 on the knights anyway....

We played apilledo and I defended (with nearly all cavalry!!!). It was a predictable mess. The Ghuzz shot me to bits. I did eventually kill them in combat, but my caballeros and jinetes were all but gone, so were easily panicked by javelin fire. My caballeros hidalgos charged his and killed 1 model!!!! He killed 4 back - I threw 4 save throws on 3+ and got 4 ones-like most of my dice on the day - couldn't hit, couldn't wound, couldn't save and couldn't pass LD tests!!!!! Luckily, they were not caught in pursuit and managed to inflict a slaughter in turn a couple of turns later - Chris suffered similar saving-throw hell and I ran the unit down. But it was all academic. I held onto one booty base, but almoravid spear with a sheik will eat peones for breakfast, so the other two got captured. Close-run victory to Chris, but another 50 VPs and he'd have won a mighty victory.

So, why was it all so bad? Well, more than my usual BIG share of ill luck - 2 failed panic tests on LD9 with throws of 12 against Lee ... Unbelievably bad save throws against both Lee and Chris S with my caballeros hidalgos, but more than anything, bad army choice. I only had 1 decent combat unit. I should have fielded 2 units of caballeros hidalgos and not taken the 3rd character. The foot were useless in 2 out of 3 games. The archers and slingers killed nowt in any of my games really and it was only 'hatred' that made the peones useful in game 1.

However, despite taking a tw*tting, I enjoyed the day immensely as it was such great relaxed gaming fun. I maintained my current average of about 30% victories in WAB. I am beginning to realise that the only wins I get these days is against those with less experience of the game - and even then I often lose. Against good players, I usually get utterly mauled because I never maintain a decent battle-line, I don't manage to support my units properly, I'm reactive rather than proactive and I don't think ahead enough. I also play with armies I like rather than with armies I might use effectively (assuming one of those actually exists!!) Also, I hadn't played with this army for about 5 years and then I only used it about twice in its unpainted state, so I didn't really know what I was doing!! Still, events like this need players like me...every event needs its 'cannon fodder' players.

I certainly won't stop gaming with WAB. I'd be just as crap with any ruleset. However, I will think more about my army lists in future!!! I got it about right at Hot Lead with a really good AoA Welsh army that was mis-matched against Shieldwall opponents in 2 games - against other AoA armies, I am convinced it would work well (assuming I used it well, of course!!) so at least I am beginning to think better about it!!

And here is a call to those folk who are good at organising gaming days...we want more El Cid!!!! It's a great period, especially if you don't allow the later lists with lances and sh*t... Now, who else around here can I persuade to buy a load of Almoravid or Andalusian models so that I'm not always forced to fight Carl's Christian knights when playing this period???

El Cid Army Update

Tomorrow, I go to Newark for a 'Morris and Jones' event set in the Age of El Cid. Consequently, I have been painting like a maniac to finish 1600pts of Spanish!!

Here are some pics of the Andalusian allied cavalry and some foot archers...

The Peones are currently on the varnishing table, with gloss varnish drying and awaiting Dullcote... If I have time I'll add them later. If not, it'll be next week!

Cheers

Andy