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...
Hello all, at this time of the year a lot of us bloggerists like to look back and review the whosums and whatnots they have completed or been a part of during the last 12 months. I would also do this but the past year was a bit of a bust hobby wise. It started ok, with pike and spud making an early appearance.
The pike (the beginning of a 15mm Italian wars project...more on this in a mo...)
And the spuds (the first part of a still in progress Turnip28 project).
I then spent February piddling about with some tiny blocks of bumpkins:
Some 2mm test bases for a fantasy pike and shot faff or other (note I did get 2 armies done but didn't blog about them).
And then...
That was about it until December, where I rebased one of the few finished units I actually completed in the year:
New pikes, same minis, different bases.
Ho and indeed hum. The year was not exactly a vintage one for blogging, real life well and truly got in the way and that's understating it quite a bit. However behind the scenes I have been more productive than it would seem. I have painted 2 full 2mm forces, a few 10mm forces to go along with them (2mm for mass actions and 10mm for skirmishes). I have all but finished my force for Turnip28 and built and undercoated a few more, I have also painted 2 small sci fi forces in 15mm scale for me and Sprinkling 3:the revenge to game with... I just didn't take pictures and was not in the sort of head space to want to write about it. I realise this sounds a bit like the school kid who really does have a girlfriend in a different town but can't offer any proof but I have been painting just to keep a grip on myself, the hobby time really has been a lifesaver this year.
So that's the year that was ( that can well and truly get in the effin' sea), what's next year going to look like?
Honestly? No flippin' clue but below is a list of projects that 1) I would like to at least do something towards, 2) will help my butterfly brain keep some kind of focus and D) be entertaining to read... possibly.
- I would like to keep on going with my 15mm Italian wars project. I almost have my 2nd pike block finished (swiss this time). I plan to paint small detachments for each force, maybe a pike block, shot unit, some artillery or cavalry etc that can be fielded together in whichever way I fancy ( such as the shifting alliances were during the period). I intend this to be a slow burn project I can dip into as I reckon painting all those pike may well send me doolally if I do too many at a time!.
(At least I've coloured mine in!)
- Finish my Turnip28 force and paint up the rest I have built and get them on the table.
It's a great looking set of rules, and one I'm itching to get to grips with. Again I will probably dip in and out but hope to get enough done to get some games in by the end of the year.
- Crack on with more of my 2mm/10mm olde albilande bits so I can finally get some campaigns in my home brew setting done.
- I got given a copy of Xenos Rampant for Christmas which should be perfect for me and Sprinkling 3: the revenge to finally get some games in, this has school holiday project written all over it.
- The other rule book I got this year was the fun looking
A simple looking game for campaigning walking dead style ( groups of survivors competing over dwindling resources during a zombie apocalypse). This could be a great intro for the other folk in the house, I have ordered some red box 1/72 minis so we can build our own groups and use some of the boys toys for terrain into the bargain. Again this probably will be during the school hols.
These two boxes should let us build plenty of forces.
- Remake my paint set. Some of you may recall I made my own Paint set a few years ago. Well after quite some time I think I can do even better so plan to get a bit mad scientist and make a new one. This time tweeking the consistency of the paint and using a triad (base/shade/ highlight) system for each each colour or shade thereof a la Wargames foundry.
I have already ordered the dropper bottles I will need and have started to eye Mrs Sprinks paints with menaces.
That should give me plenty to be getting on with, I'm probably missing something and will undoubtedly get distracted by umpteen new shiny things as the year progresses but you know what they say about the best laid plans...
I included the above as my hobby activity tailed off rather dramatically at the end of last year. The whole year, well specifically from may onwards was what can only really be described as shite, a bag of to be precise.
That's the one.
It began with Sprinkling 2: son of Sprinks tourettes symptoms going utterly Tonto overnight, cue one manic phonecall from her indoors and a mad rush home to help and the tone for the rest of the year (and as it seems the foreseeable) was set. Dealing with the emotional fall out, the British medical system, the schooling system and working full time has rather taken a toll on the family that has made toy bothering rather less of a priority. However...
It is also a very welcome distraction in all this and I haven't been totally away from the brushes. I have been daubing around the periphery of a 10mm ancient British force as well as trying to pluck up the motivation to start my 10mm halfling drug cartel for fantastic battles (it's a good idea, honest!). But recently my head has been very much turned in a more... vegetably direction:
It's a game of Napoleonic post apocalyptic warfare on a proper grimdark setting...with vegetables. If that doesn't hook you nothing will!. You can download the rules for free here (Turnip28 rulebook). And I encourage you to do so. The game has a very small model count and troops are made by kitbashing any bits you fancy up to and including from the Napoleonic period. Crossed with veg. (Read the rules, it makes sense honest).
I ordered a few sprues from the bay of E and set to knocking up a few bits and bobs:
The first members of the 14th East Splaffington irregulars, aka the Spud-U-likes.
I took my inspiration from the idea of seed potato roots sprouting from my troopers, hence the thick 'eyes' on them.
A unit of Brutes, big, dumb close combat thugs, as in the setting everything is run down and broken I decided they would fix melee weapons to old muskets with rope and roots, however being a bit slow they would just bung another layer on when things got loose hence the 'birds nest' type fixings.
A force is led by a toff and his toadies, above are my toadies all riddled with roots and mucked up good.
I have gotten rather into this so have two more units ready for priming. More of these soon.
Anyway that's all there is to report for the moment, hopefully this year will see a bit more hobby activity but my breath is yet to be held!.
Well it has to be said that things have been interesting here at chez Sprinks to say the least. Sprinklings 2: Son of Sprinks and 3: The Revenge have seen a huge spike in their Tourettes symptoms, so much so that both now hit, kick, throw and swear compulsively and in the case of Sprinkling 2 have tics in their legs that mean they require a wheelchair most of the time. To top that off the amazing Mrs Sprinks is having considerable back troubles meaning she is also struggling to get about. However we are muddling through and the kids are taking it in stride as much as possible so it could be worse.
But on the bright side I have finished my 10mm not Mongol army I mentioned Here. It seems like a trivial thing with everything else going on but it's been surprising just what a great refuge a few hours hobby time can be
The Bastard sons of the most black'ed Crow ride out to commit some form of dickishness or other!.
They are a much feared gang of inbread raiders, excelling in ambushing and riding down trader caravans, trafficking contraband, raiding isolated settlements and providing mercenaries for anyone that needs them (and can stomach having them around). They are expert scavengers motivated to feed their greatest and grossest habit, that being the consumption of human flesh which takes on the center of their disgusting religious customs. The Sons are one of many such groups across the wastes that form an uneasy network to swap information and trade stolen goods and captives. When threatened the groups band together for mutual protection and can form an impressive and powerful army...if they can work together long enough.
My basic idea for the theme of the army was basically a medieval fantasy version of the classic American biker gang, but if they were cannibal rednecks. Sort of Sons of Anarchy meets Sawney Bean with a hint of Deliverance and the hills have eyes chucked onto the mix.
The latest additions:
2 units of veterans, mixed Lance and bow to follow the Mongol list I'm using as a base for the army.
The army's nobles. Heads of the extended family that is the Bastard sons.
A couple of wasteland great eagles raised and trained from chicks by the sons. Most people think these creatures are noble and majestic beasts, however all dwellers of the wastes know them to be pricks. The eagles are used by the Sons for scouting and tracking potential pray.
These eagles came from a job lot of painted bits off of evilbay, I just based them.
The army is now in a playable condition, I do have extra units of light and veteran horse waiting for paint but I have the required 8 units so I'm calling them done for now.
A Burgundian force attempts not to be eaten by horse riding wasteland loonies.
If you are wondering why the pictures have an odd black shadow in the bottom corner it's because it turns out I can't be trusted to keep a phone in one piece!. My device took a nose dive while I was completing some basic household chores and the screen and camera lenses seem to have lost a few hit points in the process. Hopefully I will have it sorted by my next post.
So further to the post i did earlier today, and the few last week this is also to set up my upcoming (yet revisited) campaign:
Before i play the first battle it occurred to me that the ideas i had when building the forces for this landthatlivesinsidemyhead should be shared in order to give you some clue as to what i was on about. So without further ado here is a brief guide into the make up of a typical Olde Albilande army.
A typical (if large) Crivenshire force.
First an overview. A typical shire army is made up of mostly 'volunteer' troops banded together into companies funded and organised by the upper crust of that shire. In Crivenshire this is the lower nobility, engaged in a kind of 'my company is bigger than yours' battle, they often take the name of the bloke bankrolling them to further 'massage' his ego. In Tuttinghammeshire its often the local business community that build the shires defense forces, the shire being made up of four smaller shires (Tuttinghammeshire, Wazzockshire, Divertonshire and Lumoxshire) the name of that shire always features large on the banner. In Berkshire its local business again doing the funding but most often using them as a promotional tool (for example 'The 2nd 'makeyougo' laxative company irregulars). Ruckinghammeshire is slightly different as the 'firms' that control different areas of the shire also control the troops, they will bear the firms name and be representing them rather than the shire (e.g. the 5th Cripplem Firm legbreaker boys). These troops are often referred to as Irregulars due to their semi-professional status and differing levels of training, also because the the standing army are known as regulars, so the name irregular would follow. On the field most Irregulars form up as pike and shot troops, being the current military fashion, where they do try bless 'em.
Richer (or flasher) backers insist on fielding cavalry. The current fashion for which being mixed groups of pistol armed horsemen supporting close order lancers. The two working together to attack with close range shots to soften up the enemy before the lancers hit home. It is also quite common for a not quite so rich backer to create light cavalry groups, fighting in loose formation and using their pistols and carbines to harass the enemy before riding to safety. Some backers will even set up artillery teams, training them way outside town boarders ready to bring long ranged death to the enemy of the shire.
Alongside the Irregulars a small standing army of trained troops are always maintained by the royal family. These troops, known as regulars are proper pro soldiers, highly drilled and with nerves of steel. The various regular companies are revered by the locals, their reputation going before them. They are posted in barracks all around the shires to represent a reminder of the power of the king before the local lords. In battle the irregulars are bolstered by the presence of these tough, grim faced killers. In peace times they form a peacekeeping force and a back up to the local law enforcement types loyal to the king in each shire. Since the unfortunate events at Crivens castle the Regulars in each shire have found that the command structure from which they are organized no longer exists, meaning the regulars from each shire, being raised from local men have joined up with the local powers that be to fight for their cause in the coming war. In battle the regulars either fight on foot in well drilled pike and shot formations or as tightly ordered mounted lancer brigades, used as shock troops to smash the enemy lines.
Speaking of lancers it is common for the shires nobles and well to do types to have their sons and nephews trained as lancers. These dashing 'ego on a horse' types place their faith in a sharp sword, a well polished lance and fine facial hair to win the day (and the hearts of as many lower born girls as they can get away with bedding before a scandal is caused). On the field they are employed as line breakers and shock types, charging into a hail of enemy lead with lances dipped and a devil may care attitude!.
Ever since the times before its settlement and subsequent civilizing the land of Olde Albilande has been home to a race of giants. Most of these huge but slow witted creatures were hunted down and killed by the early settlers but some survived, mostly in the most far flung and inhospitable areas. As the shires grew and the need for beasts of burden grew the giants were lured back to dwell with humans and to fill the roll in many building and agricultural projects. Now giants are common, working on farms and in towns, although they are not allowed the same rights as normal humans. They are also valued in the less savory industries as hired muscle and 'bodyguards'. The shires often field small groups of giants as line breakers and tank busters, their great strength, natural good humour and capacity for alcohol consumption making them surprisingly good soldiers.
In recent years warfare has been revolutionized by the invention of the tracked arsehole neutralization kontraption (T.A.N.K for short), which have been mass produced by the Pike company of weaponsmiths. The new tech utilizes the new fangled steam engine designed by the (some would say mad) genius Leonard Dubruinvinchi and has been said to be the future of warfare. The Pike company's patented line has been rolled out across the shires and although largely untested have proved popular. One small issue has been in the make up and training of crew forcing some large scale changes to the t.a.n.k.s design. A crew originally comprised of a number of Drivers, gunners, loaders, stokers and general mechanical types as required for the machines size and roll. However after the formation of the tank crews union the crew have grown to include a union rep, health and safety staff, fire safety officers, first aid teams , H. R. departments and at least one fully functioning staff canteen. Now all shires field a small number of these land ships within their forces. At present the designs available are:
The Fossridge Ferret
A small scale tank used for small scale actions. Operating in teams to hunt enemy horse and worry infantry formations.
The Stifferiton Stoat
Another small tank but slower and heavier than the ferret. Used to hunt harder targets and support infantry the Stoat is often used to soften up the enemy before the lines clash.
The mk2 Wollabridge Whippet
The whippet is a large t.a.n.k. used for transportation of troops and close support. Its large engine helps it traverse any battlefield at a fair old lick and its large capacity allows even large troop formations to be rapidly redeployed.
Stoats and Whippets support the Crivenshire irregular horse.
The Huthforde Heifer
The big boy of the range the Heifer is designed for firepower and stickability. It is far from the quickest but its thick armour and huge arsenal of weapons make it ideal for armour busting and troop support roles.
A pair of Tuttinghammeshire Heifers
Air Support is the most recent and fashionable aspect of warfare in Olde Albilande after Dubruinvinchi perfected his design for the 'air ship', consisting of a massive armoured balloon filled with rather volatile gas driven by an over sized version of his steam engine. These machines are capable of transporting troops around the field as well as filling the role of mobile firing platform when required.
A tuttinghammeshire air ship attacks a Crivenshire mobile force.
These are the forces fielded by most of the shires. There is some deviation in Ruckinghammeshire and total deviation in Lamavic but there we go. Each shire also contains some troops unique to them which will be explored at a later date (when this 'writer' can be arsed). Hopefully now when i start banging on about whippet deposited irregulars with mobile stoat support it will make a little bit of sense!. Now, on to the battle!.......
Thats right, i am almost at that 'go' stage for a new campaign (yay). But before i go into all that....
Quick riddle: What am I?, I am both crunchy and Bouncy and am best enjoyed in roughly half hour bursts?'
......No?.....
....want the answer?.........It'll be this lot:
Right, to the piffle!.
Below are the rules i intend to follow (and then later replace once i actually try them) when doing the 'grandscalebitsbetweenbattles' in my next campaign:
I have almost totally nicked the ideas for the campaign from the rather clever Peter and his ECW campaign hes playing over on his very, very, very good blog. The Campaign will be map based. I have cobbled together a map, here after referred to as ye mappe of the warring crap hole known as Olde Albilande:
A craphole....at war!.
The four shires (and Lamavic) will be the protagonists for the bloodshed to come, each shire is marked on the map with boarders in its own colour :
Crivenshire in blue.
Tuttinghammeshire in Black (their normal grey just wont show up well enough).
Berkshire in green.
Tuttinghammeshire in red.
Lamavic in yellow.
The main boarders between the shires are defined by double broken lines. Each shire is split into regions as shown by the single broken lines. In the campaign the war will be fought to gain regions from the opposing side. The two main opposing sides will be Crivenshire and Tuttinghammeshire, they are the biggest shires which each have 6 regions. Ruckinghammeshire, Berkshire and Lamavic are considered to be minor shires which may or may not join the war and will ally with one of the main shires when (if) they do so. This will allow me an easier ride when trying to actually run the thing!.
The war will be fought over 5 years, each year is split over 6 game turns. The campaign will end when either one of the main shires have no regions left or when the 5 years is up, in which case the main shire (and allies) with the most regions will be considered to be the victor.
The game turn:
A single turn will work as follows:
1: Tuttinghammeshire (as they are said to have started the war by attacking first) roll 1d10, on a score of 4+ they will attack an enemy shire. To do this they will pick 1 enemy shire adjacent to one of their own. A battle will then be fought over the region. If Tuttinghammeshire win the battle control of the region switches to them, if they loose the region stays under enemy control.
2: Crivenshire roll 1d10, on a score of 4+ they will attack an enemy shire. To do this they will pick 1 enemy shire adjacent to one of their own. A battle will then be fought over the region. If Crivenshire win the battle control of the region switches to them, if they loose the region stays under enemy control.
3: The steps detailed in 1 & 2 are repeated by any minor shires that have entered the war. They will do this in the order in which they joined.
4: Any minor shires yet to join the war roll 1d10. On a roll of 8+ they will join the war, this roll is modified by +1 for any battle fought over a region on their boarder that turn. If a shire joins in this way roll 1d10, on a roll of 1-5 They will join Tuttinghammeshires forces, on a 6-10 they will join Crivenshire. This roll is modified by -1 for each Tuttinghammeshire held region on their boarder, and by +1 for each Crivenshire held region on their boarder. Only one Minor shire will join on a single turn, once one joins that's it until step 4 next turn.
Minor Shires
The minor shires of Ruckinghammeshire, Berkshire and Lamavic each have 3 regions that behave in the same way as those of the main shires. Also once the shire has joined a side their armies will be mixed as they re-enforce each other and fight together. This means you can field troops from any allied shire in the same force when fighting a battle (which will allow for some truly epic battles as things heat up!). Once a minor shire has lost all of its 3 starting regions to the enemy roll 1d10. On the roll of 5+ they become vassal troops to the enemy and will now fight along side them!. In such a case they will suffer a morale penalty on the table!. Otherwise they are out of the campaign! (i may try to come up with a way they can become some kind of resistance fighters or something).
A lovely boat trip
If a shire wishes it can attack any enemy held coastal region that is no more than 4 regions away from one of its own coastal region along the coast by sending a war fleet their way!. It will do this rather than attacking an adjacent region.
Heres Ye Mappe at the start of the war with the main shires regions occupied:
The minor shires regions will become active only when they join and cant be attacked until they are active.
Battles
Ah the real reason for doing all this!. Battles will be fought using my hybrid (and still a work in progress) 2mm rules which have been roughly based on these rules. Before a battle is fought both sides will draw up their orders of battle (more details later) and draw a random OFFS* card, once drawn the card is applied in the appropriate way and discarded once the battle is over. The card idea is again borrowed From Peter, his for his ecw campaign are very probably more historically accurate than mine, but i thought i could use the idea to provide another way to flesh out the narrative of the setting and the battle in a quick easy fashion. Some of the OFFS cards will have a large impact, hampering one side or the other but as i am playing solo (and in no way seriously!) it should be ok. Heres the fancy and very posh notatallthrowntogetherbyadichhead OFFS cards:
Also mixed in the deck are some small mercenary and allied forces you may field once the card has been drawn, in which case they will fight for the drawing force for the rest of the campaign (until they don't!). Again they are there to add character to the setting:
Here be a wee teaser!.
And finally heres ye mappe at the start of year 1 turn 1, with Tuttinghammeshire attacking Crivenshire to get things started!:
The arrow indicates direction of attack.
Next stop the battle of Phlemm Valley!............
I have done a fort and some paintings and other bollocks while i have not been blogging, but first.....
a spot of experimental 'Murder rock' anyone?.
Its been almost 3 weeks since my last episode of bloggery, but rest assured i have not been idle...but to be fair now i review my output its not really much to show for three bloody weeks!. Ho hum an' all that. Anyway first off the latest bunch of paint splattered bits of metal stuck to strips of plastic:
Some 'orse and a unit of crossbows for the second force for my 12mm medieval armies, minis as ever by the fantastic kallistra. The force is coming together nicely, just a unit of knights to go and it will be done. Also i have looked at some of the minis i have painted for the other force, particularly the Ogres that i had completed before i discovered a way to adapt the cheep craft paints i have been using. As stated in a previous post the finish on these minis is grainy and a bit crap (not least because of my slapdash paintwork!) so i decided to redo the forces Ogres with the newly mixed paints. I say redo, its more a case of consolidating the 4 Ogres in to one larger, more 'manageable' Ogre:
Ogre at rest, or a 28mm G.W. lotr orc depending on your perspective.
The new Ogre vs the old ones, you can see the difference in finish.
Ogre vs Giant, i rather like the idea of Ogres being corrupted giants of a sort, also allows for them to be the same scale and for their bases to be uniform.
As well as the painting we have had to replace our fridge here at chez Sprinks (cue 'fridge running' joke), and a good amount of polystyrene was included with it. With said waste material just laying around and a craft knife in hand your 'intrepid' blogger decided it could be more than just rubbish and set to work hacking out pleasing chunks of the stuff (and covering an area of about 2 miles in small static balls). After a coat of paint and a few passes with the dry brush i had the following:
One knackered old fort.
dragons eye view.
Plenty of room for the 12mm troops on the walls.
'Its our turn now, you've 'ad it for ages!!'.
I have gone for an unloved look mainly because polystyrene is a bugger to cut neatly but also because i thought it was funny to have a kingdom where the local lords deny all claims of ownership of these buildings and the heavy taxation and cost of upkeep that come with them during peaceful times but at the slightest hint of trouble send troops to claim them, slap on a gate and say they were there all along!.
An example of the run down look (otherwise known as 'a bit where the knife slipped').
I also made some extra walls and damaged bits from the hacked up ends and leftovers so i can make....
.......BREACHES!!!!!.
The above should be going towards the almost ready to go setting and pastry based campaign taking up too much space in my already ragged noggin that is currently called
Hopefully i will be detailing the ideas and background that will go into this whole silly undertaking next time out, but until then here is something that almost made Radio Wronghammer this time out:
