More Scenery and back to Punic Wars

As I want to return to the Punic Wars, I decided to clear up the last few terrain pieces I had for the Baron's War. There was a wattle and daub outbuilding from Renedra and some left over wattle fencing that I turned into another small enclosure. I made the gate from some coffee stirrers and the posts from some bamboo skewers. With these added to the collection I should have more than enough options for a table layout.

With the scenery done I could now turn my attention back to the Punic Wars, inspired by the purchase of the Midgard rules. I've made a few purchases, the infantry to complete a 4th Roman legion as well as some 3d prints from Mitch of some Spanish light cavalry and Elephants. I'm still waiting for some extra Italian infantry to complete a force of Campanians, to either act as an ally or enemy of Rome.

Meanwhile I finally made a start on some Carthaginians from Forged in Battle, 4 bases of unarmoured African Spearmen from their starter set. I hand painted the shields, a bit rough and ready, but fine in 15mm scale. This will bring me up to 6 bases or 3 units for Midgard,

I now have some Libyan skirmishers on the painting table as I begin prepping the Elephants and some cavalry.

William de Vesci has a horse

After completing a mounted version of my second retinue, it was appropriate to do the same for my first retinue. So William de Vesci, Baron of Alnwick finally got himself a horse and so did his banner man. Both figures are from Fireforge miniatures.

The crosses aren't too bad, I may have to resort to transfers in the future because as I get older I find my hands are less steady. But still at least I have the option to field him either on foot or mounted. The only other thing I did this weekend was a hand cart from Warbases. Another bit of scenery to bring the table to life.

 Quite a rustic little piece and can see some use in a number of periods. 

In other news I finally picked up the Midgard rules, it may spur me on to get back to the Punic wars and paint up those Carthaginians, though I do have enough Barons war figures to try out the rules 

28mm Scenery

With enjoying games of Barons War, I decided I needed to spruce up some of my old buildings, namely the two stone outbuildings with enclosures. These are two old resin pieces I picked up from Gripping Beast many years ago, along with some of their  small metal pieces of wattle fencing. I also picked up a couple of sprues from Renedra of their wattle fencing and some MDF bases from Warbases. So a quick evening's work and I had 4 new enclosures, 2 with outbuildings. Perfect to fight over in Barons War and a number of other settings.

I do have a few more pieces of the wattle fencing left, but none with gates. I may try to make some with coffee stirrers and balsa wood.

I also had another game on Thursday night, 750 point game, trying out a few different units. The serjeant marksmen proved their worth, but the mounted knights were severely hampered by the terrain. Think I need to give them another run out. Anyway a few pictures from the game. Honours were about even at the end of the night.

Sean really does like his mounted troops, though they also were hampered by the terrain. There are rumours of a supplement for Barons War covering King John, which will cover Welsh and Outlaws, so I've duly picked up Robin hood and some of his merry men to paint up when it comes out.

My Baron got a horse

It has taken a while but finally got some figures painted. Long hours at work and dark nights are certainly not helping. I've currently got two retinues done for Baron's War, but both are lacking mounted Barons. I already have enough mounted knights painted up. I just needed mounted versions of my Barons. So the first Baron to be done was William Heron of Hadstone, simply because he has an easier colour scheme to paint up. Both he and his standard bearer are built from the Fireforge mounted Templars. Nice and easy to do. I still need to print off and then paint his banner.

I'm hoping to get William de Vesci and his standard bearer completed this weekend. The only other figures I painted were some leftover Fireforge figures that I have done as Knights Hospitaller. I think I have a few serjeants left over that I can add as crossbowmen.

I'm trying to figure out how I can incorporate them into a game as a neutral faction. Could possibly use them with the militant monks defending a church or wagon train.

I also had a hankering of making some hedges for the game so picked up some rubberised hair. I cut some pieces, attaching it to modelling sticks. Then gave it a spray of chocolate brown. Once dried they were sprayed with some adhesive and covered in a flock. I think they have come out okay for the first batch When I do the next batch I'll try and remove more of the straight edges. They still need the bases finished.

For the second batch I'm going to mix in some fencing and possibly twigs just to add a bit of variety. Now I need to plan my force for a game on Thursday night.

A Northumbrian rumble - Barons War

So today at the club we set up a series of games of Barons War. We had 6 players, each with a 500 point retinue with three different tables to fight over. The idea being to get to fight on all three tables. Unfortunately we ran out of time but still got in 2 games each with a chip shop lunch thrown in.

Seige of Warkworth castle

A rumble in Morpeth market

The road to Newcastle

So 3 different layouts, which would hopefully provide different challenges to the players. My first game was against Sean on the Seige layout. The scenario really didn't benefit my retinue of foot sloggers when Sean's Hospitallers brought 2 units of mounted knights. We gained points for each turn we held an objective. Sean quickly seized the one in the centre of the table allowing him to gain an extra point each turn.

Bailey got bored at this point

I did manage to destroy one of the units of mounted knights, but his Baron proved too strong, rampaging through my foot troops, giving Sean a solid win for King Henry's faction. After the first round of games, King Henry's faction took 2 wins to lead. Thankfully Neil B managed to prevent Thom reaching Newcastle on table 1, picking up the solitary win for the Barons.

Game two I was facing off against Thom on 'Rumble in Morpeth market'. This time the scenario seemed to favour me. A simple kill as many points as possible to win. Thom's veteran archers proved a nuisance all game before eventually being seen off by my slingers. Their lack of armour proved costly. Our two commanders even faced off in the centre of the table, inflicting extensive casualties on each other causing both command groups to break. Thom failed to rally his Baron for the rest of the game, before my archers shot him down. 

So a solid victory for the Baron's, backed up by Neil B picking up a second win against Mitch. Sean though picked up a win for the King against Neil G. This left our little Northumbrian rumble tied at 3 wins each.

So 6 games completed and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. A few different retinues and with the abilities adding a different flavour to each. Already looking forward to our next set of games. Now I just need to paint up some mounted versions of my two Barons so I can field some mounted knights.

Retinue of William Heron, Baron of Hadstone

Just put the finishing touches to a second retinue for Barons War, William Heron. This is my second Northumbrian Baron as this is the area of focus for our games. All that was needed was a few more serjeants, both on foot and mounted. This is a smaller retinue than the first I completed as the intention is to use them as allies to expand into larger games.

The figures used for this force are a mix of Wargames Atlantic, Fireforge, Conquest and Footsore miniatures. They all mix well together. The only other thing I've painted up is a set of 3d printed Chevaux de frise supplied by Thom. These will be perfect for one of the games this coming weekend for a siege layout.

In all sixteen pieces provided which should be more than enough,

Retinue expands

Over the weekend I managed to add a few more troops to my second retinue. I added a unit of six archers and a couple of extra crossbowmen. The archers are a mix of bodies from Fireforge with arms from the Wargames Atlantic serjeants sprue. Once again I kept to the uniformed colours of the rest of the retinue.

For this retinue I already had knights with two handed weapons, so I wanted to add the option to field them with sword and shield. I also took the opportunity to create a figure to use as a Bishop, this is one of the upgrades for a command group. The three knights are all from Wargames Atlantic. The Bishop is from the Fireforge Templars boxed set.

The shields were all done by hand using the acrylic pens. These are such a boon and I picked up a good selection of colours for future use. 

Looking at this retinue as a whole I have six more serjeants to paint up to bring the two units I have up to eight figures. I also received the horses I needed to build up 3 more mounted serjeants to complete that unit.