El CId Army

Got an Email from Mick a couple of days ago, inviting a few of us up in March for an Ancients weekend. I think the Saturday will be a large DBA variant game of Greek Hoplites either against each other or Persians. The Sunday will be a large WAB El Cid game and I've been asked to bring along my figures. Well this gave me a chance to check through the army to remind me what I had. It's been a couple of years since I've used these.

The total force comprises of 102 mounted figures split 60/40% between heavies and lights. The infantry is made up of 158 heavy (including African mercenaries.) and 110 lights including slingers, bowmen, javelins and crossbows. Since the figures were out I couldn't help but take a couple of photos.

Christian Infantry

Andalusian Infantry

Mounted force

More Franco Prussian stuff

Finally managed to get some painting done after the Christmas break, these are the 3rd and 5th Infantry regiments for my Wurttemburgers. This just leaves the 7th and 8th. I've put an order in with Outpost for the Generals, Cavalry and artillery to finish the division. I need to get a move on as Dave (you can follow his blog here) has made some excellent progress with the French

Infantry Regiment #3

Infantry Regiment #5

Regiments advancing

Baxters' Brigade

Sorry for not posting for a while, been stuck on other projects and I guess I just needed a break from ACW. Not sure of the make of these figures as I picked them up off EBay. Just require a little touch up and re basing, to blend in with the rest of the force. These are done to represent Baxters' Brigade from Robinson's Division.

2011 Report and 2012 Plans

Well, it’s that time of year again where I can look back on what I have achieved in wargaming terms and what 2012 will hold. Below were my plans for 2011.

Greeks - I've got some figures from 1st Corps and Immortal Miniatures. Approx 70 figures, these are still in the paint pile.

ECW – I actually managed to complete about 70% of this project from my original plan. It stands at approx 7 regiments of foot, 12 squadrons of horse and 2 artillery pieces

ACW – This project has stalled recently, but it got much larger than my original intention of 1 union and rebel corps.

EL Cid – This never got off the ground. I’ve gone off WAB and I’m looking into other rule sets, probably Hail Caesar for 2012.

So what else did I paint up? Firstly some Lord of the Rings figures, I’ve put together 2 useful forces of Gondorians and Rohirrim. Staying on the fantasy theme, I’ve painted up quite a largish undead force with the idea of ‘The Terror of the Lichemaster’ in mind.

I’ve also got plans to get more into the Franco Prussian War and have already made progress on the Wurttemberg Division from XI Corps.

A total change in direction was my Dystopian Wars fleet. This came quite late in the year and seemed to capture everyone’s imagination at the club. Other than these it has been a few odd figures, such as Pirates, Anglo Saxons etc. Just whatever took my fancy.

On the gaming front I have managed to get involved in 2 historical re fights up at Mick’s, Gettysburg and Antietam, look forward to more. At the club I have enjoyed a number of ECW, ACW, SAGA and Dystopian wars games. I also found some time to get in some Role-playing, namely AD&D. Even managed to run a WFRP campaign.

Painting for 2012

Greeks – I still want to do these, though maybe later in the year. Always loved to have a hoplite force.

ECW - I want to fill out my cavalry forces as some of the units appeared under strength. There is also another regiment of foot to paint.

 
ACW - I want to paint up the last of my 15mm ACW figures for Gettysburg, namely Pickett’s Division and the rest of the Union I Corps.

FPW – I need to finish my Wurttemburgers and then start on a second Division, not sure if it will be Baden or Prussian.

Dystopian Wars – Finish of my FSA fleet and likely start another, either Prussian or Britannia, this would give me an opponents for games against my nephews.

Well that’s all I can think of at the moment, know doubt it will change when the latest figures get released. Thanks to everyone who follows this blog, much appreciated.

Dystopian wars FSA fleet

Progress report so far. Most of the fleet is finished, just a handful of Cruisers, frigates and tiny flyers to be added. After that I'm not sure if I will add any more. Also my daughter, she of Wings of War infamy has expressed an interest in collecting some of the Prussian fleet as she likes the models. May get her a starter box and see how she goes, if nothing else I can use them in some of the clubs larger games.

Fleet view

Frigates with Cruisers in the background

Capital ships

Big boys and flyers

Fleet view

Lee scout ships

Lee scout ships

Lee scout ship

This brings the fleet strength currently up to:
1 x dreadnought
2 x battleships
1 x carrier with 6 tiny flyers
3 x cruisers
6 x frigates
3 x destroyers
3 x bombers
2 x Lee scout ships

Merry Christmas

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hope Santa brings you everything you want, even something for wargaming (had to get my own to make sure). Also thanks for taking the time to follow this blog despite me jumping fro one topic to another and not always posting regularly

Infantry Regiment No. 2

3rd post today. Finally got around to basing and taking some pictures of these guys. Again the figures are by Outpost. This now brings my force up to 2 infantry regiments and 3 Jaeger regiments. that leaves the other 4 infantry regiments and a cavalry brigade.

Dystopian Wars additions

2nd post today. As I am falling way behind in the arms race I decided to get some painting and purchasing done. So far I've managed to complete my dreadnought and a squadron of bombers. The Dreadnought in particular a welcome addition as everyone else has one. I've also picked up some additional frigates, cruisers, tiny flyers and some Lee scout airships. This should give me around 1500pts which I can then tinker with for particular games.

Dreadnought

Dreadnought

A-17 Bombers

Wolfie

Picked this figure up from West Wind's Weird World War range. I've painted him up to match the rest of my Norse Bloodbowl team that I painted many years ago.

More Wurtemburgers

Finally managed to finish the last 2 Jaeger regiments. These are both 4 stands each and again are from Outpost. I've also finished painting another infantry regiment who are awaiting basing. There are also 2 more regiments undercoated on the painting table.

Jaeger Regiment #2

Jaeger Regiment #3

Paint Plan

To help me focus on my Wurtemburgers, I've produced a paint plan to track my progress. I also managed to finish the 2nd and 3rd Jaeger regiments last night and they are awaiting basing.

Franco Prussian War

First up some pictures of my first 2 units for this period. Ii am currently painting up the Wurtemburg Division, based on the Fire and Fury adapted ruled. There are 6 regiments to paint each of 6 stands and 4 units of Jaegers, all of 4 stands. The figures are from Outpost Wargames. In the bare metal they didn't look to promising, however they seem to take paint very well, remind me of old glory figures in that respect.

Infantry Regiment #1 and Jaeger Regiment #1

Infantry Regiment #1

Jaeger Regiment #1

I have now got 2 more Jaeger regiments on the painting table started and the 2nd Infantry regiment, prepped and undercoated.

Lord of the Rings - Gondor

I've found lately that I am struggling to keep to one particular project. I've still got to finish my ACW, started the Franco Prussian War, Some undead for my role playing games. I've also been eyeing up the unpainted stockpile of Greek Hoplites and more Vikings. Then I dug out my Gondor army. I started this project a couple of years ago and it never really got off the ground, about half completed. So sticking with a basic but effective colour scheme for the army I set about completing as much as I could before I changed my mind. So far this has been a success as I only have a unit of 8 cavalry and some more rangers to complete my force. Not the best photos as had to take them indoors.

Morthrond Vale Rangers

Citadel Guard

Aragorn, Faramir, Imrahil and warriors

Archers

Boromir and Denethor with Spearmen in support

View of the Battle line

Battleline from the other side

First games of SAGA

Last night at the club, me and Robbo did our first game of SAGA. We set up with a 4 points aside game and limited the terrain to a couple of buildings and some fields. Robbo took on the ole of the Viking Warlord Ragnar Redmane supported by 2 units of Hirdmen, a unit of Beserkers and a single unit of Bondi. I took on the role of the Anglo Danish warlord Waltheof the Bald, supported by 2 units of huscarles, 1 with dane axes and 2 units of Ceorls.

We kept the scenario simple as a stand up fight just so we could get used to the rules and the SAGA boards. The game opened with a general viking advance into the village, I sent one of my units of Ceorls to the left to face off against the bondi, who set amongst their foes with gusto, both sides increased their attack dice (no shrinking violets these as defence was not thought of), the result was 5 dead bondi and 4 dead ceorls. Waltheof and both units of huscarles rapidly moved towards the village.

Ragnar and his hirdmen quickly moved to support the bondi but fell just short. The beserkers on his left failed to move for a second time due my using the ability 'intimidation' . My Ceorls flushed with success launched themselves again at the bondi, only for honours even with 2 casualties apiece and my attack checked. Next my huscarles with dane axes launched themselves into a unit of hirdmen and promptly cut all 4 down for the loss of 3. On my right Waltheof and the other huscarles moved to intercept the Beserkers, supported by my second unit of Ceorls.


Ragnar then launched his remaining hirdmen unit at the remaining huscarl. Using the saga abailities I manged to provide him with 2 extra attack dice. To say the combat when badly for the hirdmen would be an understatement. Despite felling the remaining huscarl, he took 3 of them with him. Robbo had kept back his bonus attack dice for the Beserkers who finally launched themselves at Waltheof and my second unit of huscarles, but once again fate was against him as Waltheof himself fell all 4 opponents (stuff of legends). It was at this point that Ragnar and his single remaining hirdman decided to depart the field.

For our second game we shuffled the terrain around and got straight down to it. Ragnar had returned with a new force and once again was met by Waltheof and his men. To say this battle was swift is and understatement. Both warlords supported by their retainers rushed straight towards each other. We both stacked up the SAGA dice to boost attacks and fell to it. The result, Waltheof threw down his enemy and danced on his remains....lol. The hirdmen perished to a man and my huscarls were reduced to a single figure...game over.

Views on the game. Very quick to pick up which is a good thing. The use of the battle boards gives the game its extra depth and mastery of its use is important. Trying to understand when to use abilities or not. We also found the combat very devastating, but that is probably down to us using abilities to boost attack dice and ignoring defence. Overall a very enjoyable game, we got 2 games completed in under 3 hours.

Sorry for no pictures as I was just concentrating on the games.

SAGA warbands

I was due to play my first game of SAGA on Thursday but due to the wife being unwell I was unable to make it. Still I did manage to put together a couple of warbands for the game, mainly from my existing collection, though I did paint up the huscarls with the 2H axes. First up my Anglo Danes.

Next up my Viking warband. I've got too many hirdmen, mainly due to the majority of my collection being armoured.