New adventures in paint and time

  You may remember a couple of posts ago I mentioned that one of my aims for the year was to update my paint set. For those of you that weren't reading this blog back in 2019 (I mean, why would you?) when I started to dip my pinkies back into miniature painting after an almost thirty year absence I decided to make My own paint set. The reasons for this were:

1) I had only just got the painting bug so didn't want to invest too heavily into paints and equipment. 

2) Mrs Sprinks is an arty sort who already had a massive selection of acrylic paints, seemed reasonable to think I could do something with things we already had.

These sort of paints, we have a bazillion of around the gaff.

3) miniature paints are very (and I do mean very) expensive for what you get. I am lucky to be in the position to be able to pay £3 for a thimble of paint but it soon adds up and I have far better things to spend that money on.

4) playing around with chemicals is fun!.

 Now up until then I had used Mrs Sprinks' paints straight from the tube and found them a bit thick and grainy, I tried thinning them with water but that just ruined the consistency and coverage.  not ideal but after a little research and mucking about I managed to come up with a good thinner formula that even I could handle that was giving the consistency and finish I wanted.

 Basically I saw this video and thought to myself 'im nicking that'...and I did!.

   I have been using this thinner for a few years now, making up bottles of pre thinned paints as and when but because I have been on a two year learning curve some of my paints are exactly as I want them but some...err...still need work to get the results I'm after.

  So having got to the paint where I can say I almost know what I'm doing. I decided to replace my frankenpaints with a new uniformly thinned set that would always be ready to go right out of the bottle. And that's what I have been doing.

  I decided to make the new set along the Wargames foundry triad system method, you make separate base, shade and highlight tones for each shade you want so you can paint in layers. 

This, basically I saw this and thought to myself 'im nicking that'...and I did.

  I think even if I decide not to paint with this method I will still have plenty of shades to play around with. 

    So I ordered far too many 15ml dropper bottles and set to swiping Mrs Sprinks' paints and knocking up a new paint set.

This one!.

Some paint triads made by a chimp!. I have written out the 'recipe' I used to make these Here if anyone wants to give it a go.

  It took me just over a day to mix and decant them all at a fraction of the cost of your average miniature paints. If you work off of an average cost of £3 per pot this lot would have cost  almost £350! And I had lots of fun mixing them, there is something very calming about the whole process, can't wait to get some minis undercoated to give them a whirl...

...'till next time ..

Command bases

  Having given Fantastic Battles a go and having come to the conclusion they are pretty darn good I decided to paint up some command bases for my multi-based forces that up until now had none. Commanders are really important in the game, the loss of them can pretty much doom your army to nuckleheaded movement and sad, sad (and kind of funny) defeat. I intend the commanders to be used for my 10mm fantasy forces.

 

First up are the commanders for the Iron Badgers mercenary company  

 

General Welchingtonne, leader and founder of the (in) famous Iron Badgers. The 3rd son of the Earl of Welchingtonne, he is a born soldier and leader with very little patience for anyone he considers below his station.

 Brother Glover, the company record keeper, padre and magic user. He never intended to join a military unit of any type, he just woke up one day in a tent belonging to the Iron Badgers after a legendary 5 week bender and has no idea how to get home. He's not even a priest, he was just wearing the cassock when he awoke. His real names Gavin...he thinks.

Captain Spalcher is the Generals right hand man and the company 'beating a man half to death for no particular reason' champion. By a country bloody mile. He is a naturally cold, hard man who has found his true vacation and plans to stick to it.

  Sargent Gifford Tappitsworth is best known for his calm, encouraging leadership style and easy manner on the battlefield. Often he can be heard geeing up the troops with phrases like 'oh come on lads, we're only outnumbered 6 to 1, we've had worse', or ' Don't just stand there, the gigantic and very angry fire breathing dragon won't kill itself, get stuck in!'. The rank and file think they like him...

  I also painted some commanders for the press ganged troops of the towns on the border of the wastes which have now been taken over by the Badgers.

Mayor Duckett, leader of the town of Wayward-Nowhere, the largest settlement bordering the wastes  He is a stickler for detail in all folk he deals with, even if he does often have half his breakfast down his breastplate.

Sargent Digby 'red fury' Dibbleswort, scourge of the wastes, or so he tells everyone. Basically he has a bit of a temper and thinks it's some kind of virtue.

  Corporal 'tally ho' Wilkinson, currently in command of the border town of Spillin-Over (population 76). Has a can do attitude and can't get on with those that don't. He tends to lead from the front, normally because most of the lads know they can push him out ahead to attract arrows.

  Sheriff 'Sparrow Hawk' Callhoon, Meanest lawman in the wastes. Known for being hard but fair. I.e. he always works hard to prove his targets guilt once he's decapitated them. In fact it was his creative police work that got him transferred to Wayward-Nowhere in the first place.

  I thought it would be an idea to do some for the Badgers current opposition and scourge of the wastes The Bastard Sons of the most black'ed Crow

  Ol' Papa Crow is the devious patriarch of the Crows, ruling over his extended brood with an iron fist.

 Big Bear Crow, current bearer of the Crows whistling totem known as the 'dinner bell'. He is the largest of the gang, it has been rumoured he ate a whole Ogre in one sitting , making him a legendary figure among his peers.

'Dirty' Ma Crow, witch of the wastes. Ma is not really a member of the Crows, although she is believed to be the mother of more than a few of them. She lives away from the Crows, traveling where ever her gut takes her to sell her various cure all's and potions to travellers and outlaws she encounters. She also serves as Papa Crows eyes and ears in the wastes,  settlers that get a visit from Ma can expect the Crows to not be far behind.

  The black Weasel, outlaw, outcast and all round git. the man known only as The Black Weasel has been exiled to the wastes for years. He was Chased to Wayward-Nowhere after he pushed his luck too far in proper society and was chased from there by Sheriff Callhoon shortly after. He was found half dead and definitely mad by the Crows and was spared the pot as he convinced Papa he has inside knowledge of the border towns that could prove useful... 

...'till next time...

Q) When's a Mongol not a Mongol?

  A) When he's a Bastard son of the most black'ed Crow.

Simple really.

 I feel I should clarify. Having finished my 10mm Swiss and Burgundian Ordonnance armies i fancied putting together another force, mainly to give the Swiss steamroller a challenge. So looking through Ancient and Medieval wargaming by Neil Thomas to search for suitable opposition I stumbled soon the Mongol list. Loads of missile horse and nippy lads to stretch the Swiss line and evade their doubleduppikeblocksofdeath However, the spirit of historical accuracy reared its head and I must admit to being pretty sure the forces never actually met (I could be wrong but the map of the world would point to it being unlikely). However I really wanted a speedy force of horse botherers. So the answer seemed simple. Invent a fantasy army!.

Introducing the first batch of units for the Bastard sons of the most black'ed Crow.

I planned to collect some fantasy forces in 10mm eventually so why not build one using the Mongol list as a base?. In my head they are a mash up of modern bikers, waste land barbarians and backwards rednecks. One of many tribes (or are they extended family?) that infest the wastes running contraband, raiding isolated farmsteads, protecting their 'turf' and engaging in all other brands of banditry. 

They are pendraken sarmatians painted with modern day biker gangers in mind, hence the attempt at black leather waist coats and blue jeans on all the models. I painted the bows and banner poles red to contrast the brown horses and also as a nod to early 90's G.W., I've decided the tribe use the natural materials of the wastes so carry bitchwood weapons.

 Another reason I wanted to do an all mounted force is because I have an aversion to painting horses, so doing an army full should be a suitable 'kill or cure' remedy for my issue!. I just need to work out what I'm doing for banners and I should be able to crack on.

 Also I was looking through some old miniatures and came across my 12mm kallistra Medieval armies, which were one of the first painting projects I completed a few years back. I plan to use them to build some retinues for an upcoming project. So I decided to strip and repaint a few to see how they clean up.

 I painted a few horsemen and decided to compare them with some of my earlier attempts.

Hopefully you can tell which ones I have just painted!. The point of this I suppose is that although I'm an averageatbest painter I was surprised how much progress I have made in terms of my painting style and general standard of my attempts. It's easy to feel like you aren't getting anywhere but by comparing these paint jobs I can see I have improved and be pleased with the progress I have managed. Give it a go, you will surprise yourself.

'till next time...

The Battle of Stumpclaw Way

Hello all. I decided to grab a moment to play another test game for my new element based rules. This time i attempted to put the rules under the stress of a really big battle to see what happened. But first:

Their best album....fact!!.

As I was saying I decided to set up a game that would stretch the rule system. No fancy narrative here unfortunately as I set things up and went at it, I used my kallistra 12mm armies which I decided to split along the lines of goodly human forces (red/yellow and blue/white) Vs an unhinged necromancer and his minions and henchfolk (black/yellow and black/white). I have yet to work out either a magic or points system so the necromancer is classed as a regular commander and I have no idea if the forces are actually balanced in any way.  It's also worth noting that I set up the table to be bloody awkward for both sides hence Stumpclaw Way and it's ruined watch tower was placed in such a way to create bottlenecks and force the units to 'clump' to put the rules for large combats with multiple units under strain.

Stumpclaw way by daylight, forces deployed ready for battle. The ultra evil Necromancers lot to the left and the goodly two daps to the right.

 The main evil battle line is formed.

 Spectres and Git Hounds on the right flank.

When horses go bad. Evil horse on the left.

 Captain evil pants himself flanked by his risen minions!.

His opposite number, the high commander of the goodies has a similar but better tactic, he's surrounded by giants!.

 The good Blokes battle line from the rear.

Their right also overloaded with horse riding types.

This is the first massive battle with these rules. One thing I wanted to stretch was the activation mechanics I am using. The rules use command dice to determine the number of activations each player has each turn. The players roll 1d6 per commander and then take turns to use one dice at a time, activating that number of units. Both forces in this battle started with 4 commanders which should show any major issues with the system. I have also been working on some reactions unactivated troops can utilize during the opponent's activation so even if you roll low on your command dice your troops can still react to the enemy. With that in mind I started the game.

 The action begin with hidden scouts from both sides revealing themselves and engaging in an archery duel.

Which was won in short order by the baddies!.

More good guy scouts jumped out of the treeline over on their left, a decision that looked decidedly dodgy when they saw what was heading their way!.

In the centre both sides advanced their archers and had at it as the sound of twanging filled the air.

 On the goodly right the horse advanced, Knights splitting off to cover the flank of the bow line.

The early stages of the battle.

 Despite attempting to fire and fall back the scouts on the good folk left are pounced upon by the Git hounds.

Prompting the sending of fresh troops to make sure the flank would hold.

 On the other flank the charge (and counter charge) was sounded.

The archery battle in the centre was not going the bad guys way as foot troops were ordered forward.

 One of the spectres couldn't resist a quick haunting in the ruined tower.

The necromancer ordered some of his horse to break off from the left through the pass to bolster the main attack.

 Having polished off the scouts the Git hounds faced some stiffer opposition.

The necromancer ordered his probing foot troops into combat to end the enemy ranged threat.

 Leaving one of the commanders exposed!. An opportunity the goodies were keen to exploit.

Some really very evil horse charged in to help their stranded superior.

Both sides commit troops to try to swing the combat on the arrow line.

Which ended badly for the baddies!.

 The Git hounds were also having a hard time over on the right and would soon be routed.

In the center fresh troops were committed.

 Having claimed the flank a unit of good Blokes push on to threaten the enemy rear.

The situation as it stands.

 The bad folk send in the main attack.

 Which successfully breaks the enemy archers.

However the good guys send in their best in response.

Which has an immediate impact, turning the enemy troops.

 The one bright spot for the not nice force is the breaking of the enemy cavalry over on the left. The horse on horse action had been in the Ballance all game but due to the narrow space had forced a string of really boring stalemates.

With the situation looking grim the chief evil dooer charged along with his reserves.

 Which ended in a bad guy flavoured collapse.

Come on guys we can take 'em....guys?.....

This seemed like a good place to call it. Aside from a few cavalry units over on the right the evil lot were done as an effective fighting force. The whole game lasted about 5 turns and took an hour and a half to play to a conclusion so I'm taking that as a win. I still need to play another big game as neither side lost any commanders until really late in the day so I will need to try it with less command dice for one side. All told it was lots of fun and gave a real 'fantasy battle' feel which is good. You never know, I may be ready to type these up soon......



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