A public shaming!.

Yep, you read the title correctly.......but first:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Before there was grunge.....there was Mudhoney!!!.


  Right on to the naming and ruddy shaming (rant upcoming!).

    My wife, the Amazing Mrs Sprinks was right, there i have said it!. Do i feel better.....well, sort of!. 'but what was she right about?' i hear you cry, well Mrs Sprinks has often been known to proclaim the mighty maxim 'DONT YOU HAVE ENOUGH LITTLE MEN BY NOW YOU WONDERFUL, BUFF, KINDHEARTED EXAMPLE OF A MAN?' (she may not use those words exactly). My normal response being to don the metaphorical smoking jacket and quip 'My dear, you simply cannot have too many of these wonderful little toys, for there is much to explore. Dont worry your pretty head about such things' for the record this response was never finished in its entirety and always ended in '.OWW!!'.

 But i have finally come to the realization that she may have a point!. I know, pick yourself up oh fellow hobbiest and gurdle your loins, this next bit may require the use of smelling salts to plough through!. I had decided to sell off a few bits and bobs i was never going to get on the table to fund the purchase of some more 12mm goodness and to that end i decided it would be a good idea to organize my collection of 1/72 plastics to see what was surplus. I skipped to the hobby area (where Mrs Sprinks keeps the 'little men' out of eyeshot of visitors!) with a roll of plastic sandwich bags in hand to quickly execute said task and then put my feet up. Two hours later i had maybe sorted a fifth of my bits and run out of bags!. With hindsight this should have sounded the alarm in my head that all was not well. Another roll of bags and three days later the plastic goodies are sorted into sets ready to decide whats staying. It looked like this!:

Millie the Wronghammer hound included for scale!.

  It was at this point i realized i may have a problem!.

 So, it is with head bowed i admit i am a hoarder of plastic with far more minis than i will ever use, its no wonder i can never stick to one project with all this nagging away at me for a go on the table!. So the first step to recovery they say is admitting you have a problem. Check. The next one is to get ruthless and sell off the stuff that is surplus.! Lummie, that may be a huge task!. So i will be chucking a few batches of stuff on the 'bay to shift it in the next few weeks, looking to keep only what i will actually use in projects (and what i can realistically paint in one lifetime!). However there are two things i will do first. First, dear readers of this bobbins, is to show the bits for sale here first for you guys before they hit ebay. You guys put up with my cruddy blabbings so its only right you get first dibs (although i may be simply enabling some of you!). If you fancy any of it leave a comment and i will get back to you. Twhit:

Caesar Libyan Warriors

Zvezda Persians

Zvezda Austrian Pikes and muskets one full set on sprue and some odd bits.

Dark Dream Studio Landsknechts

Red box 16th cent Italians

Revell Normans

A f**ktonne of Mini Art Medievals. (my legs not included!)

Red box and Orion Turkish troops.

  The second thing is to say that if in the time you have been reading this blog you have seen any bits you think you would like feel free to leave a comment and i will see what can be done.

.......'till next time......

It'll never happen!!!!!

 The last post got me wondering, i know i have loads of 'dream' projects i would love to do but know deep down i will probably never get round to. For example i would love to game out the final battle in:

 How cool would that be?!!. I also think it would be doable in 20mm plastic these days as medieval blokes are well catered for and the undead army could be done by mixing

The Red Box undead types with:

Ceaser undead (pic from plastic soldier review),  could provide some of the personalities for the army of darkness, Sheila could be on the end and Evil Ash could be converted from the guy in the middle left?.

The Oldsmobile may be harder but im sure ebay would provide a body in the right scale.....

......This beast could be done?.....

 Other projects that could be fun would be some of the battles of Westeros. I am a fan of George RR Martins Song of ice and fire setting, i love the politics and relationships between the families and houses that constantly switch and shift as the various factions vie for any advantage. If you have ever done office work you may recognize the traits!!. Some of the battles described in his work would be great fun to game in my opinion. The Blackfire rebellion where the bastard sons of house Targaryan rose to try to take the throne would be fun, as would Roberts rebellion and the battle of the trident.

Hugs, Westaros style!.

As stated above minis would be pretty easy to source as the psudo-medieval setting in 20mm is if anything over saturated so you would be spoiled for choice!.

 Im not the worlds biggest sci-fi fan but a battle that would be amazing on the games table would be from the movie Starship troopers. 

Doogie Howser in sppaaacccceeeeeee!!!!!!

The one where the roughnecks are stranded in an abandoned outpost while masses of bugs swarm towards them!.

The idea of a small force outnumbered over 10 to 1 attempting to hold out while transports arrive to rescue them is always a fun and tense game but something about the setting really works for this battle in particular. The film itself is not much to write home about but the set pieces are fun and great for these types of ideas. As far as minis go any 20mm moderns could work for the human troops

These would do the trick? (pic from Toy soldier H.Q).

As for bugs, how about Games workshop Tyrinids spring to mind.

Ooooh buggy!! (pic from Spikybitz)

 All of this will probably never happen but its nice to think about from time to time.....oh well.....

 But enough about the dank reaches of my dusty old brain, how about you guys?, what projects would you love to do (money and time no object)?. Why not pool ideas in the comments below?.

.......Anyway, till next time.....

Fantasy in 1:72, or Sprinks goes ramblin' on!

 First things first i'm not exactly sure where this post is going to end up, i have had a subject on my mind recently and if i don't write down whats on my mind at the time i tend to forget bits and mix up the rest into a kind of 'mental soup'. Add to that the fact that this blog contains nothing more than first drafts of posts (that's right folks, no editing here....who'd a thunk it?!!) this is bound to go off on huge tangents and miss the mark in a ton of places. Happy reading!!!.

        Mmmmmmm, mental soup!.

                                       
 So what am i trying to cover with this soon to be a massive confusing mess of a post?, well that's a great question i can't quite answer as i'm not that sure either!....no, wait, come back....it'll be good....kinda....if, you know, you enjoy being left to unravel a stream of mind babble and.....sorry im rambling again...where was i?, oh yeah im not sure where im going........right, ignore this paragraph!!.

 Sorry, i always struggle for a start. O.k. what this post is about (in the loosest sense) is fantasy gaming in 1:72 scale and the advances made within the industry regarding well, it.

 As i have stated more than once my intro to the glories of toy soldering was two sets made by esci given to me as a gift by my Aunt and Uncle back in the eighties, these two as it goes:

Oooh the memories, me cockles are all warmed!.

As a young man well into Fighting Fantasy books and Eric the Viking, not to mention the legend of King Arthur they held so many possibilities!. I would go on to add Revell Celts and Romans to them as well as picking up Saxons and Normans and would have hours of fun as they faced off on the coffee table or bedroom floor. Then Warhammer came into my life and that was that.....

.......Well that was a short and pointless post, till nex.....hang on, Warhammer and all things 28mm may have taken over but the little plastic wonders were not forgotten. Well for a long while they were, you know how it goes, teenage years go on and hobbies are put aside to indulge in the 'cooler' past times, then girls become a thing and a job stomps into view. Then you go and get married (thats a good thing, love you Mrs Sprinks.....stop throwing up at the back!) and you need certain things like a house, car and *gulp* career. Once you get all that together and kids have sprung onto the scene the toy solder stuff may just try to creep back in!. Thats how it went for me, i re-discovered my love of gaming and playing out epic battles with tiny men (and orcs, and dragons and.....). First it was stumbling on several retro gaming blogs such as Realm of chaos 80s, Somewhere the tea's getting cold, and Oldhammer on a budget and i discovered a thing called Oldhammer was happening. Sure enough i was drawn back into the idea of getting some games on but doing so in the normal 28mm would be outside my budget and storage space, beside which, modern 28mm was a bit too...erm....bland for my tastes.  Que the little fellas, or at least the memories of them. After perusing the interweb in an attempt to find out what they were (i didn't even know they were 1:72 at this point) i fell upon the wonder that is plastic soldier review, the undisputed king of all websites ever!.As i flicked around the pages the idea of making mass battles a reality was, well, a reality!. But something was missing. 1:72 was grand for human troops of all time periods and styles, if it was quazi-historical you were after you were a happy bunny and i was but where was the fantastic?, the bits and bobs that made fantasy 'pop', the Orcs, the Dwarves, the big slavering hell beasts of death? (i dont ask for much!).  Ceaser miniatures were either mind readers or thinking along the same lines because not long after these beauties dropped:

Orcs

Elves

even undead!!! 

(these images are from plastic soldier review, you should go there, you'd like it!)

Now i was in!. The range had everything i needed and at roughly £8 for 40 they hit the budget sweet spot too!. I was a gamer again!. Then Dark alliance happened and suddenly even more walls came down!. Ceaser would go on to make Dwarves, Goblins, Zombies, Adventurers, Rat Men and Lizardmen. Dark Alliance would take Peter Jacksons' vision for Lord of the rings and go mental with it!.

War Trolls!

You read that right, bloody FIRE DEMONS!!!.

I love my 1:72 for fantasy, the price is great (as i said above boxes average out at about £8 for 40 minis), the sculpts vary in style from company to company so there is plenty of choice of 'feel', The scale itself is more practical for larger battles in my opinion but retain individuality so work just as well as 28mm for skirmish gaming.

Try doing this in 28mm!

Some folks have said they are harder to paint well and base, i would point you in this gentlemans direction (Bob will put you right). Another thing that has been great is that 28mm minis compare well if used as the larger fantasy creatures. For example orcs work well as trolls, i use games workshop Lotr orcs as ogres and think they are great size wise!. In addition big monsters in 28mm look truly massive when fielded alongside 1:72!.

28mm Reaper minis next to a 1:72 Viking, picture taken from the brilliant Cheep fantasy minis blog, i suggest you give it a look because its awesome!. 

 So why the post?, well i guess i have been wondering why more people have not got into 1:72 for fantasy (the historic sceen have been in the loop for decades). The reasons above are my reasons for enjoying them and i am in no way saying my way is 'right' as any hobby is about what works for the individual (and in terms of 'majority' im lagging behind a fair distance!) but with the cost of 28mm and the current ranges on the market i would have thought there would have been more buzz. The fantasy market has been cornered by 28mm over the years but i wanted to encourage anyone about to embark on a new project (maybe a new ruleset or army build) to give 1:72 fantasy a go to see how it compares. You can build a fair sized army for less than £25 and one box would cover all you would need for a skirmish force and storing them would be a doddle compared to the bigger boys. Why not pick up a cheep lot on ebay and see if they work for you?.

Anyway, thanks for wading through the mental soup, all that remains for me to do is to welcome Remco and Mr Chris Johnson to the weird and wired world of Wronghammer!, welcome gents great to have you along!.

......Anywhen, till next time.......

Sprinklings of fear....Getting the kids in on the act!

In my last post i mentioned i was going to float the idea of a campaign to the sprinklings (well sprinkling 2: Son of Sprinks and sprinkling 3: the Revenge anyway, although Sprinkling 1: the Spawning did do some of the wonderful photography included in this post). They not only failed to glaze over and dribble while i was explaining what that meant to them but to my surprise jumped at the idea!. We set about coming up with some ideas for games and i let them ransack my mini collection to pick their forces ( my nerves will never be the same again!). Having settled on forces of their choosing ( Undead for Sprinkling 2 and an Egyptian(ish) force for Sprinkling 3 because they had an 'AWESOME GIANT SNAKE!!!!!',  more of which later) we sat down to come up with an idea for a background and drew a campaign map. This one as it goes:

I had fun doing this i have to admit!.

The basic premise was that an old necromancer was banished to the Castle of Death by the old King of the City of peace. The King has now passed away and his son crowned. This has prompted the Necromancer to summon his forces and have a go at the old 'overthrow the King and take the throne for your own evil ends' game!. Each place on the map represents an area a game could take place in, working from the first meeting of the two forces in the wonderfully named Plane of Mid-Death (because its in the middle according to the Sprinklings). Winning a game allows you to 'push back' the enemy one area towards their capital (for example if the Undead win at the plane of mid death the next game will be at the Oasis of palm etc. Each area will be contested by using a scenario written by me (i.e. rubbish!) and can only be played once to avoid the 'yo yo' effect between two areas. The campaign is over when a player looses a game for his capital ( The City of Peace and the Castle of Death) or if all other areas have been fought over by winning in the final area.....or when one of the Sprinklings has a paddy and refuses to take part any more!.

So far lots of fun has been had (and the rules i strung together are holding up to the stress of battle at the mo which is a minor miracle!). We have played the first two games......

THE PLANE OF MID DEATH!

 We began with a basic line 'em up and kick them in type game to get us all into it, i wont go into too much detail but it went sort of like this:

The forces of the City of Peace out looking for undead to (re)murder!. They have a leader (called Pher-o i think), 2 units of Warriors, some archers and the AWESOME GIANT SNAKE!!!.

The minis are a mix of Ceaser and Zvesda, i think the cobra may be papo but im hazy on that one. The forces of the City of Peace are all based on yellow bases with a black trim.

The deadly Necromancer himself inspects his forces!. He has a leader called Dee Ceased, A unit of undead Knights, some warriors and a unit of Marsh Zombies.

They are all Dark Alliance minis and are based on black bases with white trim.....and of course a sinister and chilling mist that is not cotton wool, its mist....... honest!.

The picturesque Mid Death, just before lunch. On a Friday.

I would do a big write up but this picture shows off the generalship, cunning stratagems and tactical wonder pulled off by both leaders:

PILE IN!!!!!!!

Im just kidding they had loads of fun despite giving Dad brain ache while he tried to de-tangle the multiple combats across the table!. In the end Dee Ceased fell attempting to fend of the Snake and his mates leaving the Plane safe in the hands of the forces of peace!.

'Dead again, what am i like?!'

That meant the next game was at the Swamp of Doom as the forces of Peace pressed on towards the Castle of Death!. For that game i set up the table with patches of marsh that was impassable to all troops except Marsh Zombies. The forces of Peace had to get one unit out of the Swamp by moving off the Undead table edge, the Undead had 5 turns to stop them doing so....however, all the undeads Marsh Zombies were left off table and Sprinkling 2 wad given some 'Marsh Markers' that were tokens to be split up between the marsh sections on the table. These were used to set up zombie units in the marshes, hidden from the other side. Three of the markers represented zombie units and the rest were decoys to represent the fact that the enemy would have been weary of the marshes but not know if anything was in them or not. In his move phase the undead player could flip over any of these markers and reveal them to the opposition. He could then deploy any Zombies revealed in the area of marsh ready to be used that turn!. This did allow a small amount of suspense but sprinkling 3 was not too bothered by the hidden Zombies, he just wanted to kill anything that moved regardless!.

Sprinkling 3 shows his attitude towards Marsh Zombies!.

Anyway, the game went rather well, here are the potted highlights:

A swamp, Doom sold seperately!. (the square cards in the dark green 'marshes' are the Marsh markers for the undead).

The Peace loving goodies stormed forward, which looked like a great idea until it became clear that Sprinkling 3 had no intention to move forces off the table but to try to beat up any undead they could get their spears into!.

FORWARD!!!!!

Zombie Ogres emerge from the Marsh to smash the Knights of Peace!

The leaders tussle as more Zombies come forth!

The forces of peace make a breakthrough on the flank.....Only to charge back in next turn!.

The action ends with the last of the forces of Peace running for less smelly pastures and the Swamp in the cold dead hands of the Undead!

Both of the Sprinklings have been having fun with this and have been nagging like mad to play the next game, which will be ready for the next rainy day (which here in the U.K. will be any day you like!). So its onwards to the Oasis of Palm and an Undead ambush on the forces of peace! (cue scary organ music and demented cackling!). 

 Anyway......till next time.......

Mentally Terraforming: Tanks but no Tanks (AAR)

 I admit this game has been a strange one to write up what with the prologue being split over the previous two posts (Down the bottom of this one and the whole of this one). However 'normal' service is about to be resumed as bellow is the whole bloomin' report and also the details of the scenario i made up and played!. This is also a bit of a first for me as its the first documented ding dong between Verland and the Guilds, which has been in the offing in my mangled brain for quite some time!.

The scenario
  As the prologues suggest the game is set in the disputed state of Arradan in one of the many areas of no mans land that lay within its borders. A run away experimental Steam tank made by the Guilds has come to a stop and is stranded between two advancing forces intent on capturing it for their own ends!. The object of the game is to lay claim to the stricken tank and to drive off the enemy.

The rules
 deployment: The opposing forces set up on opposite table edges according to the normal deployment rules. I used the basic Kings of War rules by mantic but whatever rule set you are using as long as the armies are set up on  opposite table edges with a good area of open ground between the two.

 The tank: The steam tank needs to be placed in the middle of the table an equal(ish) distance between the two forces. It is well and truly broken. The crew of the tank are inside trying to bodge anything they can to get it moving again. To represent the attempted fix the Guild player may roll 1d6 at the end of his turn and consult the table below to see if the crew have managed to do anything!.

             1D6 roll                     Result
              1-4                            No luck!, the tank is still broken.
                5                              Fixed the cannon!, the tank itself is broken but the cannon is fixed, It
                                               counts as a cannon with a 360 degree field of fire that the Guild player
                                               controls.
                6                             Bodged it!, The tank may move up to 3 inches per turn and may turn up
                                               to 90 degrees before moving. The cannon is still broken unless you have
                                               rolled a 5 in a previous turn.

  The tank may not charge into combat and may not fight in any way. If it is fixed in any way the opposing Verland troops may attack it as normal. It has 1d6 hits (determined at the start of each  attack) and counts as having heavy armour (whatever that is in the system you are using, its Wronghammer, bodge it!).  Should any attacking enemy reduce the tanks hits to zero it counts as broken again and will loose the cannon and/or any movement it may had gained.

Winning: The Verland force wins if it manages to get 1 unit of unengaged troops within 5 inches of the tank at the end of the game with no Guild forces within 5 inches of the tank. Any other result is a win for whichever force kills the most enemy troops.

The forces: I used 1500 point forces for each side to give a large(ish) game. Feel free to use any size you like. Its your game after all!

GENARAL FALLACS VERLAND REPO FORCE!

Rear left to right: Pike horde, Militia horde, Pole-arms horde.
Front left to right: Crossbow regiment, General Fallac on Quentin the great eagle (counts as General on winged beast), Scout sargent Fitzerran (counts as a Hero), Crossbow regiment.

From left: Border guard regiment (mounted sargeants), Royal Guard horse regiment (count as Knights with elite), Verland Knights regiment.

The verland force are based on red and white bases and are made up of minis by Red box, Mini art and Strelets.

COMMANDER ALRRANS GUILD RECLAMATION CREW!

From rear: 2 Cannon, Commander Allran (general on horse), Pike and shot horde (a pike horde with the Ra and Special of an Arquebusier regiment).
Front: Enforcer regiment (count as foot guard with the Ra and Special of an Arquebusier troop), Pike and Shot horde (see above), Swordsmen regiment (count as shield wall).

From left: Two Guild lancer regiments (count as Knights)

The Guild forces are based on Red and Yellow bases. The force is made up of minis by Zvesda, Ceaser, Revell, A call to arms and Red box.

THE TABLE

Another quiet day in the peaceful wastes of Arradan. (photo taken from the Arradan tourist board archive).

SET UP

The center with the stricken Steam tank in the middle, Verland to the Left and the Guild force on the right.

                                              The Verland battle line ready to attack!

The Border guard and Royal guard ready to sweep the right flank.

                           Crossbows and Knights watch the left ready to spring into action!.

                             In response the Guild forces form a gun line in the center.

The horse prepare to take high ground on the flank.

The swords form a reserve to warn off any attempt to turn the gun line.

IN TO ACTION!

  The Guild horse waste no time and advance as far as they can on the Guild left ready to take the hills overlooking the tank.

In the center the guns roar.....targeting the unfortunate Militia!, the whole gun line pour shot after shot into the volunteer troopers!. Their nerve almost deserting them they just about hold on but are wavering, remaining in a disordered state!.

KABLOODYBOOM!!!!!!!!

Hearing the thunder of hooves in the ruins the Swords advance to cover the flank.

In response the Verland line attempts to push forward, however the disordered Militia block the Pole-armed troops path meaning only the Pikes and the hero can get forward!.

Not exactly a steady advance!.

On the Verland left the General and Knights advance to cut off the Guild Lancers. The crossbows on the hill open fire. On the other flank the Verland horse prepare to charge!.

'Prepare to Charge!!!!, mind the dice!!!'

Seeing the Verland pike advancing the Guild guns roar!, The pike take a pounding but hold fast!.

On the flank a Lancer regiment charge the Verland knights while the other regiment advances on the hill.

The crunching charge of the Lancers causes the brave Verland Knights to rout!.

On the opposite flank the Verland horse smash aside the Guild swords. In the center the Militia finally restore order in their ranks and advance freeing up the Poles to also move towards the steam tank.

The crossbow regiments re-position themselves to fire on the Guild lancer regiments damaging both!.

New Verland smokey crossbows in action!.

(I classed the Verland missile troops as crossbows to make them less powerful than their opposite numbers as both forces have black powder but the Guilds are more advanced in its use!)

.Seizing his chance while the Missiles rained down on the lancers General Fallac drove Quentin into the flank of the closest enemy regiment.....

Causing no damage whatsoever!!!.

In response the Lancers pivoted and crashed into the Great eagle destroying it and its rider!. The other Lancer regiment charged up the hill into the crossbows who although badly damaged stand in the face of the onslaught!.

On the left the Enforcers and a cannon turn to fire at the Horsemen sweeping around the ruins but failing to stop the advance.

The main gun line continue to pour fire into the advancing enemy. The pike again get the worst of it and eventually rout!.

Inside the Tank the crew finally manage to fix the cannon!, Much whooping and backslapping can be heard from the machine, confusing all that hear it!.

The rout of the Pike horde left the Verland center weakened so the Pole armed troops made for the Steam tank and charged it but fail to do enough damage to break it again.

The horse charge headlong into the cannon and smash it to splinters!

Things take a turn for the worst for the Verland force as the Lancers charge the crossbows again wiping them out leaving the left in the hands of the Guild horse, the other lancer regiment double back towards the tank.

W-W-W-W-WIPEOUT!!!!

In the center the Pike and shot horde break ranks to attack the Militia routing them too!.

And worst of all the Enforcers throw themselves at the Royal guard horse busy smashing the cannon but do minimal damage.......

......but when the Royal guard test to rout they roll a double 6!, automatic rout!. The Verland forces loose 3 units in one turn!. TThen the crew in the tank manage to fix it again meaning it can now move and fire!!.

The Verland Border guard charge the victorious Enforcers but fail to do much damage. The pole armed horde charge the Tank again damaging it enough to undo all the good work of the crew, who can be heard sobbing and cursing in equal measure!.

'I think its the boiler!'

Seeing the battle go against his side Scout sargeant Fitzerran chooses to try to regain some momentum for his troops and charges the closest Pike and shot horde!.......Because hes not cleaver!.

'aaarrrrggghhhhh!!!! WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING!!!!?????!!!!'

Not surprisingly he failed to do enough damage to rout them!. With the battle drawing to a close the pike and shot horde charged Fitzerran back but failed to do any damage!. A regiment of Lancers move closer to the tank in order to contest it as an objective. The last action of the game of note saw the Verland Border guard rout the Enforcers but it was too little too late!

The battle draws to a close.

At the end the tank lies between the Verland pole-arms and the Guild Lancers, the Verland force is all but broken and so is forced to withdraw without their objective. Once again the Guilds have proved that their superior fire power and training win out over tradition and heart!. 

Well that was alot of pictures!. I may move away from the Mentally Terraforming stuff for a bit. I have big plans for the next post.....something about a challenge.....i seem to recall some quotes somewhere along the line....... I just hope it comes together quicker than the saga detailed above!!.

Anyhow, thank you for taking the time to read this chapter of my silly little corner of the interweb....till next time!.....