Trojan Army and project finished

They are now all painted, so for your viewing pleasure I present the latest figures and then the two armies arrayed for battle.

Ares on the rampage!

How rampage-y is he? Just ask this poor bloke at his feet!

Better late than never! The last unit of spearmen ready for battle.

Everyone turn... a shot from another angle without the shields obscuring them.

The Trojan naturists advance to the battle, armed with javelins and high self-esteem.

Another look at the poor guy who wasn't looking when Ares fell over. Lots of fights happened over the bodies of dead warriors, so he will make a useful objective marker.

The face that sunk a thousand ships! Helen of Sparta... errr, Troy... errr, I mean Sparta - I wish she would make up her mind!

The battle in full swing!
Diomedes: 'Let me at Ares!'
Ares: Éeeek!
Hektor: ''Ýou'll have to get through me first!'
Ares: 'My hero!'

Vulture's eye view of the battlefield.

Achaeans advance. In the temple ruins can be seen the blurry form of Helen watching on as men die for no other reason than she can't keep it in her pants! (That's a bit unfair - but I don't see the real culprit - Paris - anywhere around)

Odysseus: "My wandering at sea will be a better read!"
Aeneas: "No, mine will! And my ancestors will found Rome!"
Odysseus: "Well mine will... um... screw it - you're going down blondie!"

The clash of the titans. Well, technically they are the grandchildren of titans, but close enough.

Nate

The Trojan Army - the first half

Finally I finished off the first two units and heroes for the Trojan Wars OGAM (Of Gods and Mortals - the rules put out by Osprey Publishing) project.

Aeneas and Hektor.
Aeneas: 'If you can't win today, make sure your ancestors build a powerful city that teaches those Greeks a lesson.'
Hektor: 'Like that would ever happen. You do have some dumb ideas, Aeneas.'

'Come on boys. We're richer and prettier than those Greeks!'

'Everyone in battle formation? Wha...?! Nudites - did you forget your armour again?! Get in the back row before you get your todger chopped off! Something wrong with that boy...'

'OK lads - aim for their heels!'

I wanted to be able to differentiate between the Trojan army and the Greeks and decided one way to do this would be to make the Trojan army more colourful. So lots of bright blues, yellows, reds and greens to make sure that they stand out. A bit hard with the archers that are only wearing undies - I may yet repaint their plumes.

The painting tray now has Ares, another group of spearmen and the javelinmen on it, and then the 900 point OGAM armies will be ready for a game. I hope to have them complete this week.

As I'm not sure where to go next, I thought I'd run a poll. I'm torn between the Bolt Action Cassino project, SAGA Vikings or SAGA Gallic Wars with Gauls and Romans. So I'll leave it up to you, humble reader. A big thanks ahead of time to those who vote.

Nate

Further proof...

... that I have no stickability when it comes to working through projects in an orderly manner. Exhibit B is yet another Tamiya tank, this time a Marder IIIN for my Bolt Action Cassino Fallshirmjager.

The tank is 1/48 scale and the crew are Perry Miniatures 28mm Marder crew. I'm pretty sure there were still Afrika Korps uniforms in Italy, so not too worried about that. The figures do look a little small with this scale - they probably need to be about a head taller - but as I'm not a rivet counter, I'm not too bothered about this either. In other words I have a very 'devil-may-care' attitude to my modelling!

OK, time to get cracking on those Trojans - they won't paint themselves, more's the pity.

Nate

Homeland - a SAGA game

Friday night was the first games night for a while, and I was feeling knackered, but arranged with Michael to play a SAGA game. Since finishing the Normans I was really keen to take them for an outing. I was also keen to put my SAGA scenery into our game and so we chose the Homeland scenario from the rules. In this game a six point attacker tries to clear some buildings of a defender who has less points - in this case 4.
Michael chose to take 2 units of Warriors and 2 units of Hearthguard while I took all of the Normans.

'What a lovely day it is. Not expecting any problems, just taking our shields and spears for a walk...'

'Uh-oh! Looks like we have visitors. Lucky we are all armed and our hearthguard are all in that house together. Hang on, what would they be doing in the house together if we aren't expecting any problems...?!'

'You'll never get my Flossy!'

'I'm looking for a bulls-eye but all I can see are sheep and pigs.'
'Just shut up and shoot.'

'Run Aethelathel! Those Normans are nasty!'

'Too late!'
'Cor, I fancy a bit of that les gars! Quel un beau chien!'

'Mmmm, bacon. Non! Must stay focussed!'

'New tactic boys! We'll hide,err... I mean seek cover, behind this house.'

'Darn it! They found us!'

'Ok, now might be a good time to hide in the house'

'Sorry boss, did you say come out and fight them in the open?'
'I'm surrounded by morons...'

'Victoire!!!! Allons enfants de la patrie...'

'Oh haw haw haw! Time to party. Ou sont les moutons?'

In hindsight I don't think I was allowed to charge my hearthguard into Mike's warrior unit that was right beside the building which had been occupied by the Anglo-Danish Hearthguard, but I'm still not 100% sure. Does remaining VS away from occupied buildings unless engaging them apply if you charge a unit that is within VS of them, make them withdraw and then you are left there? (This is an open question to anyone reading.)

The battle board gave me some wicked archery in the first couple of turns from my levy and the crossbows. This was followed up by the Hearthguard charging and basically winning the day. The Norman warriors on foot pretty much sat on the sidelines and cheered.

Admittedly it took until turn 6 to win, and I don't know what might have happened if Mike had sat back in his building and saved his battle board abilities for me to charge, but in all it was still a really enjoyable game and I am proud of my new Normans.

Nate

It's official ... FoW Great War

The sales sheet was leaked a while back, but now it is official - Flames of War are producing figures and rules for WWI!

The cover for the Great War supplement

They are starting with 1918 - my favourite year in my favourite conflict, and so it will have tanks, infantry using similar tactics to WW2, and semi-open warfare. Some people have bemoaned that BF has not started with 1914, but these are people that probably do not understand that 1918 is not a one-dimensional trench slog. They also don't understand that from a business perspective the target audience is FoW gamers who might want to try a new period, and that tanks are something that these people are used to.

Others have complained that the French have been ignored, but this is a small release in a new period. There is no point from a business perspective in producing a vast range of figures from Czech Legion to the Russian Woman's Death Battalion if it isn't going to sell.  Needless to say that if this is successful, French will probably be released, and if they are released they will definitely be purchased by at least one gamer (that is me).

The starter companies of 1500 points look very tasty at US$100 each (the NZ peso being exceptionally strong at the moment), and I've convinced my wife that they would make an ideal birthday present this August. These can be expanded with a range of blisters that are being released alongside the company boxes. They are also making a range of scenery including a trench system for US$70. All of this is rather affordable.

Since selling my 28mm WWI figures I have toyed with the idea of 15mm, but not seen it through. That will now be changing! I can't wait!

Nate

Normans and a Sherman

That's what I have painted this week.

Great to hide behind - the Sherman! Tamiya 1/48 has more bulk and is a better fit for 28mm figs than 1/56 IMHO.

Just what the Fourth Armoured Brigade in 2 NZ Division was designed for - infantry support in heavily built up areas...

I've spent a considerable amount of time with hand-painted chipping, oil paint streaking and pigment placement to make this beast come alive. And when I finished I realised that it had no tank markings. So I've painted on the formation insignia - red squares with the tank number in them. Not sure if they are correct, but I wanted 18th regiment so it had to be red, and I wanted tank 8, which I think is in a square, but I'm unsure. It doesn't bother me a great deal to be honest. Nowhere near as much as the fact that red on green makes my colour blindness go mad. I can't actually see the insignia on the second photo and on the first it flashes like Xmas tree lights as my eyes try to work out what the hell is happening. How does it appear to 'normal' people? How the hell did anyone come up with red and green as the colours of Xmas? Someone, somewhere obviously hates me and wants me to say 'Bah, humbug!' a lot.

I also managed to complete my Norman bowmen, which means that I now have two completed 6 point armies for SAGA. Once the Vikings are complete it will be time for a solo campaign, I feel.

You may think Levy are worthless, but who took down King Harold, huh? Give you a clue, it wasn't those bloody toffs on horses!

This week the Trojans are on the painting tray. We'll see whether I can get through them in time for an update next Sunday. I've decided that I will aim for a post every Sunday to try to keep myself regular (that and metamucil). It is the best I can do in a congested life where blogging has to be the fourth priority after family, work, and painting.

Nate

Kiwis at Cassino

I've taken a break from painting the Trojan Wars project  because I like to mix up my painting in order to stop things from getting stale. My digression has been the first section in my Bolt Action World War Two project which is Kiwis vs Green Devils at Cassino (or at least in Italy).

First, a close up of the section corporal. I haven't painted his stripes yet.

The Bren gun team are part of the advance.

Here is the whole section.

All figures are Black Tree Designs. They are nice sculpts, but for some reason a few of the figures have the gas mask slung on the chest like in the First World War or the Blitzkrieg period. It doesn't offend me too much, it would just be nice if it wasn't there.

Along with the Brits I painted up some important characters that I ordered from Redoubt Enterprises.

PIGS!

and SHEEP!

Nate