2014

Seeing as it's been August since I last posted an update is in order, I've mostly been painting 10mm Arabs and finishing off my WW2 German tanks and without the transfer cable for the camera I've not done much about posting those.

Plans for this year involve lots more 10mm. I need to get the camera sorted out to take pics as I've now completed 3 brigades of Arabs. But I'm waiting on my Mongol order from Pendraken being prepared as I've run out of basing materials and I do all of my 10mm by adding the sand and models onto the base before undercoating.

So once that arrives, I need to make the choices of Arab Cavalry and Characters, Crusaders, Mongols, Undead or High Elves to get started on next.


Seeing as I've been enjoying the Longstreet Campaign and the likelihood that Maurice may well follow I've been debasing and cleaning up my SYW French that I have had sitting around forever. I think I need to double what I have to be able to get enough for a Maurice army, but that shouldn't be too hard to accomplish I hope with the likes of Timecast. I want to find pics as my existing models are Essex, but the Timecast Oldglory 15's I have for ACW are comparable so if their SYW are similar then all is good and in bigger packs than I would get from Essex stuff.

The last thing I really want/need to get round to this year is finishing off the bases on my 28mm Vikings and Tuetonics.

Dux Britaniarum

We played our first game of it last night, Ric was my opponent. A big departure for both of us who have been far more used to playing Warhammer and Warmaster derivatives for far too many years.

It seemed to go well, but our choice of terrain hindered the game rather a lot. I think we've got the gist of it, but we're going to go for a more stand up fight next week to allow us to figure out the combat rules a bit better and hopefully this time we'll be a bit quicker as we had to end the game unfinished last night due to time constraints, but to be fair we did have the last few turns going a lot smoother than our first bumbling attempts.

Adventures in Storage

Well after Mark at club offered up some old steel lined boxes. I have embarked on the storage adventure that is magnetic basing. It's something I've been pondering for a while for my 10mm stuff, rather than foam which I think is probably more suited to 28mm stuff.

So I bought some magnetic tape at Claymore and tonight I've sat and cut it into strips and and stuck it to the bases of my WW2 Germans and my Saracens (that are done so far) It seems pretty solid for what I'm needing which is really only for shelf to table, and occasionally to club as in the past I've felt my Germans slide across their old box when I've picked it off the shelf. The extra little rim under the base will also aid immensely when trying to pick them up from a flat surface without having to resort to grabbing hold of the miniatures themselves.

So all good I think.

My 10mm Warhamster hordes continue to expand with 2x 1500 pt fantasy armies already finished (Battle of five armies, Goblins and forces of good) and another 2x 1500 pt on the way High elves (almost finished) and Undead. I also have my Saracens and Crusaders (Courtesy of Dave) under way.

The last one is Mongols after Pendraken tried a kickstarter type thing through their forum. Apparently they should be ready by Oct/Nov time so that will be another 1000 pts or so to fight my crusaders from the North while the Saracens take them from the south.

Claymore

Is it always a bad plan to go to a show with a big shopping list and lots of money? Oh well, I did and I got everything I had actually been looking for. Soooo today's purchases are.

Dux Britanniarum Rules.
A lot of vikings. (Dark age warrior plastic box, berserkers, monks, 2 warlords, swine and hounds)
Kallistra 10mm Undead and High Elf cavalry to finish off my Warmaster Fantasy armies.
A ton of bases for my 10mm armies and some magnetic tape.

Flames of War 3rd ed mini rulebook.
Dystopian Wars Rulebook. (Finally)

So all good stuff, I think my first priority will be to get my Viking forces assembled, but not necessarily painted yet, I'll speak to RiC to let him know what he needs for his side of things. Or if I get inspired enough, I'll get everything assembled for both sides.  Either way, I aim to have enough done that I can play Saga as well if anyone is up for it.

Saracens WIP

With Reenactment season here I've not been doing so much in the way of painting etc but I have finally managed to finish my first brigade for the wife's 10mm Arabs. (Though as I post this up I notice I forgot to do the speartips on 2 of the units) Bah.

Why do I do what I do?

Nabbed from Dave's Blog

 

"This is another one of those interesting Internet Memes that occasionally does the rounds within the hobby Blog community. This one comes from the Itinerant Hobbyist who has adapted something he found elsewhere on the Interweb as a way of classifying and quantifying what drives us as individual wargamers. Unlike a set of questions this is designed to gauge the complex interplay of motivations that we all share but in different quantities. There are five basic categories and all you have to do is allocate a percentage next to each according to its significance in motivating you as a wargamer. Of course there is nothing to stop you from adding a little explanation with your percentages, in fact I hope you do.

(Picture Source - 56 Geeks)

The descriptions below are taken directly from the Itinerant Hobbyists post:

• Immersion - You really get into the fluff/universe/world/history of the game you play. 
• Social - relationships are what's important. You look forward as much to the dinner/drink afterwards as you do to the gaming itself.
• Showcasing/Modelling - You really like to show your work and see the work of others. Modelling and painting are what give you the most energy.
• Strategy - You like to read forums, listen to podcasts, work on lists, etc to improve your game. You like the mechanics of how a game works.
• Competition - you like testing your play style and abilities against others to come out on top. Or, to test your strategies against the best."

So from the above let me see,
Immersion: 20%
Despite the fact that I do medieval re enactment my knowledge of history is pretty naff, I can't for some reason take in things and remember them on that large a scale, but the mundane aspects of life in the period I cover I'm good at. Which I think is why I much prefer skirmish/RPG style games which I can get into much easier.

Social: 20%
Beer good... No umm, I'm really not the most social of people to be honest, but I get along with gamers, I prefer the company to the social aspect I think. Hopefully that makes sense, as kids me and my mate would go to each others house and kinda do our own thing with some chatting every now and again.

Showcasing/Modelling: 35%
I do like the look of a decently painted army on the tabletop. I am a very lazy painter though as though I'm a very capable painter and have entered and placed in competitions in the past, I came to the realisation sometime that the look of an army doesn't rely on each model being superbly painted, passable will do for the tabletop. As a result I tend to paint to what I call wargames standard instead of the higher level I reserved for my RPG models. Most recent example was for the Pendraken competition, I painted up a base of 10mm ww2 Germans, up close you can see the difference, on the table you couldn't pick it out.

Strategy: 15%
I tend to go with what I think feels right, sometimes I get it right, other times I prove how much I should actually look at history in a bit more depth. I like to win, who doesn't but I'd prefer a good game over anything.

Competition: 10%
A bit like above, I'm not that bothered, the reason I went in for the Impetus competition was for the chance to play against different people than I'd play at club.

BKC Germans

Mostly finished my BKC stuff, still need to finish off my 3 tigers, 4 panzer IV's and base up my artillery and that last Recce Unit. Anyway here's my force for tomorrows game, the major part of one of the Panzer Grenadier Battalions, with one of the Panzer Companies and some artillery.