Busy times

The year started with a steady production of blog posts but things have become much busier and I now surprisingly find myself writing my first entry in 6 weeks. As always, the hobby hasn't stopped, but blogging has had to be sidelined in favour of more productive pursuits. So this is a catch up, really, to see where things are at.

First of all, I've had the chance to get into some Infamy Infamy solo games. I have played three now, and the basics are beginning to stick. The core rules for fighting, shooting moving etc are pretty straight forward - it is remembering all the other details, like rallying points, and which points of drill are available and best to use in what situation, that I am learning to come to grips with now.

Here are the armies at the moment:

The British

British Leaders

British Light Cavalry

Chariots for one unit of Noble Warriors

And the other set of chariots

And here starts a series of photos of the ambush points/deployment markers that I've put together for the British/Gauls.

The British command including the mounted leader.

Another deployment marker

The warriors

I couldn't resist painting this figure which I'm assuming is meant to be Boudicca, but looks like some Fantasy character in a bronze bra.

And, of course, the Romans

Roman command with musician option.

Balaeric slingers

Iberian cavalry

Numidians

Negotiations with the locals in this deployment marker

And much less civil negotiations

The Scorpio is going to need some extra crew. I'm sure I can rustle some up.

Here's a random selection of images from the games so far, no captions as they don't tell a story, just a showcase of what the games look like:

It makes a lot of difference to the enjoyment factor for me when you've invested time in the terrain and supporting figures. Of course, that means others will take the time to be involved as well, as you can see from the cat's convenient presence in the photo above. I was so impressed with these Too Fat Lardies rules that I bought Sharpe Practice 2, and a read through tells me that I will like them better than the first version, as they have many similarities with Infamy Infamy. It wasn't a massive step from there to purchasing Dux Britaniarum and Chain of Command. I truly have the bug now.

The only downside is that my Napoleonics order from the Perrys still hasn't showed up, and it has been 6 weeks. I'll hold out until the weekend before I e-mail just in case it is Covid's fault, but to be fair the Sharpe Practice rules were ordered at the same time and showed up 3 weeks ago. I really hope they aren't lost in the post, but I have my fears.

In terms of other painting, plenty has been done. All of the Marvel Crisis Protocol figures are now painted, and this Christmas break I aim to get all of the terrain painted for them and have my first few games.

Marvel heroes Iron Man, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Black Widow and Thor

Ant-Man and Wasp

Spiderman and Valkyrie

Baron Zemo, Ultron, Red Skull and Crossbones

Doctor Octopus, Hela and Loki

Some Heroclix civilians on MCP bases for by-standers

And lastly, the Star Wars collection has been completed, and Adam and I have made plans to get some games in over the Christmas holidays seeing as we both have armies that need to stretch their legs.

Boba Fett and Bossk

The Rebel Landspeeder

It's taken a bit of damage in its time

At present I'm painting some Wild West Exodus figures for Craig, but it is getting to exam season, and I'm about to get extremely busy. Hopefully I'll have half of them complete before things close in. It's also likely that I'll only get one or two more posts in this year, but hopefully they won't be quite so long.

Nate

Some more participants for the Ancient Battle of Britain

 This week I managed to finish another few units for Infamy, Infamy. A horse unit being only 6 figures makes them a lot easier to get completed, and the Iberian infantry with only 8 figures was also a bonus. 

Spanish Caetrati are the original Auxilia for the Late Republican Romans.

And a view from behind, just because.

I've chosen to use the Roman list for the rules that is based on having Spanish auxiliaries supporting the legionaries. I had originally thought to use the Numidian list and add in my German Cavalry as support, but I already have Numidian Light Horse, and felt I needed something a bit more solid, so I have ordered some Victrix Iberian Cavalry.

The British Light Cavalry

The British cavalry are old Wargames Factory figures that I've had lying around for years. They're certainly part of the 'first generation' of plastic figures. Detail is shallow and design is rather basic. The horses are quite small, which is great, because they are meant to be ponies. 

Numidian Light Cavalry shivering in the British summer

No Roman army is complete without some Numidians.

If I want to, I now have all the figures necessary for an army list based on the Numidians as the main auxiliaries. 

On the tray now are the British chariots and some Balaeric slingers, so hopefully I can get them completed by next weekend, The chariots are also Wargames Factory aside from one Warlord Games metal chariot, so it will be interesting to see what they look like when they are all completed.

The table was set up for a game last weekend, but I still haven't deployed any troops, and it may be another week before I actually throw some dice and push some figures around. It has been a while since I did a battle report.

I acquired a second hand copy of the Condottiere rules from Foundry yesterday. In my quick read through so far, I'm quite intrigued by them. The Italian Wars era is also a period I have a real aesthetic interest in, what with Landsknechts and heavy knights mixing it up with artillery and stradiots. I won't be diving in, there are too many other things to finish for that, but don't be surprised if something new and Italian shows up on this blog in the near future.

Nate

Those Crazy Brits

The Infamy, Infamy preparation continues, with 2 units of Britons and one of Numidians. Fanatics aren't in my basic army list, but they are the first cab off the rank for any extra choices my army gets. There's something very admirable about charging at your enemy with only some blue paint between your privates and their armour.

Not someone I'd like to tackle...

Another unit of Gallic Warriors - that is enough mobs for my core British Force.

The Gauls were painted with Contrast paints - particularly the flesh. By the time that you add the shield decals and basing, and a couple of little touch ups here and there, it becomes an extremely fast process with good results.

Numidian skirmishers to support the Roman legionaries

And without the shields in the way

The Numidians were painted in the old fashioned way over a black basecoat, but were again very quick to paint due to their simple schemes.

I also painted a couple more Marvel Crisis Protocol figures. This time a couple of villains to offset the two heroes already completed.

Ultron. I tried to do non-metallic metals, but I just don't think I have the patience. A couple of bits were painted with metal as a result - the wires in the legs etc.

Maybe when the bases are completed he will look a bit better?

Much happier with my Red Skull holding the Cosmic Cube.

Now getting back to the theme of this post, my first foray into comics came via British comics like the New Eagle and 2000AD. As such, I've always had a soft spot for Judge Dredd, and when Warlord released their Dredd game, I was planning to get it eventually. However, I just couldn't justify it as a priority with so many other projects. Luckily, last week the starter set was put up for sale second hand - and painted for just over half the price of a brand new boxed set. So here they are:

The figures are really nicely painted

The base black scheme on the block gang really works.

So here I have another rabbit hole to go down. But one made much easier by not having to paint them myself.

I already have Dredd and Anderson figures from Heroclix, as well as the four Dark Judges. I'll give them a repaint so that they match the new figures and introduce them into the games when I get the hang of them. 

Dredd and Anderson

I had originally intended to build the Roman force that was supported by Numidians from Infamy Infamy, but decided instead to do the Iberian backed option. I've just ordered some Iberian cavalry, and at the moment the Caetrati and British Light cavalry are on the painting tray.

Nate