Gerrr arrrggg...errr...arrrggg Gerrr?

 I've been painting zombies. These ones:

They are 1/72 scale miniatures from Dark alliance. They are pretty nice, not much flash to deal with and with a good level of detail.

 

 They are for another of my planned projects for this year, Osprey publishings Last Days.

 A very simple but charming set of rules with a  nice looking campaign system.

  Hence this lot. The rules say you need twenty zombies but I've done twenty two because I'm a rebel to my very core and no books going to tell me how to game. Next up is the collection of poor sods that have to deal with the shambling masses...

 'till next time...

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......

Bbbuurrrrrrrr!!!!!

 As you may know storm Emma (whos naming these things?, i know an Emma who's got a temper but still, not the most awe inspiring name...) is battering the isles of Albion with swathes of white stuff and rather high winds.Being a member of the 'van driving community ('oi mate call that driving?/parking?/braking? etc'....) as a service engineer The net result for me and most of us here is the rare phenomenon known as a:

                                               



  While performing the tasks most associated with such a day (building snow folk and pelting the Sprinklings with balls of the stuff) my eye was taken by a table we have in the garden and the rusted cogs of my damaged mind began to turn:

Natural born terrain!!!!!

 So with the Sprinklings inside for dry clothes and hot soup your 'intrepid' blog botherer nipped inside to grab a few bits and this resulted:

    INTO THE WHITE; A TALE OF ADVENTURE AND DARING DO (ON A TABLE IN THE  BACK YARD OF AN IDIOT!!)

     

 Over the wind swept tundra they trudged, a generic adventuring band on the hunt for an evil wizard of some type or other some bloke in a pub said was up to no good. The olde Gyglaxians was their title and no mission was too dangerous for them (for they were level 5, except the elf who was 6 and would not shut up about it!). Four was their number, and stereotypical was their make up. They were led by a noble knight (lawful too a fault) by the name of Sir Goodeemann, what he was doing adventuring as a knight was unknown, surely an anointed knight had lands to manage and surfs to push about the place but their you are!.  He was accompanied by his faithful followers, Gladeyss Treetickler the elf, Foppish he was but none could equal him with a bow (except all other elves obviously!), The parties wizard Uldenn the unwashed, an unashamed hippy who ducked out of any fight (not because he was a coward, oh no, but as a 'buffer' and 'healer' he was more use alive or so he would have you believe!). Lastly came Thorric 'shorty' Anvilknockker, the worlds tallest dwarf. He would tell you he was a 'half dwarf' but how that came about is best not followed up (considering his mum has a beard). Onwards they strode, no cold or ice could sway them from their cause.

'Chuffin' eck as like its brass bleedin' monkeys oot ere' Exclaimed Gladeeyss in his effeminate elven prose. 'Aw much bloody further do we 'ave ta trudge i can bearly feel me trotters!'.
'Fear not oh master of the shrubs', Answered Sir Goodeeman cheerily, 'Mangled Corpse ridge' is almost over and soon we will come to the valley of 'Small kittens and cup cakes' where the foul and evil wizard we hunt makes his home!'.
'Wait up a mo, did you say Mangled corpse Ridge?,' exclamed Thorric, 'Where all those people died in that battle and their corpses were left for the ravens and vultures and hamsters and that to feast on?'.
'Thats the one', replied Sir Goodeeman, 'Looks rather nice in the snow don't you think?, and have no fear of this place fellows, i bet the slaughter that occurred here will have no bearing in any way on our journey in these next few paragraphs'.
'Aye looks reet champion n' that, shame its so bloody cold for chuffs sake'. Retorted the elf throwing his cloak around him.

'Hey guys i, like, think i remember a spell to keep you warm from my apprentice days' chimed in Uldenn the wizard, 'I'll give it a go. Now it goes...oh how is it.....um......(get ready at the key board)....ullakk, nullakk spullak boat, make it like a duffle coat, iffle, niffle, hiffle stones, bring new warmth too frozen bones'. That should do it!'.
''Well i feel a bit warmer' said Sir Goodeeman encouragingly.
'Well i blimmin dont' retorted Gladeyss, 'are you sure that spell was right?'.

......While the party stood discussing the finer points of why Uldenn was a crap wizard the ground began to rumble in a threatening manor......

......and long dead bones started to rise once more.......

  '.....and that time you blinded us with that mystic light, and you burned my backside 'saving' me with that fire ball, and you turned me into a chaffinch for almost a week and....'

'BLOODY HELL!!' shouted Uldenn pointing into the near distance 'ITS AN ARM!!!'

'WELL OF COURSE ITS AN ARM!' Thorric responded,'WHAT ELSE ARE YOU GONNA POINT WITH???!!!'.

'NOT MY ARM, THAT ARM!!!!'.

The party turned as one to follow the direction Uldenn was pointing.

'Godzukes!!' started Sir Goodeeman, 'Skeletons!!. 

As more and more of the dead rose the party sprang into action like a well oiled adventuring team should when faced with low level generic monsters!!.

 Sir Goodeeman and Thorric steamed into the enemy scattering frozen bones in all directions.

 Gladeyss took on some undead archers in a duel of arrows, knowing the skeletons had no eyes!.

Quickly the brave adventurers hacked through the enemy. 'Not so bad, more a work out than anything else!' Quipped Sir Goodeeman as he sliced through his final opponent. 

'Speak for yourself pal', replied Thorric, thick red blood spilling from a wound in his shoulder.

'Aah this is where the crap wizard comes into his own then is it?' said Uldenn stepping forward. 'Anyone got anything to say?'.

'Jus' bloody 'eal im beardy or i'll ave to stick an arra somewhere painful' answered Gladeyss with a glint in his perfect sky blue eyes.

'All right all right' conceded Uldenn, 'at least let me go up to that ridge for dramatic effect' he said pointing at a raised snow bank.

'Oh very well' said Sir Goodeeman 'but please make it quick'.

  Uldenn crested the ridge and took a deep breath of cold air, healing he could do, it was a day at the office for him and besides, the wound was just a scratch in truth, no problem. He readied himself and raised his staff and in his most dramatic voice he bellowed the ancient words:

              Fipple, bipple, snipple, bell, Heal the wounds and make all well. Andoo, mandoo, fandoo, buzz, make the form as it once was!' He smashed his staff into the snow for effect and as it landed he felt a slight tremor in the earth. Then he saw slight movement in the snow beneath him:

'OHCRAPOHCRAPOHCRAPOHCRAP!!!!!!!!!

Gladeyss moved up beside him and glanced at the scene below. 'You've gone an' done it again ant ya!!. Nice one wazzock!'.

And with that the brave Olde Gyglaxians charged once more into glory?.....

....or death?.

...Frankly i'm not sure as my fingers were flippin freezing so i called it a day and went inside for soup and central heating like a sane 'normal' type person. But you know what, that was the most fun i have had gaming for a while, i'm not sure what the neighbours made of it but who cares?. Also playing by following a loose narrative as it wrote itself rather than a strict rulebook was good as it opened up the options of what i could do, after all it was about the heros, the skellies were more plot points then real threats.

For rules i loosely used this as a base:

Now theres a classic!, i made some characters, used the wizard as a plot device rather than creating spells but did let him 'shoot' and i treated 'groups' of enemies as single monsters with each skeleton giving 2 stamina points to the group as a whole. But enough of the rules piffle, theres hot chocolate (with marshmallows!) to drink so i'll popping off......

......'Till next time, stay warm......

             

Workorcs of the world Unite!! (AAR)

  Yay i got this one played finally!!. Part of the delay was working out which rule set i fancied playing, I was uhming and of course aahing over Kings of War or Dragon Rampant or even Chaos Wars before in a flash of laziness i decided to have a bash at my own Blood, Guts and Rampant Hex 'system' (i use that term loosely!), mainly to give it a run out on these pages but also to prove it actually works!!.  But before i get into the game here's a little bit of bollo....er extra prologue (you can find the first part here):

  'The Malevolent Allan stood on the Dank Ramparts of the Fort of Dark Cragges, the seat of all evil in the northern Badlanddes, until last month the largest employer of minions, orcs, ogres and other evil doers within a 15 mile radius. Before it was full of growls, roars, clatters, curses and other sounds such a ragged workforce would bring but now it was steeped in an odd eerie silence and the smell of damp earth and rotted flesh. Allan had discovered a dusty tome that had changed his whole approach to executive evil. He had devoured many chaotic sector management guide books over the years including such classics as 'Olde Worlde, New You; managing evil in a changing world', 'Orcs are from Wastelands, Beastmen are from Farms', and the ever popular 'Torture on a Budget, 1001 ways to control an unruly workforce'. None however would have the effect of his latest find. 'Ye Bookee o' the Dedde, Easy necromancy for total and utter beginners' was a turning point in his career. Why spend good gold on lazy, uneducated, foul smelling creatures when you can raise (admittedly still uneducated and foul smelling) armies of minions to do your bidding?. No more public holidays, no more shirking, no more smart arse goblins answering back, just blank mindless husks forefilling his every dark whim!!!.
  He had wasted no time sacking the useless lazy fu*kwits that made up his workforce and ordering his first batch of fresh cadavers from 'graverobbers2U' (stiffs on demand, order before the witching hour for next day delivery...er....etc). The incantations were presented phonetically so raising them was a doddle (it did require the use of a necromatic mist that had proved rather 'clingy' but such is the cost of  ultimate dark power). Before he knew it he had a whole new workforce ready to roll 'fresh' from the afterlife!. Induction day had shown up some difficulties (what with instructions needing to be no more than 3 words long and bits needing re-attaching frequently) but his new workforce had proven not only obedient but relentless in their duties. Productivity had gone through the roof and best of all they were free!!!!, life had never been better.in the wrongdoing and general naughtiness sector.....until the letter arrived!.
    But he would show them!, bloody URTEII...or was it URRTI....or UTTIT or whatever they were called (sounded like the noise you made passing a difficult stool!). If they wanted to shut him down they were welcome to try!. The lazy bastards he had fired had been vanquished in every dark deed he had sent them on, to think they could stand before him!, bloody cheek of it!. Let them come he brooded, let them try, his new workforce would grind them into mush! and he would stand up here with the wind in his jewel encrusted cowl to enjoy the show. And what made it even better was the fact that once they were done he would raise them again to work for him for free!!. Ah poetic justice!.....

The Evil one himself inspects his forces

THE GAME

   As stated above i'm using my own hex based rules to play this one. My board allows for quite large forces so i thought i would go for 60 points per side, they are as follows:

The Malevolent Allan's recently deceased reanimated workforce.......of death!!!!

5x General operatives (of evil) (light foot @20 points)

2x Ballistic department assistants (of doom) (missile foot @10 points)

2x Undead Ogre stockroom operatives (of darkness) (heavy foot @ 10 points)

2x Logistic solution delivery teams (of naughtiness) (light riders @14 points)

An order of magic scrolls (@ 4 points)

All of Allans workforce are from the Alliance army of the dead range except the Ogres who are from Mantic. The force are on Black bases with white trim (and leftover necromantic mist).

Here they are in battle formation:

Its blurry because they were moving honest!.

The unified pickets of U.R.T.E.I.I. (Darklanddes devision);

4x Disgruntled Orc unionists (light foot @16 points)

2x Workless warg riders (heavy riders @14 points)

3x union missiles (missile foot @15 points)

1x U.R.T.E.I.I regional Dispute resolution team ( heavy foot @5 points)

1x Itchybitz the giant, U.R.T.E.I.I recruitment officer and head fundraiser (monster @ 6 points)

1x order of magic scrolls (@ 4 points) 

U.R.T.E.I.I.s members have black bases with green trim and are by dark alliance except Itchbitz who is a reaper bones miniature. And here they are conducting a peaceful protest on the edge of Allans lands;

Sprinkling 2; son of sprinks was still up when i was setting up and asked if he could help so i let him set up the union side. He did a decent job but still, i should be able to beat a force deployed by a 9 year old right?.

 The game was to be played over 5 turns and the objective of the union fighters was to get into the hex in the doorway to Dark Cragges, if they could do so they would win the game. The forces of Allan had to prevent this from happening. 

Heres how the forces (and the table) were set up:

To battle...

 To begin both forces rolled to see if any magic scrolls turned up from the S.T.P.W.T. Both sides rolled 2 scrolls!. Allans lot got Bollocs Brandee of Bravery insannee and Dolcivanians domee of protectieon. The Union guys rolled Oldde reddes mystte and Callahannes Cloudee of confusieon.

Allans forces move out towards the picket line, in hind sight it could be seen as an act of provocation...

The first action sees the riders of Allan slam into the resolution team of chaos warriors (who would later claim they were appealing for calm and any damage caused in answer was purely accidental!).

Feeling the opposition have overstepped the line as far as conflict management goes the protesters become the provocateurs and the bloodshed begins!!.

Ever confident the dark one looks on from the shadows of the ramparts!

                                 Blows begin to rain down as the undead  start to give ground.

Heavy riders prove how powerful they are as they plow into the enemy line.

They also prove rather sneaky....

The dead pile tells the story of the undead plight.

Up until this point Allan has posted his big hitters on guard duty by the forts gates.....

....but in desperation they are committed.....

...and have an immediate impact!!. However the Wag riders spot a gap in the enemy line.....

 And make a dash for the gate!.

YYARRGGGHHHH!!!, WE'LL SHOW YOU WHAT A SACKIN' IS!!!!'.

The scene as the fort falls!!!.

  That was a surprisingly quick and simple game, even though the undead took a pounding they almost held out, it was the 5th turn when the Warg riders made their mad dash for the gate. It looks like Dark Cragges has become the subject of a hostile take over!.

    Well that was my first game of the year, i hope the next comes along a little quicker!. 

...All that remains is to welcome Mr Mike McGuinness and the interesting to type X_BriX to the bottom of the barrel that is this blog!. I cant see if you guys have blogs but if you do please pop a link into the comments as it would be great to check it out (or just say high if you want!). Welcome to both of you!.

......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.......