Wednesday, October 4, 2017

More Arab Heavy Cavalry - First Saracen Warband Completed!

Arab heavy cavalry in 28mm, sculpts from Perry Miniatures (and they are AMAZING!)
After returning from the lake this summer, and following a good long streak of general focus on 30k and science fiction painting, I resolved to try and finish a basic, four-point Saracen Warband for "SAGA: Crescent and the Cross".  The warlord had already been painted, but he was all alone, so throughout September I concentrated on the fighting elements for the warband.  I am excited to share that, with the completion of these four figures, I have completed the basic warband!

Ready to repel the Frankish invaders!

These four figures are, once again, from the Perry Brothers incredible 28mm First Crusade collection.  They are beautiful sculpts.  These four mounted warriors represent one "point" of hearthguards in the SAGA game.  These warriors are armed with bows in addition to their lances, so will provide some flexibility for the Saracen player on the table.

Colourful AND heavily armed and armoured...a challenge to paint, but lots of fun when they are finished!

I have been griping about painting shields throughout this process, but in this case I was a little smarter with the shields I selected.  I made sure I had some flat ones for this group, and that meant I could use the amazing transfers from LBMS on a couple of them. Yay!

These fellows carry bows as well, a little more flexible in terms of fighting options on the table, I think
So with these fellows completed, that's a four-point warband, ready for action on the gaming table. I'm pretty happy with how all of the different colours look on these different warriors.  The Perry sculpts are just amazing, with incredible detail and an impression of motion that I find so suitable for the period. It's also been fun to overcome a bit of a mental block in terms of tackling a new period for historical gaming that I hope to dive further into going forward.

The completed four-point Saracen warband, ready for a basic SAGA game

The Saracen warlord in the middle, surely thrilled to have some warriors to command in his struggle against the Crusaders....
Even better, they will be able to tangle with the Crusader warband I finished earlier this year. Hopefully we will be able to share some SAGA gaming on the tables of the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts later this fall!

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Saracen Heavy Cavalry for SAGA

Saracen heavy cavalry for SAGA

More progress on my 28mm Saracen Warband for "SAGA: Crescent and the Cross".  This is to be a basic four-point warband, and I have manged to finish the first two "points", eight spearmen and eight mounted archers.  That left two "points" worth of figures to go, and these would be the "hearthguards", which in the Saracen warband are represented by heavy cavalry.  These are 28mm metal castings from the Perry brothers' incredible First Crusade range.

Taken as a youth from Russia or perhaps somewhere around the Crimea? Who knows?

As the hearthguards are made of tougher stuff than the warriors, a "point" of them gets you correspondingly fewer models, with four models per "point".  Mounted on fine horses, sporting heavy armour and an assortment of lances and other nasty weapons, these heavy cavalry will fight to the last in defence of their Emir and his lands.

That warhammer doesn't look so big, but I bet it hurts...

As with the mounted archers, I have found that there seemed to be no specific, formal uniform for these warriors, and some could be equipped in very colourful garb beneath the chain mail and lamellar armour, so I tried to put a nice variety of colours on these warriors.  I also tried to paint a hint of a pattern here or there on some of the clothing to show its fine work, but that manner of painting is mostly beyond my skills so the efforts on that score were limited.

Hand-painted shields are so fun...NOT.  Oh well, they kind of blend together from two-feet away, which works for me.

As before, the shields make me mental, but I've got some decent momentum rolling along on this project so I'm able to tune out the frustrations and just power through.  And I was able to get an LBMS transfer on one of the warriors, which is a nice touch!

A different angle showing some of the horse furniture and different clothing and equipment

Some of the warriors may have been slaves, "Ghulams", so I painted one warrior with blonde hair, representing a warrior who may have been taken from somewhere in Europe as a youth and found his way down the retinue of an Emir, having grown into a loyal warrior in service of his Lord.

Ready for the charge!

With these painted, I have only one "point" of hearthguards to go before the basic warband is complete.  I hope to share those final figures shortly!

Monday, October 2, 2017

Star Wars Battle (System Sci-Fi Terrain) Report

So, last Thursday I hosted an evening of our old favourite brain-free skirmish game, Star Wars Miniatures. I love SWM because the system is simple, we love the setting, I have tons of figures for it, and I have a handy scenario book that I grabbed up when I saw a second-hand copy (it's now long out of print).
 
The other reason to roll out this game was that a Kickstarter I'd backed in 2016 finally arrived - this was the Battle Systems Sci-Fi II project.

I put together a bunch of the card scatter terrain and some of the walls, and set up a scenario from the Ultimate Missions: Rebel Storm book - Escape from Hoth.

In this mission, the Rebels have two squads of soldiers and Leia, Han, Chewie and 3PO. They must escape the Echo Base command centre and get to the Millennium Falcon before they are "defeated" by the Imperials - two large squads of snowtroopers led by General Veers. The Imperials get 2-4 snowtroopers as reinforcements every turn, as well.

Here's one Rebel squad in position. Leia can be seen in the command centre at top. We used the game mat supplied in the Kickstarter for Echo Base, it seemed to work well. The mat is a high-quality piece made out of a thin mouse-mat type material.

Here come the snowtroopers! The Echo Base walls are all card, held together with plastic connectors. The walls all go together fine but do take time to assemble. The buttresses just hang off the walls and are a nice touch.

One room in the floorplan is a medical centre. The chairs, consoles and beds are all card from the Kickstarter as well.

In the scenario, Leia starts off placed in the central command room, with Han and Chewie in the medbay. Leia may not leave the command room until Han is placed next to her - she's too worried about the troop evacuation to be concerned with her own safety. In the pics above and below she's just been convinced by Han to beat it and is headed for the ship.


Rebel soldiers desperately hold back the Imperials as Han blasts a snowtrooper.

Han was reduced to only 10 hit points by the time he decided to flee. Fortunately Chewie could absorb some damage from the approaching snowtroopers. The rules have an interesting mechanic where most models may only shoot at a model in cover if there isn't a closer target in the open. The Rebel players used this to advantage by moving Han and Chewie together - being screened by another model counts as "cover" so they had to shoot at Chewie instead of Han.

Blood bath in Echo Base as the Imperials flood in. Where's Lord Vader when you need him?!?

Leia and 3PO make it aboard the Falcon...


...with Han and Chewie right behind.

It was quite a fun game, with the result coming down to the wire. Han and Leia were quite seriously wounded with both being only one hit away from "defeat" - however the Rebels pulled it off and the heroes escaped to continue the Rebellion another day.

No word on what happened to the Rebel soldiers who were left defending Echo Base!

Some final thoughts on the Battle Systems terrain - I really like it. There's a ton of scatter terrain to put together but there are lots of videos on how to do this - thankfully (it's not exactly intuitive in some cases). The stuff seems well designed and fits together well, mostly. As far as the walls, they're awesome and it's not up to me to try and design some games that utilize the "third dimension" of multi-storey structures that this set encourages. Looking forward to more games with the tiles, I could really see having some great games of 30K or Necromunda with them.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Saracen Horse Archers for SAGA

"Saracen" horse archers in 28mm for SAGA. These are 28mm sculpts from the Perry twins.

My efforts to complete a 28mm Saracen warband for "SAGA: Crescent and the Cross" continue.  I had finished the Warlord for the warband back in the late winter, during Curt's most recent Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. Now that the fall season is here, I really want to finish a four-point warband for him to lead into battle.  I started with the spearmen first, as they were relatively easy, and now I have a second "point" to share - eight mounted horse archers.

The Perrys are incredible sculptors, and they knocked it out of the park once again with these Seljuk archers - I love the fluid energy in the poses - you can imagine them riding circles around hapless Crusaders, filling the air with deadly arrows...
These are 28mm metal figures from the Perry brothers' amazing First Crusade range.  They are Seljuk horse archers. When I imagine the "saracen" warriors who confronted the Crusaders, I think of troops just like these, swirling and colourful horse archers boldly riding in daring-yet-evasive formations, loosing deadly arrows at the relatively slow Crusader forces.  I'm pretty pleased to have this group of eight mounted warriors (good for another "point" in SAGA) to add to my small collection of Saracens.

The single LBMS shield I managed is visible on the left of this photo - wish I could have done them for all the shields, but having one really nice one is still a great accent for the unit
I like to paint in a process-driven fashion, but I doubt painting any of the Saracen/Caliphate etc forces will ever allow for much of that, and these colourful figures are a good example.

I have always enjoyed having a lot of broad guidance on what I'm painting, particularly when it comes to historical subjects. This might be from books, or friends, or both. But seeing as the Crusades started over a thousand years ago, there is just not that sort of "certain" historical reference that I can get with WW2 or even Napoleonics or the War of Spanish Succession etc uniforms.  At some point you need to have enough confidence to just...start winging it...within some broad, accepted boundaries of course, but still winging it...there is no "codex" for the forces from a thousand years ago. So that's what I did here, just started picking different colours to see what might work.

Hence the quite diverse colours on these fellows.  It does not seem like there was a "uniform" of any sort for the Turkish horse archers.  The closest thing seems to be an arm band that many of the Islamic warriors wear - but these also seemed to be multi-coloured.  I'm cheating and using them as a unit identifier - they are all yellow on this group, while the other colours are generally all over the place. I don't know if that is correct, but I'm going with it.

And who knows? Maybe they never wore red caps? Or white coats? I don't know. I was guessing here for just about all of this stuff.  But I'm still pleased with the overall effect - they look colourful, swift and brave.

The purple outfit is one of my favourites - when you are dressed the well, you are probable and amazing shot with the bow and arrow!

As with the infantry, I struggled with the shields on these figures.  While LBMS makes amazing shield transfers for these round shields, most of the shields themselves have studs on them which render the transfer process beyond reasonable in terms of hobby complications. That is why you only see one really nice LBMS shield in the bunch, the rest are hand-painted.

The Saracens set off in pursuit of the foolish Crusaders...
I f*****g hate painting shields, and it has been a major stumbling block in the way of my oft-stated-pledges to Curt and Dallas to finally paint some figures from this period.  But to not lose interest, I am compensating by listening to differing inspirational music, ranging from random collections of medieval harp music on I-tunes to the very mystical and excellent Loreena McKennit. And there is always the awesome "Horse Soldier" by Corb Lund - I never get tired of it, and it makes me want to paint a regiment of cavalry every time I hear it!  And besides, once its painted, hey - looks OK to me. The music did the trick here.

The starting warband I have planned for the Saracens will have a total of 25 models.  With these fellows completed, that is 17 painted so far, accounting for the warlord and two "points" of warriors.  The final eight models will be hearthguards, which in the Saracen warband are represented by fearsome Ghulam warriors.  Hope to have some progress to share on them soon!

And go listen to Corb Lund! Just typing that makes me want to paint cavalry!

Monday, September 25, 2017

Saracen Spearmen for SAGA

"Saracen" spearmen in 28mm for SAGA: Crescent and The Cross - figures by Perry Miniatures

I'm taking a bit of a break from 30k painting, and my hobby focus is shifting back about 29,000 years or so to the era of the Crusades.  These are 28mm arab spearmen, metal castings from Perry Miniatures.  The spears are steel spears which the Perrys once sold as well (but no longer appear to).  These eight figures are meant to serve as one-point-worth of warriors in a Saracen warband for the game SAGA.

As I needed to paint the shields, I opted for very, very basic-looking patterns

Back in February, during Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, I got started on a Crusader warband for "SAGA: Crescent and the Cross".  During the Challenge I managed to complete a four-point warband for the Crusaders.  Each "point" in SAGA is a variable number of models, depending on whether you have hearthguards (four figures per point), warriors (eight figures per point) or levies (12 figures per point).  In this case it was two points of hearthguards and two points of warriors for the Crusaders, so twenty-five models once the warlord was included.

I used steel spears from Perry miniatures, and I absolutely love them - unfortunately the Perrys don't seem to stock them anymore?

Of course the Crusaders would need some figures to Crusade against, and I intended to finish a Saracen warband to oppose them, but I only ever finished a single model for them - the mounted Warlord figure. The poor Saracen warlord would not last very long in the face of 25 Crusader attackers...if I ever want to finally getting around to trying "Crescent and the Cross" with the group the Warlord was going to need his own warband too!

I tried some vague-looking arabic script on a couple of the shields to add some flavour to the warriors
The Challenge finished in March, and I never got around to finishing the Saracen warriors. Indeed, I don't think I've painted anything other than 30k in one scale or another since then! Its been power armour and bolt guns since then.  After I got back from the lake this year, I thought it was time for a change, to freshen things up and hopefully try and get some momentum behind this project.

The Saracen warlord appears, overjoyed that a few warriors have decided to join him!
While the clothing of these warriors is somewhat straightforward, one of the greatest deterrents I find to actual painting and collecting figures for ancient warfare of any sort is the shields. While LBMS does make some amazing shield transfers, there is a bit of a gap when it comes to the arab shields for the Perry range (I could not find Islamic LBMS transfers for the kite-shaped Perry shields).  So these were hand-painted, and while they are pretty basic, the painting of shields remains a big mental hurdle I need to clear when painting these figures (which are just marvelous sculpts, by the way). 

For a skirmish game, I would prefer to have these guys on round bases.  But I am also harbouring ambitions of playing "Hail Caesar" one day, and that calls for formed units.  When I did my crusaders, I based the infantry on square bases in the vain notion that they might join a larger, formed "Hail Caesar" unit.  While my ambitions to ever get a "Hail Caesar" force of any sort together continue to fade the more I consider it, I still wanted the Saracens to match the look of the Crusaders base-wise, so that is why they are on square bases too. 
     
The Saracen warband to date - nine figures painted, another 16 to go...and all of them mounted!
For years and years and years I have aspired to game in the setting of the ancient and medieval world, particularly in the Crusades.  I have always been fascinated by that period of history, and the notion of gaming in that setting is super intriguing. But man, my momentum dies every time I start in on the shields (I HATE painting shields).  There are other drags too - trying to source spears etc, never mind the complexity of the uniforms and armour for different Islamic warriors, tribes and factions.  The more I try to do this stuff, the more it seems it's just one of those areas where I don't think my interest will ever translate into the outcome from the painting table.

Having said that, I'm determined to stick it out, however, and at least get this Saracen warband finished!  That's nine figures finished from a final total of 25...hopefully I can build up some momentum and keep it going! The "Hail Caesar" game may never happen, but hopefully I can get some SAGA skirmish games in sometime this fall.

Friday, September 22, 2017

Yu Jing: Beyond Red Veil

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I very recently completed some 32mm scale reinforcements for my Yu Jing combat group for Infinity: The Game.

The Operation: Red Veil boxed set had provided me with my initial force of 7 figures, enough for just under 200 points of troops, which I used at a tournament in August. There are several approaches to expanding such a force to 300 points (a longstanding tournament standard). I could get lots of cheap troops, or just a few elites.

Follwoing the thoughts of @GentleBen on BoLS, I chose to obtain and paint a Guijia TAG , the Guijia's pilot,  and an allied JSA (Japanese Sectorial Army) doctor and a JSA combat engineer. The figures were chosen for their Looks Cool Factor, and the fact that it was a minimum number of additional models to paint.

Corvus Belli has very recently come out with their own Beyond Red Veil expansion pack, which I have duly split with Conscript MikeA. Don't know when those figures will get painted.

Modelling and Painting:
I pinned all the figures to the resin bases with wire. There is more wire pinning the larger arms of the TAG to its body.

Generally, I used my usual zenithal highlighting of airbrushing white over a black base, then glazes of acrylics, and finally details and blending with oils. Secret Weapon washes and Vallejo weathering powders completed the Dragon Forge Design resin bases. The figures were protected with Tamiya semi-gloss spray.

Gujia TAG
A TAG is a Tactical Armored Gear - they combine the benefits of an augmented heavy armor and a heavily armed walking vehicle. This particular Corvus Belli design is very similar to the armoured suits in Ghost in the Shell.

Like my other Yu Jing infantry armours, the orange armour plates used many, many thin glazes of GW Fuegan Orange. The "black" under-suit is comprised of glazes of dark blue acrylic shade (GW Drakenhof Nightshade) or indigo oil paint (Windsor&Newton) over the zenithal highlighting. All the the edges and hot spots are brought up with pure W&N titanium white oil.

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Five, 1/4"-diameter rare-earth magnets are sunk into the TAG's resin base, to hold it safe in a metal box for transport. The model is solid metal, so it weighs a lot.

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Below, I sharpened the cutting edge of the sword blade with a file. After zenithal highlighting, I used glazes of GW Baal Red on the sword blade.

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Below, I obtained unit and faction decals from Plast Craft Games. After initial painting, I glazed the shoulder pads with Future floor polish, then used MicroScale Industries decal setting and softening solutions  to conform the decals to the rounded surface.

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The battlefield wreckage comes with the kit. It's the head and torso of another faction's TAG. That type of walker is a remote, pilot-less vehicle. I added GW Blood for the Blood God to simulate spilled transmission fluid.

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Below, a size comparison of the TAG and its pilot. If the TAG is destroyed or hacked, the pilot might, on occasion, get out and continue the fight.

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Guijia Pilot
The pilot is a neat little figure. Of the four models, I spent the most time on her face. Undercoat used the Vallejo face painting set, then details/blending with oils.

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This figure posed the most difficulty for pinning. The heel of the wedge shoes are very narrow. I ended up drilling holes along the length of the feet, and bending the wires straight down into the resin bases.

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The box art imagines the pilot with much more revealing clothing. I painted the figure as if it was wearing a full-body cooling suit, like in Battletech.

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JSA Doctor and Engineer
The doctor and combat engineer allow for more battlefield specialties involving  healing injuries and fixing busted-up powered armour.

Left below, I used another Plast Craft faction decal for the engineer's armband. I glazed it with Tamiya Smoke to provide some shadows.

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Below, the only thing that marks this figure as a doctor is the small Red Cross I painted on her cap badge.

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Below, all four models together:

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Below, my original fighting force,  plus an Imperial Service Judge:

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Some in-game photos with Kyle's Pan Oceania forces:

Kyle set up his forces to immediately Dominate two objective markers. His heavy and medium infantry were set up to rush toward the one in the middle of the table.

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All I had to contest the mid table objective was a TO Camo Ninja. Fortunately, it Dominated the objective for the first two turns...

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... with the support of the TAG which advanced and covered some of the approaches to the central objective. Lucky dice rolls gunned down the PanO Father Knight (a heavy infantryman) and an elite  Nisse.

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A remaining Nisse braved the TAG's fire, knocking it down into unconsciousness, and Dominating the objective during the final turn. The Yu Jing Engineer managed to somewhat repair the TAG, and the game ended with a narrow Yu Jing victory.

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These figures are beautifully sculpted. They make a great addition to my slowly growing Infinity collection. Next in the painting queue are some samurai for Ronin or Daisho, then a force of Infinity PanO, led by the clone of Joan of Arc(!), to give my Yu Jing someone to fight!